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Dublin: 12 °C Saturday 25 May, 2013

The 9 at 9: Saturday

Every morning, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day…

Image: ian.poley via Flickr

EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you the nine things you need to know as you start your day…

1. #LET’S GO JOHN JOE: It’s all eyes back on the ExCeL Arena in London this evening as Mullingar’s John Joe Nevin bids to emulate Katie Taylor and Michael Carruth, and secure an Olympic boxing gold. Nevin faces Team GB’s Luke Campbell in the final of the men’s bantamweight division at 8:45pm. Plenty of other Irish in action today too, including four walkers: TheScore.ie‘s Olympic Breakfast will get you started.

2. #TULLAMORE: It has emerged that three of the four young men killed in yesterday’s horrific motor accident outside Tullamore were brothers. The men – aged 27, 24 and 17 – were killed when the Honda Civic they were travelling in hit a minibus. Driver Lee Bryan, 22, was also killed.

3. #MANHOLE MEN: It’s reported this morning that Gardaí are examining a potential link between last week’s incident at a manhole in central Dublin and Ireland’s forthcoming EU presidency. The Irish Daily Star says the two men seen climbing down the manhole on Ship Street Little, near Dublin Castle, may have links to Ireland’s term at the head of the European Council which begins in January.

4. #WATER: Dublin City Council believes an old cast-iron pipe may be to blame for an ongoing contamination in Clontarf. The Irish Independent says the contamination may have resulted from a crack in a mains pipe laid in the 1920s. A boil notice will remain in place at least until Monday.

5. #US 2012: Mitt Romney will today officially name his vice-presidential nominee – with major news outlets confirming that Wisconsin congressman Paul Ryan will be the running mate. The 42-year-old Irish-American is the head of the House of Representatives’ Budget committee.

6. #AURORA: Lawyers for the man accused of being behind last month’s cinema massacre in Colorado have said their client is “mentally ill”. Attorneys say James Holmes had sought to get professional help before the attack in Aurora.

7. #SLANE 2013: There may not have been any gig at Slane Castle this summer, but Henry Mountcharles has promised that there will be not one, but two concerts there in 2013. The Slane owner told the Irish Daily Mirror that the concerts would be “special”. It’s likely that the gigs would be held months apart.

8. #MILLION DOLLAR BRAY-BY: Katie Taylor’s journey from a dilapidated rural gym to Olympic boxing champion could be set for the big screen. The Irish Sun reports that movie distributors are already looking to make a film of Katie’s life, while publishing houses are also anxious to secure rights to an autobiography. Paddy Power is already offering odds on Saoirse Ronan playing Katie.

9. #IT WASN’T EU: They said somebody had to win last night’s Euromilllions… but it probably wasn’t you. There was only one winning ticket of the €190 million jackpot, sold in the UK. Let’s hope that Britain has exhausted its luck before the Nevin-Campbell fight tonight…

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Comments (7 Comments)

  • So so sad about the loss of 4 young lives AGAIN on Irish roads in Tullamore & worse still 3 brothers from the one family. May they rest in peace.

    Reply
  • Derek, admit it. You used to sing in a band with three of your sisters.

    Reply
  • That manhole story gets even weirder. If they were down there to check something out before the EU Presidency begins then why didn’t the Garda Intelligence unit in the Phoenix Park know anything about it ? It seems strange when the bulk of Dublin city center is covered by CCTV. I’m thinking we’re not being given all the facts.

    Nothing was stolen from Dublin Castle or surrounds which makes it more suss, a criminal gang wouldn’t be dumb enough to do a practice run when there is CCTV looking at them. That aside any artwork that could be stolen from Dublin Castle would only get a fraction of it’s true value on the black market making it relatively pointless organizing a difficult heist.

    I’m beginning to think that darker forces might be behind it. Given that the discussions held behind closed doors during EU Presidencies are extremely commercially and economically sensitive and given that knowledge is power then there’s a reasonable chance that either the CIA or (by proxy) Mossad were using the sewer as access to install a box of tricks that will allow them to keep ahead of the curve. Something as simple as a two minute conversation between an EU Commissioner and the CEO of Airbus on their future strategic direction could be worth billions to Boeing. And Boeing have been losing the aviation battle for quite a while. Big US Pharma companies also have an ongoing deregulation battle on Brussels. Not to mention key decisions on GM that could damage the US Food Industry. Bugging Dublin Castle is a much more attractive prospect than bugging the offices of major corporate boardrooms. It’s also where strategic policy decisions will be discussed and agreed, making it the source of a valuable flow of information to companies competing against EU industries.

    The information discussed would also be of value to the Russians and the Chinese but their black ops on foreign soil are typically reactionary and tend to focus on eliminating political enemies. The CIA and Mossad are known for their proactive approach to intelligence gathering as well as the dirtier job of conducting assassinations on foreign soil, Libya, Pakistan and Dubai being just a few recent examples. In corporate espionage we already know the CIA were working in tandem with Google in China and it is highly likely they’ve been doing Apple’s bidding in the patent war versus Samsung.

    No doubt some will cry conspiracy theory on this but do bear in mind that the CIA already have a listening post installed a few hundred metres away just behind Dame Street (the ugly radio tower with the satellite dishes). It’s been there for several decades but only became public knowledge in 2003 when the Irish Times and Phoenix reported it off the back of a FOI request. Also consider that they have somewhere in the region of 50 agents operating out of the US Embassy in Ballsbridge so they certainly have the available manpower.

    That gives them both the means and the motive. Stranger things have happened, it’s not all that long ago that the Russians caught M16 planting fake rocks with cameras and recording equipment beside a park bench in Moscow where KGB spies sat down to hatch the poisoning and murder of Putin’s former KGB colleague Litvinenko in London after he defected to MI6.

    The largest concentration of MI6 staff in the whole of the UK is based just outside Banbridge in Co.Down as unlike the British Army they never relocated after the Good Friday Agreement. MI6 have 450 staff based there so no doubt we’ll be hearing more British accents than normal on the streets of Dublin over the coming six months, both for the security of Cameron and Cabinet Ministers as well as for counter intelligence operations to secure the site. Garda Intelligence must already be feeling inadequate seeing as they hadn’t a clue who was down the manhole, it’s even likely that MI6 knew who it was before they did, irrespective of whether they told them.

    Interesting times indeed.

    Reply
  • Saoirse Ronan playing Katie Taylor……… Really?

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  • Derek you’re to blame, typical diversionary tactic blaming 2 innocent people as a cover up for foriegn direct investment.

    Reply

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