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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Irish Examiner
Letters to the Editor: Utter chaos at Dublin Airport arrivals
On Thursday, July 24, I flew from Reus-Barcelona to Dublin. The flight arrived on time, but the contrast between the proficiency of the flight and the confusion outside Dublin Airport could not be greater. To say that it was utter chaos is an understatement. Other flights had arrived at the same time, and there were hundreds of people of all ages looking for information on how to complete their journey. There were plenty of signs for Aircoach and Dublin Express, but no signs on how to get Bus Éireann into Dublin City. There was a double-decker bus at a stop without a number or a destination displayed. This generated a huge interest, so much so that I estimated about 150 people stood around the bus. About 25 of us spoke with an official, but nobody understood what he said. As the crowd grew around him, another official shouted that we should clear the footpath for a group of people getting on an Aircoach. We did so, but it was an effort with heavy bags. There were certain loud comments from the people at the bus stop. A few minutes later, the number 16 appeared on the double-decker with the destination: 'Dublin City Centre, via O'Connell Street'. There was great rejoicing, but it looked as if three double-decker buses were needed. There was sheer pandemonium as people struggled to get on with heavy suitcases. Once seated, there was a great relaxation as people remarked on the distress caused. Where I sat, there were five different nationalities, and all remarked on the lack of visual and verbal guidance on how to find the best and cheapest way to their destination. We had fun too, as we were told that if it was our first visit to Dublin, we had to leave our rooms at 4am to dance with the leprechauns and then drink three pints. This was a great stress reliever, and we parted in O'Connell St the best of friends. There is a great urgency to make people's arrival in our country as easy as possible. Tom Grufferty, Knock, Co Mayo Cleary disappoints as football manager It appears that the re-appointment of John Cleary as Cork senior football manager following the expiry of his three years contract in charge this year, is a done deal. Cleary was a great Cork footballer in the late 1980s when he won back to back All-Irelands. However, he has been a big disappointment as manager. Cork football has been stuck in Division 2 for the last 10 years. They haven't beaten Kerry in a championship match in Killarney for several more years. The under performance of the Cork senior football team is nothing short of a disgrace. A county like Louth, the smallest county in Ireland, now beat Cork regularly. The first thing that should be done in Cork is to have separate hurling and football boards. Secondly, if an outside manager needs to be appointed so be it. I am a Corkman living in Donegal and the view in Ulster is that Cork football is a laughing stock. There was a time when the Cork senior footballers were feared and respected. Cleary has done his three years. Cork are still stuck in Division 2, and almost went to Division 3 a number of times, only escaping by a whisker. Cork footballers need to try first and foremost to be a Division 1 top eight team. More of the same is not an option. A total clearout of management, a county wide search for young new footballers who have passion and talent, as well as a new outside management team is urgently needed. If something doesn't happen soon, Cork will end up in Division 4. If Cork fairweather football supporters don't want to follow the senior footballers good riddance to them. One hundred and fifty committed football players and staff can bring back Sam to Cork. Supporters don't win All-Irelands. Remember, the Cork football All-Ireland in 2010 is more recent than the hurlers in 2005. Bring Cork football back to where it rightly belongs — and become serious contenders to win Sam any year. I am tired of hearing that Cork is a hurling county. Maybe it is, but Cork also have fine athletic footballers as well. Pity they are treated as the poor relation. Time for a new football board. Joseph Kiely, Letterkenny, Co Donegal What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here We must not invite the scourges of war To reinforce Rory Rohan's meticulous case for Irish neutrality — 'A rules-based order — but who makes the rules?' (Irish Examiner, July 22), Ireland's continuous place near the top of the Global Peace Index (GPI), in contrast with many better-armed countries, is hardly a coincidence. Launched in 2007, the GPI ranks 163 states and territories. To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, if we fail to prepare, for the preservation of this benefit, we prepare to fail, and lose it, inviting all the scourges of war. Likewise, in psychotherapy, those wishing to change behaviours are trained in the practice to 'act as if'. If we act as if we're a nation willing to get involved in war, we jeopardise safety and security in society, along with associated blessings of low crime rates, minimal incidences of terrorist acts and violent demonstrations, harmonious relations with neighbouring countries, a stable political scene, and a small proportion of the population being internally displaced or refugees. In her poem, The Work of Happiness, May Sarton asks 'for what is happiness but growth in peace?'. So no peace, no happiness, no growth. Let us be very careful. Two, or 20 wrongs, do not make a right. Let us be still in the right place when the world returns to its senses. Caroline Hurley, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary AI a misnomer for artificial knowledge I read with interest Jennifer Horgan's important article — 'Casual consumption could allow AI to forge its way into the arts' (Irish Examiner, July 18). I suggest there is a fundamental error in this whole emergence of 'artificial intelligence' and this simply involves the constant repetition of a misnomer. What is involved here is AK not AI, artificial knowledge not artificial intelligence. Hopefully, the following conveys a poetic sense of the fundamental difference between knowledge and intelligence. In a city in Japan during the Meji era, there was a very renowned professor teaching at a university. However, he kept having a sense that he was missing something. One day a colleague at the university told him of a very wise man called Nan-in. The professor went looking for Nan-in and eventually found the small cabin Nan-in was living in. Nan-in invited the professor in for tea, but when Nan-in started pouring tea into the professor's cup he continued pouring even after the cup was full to the top. The tea then started pouring all over the table top and then down onto the professor's pants. The professor pointed out that the cup was overfull and no more tea would go in. Nan-in replied that the professor was full of his own opinions and speculations, going on to say that he was so full of knowledge that there was no room for Nan-in's wisdom. Not being as wise as Nan-in, the only thing I can contribute is to point to the fact that if Jennifer Horgan told a joke to the most advanced AI machine and to me, I will be the only one who gets the joke. Humanity 10; the machine 0. The story I relate above is taken from the book, The Dancing Wu Li Masters, by Gary Zukav. Eddie O'Brien, The Thinking Centre, Clonmel, Co Tipperary What's your view on this issue? You can tell us here Casual approach to energy demands Are David McWilliams and I the only two people who publicly deplore Ireland's casual attitude to our serious lack of a sustainable, low carbon, energy policy? While onshore wind farms now supply about a third of our electricity, we are aiming for more than adequate offshore wind energy to reduce our carbon emissions hugely by 2030. As we presently haven't a single port capable of the provision of ongoing support for an offshore wind farm this seems to indicate that the endless government boast of Ireland's boundless offshore wind energy will not be fact any time soon. Several of the small modular reactors coming on stream are likely to be the most important response to the increasing difficulty in guaranteeing a supply of clean and affordable energy. Of course, the Electricity Regulation Act 1999 prohibits 'the use of nuclear fission for the generation of electricity' but, we must start looking beyond immediate needs to answers that may take decades to achieve. Anne Baily, Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary Read More Letters to the Editor: Blurred line between right and wrong
Irish Independent
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
‘The bullies have become faceless. Before they were in your face and kicking the s**t out of you'
The vice-chair of the Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival about the many challenges members of the community still face as the festival gets under way Corkman 'When I went to school, the bullies stopped at the school gates, now there is no let up because they have access to you 24 hours a day through social media,' said Damien O'Halloran the vice-chair of the Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival about the many challenges members of the community still face. This year's Cork LGBT+ Pride Festival will run from Saturday, July 26 until August 3 and Damien said there is something for everyone. 'It will be held over eight days and there are over 40 events. It is getting bigger and bigger with more events happening. There is a bit of something for everyone really.'
Irish Daily Mirror
21-07-2025
- Sport
- Irish Daily Mirror
Jake O'Brien comments will be music to the ears of Everton boss David Moyes
Jake O'Brien has a lot to be grateful for when it comes to Everton boss David Moyes - and he is only too happy to repay the Toffees chief by continuing this season to be as versatile as possible. The Corkman's Everton career appeared to be going nowhere before Moyes' January return to the Merseyside outfit. He had played just twice in the Premier League under Sean Dyche, the man who signed him from Lyon last summer for around €20million. Moyes was quick to utilise the 24-year-old, and O'Brien went on to play 18 more times in the top-flight after the Scot returned to Everton for his second spell in charge of the club. However, he did have to adapt to a new position, as Moyes saw the Irishman as the answer to his right-back dilemma - and O'Brien ended up playing the majority of his games in the second-half of the season in that unfamiliar position. While he favours a central role, ahead of the new campaign O'Brien has pledged to line out wherever his manager sees fit. He told the Everton website: 'I think it's important to be versatile, to not just know one position but to know various positions – and I think I'm still learning. 'But it's good to play out there. I'm happy to play in the two positions and if I'm needed there, I'll be ready.' O'Brien is back in pre-season training after a busy June international window with the Boys in Green. With two pre-season games already under his belt, he is eager for more action to fine-tune himself for the upcoming campaign. 'I know it's been a tough pre-season to start with, but we've got big games coming up and it's important we get valuable minutes in them and get the sharpness up,' he said. 'It's early and I'm just going to go back, train, and make sure that I get sharper and more fit. There are big games coming up so it's important that I keep training hard and become more sharp come the start of the Premier League.' Get the latest sports headlines straight to your inbox by signing up for free email .
Irish Independent
18-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Cork man wins 10 All-Ireland tickets from Cavan GAA draw
Corkman Social media went into a frenzy when Cavan GAA announced that one person won 10 All-Ireland Hurling tickets from their raffle. The news sparked anger and jealousy among Rebels and Premier supporters in Munster, but the plot thickens as they were won by a Cork man.
Extra.ie
13-07-2025
- Business
- Extra.ie
Former AIB fraudster on run for 20 years kept conning victims using real name
A banker who went on the run after being accused of a multi-million fraud has been using his real name while living for almost 20 years within 'sighting distance' of Ireland, can reveal. It has also emerged that – despite being at the centre of an international manhunt – former AIB executive Kieran Ashcroft allegedly continued to defraud people of their life savings. At least 15 families in Scotland claim they lost more than €1m between them after employing the smooth-talking Cork man as a builder. Many of these complaints have been upheld by the UK Financial Ombudsman, and some of the families have received refunds from their banks. Kieran Ashcroft left Ireland over 20 years ago. Pic: File Ashcroft is being investigated by detectives from Greater Glasgow's Economic Crime and Financial Investigations unit. Sources also confirmed police in Scotland are 'liaising with counterparts from An Garda Síochána' as part of their investigation into the fraud allegations against Ashcroft. One of Ashcroft's alleged Scottish victims, Laura McKenchie from Glasgow, contacted gardaí and Interpol eight months ago to alert them about his then whereabouts. But since then, the trail appears to have run cold. Ashcroft has been on the run from the Irish authorities since 2004, when he went on the run after being arrested and questioned about a multi-million-euro fraud. However, it has emerged that the Corkman did not travel far and continued to use his real name when allegedly defrauding other victims in Scotland. Ashcroft came to the attention of gardaí after he was accused of swindling at least €3m – and possibly as much as €6m – from customers. Pic: KarlM Photography/Shutterstock Laura McKenchie urged gardaí to redouble their efforts to catch the wanted Cork man so that other people are not cheated of their life savings. Ms McKenchie said: 'It's a shock to learn from that he was using his real name… it's not like he was using a false name. 'He should have been easily identifiable. He has been able to do whatever he wants. I notified the gardaí last November about his whereabouts. Had he been caught [before this], I and all these other families would not be suffering and financially ruined. 'If it wasn't for the fact we have suffered so badly, you would almost admire the fact that he has managed to evade so many times over the years.' The mother-of-one said it is 'frustrating he is still out there'. Ashcroft left the country more than 20 years ago after he was dismissed from his job at the AIB branch in Midleton, Co. Cork. Pic: Artur Widak/NurPhoto/Shutterstock She told 'We're disappointed that he hasn't been caught despite us doing everything we can to show where he is, what he is going and the fact that there is history there. If the gardaí would expedite their efforts, it would put a stop to him being able to carry on this fraud and for vulnerable, innocent people to suffer. 'At the end of the day, you have people who I say are vulnerable. But so many of us in Glasgow were busy professional people who trusted a builder who wasn't a builder, and before we knew it, our life's savings were gone, and our homes were totally unliveable.' Ashcroft left the country more than 20 years ago after he was dismissed from his job at the AIB branch in Midleton, Co. Cork, where he had been entrusted to invest customers' life savings. He came to the attention of gardaí after he was accused of swindling at least €3m – and possibly as much as €6m – from customers, his employers, and other financial institutions, including the Bank of Ireland, ACC and Ulster Bank. The last known sighting of Kieran Ashcroft in the UK. Pic: File It is believed that, between 1998 and 2003, Ashcroft swindled money from as many as 20 people. His victims reportedly included his mother and his only sister. Some victims claimed they had lost as much as six-figure sums. But those familiar with the case suspected there were many other victims who were too embarrassed to come forward. A garda source told the MoS at the time: 'Ashcroft really played on people's fears of the Revenue, and when he was suspended from his job, the bank went to people asking them about their dealings with him. 'But these people thought he was such a nice fella that they told him the bank had been on to them. Ashcroft convinced these people that the bank would blow the whistle on them to the Revenue, and so these people did not get back to the bank.' The Isle of Colonsay. Pic: Getty Images 'He had several accounts with every bank, and he was very cute about covering his tracks. He got mortgages out on properties and then remortgaged them again so that when his house of cards came tumbling down, there were no assets to be seized, and the banks have sold some of these on.' Ashcroft was arrested by gardaí for questioning in February 2004. Soon afterwards, the father of one vanished, leaving in his wake a trail of debt, a usurped girlfriend, a young child and an anxious drug baron anxious to get his investment back. Gardaí believed the then 44-year-old had fled to Spain, where he was living under an assumed name. But instead of starting a new life on the Mediterranean, Ashcroft went no further than Scotland. He set himself up as a builder on the island of Colonsay, located in the Hebrides, which is visible from the coast of Co. Donegal on a clear day. But by the time the Cork man arrived on the island, which has a population of 125, he was no longer known as Kieran Ashcroft but was using the name Walter. This is also his father's name, and Ashcroft's official name on his birth certificate, which lists his name as Walter Kieran Ashcroft. At least five different families on the island who employed Ashcroft as a builder claim they were swindled after paying him to do work that was substandard. After leaving the remote island, Ashcroft then made his way to Glasgow. A further 15 families have now come forward to claim they were defrauded of thousands of euros. In Scotland, banks are obliged to refund money to unsuspecting customers who are defrauded by a known scammer. Some families have been refunded their money after the Financial Ombudsman ruled in their favour. More recently, Ashcroft has been spotted in the Perthshire area of Scotland, where he befriended a number of elderly people involved in a local Anglican church. He volunteered to do some work with them and often accepted meals in return for doing odd jobs for pensioners. The last known photo of Ashcroft shows the Cork man sharing Christmas dinner with some elderly members of the church. However, he has since been banned after church officials became aware of his colourful past. Asked if Ashcroft is still a person of interest, and why they had failed to find him even though he is using his official name, a garda spokesman said: 'This office does not comment on named individuals. An Garda Síochána continues to investigate reports of fraud at a financial institution in Ireland in 2004. As this is an ongoing investigation, this office has no further comment to provide.' A Police Scotland spokesperson added: 'We have received a number of reports of fraud in connection with building works carried out by a company in the Glasgow area. A joint investigation involving Police Scotland and Trading Standards Scotland is ongoing.'
