The MacGill Summer School in Glenties in Donegal has evolved into a major
jamboree for the political and governmental classes. It is extensively
reported in the press and makes the headlines. Many of the contributions
make important illustrative contributions to the national discourse on the
genesis and solutions to our problems.
Developers to face high-rise curbs as council agrees plan
OLIVIA KELLY
DEVELOPERS ARE facing severe restrictions on the construction of high-rise
buildings in Dublin city following the introduction of the new Dublin City
Development Plan next year.
Michael Noonan is the best export we have had from Limerick. His quality of contribution transends the usual party political mediocrity evident in most political contributions. He is the single best outcome from the recent heave in Fine Gael. The Lord Kitchener moniker “Your country needs you”
fits him accurately.
His article in the Irish Times on Friday 23rd July is here :-
Focus on people and jobs, not bankers and bailouts
Changes needed fast to stop scenes of weeping parents in Irish airports from becoming iconic image of this recession, writes MICHAEL NOONAN
IT DOESN’T matter how many degrees they have and it doesn’t matter how good their job prospects might be. When it comes to forced emigration, all parents break down and cry as they see their children off at the airport.
The PJ Mara School of Irish Politics dictates
Una duce Una voce
No More Nibbling at my leader’s bum.
But Il Duce should realise (and did) that
Sometimes it pays to listen to the message even if you dismiss the
messenger.
Keep in mind the cult of the leader. In Catholic countries the cult of the
leader lead to fascism in the 20th century. Franco – Spain, Mussolini -
Italy, Hitler – Germany and Ustashe leader Pavelic in Croatia. Then is
Protestant and Orthodox countries the cult of the leader was obvious during
communism – Russia from Lenin onwards, East Germany – Honecker,Kadar in Hungary, Ceausescu in Romania, Novotny in Czechoslovakia. Catholic Poland had Gomulka. Greece had the Colonels.
In other words, democracy is a precious flower under threat always from
centres of power.
Read more
On Thursday at the funeral of the late Aileen Donnelly at Terenure College
(where I often had the sh.. kicked out of me), I met former Minister Mary
Flaherty who is in great physical shape. She must be paying a fortune to a
personal trainer. It was my pleasure to talk to an intelligent progressive
woman with a lot to offer.
Miriam Lord and Cathy Sheridan are not the only brilliant sketch writers.
Andrew Gimson in the Daily Telegraph is simply consistently stellar. There
is a twinkle in his eye and a skepticism in his uptake that is refreshing
and wonderful to read. Reading sketch writing is for me one of life’s real
pleasures. I simply love it. Some is deliciously naughty and the kneading
of language is wonderful to appreciate.