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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine stories you need to know as you kick off your day.
1. #FANNYGATE: Senator David Norris has been sharply criticised for his comments that Fine Gael TD Regina Doherty was “talking through her fanny” during a debate about the abolition of the Seanad. Doherty is to make a formal complaint to the leader of the Seanad about the remarks.
2. #NORTHERN IRELAND: At least one pipe bomb was thrown at police in Belfast last night during the fourth consecutive night of violent protests in the city. The PSNI said it was “extremely fortunate” that no police office had been injured in the attack and urged community leaders to use their influence to ensure calm in the area.
3. #MAGDALENES: The four Catholic orders which ran the Magdalene laundries will not give money to the fund set up to compensate survivors of the institutions, the Irish Times reports. The orders have said they will instead assist in providing other things to the women, such as access to records and accommodation for the former residents who remain in their care.
4. #BANKERS: Twenty-one bankers in Ireland were paid at least €1 million in 2011, according to data published by the European Banking Authority. The report, which found that Ireland’s figures compare fairly favourably with other EU countries, said 14 of the 21 were working in investment banking.
5. #HORSEMEAT: Irish authorities are currently pursuing one prosecution in relation to the horsemeat scandal, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney has confirmed. The company in question is accused of putting false labels on products.
6. #ABORTION: Two Fine Gael Senators – Fidelma Healy Eames and Lucinda Creighton’s husband Paul Bradford – look likely to lose the party whip when the Seanad has its first vote on the Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill later today.
7. #STRIKE: Workers in Greece are holding a general strike today in protest against new austerity measures imposed by the government. The strike is expected to shut down public services, slow down hospitals and disrupt domestic flights, AFP reports.
8. #CARTEL: The head of the notorious and brutal Zetas drug cartel in Mexico which is responsible for a large number of killings in recent years has been captured close to the US border, the Mexican government has confirmed.
9. #MONSIEUR BONO: U2 frontman Bono is set to be awarded France’s highest cultural honour this evening when he will be made a Commander of the Order of Arts and Letters at a ceremony in Paris. Bonne chance…
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David Norris just continuing to prove what a mistake it would have been had he been elected president. Illness or not there is never an excuse to throw hissy fits on a regular basis and start throwing around insults. Show some class and stop acting like a spoilt child.
Hissy Fit???? Hissy fit???? The man can speak for me any day – so you expect us to shut up and put up with what the Pinstripe Brigade and the men in dresses force upon the women of Ireland? Doherty’s complaint, which she is very much entitled to submit, should NOT be heard until such time as Collins makes one in the Dail. Why? Because over there they were drunk and it was gross misconduct. David Norris, on the other hand, spoke MY truth and in a fashion that is acceptable to ME. The term “pulled it outta me arse” IS acceptable these days – didn’t you know????
It’s the Seanad. Part of our Government. If David Norris can’t get his point across without resorting to poor language and petty sniping then he has no business being within those walls.
@Linda Dunne: While David Norris is not my cup of tea, I totally agree with you!
What’s the difference between calling garlic apples and calling horse meat beef?
6 years and a hefty fine.
More proof if it were needed that Bono is superior to you. Have a nice day mortals.
The seanad is a complete waste of money as they have no power, it should be abolished. As for David Norris while years ago I thought he was great I no longer hold that view, he should learn how to respect women and speak without being a bully, being rude and degrading! If he could manage that I think his point would carry more weight. He has let himself down again in my view.
It needs to be reformed, not abolished…and they need to have the power to stop bills…and they should be elected by the electorate or a mix.
Trying to abolish the Seanad is yet another attempt at a power grab from FG.
They have tried to curtail the freedom of speech by the media, they are trying to bring in abortion…and now they are trying to get absolute total control of the parliament…the artists and the musicians will be next…Irish people will not be fooled by their lies….and deceiving ways…all this is about is giving them complete power…and absolute power corrupts absolutely…David Norris is correct. The Seanad needs to stay, but it needs to be reformed.
The Government has silenced its own TDs, in not giving them a vote on the abortion bill….now they are trying to silence another part of our democracy…by trying to get rid of the Seanad…they are displaying very arrogant, dictatorial ways…In the Seanad’s reform, they should have the power to stop any bill that comes before them.
FG PR machine is rife at the moment, trying to do anything to distract the people of Ireland from what is the most important bill ever to come before our country, the so called ‘protection of life bill’…the timing of the release of this statement to abolish the Seanad was slyly planned by their PR machine, to distract the media, and thus the people of Ireland to start talking about something else, and they have succeded in this, as what are we talking about now?
The abortion bill is the most inherently flawed bill to come before the house, and both sides of thought agree with that. We now have a Government that is trying to rule by dictate. I urge Senators to vote no.
A TD who voted yes to the abortion bill rang me yesterday on my mobile after I sent him an email telling him I would never vote for him again because he voted yes for abortion and he didn’t fight for a free vote. He was trying to square his conscience on voting yes…but he chose power, title and money over the life of the nine month old child…I blame the FG leadership for his deep feeling of guilt now, he should not, and neither should any of the other TDS in FG or Labour have been put in that position, they should have had a choice to vote yes, or no, and not been forced to vote yes…however, they also should have rose up collectively against their leader as a group, and forced him to give them a free vote. It is the darkest moment for the FG party in its history.
Politicans are collectively and individually responsible for the laws that come into our country…and there are times when you have to rise up.
I hope the intelligent people in the Seanad realise that this is merely a clever purposely designed distraction from our Government, to divert public attention from the abortion bill. It seems FG will do anything, even suffer negative publicity, instead of allowing the public and senators to focus on this abortion bill.
In the last week the Government has threatened and bullied its own TDs, by not giving them a free vote or respectfully listening to any of their concerns during the debate; it has bullied its people by forcing through a bill that neither sides think is a good bill; it is now bullying its Senators again by trying to make them feel unstable, by hijacking the abortion debate, and telling them, that THEY are going to get rid of them…dirty tricks is one choose of words to describe this…but am sure David Norris could come up with some more choice words to more accurately describe what is going on. It makes me very sad, and very angry that our Government is acting in very anti-democratic ways.
To long, zzzzz
Every morning!!! Every morning!!! Come on people, get with the programme!!!! The 9 at 9 goes live early every morning to facilitate people heading into work for 9 am!! Jeeeze!!
I think I’ll copy this comment and link to it every time someone points out that the 9 at 9 is up at 8.45am.
Sounds childish but #fannygate!!
Hahaha !
It’s only 5 to 9 :-)
Well spotted :) We usually put it up a few minutes before 9am so that people have time to read it before they start work/get out of bed/go out and sunbathe.
Why do people always point out the time the 9 at 9 is posted. Surely everyone knows by now!
I’m always a bit baffled by it too tbh but it’s probably just that people assume it goes up at 9am on the dot and are a bit surprised the first time they notice that it actually goes up earlier.
…..or later.
Nah, it always goes up before 9am.
i wonder if norris was using he word ” fanny in its americanised context ? meaning she was talking through her backside and not in the anglosised version of the word fanny. or it could be that like most of our political personel he doesn’t know his ar*e from his elbow!
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