#Donegal County Council

[coochiequeens]

“Any person or group with good intentions does not vilify parents, purposely mislead the public nor regard themselves as above reproach. These are clear red flags,” Kimmel said.

ByShay Woulahan

July 24, 2023

A mother in Ireland was visited by police after she raised concerns about the speaker and content of a “family friendly” event which had been aimed at discussing the medical and social transitioning of children.

On July 19, Tara Hewitt, the newly-appointed head of Ireland’s largest trans activist organization, led a discussion regarding the medical transitioning of children. The event, “TENI & Tea,” took place with the support of Donegal County Council.

But the event drew concerns from women’s rights advocates in the community, especially those particularly concerned with child safeguarding. As the event was billed as “family-friendly,” many began to point out that Hewitt had a disturbing history of opposing safeguarding measures and had previously signed a declaration calling for the release of all trans-identified inmates, including pedophiles, from prison.

Last week, Jennifer Kimmel, a local women’s rights campaigner, expressed her concerns when speaking with Reduxx about the event. Kimmel pointed out that Hewitt, the new CEO of Trans Equality Network Ireland (TENI), was a self-professed BDSM fetishist.

Kimmel called into question the motives of the event organizers, Bród na Gaeltachta and TENI, for targeting minors and “vilifying” concerned parents.

“Any person or group with good intentions does not vilify parents, purposely mislead the public nor regard themselves as above reproach. These are clear red flags,” Kimmel said.

But Kimmel’s concerns about the event quickly attracted the attention of trans activists, who characterized her Tweets as “hate speech.”

Speaking to Reduxx, Kimmel explained that in response to her vocal opposition to the event, trans activists involved with “TENI & Tea” reported her to law enforcement, citing “concerns about the safety of their staff” and accusing Kimmel of “hate speech.”

On July 20, a police officer visited her home, where she said she was then “lectured about being homophobic.”

The police officer gave her a warning, stating she was treading a “fine line” and had been reported by the main organizers of “TENI & Tea,” Robbie Matthews and Pól Penrose. The officer dismissed her concerns and told her that she should “run her own event.”

Leading up to the arrival of an officer on her doorstep, Kimmel says she had called Pobail le Chéile, a local “social inclusion” voluntary organization in which Penrose is involved. Her intent was to raise safeguarding concerns given Hewitt’s history.

Kimmel explained to law enforcement that she had not harassed any particular individual, and had only called to inform the community group about the potential risk to children. She also told the officer that the event staff had insulted her in a variety of ways, calling her a “bigot, fascist, homophobe, anti-gay, cockroach, and TERF,” slurs which had led to her to receiving harassment.

Speaking with Reduxx about her interaction with the officer, Kimmel said: “I am a local mother who is very familiar with the damage trans ideology can do to women and our children. I simply attempted to register my child safeguarding concerns about the upcoming TENI event specifically targeting children.”

She continued: “This was framed as ‘far right bigotry‘ and I was referred to as anti-gay, a cockroach, fascist and a Nazi by the men promoting the events who thwarted all my attempts to address this matter through proper channels.”

She then explained that the men promoting the event purposely put her and her family in danger by referring to her in an extremist and derogatory manner.

But despite local opposition, the event went ahead as planned on July 19, and was categorized as a “health class” on Eventbrite. According to the registration page, the discussion, led by Hewitt, was meant to “provide up to date information, knowledge and allow for discussion on how best to support trans and non-binary young people.”

Tara Hewitt was previously the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group. In his role, Hewitt requested that medical personnel ignore a guidance put forward by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) preserving single-sex spaces for women receiving health services. Hewitt also branded the guidance by the EHRC as “transphobic” and urged his colleagues within the NHS to ignore its guidance. 

“This guidance is highly likely to be found unlawful at Judicial review & is incredibly transphobic … When will attacks on trans people end in UK? I urge my equality professional colleagues to give this guidance the credibility it deserves by putting it in bin & continue as usual,” Hewitt said.

With his statement, Hewitt deliberately ignored a widely-publicized incident that had occurred one month prior wherein a woman who had been raped in a single-sex hospital ward by a trans-identified male was told her assailant was a “woman.”

Hewitt has been politically active in both Labour and, more recently, the Conservative Party, for which he stood as a councilor. During his campaign it emerged that he had an interest in BDSM and dressing up as an animal during sex, euphemistically referred to as “furrydom.” He is also known for openly having discussed the acceptance of men with sexual fetishes at events focused on healthcare. 

During a 2016 presentation for the LGBT Cancer Support Alliance, Hewitt spoke about men who cross-dress for sexual pleasure, and clarified that men who wear women’s underwear to satisfy a fetish are included under the trans umbrella.

Speaking to a room filled with women, Hewitt claimed: “You’ve got people that fetishistically cross-dress and wear clothing to get a sexual desire out of the clothing of the opposite gender. It generally tends to be associated with men wearing women’s underwear.”

At the same presentation, Hewitt revealed that he had also worked with Action for Trans Health, an organization which published a manifesto demanding the immediate release of all trans criminals from prison.

“We demand that trans people are immediately freed from police, military, and government contracts without repercussions. We reject the system of blackmail that corporations and governments engage in, whereby trans people who can work are ‘rewarded’ with slightly less mistreatment in exchange for the exploitation of our labor,” read the document.

The manifesto, which has since been deleted, was published on Tumblr in 2018 and also demanded tax-payer funded access to all forms of plastic surgery and body modification without any questions asked by medical professionals.

“We demand the freedom to alter our bodies without justification. We demand an end to all surgical prerequisites — nobody should have to prove life experience, health, or have to be taking hormones in order to exercise bodily autonomy,” Action for Trans Health stated. 

“We demand that these surgeries can be highly customized to meet our individual and unique needs. We demand the right to multiple surgeries, including reversal of previous surgeries if desired, so that we do not have to fear regret.”

[scotianostra]

On September 23rd 704 St Adamnan died.

Like many of these early Celtic saints, Adamnan was born of royal blood in County Donegal sometime around 624. His name means “Little Adam.”

Educated by local monks, he became a novice at the monastery of Iona. Eventually, when he was about 55, he rose to become the ninth abbot of the abbey at Iona. He must have been an outstanding leader, because he was also chosen to serve as “president” of all of the monasteries that had sprung out of the missionary work of St. Columba.

Adamnan is most famous for wtiting the life story of Columba. The book consists of 24 chapters filled with marvels and miracles as you would expect!

Adamnan was active in the politics of his day. He gave sanctuary to Prince Aldfrid when the throne of Northumbria, was in dispute. Later Aldfrid became king and Adamnan was able to negotiate the release of Irish captives who had been kidnapped by English pirates. When the Celtic church argued whether to switch to the Roman rule, Adamnan was a leader of the movement to go with the Roman Easter and other Roman practices. This upset fellow monks and he found his welcome at Iona considerably cooler and spent much of his time elsewhere.

He visited two of what is now England’s great monasteries, including Jarrow, where his contemporary, the historian, Bede, lived. Although at this time there was no England, or Scotland as we know it nowadays, Jarrow, in Northumberland was part of a Kingdom which reached the Firth of Forth.

On a visit to Ireland, Adamnan convinced the Irish to adopt the Roman date for Easter. Seven years before his death, he attended the council of Birra and convinced the Irish kings to adopt the principle, known as Adamnan’s Law, which said that women, children, monks and other non-combatants were to be spared during war and no longer taken prisoner. This law was reaffirmed many times afterward by Celt and Pictish rulers and is also known as the “Law of Innocents” However we know through many of my posts it was not laid down and many atrocities occurred during both wars of Scottish Independence.

Pics are St Adamnan's Bell at Glenlyon church, Perthshire, it is said to have been used by the saint, but has been dated at around 800 AD, too late to have been used by Adamnan of Iona and the Celtic, Adamnan's Cross standing stone, which is said to tmark the spot where he stood.

[petnews2day]

Is this your dog? Donegal County Council seek owner of pug found in Buncrana area

New Post has been published on https://petn.ws/PdOXv

Is this your dog? Donegal County Council seek owner of pug found in Buncrana area

Donegal County Council is seeking the owner of a pug found yesterday. The pug – who was found in the Buncrana area – is approximately two to three years old and is currently in the care of the Dog Shelter.  If you recognise this dog, or if you are the owner, you can contact the […]

See full article at https://petn.ws/PdOXv #DogNews

[marilynlennon]

Independent research-based visual artist attending to complex environmental issues iterated through a range of site-specific and socially engaged contexts. Conceptually and physically pursued through the subject of the seed and the agency of plant matter mediated and assembled through a range of material processes and seasonal actions. Here seeds are defined not as a thing, but as a set of social relations that must be continually cultivated to survive, grow, adapt and evolve. She digs, draws, plants, collects, mulches, narrates and ‘care’ for ‘other’ beings in ‘other’ spaces in response to our anthropogenic times. Variable and multimodal processes that parallel the labouring activities of the ‘gardener’. Through this eclectic and microscopic lens the entangled narratives and often antagonistic relationship between human and non-human species are made manifest across multiple forms. The evolving projects, public engagements, publications and exhibitions are meticulously researched, pursue a narrative structure based on an assemblage of key research material, sites of interest and social integration. This generative approach attempts to activate new ideas related to site, agency and ecology.

Christine Mackey, Plant Pigment (Installation), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Plant Pigment (Installation), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, The Long Field, Used Polaroids, LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, The Long Field, Used Polaroids, LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Plant Pigment (Installation), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Plant Pigment (Installation), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Charcoal Drawing with Seed Box, LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Charcoal Drawing with Seed Box, LSC, 2021

Christiine Mackey, Hedgerow Wall, LSC, 2021

Christiine Mackey, Hedgerow Wall, LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, The Long Field (installation view), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, The Long Field (installation view), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Seed Box (installation), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Seed Box (installation), LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Microlandscape, LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey, Microlandscape, LSC, 2021

Christine Mackey

Completed the first iteration of ‘The Long Field’ (2021) at The Leitrim Sculpture Centre awarded through their Solo Residency Exhibition programme. Held Solo exhibition 'Safe Hold' at the Wexford Arts Centre, which also involved a socially engaged public art and educational project through Wexford County Council (2020). Developed new work for Two person Show/Residency 'SHUL' at Tipperary Arts Centre and participated on the Woods Research Residency at INTERFACE, Galway (2021). Recent awards include the Agility Award Round 3. and bursary from Leitrim County Council Arts Awards (2021). Invited to exhibit CITY Highlands Gallery Drogheda’s Municipal Art Gallery (2021). Alumni Fulbright Research Scholar (2018) and graduate of the University of Ulster with a practice-based PhD (2012). Published new work in PVA Journal Vol. 13. Residencies for 2022 include, EcoShowBoat, Cill Rialaig and Cow House Studios, Wexford. On-going projects include ‘The Potting Shed’ (2013 -) ArtLink, Donegal, which opened up a new social space and garden inside a defunct military environment; addressing pressing environmental issues in relation to the geopolitical control of seeds was made evident in ‘Seed Matter’ (2010-) devised as a series of exhibitions and a publication, with future works currently in development.

[fatehbaz]

On a remote patch of land in the south-west of Ireland lies a precious fragment of a lost world [...]. Eleven years ago, [ED] [...] moved to [...] an old farm on County Cork's rugged coast. The farm, on the Beara Peninsula, included a strip of native woodland, something that is now incredibly rare in Ireland, as well as Europe. [ED] saw that 32-acre (13-hectare) patch of ancient trees as [...] [a] temperate rainforest – a type of mossy forest once far more common in Britain and Ireland, made possible in part thanks to moist island air. By pulling out heaps of non-native plants, including rhododendron, and erecting a fence to keep sheep and [non-native] deer from grazing the area, [ED] gave his forest a chance to flourish [...] explaining that there's been a noticeable increase in the presence of birds and insects, too.

The picture elsewhere is less than leafy. The Republic of Ireland has the lowest forest cover of any country in Europe. It wasn't always that way. Once, 80% of the land here was covered by native trees – the figure now just 1%. Farmland dominates, covering 72% of land in the Republic [...].

For an island so often referred to as "green", there's a striking lack of [forest]. [...] Many wonder to what extent Ireland's biodiversity can really be rescued through rewilding. Is it even possible [...] in the 21st Century?

[ED]'s Atlantic rainforest is full of native tree species including oak, birch, willow and hazel. [...]

Julian Friers is an artist living in the north of Ireland who has pictured what lost ecosystems looked like – literally. His paintings of extinct Irish animals show long-departed creatures in familiar places. Some are gone forever, such as the woolly mammoths who once plodded around what is now County Antrim in Northern Ireland. [...] Some of his paintings, however, depict potential candidates for reintroduction – including the lynx, which still exists in some parts of Europe, such as Spain. [...] But returning large carnivores to the wild in Ireland is a divisive idea. The Green Party in the Republic of Ireland has called for wolves to be reintroduced after 250 years of absence, though there are no official plans to do so yet. [...]

But there are other, less emotive species, that [F] thinks could be reintroduced. These include the corn bunting, a small light brown and rather plump-looking bird, and sturgeon, a large river-dwelling fish that has been extinct in Ireland since 1967.

However, as [NR] at Queen's University Belfast points out, it's not always clear what groundwork is needed to ensure reintroduction programmes will go to plan. In 2001, golden eagles were brought back to Ireland in County Donegal's Glenveagh National Park. Although the birds have sustained a population there ever since, their numbers have not grown as expected. [NR] says surveys [...] have found that there is not enough prey for the eagles in the area, such as hares and red grouse. That might be because the park is being over-grazed by deer and sheep [...]

He says that, on the road to species reintroductions, conservationists could start by following this example of preparing suitable habitats, encouraging fragmented patches of native forest, peatland and wetland around Ireland to expand.

The vast majority of the trees that do exist in Ireland today, explains [F], are actually in non-native commercial plots, such as dense pine tree plantations. "Which is mostly very low biodiversity," he says [...].

There are schemes afoot in this vein. Take the 11,000 hectare (42 sq mile) wilderness area in the Nephin Beg mountains of County Mayo. Here, 4,000 hectares (15 sq miles) of non-native pine are to be transformed into a patchwork of native trees and wetland.

Then, of course, there are the bogs.

Ireland is famous for its once plentiful peatlands [...]. But Ireland's pristine raised bogs have dwindled to just 1% of the area they used to cover. [...] Huge volumes of peat were extracted and burned as a means of generating heat or electricity. The use of peat as an energy resource will end in the Republic of Ireland by 2028 but large tracts of exploited peatland have been left barren, says [CO], who was chief executive of the Irish Peatland Conservation Council until December. In winter, these areas become muddy and treacherous, with little or no plant life. And in the summer, they dry out into great seas of dust. [...]

There are efforts to re-wet some peatlands and encourage the sphagnum moss that grows on them to flourish again. This would benefit a variety of insects and birds. 

-------

Images, captions, and text published by: Chris Baraniuk. “What would a truly wild Ireland look like?” Future Planet. 11 February 2021.

[mybeingthere]

Melita Denaro's home on the remote Isle of Doagh in the northernmost part of Donegal, Ireland. 

Melita Denaro was born in Burt, Co. Donegal in 1950. She studied Ceramics at the Central School of Art in London from 1975 to 1978, and in 1992 she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Painting at the Royal Academy School. Melita lives and works between Donegal and London and her work is represented in the public collections of the Irish State, Donegal County Council, Guinness and Hambros Bank in London, as well as the private collection of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales. Melita Denaro was awarded The Armitage Prize and The David Murray Travelling Scholarship in 1994, and The Creswick Prize and the Royal Academy Silver Medal in 1995.

https://www.jmlondon.com/artists/melita-denaro/

[transparentgentlemenmarker]

Vendredi 13 novembre 2020 en Irlande, un glissement de terrain de tourbe a emporté plusieurs arbres encore debout près du parc éolien de Meenbog, au sud de Ballybofey. Un phénomène qui pourrait être dû à une perturbation du sol provoquée par des travaux dans le parc éolien. Une enquête a été ouverte par le conseil du comté de Donegal.

Friday, November 13, 2020 in Ireland, a peat landslide swept away several trees still standing near the Meenbog wind farm, south of Ballybofey. A phenomenon which could be due to a disturbance of the ground caused by work in the wind farm. An investigation has been opened by Donegal County Council.

November 13 2020

[cruger2984]

Haikyuu!! and its Saints

Fly to victory. In celebration of my birthday today, here's our black and orange boys of Karasuno and their corresponding saints!

December 31 - Daichi Sawamura

Pope St. Sylvester I: 33rd bishop of Rome who reigned from 314 to 335 A.D. He filled the see of Rome at an important era in the history of the Western Church, yet very little is known of him. The accounts of his pontificate preserved in the seventh or eighth-century Liber Pontificalis contain little more than a record of the gifts said to have been conferred on the church by Constantine the Great, although it does say that he was the son of a Roman named Rufinus. Large churches were founded and built during Sylvester I's pontificate, including Basilica of St. John Lateran, Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem, Old St. Peter's Basilica and several churches built over the graves of martyrs. Legend has it that Sylvester is slaying a dragon, hence he is often depicted with the dying beast.

June 13 - Koshi Sugawara

St. Anthony of Padua: Franciscan Portuguese friar and priest who is noted by his contemporaries for his powerful preaching, expert knowledge of scripture, and undying love and devotion to the poor and the sick, he was one of the most quickly canonized saints in church history. Although he is known as the patron of lost items, his major shrine can be found in Padua, Italy. In January 1946, he is proclaimed a Doctor of the Church by Pope Pius XII, and is given the title of Doctor Evangelicus (Evangelical Doctor).

January 1 - Asahi Azumane

Solemnity of Mary, Mother of God: One of the most important Marian feasts days to start the New Year. It is to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary under the aspect of her motherhood of Jesus Christ, whom Christians see as the Lord, Son of God, and it is celebrated by the Latin Rite of the Catholic Church on 1 January, the Octave (8th) day of Christmastide.

October 10 - Yu Nishinoya

St. Cerbonius: Populonian bishop who lived in the time of the Barbarian invasion. Gregory the Great praises him in Book XI of his Dialogues. Another tradition states that Cerbonius was a native of North Africa who was the son of Christian parents. Ordained a priest by Regulus, though not the same one as in the Scottish Legend. One of the saint’s attributes was a bear licking his feet, because during Totila’s invasion of Tuscany, he was ordered to be killed by a wild bear, the bear remained petrified before him. It stood on two legs and opened its jaws wide. Then, it fell back on its paws and licked the feet of the saint.

March 3 - Ryunosuke Tanaka

St. Katharine Drexel: American philanthropist, religious sister, educator, heiress, and foundress of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament, as well as Xavier University of Louisiana, the only historically black Catholic college in the country. She might be the second canonized saint to have been born in the United States and the first to have been born a U.S. citizen, she is the patron of philanthropists and racial justice.

December 26 - Chikara Ennoshita

St. Stephen: Dubbed as the first Christian martyr, and his appearance can be found in the Acts of the Apostles. He is a deacon in the early church at Jerusalem who aroused the enmity of members of various synagogues by his teachings. Accused of blasphemy at his trial, he made a long speech denouncing the Jewish authorities who were sitting in judgment on him and was then stoned to death, in which Saul of Tarsus was a witness to see him died before his conversion in Damascus.

February 15 - Hisashi Kinoshita

St. Claude de La Colombière: 17th century French Jesuit priest who assisted St. Margaret Mary Alacoque in establishing the devotion to the Sacred Heart. He was her confessor, and his writings and testimony helped to validate her mystical visions and elevated the Sacred Heart as an important feature of Roman Catholic devotion. He was appointed court preacher to Mary of Modena, who had become duchess of York by marriage with the future King James II of England, and he took up his residence in St. James's Palace in London. Falsely accused by a former protégé of complicity in Titus Oates's 'popish plot,' he was imprisoned for five weeks and, when released, was obliged to return to France, where he died an invalid under the care of Margaret Mary. Canonized by Pope St. John Paul II on the Feast of the Visitation in 1992, his major shrine can be found in Paray-le-Monial.

August 17 - Kazuhito Narita

St. Hyacinth of Poland: 13th century Polish Dominican priest and missionary who worked to reform women's monasteries in his native Poland, and was a Doctor of Sacred Studies, educated in Paris and Bologna, and is known for the monicker, 'Apostle of the North.' One of the major miracles attributed to Hyacinth came about during a Mongol attack on Kiev. As the friars prepared to flee the invading forces, Hyacinth went to save the ciborium containing the Blessed Sacrament from the tabernacle in the monastery chapel, when he heard the voice of Mary, the mother of Jesus, asking him to take her, too. He lifted the large, stone statue of Mary, as well as the ciborium. He was easily able to carry both, despite the fact that the statue weighed far more than he could normally lift. Thus he saved them both. His tomb is in the Basilica of Holy Trinity in Krakow, Poland, in a chapel that bears his name. Hyacinth is the patron saint of those in danger of drowning.

December 22 - Tobio Kageyama

St. Ernan, Son of Eogan: He was a nephew of St. Columba. His monastery in Ireland was at Druim-Tomma in the district of Drumhome, County Donegal. He is venerated as the patron saint of Killernan, though he may not have visited Scotland and also as patron of the parish of Drumhome, where a school has been dedicated to him. His commemoration is assigned to the 21st and 22nd of December according to the Scottish Kalendars.

June 21 - Shoyo Hinata

St. Aloysius Gonzaga: Italian confessor from the Jesuit order. Born into the noble Gonzaga clan in 1568, and in order to satisfy his father's ambitions, he was trained in the art of war and was obliged to attend royal banquets and military parades. Not with standing his father's furious opposition, Aloysius renounced his inheritance and join the Jesuits in Rome. While still a student at the Roman College, he died as a result of caring for the victims of a serious epidemic. Canonized on New Year’s Eve in 1726 by Pope Benedict XIII, he is the patron saint of the Christian youth, Jesuit scholastics, the blind, AIDS patients, AIDS care-givers.

September 27 - Kei Tsukishima

St. Vincent de Paul: 17th century French priest who is the founder of the Congregation of the Mission (the Vincentians) for preaching missions to the peasantry and for educating and training a pastoral clergy. The patron saint of charitable societies, he is primarily recognized for his charity and compassion for the poor, though he is also known for his reform of the clergy and for his early role in opposing Jansenism. With St. Louise de Marillac, he co-founded the Daughters of Charity (Daughters of Charity of St. Vincent de Paul) in 1633. The association was patterned after the Confraternities of Charity and was the first noncloistered religious institute of women devoted to active charitable works. Canonized as a saint by Pope Clement XII in 1737, his major shrine can be found in Rue de Sèvres in Paris.

November 10 - Tadashi Yamaguchi

St. Leo the Great (Pope St. Leo I): 45th bishop of Rome who reigned from 440 to 461 A.D. His pontificate - which saw the disintegration of the Roman Empire in the West and the formation in the East of theological differences that were to split Christendom—was devoted to safeguarding orthodoxy and to securing the unity of the Western church under papal supremacy. He is perhaps best known for having met Attila the Hun in 452 and allegedly persuaded him to turn back from his invasion of Italy. Leo is mostly remembered theologically for issuing the Tome of Leo, a document which was a major foundation to the debates of the Ecumenical Council of Chalcedon. Pope Benedict XIV proclaimed Leo I a Doctor of the Church in 1754, next to one other pope, St. Gregory the Great.

[postalpundit]

Irish island of Arranmore asks Americans to move there

(CNN) — With a population on the wane since the 19th century, the picturesque Irish island of Arranmore is down to its last 469 residents.

Determined to keep their community alive, islanders have taken an unusual step -- writing open letters to the people of the United States and Australia, asking them to consider moving to the island, three miles off the west coast of County Donegal in Ireland.

Arranmore, known as Arainn Mhor in Gaelic, boasts towering clifftops, unspoiled beaches, a close-knit community -- and high-speed internet, which community leaders hope will entice remote workers. Earlier this year, the island also opened a shared digital workspace.

"We're the most connected island in the world," Adrian Begley, of Arranmore Island Community Council, told CNN. "So we wanted to send a letter to the rest of the world to say we're here, we're open for business."

https://www.cnn.com/travel/article/ireland-arranmore-island-scli-intl/index.html

[think32blog]

Thoughts on the border by Phil Mac Giolla Bháin

I was introduced to the realities of the Border when the “cattle boat” which had sailed from the Broomielaw in Glasgow to North Wall in Dublin was taken off line.

Then the ten year old me learned about places like Stranraer and Larne.

In order to get to Dublin to take the train to my father’s town of Westport we had to cross the Border.

The last time I recall that militarised demarcation line entering my consciousness was in the summer of 1994.

We crossed the Border from Fermanagh into Leitrim and a very large member of An Garda Síochána looked at my green passport.

When he saw my name as Gaeilge it prompted a question in the first language of the state:

"Cá bhfuil sibh ag dul?” he asked me.

“Táimid ag dul go Contae Mhaigh Eo.”

We were indeed going to my father’s county in the Wesht for a family holiday.

Such a linguistic interaction on the other side of the line would have been dangerously out of place, especially with the locally recruited security forces.

As we drove towards the West we all felt a relief to be in our own place and not in the Six Counties.

While we were in Mayo Ireland beat Italy at soccer in New York and a British death squad did their stuff at Loughinisland.

Two years later we had settled back home in Ireland.

For herself and me, both with an Irish born parent and Irish grandparents on the other side of the house this little island was always home.

We’ve reared our brood here in this the quintessential Border county of Donegal.

Much has changed here since the days of Brits and checkpoints.

These days I think nothing of driving to Derry for NUJ meetings or to pillage the local shopping centres as post-Brexit Sterling tumbles against the Euro.

Over that twenty one years the Partition line has slowly dissolved and the European Union has played a positive role in minimising that geo-political disfigurement on this island.

However, now we could be faced with some of it coming back again.

In February 2016 before the Brexit vote I wrote a piece for the Scottish politics Blog Bella Caledonia.

It might warrant another read now.

A lot of my fears expressed in that piece appear worryingly prescient.

The Irish story over the centuries has been about events in Europe and Britain having unforeseen yet profoundly long lasting consequences here in Ireland, e.g. the Reformation, counter-reformation, French revolution and the First World War.

They all had a uniquely Irish impact on people here.

Now the UK has decided to do walking away from the European Union.

My green passport is no more, it was a beautiful document with a gold inlaid Harp.

Although my merlot coloured travel document today isn’t nearly as aesthetically pleasing I view the EU livery is an emblem of peaceful cooperation for a continent disfigured by centuries of war.

The Peace Process on this island probably couldn’t have occurred without the Maastricht Treaty.

In creating a more harmonised union across the continent of Europe the stage was set for two member states of the EU, assisted by the Clinton Administration, to explore a dénouement to the war situation on this island.

Back then I was privy to the thinking of some senior Republicans as they entered the talks that would produce the Good Friday Agreement.

They were calculating, prescient men.

Some of them had spent a large chunk of their youth in British prisons.

This had given them with the ability to sketch out a long game, but at no point did I hear anyone gaming out Britain leaving the European Union!

However, we are nearly at that juncture.

I have, in recent weeks, spoken to some old comrades from that time.

We shared a joke about how events can blindside all of us.

Some things, though, do not change.

The modern Irish revolutionary tradition, which emerged in the 19th century was based on the following rationale:

England will only attend to Ireland when the Irish become a problem for them.

When the people of Ireland were docile then they could literally starve to death and it didn’t really register with the Westminster tribe.

Now the Bullingdon boys are startled that the Micks could actually create a roadblock to Brexit on the Lifford to Stabane road.

The Backstop…

We now have the situation where even a Taoiseach who last year wore a local variant of the Poppy in Dáil Éireann cannot agree with the Grand Old Dame Britannia on what to do with her Irish frontier.

The son of an Indian immigrant and educated at an exclusive  private school that has a  Church of Ireland ethos, Varadkar isn’t exactly a Provo from central casting.

Indeed he might be the most pro-British Taoiseach in the history of the State.

When such a person can cause Border problems for the ruling elite on the Thames then we are truly in uncharted waters.

I think the fact that Leo Varadkar’s Chief Whip during that phase of the negotiations was Donegal TD Joe McHugh might be one of those small details that can ultimately have significant implications.

I’ve known Joe since he was an unfancied candidate for the County Council here.

His political career has spanned the Good Friday Agreement and he has been involved in several EU funded cross Border initiatives.

During the Phase One part of the Withdrawal Agreement talks there appeared to be a binary choice between a hard border or Northern Ireland remaining within the Single Market and the Customs Union.

Quite simply there would need to be a trade border either at Lifford or Larne.

Of course, the former subverts the Belfast Agreement and the latter compromises the integrity of the United Kingdom.

However, because the British government was dependent on the DUP to support her minority administration Theresa May said that a trade barrier between the Six Counties and Britain was a non-starter.

Therefore, the British negotiating team introduced the Backstop.

Consequently, the whole of the UK would need to effectively remain within the economic structures of the EU in order to satisfy Arlene that the “Precious Union” would not be compromised at Larne.

That little Ireland can cause a hold up in the Brexit talks should put to bed the “too wee” arguments in Scotland.

This current Border impasse demonstrates that a small EU state like the Republic of Ireland has a voice at Brussels and that it is one that is being heard.

If Brexit is a fascinating parlour game for the chattering classes here on the debatable land in the North West of Ireland it is prosaically real.

The European Union played a key role in bringing the Northern conflict to a close.

Brexit has the capacity to subvert the slow progress we have made in the last two decades.

The recent murder in Creggan of my colleague and friend Lyra McKee shows what is at stake.

None of this registers with the Westminster tribe as they play out a rivalry that has existed since the day that matron favoured one of them over the other at Eton.

That place remains the never failing source of all our political evils.

The people of this island deserve better.

Phil Mac Giolla Bháin is an author, blogger, journalist, novelist and playwright.

He is based in County Donegal, Ireland.

He is an active member of the National Union of Journalists and the chairman of the Irish Writers Union.

An established print journalist for many years Phil has also built up a considerable online readership through his blog www.philmacgiollabhain.ie .

His journalism over the past decade has focussed on highlighting the incidence of anti-Irish racism in Scotland.

He was a staff reporter on An Phoblacht for many years.

His debut novel “The Squad” was published by Books Noir in 2018.

[coochiequeens]

Ireland went from sending single mothers to be sent to work for Catholic run laundries to this in an amazingly short amount of time.

ByGenevieve Gluck

July 17, 2023

Ireland’s leading trans lobby group will be participating in an event aimed at “supporting children and young people with transgender identities.” The discussion will be led by Tara Hewitt, the CEO of the Trans Equality Network Ireland (TENI) and a self-professed BDSM fetishist. Hewitt has ties to a trans activist organization that has called for the release of all trans-identified prisoners regardless of conviction.

The event, titled “TENI & Tea,” is scheduled to take place on July 19 and is being supported by the Donegal County Council. It was organized by Bród na Gaeltachta as part of a “community-organized Pride festival” held in July, and is categorized as a “health class” on Eventbrite. According to the registration page, the discussion, led by Hewitt, will “provide up to date information, knowledge and allow for discussion on how best to support trans and non-binary young people.”

Though the Q&A session involves advice regarding the bodies of children, Hewitt has a disturbing history of pressuring health authorities to ignore safeguarding measures.

In his previous role as the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Lead at the Northern Care Alliance NHS Group, Hewitt requested that medical personnel ignore a guidance put forward by the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) preserving single-sex spaces for women receiving health services.

In April of 2022, the EHRC issued a new guidance assuring that it was lawful to exclude men from women-only spaces, provided the reasoning is “legitimate and proportionate.” The statement was a reassertion of the law, which was being questioned due to misrepresentation by trans activists and lobbying organizations such as Stonewall.

Hewitt promptly condemned the ruling as “transphobic” and urged his colleagues within the NHS to ignore its guidance. 

“This guidance is highly likely to be found unlawful at Judicial review & is incredibly transphobic … When will attacks on trans people end in UK? I urge my equality professional colleagues to give this guidance the credibility it deserves by putting it in bin & continue as usual,” Hewitt said.

With his statement, Hewitt deliberately ignored a widely-publicized incident that had occurred one month prior wherein a woman who had been raped in a single-sex hospital ward by a trans-identified male was told her assailant was a “woman.”

While serving in a role that saw him advising NHS Trusts across the UK and giving lectures to health care students, Hewitt stated in a March 2019 tweet that “trans women’s bodies are not male bodies.”

Hewitt has been politically active in both Labour and, more recently, the Conservative Party, for which he stood as a councilor. During his campaign it emerged that he had an interest in BDSM and dressing up as an animal during sex, euphemistically referred to as “furrydom.”

He is also known for openly having discussed the acceptance of men with sexual fetishes at events focused on healthcare.

During a 2016 presentation for the LGBT Cancer Support Alliance, Hewitt spoke about men who cross-dress for sexual pleasure, and clarified that men who wear women’s underwear to satisfy a fetish are included under the trans umbrella.

Speaking to a room filled with women, Hewitt claimed: “You’ve got people that fetishistically cross-dress and wear clothing to get a sexual desire out of the clothing of the opposite gender. It generally tends to be associated with men wearing women’s underwear.”

At the same presentation, Hewitt revealed that he had also worked with Action for Trans Health, an organization which published a manifesto demanding the immediate release of all trans criminals from prison.

“We demand that trans people are immediately freed from police, military, and government contracts without repercussions. We reject the system of blackmail that corporations and governments engage in, whereby trans people who can work are ‘rewarded’ with slightly less mistreatment in exchange for the exploitation of our labor,” read the document.

The manifesto, which has since been deleted, was published on Tumblr in 2018 and also demanded tax-payer funded access to all forms of plastic surgery and body modification without any questions asked by medical professionals.

“We demand the freedom to alter our bodies without justification. We demand an end to all surgical prerequisites — nobody should have to prove life experience, health, or have to be taking hormones in order to exercise bodily autonomy,” Action for Trans Health stated.

“We demand that these surgeries can be highly customized to meet our individual and unique needs. We demand the right to multiple surgeries, including reversal of previous surgeries if desired, so that we do not have to fear regret.”

Speaking with Reduxx on the event, local women’s rights campaigner Jennifer Kimmel slammed Bród na Gaeltachta and TENI for targeting minors and “vilifying” concerned parents.

“Any person or group with good intentions does not vilify parents, purposely mislead the public nor regard themselves as above reproach. These are clear red flags,” Kimmel said.

“When it comes to child safeguarding, everyone and every group is accountable, whether they cloak themselves in a ‘progress flag’ or not. Parents seeking to protect children from harmful ideologies need community support every bit as much as anyone else.”

[scotianostra]

On September 23rd 704 St Adamnan died.

I was talking about him the other day with a friend, and I must admit I got the name wrong, I got him mxed up wth another Saint of that era St Aidan, both were also of Irish birth.

Anyway.....like many of these early Celtic saints, Adamnan was born of royal blood in County Donegal sometime around 624. His name means “Little Adam.”

Educated by local monks, he became a novice at the monastery of Iona. Eventually, when he was about 55, he rose to become the ninth abbot of the abbey at Iona. He must have been an outstanding leader, because he was also chosen to serve as “president” of all of the monasteries that had sprung out of the missionary work of St. Columba.

Adamnan is most famous for wtiting the life story of Columba. The book consists of 24 chapters filled with marvels and miracles as you would expect!

Adamnan was active in the politics of his day. He gave sanctuary to Prince Aldfrid when the throne of Northumbria, was in dispute. Later Aldfrid became king and Adamnan was able to negotiate the release of Irish captives who had been kidnapped by English pirates. When the Celtic church argued whether to switch to the Roman rule, Adamnan was a leader of the movement to go with the Roman Easter and other Roman practices. This upset fellow monks and he found his welcome at Iona considerably cooler and spent much of his time elsewhere.

He visited two of what is now England’s great monasteries, including Jarrow, where his contemporary, the historian, Bede, lived. Although at this time there was no England, or Scotland as we know it nowadays, Jarrow, in Northumberland was part of a Kingdom which reached the Firth of Forth.

On a visit to Ireland, Adamnan convinced the Irish to adopt the Roman date for Easter. Seven years before his death, he attended the council of Birra and convinced the Irish kings to adopt the principle, known as Adamnan’s Law, which said that women, children, monks and other non-combatants were to be spared during war and no longer taken prisoner. This law was reaffirmed many times afterward by Celt and Pictish rulers and is also known as the “Law of Innocents” However we know through many of my posts it was not laid down and many atrocities occurred during both wars of Scottish Independence.

[petnews2day]

Bags of dog poop are hanging from the trees in Letterkenny, claims councillors

New Post has been published on https://petnews2day.com/pet-news/dog-news/bags-of-dog-poop-are-hanging-from-the-trees-in-letterkenny-claims-councillors/

Bags of dog poop are hanging from the trees in Letterkenny, claims councillors

Bags of dog poop was being thrown on trees and hedges around Letterkenny …and the bags were being supplied by Donegal County Council.

That was the claim from local councillor, Kevin Bradley at Tuesday’s meeting of the Letterkenny-Milford Municipal District when he tabled a motion that called on the council to erect more dog fouling bins as a matter of urgency.

In its formal response, the council said it will continue to highlight the area of dog fouling and the responsibility of dog owners to clean up after their dogs.

“Over the past number of years, Donegal County Council has distributed Poop scoop bags free of charge to the public with approximately 150,000 being distributed so far this year.

“The council has also been promoting the Any Bag, Any Bin campaign encouraging dog owners to use any bag and that dog waste can be disposed of in any of the large networks of litter bins provided.

“Dog walkers are not confined to just using dog waste disposal bins, they are encouraged to use any of the litter bins provided. This campaign has been highlighted through a number of means, including eye-catching stencilling on paths and pavements.”

It also added that other work raising awareness of the dog fouling issue has been the development of different styles of signage for use on road verges, poles and other public areas such as beaches.

“Our Litter Warden team regularly patrol areas and use it as an opportunity to both remind dog walkers of their responsibilities and also distribute bags and information to them.

“In addition to all the proactive awareness work carried out, these patrols can also detect offences. The detection of an offence, where the owner of the dog can be identified, can result in an on-the-spot litter fine of €150.”

Cllr Bradley said the council’s efforts were commendable with 150,000 poop[ bags being distributed this year already but the problem was there were not enough bins to put these bags in, he said.

“It may say Any Bag, Any Bin but there’s not near enough bins to cope. What’s happening these bags are being thrown into people’s ditches. The council say there is a €150 fine if caught but how many people have been caught or fined? We need more bins as a matter of urgency,” he said.

Seconding the motion Cllr Gerry McMonagle said the reduction in the number of bins around the town and the introduction of encouraging people to use any bin was great in theory but not working.

“You see the [poop] bags hanging off branches of trees and bushes and laying all over the places because of no bins.”

He added suggestions the council had made at workshops that they take away litter bins on the greenways when developed was also a “crazy strategy”.

Cllr Bradley said he knew this issue was not just down to the council as dog owners had to take responsibility too but more bins had to be provided to prevent these bags from being thrown on hedges

“It’s a disgrace …and we’re supplying the bags for them. The least they could do is put it in a bin,” he said.

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[mybeingthere]

Melita Denaro's home on the remote Isle of Doagh in the northernmost part of Donegal, Ireland. Melita Denaro was born in Burt, Co. Donegal in 1950. She studied Ceramics at the Central School of Art in London from 1975 to 1978, and in 1992 she completed a Postgraduate Diploma in Painting at the Royal Academy School.

Melita lives and works between Donegal and London and her work is represented in the public collections of the Irish State, Donegal County Council, Guinness and Hambros Bank in London, as well as the private collection of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales.

Melita Denaro was awarded The Armitage Prize and The David Murray Travelling Scholarship in 1994, and The Creswick Prize and the Royal Academy Silver Medal in 1995.

https://www.jmlondon.com/artists/melita-denaro/

[galleryofphotographyirelandblr]

Now open at Gallery of Photography, Kate Nolan's LACUNA is a fascinating new photographic and audio/visual installation evoking contemporary experiences in the border village of Pettigo, County Donegal. LACUNA is a cross-border touring exhibition organised by Gallery of Photography in partnership with Belfast Exposed Photography Gallery, and Regional Cultural Centre, Remote Photo Festival. Supported by the Arts Council Ireland and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht. LACUNA will be in the gallery until the 21st of October.