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Irish Times
17-07-2025
- Irish Times
Former AGSI chief ‘profoundly distressed' by social media attacks, court hears
Former general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants & Inspectors (Agsi) , Antoinette Cunningham , has revealed in court how 'blatantly false, vile social media attacks' left her feeling profound distress and helplessness. Andrew McGovern (38), of School Lane, Rathowen, Co Westmeath, was remanded on continuing bail pending sentencing by Judge Bernadette Owens at Mullingar District Court on Thursday. McGovern pleaded guilty to a charge stating that he 'did distribute or publish a threatening or grossly offensive communication about Antoinette Cunningham with intent to cause harm'. The messages were posted on Twitter , now called X . The offence occurred in the Mullingar area from March 16th to March 30th, 2023, while Ms Cunningham was still Agsi head. The charge under section 4 of the Harassment, Harmful Communications and Related Offences Act 2020 carries a possible six-month sentence at District Court level. McGovern will be sentenced on September 4th. Det Sgt Alan Farrelly of the Garda National Bureau of Criminal Investigation told the court that the first set of five direct messages was sent privately to the victim and made claims that she was the accused's godmother. Ms McGovern claimed his father had told him this before he died and that he remembered her when he was a toddler in the 1990s. Ms Cunningham ignored the messages until she learned of a second set of 'more sinister' posts on McGovern's Twitter account about her. The posts mentioned a person connected to her and were publicly accessible. They contained unfounded claims that allegations had been 'all swept under the carpet' and that McGovern's life had been ruined. In a victim impact statement, Ms Cunningham spoke out at her dismay at seeing 'blatantly false, vile, and completely shocking allegations' about her on social media. They mentioned her job, which she believed was an effort to 'damage and discredit me'. Describing the posts as 'a demonstration of the very toxic side of social media', she highlighted how the attacks violated her privacy, 'and my sense of personal wellbeing and peace of mind was fractured as a result of what happened'. The court heard she could not fathom why somebody would choose to post disturbing messages about her and continue doing so. 'There was a personal vilification of me going on, and I was powerless, at that point, to do anything about it,' she said. 'The messages had a profoundly negative effect on me, they were filled with hate, disinformation, offensive content, lies and basely offensive matters.' Ms Cunningham was also critical of the social media platform. 'To this day, I find it deeply upsetting that something that is a criminal offence in this country is not accepted as a breach of social media rules here,' she said. Last year, Ms Cunningham, from Limerick, announced her retirement after 33 years with An Garda Síochána and the Agsi.
ABC News
20-06-2025
- Sport
- ABC News
Jeremy McGovern retires as one of the West Coast Eagles' all-time greats
Jeremy McGovern's footy career was a long-odds bet to begin with. McGovern, the son of former Fremantle player Andrew McGovern, was taken with pick 44 in the 2011 rookie draft. The chances of him playing 197 games, winning a flag and earning five All-Australian blazers would have been, at best, very slim. Then-Eagles recruitment boss Trevor Woodhouse admits he probably only looked at the kid from North Albany because of his surname, and decided to roll the dice. "I think back then it was probably easier to just take some speculative rookies, I don't think the scrutiny was on them like it is today," Woodhouse told Fox Sports. McGovern sat on the Eagles' rookie list for three years without playing an AFL game. Then, in early 2014 at the age of 21, he sat crying in a meeting with new Eagles coach Adam Simpson and an assortment of club staff, fearing the worst. He had relaxed a little too thoroughly during an off-season trip to Phuket and returned in sub-elite condition. McGovern's footy career looked over before it began. "They were talking about ripping contracts up, which was fair enough," he told the Backchat podcast. In the era of the AFL ultra-athlete, skin-folds and beep tests, McGovern had a refreshingly old-school frame. "I'm not the fittest-looking footballer," he once said. That 2014 meeting resulted in him being sent away to train on his own, and after regaining his condition and stringing some solid performances together for East Perth at WAFL level, he was selected to make his senior debut against Carlton in round six. Two years later he was an All-Australian, the first of five blazers he would earn. McGovern's greatest strength was his ability to read the play, and the flight of the ball through the air, better than just about anybody else. It's a trait he traces back to his boyhood, playing footy with Indigenous kids on a red-dirt oval in the remote community of Warburton, about 1,500 kilometres from Perth. "Every now and then, I'd sit back and watch how the Indigenous boys up there played footy," he told The Age. "I'd try to mimic how they were doing it. They were so good. They're just natural footballers up there. They don't get taught. "[They] probably had the best judgement I've seen. "That's where I started reading the ball." It was a trait he used to help the Eagles repel opposition attacks, and begin their own, for more than a decade. The term "intercept mark" should be renamed a "Gov", given all he's done to popularise the term. Where coaches of a bygone era might have exhorted him to punch, McGovern's vision and magnetic hands offered West Coast the perfect way of turning defence into attack. It was a trait he used to brilliant effect in the frantic final stages of the 2018 grand final. With less than three minutes to play, he read Adam Treloar's kick inside Collingwood's 50, peeled off his man and planted his knee in Brody Mihocek shoulder to mark, kick-starting one of the most famous grand final moments — up there with Wayne Harmes's knock back, or Matthew Scarlett's toe poke. "What a player," Bruce McAvaney said of him as it happened, and McAvaney has seen plenty. If reading the play was McGovern's best trait, his courage was not far behind. He needed six painkilling injections to play in that grand final, after he tore his oblique muscles during the preliminary final against Melbourne the week before. Then, during the game, his ribs were cracked. Speaking after the match about the ordeal he had endured in the week leading up to the biggest day of his football career, McGovern offered a sore smile and said: "You've got to love your footy." The site of a banged-up McGovern hauling himself up off the ground after bone-jarring collisions became routine over the years for West Australian football fans. Just when you thought his day was surely over, he would shrug off a trainer and throw himself into the fray again. Now, after the latest in what the club has described as "multiple concussions" over his career, McGovern has been advised to retire on medical grounds. When his case was referred to the AFL's "concussion panel", the writing was on the wall. With the spectre of lawsuits from former players who played after head knocks hovering over the league, it seemed unlikely the panel would advise anything else. With a long life to be lived after football, and many more memories to be made off-field, he has read the play here just as well as he did throughout a wonderful career, painful though it may be. The West Coast Eagles have produced defensive greats like Glen Jakovich, Ashley McIntosh and Darren Glass, and Jeremy McGovern more than belongs in that illustrious company. When it comes to all-time Eagles greats, he is in the very top tier. WA footy will be poorer without him patrolling the half-back line, watching his man, but always with one eye scanning ahead reading the play.
The Courier
12-06-2025
- Business
- The Courier
Fife micro-farm grows from city roots to Michelin-starred kitchens
The deal was simple – clean up a neglected urban space in exchange for a place to grow. Six years on and Greenheart Growers has a group of more than 40 volunteers in Fife and supplies several top restaurants. Nestled on scenic shores of Kinghorn Loch, Greenheart is a hub for volunteers seeking farming experience under the guidance of owner Andrew McGovern. The community-based growing project focuses on fresh local vegetables, flowers and herbs, even supplying some Michelin-starred restaurants. 38-year old Andrew started Greenheart in 2019 on one-tenth of an acre in his home city of Glasgow. He said: 'We started on land with weeds and waste up to your knees. But the demand outgrew the space and we had to move.' In 2021 the operation moved to a half-acre site next to Kinghorn Loch. The public can access the fresh produce through the farm shop or by signing up to a 'veg box' scheme, where they get weekly supplies of seasonal vegetables delivered. Restaurants supplied by the business include four Michelin-starred establishments in Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Fife. For chefs used to importing veg from England, the proximity and freshness are a game-changer. 'Michelin chefs in Scotland have wanted that for a long time,' Andrew said. 'They want to access the best and freshest produce, and we harvest and deliver on the same morning. 'These chefs want something very specific, on a specific day, for a certain number of weeks. 'It's really exciting to develop products with them, like a new micro-green needed for a specific dish.' 'By the end of the year, I'd like to be working with 10 or more fine-dining restaurants.' Andrew sees the project as a response to modern challenges like social isolation, inactivity, and disconnection from nature. What started with a handful of helpers has grown into a team of around 40 regular volunteers and three seasonal staff. 'People are indoors too much, disconnected from where food comes from,' he said. 'Community gardens like ours bring people outside, give them purpose and rebuild that connection. 'The laughs we have, the time we spend together – that's why people keep coming back. 'A lot of folks came out after the lockdowns just needing fresh air and community. 'Most are retirees, but the group includes a mix of ages and backgrounds. 'We asked for help, and the response was incredible. It's become a real community hub.' Education is a growing focus for Greenheart. It offers one-day intensive courses for all experience levels and is developing online learning resources. 'We're designing an online course to give everyone the chance to learn about growing,' Andrew said. 'We're also speaking with Kinghorn Primary School about a programme for children this season. 'It's about building long-term skills and excitement around fresh food.' Greenheart's ambition is to become 'Scotland's market garden', a model for high-quality local food production. Andrew said: 'If a chef in Scotland wants top-quality veg, their first thought should be Greenheart. 'There's a gap in the market for premium local produce, and we're working hard to fill it. 'We want to be the spark that others build on. To show what's possible and inspire more people to grow locally, sustainably and together.'
Yahoo
18-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spectacular scene as Mexican tall ship docks in NYC, giving sneak peek of blockbuster Sail4th celebration of America's 250th
Sea-nic views abounded onboard and off. A Mexican navy tall ship carrying 277 crewmembers ceremonially soared into lower Manhattan Tuesday — giving New Yorkers a taste of what to expect at next year's blockbuster Sail4th event celebrating America's 250th birthday. Dozens of naval cadets stood stoically aboard the Cuauhtémoc's towering 147-foot mast, while others dressed in cultural Mexican garb awaited nearby, and three long horns sounded as the boat sailed through New York Harbor as a signal of goodwill between Mexico and the US — even amid the ongoing tariff drama. The vessel, built in Spain in 1982 with the sole purpose of training cadets, is expected to be one of 30 Class A International Tall Ships that will parade through the Harbor on July 4, 2026 — in an impressive processional that will also include scores of smaller vessels, a dramatic military flyover and a fireworks finale. 'The visual will be unbelievable, and the events are going to be magical,' said Capt. Andrew McGovern, a board member for Sail4th, adding that 'cultural exchanges' will be a main focus of the blockbuster event. 'This will have a lasting legacy and open people's eyes. This is what we were built on and founded on.' The Post was offered an exclusive trip onto the Cuauhtémoc as it sailed below the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge and into Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport. The stop is just the third in the vessel's eight-month voyage around the globe, which offers the Mexican cadets the opportunity to flex their sailing muscles in environments like Jamaica, Iceland, Portugal and more. This year's class boasts 175 cadets, the largest class the nation's navy has seen yet. 'The classes are getting bigger and bigger. We just keep getting more and more people!' said Lt. Sg. Hugo Calvario, the ship's orthopedic surgeon. 'We had to leave almost 40% of the crew to take on more cadets,' he continued, meaning the trainees have to pick up the slack and take on more responsibilities. The Post watched as they skillfully climbed the dauntingly high ropes and stretched across the towers of the ship's three masts to conduct what in English is known as 'manning the yards' — a universal sign of respect that is done every time a ship enters a port. The cadets stood with open arms for around 15 minutes until they were called back down to help prepare the vessel for docking, but officials guessed that next year's class might have to stand on the towering masts for up to two hours as the parade makes its way through the harbor. For the occasion, several cadets traded in their striped uniforms for traditional dress in the styles of Mariachis, Charreria and China Poblana, as well as Traje tipico veracruzano and Traje tipico jalisco, as a form of celebrating their heritage upon entering another nation's soil. Who does what changes every day, Calvario explained. Upon docking in lower Manhattan, a crowd of Mexican Americans waved flags and cheered in welcome before Mexican Ambassador to the US Esteban Moctezuma Barragán boarded the Cuauhtémoc for a brief ceremony conducted in Spanish. The spectacle happens more than the average New Yorker might know, with varying countries taking their turns docking and enjoying a few days on US soil throughout the year as a display of pride and international goodwill. That goodwill will culminate at next year's Sail4th event, which will span July 3 to the 8 in the Big Apple — and will coincide with the World Cup and Fleet Week, which was moved for the momentous occasion. The Post is one of the bash's sponsors.
Irish Times
15-05-2025
- Irish Times
Man guilty of harassing prominent Garda representative with ‘offensive material'
A probation report is to be prepared on a man who has pleaded guilty to harassment with 'offensive material' of a woman who was general secretary of the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi) at the time. Andrew McGovern (38), of School Lane, Rathowen, Co Westmeath, appeared before Judge Bernadette Owens at Mullingar District Court on Thursday. He previously entered a guilty plea on a charge of distributing or publishing a 'threatening or grossly offensive communication' about Antoinette Cunningham 'with intent to cause harm' between March 16th and 30th, 2023. Ms Cunningham was the first woman to lead any of the Garda staff associations. Last year she retired from her roles with Agsi and the Garda after 33 years of service. READ MORE McGovern failed to show up for a sentencing hearing in March and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest. He was detained by gardaí the following week and granted bail pending the case coming before Judge Owens again on Thursday. The matter was adjourned for two months pending the preparation of a probation report, with sentence to be handed down on July 17th. Under the legislation, anyone guilty of the offence McGovern pleaded guilty to faces a fine and/or a term of imprisonment of up to six months. Ms Cunningham was present in court for the hearing, with a number of supporters. The court was told she was available to give her victim impact evidence, after having submitted it in written form in March, but that was also adjourned. Judge Owens said hearing Ms Cunningham's victim impact evidence would have 'more impact for me' if it was heard in July, when the probation report is also set to be available to the court. A Probation Service representative told the court the service was not aware a report was required for Thursday's hearing. Judge Owens accepted this was because a bench warrant for McGovern had been issued at the last brief hearing associated with the case in March.
