Showing posts with label cork. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cork. Show all posts
Nov 26, 2009
What really happened in Cork
I've a new article up on GlobalComment:
About twenty eight hours after Ireland was kicked out of the World Cup, the city of Cork, the Republic of Ireland’s second largest city, was flooded by the semi-state company, Electricity Supply Board (ESB). Two weeks of heavy rain that amounted to four to six times the norm, combined with 40 to 60 millimetres of rain fall in the preceding 36 hours, and the release of water from the Inniscarra dam caused the river Lee to burst its banks and flood the city centre. €100 million is the conservative price that will need to be paid to clean up the mess.
RTE (the state broadcaster) informed the public on the evening of Thursday 19th November that water would be released from the Inniscarra dam and that the area around Inniscarra might flood. The towns in West Cork of Macroom, Bandon, Skibbereen and Ballyvourney were already impassable. I diverted through Mallow and managed to make it home, skirting several flooded roads with only a three hour delay. The entire journey I was glued to the national radio stations to get more information. There was little of any substance.
In the early hours of Friday morning 20 November, people living in the inner city awoke to the sound of rushing water entering their homes. The flood was the largest in living memory, possibly a hundred-year event. Students at University College Cork were seen swimming through the freezing flood water to reach residence halls that are still without electricity or running water. Civil Defence began evacuating older people by boat from 2AM.
The rest of Cork awoke to a flooded city. Businesses were destroyed; medical clinics were under water; a five star hotel was half underwater; and students wake-boarded on the streets. Business owners and employees rolled up their trousers and cleaned up as best as they could. A woman mucking out a hair dressing salon said, “this I can fix… eventually,” referencing the economic difficulties and feelings of helplessness.
Likewise, staff at the Mercy, a public hospital with three hundred beds, were not warned of the possibility of flooding. The emergency room had to be evacuated. Doctors, nurses, support staff, lab techs and many others took extraordinary measure to be at work on time, using any transport available. Civil Defence played chauffeur to most but others canoed, kayaked, used dinghies, cycled and walked through waist-high raging flood water.
The people of Cork pride themselves on a certain self-sufficiency. This attitude developed partly as the identity of Cork as a rebel county and partly because the people cannot rely on the government in Dublin to come to their aid in times of need. While Cork was inundated, national radio and television news provided little information. While volunteers were helping to clean out the hospital emergency room, the government was appealing to FIFA and the French government to replay the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier. It was only after the floods that the media started paying attention to what was happening in the second largest city in the republic.
From Friday morning, public servants, who were due to take part in a one day strike on 24 November, declared that they would not be taking part in work stoppage because of the civic emergency in Cork. Public servants in other inundated counties made similar declarations, following where Cork leads.
Gradually, information began to trickle into the national media and by 13:00 on Friday afternoon, the national media was reporting on the crisis. By 13:30 politicians were praising the efforts of the ESB in an attempt to cover up the fact that no specific warnings were made with regard to the city. The ESB released 535 cubic metres of water per second into a swollen river, claimed they sent a press release and informed the city council, and then declared that informing the public was not their department.
The City Council were effective enough at mobilising Civil Defense once the scale of the flood became clear. However, the result of either miscommunication between the ESB and the City Council or negligence or incompetence, is that 20 000 households are without water. Bottled water was sold out at Lidl and Aldi (the less expensive supermarket chains) by 11:30 on Friday 20 November. 123 000 people are still queuing for drinking water from tankers and boil notices have been issued to the rest of the population. There is temporary accommodation for those who have been displaced but the Taoiseach (prime minister) has declared that it is too early to discuss the issue of compensation.
The people of Cork have shown great resilience and community spirit in the past days. Hopefully, an official investigation will reveal the reasons why Cork was flooded and whose hand was at the wheel.
About twenty eight hours after Ireland was kicked out of the World Cup, the city of Cork, the Republic of Ireland’s second largest city, was flooded by the semi-state company, Electricity Supply Board (ESB). Two weeks of heavy rain that amounted to four to six times the norm, combined with 40 to 60 millimetres of rain fall in the preceding 36 hours, and the release of water from the Inniscarra dam caused the river Lee to burst its banks and flood the city centre. €100 million is the conservative price that will need to be paid to clean up the mess.
RTE (the state broadcaster) informed the public on the evening of Thursday 19th November that water would be released from the Inniscarra dam and that the area around Inniscarra might flood. The towns in West Cork of Macroom, Bandon, Skibbereen and Ballyvourney were already impassable. I diverted through Mallow and managed to make it home, skirting several flooded roads with only a three hour delay. The entire journey I was glued to the national radio stations to get more information. There was little of any substance.
In the early hours of Friday morning 20 November, people living in the inner city awoke to the sound of rushing water entering their homes. The flood was the largest in living memory, possibly a hundred-year event. Students at University College Cork were seen swimming through the freezing flood water to reach residence halls that are still without electricity or running water. Civil Defence began evacuating older people by boat from 2AM.
The rest of Cork awoke to a flooded city. Businesses were destroyed; medical clinics were under water; a five star hotel was half underwater; and students wake-boarded on the streets. Business owners and employees rolled up their trousers and cleaned up as best as they could. A woman mucking out a hair dressing salon said, “this I can fix… eventually,” referencing the economic difficulties and feelings of helplessness.
Likewise, staff at the Mercy, a public hospital with three hundred beds, were not warned of the possibility of flooding. The emergency room had to be evacuated. Doctors, nurses, support staff, lab techs and many others took extraordinary measure to be at work on time, using any transport available. Civil Defence played chauffeur to most but others canoed, kayaked, used dinghies, cycled and walked through waist-high raging flood water.
The people of Cork pride themselves on a certain self-sufficiency. This attitude developed partly as the identity of Cork as a rebel county and partly because the people cannot rely on the government in Dublin to come to their aid in times of need. While Cork was inundated, national radio and television news provided little information. While volunteers were helping to clean out the hospital emergency room, the government was appealing to FIFA and the French government to replay the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifier. It was only after the floods that the media started paying attention to what was happening in the second largest city in the republic.
From Friday morning, public servants, who were due to take part in a one day strike on 24 November, declared that they would not be taking part in work stoppage because of the civic emergency in Cork. Public servants in other inundated counties made similar declarations, following where Cork leads.
Gradually, information began to trickle into the national media and by 13:00 on Friday afternoon, the national media was reporting on the crisis. By 13:30 politicians were praising the efforts of the ESB in an attempt to cover up the fact that no specific warnings were made with regard to the city. The ESB released 535 cubic metres of water per second into a swollen river, claimed they sent a press release and informed the city council, and then declared that informing the public was not their department.
The City Council were effective enough at mobilising Civil Defense once the scale of the flood became clear. However, the result of either miscommunication between the ESB and the City Council or negligence or incompetence, is that 20 000 households are without water. Bottled water was sold out at Lidl and Aldi (the less expensive supermarket chains) by 11:30 on Friday 20 November. 123 000 people are still queuing for drinking water from tankers and boil notices have been issued to the rest of the population. There is temporary accommodation for those who have been displaced but the Taoiseach (prime minister) has declared that it is too early to discuss the issue of compensation.
The people of Cork have shown great resilience and community spirit in the past days. Hopefully, an official investigation will reveal the reasons why Cork was flooded and whose hand was at the wheel.
Nov 24, 2009
It wasn't our fault
Mini Dev was on Prime Time tonight blathering on about the weather and the floods. It was all the rain’s fault was the gist of his mumblings. Yeah but he’s leaving out (a) the lack of preparedness, (b) lack of maintenance of the waterways, (c) building in flood plains and (d) lack of a comprehensive communications strategy.
Why have none of the professional media investigated the ESB's release of 535 cubic metres of water per second at high tide without adequate warning in Cork? Really I want to know. Why is our media competent only at stirring up divisions between the public and private sectors?
Why have none of the professional media investigated the ESB's release of 535 cubic metres of water per second at high tide without adequate warning in Cork? Really I want to know. Why is our media competent only at stirring up divisions between the public and private sectors?
Nov 20, 2009
Water in Cork
The water in Cork City has been shut off.The bottled water in Lidl in Togher is gone.
The bottled water in Aldi in Ballyphehane is gone.
All the cheap water is gone and the tap supplies are not expected to resume for a few days.
Nov 19, 2009
Flooding
(pic taken from IrishTimes.com)
Oct 20, 2009
Cork supports Donal Óg
Congratulations to Donal Óg Cusack, keeper extraordinaire, for having the courage to come out in spite of the homophobia prevalent in Irish society especially in the GAA.Well done to the rest of the Cork team for supporting him. Ye're a bunch of decent human beings. Now, next year bring McCarthy home.
Of course Donal's private life has nothing to do with his keeping abilities or his talent. Hopefully, Killkenny or any other county won't express their ire, at their future defeat, by using homophobic slurs.
Up the Rebels
Sep 20, 2009
Jul 2, 2009
Silence is the enemy
Silence allows people to pontificate on the rarity of rape.
Silence says that one in three is a lie.
Silence allows rapists to get away with it.
Silence permits the proliferation of rape jokes and triggering language.
No more. No more shame. No more self-blame. No more being regarded as a victim with no agency.
My first experience with rape was when I pulled a boy off my friend. We were 14. She was screaming no, and he was ignoring her.
My first rape was in 2000 when a man named Mohamed from Syria raped me in his apartment in Lavitt's Quay in Cork City. A friend, Carla, had introduced us. Carla subsequently doubted my story. I told him to stop, he didn't. I told him he was hurting me and he just kept on going. I tried to struggle but I was pinned down. Afterward he told me he was HIV+.
My second rape was in a back alley in Florence. My drink was spiked and I was unconscious. When I came to, in pain, a stranger's penis was in my anus. When he had finished, he left me bleeding on the ground behind a dumpster.
Silence Is The Enemy was started in June 2009 to draw more attention to the sexually abused around the globe and to encourage everyone to talk about it and act.
We have power and influence in our words, and we're able to speak for those who can not. We’re asking all of you—bloggers, writers, teachers and concerned citizens—to use whatever platform you have to call for an end to the rape and abuse of women and girls in Liberia and around the world. [source]
I've been raped by two men but I will no longer be silent. I will talk, accuse and shout.
I have written more on rape and sexual exploitation on my Cambodia blog.
Child sex abuser gets reduced prison sentence
Gender crimes at the Khmer Rouge Tribunal
The virginity trade in Cambodia
Assault is not a compliment
V Day
Jun 9, 2009
Jun 8, 2009
Elections
Fianna Fail and the Greens have lost out big time. Opposition party leaders are claiming that such defeats in the locals and the euros nullifies the mandate of the government. Kenny has called for a motion of no confidence and Gilmore is making similar noises.
Ganley can't believe that he didn't sweep to victory and is putting protest after protest on procedural issues.
Bit of a sore loser that one. Another sore loser was Deirdre de Burca who requested a full recount but in the end settled for a bundle recount. De Burca claimed to run an Obama-like campaign which is one of the reasons that she did not reply to those posing policy questions to her on twitter. Bad political decision de Burca.
I was at the Cork count centre yesterday and snapped a few pix that I'll put later. What I found very interesting is that Crowley and Kelly were signing autographs - a definitely case of celebrity gone mad. Politicians are supposed to be our representatives not celebrities.
The reason I was at the count centre in the first place was that RTE was providing no information and the Irish Times site was shite. I got most of my info online - well grateful for that. Without the bloggers there would be no stream of updates. RTE focussed more on sport than on politics, despite the vital nature of these elections.
I overhead half a conversation at the count centre. A journalist from a popular national radio station was saying
"RTE have scuppered it for another five minutes."
and
"We're waiting for the cue from RTE."
Despite the huge resources of the national broadcaster, they could not get their collective ass in gear. The results were delayed because RTE are incompetent. Plastic Sheeting was hanging around like a great buffoon. All in all I was unimpressed with those who were paid to report. RTE fail.
Ganley can't believe that he didn't sweep to victory and is putting protest after protest on procedural issues.
The count was suspended last night. Libertas leader Declan Ganley asked the returning officer, Kieran McDermott, to “check out” a report that “a bin of Ganley votes” had been mistakenly allocated to another candidate, according to Mr Ganley’s spokesman.
At 11.35pm last night, Mr McDermott announced a recheck of votes today “in the light of what Mr Ganley has said to us”.
Bit of a sore loser that one. Another sore loser was Deirdre de Burca who requested a full recount but in the end settled for a bundle recount. De Burca claimed to run an Obama-like campaign which is one of the reasons that she did not reply to those posing policy questions to her on twitter. Bad political decision de Burca.
I was at the Cork count centre yesterday and snapped a few pix that I'll put later. What I found very interesting is that Crowley and Kelly were signing autographs - a definitely case of celebrity gone mad. Politicians are supposed to be our representatives not celebrities.
The reason I was at the count centre in the first place was that RTE was providing no information and the Irish Times site was shite. I got most of my info online - well grateful for that. Without the bloggers there would be no stream of updates. RTE focussed more on sport than on politics, despite the vital nature of these elections.
I overhead half a conversation at the count centre. A journalist from a popular national radio station was saying
"RTE have scuppered it for another five minutes."
and
"We're waiting for the cue from RTE."
Despite the huge resources of the national broadcaster, they could not get their collective ass in gear. The results were delayed because RTE are incompetent. Plastic Sheeting was hanging around like a great buffoon. All in all I was unimpressed with those who were paid to report. RTE fail.
Mar 27, 2009
The Simpsons in Ireland
And the accents still aren't as bad as Tom Cruise in "Far and Away".Watch it here.
Notice that the whiskey is Paddys from the People's Republic of Cork!
Mar 1, 2009
The rebellion continues
This is the story of the great Cork hurling team and their fight against the county board and associated persons. The rebel alliance continues with the footballers threatening to join forces with the hurlers. Here the Cork team are in happier times after winning the all Ireland.
Warning: vid contains scenes from Der Untergang.
It's time for the county board to listen to the people. And the people agree - fire the manager!
From a PROC interview with Seán Óg Ó hAilpín
12 days ago, you and your fellow players made an appeal to the Cork public for support. Do you feel the players call for support has been answered today?
"You know what? We more than got it today. It was very humbling. It wasn’t easy at the time asking for it, because it’s hard to quantify a figure for how many would turn out, but this superseded our expectations.
There was a tear nearly came out of my eye, because it’s a Saturday in February, people have other things to be doing and other worries with the economy, sport and hurling won’t be on top of the agenda.
These people, all these men, women and children came out today to show their support and voice their frustration. We share their frustration.
These people want to see the Cork team back, and want to see the best Cork team possible that will bring pride and honour to the jersey. If the support today is anything to go by, then it’s very encouraging."
Yes.
Jan 18, 2009
Death in Courtmacsherry
From the Irish Times
It was a beautiful creature.
A MAGNIFICENT 20m (65ft) long fin whale died yesterday on a west Cork beach despite a major rescue effort after it became trapped on a sandbank.
The second-largest animal on earth after the blue whale, the massive fin whale was spotted by members of the local RNLI station based in Courtmacsherry at about 8am. A frantic rescue operation was immediately put in place.
The whale was pronounced dead by the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group (IWDG) at about 11.30am.
Hundreds of people descended on the west Cork beach yesterday morning to lend a hand to the rescue operation. They were still arriving in their droves over the course of the afternoon to see the massive mammal.
It was a beautiful creature.
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