Archive for 'Ireland'
Yes the fish is fantastic
Posted on June 21, 2008, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Food, Ireland.
I did a last-minute race down to The Fish Shop in Union Hall this morning to check it out. It’s as good as they say! Great selection of fish, shellfish, gourmet seafood products and wine. Well worth travelling to.
So my lazy ass didn’t get up early enough and I left Bandon at 12 knowing they shut at 1pm on a Saturday. I made it to Union Hall by 12:45 after spending the journey as far as Rosscarbery behind someone who averaged 35 MPH. The three younger squirts came with me and were just as impressed by the foggy views in Glandore as I was. The whole area is just lovely.
The shop was hopping when I arrived and lots of empty trays told me I’d left it too late. The guy serving confirmed that it had been a really busy morning. Given the horrible weather I decided to do a fish pie and I bought hake, smoked haddock, prawns (frozen since they were sold-out of fresh) and mussels. Add 6 scallops for tomorrows dinner and the total came to a very reasonable €38.
You just know you are getting ultra fresh produce in a fishing village and there is something for everyone. I particularly liked the look of the John Dory, Sea Bream and Sea Bass. They have a lots of live crab, lobster and oysters too. The display cabinet had some very interesting products like smoked tuna and they also have lots of the ususal frozen shellfish. I didn’t get a chance to check out the wine but I will on the next visit.
The perfect fish shop?
4 Comments
Elephants on Inchydoney, careful now.
Posted on May 29, 2008, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
Just in from my sis. Some very cool Elephants on Inchydoney beach in Clon for the next few days.
It’s actually a project involving Clonakilty Macra and other local community groups to to highlight the plight of the Asian Elephant. I’ll be taking a trip down for sure.
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Cork Airport Incompetence
Posted on March 12, 2008, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
I meant to write this post a few months back and was finally reminded to yesterday when I was in Cork Airport yet again.
The old airport carparks had the most unreliable equipment on the planet, pure third world garbage. I spent more time stuck in queues trying to get out of there due to malfunctioning barriers than any other airport, including Dublin which I have used more.
So you’d think, when spending €180m on a new airport (and hoping we taxpayers will stump up the money for it), that they’d find a supplier of equipment that, ye know, actually works. Silly me, of course they decided to use the same rubbish as before. Does Cork Airport Authority understand that the phrase “competitive tender” does not mean “cheapest” or “close personal friend”, it means “competitive”?
In the past six months:
- I was locked into the carpark at 1am for 40 minutes. The barrier ate my ticket and the intercom system would not work. Of course if you embed an intercom into a barrier then the intercom will fail along with the barrier. What incompetent morons [a] designed this and [b] purchased it? A Thomas The Tank Engine Walkie Talkie duct-taped to the machine would be a more intelligent engineering approach to system reliability. I ended up running down to the terminal TWICE to ask to be let out and still failed to exit. Only the arrival of the hotel shuttle bus saved me.
- On another occasion, the ticket machine printed my ticket so badly that it could not be machine-read when I returned to pay. Of course the support desk was not manned and multiple calls had to be made before someone turned up and printed me a new one so I could leave.
- I have seen queues of people stuck coming out of the short term car-park due to equipment malfunction.
- One of the ticket machines has been broken for months. In fact, it’s been broken for so long that they have erected a permanent “temporarily out of service” sign! Has the airport not got an SLA in their service contract with the equipment provider? Or is that too complex for them?
A few simple steps:
- Dump the incompetent supplier
- Demote or fire the person who re-ordered this rubbish
- Replace the equipment with something that works. Maybe ring Frankfurt and ask them what they use
- Look up the acronym SLA
If Al-Qaeda wants an easy way into Ireland then Cork Airport is the route to take. There are obviously no CCTV cameras in operation or else these constant problems would be noticed far sooner by staff. If the Airport Authority is interested, I know a guy who could set them up with a reliable mesh of wireless enabled webcams for a few hundred Euro. Not everything has to cost €180m and reliability can be a default.
15 Comments
Know anyone in the Whiskey Industry here?
Posted on January 29, 2008, by Conor O'Neill, under Blogging, Food, Ireland.
Kate Hopkins from the legendary food blog Accidental Hedonist is visiting Ireland from Feb 15th to the 22nd and is looking for contact names. Head on over to her blog and let her know.
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Cork Sailing Blog
Posted on November 16, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
We went on our summer holidays to Barley Cove for 11 years in a row as kids. On several of those years we went to Garnish Island via Glengarrif. That was as far as I ever got on the Beara peninsula until last week when I visited Adrigole. I honestly can’t put into words how beautiful it is down there. If I was American I’d call it God’s country. Perfect views on a perfect day made me want to immediately retire and move there.
I also discovered that there is a blog been written down there by Gail and the West Cork Sailing team. Now I’ve never been into sailing or boats but this could get me interested. Lots of reports from the vessels themselves along with lovely photos. I’m now subscribed.
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Politics In Ireland site re-vamp
Posted on September 15, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland, Politics.
The updated Irish Politics site is now live. This is a tremendous resource for anyone interested in what people on the ground are writing about politics here.
It is a site that watches for any blog posts that mention a TD’s name and provides a summary of that post on the site. It is party neutral and is in no way partisan.
Those with blogs can add a widget which displays the latest politics posts on their own blog sidebar. Of course readers can now subscribe by email to get all the latest posts.
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Irish Immigration Control is a Disgrace
Posted on September 7, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland.
Today I am embarassed to be Irish. I wish to extend my apologies and those of all reasonable people in this country to Keola Donaghy and his family.
Keola, who is from Hawaii, arrived earlier today in Dublin with his family to begin his doctoral studies in UCC. He had been assured by the Gardaí in Cork and by UCC that there was no issue with him coming. He has spent months preparing for this move.
At immigration today in the Airport he was told that he could enter but his family could not. Students cannot come with dependents! Keloa declined to break up his family and they will all soon be on a plane back to New York. Many attempts have been made by people today to keep them in the country but to no avail.
I am disgusted by this. Keola has been communicating with many of us in the Irish blogosphere and twittersphere over the past few months. We were all looking forward to meeting him and welcoming him to Ireland. Instead a bunch of people who are answerable to almost no-one decided he didn’t fit some nonsense arbitrary criteria.
Ignoring the general issue of immigration control, the fact that we block ANY American coming here is a farce. We would still be scrabbling for rotting potatoes in muck if it wasn’t for the kindness of the USA and its citizens over the past 160 years. We should shake the hand of every Yank who comes through immigration control in Dublin or Shannon and thank them for letting us go to the US in our thousands.
I don’t know what we can do about this considering that immigration is effectively run by a cabal of bureaucrats whose powers far exceed any that should be acceptable in a democracy. Whoever is responsible for the sort of bullshit terms and conditions which led to Keola heading home needs to change them now! Or was that person thrown out in the last election?
If you know of anything that can be done to remove this stain on our character, please do so.
In addition, whoever in UCC or the Gardaí is responsible for this horrendous error should be removed from that role immediately.
Once again Keola, my apologies for this, those involved should all be ashamed of themselves.
42 Comments
Clonakilty International Guitarfest
Posted on September 7, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Entertainment, Ireland.
Ray in deBarras in Clon mailed me to tell me about the Guitarfest starting on September 20th. I’m glad he did since it looks fantastic. Lots of details on their very cool site. MySpacers should check them out here.
The line-up has a very rich mix of styles but the one that caught my eye has to be Eric Bell, the Thin Lizzy founding member who is responsible for the classic Whiskey in the Jar!
If you are anywhere near West Cork from 20th-23rd, you owe it to yourself to get to Clon.
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Charity photography exhibit in Mallow
Posted on September 7, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
Via Donncha - Mallow Camera Club will be exhibiting a number of photos in Mallow Town Library for three weeks starting yesterday.
One of the Club’s members, Sean Riordan, is heading out to South Africa shortly as part of a group from the Niall Mellon Township Trust helping to build homes for the poor in that country. All the photos on exhibit will be for sale with all profits going to help fund Sean’s trip and the good work he’ll do in November.
This is a very worthy cause so if you can make it at all, please head up there and buy some pictures.
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Bandon Summerfest
Posted on July 15, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Ireland.
The Bandon.ie crew have the full skinny and there is a dedicated site too. August 1st to 6th. Check it.
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Possible fraud and libel by City Jet Handling employee(s)
Posted on June 20, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Friends, Ireland.
My good buddy Damien had some harsh accurate words to say recently about City Jet Handling (previously known as Sky Handling Partners). It now appears to someone in that organisation has been using Damien’s details to sign up to gay dating sites. He has not received a satisfactory response from them and wonders what to do next. I think a Solicitor’s letter should be the first step. Anyone else?
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Anyone know who owns/controls the old Orange/Masonic building in Bandon?
Posted on June 10, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Ireland.
Someone has just suggested an awesome forward looking idea to me for it. Will collect my thoughts and blog it later.
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Have your say on election count day!
Posted on May 25, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Ireland, Politics.
All details over at IrishElection.com. Well worth checking out.
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Bandon Music Festival June bank Holiday Weekend
Posted on May 18, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Entertainment, Ireland.
Get yer dancing shoes on because they really do have a line-up to suit everyone this year.
As with previous years the Bandon Music Festival will consist of two free outdoor concerts on Saturday and Sunday. In addition, the Music Trail will take place each night of the festival in local pubs. These sessions will consist of trad, folk and rock. Added to this, there will be street entertainment throughout the weekend, with live music at the Farmers’ Market and the Red Patrollers appearing in Riverview Shopping Centre on Saturday afternoon. Sunday will see “Rubicon” play on Oliver Plunkett Street joined by set dancers.
This year will see Director and Duke Special perform live outdoors on Sat 2nd June. Then on Sun 3rd June, Mary Black will headline the outdoor concert, supported by Jennifer Lomasney
There has been a lot of buzz around Director recently so it’s a real coup for the organisers to get them.
The official web-site is here.
UPDATE 1: To be honest, I’d never heard of Jennifer Lomasney. She’s seriously good!
6 Comments
Vote for your county in All-Ireland Monopoly
Posted on April 25, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Entertainment, Humour, Ireland.
Courtesy of Jonathan Hill. Get your county into the top spot in Monopoly! It looks like the entire population of Leitrim and Roscommon has voted with 296 and 258 votes respectively. Cork floundering with 31 and Kilkenny with 26.
Note to Hasbro - maybe get a custom PollDaddy widget created that we could all put on our blogs? It’s viral baby!
28 Comments
How not to get my vote
Posted on April 22, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Bandon, Cork, Ireland, Politics.
I cannot understand why Christy O’Sullivan thinks he’ll get a vote from me. Here is a guy shoe-horned in by FF at a national level who sends me flyers with absolutely no information on them about who he is, what he believes in, where he lives, what he has accomplished as a politician or why I should vote for him.
And of course his website doesn’t load!
Inserting this nobody over a well known local politician like Alan Coleman is a huge mistake by FF. I don’t know how well Coleman would have done in this climate but at least he has a known reputation.
I will not vote for anonymous candidates from any party.
35 Comments
Sign the RTE Digital Free-to-Air Petition
Posted on April 22, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Entertainment, Ireland, Technology.
As a lot of you know, you can get a Digital version of RTÉ (including Widescreen) on Sky Digital and NTL. However you must have a Sky/NTL subscription to see it. Many people, including myself, believe this is fundamentally wrong as we already support RTÉ through the mandatory TV licence.
Please sign the petition from Brian Greene demanding that RTE make digital broadcasts of their programming available for “free”. If you are a blogger, consider adding the badge in support.
Whilst I’m at it, maybe someone can tell me why I was talking to RTE about Digital Terrestrial TV in 1998 and we still don’t have it? RTÉ is another taxpayer funded organisation in dire need of a good kicking.
24 Comments
220 Children to get Chest X-Rays
Posted on April 20, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Health, Ireland.
due to the TB outbreak in Cork.
Tuberculosis (TB) is a disease caused by bacteria called Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The bacteria usually attack the lungs. But, TB bacteria can attack any part of the body such as the kidney, spine, and brain. If not treated properly, TB disease can be fatal. TB disease was once the leading cause of death in the United States.
TB is spread through the air from one person to another. The bacteria are put into the air when a person with active TB disease of the lungs or throat coughs or sneezes. People nearby may breathe in these bacteria and become infected.
Current waiting list for BCG in Cork - 5 to 6 months!
HSE, get up off your asses, get all the BCG shots in Ireland down here NOW, advertise it everywhere and get the children of every copped-on parent vaccinated asap!
Or do we have to wait until the first child dies from complications when they go from latent to active?
UPDATE 1; Good thread here on MagicMum. Like almost everyone else we didn’t get our youngest 3 done in Cork as it was not offered and we cluelessly did what we were told. Seriously regretting that now and signed up in a six month queue. Maybe a trip to Limerick is in order?
29 Comments
Two children have TB in that creche
Posted on March 28, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Health, Ireland.
In a more litigious country, the HSE would now find itself on the end of a class action suit due to the non-administration of the BCG to children in the Cork region. The only region in the country that does not do it.
The HSE now have a moral duty to to provide the BCG to every single person born in this region who was never given it. Or maybe it would be cheaper to fill the Cappagh and Blanchardstown again. 1950’s here we come.
UPDATE 1; Just to clarify - 5 tested positive for the antibody and three of those were due to BCG.
6 Comments
Social Worker jobs in Cork?
Posted on March 20, 2007, by Conor O'Neill, under Cork, Ireland.
I just got a mail from someone thinking about re-locating from New York to Cork City. She asked what the job situation was like in Social Working. Any of my readers have knowledge in this area? Are there many jobs to be had? With who? In what areas? What qualifications do you need? Any equivalence given to foreign qualifications? Any pointers or useful sites they should check out? Thanks.
