Papal Letter

I went to mass this morning and got a copy of the Papal Letter to the Catholics of Ireland. The priest didn't bother to read it out. He said is was 22 pages long (it's 12 but maybe he was reading the directors commentary version or something) and he would summarize the ideas for us since he had read it once and almost finished reading it a second time. Somehow I got the impression his heart just wasn't in it.

The most interesting thing was the choice of gospel. In either a comic coincidence or cynical timing todays gospel, printed on leaflets well in advance of the papal letter being announced, was "let he who is without sin cast the first stone". I wonder if the idea was let the cleric not linked to abuse or the cover up of abuse throw the first sermon.

St Patricks Day in Dublin

This years St Patricks Day parade in Dublin was a great success with huge crowds in attendance once again.

Paddy Drac

North Carolina State Band

Flags at the ready.

More of the photos I took on the day can be found here.

Update:
Clondalkin Youth Band




Update 2: More photos of the Clondalkin Youth Band can be found here.

Bonner the Grand Marshal

This years Grand Marshal for the 2010 St Patricks Parade in Dublin has been announced and it’s Packie Bonner. The former Republic of Ireland goalkeeper is a national hero for his save in the penalty shootout against Romania during Italia 90. I think we can say the parade is in a safe pair of hands this year (oh God did I really just say that?)

Special Effects

Everything, even the simple stuff is computer generated now. Sad...


[via Whoppers Bunker]

Transport Canada

And I thought ryanair was bad...

Noel Dempsey Minister for Holidays

Noel Dempsey the Irish Minister for Transport has just arrived back in the country after more than a week of freezing temperatures and transport chaos in Ireland, all which Minister Dempsey observed from sunny and warm Malta. You see the Minister was on holidays. With the country in a state of emergency he bravely put his sun tan first and decided not to come home. Dempsey is interviewed in the Sunday Independent today saying:

I don't want to bring my family into this -- they are very private -- but, you know, I am entitled to have a family life as well.

Which is true, but no one said the Minister should bring his whole family home, the country would have been happy if just he himself had managed to put in an appearance in his office. After all, given how much he gets paid it would have been nice if he showed up to help coordinate a response to what is likely to be the biggest transport crisis in his time as Minister for Transport.

My favourite quote from the, I suspect soon to be former, Minister has to be:

"Politically, it's a lot of hoo-haa, a lot of nonsense," he said from the airport in Valetta, where he was stranded most of yesterday.

Yeah Minister, secret Fine Gael squads have been driving around the country in the middle of the night throwing fake snow everywhere just to make you look bad.

I think it's time for a cabinet reshuffle. Cowen could appoint Dempsey to a job more suited to his lifestyle. Perhaps Minister for Holidays or maybe Minster for Sun Tans though perhaps we could just appoint him Ambassador to Malta and he can feck off back where he came from and let someone else run the Department of Transport.

Happy 2010

Happy new year to you all. We had a white Christmas and now a white New Years hopefully it's a sign of an eventful but happy year to come :-)

Leg Bomber Aftermath?

Sky News is reporting that extra restrictions are being imposed on air travel to the United States. They say that passengers are going through security as normal but when they get to the gates they are subject to extra checks. Hand luggage is being inspected and passengers are being patted down to make sure they don't have anything strapped to their body. Then on the flight for the last hour of the journey passengers will not be allowed to leave their seats or access their hand luggage.

Great, just great, in case flying wasn't already a big enough pain they have decided to make the whole experience even more uncomfortable. I don't really mind the idea of hand luggage checks but surely if that was done properly at the security desks we wouldn't have to queue up a second time to have our bags searched again? The same for the pat down, the existing security checks are supposed to find things hidden on the body and that has been the case for decades. As for the restrictions on movement on the plane itself, does anyone seriously think a suicide bomber is going to walk up to the check-in desk, be told that he wont be allowed to leave his seat one hour before the flight lands and decide the whole idea of killing himself and hundreds of others is just not worth it anymore? What happens next time there is a security alert. Will we be strapped to our seats for 8 hours? Hand luggage banned? Body cavity searches?

Another idiot fails to blow up a plane and the whole world has to bend over backwards because the security precautions introduced last time an idiot failed to blow up a plane don't stop more idiots with explosives getting on planes.

Snow in Ireland

I can't remember the last time I saw a really decent fall of snow. Sure every so often we get a sprinkle and some places up North might get enough to build a snow man or two but this year my home town of Clonmel got enough snow to make it a winter wonderland.

Merry Christmas

Sorry for the late post but Merry Christmas everyone. Hopefully I'll have more time to blog next year, the last 3 months have been hectic but in a good way :-)