The official line from fáilte Ireland is that hotel rates in Dublin are in line with the other European cities it considers to be competitors, except that Dublin has more events where surge pricing kicks in. If it's good enough for tourists it's good enough for govt leaders, I say. jrnl.ie/6907827
'We should show we're good value': Minister urges hotels not to hike prices for EU Presidency
Minister of State Thomas Byrne says the Presidency next year is an important moment for Ireland Inc.
jrnl.ie
December 22, 2025 at 9:07 AM
The official line from fáilte Ireland is that hotel rates in Dublin are in line with the other European cities it considers to be competitors, except that Dublin has more events where surge pricing kicks in. If it's good enough for tourists it's good enough for govt leaders, I say. jrnl.ie/6907827
The HSE's problem with sacking staff is prob a lack of resourcing in HR and failing to progress internal processes in a timely fashion. It's the only public sector employer I can think of which has failed to show up to the WRC to answer statutory complaints.
www.independent.ie/irish-news/s...
www.independent.ie/irish-news/s...
Sacking process for public servants must be sped up, urges HSE boss Bernard Gloster
The chief executive of the HSE has said new laws are needed to speed up staff dismissals and hold public servants to account.
www.independent.ie
December 21, 2025 at 4:07 PM
The HSE's problem with sacking staff is prob a lack of resourcing in HR and failing to progress internal processes in a timely fashion. It's the only public sector employer I can think of which has failed to show up to the WRC to answer statutory complaints.
www.independent.ie/irish-news/s...
www.independent.ie/irish-news/s...
WRC adjudicator launches claim for penalisation and gender bias against State
www.independent.ie/irish-news/c... Pp
www.independent.ie/irish-news/c... Pp
WRC adjudicator launches claim for penalisation and gender bias against State
A Workplace Relations Commission (WRC) adjudicator has launched his own WRC case against the State, alleging he suffered “mistreatment” for acting as a staff representative as well as gender-related d...
www.independent.ie
December 19, 2025 at 2:03 PM
WRC adjudicator launches claim for penalisation and gender bias against State
www.independent.ie/irish-news/c... Pp
www.independent.ie/irish-news/c... Pp
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
Executive awarded €180,000 for ‘no fault’ dismissal
Executive awarded €180,000 for ‘no fault’ dismissal
Award is largest this year for such case
www.irishtimes.com
December 17, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Executive awarded €180,000 for ‘no fault’ dismissal
The government has nonetheless been content to find €500m for the French arms industry. And the opportunity cost in delayed infrastructure?
They've done it again, they've cut more rail projects. The most criminal one for me is cancelling the reopening of the Waterford-Wexford/Rosslare line. On the left is the All-island Rail Review published by the last government and on the right is the plan published today.
December 17, 2025 at 1:42 AM
The government has nonetheless been content to find €500m for the French arms industry. And the opportunity cost in delayed infrastructure?
The Beckett Class has thermal imaging in its fire control optic system, so the statement the Yeats is "not equipped with night-time optics" is factually inaccurate.
December 14, 2025 at 12:25 PM
The Beckett Class has thermal imaging in its fire control optic system, so the statement the Yeats is "not equipped with night-time optics" is factually inaccurate.
I kept meaning to get the flu jab I've just not had time. Last time I did was when it was offered at work. The govt could require all workplaces with more than fifty staff to have a flu jab clinic on site or mandate inoculation leave.
Two days ago Patrick O'Donovan bemoaned (or blamed the public for?) the low uptake of the flu vaccine, and today it's reported that the HSE has run out of child flu nasal vaccines - at 21% uptake, when the target is 50%.
Maybe Patrick should direct his fire at his own government?
Maybe Patrick should direct his fire at his own government?
December 13, 2025 at 6:35 PM
I kept meaning to get the flu jab I've just not had time. Last time I did was when it was offered at work. The govt could require all workplaces with more than fifty staff to have a flu jab clinic on site or mandate inoculation leave.
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
Dublin's Henry St in 1954 as depicted in Dublin Opinion.
December 12, 2025 at 6:50 PM
Dublin's Henry St in 1954 as depicted in Dublin Opinion.
The 1-2 platoon strength force proposed by General Collins would be quickly run out of supplies. The army could have armour on the scene within hours and set up artillery at leisure. Staggeringly low sortie rates for aircraft deploying from Russia, vulnerable to manpads in Irish service.
It’s silly only because Shannon is currently of too little strategic value. But an equally true answer to the question is that we would be utterly powerless to stop them and, as we have assumed for the last 70 years, we’d be 100% reliant on our European neighbor’s military forces to intervene.
December 13, 2025 at 12:12 AM
The 1-2 platoon strength force proposed by General Collins would be quickly run out of supplies. The army could have armour on the scene within hours and set up artillery at leisure. Staggeringly low sortie rates for aircraft deploying from Russia, vulnerable to manpads in Irish service.
At least two of those pixels are a bright yellow
Image of the dark vessel captured by satellite shortly before last weeks drone incident. The next images are off the nearby Naval Service vessels P63 and P71.
EU satellite images identified ‘dark vessel’ in Irish Sea that could be linked to rogue drones
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
EU satellite images identified ‘dark vessel’ in Irish Sea that could be linked to rogue drones
www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2025...
December 12, 2025 at 11:58 PM
At least two of those pixels are a bright yellow
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
‘He’s a posh Belvedere boy’, Aer Lingus pilot tells WRC about co-pilots use of word apologies
‘He’s a posh Belvedere boy’, Aer Lingus pilot tells WRC about co-pilots use of word apologies
Airline denies statutory complaints brought by Declan McCabe, under the Protected Disclosures Act 2014
www.irishtimes.com
December 12, 2025 at 6:41 PM
‘He’s a posh Belvedere boy’, Aer Lingus pilot tells WRC about co-pilots use of word apologies
Just in case anyone hasn't mentioned, if the Russians sent a company or two of light infantry to take over Shannon Airport, they would suffer brutal casualties and the rest would be arrested.
December 12, 2025 at 10:22 PM
Just in case anyone hasn't mentioned, if the Russians sent a company or two of light infantry to take over Shannon Airport, they would suffer brutal casualties and the rest would be arrested.
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
December 11, 2025 at 5:01 PM
"Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed."
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
-Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1953
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
People Travelling To US Told To Delete Comments Criticising Thin Skinned Cunt https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2025/04/14/people-travelling-to-us-told-to-delete-comments-criticising-thin-skinned-cunt/
People Travelling To US Told To Delete Comments Criticising Thin Skinned Cunt
IRISH tourists hopeful of travelling to the Land of the Free in the wake of President Trump restoring free speech have been advised to delete all criticism of the thin-skinned cunt from their phones or …
waterfordwhispersnews.com
December 11, 2025 at 7:02 PM
People Travelling To US Told To Delete Comments Criticising Thin Skinned Cunt https://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2025/04/14/people-travelling-to-us-told-to-delete-comments-criticising-thin-skinned-cunt/
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
The winner of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest has handed back their trophy because of Israel’s continued participation.
Nemo won the 2024 edition on behalf of Switzerland but today said that they “no longer feels this trophy belongs on my shelf”.
jrnl.ie/6901023
Nemo won the 2024 edition on behalf of Switzerland but today said that they “no longer feels this trophy belongs on my shelf”.
jrnl.ie/6901023
2024 Eurovision winner hands back trophy due to Israel’s participation
Nemo won 2024’s Eurovision on behalf of Switzerland.
jrnl.ie
December 11, 2025 at 5:37 PM
The winner of the 2024 Eurovision Song Contest has handed back their trophy because of Israel’s continued participation.
Nemo won the 2024 edition on behalf of Switzerland but today said that they “no longer feels this trophy belongs on my shelf”.
jrnl.ie/6901023
Nemo won the 2024 edition on behalf of Switzerland but today said that they “no longer feels this trophy belongs on my shelf”.
jrnl.ie/6901023
Sorry but I'm fully committed to secularism with the odd foray into pagan aesthetic and ritual Europe. I think this "fundamentally Christian civilisation" thing is probably laying it on a bit thick for a set of values that had barely sunk in by the I'm late 19th century.
In @nytopinion.nytimes.com
Europe must “persuade younger Europeans that their heritage, culture and way of life — a fundamentally Christian civilization leavened and improved but not erased by the values of the Enlightenment — are worth defending,” our columnist Bret Stephens writes.
Europe must “persuade younger Europeans that their heritage, culture and way of life — a fundamentally Christian civilization leavened and improved but not erased by the values of the Enlightenment — are worth defending,” our columnist Bret Stephens writes.
Opinion | Europe, Too, Is Worth Fighting For
Provided Europeans want to fight for it.
nyti.ms
December 11, 2025 at 2:13 AM
Sorry but I'm fully committed to secularism with the odd foray into pagan aesthetic and ritual Europe. I think this "fundamentally Christian civilisation" thing is probably laying it on a bit thick for a set of values that had barely sunk in by the I'm late 19th century.
"for Ireland" -- but which Ireland?
What a shocker. Agriculture minister who’s also a livestock farmer thinks livestock farmers should be free to continue to pour shit into our waterways with impunity, all the while pocketing taxpayer subsidies. This is his “ambition”.
What a country we live in.
www.irishexaminer.com/farming/arid...
What a country we live in.
www.irishexaminer.com/farming/arid...
Agriculture minister says it's his 'ambition' to secure future derogation deals for Ireland
Martin Heydon said securing derogation deals for Ireland post 2028 was his 'ambition' for the future
www.irishexaminer.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:04 AM
"for Ireland" -- but which Ireland?
Heard about a three-hour commute via the N11 this morning.
The worst time for the DART to be cancelled. Rush hour on a Tuesday. Wouldn't like to be checking the price of a hotel in town tonight.
December 10, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Heard about a three-hour commute via the N11 this morning.
Great to see the OPW getting out there with comms on social media warning against getting too close to deer in the Park.
Santa has a special request this Christmas! His friends in the Phoenix Park are wild deer, getting too close and feeding them can make them sick.
The best gift you can give them is your space – just keep 50m back (that's like 5 Dublin buses!).
#SantasDeerWatch #ProtectOurPark #DontFeedTheDeer
The best gift you can give them is your space – just keep 50m back (that's like 5 Dublin buses!).
#SantasDeerWatch #ProtectOurPark #DontFeedTheDeer
December 10, 2025 at 10:05 AM
Great to see the OPW getting out there with comms on social media warning against getting too close to deer in the Park.
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
I'm too old for the Twelve Pubs of Christmas and it's not just because drinking that amount of alcohol would make me hungover until 2047 (it would). It's because, at the age of 36, if I get a seat in a pub *in December* and you come over and tell me that we have to go somewhere else, it's over.
December 9, 2025 at 5:08 PM
I'm too old for the Twelve Pubs of Christmas and it's not just because drinking that amount of alcohol would make me hungover until 2047 (it would). It's because, at the age of 36, if I get a seat in a pub *in December* and you come over and tell me that we have to go somewhere else, it's over.
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
We are barely 30 days removed from Housing Minister James Browne saying he believes he can end the housing crisis in the next four years
Government video on how to cope with moving back in with parents slammed as 'dystopian'
“Is this Waterford Whispers?,” was the immediate reaction from one Opposition TD.
www.thejournal.ie
December 8, 2025 at 4:52 PM
We are barely 30 days removed from Housing Minister James Browne saying he believes he can end the housing crisis in the next four years
The problem isn't, of course, the comms people who commissioned this crazy nonsense. The problem is that nobody anywhere in the Department of Housing with eyes on this had the wit or instinct to shoot it down.
“A very bad joke”, “embarrassing”, “patronising”, “dystopian”, and “tone deaf” are some of the words that have been used to describe a video from the Department of Housing advising people on moving back in with their parents.
www.thejournal.ie/department-o...
www.thejournal.ie/department-o...
Government video on how to cope with moving back in with parents slammed as 'dystopian'
“Is this Waterford Whispers?,” was the immediate reaction from one Opposition TD.
www.thejournal.ie
December 8, 2025 at 8:23 PM
The problem isn't, of course, the comms people who commissioned this crazy nonsense. The problem is that nobody anywhere in the Department of Housing with eyes on this had the wit or instinct to shoot it down.
Reposted by Stephen Bourke
“A very bad joke”, “embarrassing”, “patronising”, “dystopian”, and “tone deaf” are some of the words that have been used to describe a video from the Department of Housing advising people on moving back in with their parents.
www.thejournal.ie/department-o...
www.thejournal.ie/department-o...
Government video on how to cope with moving back in with parents slammed as 'dystopian'
“Is this Waterford Whispers?,” was the immediate reaction from one Opposition TD.
www.thejournal.ie
December 8, 2025 at 4:40 PM
“A very bad joke”, “embarrassing”, “patronising”, “dystopian”, and “tone deaf” are some of the words that have been used to describe a video from the Department of Housing advising people on moving back in with their parents.
www.thejournal.ie/department-o...
www.thejournal.ie/department-o...
The navy already had some of the best available military technology to track drones fitted on the WB Yeats but still bungled it (if there were any drones at all). The media has been pretending the boat had no such capability. Do not pass go and remit €17 million in public money to the arms trade.
Up to €17m to be spent on technology to track and intercept drones
Up to €17m to be spent on technology to track and intercept drones
Incident during Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s visit is believed to have been intended to cause embarrassment to the Republic and highlight weak defences
www.irishtimes.com
December 8, 2025 at 8:32 AM
The navy already had some of the best available military technology to track drones fitted on the WB Yeats but still bungled it (if there were any drones at all). The media has been pretending the boat had no such capability. Do not pass go and remit €17 million in public money to the arms trade.