Latest news with #Cuffe
Irish Independent
01-08-2025
- General
- Irish Independent
Basements of former Georgian houses uncovered during roadworks in Dublin
Dublin Civic Trust said the buildings, located just off Aungier Street, were demolished in the 1960s to make way for the York Street flats. Beneath the poured concrete surfaces of the modern street, an abundance of red brickwork has been uncovered revealing 'ghosts of rooms past'. Among the remains is a full basement fireplace featuring a segmental plastered arch, which likely hosted a cooking range. Other exposed features include interior lime-plastered walls, providing a rare glimpse into the interiors of these long-demolished homes. The demolition approach used in the mid-20th century often involved levelling terraces down to ground level and using the collapsed upper storeys as rubble fill, particularly in locations where the site was to be paved or landscaped. This method was considered more economical than fully clearing the area, especially in places like York Street. Historical maps, including an extract from John Rocque's detailed 1756 map of Dublin, confirm the age and layout of these houses. The houses lining this section of York Street were likely built in the 1730s by developers Cuffe and Macartney. Their architectural style is identified as Dutch Billy – gable-fronted houses with distinctive projecting closet returns to the rear. York Street itself has a longer history, having been laid out in the 1670s by Sir Robert Reading. Over time, many of the houses on the street were altered during the late Georgian period before being subdivided into tenements. Eventually, these buildings were demolished in the 20th century. A similar terrace of Georgian houses, heavily converted into tenements, survived closer to St Stephen's Green until about 20 years ago. However, these too were demolished and replaced with new social housing.
Wales Online
14-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Organisers of controversial Blackweir Live gigs in Cardiff reveal plans for future events
Our community members are treated to special offers, promotions and adverts from us and our partners. You can check out at any time. More info The team behind this summer's debut Blackweir Live events said the gigs had been a huge success and they were working on plans for more. Cardiff-based Depot Live and UK promoters Cuffe and Taylor say they hope that this is the start of a regular concert series which could bring more famous artists to the city's green space next year. The concert series saw artists Stevie Wonder, Alanis Morissette, Noah Kahan and Slayer perform to more than 100,000 people over four massive headlining concerts. But they drew some criticism and complaints for blocking access to Blackweir Fields, noise issues and traffic delays due to road closures. The organisers said that 40% of the 100,000 people who attended the gigs had travelled from outside of Wales and 3,000 people had worked there. Nick Saunders, founder of DEPOT Live said: 'To have had such huge artists grace the stage for Blackweir has been incredible. "From the artists to the music fans, the feedback for Blackweir has been overwhelmingly positive. A first year site is always nerve-wracking but it's safe to say Blackweir 2025 has been a huge success, and we are excited to work on future plans in consultation with residents and the council. Cardiff Council said there was a review due to take place into the performance of the Blackweir Live series and will make a decision about future plans in due course. The council's Cabinet Member for Culture, Sport and Parks, Jen Burke said: "Events like this can be a fantastic opportunity to showcase what we're about, and this summer we are truly living up to our billing as a Music City." Business leaders and hoteliers have also welcomed the new concert series. Also, you can see all the best photos from the gigs, here. Carolyn Brownell, CEO of FOR Cardiff, the Business Improvement District (BID) of Cardiff city centre, said: "Events like Blackweir are invaluable for Cardiff city centre. "They not only attract global talent and thousands of visitors they also deliver a meaningful boost to the local economy – filling hotels, restaurants, shops and bars during the summer period - a time which is historically quieter for city centre businesses. "It's been fantastic to see this new series establish itself, and we're excited to support its continued growth in the years ahead." (Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne) While Blackweir Live was met with controversy and some criticism it also had a positive reaction thanks to its financial benefits for the city, read about that, here.
Leader Live
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Leader Live
Public meeting to be held ahead of Llangollen Eisteddfod
The meeting has been arranged to allow locals to ask any questions or raise any concerns before the annual event, which sees thousands of visitors flock to the area. It will be held at Llangollen Pavilion, on Thursday, May 29 at 7pm. Representatives from both the volunteer team behind the festival, and co-promoters Cuffe and Taylor, will be present to answer all questions, particularly issues around traffic management and noise. The chairman of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod, John Gambles, said: "In just a few weeks' time, the doors of our iconic Pavilion will welcome tens of thousands of people for our TK Maxx presents Live at Llangollen Pavilion and the Llangollen International Eisteddfod events. "This meeting will be an opportunity for Llangollen residents and businesses to get the latest information, as we gear up for a summer of fun. "It's important to us to keep residents in the loop, to ensure the impact on our town is positive." More than 50,000 people are expected to visit the events at the pavilion this summer, which will provide a huge boost to local businesses, organisers said. Several measures are being introduced to ensure a safe environment for the public on event days, including a one-way system in some areas. A dedicated phoneline will also be available for residents to contact the Eisteddfod team with any concerns during the festival.
Pembrokeshire Herald
15-05-2025
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Man due in court over alleged New Year's Day GBH at Narberth pub
A MAN is due back before the courts later this month accused of inflicting grievous bodily harm with intent during an incident at a Narberth pub. Thomas Cuffe, aged 32, of the Cartref Hotel, High Street, Fishguard, appeared at Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court on Tuesday (May 13) for a first hearing relating to the alleged assault. The case concerns a serious incident said to have taken place on New Year's Day 2023 at The Eagle pub in Narberth. It is alleged that Cuffe unlawfully and maliciously caused grievous bodily harm to Wil Vallence, with intent to do him serious injury. The charge is brought under Section 18 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 – one of the most serious assault offences in UK law. During the brief hearing, no plea was entered. The court was told that Cuffe's current address is temporary, and the Crown Prosecution Service will seek an updated address from police. As a result, the case was adjourned. Cuffe, who is represented by defence solicitor Mike Kelleher, is now scheduled to return to Haverfordwest Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, May 27 at 10:00am. The prosecution is being led by Ann Griffiths. The next hearing is expected to include a plea, and depending on the outcome, the case may be sent to the Crown Court due to its seriousness.
WIRED
28-04-2025
- Climate
- WIRED
The Agonizing Task of Turning Europe's Power Back On
Apr 28, 2025 1:26 PM A massive blackout affecting Spain, Portugal and parts of France has been blamed on atmospheric conditions. Now engineers face the arduous task of getting the power back on. Photograph:At 12:30 pm local time on Monday, the power went out. Across Spain and Portugal trains, planes, and traffic lights abruptly stopped working. Reports emerged of people being stuck in lifts, and Google Maps live data showed traffic jams in big cities, including Madrid and Barcelona, as they became gridlocked. Major airports warned passengers of delays due to the blackout. Its cause is still unknown. The blackout is estimated to have affected the entirety of Portugal and Spain and small regions in France. 'Traffic lights aren't working. The streets are chaotic because there is an officer at every crossing,' says Gustavo, who lives in Madrid. 'Water doesn't reach flats at the top of buildings because the pumps are electric, and the very few shops that are open are only taking cash.' This is every electrical engineer's nightmare scenario, says Paul Cuffe, assistant professor of the School of Electrical & Electronic Engineering at University College Dublin. 'The reason we don't have widespread outages all the time is because system operators are very conservative and very proactive about using big safety margins to make sure this doesn't happen,' he says. Engineers plan for failures in grids or surges in consumer demand that could destabilize the power supply. 'These things are unusual, but to a power engineer the latent threat of it happening is always there.' Spain's electricity operator Red Eléctrica said in a post on X a few hours after the initial blackout that it had recovered power in some areas of Cataluña and Aragón in the northeast; País Vasco, Galicia, La Rioja, Asturias, Navarra, and Castilla y Léon in the north; Extremadura in the east; and Andalucía in the south. Experts believe that getting the grid back up and running in both countries could take between a few hours to several days, depending on the area. While the grid is powering back up, emergency services will likely be prioritized over things like stable internet connection, they say. There is a well-rehearsed sequence of steps that now happens, says Cuffe. They are going to be doing what is called a 'black start"—a process that gradually reconnects power stations to form a functioning grid again. Electrical supply and demand has to be balanced to avoid further blackouts, meaning as power stations come online, only portions of the grid can come online with them, with the country gradually powering up, step by step. There should be a team within the grid operator that plans for this and that has identified which generators to bring online first, he explains. 'You should be anticipating every failure that can happen and you should survive any one of them,' Cuffe says. From the control room, engineers should be able to tell what parts of the grid are definitely functioning so they won't be flying blind—but it will still take time. 'Even with a completely healthy grid, to do that black start could take 12 hours or 16 hours. You have to do it sequentially, and it takes a long time. I'm sure there are engineers in vans swarming all over the place as we speak trying to make all this happen. 'It's like assembling some hellishly complicated IKEA furniture.' The biggest issue is that without an established, obvious cause for the blackout in the first place, it will be difficult for engineers to know where to re-establish power first without triggering another outage. 'The challenge is to constantly match supply and demand,' says Ketan Joshi, an independent climate and energy consultant. 'You need to perform that balancing act, not just plugging everything back in there.' Joshi describes it as a blackout 'in reverse.' 'When a tree falls on a power line you end up chopping off a small chunk of the grid. It's a pain. A hundred homes get blacked out, a crew comes and they re-energize and reconnect the section that was disconnected,' Joshi explains. This is the same thing, but at an enormous scale. 'When you have a blackout like the one we are seeing in Spain and in Portugal, the challenge to map supply and demand becomes ridiculously complicated. Every time you connect up a new chunk of households, you have to perform that same balancing act. The generators that are producing electricity have to match the new demand that has suddenly come on to the grid.' REN (Red Eletrica Nacional) the main power operator in Portugal, gave a statement to the BBC saying that the outage was caused by 'extreme temperature variations in the interior of Spain, there were anomalous oscillations in the very high voltage lines (400KV), a phenomenon known as 'induced atmospheric vibration'.' Spain has yet to respond to this allegation. 'I scratched my head at that,' says Cuffe. Both of the country's grids may be run by national operators, he explains, but they are shackled together as a synchronized grid, which means if one side fails the other one does too—making it not entirely unexpected for one to blame the other. When it comes to propping the grid back up, both operators are on their own. The Iberian peninsula is an 'energy island,' says Jan Rosenow, vice president of global strategy at the Regulatory Assistance Project, a NGO advancing policy innovation and thought leadership within the energy community. Spain and Portugal's collective interconnection capacity with the rest of Europe—that is, how much of their energy they can draw from or send into the wider continent—is around 6 percent, far lower than the 15 percent target set by the European Union by 2030. 'There's a lot of speculation at the moment, but perhaps with better interconnection the problem would have been a lot less worse,' he says. In a press conference, Spanish president Pedro Sánchez said that the cause of the power cut is still unknown and warns against speculation. He claimed that the regions that have recovered power have done so with the assistance of connections with France and Morocco, and confirmed that the hydroelectric plants in Spain are back online. He claims that hospitals are unaffected by the power outage, and that air traffic had been 'voluntarily' reduced by 20 percent during this incident. He said that trains will be halted for security reasons. Blackouts in Europe do not happen frequently—a blackout across the whole of Italy in 2003 is the closest example that experts cite as having a similar scale to the one affecting the Iberian peninsula: a tree brought down a line between Switzerland and Italy, causing other lines close by to take over the power from the failed line and overload. This caused a blackout for 18 hours that plunged over 55 million people into darkness. At the beginning of the current blackout, things seemed more or less normal, says Daniel Borrás, head of editorial content at WIRED's sister publication GQ, who is based in Madrid. 'People understood that it would be a couple of hours, or something like that. Now the feeling is a little different because a lot of communities in Spain are recovering step by step, for example Cataluña and Galicia, and Pais Vasco are more or less working, but in Madrid it's basically still a complete blackout. A lot of people are in the streets and in the bars and the terraces drinking something and it's a very quiet mood.' The main issue where he is, says Borrás, is with people trying to come back into Madrid and finding themselves in terrible traffic because trains aren't running. 'No one has lost their sense of humor, and people are going out to enjoy some digital disconnection,' says Gustavo. He says he's on his balcony enjoying a good book and contemplating going out to buy candles. 'I'll need a couple of hours to decide whether I should get lavender vanilla spa or geranium.'
