Messages

Link is here:

https://www.gov.ie/pdf/?file=https://assets.gov.ie/265178/a839ee26-16c4-407d-bd5b-327ce0e067f5.pdf#page=null

(Bit surprised they printed in Times New Roman, do they not know its long since been discarded in favour of more dyslexic friendly fonts like Calibri or Tahoma...!)

This investment would take the best part of 25 years to deliver, which suggests an annual capital spend of the order of € .27/£1.06bn would be required in addition to existing commitments (2021 prices, excl. VAT). Updated cost estimates in 2023 prices are provided in Appendix B. While significant, these costs would represent a similar annual spend as was committed in the middle of the 2000s when Ireland expanded its motorway network, and they would be shared across both jurisdictions

Would the upgraded rail network deliver the same benefits as the motorway network? I wouldn't think so in terms of transport times or cost - it'd only be in terms of carbon footprint - and that's dependent on the govt getting people off the motorways and onto the trains. Would electrifying the motorways so they'd charge electric cars deliver better "carbon" returns on the investment?

(or more to the point, just delivering point charging infrastructure! https://assets.gov.ie/220099/2ee020ea-99a6-439e-851b-48d0b410e746.pdf)

Other references of interest:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jul/27/ehighways-could-slash-uk-road-freight-emissions-says-study

If they were all amalgamated, would the GAA not immediately be accused of not knowing what's best for the ladies game(s)?

My boss went to pick up his all electric Audi. Dealer told him hydrogen will be ushered in quicker that people think. Replacing electric cars. (Ain't gonna  be tomorrow but food for thought)

Ah, not convinced.

I got a run in a Merc fuel cell motor in Hamburg over 10 years ago now. Was a demo model that Merc were renting to people for evaluation.

Never went anywhere. Big problem has remained unchanged - efficiently storing the hydrogen and avoiding embrittlement over the long term.

Mad fact - there is more hydrogen in a litre of water than there is in a litre of liquid hydrogen! (~110 g of H2 in a litre of water, ~ 71 g of H2 in a litre of liquid H2)

The majority of them are paid far too much.

Its not like there is a vast pool of alternative employers for them - dunno why in contract negotiations RTÉ don't just say "grand so, go away off wherever you want then, we'll get someone else"

Ye'd soon find that the bulk of them would moderate their pay demands then.

I've always been confused why the Russian air force didn't make a bigger impact in Ukraine.

Lack of good precision guided munitions and electronic warfare.

They were saying on the news last night that the shape of Titan compared to other submersibles could have been a design flaw as the pressure wouldn't have been distributed around it evenly.

Its definitely a design compromise. You get more useable internal volume in a capped cylinder than you do in a pure sphere.

Its only a flaw if the designers didn't account for the various stress concentrations that arise from that compromise. Which I'd be very surprised if they didn't think they were doing that right - its pretty basic.

What happens a body exposed to that pressure so quickly. Would there be anything left of them? Terrible tragedy but in one way a better way to go than waiting for days for the end.

They'll have been vapourised when the internal air was exposed to the external pressure.

Suppose the silver lining is- they won't have known or felt a thing, from the initial crack till the end, it'll all have been over in milliseconds.

I was shocked to read that Joe Brolly was planning to boycott the Ulster Final if RG was there. Isn't or wasn't he a barrister? I'm sure he's had to defend some unsavoury characters

You have to open your wallet to get them to park their morals.

[but if allegations are made of a violent or sexual nature]

Very surprised with your take on this.

My take is fairly simple. NG has been badly failed by social services and her legal representation* - not the Derry county board.

Some of the expectations on the Derry CB "investigations" of matters in this thread are wholly ludicrous.


*my natural dislike of the legal system is also probably shining through; barristers are quick enough to rake all other professions over the coals in court inquests with the benefit of hindsight and an assumption of infinite resources - so IMO what is good for the goose - how the f**k are family law practitioners not expected to identify the signs of an raise concerns with the investigating authorities in divorce/child custody cases? If there are already such expectations, will there be any action taken against NG's representatives?

**teachers are educators, yet are expected to pick up on and raise child abuse concerns.

Probably should jump in here and defend my colleagues.  Not only is that a vast generalisation it also displays an ignorance of the legal system.  Mistakes can and do happen and on that basis I have been very keen not to make any comment on this case because I wasn't involved.  There are important general things that have to be remembered though.

Firstly and most importantly family courts are private and therefore it is impossible to know what was and what was not raised in any case but if allegations are made of a violent or sexual nature the court must conduct what is called a Re L hearing.  That is a hearing to determine the truth of any allegation.  That is done to the civil standard which is much lower than the criminal standard and involves a detailed and thorough investigation.

Social services will be involved and will investigate.  They are notoriously conservative and will take very seriously any allegations of domestic abuse.  Guardian Ad Litems will be appointed, they are specifically trained to speak to any children involved and to rely the views of those children through separate lawyers appointed by the Guardians.

Grandparents or other family members are also often separately represented.

The court will hear evidence and come to a conclusion.  The test for them is not whether one parent is more suitable than the other its to determine whether either parent is suitable.  These cases are usually protracted and are very thorough.

The point I am making is that we have no idea what happened in this family case and its therefore very unfair to criticise or worse lambast the whole professional

It's a nice big answer, but doesn't actually address the concern I've raised. Well, I suppose it partially might, as you say, its all private, so maybe allegations were made, but if that were the case, would custody decisions not have been paused pending completion of judgement on abuse investigations?

If teachers (who, lets not forget, have a primary role of educating) are expected to be able to identify and raise cases of child abuse, solicitors and barristers who spend their time practicing family law (i.e. their primary role is dealing with relationships in difficulties) should have the exact same expectation of being able to identify and raise instances of abuse. Indeed, one would think the solicitors and barristers working with abuse victims would be much closer to their core role than teachers.

The requirement of the system to only kick in "if allegations are made" is, IMO, either a complete abdication of responsibility or a failure of the system to assign responsibility to both social workers and law practitioners to protect victims who are afraid to make the allegations.

Correct. And the cost is irrelevant. Who cares if it costs 500m? The money will only be spunked on something else.

Aye thats true.

Imagine if it were spent on a new wing on the RVH, or replacing a few schools that are falling apart at the seams.

That'd be just stupid.

Very surprised with your take on this.

My take is fairly simple. NG has been badly failed by social services and her legal representation* - not the Derry county board.

Some of the expectations on the Derry CB "investigations" of matters in this thread are wholly ludicrous.


*my natural dislike of the legal system is also probably shining through; barristers are quick enough to rake all other professions over the coals in court inquests with the benefit of hindsight and an assumption of infinite resources - so IMO what is good for the goose - how the f**k are family law practitioners not expected to identify the signs of an raise concerns with the investigating authorities in divorce/child custody cases? If there are already such expectations, will there be any action taken against NG's representatives?

**teachers are educators, yet are expected to pick up on and raise child abuse concerns.

[Another question that is in my mind - why did (seemingly) none of this come out when custody of the children was up? Not casting doubt on the allegations, more on how did the combination of authorities/legal representation allow things to string along this far? Did NG receive extremely bad advice during the custody proceedings?]

Exactly.

The competent authorities are the ones who should be doing the investigating and prosecuting if appropriate. Not a volunteer board whose skillset is no more applicable to the problem than landing a man on the moon.


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Another question that is in my mind - why did (seemingly) none of this come out when custody of the children was up? Not casting doubt on the allegations, more on how did the combination of authorities/legal representation allow things to string along this far? Did NG receive extremely bad advice during the custody proceedings?

If the allegations are true, which inferring from a lack of strong denial from RG they would appear to have substance, then the systematic failure needs examined and rectified.

Why don't you research coercive control?

So RG had coercive control of NG's legal advisors and social services? 

It would but that is a not going to be a runner and let's not get into that argument again. If it's a green field site you are after instead of Clones then the Maze site isn't it.

IMO, with the project being a complete clusterf__k to date - I'd be inclined to get relegate the existing project team to bystanders for opinion only and have a new team in charge and essentially restart it with nothing off the table.

First thing would be scoping out exactly how palatable the government would be to the funds going toward a new/renovated stadium that isn't Casement Park.

Was at the balmoral show the other day.

If folks are going to advocate for transport as the principal reason for Casement over Clones, then you'd have to say, the Maze over Casement makes far more sense.

- Greenfield site is cheaper to develop on
- Loads of parking
- Right on the motorway
- No planning issues
- No/Less issues around noise pollution for concerts

[criminal]

And not one of those posts by me even mention a criminal investigation.

If you are wanting someone to investigate a potential crime, determine the truth and then take action based on the outcome of said investigation, then it is a criminal investigation.

Criminal investigations can be conducted by people other than the police you know.