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LAST UPDATE | 13 Jan 2020
GALE FORCE WINDS, with gusts of over 130km/h, have left 32,000 homes, farms and businesses without power as Storm Brendan moves across Ireland.
The counties most impacted include Galway, Limerick, Kerry, Cork and Donegal. ESB Networks crews have been dispatched to these areas to assess the damage and are working to restore power.
ESB said this evening that power had been restored to over 100,000 homes, farms and businesses over the course of today, but 32,000 were still without power.
Wexford, Waterford and Kerry are now the worst impacted areas.
The Status Orange wind warning due to remain in place until 9pm has been extended to midnight for Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo.
The wind warning for the rest of the country at 8am and remained in place until 3pm. From 3pm until 8pm this evening, a Status Yellow wind warning is in place for Wexford, Cavan, Monaghan, Roscommon, Clare, Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Waterford.
A Status Red marine warning was also in place in all Irish coastal waters and on the Irish sea, with violent storm force winds expected.
Met Éireann said that, as of 3pm, the strongest winds were recorded in Belmullet in Co Mayo with gusts of 122km/h. Earlier, gusts of of 119 km/h were recorded on Sherkin Island in Co Cork and in Mace Head in Co Galway, gusts of 11km/h were recorded in Roche’s Point in Co Cork and gusts of 100m/h were recorded Shannon in Co Clare and Newport in Co Mayo.
Dangerous conditions
View from the office onboard LÉ #SamuelBeckett #P61 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/M2m0P1mR9H
— Irish Naval Service (@naval_service) January 13, 2020
The Road Safety Authority (RSA) has asked road users to exercise caution while using the roads today, noting that some closures are in place, and to be aware of fallen debris.
Motorists are also being advised that vulnerable road users, such as cyclists and motorcyclists, may be blown off course by strong winds.
They should also be aware of strong cross winds that could affect the control of their vehicle if they slow down, and they should only drive through standing water if sure it’s not too deep for the car.
The storm is causing havoc on the roads. AA Roadwatch has advised of fallen trees causing a number of blockages on routes across the country.
It includes the N30 closed in both directions in Wexford about 3km outside of Enniscorthy. That road is not expected to open for a number of hours.
Fallen trees are also affecting the N80 between Carlow Town and Bunclody, the N81 between Poulaphouca and Blessington in Wicklow and the N74 between Golden and Cashel in Tipperary.
A trampoline was also spotted on the M7 in Limerick, which was later safely removed.
‘A very powerful storm’
A number of Aer Lingus flights to and from Shannon Airport have been cancelled, including flight EI3630 to Birmingham (10.50am), flight EI3672 to Edinburgh (10.55am) & EI384 to London Heathrow (12.55pm).
Aer Lingus’ flights from these airports to Shannon Airport have also been cancelled. A spokesperson for Shannon Airport has advised people to check directly with their airlines for the latest updates.
A spokesperson for Aer Lingus has apologised for the inconvenience and said customers impacted by cancelled flights can rebook their flights free of charge or apply for a refund.
Some flight delays are also expected as a result of the storm. A spokesperson for Dublin Airport said no flights have been cancelled as of yet and there is a normal schedule currently in operation.
Met Éireann has predicted that Storm Brendan could bring gusts of to 130 km/h or higher in exposed areas.
“This is a very powerful storm,” Met Éireann’s head of forecasting Evelyn Cusack told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland.
It has originated near Canada and as it rapidly moved across the Atlantic, engaging in the very strong jet stream, and it has undergone what we call rapid cyclogenesis. So it’s a very powerful storm.
“Thankfully the storm centre is keeping out the northwest of Ireland but we are going to get several hours of very dangerous weather as the storm transfers across the country.
It’ll be worse along the west from Kerry up to Donegal, maybe around 10/11am. And then it’ll continue to be eastwards across the country peaking on the east coast around lunchtime, perhaps first 1pm, which is a dangerous time for the little ones coming out from school. So that’s kind of the peak on the east coast.
The forecaster also warned people that Status Orange conditions mean that the weather may pose a threat to life and property.
“Gale force southerly winds will extend countrywide during the morning, with severe and damaging gusts. Heavy rain will extend from the Atlantic, thundery at times. There will be coastal flooding due to a combination of onshore winds, spring tides and storm surge,” Met Éireann said in an update this morning.
Several local councils have begun reinforcing flood defences in advance of the storm with a significant risk of coastal flooding due to the combination of high spring tides and storm surge.
Dublin City Council said car parks were closed and flood defences erected at Clontarf, Sandymount and along the tidal reaches of the River Dodder. There are further high tides predicted, with the highest one expected at around 2pm tomorrow. The flood defences will remain in place until Wednesday morning.
The National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS) has advised members of the public to refrain from visiting Killarney National Park while the wind warnings are in place.
The following locations are closed:
With reporting by Órla Ryan
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This is a long time coming in Pennsylvania and expect other US states to follow. Prosecutors should know to expect absolute lack of cooperation in the other investigations into the Catholic Church around the world.
Prosecute and sue the hell of ‘em.
@Jurgen Remak: yup, I think New York, Missouri, New Mexico, Illinois, and Nebraska are investigating. The problem is most of those have just asked politely for the records rather than the issuing subpoenas.
@Dave O Keeffe: don’t get the softly softly approach still adopted by the various states. Their offices should be raided and necessary documentation seized. Wouldn’t surprise me if the most sensitive info has been destroyed seeing as they’ve had decades to prepare themselves at this stage
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: if I was to hazard a guess I’d say it’s because AGs face election. Shouldn’t stop them doing things the right way but the sight of churches being raided would put of a lot of voters.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: the softly softly approach is the one we took here and are still taking, it seems to be born out of some sort of misplaced respect for the church
@Dave O Keeffe: ya, I get that. A lot to do with apathy and burying heads in sand too but it’s just a particular aspect of Irish life I don’t understand given the constant revelations over the last 30 years. Future generations will look back at Leo giving his wink and a nod and real lack of assertiveness towards Frankie and the church during the visit and cringe. The time for diplomacy is over.
@Dermot Lane: my theory is humans are conservative by nature, Ireland in particular, although we are beginning to liberate ourselves. We are only now shaking off the shackles of generational brainwashing. Give it 20 years and the church will be completely defunct. Maybe then we’ll get true and just results. Well we won’t because the powers that be and anyone close to accountable will be dead, along with many survivors who cannot access mental health services as they will not have received adequate restitution if at all.
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: I 100% agree, there’s a massive element of not wanting to know involved from the public as well.
@Dave O Keeffe: absolutely. It’s our ugly past that many people just want to be left there. Reality is it needs to be unearthed and people/the organisation need to be held to account for proper healing and to show that they can’t get away with it. They’re selling off assets to fund retirement (not to pay restitution, evidently) yet claiming they’ll be bankrupted so it is having and will have a direct effect on our education and society so the sooner people become more empathetic and take their heads out the better.
Well it’s about time a country investigated the church instead of shipping priests around.
Imagine, it takes a subpoena for the Catholic Church to cooperate after THEY raped children, what an organisation.
@PaulineSmith: The big mistake here and in many other places is that they should have been dawn raids by police to get files and information, they do not understand cooperate, it should be all stick and no carrot. Remember Benedict XVI, just before been pope called on all information to be sent to the Vatican and no cooperation with authorities, this is the level of obstruction we are dealing with, the very highest level.
Thoughts & Prayers
This is a welcome development, the Church called in Authorities to help deal with and root out the abusers. Only 2 cases since 2003 shows the results of not relying on physiotherapy as was the medically recommended remedy society wide in former years.
@Tom Molloy: Praising the Catholic Church because they only raped two kids since 2003, I’ve seen it all now from the apologists. Maybe we should give them some kind of reward for their abstinence?
@Tom Molloy: Only two cases since 2003…….maybe because parents have actually copped on not to leave their kids around priests unsupervised?
@Tom Molloy: BS. The church called in the authorities because they’d previously been found out. Why didn’t they call in the authorities in Ireland and ALL around the world in the seventies when they first became aware of the atrocities?
@Tom Molloy: it wouldn’t be a Catholic church article without the bold Tom to remind us of the morally distorted and deluded folk that follow the church.
@PaulineSmith: Sounds like you are disappointed that it was only two cases in a population of 3.2 million with 21000 non clerical cases reported annually.
@Tom Molloy: sounds like you’re saying a little bit is ok Tom.
@AnnieBelle: or that now abusers have chosen careers in sports clubs.
@Dave O Keeffe: No for the child concerned what you call a little bit is devastating.
@Tom Molloy: ah but Tom there were “only two” you’re the one minimalising it Tom.
@Dave O Keeffe: I should have said “reduced to two” thanks.
@Tom Molloy: another question Tom, how many of the over 3000 cases were reported within 15 years of the assault?
@Tom Molloy: you’re an apologist for paedophilia and cover-ups. Was wondering when your feeble evasive contribution would surface. You must live in a mirror-free house.
@Tom Molloy: relying on……..psychotherapy……. to stop repeat abusers is still not a thing of the past in spite of the overwhelming evidence that it failed in the past including clerical and non clerical abusers in institutions.
@Tom Molloy: pretending you didn’t see the question works better if you don’t post again on the same thread
@Tom Molloy: You just keep on showing your absolute ignorance on this topic..now ,Tom,why did psychotherapy ‘fail’ sometimes
@Kan Ye Go West: Tom is an ardent churcher. Ignorance is all he knows.
@Tom Molloy: See below 8 hours ago I asked where u were with ur sick apologist views! Right on cue u arrive, ur figures are hysterically false? What ur brain washed sheep kind can’t comprehend is the headline? 300 priests in 1 case? Now u imagine he headline 300 bus drivers? 300 carpenters? 300 road sweepers?? Then add in all their colleagues and superiors who know they were raping kids and ignored them then when it got too much moved them on to another work place to carry on?? That’s the difference???????
@Dave O Keeffe: It is clear to you that to minimalise distorts you must see that to maximise also distorts. Eg Because some travellers behave badly it is not permitted to suggest that all travellers are bad. Do your own research and give us a balanced result.
@Tom Molloy: so you won’t answer the question. How is calling for the attackers to be jailed minimalising? You seem happy with things as they stand. Truth of the matter is we don’t know how many more there are but we do know that the number is staggering. Tom, “ah but sure they’ve cut down” is an absolutely atrocious response.
Absolute pure evil that’s all the Catholic priests are. Think of the effects their actions caused on their victims, who have had to deal with what was done to them throughout their lifetime and now the priests hide behind religion and cover ups. I hope they burn in hell and this lifetime which would still be too good for them
@aidan mccormack: Agreed, but this is the scale of it, 300 priests but how many more priests/bishops/and above knew and did nothing about it?
Think about that u see a child raped by someone and do nothing about it, he gets moved and u know he’s now doing it to other children somewhere else, and Yet they stand there every Sunday preaching holier than though shit like the pathetic hypocrites they are? Shocking sick cult
@aidan mccormack: is Fr Peter mcverry pure evil? if you said that about any other group of people it would not be okay.
Why was the bishops palace in dublin never raided by the garda. because they’re intertwined that’s why.
Where’s Tom with his “look over there, their as bad” shite!! Prison for all, to hell with this statute of limitations garbage. With sexual abuse of minors it’s a get out of jail free card as the trauma and shame felt by the abused takes years to report!!!
make children safer don’t let clergy/priests near them! Simple
@Dougal67: had a look there and there is no statute of limitations for investigation and prosecution in to child rape by priests. If they’re still alive they will be going to prison – to be involved in many more rapes. Hope this news brightens your day, as it has mine.
@Dougal67: Not just priests. Actors, bankers, business leaders, politicians, musicians. Ther’s more money in the child trafficking industry than in narcotics. Arrests of pedophiles are up over 5X times since the man whose name I dare not mention got into office. They really should report these things.
@Niall Hughes: It has, also think forget about church crap and just raid their offices/churches before they destroy the evidence like they would with any other case, do you think they’d wait for a subpoena if it was someone’s carpenter father?? Forget the church holy garbage and go after them properly?
@Shane Dignam: there’s never been such and orchestrated denial and cover up than the Catholic Church. Any details on the above ambiguous statements?
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: Look into Ronald Bernard for one. He worked high up in the banking industry and left after being invited to parties where there were child sex slaves. Look
At his interviews, they are heartbreaking.
@Shane Dignam: the guy that said he couldn’t go to authorities because he has no evidence but insists he has a dossier and that’s the reason that these child raping, serial killers let him live?
I bet you that this carry on with a selection of priests was in the third letter of Fatima and that’s why we were never told what was in it
What do you think
@FlopFlipU: no here’s the third secret of Fatima: ‘ ‘Feck sake, this is getting out of hand lads, I was only winding you up! ‘
The Catholic Church are hypocrites big time
Suspected Priests? Who proof reads this stuff? Hi
At this stage I really can’t think of a good reason why parents should continue exposing their children to anything connected with the Roman Catholic Church. It really is an evil organisation.
Most child abuse happens in the child’s home by family members. Most of the priests who abused children are no longer in active ministry. It seems wrong to be critical of current clergy for sins other clergy have committed. It’s like being critical of all Irish for the child abuse of other Irish men whether they be clergy or lay people committed.
@Tom Mullally: are you for real?
@Martin Meyler: that’s Tom Molloy’s other profile
@Tom Mullally: Most children live in their family homes,so it’s no wonder that most child abuse happens there…who’d thunk it…
@Tom Mullally: Tom Tom Tom…if you’re going to set up another account, call it something other than Tom! I imagine you’re real name is Tom too?!…
@Bruce van der Gutschmitzer: Sick vile piece he is? I wonder would Tom leave his kids alone with a couple of priests if their so innocent?
I wasn’t able to read the article because of the headline. It sounds like the purpose of the investigation is to find out if the people who carried out the abuse were actually priests.
@Richard Lippy Collins: kinda defeats the purpose of leaving a comment then no?
@Richard Lippy Collins: look up suspect in the dictionary, it’ll help
Like Brett Kavanaugh deserved , innocent until proven guilty.
@Aine O Connor: get a grip Aine. How many more people need to come forward before you take your blinkers off? You continue to Look straight ahead at the promise of heaven, nothing to see on either side. Certainly not the abuse of children and widespread cover up of same.
@Aine O Connor: Usually the case to be honest, but when it’s “child abuse” and “catholic priests” in the same headline it’s usually guilty? As they are a vile collection of paedophiles!
@Dougal67: a sweeping statement
What is a ” suspected priest ” ?? Is the person suspected of being a priest ???
Suspected Priests? Who proof reads this stuff?
@Jonathan Eastwood: to suspect means to harbor suspicions about. Therefore suspected priests are priests that there are suspicions about.
Theres still I’d imagine some amount of rocks to be flipped over
have your say