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A FISHING BOAT off the coast of Donegal had a close encounter with a submarine last week.
Fisherman Seán Ó Briain has described how his boat came within 200 yards of a submarine off Tory Island.
He told RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta he and others on the boat were setting crab pots 14 miles northwest of Tory Island last Thursday when they saw the submarine coming towards them, and pass just in front of them.
“Last Thursday about 11 am we were setting crab pots when we saw the submarine coming from the northwest. It went round in front of us, about 200 yards away.
We were doing a speed of about seven miles and although the general rule is that when a boat is setting pots or pulling pots other vessels are supposed to give us right of way, but not in this case – we needed to slow down to let the submarine pass.
Yesterday, Britain’s Ministry of Defence admitted that a Royal Navy submarine was responsible for dragging a trawler backwards off the Northern Ireland coast earlier this year.
Ó Briain said that they had spotted a submarine around this time last year as well. On that occasion they also needed to slow down to avoid it.
He said that they were lucky because they had daylight on both occasions and could see the submarine and change course.
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Why did we ever need planning permission for this??
@JusticeForJoe: in case a storm takes one and someone loses a head.
@JusticeForJoe: because some people thought more than 12 panels woukd be excessive and unsightly. Times have changed.
@JusticeForJoe: to keep the public servants in employment. A pencil pushing exercise
Getting planning permission in Ireland depends very much on who is in charge of looking at it and what humour they are in on the day. We tried 3 separate designs for a sunroom and were turned down for them all. Then we met with the planners, got angry with them for being evasive and next thing you know they decided to approve our very first design.
@François Pignon: you forgot the brown envelope
@François Pignon: So they rejected three of your designs and then approved your first design?
@François Pignon:
Todays planners can’t read or interpret actual 2D drawings anymore, much less use a scale rule. They need 3D pictures these days and still won’t visit a site to meet with the applicant. That alone would save so much time.
@Jim Buckley Barrett: totally agree, it makes all the difference, but I still can’t do it! They’re so corrupt!
Shame we can’t get solar tiles here.
@Sequoia: they don’t work so probably a good thing
@Craic_a_tower: Teslas solar roof is widely accepted as a quality solar roof tile installation. They do indeed work. They just have far more limited fitment options than traditional solar.
@Sequoia: brilliant suggestion, only spoke about EV Tiles yesterday.
Apartment owners very much restricted from installing solar panels as roofs are common areas and therefore do not belong to the apartment owner.
@Dermot Cronin: Owners of apartment buildings should be legally obliged to install them, even though the savings per apartment would be minimal
@Dermot Cronin: well if you’ve no roof you can’t install solar yes that stands to reason.
@JusticeForJoe: Because they are closer to the sun?
@JusticeForJoe: apartments are already more efficient per sq foot than most houses. Roof space per dwelling in apt blocks would generally be much smaller than houses, this gets worse the more floors up you go.
Would love to hear your rationale as to legally forcing apartment owners to fit them, however I suspect you have not thought it through in any detail.
@Sean: The roof of a 4 apartment duplex could easily facilitate solar panels.
Lease and other legal restrictions can be overcome but it is a very cumbersome process.
Well done, keep the common sense decisions coming and keep reporting them.
Is there still a 50cm limit needed from edge of the roof?
@FlyingHaggis: yes I believe that is a health and safety requirement.
It proves that if they really wanted, politicians could easily change regulations when it comes to building/planning applications.
have your say