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Short film on the weekend's games in San Francisco. Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKZ5lvDOwVU

[Vatican leader slams Irish government's confessional law as absurd]

Vatican leader slams Irish government's confessional law as absurd
Row intensifies between Church and State after Papal Nuncio's recall
By CATHAL DERVAN, IrishCentral.com Staff Writer


A senior Catholic Church leader has slammed the Irish government's determination to force priests to reveal child sex abuse claims made in confessional boxes as the row between Ireland and the Vatican intensifies.

As Papal Nuncio to Ireland Monsignor Giuseppe Leanza prepares to return to Rome on the orders of the Pope, Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny has engaged in another war of words with the Holy See.

Kenny and his Justice Minister Alan Shatter have again pledged to force priests to reveal anything they hear in the confessional box connected with child sex abuse.

Their vow to crack down on the church's attitude to clerical sex abuse allegations comes in the wake of the damning Cloyne Report.

Monsignor Leanza has now been recalled to Rome by the Pope to discuss the report into abuse in the Cork diocese.

And a top Vatican theologian has dismissed the government's confessional proposal as 'absurd'.

Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti, of the Vatican's Apostolic Penitentiary, has slammed the suggestion that priests should break the secrets of the confessional box and reveal details of clergy accused of child sex abuse.

"Ireland can approve all the laws it wants but it should know the church will never allow itself the obligation to betray the confessional to civil authorities," said Archbishop Gianfranco Girotti.

"It is absurd to think that priests should be obliged to betray what is said in the confessional box."

Both Prime Minister Kenny and Justice Minister Shatter have vowed to enforce the new laws despite the worsening relationship between Ireland and the Vatican.

"The plan to bring in the new law on withholding information on crimes against children and vulnerable adults will apply regardless of any internal rules of any religious grouping", said Shatter. 
"The central focus of the Government is child protection."

The decision to recall the Papal Nuncio, essentially the Vatican's ambassador to Ireland, was made in the wake of scathing and historic criticism from Kenny in the wake of the Cloyne Report.

Leanza has been summonsed back to Rome to brief Pope Benedict XVI and senior church officials on details of the report which accused the Catholic hierarchy of covering up the actions of pedophile priests.

Despite the move, Kenny has told government colleagues that he will not change his stance as he awaits a formal response from the Holy See to the report and his subsequent comments.

"The ball is very much in their court. It's become clear to them (the Vatican), that this administration has a different approach to previous administrations," a government source told the Irish Independent.

Senior government officials believe the Pope and his bishops in Rome are finally taking the Cloyne Report seriously.

Vatican deputy press officer Father Ciro Benedettini said: "The recall of the Nuncio denotes the seriousness of the situation and the Holy See's desire to face it objectively and determinedly.

"Nor does it exclude some degree of surprise and disappointment at certain excessive reactions."

Ireland's Deputy Prime Minister Eamon Gilmore told the Independent that the decision to recall the Papal Nuncio to the Vatican for consultations was a matter for the Holy See.

"The Government is awaiting the response of the Holy See to the recent report into the Catholic Diocese of Cloyne and it is to be expected that the Vatican would wish to consult in depth with the Nuncio on its response," said Gilmore.

So the attitude is that they will continue to act as if they are a law onto themselves no matter what the democratically elected government puts on the statute books. When will this institution start to learn a bit of respect for the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law?

Belfast Telegraph
The Economist
BBC
RTE
Channel 4 News (UK)
Al Jazeera English

For American news I usually avoid the US networks and get it from the sources above or The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  It's a shame that a comedy show has become a better source of journalism than most of the news networks. Local news around here is a load of rubbish that's long on style and short on substance.

For GAA news or any other specific topic I'm interested in I go to Google news and get it from all sources.

Saw a few clips on it on the news this evening. Haven't been following it lately but it looks like it's a lot more exciting than in the Schumacher years when I tuned out because you knew who was going to win every Grand Prix before they'd even started practice. Wouldn't mind getting back into it if I had the time.

I stepped out of my old apartment in San Francisco one morning and found a hand-made sign stuck to a lamppost saying "Volunteer neighborhood cleanup, Saturday morning 9:00am.  Meet at Jackson and Leavenworth, bring bags, brooms and any other cleaning material."

Would such a thing ever happen in Ireland?

[Loyalists will continue to feel let down until they all wise up]

Loyalists will continue to feel let down until they all wise up

By Nuala McKeever
Monday, 27 June 2011

You think you've heard every ridiculous attempt to justify the unjustifiable in this place and then suddenly, a new one pops up to take the breath away — with laughter, tinged with despair, shot through with annoyance.

Apparently the rioting last week was all because the loyalist people involved don't feel politically represented.

Sorry? Come again? Didn't we just have an election last month, where we all had the chance to vote for political representation?

Isn't that how political representation works? You elect the person you want. If you end up with no one to represent you, isn't that possibly because you didn't vote for anyone?

I'd love to know how many of the young men out throwing bricks and petrol bombs last week actually voted last month. I'd bet the First |Minister's salary that the vast majority of those exercising their throwing right arm didn't bother their backsides to exercise their voting right arm. Those who were old enough to register of course.

And did the Beast from the East stand for election? I couldn't swear to it, but no, I don't think he did.

I'm not going to jump on the "it's particularly depressing because it happened just after Rory McIlroy's victory and it makes us look so bad abroad" bandwagon.

Rory McIlroy's brilliant win was fantastic, but to focus concern on how we appear to the rest of the world smacks of a terribly middle-class "what will the neighbours think?" approach.

I care about how Northern Ireland is perceived abroad, but I care a lot more about what's it actually like living here. Unfortunately, others don't seem to.

Peter Robinson says he wants to attract more Catholics to the DUP because he believes business-minded Catholics have more in common with his party's centre-right policies than with Sinn Fein's professed socialist ones.

So even the party that used to stir up the workin'-class Prods is now leaving them behind. Peter, in the interests of business — which is his big interest — is looking outwards.

Time to leave sectarian politics behind, he says. But it was the sectarian nature of his party's politics that's got him where he is today. Anyone remember the 'unionist pact' idea?

Perhaps what the young loyalists who complain about not being represented mean is that the people who do represent them, don't really care about them.

Now that is something I'd have no problem believing.

Time to wake up and smell something other than the stench of last night's burning rubber, guys! A centre-right, business-orientated party is never going to have your interests at heart. So stop electing them just to get one over on your perceived opponents.

You complain that the Shinners are better at articulating the nationalist agenda.

Then stop supporting gangsters, throwing missiles and shooting at the police and start talking. You'll find people listen better when you're not hitting them over the head at the same time.

The peace walls may divide Catholics and Protestants, but the walls dividing well-off Protestants and not-well-off Protestants are much higher. And it needs brains, not brawn, to bring them down.



Full article

Impressive article which hits a lot of nails on their heads.  I particularly like the point about worrying about what foreigners think rather than what it's actually like to live in the place.  This is something that should resonate with free staters southerners too.

I think this takes some beating:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tbnC-gLhiw

http://www.ted.com/talks/jd_schramm.html

This is an age-old debate but there's an article in The Atlantic this month that got me thinking about it. It's called How to Land Your Kid in Therapy, all about "Why the obsession with our kids' happiness may be dooming them to unhappy adulthoods."

Article here, the sport-related part comes on page 3:

"Who would watch an NBA game with no winners or losers? Should everyone get paid the same amount, or get promoted, when some people have superior performance? They grew up in a bubble, so they get out into the real world and they start to feel lost and helpless. Kids who always have problems solved for them believe that they don't know how to solve problems. And they're right—they don't."

Last month, I spoke to a youth soccer coach in Washington, D.C. A former competitive college athlete and now a successful financier, he told me that when he first learned of the youth league's rules—including no score-keeping—he found them "ridiculous."

How are the kids going to learn? he thought. He valued his experience as an athlete, through which he had been forced to deal with defeat. "I used to think, If we don't keep score, we're going to have a bunch of wusses out there. D.C. can be very PC, and I thought this was going too far."

It mentions stuff about kids going off to college with an enormous sense of entitlement and giving up on certain tasks at the first sign of a hurdle. In the absence of a constant stream of praise they find it hard to adapt to adult life when the shit hits the fan or when they feck up. I have to say that I've seen some evidence of that in my dealings with some college students (a minority of them, it should be said) who don't take setbacks very well and seem shocked to discover that the world is not a perfect place.

So. Shouldn't we make our youth games competitive? Don't the children want competition anyway?  Shouldn't learning to lose be as important a part of growing up as learning to win?

There's a marathon at the end of October which I'm thinking of running.  I found a beginner's training schedule here: http://www.marathonrookie.com/marathon-training.html and I've started a modified version of it.

I'm a competitive cyclist so my cardiovascular system is in reasonable shape.   I'm probably going to give the bike racing a back seat while I work towards this, although if triathletes can do three things at once then surely I should be able to do two.

Thoughts?  Is it doable?  Or should I pack in the cycling completely while I concentrate on this? (I'm 36.)

As I anticipated, Obama's photo-op with the hurley got some attention in the US press and my hurling youtube movie got a subsequent bump in views.  It's been holding steady at 1000 views/day for a while, but Obama's photo op was followed by a spike of 5000 views in one day.  This is the biggest spike this movie has had since a year or two ago when it was posted on some high-traffic Polish website and got 5000 views in a single day.

The Gaelic football video is currently getting 800 to 1000 views/day. This movie hasn't been uploaded for as long so it'll probably grow to overtake the hurling video in hits/day.

[Alex Salmond pledge to fight 'bigotry and booze']

The Irish vinter's association put up a bit of a fight over the smoking ban as if it was going to put them out of business, but excess drinking is still a problem in Ireland and the pint of Guinness is still seen as the essential part of any visit even for heads of state. Will anyone stand up to Ireland's alcohol industrial complex and the drinking culture it has spawned?

26 May 2011 Last updated at 08:52 ET
Alex Salmond pledge to fight 'bigotry and booze'

Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond has laid out his five-year vision for government, with a pledge to tackle "bigotry and booze".

Following the SNP's landslide election victory, Mr Salmond has made new laws on tackling sectarianism and minimum alcohol pricing a priority.

He also outlined a "social wage" with the people of Scotland.

Mr Salmond pledged to retain vital services in return for measures like public sector pay restraint.

The Scottish government's detailed programme for government, including a list of planned bills, will come after the summer break.

Opposition parties urged Mr Salmond to clarify plans for his independence referendum, planned for the second half of the five-year parliament.

Speaking at Holyrood, the first minister laid out plans for economic recovery and pledged to put a "jobs agenda" at the heart of his programme for government.

In the next few weeks, the Scottish Parliament is expected to pass new laws on increasing jail terms for sectarian-related disorder to a maximum of five years.

And ministers will also bring back plans to set a minimum price per unit of alcohol - proposals which were defeated in the last parliament when the SNP was in minority government.

It is a phrase commonly distrusted by the right, in that they argue it can involve enhanced state control and hand-outs, rather than any form of earned entitlement or "wage".

On this occasion, Mr Salmond placed it in a specific context - and with a specific contrast.

The context was public spending constraint - and particularly the wage freeze being endured by many in the public sector.

To alleviate such difficulties, Mr Salmond argued, it was vital to provide continuing compensation in the form of public benefits - such as free personal care, free prescriptions, free travel.

A counter case could be made by some that such universality of provision benefits the relatively well off more than the poor - in that the low-waged might expect such benefits in any case under a targeted system.

To contest such arguments, Mr Salmond turned to a contrast: that between the approach he plans in Scotland and his vision of what is happening south of the border.

His vision, of course, would be disdained as a caricature by those in government at Westminster.

More from Brian Taylor
The first minister told MSPs: "In the age of Twitter and texts, the dreams of a free-speaking world are contaminated by viral strains of bitterness.

"Technology has given fresh energy to old hatreds and pustulant sectarianism again seeps across our land.

"Well, it will be stopped - I will not have people living in fear from some idiotic 17th Century rivalry in the 21st Century."

Mr Salmond said sectarianism "must stop", adding: "Not because it is embarrassing to our national image - though it is.

"Nor that it is embarrassing to ourselves - though it is that too - but because it is a pointless cause pursued by the pitiless."

Turning to Scotland's "booze culture", Mr Salmond went on: "I think that we have confused our appetite for fun with a hunger for self-destruction.

"We tolerate a race to the bottom of the bottle, which ruins our health, our judgement, our relationships, our safety and our dignity.

"Thus, early legislation in this parliament shall address both bigotry and booze."

Mr Salmond said his government had committed to helping hard-pressed Scots by freezing the council tax over the course of the five-year parliament and moving against public sector compulsory redundancies.

The SNP has also committed to keeping prescription charges and bridge tolls free, while maintaining free bus travel for the elderly and protecting NHS spending.

Defining the social wage as a "pact" between politicians, public services and the people, the first minister said: "We shall deliver the social and economic circumstances that allow for people to dream, to aspire and to be ambitious - but it is for the individual to realise their dreams, to reach for their hopes, to meet their ambitions.

"People understand that public spending must be restrained, and, in return, we will stand alongside the family in Dumfries that wants to send their daughter to university.

"We will support the commuter in Dunfermline who travels daily across the Forth or the family in Ayrshire who would otherwise have to choose which medicine they can afford this month.

"And we will protect the pensioner in Inverness who lives off her savings and fears ever-rising prices and bills."

Mr Salmond said the SNP's planned Scottish Futures Fund would tackle "endemic problems" with support for young people, transport, housing and new, digital technology.

And the government would also prioritise the "internationalisation" of Scotland's economy, in areas such as renewable energy.

Hitting out at the UK government, Mr Salmond said: "Elsewhere on these isles, the tolerance of the poor is being tested - budgets slashed, priorities changed, hope crushed in the braying tones of people who claim to know best.

"We should aspire to be different. In Scotland the poor won't be made to pick up the bill for the rich."

Mr Salmond again called for Westminster to devolve control over increased borrowing powers, corporation tax, excise duties, control over the Crown Estate, broadcasting and increased influence in Europe.

And, turning to the referendum, Mr Salmond told MSPs: "The age of benign dictat is over.

"This parliament is not a lobby group, begging Westminster for what is already ours. This parliament speaks for the people of Scotland and they shall be heard."

Outgoing Labour leader Iain Gray called on the first minister to make his referendum plans clear at the earliest opportunity, saying the issue was creating uncertainty over Scotland's economic future.

Mr Gray said of Scotland: "I think it is big enough, rich enough in talent and certainly smart, creative and educated enough to take every opportunity being part of a bigger social and economic unit affords it."

Tory leader Annabel Goldie, who is also standing down from her role, said she was proud to be both Scottish and British - but argued it was not possible to be for both independence and extended devolution within Britain.

She said the Scotland Bill on more powers for Holyrood, currently going through Westminster, was "the way ahead".

"Alex Salmond's is not the only mandate," said Miss Goldie, adding: "Scotland by referendum has voted for a devolved Scottish Parliament with tax varying powers - that is the settled will."

Is young Harry with you?

First up, supporting a British team playing a British sport sponsored by a British beer.  Combined with the Jesus pose, this fella is making a serious effort to claim the title:

[Polish police crack down on football hooligans]

Welcome to Soccer Hooligan Watch.  We begin with trouble at West Ham when police were called following reports of disturbances arising from a player's refusal to sign an autograph.

16 May 2011 Last updated at 19:52 ET

Police were called to reports of trouble involving West Ham players and supporters at a top London hotel.

The club, which was relegated from the Premier League on Sunday, held its end of season dinner at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane.

Trouble is thought to have broken out at Monday evening's £275-a-head event when a player refused to sign an autograph for a supporter.

A spokesman for the Metropolitan Police said no arrests were made.

He said: "We were called at 2115 BST to reports of a disturbance at the Grosvenor House Hotel in Park Lane.

"Officers attended. There were no offences alleged and no arrests."

A spokeswoman for the club denied there had been any trouble.

West Ham's relegation to the Championship was confirmed with a 3-2 defeat at fellow strugglers Wigan Athletic.

Just over an hour after the match, the club's owners confirmed they had sacked manager Avram Grant.

Polish police have been called in to crack down on hooligans in the wake of Poland's cup final a few weeks ago.

Polish police crack down on football hooligans
(AFP) – 6 days ago

WARSAW — Polish police Tuesday announced they had arrested 21 people in a crackdown on football hooligans, in the wake of trouble that marred the Euro 2012 host nation's cup final last week.

"They were identified thanks to surveillance recordings. The evidence has enabled them to be charged with destruction of property, invading the pitch and attacking security forces, including the police," Poland's police chief Andrzej Matejuk was quoted as saying by the national news agency PAP.

Police said that more arrests were on the cards, because they had identified 70 individuals involved in the cup final fracas in the northern city of Bydgoszcz on May 3.

The game pitted high-flying sides Lech Poznan and Legia Warsaw. After it ended 1-1, Legia went on to win 5-4 on penalties and supporters of both sides invaded the pitch, forcing the police to step in.

They also smashed up seats and other stadium equipment.

There is no love lost between fans from the western city of Poznan and those from the Polish capital Warsaw, and hardcore supporters of both Lech and Legia have earned a reputation for making trouble.

After the cup final trouble, Polish authorities ordered Lech and Legia to play their next home matches in empty grounds.
That sparked a street protest by some 3,000 Legia fans outside their stadium on Friday, some of whom wore masks and threatened television crews and news photographers. Inside, Legia beat league stragglers Korona Kielce 3-1.
Lech fans also tasted victory at a distance, as the Poznan side beat mid-table Gornik Zabrze 2-0 on Saturday.
Putting aside often bitter rivalries, fans of clubs across the Polish league also held match-day protests over the weekend.
They targeted centre-right Prime Minister Donald Tusk -- an ardent football supporter -- whose government has pledged to get tough with hooligans ahead of next year's European Championships which Poland will host with neighbouring Ukraine.
Even those at Lechia Gdansk, the club the premier supports, refused to take their seats and unfurled a banner reading: "Stand closed at the request of Donald Tusk".

Since the demise of Poland's communist regime in 1989, some fans here have formed groups that worship England's once-notorious hooligan "firms".

Rival clubs' hooligans organise "ustawki", or pre-arranged fights.

They also have clout inside football grounds, sometimes using boycotts to force clubs to climb down when individuals are hit by hooliganism-related stadium bans.

In addition, members of some hooligan gangs have been charged for crossing into mainstream crime such as drug-trafficking and racketeering.

Last month, the government announced a new legal crackdown, with a raft of measures to be in place in time for the Euro 2012.

A key plank is fast-track handling of troublemakers, with special rooms being set up in stadiums with video links to courthouses from which judges will try the defendants.

In addition, hooligans who have already been banned from Poland's stadiums face electronic tagging.

Around 1,800 people are currently serving hooliganism-related stadium bans in Poland, a nation of 38 million. They will be jailed right away if they breach their tag conditions.

That'll learn 'em.

Drugs, drink and the stench of urine are alive, alive oh

Tuesday May 10 2011

Queen Elizabeth and Barack Obama are on their way to Dublin, but we won't be be in a hurry to show them sections of the city centre where drug dealers, drunks and beggars rule the roost. John Meagher reports. Photos by Dave Meehan and Ronan Lang.

It is a gloriously sunny May morning in Dublin and there's considerable drama happening outside Ireland's national theatre, The Abbey. A crowd of vagrants __ their faces ravaged by years of drug addiction __ roar obscenities at each other. They seem to be arguing over the final dregs of cider in a large plastic bottle. One of them __ a woman who looks like she's in her 40s but is probably much younger __ swings a punch at an especially emaciated man and keels over in the effort.

The commotion lasts for five minutes until they split into two groups __ the smaller bunch making their way unsteadily towards Eden Quay, the other along Marlborough Street in a northbound direction. They leave behind a trail of litter __ including the empty cider bottle.

The Abbey Street Luas stop is less than 100 metres away from the National Theatre __ and roughly the same distance again from O'Connell Street, the home of Clery's famous department store, the Spire and the Gresham Hotel.

Among the waiting crowd of shoppers and tourists is another group of drug addicts. They are hustled around the ticket machines, loudly demanding change from nervous customers.

As the tram arrives, an addict steps absent-mindedly in front of it and the driver is forced to slam on the brakes and blare the horn. That seems to be the cue for his companions to join him on the track, blocking the progress of the Luas.

What is perhaps surprising, as the tourist season kicks off and on the eve of VIP visits by Queen Elizabeth and US President Barack Obama, is how commonplace scenes like this have become on Dublin's streets.

Ireland needs the tourist euro like never before. Last year was a disaster for visitor numbers with figures showing a 15pc drop in Irish trips by overseas visitors from the previous year to 5.6 million people, and Dublin took a major hit. it lost 500,000 visitors compared to 2009.

Yet, for shoppers, workers, business owners and tourists, large swathes of Dublin city centre have become areas to be hurried through __ while side-stepping drug dealers, drug users, drunks, beggars and feral children.

Apart from a few well-heeled thoroughfares, many people, locals and visitors alike, say they feel deeply uncomfortable with what they see. They feel unsafe. They feel threatened.

Daylight or night time, it makes little difference. many of the city's streets are shabby and menacing.

Just listen to Pat Liddy, a respected Dublin historian who conducts walking tours of the city: ""There are sections of it east of O'Connell Street that are virtually no-go and even around the so-called affluent Grafton Street, there are problems. The lane-ways off it are the pits. It's all very dispiriting for a proud Dub like me."

In London and New York, huge steps have been taken to clean up tourist areas such as Leicester Square and Times Square, with intensive policing and anti-dereliction schemes. Critics say Dublin now needs the same fresh ideas to arrest its dramatic slide.

Perhaps the most startling observation comes from Ciara Sugrue of Dublin Tourism, who, in a blunt admission, said of the city: "Anti-social behaviour rules the roost."

Angry that their funding from Fáilte Ireland is minuscule compared to the rest of the country, Dublin Tourism says a run-down capital is having a hugely detrimental impact on our potential.

Sugrue points out that Dublin was the sixth most popular European capital in 2007 but the city has now slipped out of the top 10 to 11th.

Senior gardaí admit there are problems, but they insist the force is making progress.

Yet the evidence is hard to ignore. The owner of one tourism business said some of his visitors have vowed never to return to Dublin.

"They're shocked by the poverty, the on-street drinking, the urination, the petty thefts," said Cathal O'Connell of Paddy Wagon, which caters for backpackers.

The city's increasingly ugly face can be seen at first hand in a long walk around the city centre __ north and south of the river __ a litany of nastiness in broad daylight.

In just a few daylight hours last week, I witnessed what many people in the city see every day: a drug deal in a laneway off Eden Quay, as two young men exchanged a tiny plastic bag and money.

Nearby a man lay prostrate on the pretty boardwalk near the Ha'penny Bridge. Under the blooming hanging baskets, he lay prone with blood and vomit soaking his tattered T-shirt.

Near Mulligan's famous pub on Poolbeg Street __ a must for any visitor __ a man dropped his trousers in broad daylight and urinated, his waste streaking the pavement just metres away from disgusted female passers-by.

Minutes later, near Mabbot Lane, teenage girls from an English lacrosse team stood transfixed as a drug-addled couple verbally abused each other in front of them. The female was accusing her partner of beating their child.

Nearby, another tourist favourite __ a line of Dublin Bikes __ was under assault. A group of feral children, oblivious to the onlookers, hacked away at the machines's tyres, saddles and bells, in an attempt to render them unusable.

Everyone seems to have a story. Tom O'Neill and his wife, Anna, a couple in their 50s, were visiting last week from upstate New York, their first visit to Tom's ancestral country. Both were shocked at how grubby Dublin city is and the extent of public drinking __ a criminal offence in the US.

The couple had been looking for the famous Pro-Cathedral in Marlborough Street. "We're staying near Merrion Square and that part of the Dublin is lovely," Tom said, "but I can't get over the difference on this side of the river. I'd no idea there were so many homeless people in Ireland, and there seems to be a major drug problem, too.

"The concierge told us to be careful about coming to this side of town at night time and I can see exactly what he means. We don't feel very safe now. The camera is staying in the bag."

It was a feeling mirrored by Rie and Michael, a pair of marketing students from Denmark, staying in a hostel on Gardiner Street. Neither wanted to walk the area at night.

"Copenhagen has its problems too," Michael said, "but you don't really see it in the centre of the city where the tourists are. I can't believe how many people seem to be drunk in the middle of the day, falling about."

The pair laughed when told Dublin 1 was __ long before the introduction of postcodes __ the most prestigious part of the city. "Well, it definitely does not feel like that now," Rie said. "That must have been a long time ago."

It is indeed difficult to imagine that this part of our capital was far more fashionable than the southside in the early 18th century. It was only when the Duke of Leinster built his imposing townhouse on what's now Kildare Street that the moneyed set followed him across the Liffey.

The north inner city has never truly recovered. O'Connell Street may have had a much-needed facelift in recent years, but the streets off it remain down at heel. It's clear that today's issues are not just about policing. Dublin City Council has much to answer for too.

One need only venture into Sackville Place to see how derelict this part of Dublin truly is. Once you go past the Clery's building you step back to a world that remained untouched by the Celtic Tiger.

There's a desolate row of shops, almost all unoccupied. Last week, an old man lay sleeping in a doorway. The lane near it, Earl Place, is so uninviting, even the homeless avoid it.

I retraced my footsteps and walked down Marlborough Street. There was a persistent smell of urine and it was impossible to walk up the street without noticing the sheer numbers of drug addicts congregating here.

Drug treatment centres pockmark Dublin 1 __ and this is the result, on a once magnificent street parallel to O'Connell Street and just 100m away.

At the corner where Marlborough, Talbot and North Earl streets meet, staff who work in the shops here are on constant alert. Just a stone's throw from the Pro-Cathedral and the HQ of the Department for Education, the area is a notorious hang-out for drug dealers and shoplifters.

West of O'Connell Street and it's much the same story. Middle Abbey and Henry streets are comparatively free of anti-social behaviour, but once you reach Wolfe Tone Park (behind the Jervis Shopping Centre) and environs, it's a depressingly familiar story.

Last week, the park was teeming with tourists and workers having lunch, yet the mood was dominated by a group of drunk men, congregating near The Church pub, and a large group of teenage boys, shouting foul language at strangers and themselves.

Up at Smithfield, a plaza re-developed at vast public expense, the smell of failure was everywhere. The Lighthouse Cinema has closed and numerous other businesses are boarded up. The square was deserted.

I completed my walk on Middle Abbey Street and watched a group of Romany gypsies harassing customers having coffee outside Arnotts. Anti-begging legislation was introduced last year and has been a qualified success, but gangs are still operating across the city.

It's a scene __ like so many others I witnessed on the Dublin tourist trail __ that is almost guaranteed to make visitors say: "We'll never come back again. And we'll advise our friends never to visit Dublin ... "

Tomorrow

The senior Garda chief responsible for a large part of the north-inner city gives his views. We also speak to Lord Mayor Gerry Breen, a city drug clinic, an outspoken business leader and a visionary planner at Dublin City Council.

- John Meagher

Had a very brief visit to Dublin on my last trip home.  O'Connell St looked a bit shabby all right, despite all the nice paving and street furniture.  Couldn't get over the absence of cops though. I was in Times Square last year and there seemed to be a handful of NYPD officers standing at every corner - and the place felt 100% safe.  You'd be afraid of dropping a chewing gum wrapper in a place like that, which is how it should be.

This was just posted on wikipedia, which I thought was interesting:

Barack Obama won't visit Croke Park
Trevor Keane, 5 May 2011

US President Barack Obama will not get the chance to make a historic visit to Croke Park when he flies into Ireland.

Obama had been due to deliver a speech at the home of the GAA however this will now not occur after security concerns were raised. Obama will now only spend 24 hours in Ireland arriving aboard Air Force on Monday the 23rd May at 9.30am.

Obama will be greeted by Enda Kenny before going to Aras an Uachtaran to meet his Irish counterpart Mary McAleese at a formal reception.

Obama will then travel to Moneygall via helicopter, the home of his 6th great grandfather Fulmuth Kearney before returning to Dublin for a public event. This public event has initially been earmarked for Croke Park however given the time frame and security required an alternative venue will be sought. Obama will then overnight with U.S Ambassador Dan Rooney at his residence in the Phoenix Park before leaving for London around midday the following morning.

http://www.sportsnewsireland.com/gaa/22914/

Mainly focusses on the helmet issue. Slate has a big readership, my hurling movie is going to get a lot of hits from this:

The Craziest Men in Sports
In hurling, the ball moves 100 miles per hour. So why don't goalkeepers want to wear facemasks?
By Loren BerlinPosted Wednesday, April 13, 2011, at 6:45 AM ET

Imagine you're sprinting down a 160-yard field. As you run, you balance a tiny ball—small as a hockey puck, hard as a baseball—on the end of your stick, as in lacrosse. Except where the lacrosse stick has a woven pocket, your stick has a flat, wooden blade, and where lacrosse requires protective gear you wear neither pads nor gloves. Now imagine that your opponents are waving these same axe-like cudgels. They are coming at you from all sides, hoping to hook you from behind or block you from the front. You race down the gigantic field while considering your options. You could pass to a teammate, either with a slap of the bare hand or with a kick. No one is open, though, so you prepare to take a shot—never mind that you're still 100 yards out from the goal. You lean back and swing hard, like a baseball player at bat, feeling the satisfying reverb in your arms as you connect with the ball.

Continued...

My favourite comment:

"In 1997, goalkeeper Joe Quaid shattered one testicle..." 

Well, now he can truthfully tell people that he busted a nut while thousands watched.

[GAA to issue Social Media Guidelines]

GAA to issue Social Media Guidelines


12.04.11

Soccer stars cross channel and some of Ireland's rugby internationals have seen themselves drawn into controversy with their use of Twitter in the past; the GAA are keen to avoid any repeat for their players.  The Association is currently working on guidelines that will be issued to players and officials having consulted with FIFA, the FAI and the IRFU.

The main purpose of the guidelines is to make those within the GAA aware of the consequences that might result by tweeting or posting comments of Facebook.  GAA Director of Communications Lisa Clancy told TV3 "Any social media that's there; people have to realise once they publish on it, it's for public knowledge".

"We'll be issuing overall social media guidelines for everybody, players, and officials, just to give them a guide to make them aware of the responsibilities they will have if they're going on Twitter (for example).  But everybody's personal Twitter is up to themselves".

Official GAA is already on Twitter while Director General Paraic Duffy referred to the need to make use of social networking sites to communicate with younger members in his Annual Report.

Files by TV3 Gaelic Games Correspondent Kieran McSweeney