Lord Mayor of Dublin, Naoise Ó Muirí accepts an Olympic Torch from Pat Hickey, President of the Olympic Council of Ireland, as a thank you to the city for hosting the Olympic Torch Relay in Dublin last year. Picture: Jason Clarke Photography.

HERE ARE THE things we learned, loved and shared today.

THINGS WE LEARNED:

#MAGDALENES: The long-awaited inter-departmental report into the State’s involvement in Magdalene Laundries has been published – and revealed a major State role in causing thousands of women to be abused at the facilities over several decades. The reports – broken down here in numbers – revealed that the laundries made very little money despite their forced labour. Three of the bodies responsible have offered an apology to the victims – but Enda Kenny angered survivors’ groups by not immediately offering a full apology. Amnesty International and SIPTU have both called for the State to own up to its role and pay financial compensation.

#HORSE BURGERS: Agriculture minister Simon Coveney has told an Oireachtas committee that “bad management” at the Silvercrest Foods plant has let down the Irish food industry. Coveney said it was “not unreasonable” to think that the Irish food industry was now suffering as a result of a problem with a Polish product. “I haven’t said that lightly,” he said. “Somebody is selling rogue product, and somebody knows about it.”

#RENDITION: The Department of Justice has said there is “no evidence” of rendition having taken place in Ireland. The Department was responding to a report showing Ireland was among 54 countries that had assisted the CIA’s rendition programme.

#BODY: A Garda investigation is underway after a the body of a man was found in a house in Drumcondra in the early hours of this morning. The man, in his 30s, was found shortly before 2am this morning.

#CHEQUE PLEASE: Irish people now use cheques more often than almost every other country in the EU, according to Central Bank research. More than 84 million cheques were issued in Ireland last year, meaning only France is more fond of the chequebook than we are.

#GAY MARRIAGE: The UK’s House of Commons has voted in favour of a Bill to legalise full same-sex marriage in England and Wales. The Bill was progressed through second stage this evening by 400 votes to 175.

THINGS WE LOVED:

• This hatefully addictive build-your-own-robot website.
• The news that Malala Yousufzai has been formally nominated for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. Who needs TIME’s Person of the Year award anyway?
• This tweet from 98FM’s court reporter Louise Byrne about a case in the High Court today (and this even more absurd follow-up from RTÉ’s Vivienne Traynor):

THINGS WE SHARED:

• This picture – which has made it to the top of the front page of Reddit. This eagle clearly wasn’t happy with being photographed.
• This videolink footage from a court in the US earlier this week. The video shows what happens when you try to stick up your middle finger at a judge. Even the fact that you’re not in the same room is no defence. The real bird-flipping happens at 2m50:

(YouTube: shoeshandyohns)

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