Thousands of protesters attend anti-water charges in Dublin
BIG CROWD IN DUBLIN URGED TO VOTE FOR RIGHT2CHANGE CANDIDATES IN GENERAL ELECTION?
A large pre-election protest against water charges organised by The Right2Water / Right2Change campaign group, has taken place in Dublin’s city centre.
Several thousand people took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday in protest against water charges ahead of the general election.
There was a large Garda presence on Dame Street and College Green, where the rally gathered to hear from a number of speakers.
Addressing the crowd, Unite organiser Brendan Ogle said it was almost a year since several people who protested against water meters were jailed.
The demonstration, organised by the Right2Change campaign group, started outside the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square at 2pm.
The protesters travelled down O’Connell Street and on to the South Quay along Aston Quay, Wellington Quay and Essex Quay.
“The community in Jobstown were vilified by the national media and political establishment. Anti-water charge protesters have been treated with absolute contempt by Joan Burton, the national media and the political establishment,” said Mr Ogle.
Election day support?
Mr Ogle called on the crowd to vote for Right2Water election candidates on polling day next Friday.
“For the first time in our history, people are being offered the opportunity to vote for a real alternative and to vote for change,” he said.
He also asked members of the crowd to donate to those collecting money to help pay the legal costs of those facing charges related to the anti-water charges movement.
The Right2Change movement said more than 100 general election candidates have signed up to its policy principles, the majority of whom are representing Sinn Féin.
Right2Change is backed by trade unions including Mandate, Unite, the Communications Workers’ Union, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, and the Civil and Public Services Union.
Speaking ahead of Saturday’s march, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said, “in the last weekend of the campaign Enda Kenny and the Government parties are ratcheting up their scare tactics. Their policy positions have no credibility because for the vast majority of families there is no recovery.
“Enda Kenny wants to be returned to power to continue his austerity policies and his chaotic management of the health service. There is a better way to govern our society. To build a fair recovery and a better Ireland, ” Mr Adamssaid.
Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy tweeted: “Huge turnout today for #Right2Water protest. A funeral march for Labour and the birth of a new socialist left that won’t sell-out.”
Joan Burton says Labour ‘Is up for the fight’ after recent poor poll result
LEAKED B&A POLL SEES LABOUR SUPPORT AT 4%, SUNDAY TIMES ‘BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED’ AT LEAK
Tánaiste and Labour party leader Joan Burton says her party “are up for a fight” after a leaked opinion poll revealed a hug drop in Labour support.
She was speaking on Saturday after a leaked Behaviour & Attitudes opinion poll, commissioned for The Sunday Times, showed the Labour Party is facing a collapse in support.
Details of the poll were leaked online last night and were published in theTimes (Ireland edition) Epaper on Saturday morning.
It shows Labour’s support at 4%, down from 8% and the party’s lowest level in a B&A poll.
Speaking in Waterford today Ms Burton told RTE news she does not normally comment on polls but said the Labour Party would rebound.
“I’m a fighter and I’m up for a fight. I’ve never stood back from a fight. That’s what the Labour Party is about and we’re about making people and families lives better,” she said.
Her Cabinet colleague Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin dismissed the poll finding, saying he had knocked on thousands of doors and found there was very little movement in public opinion.
“The one thing I’m certain of is that we are not on 4% or anything even in the ballpark of 4%. I’m absolutely sure of that. If you ask me what figure we’re on I don’t know,” he said on Saturday.
If the party received this level of support in Friday’s vote Labour would secure only a handful of seats.
The poll puts the AAA/People Before Profit grouping on 5%, ahead of Labour.
Fine Gael saw its support up two points to 30 per cent, having fallen three points in the previous poll published on February 7th.
According to the Fianna Fáil support it at a two-year high in the B&A series at 22 per cent, a gain of 2 per cent on the previous poll.
The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, following the leaders’ debate on RTÉ on Monday. Sinn Féin has seen its support decline by two points to 15%.
The Independents and Others grouping saw its support rise again, up 4 points to 30%.
This group includes the AAA/PBP and the Independent Alliance both on 5% support. The Green party has 3% support, the Social Democrats 3% (a fall of 1%) and Renua 3%, a gain of 1%.
Unaligned Independents attract 10% support. The Sunday Times said it was investigating the cause of the leak.
“I am bitterly disappointed that this survey has been leaked in advance of publication. There will be a thorough investigation into this matter,” Frank Fitzgibbon, the newspaper’s editor in Ireland, said.
‘You’re not welcome on our farms anymore’ environmental groups told
Neighbours rally to build flood defences around homes in Ballinstague near Gort, Co Galway after the recent flooding.
Hundreds braved the wet conditions to show their support at the National ‘Stop the Flooding’ Rally which took place on Saturday in Athlone.
IFA flood project chair and Connacht regional chair Tom Turley addressed the large crowd in Athlone on Saturday at the National ‘Stop the Flooding’ Rally, calling on the Irish government to start work ‘immediately’ on the waterways around the country.
“We have the m50 in Dublin, and when the traffic got busy on that, they put an extra lane in. If there’s a car crash or one lane blocked, we around the rest of the country know about it because it’s on the airwaves.
“The waterways are the same. There’s bushes, theres rubbish. there’s silt and there’s sewage in all our rivers, and no one wants to do a damn bit about it,” he told the crowd.
“We didn’t see any of them for the last twelve weeks in their vans. They’re not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now.”
Turley told An Taisce and other lobbying groups “to get the hell out of the way” so that work could be done.
“We’re told by the environmental groups that we should plant more trees. Well it’s hard to plant more trees in a turlough in west Roscommon thats 35ft deep, or along the river Shannon when there’s 16ft of water.
“We didn’t see any of them for the last twelve weeks in their vans. They’re not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now,” he said.
Turley called for one single authority to look after the waterways. He disregarded the idea of flood defences as a solution, saying it only pushed the problem down the river to someone else.
“17 local authorities have a say on the Shannon but none have responsibilty when it comes to your houses, your businesses, your farms being flooded, and your livelihoods being washed away.
“Like the roads, we want the same level of interest in our waterways, and we want the work to start as soon as the water recedes. If not [these communities] are going to take it into their own hands,” he said.
The trauma that flooding leaves?
Representing flood victims from the lower end of the Shannon, Geraldine Quinlivan from south east Clare spoke about the trauma her and family have gone through after the floods destroyed their home and farm.
“I for one will never forget how I felt when I was forced to move out of my home after three and half weeks of fighting the rising flood water.
“On the back of my brothers tractor with one of my sons, I looked back and saw the rest of my exhausted family still manning pumps to see if they could keep the flood water out of our homes, and I vowed there and then that I would do everything I could to ensure that that never happened again, not just to me, but to anyone else either,” she told the crowd.
Geraldine said that as far back as 2006, they identified solutions to their flooding issues, which were largely ignored by successive governments.
“We have a right not to feel stressed and anxious and afraid in our own homes each yer from November to March.
“Flood defences around our homes, a single authority for the river Shannon, better water management, and the cleaning of the river, particularly down near UL, where it’s only operating at a quarter of its capacity – These potential solutions have been largely ignored by successive governements and this has to stop,” she said.
Rural Ireland long forgotten?
Roscommon IFA chair John Hanley said that the government had “forgotten rural Ireland”.
“Rural communities have been forgotten about. The physical and mental stress this has caused is absolutely unreal. People are on their knees and it’s time we stood up and took back control.
“We have the second so called ‘100 year flood’ in six years. The time for talking is over. Action is required now,” he said.
Mary Lou’s Grafton Street mystery man steals the limelight from SINN FEIN
THERE WAS ONE QUESTION ON THE LIPS OF THE REPORTERS AT SINN FEIN DEPUTY LEADER MARY LOU MCDONALD’S PRESS CONFERENCE: JUST WHO WAS THE MYSTERY MAN THAT HIJACKED THE WHOLE THING?
It all started in the usual way. M/s McDonald was on Grafton Street outlining how her party would scrap water charges and she was asked about Gerry Adams’ car crash RTE interview.
Mary Lou McDonald addresses the person, who identified himself as a small businessman, on Grafton Street.
“Anybody can fumble a figure,” was her take on Mr Adams’ apparent difficulty outlining his party’s plans for extra tax on those paid more than €100,000.
It was then that the mystery man made his move.
“You’re going to kill pensions for middle-income people,” he claimed.
“No we won’t,” M/s McDonald replied.
“Have you seen the figures or can your leader do the maths?” he asked.
A political person?
She asked who he was and he replied: “A concerned citizen.”
“I’m apolitical but I won’t be voting for Sinn Fein,” he added.
“That’s fine. That’s your prerogative,” Ms McDonald said.
He accused the Dublin Central candidate of wanting to “punish” people “who work hard and try and make a life for themselves”.
“No I don’t,” she replied.
“You certainly do. Where the State loses more when someone is made unemployed than the person loses there’s something wrong there. When you pay 59% tax?” the man countered.
Ms McDonald replied: “What I am saying to you is you have to look at the proposals in the round. I understand that not all of our proposals will be universally popular. It’s not universally popular to say that you want a third tax band.”
It was then that she had a ‘figure fumble’ herself, saying there would be an “additional seven euro in every cent over the hundred grand for people who earn that”. Of course, she meant an additional 7c on every euro.
“Our position is people with deeper pockets, people who have a greater ability to pay, yes, have to pay a bit more and I’m sorry if that upsets you but I’m being honest and I’m telling you that that is the lie of the land.
“If other political parties were honest they would tell you the same thing.”
The man said: “The best way for this country is to give young people opportunities.”
“Absolutely,” M/s McDonald said. It was perhaps the only thing they agreed on but it didn’t last long.
The man said he didn’t support any political party.
“Really?” M/s McDonald asked. “Yeah, really,” he replied.
He said he “probably will be voting Fine Gael” because of their policy on USC.
“They’re abolishing it,” M/s McDonald said, adding: “It’s €4bn off the balance sheet so good luck when you go to your local hospital.”
Talking about the Hospitals?
“You want to talk about the hospitals? You’re talking about someone who’s had personal experience and I can’t see Sinn Fein sorting that out,” the man replied.
He declined to give his name when asked by reporters, saying, “I’ve no interest in talking”, but said he runs a small business.
“Sinn Fein annoy me by the way they go around and I just felt so incensed about it,” he said on his intervention and walked off down Grafton Street.
M/s McDonald returned to her press conference.
“We had a lively exchange there with a citizen,” she said wryly.
‘Smart’ Contact Lenses Made Possible By Stretchable Nano-Devices
THESE ARE NANOSCALE GLASS STRUCTURES THAT FILTER OR MANIPULATE LIGHT.
A collaborative effort from the University of Adelaide and RMIT University developed a stretchable nano-scale device that can be used to manipulate light and filter specific colors while still being transparent, paving the way for the creation of “smart” contact lenses.
This technology would allow for the creation of high-techcontacts that could do any number of things: filter out optical radiation without vision interference, transmit data and gather information on vitals, and potentially allow for a HUD, or head-up display.
The University of Adelaide researchers specialize in the interaction of light with artificial materials, and the RMITcollaborators had expertise in materials science and nanofabrication, making the project a perfect challenge for the two.
“Manipulation of light using these artificial crystals uses precise engineering,” Withawat Withayachumnankul of the University of Adelaide’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering said, according to a news release. “With advanced techniques to control the properties of surfaces, we can dynamically control their filter properties, which allow us to potentially create devices for high data-rateoptical communication or smart contact lenses.”
“The current challenge is that dielectric resonators only work for specific colors, but with our flexible surface we can adjust the operation range simply by stretching it,” he added.
The device uses tiny, artificial crystals it creates, called dielectric resonators, to manipulate light. These resonators are 100 to 200 nanometers in length, 500 times thinner than human hair and a fraction of light’s wavelength.
Additionally, the team made the device on a rubber-like material used for contacts, and “embed[ded] precisely-controlled crystals of titanium oxide, a material that is usually found in sunscreen, in these soft and pliable materials. Both materials are proven to be bio-compatible, forming an ideal platform for wearable optical devices,” according to Madhu Bhaskaran, the co-leader of the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT.
The engineering of the materials shape allowed the team to create a device that changes its properties when its stretched, which modifies light’s interaction and ability to travel through the device, according to Bhaskaran.
“With this technology, we now have the ability to develop light weight wearable optical components which also allow for the creation of futuristic devices such as smart contact lenses or flexible ultra thin smartphone cameras,” so said Philipp Gutruf, lead author from RMIT,
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