Latest news with #Bloomfestival
The Journal
2 days ago
- The Journal
Rail line closed between Connolly Station and Dún Laoghaire for June bank holiday weekend
IRISH RAIL HAS announced that its services between Dublin's Connolly Station and Dún Laoghaire will be unavailable this weekend as commuters flock to a series of bank holiday events. Between today and Monday, 2 June, restrictions and alterations will apply to both rail and bus services because of limited capacity due to annual summer gatherings such as the Bloom festival and the VHI Women's Mini Marathon taking place. Here are the main changes to note across the primary public transport services. Irish Rail A revised timetable will be in place for the weekend, with Monday's times operating as Sunday schedules for Dart and commuter services. Dart services between Connolly Station and Dún Laoghaire will be unavailable due to major works on the line between Connolly and Blackrock which will also impact Rosslare Intercity services. However, rail tickets on affected routes are valid on Dublin Bus. Dart services are operating between Malahide/Howth and Connolly, and between Dún Laoghaire and Bray/Greystones. Irish Rail is reminding customers to pre-book tickets to ensure a seat on intercity trains because of high demand on Heuston-bound rail for the purpose of attending the Bord Bia Bloom festival in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Advertisement Some Dublin-bound trains from Galway, Limerick, Cork and Waterford are already fully booked, so additional trains will operate out of Cork and Galway to accommodate passenger numbers heading to Bloom Extra early trains from Cobh, Midleton and Mallow will be laid on to provide for high numbers attending the Cork City Marathon on Sunday. Bus Éireann The company says all services will operate to a Sunday schedule this weekend. This will include Dublin's Expressway services serving Ballina, Cavan, Donegal, Dundalk, Letterkenny, Monaghan, Sligo, Waterford and Wexford as well as serving Cork, Galway, Limerick and Tralee. Customers are strongly advised to pre-book their tickets and allow for delays if heading to and from Dublin Airport on Expressway due to holidaymakers jetting abroad. The VHI Women's Mini Marathon in the capital will cause road closures, so Bus Éireann says people must check service updates on its website for the latest travel information. Dublin Bus The company's Monday service will operate to a Sunday schedule. Its Nitelink service will continue today, but will not be in place tomorrow. Customers are told to be aware of traffic diversions in place across the city to facilitate the Women's Mini Marathon tomorrow. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Extra.ie
3 days ago
- Politics
- Extra.ie
Danny Healy-Rae's vote move riles up the Coalition
Danny Healy-Rae has angered Coalition leaders after calling a Dáil vote against the Government's position in an 'undemocratic and unprecedented move'. The Independent TD, a supporter of the Government, took the highly unusual step of calling a vote on a People Before Profit-Solidarity Bill to ban fox hunting at the 'first stage', when typically all pieces of legislation are allowed to proceed to 'second stage' where they can be debated. Taoiseach Micheál Martin, seemingly unaware a Government-supporting TD had called the vote, on Thursday condemned Sinn Féin for voting against the Bill passing to second stage, saying it showed a 'sense of populism' and a 'lack of backbone'. Danny Healy-Rae. Pic: Alan Rowlette/ He said that an individual TD, be it a member of a party, a backbencher or an independent, 'should have the right to at least bring legislation forward, and… to introduce it to second stage, where then there is a debate'. Mr Healy-Rae's brother Michael, the junior minister at the Department of Agriculture, was absent for the vote, while Michael Lowry – the de facto leader of the Government-supporting Regional Independent Group – also voted against. The Government is opposed to the legislation itself, but voted it through to the second stage for debate on a point of principle. Coalition sources called Mr Healy-Rae's decision to call the vote 'not just unusual', but 'unprecedented in 20 years'. Taoiseach Micheál Martin at Bloom. Pic: Liam McBurney/PA Wire A Government spokesman commented: 'The decision to call a vote on this Bill at first stage means that in effect this has become a vote on the right of a TD to table legislation. It would be undemocratic and unprecedented in the modern parliamentary era for the Government to vote down the right of a legislator to table a Bill at first stage. We are clear that the vote should not have been called at this stage, and it is not good practice for TDs to be denied their right to table bills. 'For that reason the Government will vote for the Bill at first stage but will oppose it at second stage.' At the Bloom festival in Dublin on Thursday, the Taoiseach said he was 'shocked' to hear Sinn Féin had voted against the Bill at the first stage. has asked Mr Martin's spokesman if the Taoiseach was aware Mr Healy-Rae had called the vote at the time he made those comments. A response was not received by time of publication. Danny Healy-Rae. Pic: Leon Farrell/ Mr Healy-Rae defended his position on Thursday. He told the 'Things like that I have my own knowledge and I couldn't vote at any stage for fox hunting to be banned. 'If they got away with that maybe the next time they'd stop a farmer from shooting a fox. And I know what the fox has done even to my own son this year. Wherever the ewe had two lambs, the fox took one of them. The ewe can only take care of one. So that's one of the things. That was replicated right around the place and that's pure nonsense, the foxes have taken over. 'I couldn't allow that… I knew what I was doing from the first minute with that Bill. I met one deputy that didn't know that a fox would kill a lamb. I won't say his name out of respect.' Asked who had called the 'unprecedented' vote, Mr Healy-Rae, said: 'You've got me there, I called for it… What benefit is it to allow it to go through only to vote against it anyway? Wasting money and there are important Bills sitting there in the Bills Office and to think we would clog it up further? It doesn't make common sense to me anyway.' The Bill passed to the second stage despite Mr HealyRae's opposition.
Irish Examiner
3 days ago
- Politics
- Irish Examiner
Ireland facing backlash in US over Gaza stance, says President Higgins
The Taoiseach and the President have warned of an international propaganda campaign against Ireland because of the Government's criticism of Israel's bombardment of Palestinians. Micheál Martin has called out Israeli 'propaganda' that implies the people of Ireland support Hamas and accused Israel of twisting the Irish position of recognising Palestine and our support of the International Court of Justice case against Israel. Earlier, President Michael D Higgins said there is an active campaign against Ireland in the US. Mr Higgins said it is 'a disgrace and a slander' to suggest that criticism of Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's policies is somehow antisemitic. 'That is a disgrace and a slander and has been a slander against Ireland, against individuals, including myself,' he said. 'The idea that propaganda can pay against Ireland is now active in the United States so that when we are seeking to have meetings with people who are investing in Ireland, they are being contacted in advance with a suggestion of saying: 'You must open with, why is Ireland so against the US position in Israel?'.' Mr Martin agreed that there are attempts to 'smear Ireland' and that Mr Higgins had been a focus of some of this, which he described as 'regrettable'. The Taoiseach stressed that he and the Government had consistently condemned Hamas, but said the Irish people 'are sickened by the barbarity and the scale of what is happening' with Israeli attacks on Gaza. Mr Martin also warned there was 'some distance' to go before an EU majority supports a suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, but that a recent EU move to review the agreement was not something he would have anticipated six months ago. Taoiseach Micheal Martin (left) with Nessa Doran O'Reilly (right), the Furniture Program Manager at the Rediscovery Centre in Ballymun, on the opening day of the annual Bloom festival at Phoenix Park in Dublin. Picture: Liam McBurney/PA Wire Shortly after the Taoiseach's comments, it was confirmed that several shots were fired in an area near where Irish peacekeeping troops are serving in southern Lebanon, near Israel's blue line. None of the Irish personnel, who were recently deployed as part of the UN operation, were injured in the incident. In a statement, the Defence Forces said a number of rounds were fired in the vicinity of the area where the patrol was operating. 'The patrol withdrew from the area, there were no injuries to the personnel on the patrol and no damage reported to the armoured vehicles they were operating from,' the statement said. 'All personnel of the Irish contingent in Lebanon are reported to be safe and well, they continue to monitor the situation in southern Lebanon and are committed to the stability of the region as impartial peacekeepers. 'We wish to remind all actors of their responsibility to ensure the safety and security of UN peacekeepers.' Yesterday, Israel said it will establish 22 new settlements in the occupied West Bank — including the legalisation of outposts already built without government authorisation — after a security cabinet vote held in secret last week. Israel occupied the West Bank, capturing it from Jordan, in the six-day war of 1967. Since then, successive Israeli governments have tried to permanently cement control over the land, in part by declaring swathes as 'state lands', which prevents private Palestinian ownership. Meanwhile, the White House said Israel 'backed and supported' a new peace proposal, which Hamas continues to evaluate. The proposal was intended to return surviving as well as dead hostages still being held in Gaza in exchange for an extended truce in fighting. Hamas has said it had agreed with US president Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, on a 'general framework' of an agreement that would lead to a lasting ceasefire, a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an influx of aid, and a transfer of power from the militant group to a politically independent committee of Palestinians. Read More Carbon footprint of Israel's war on Gaza exceeds that of many entire countries
The Journal
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
President says corporations 'deliberately' working against climate action
THE PRESIDENT HAS said that there are corporations that are 'deliberately' working against climate action at the same time as the world experiences record-breaking weather extremes. President Michael D. Higgins delivered a speech this morning at the opening of Bloom, the annual food and gardening festival held in Phoenix Park. Addressing the crowd on the first day of the festival, the President used much of his speech to draw attention to the perils of the climate crisis and the need for action to address it. He said that the large attendance numbers at Bloom each year reflect 'the interest that people have in being outdoors' and the growing awareness of needing to protectthe natural world and move to a circular economy. 'We are living, as we all know, in an era of profound environmental challenges, one that is defined by shared interacting crises,' he said. The world's leading climate scientists have told us with increasing urgency that the planet we share is at a tipping point, and in some places has moved over that point,' he said, describing the 'devastating consequences of a warming world'. 'The impacts of climate change in Ireland are impacts with which we are now familiar. They are reflected not only in threat but in actual experience of the consequences of rising sea levels, by the increased frequency and severity of weather events such as high-impact storms, droughts and floods,' he said. Advertisement The President said that 'too many of us will have experienced the dreadful consequences of Storm Éowyn at the end of January', adding that he wanted to 'take this opportunity to thank again all those who worked to address the severe consequences, including the first-responders for their valiant efforts, and the great support they received from communities'. 'We have to make ourselves aware of the imbalance between those who are carrying the consequences of a warming Earth and those who contributed to where we find ourselves in terms of the climate change which has been provoked. 'The peoples of the world are aware of the crisis but unfortunately there are corporations that are deliberately going in another direction and are likely to be very active in trying to get us to retreat from the commitments at that great moment of humanity, the 2015 [Paris Agreement] commitments. During a speech at Bloom festival on climate change, President Michael D Higgins says: 'The peoples of the world are aware of this crisis but there are corporations who are going in the other direction and are very active in trying to get us to retreat from our commitments' — Muiris Ó Cearbhaill (@muirisoc) May 29, 2025 2024 was the warmest year on record , according to the World Meteorological Organisation's latest annual global climate report. The concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere was also higher than ever before. New projections published yesterday by the Environmental Protection Agency show that Ireland is far off track to meet its 2030 climate targets. Additional reporting by Muiris Ó Cearbhaill Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
Agriland
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Agriland
Watch: Gardens showcase agri food sector at Bloom festival
Featured gardens from across the agri food sector are being showcased at the Bloom festival in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, this week (May 2025). The festival, which is sponsored by Bord Bia, is running from Thursday, (May 29) until Monday, (June 2). It is being held on an 70ac site surrounding the visitor centre in the park. Speaking at the launch of the festival today (Wednesday, May 28), Bord Bia's meat, food and beverages, John Murray told Agriland about the importance of the horticulture sector to the Irish market. He said: 'Bord Bia have been involved with bloom since the very beginning. Way back at the start, it was all about trying to promote the horticulture industry, and create an opportunity for consumers to engage with horticulture. 'Our remit takes horticulture into play. The industry is orientated towards the domestic market. It's one of those unsung heroes in terms of what it delivers for the Irish market,' Murray explained. The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) sponsored a garden at the festival called 'Nature's Symphony: Celebrating Organic Growth'. The garden seeks to highlight the commitment that Ireland has made to advancing the country's agriculture sector. One of the designers of the garden, Oliver Schurmann said: 'We should be growing more things organically and embracing nature more than just trying to work against nature. 'We've chosen to only use plants like potatoes, broad beans, barley and oats. Other parts of the garden, it's like an amphitheatre. We have a stage to celebrate nature, to embrace nature, and as a link to the Arás. ' 'Growing organically is all about improving the soil. If we have healthy good soil we're holding back nutrition and water, the perfect conditions to grow healthy, tasty produce,' Schurmann explained. Another garden that showcased Ireland's biodiversity, is the 'Into the Forest' garden, designed by Sarah Cotterill. The garden, which is sponsored by Westland, is inspired by the wet woodlands in the west of Ireland. Cotterill explained that the garden is filled with a combination of native and non-native woodland. 'We have a lush tree canopy with lots of birches, some oak samplings popping up, and some twisted hazels that give it a weathered wild feel,' Cotterill explained. 'During the build we've had birds, butterflies, bees, ladybirds, a squirrel, lots going on in the garden,' she added. Bloom festival Other gardens at the festival highlighted the importance of Ireland's dairy sector. For the first time, the Kerry Group has a garden in the festival. The 'Nature Wrapped in Gold' garden aims to celebrate Kerry Group's routes, and its connection to the farming community. Ornua's Lynn Andrews explained that the group has admired the Bloom festival for a number of years. She told Agriland: 'All of our dairy is grass-fed. That gives it that unique taste and extra creamy texture. It celebrates biodiversity. 'Our garden has the habitat tower, that is designed to let birds nest at different heights. So it can become a welcome home for every little creature, from small robins, to sparrows, to moths and bats as well.' The National Dairy Council also sponsored a garden, called 'The Grass Advantage', which was designed by Robert Moore. At the centre of the garden is a large milk churn sculpture, which symbolises the cultural importance of Irish dairy production. Moore said: 'It's about dairy farming and the sustainable practices within dairy farming, and also shows the beauty of the product. 'The milk is born of the land, and we have such an advantage in terms of the land quality for dairy farming,' he added.
