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Irish Examiner
2 days ago
- Climate
- Irish Examiner
Weather fails to rain on the parade as five-day Cork on a Fork food festival kicks off
In a city with an Irish name that translates as 'marsh' or 'bog' and in a county with the second-highest rainfall rates in the country, choosing to gamble with the weather gods is invariably one of the longest shots of all. On foot of forecasts of heavy evening downpours, the decision was made to bring the outdoor long table dinner on MacCurtain St, Cork on a Fork food festival's flagship event, indoors into the Metropole Hotel. Early yesterday morning, the Good Day Deli restaurant in the Nano Nagle Centre was a hive of activity preparing for Lord Mayor of Cork Fergal Dennehy to formally launch Cork on a Fork. It was then immediately followed by the opening event, Cork on a Fork media partner Irish Examiner's business breakfast, sponsored by retail giant Musgrave. But, amidst the general hubbub, festival manager Niamh Murphy and her crew were huddled around phones, hoping one of the multitude of weather forecasting apps being consulted would contradict the overwhelming predictions of heavy evening showers at precisely the same time dinner would be served up to the 450 diners slated to sit down at an outdoor table running the length of MacCurtain St. A collaboration of 20 chefs led by Alex Petit put the finishing touches on salad course during the VQ Shared Table. Picture: Chani Anderson With a decision required by 10am on whether to host the event outdoors or revert to the fallback plan of moving it inside to the Metropole Hotel, to allow sufficient time to build the temporary infrastructure necessary to host so many diners for a drinks reception followed by five-course dinner, Ms Murphy and her crew agonised over the call. The decision switched back and forth, until eventually, head won out over heart and Ms Murphy and the Victorian Quarter (VQ) organising committee made the call to move it indoors, deciding a deluge of rainfall would hardly make the ideal sauce for the evening meal. This was after which every sunburst from behind the clouds was greeted as a two fingers up to the organisers, while intermittent and heavy showers justified a decision very reluctantly taken. 'At the end of the day,' said Ms Murphy, 'We had to put the experience of the diners first. Mary Hydes, Sandra Looney, and Lynda O'Donnell at the drinks reception on MacCurtain Street during the VQ Shared Dining Experience at the Cork on a Fork Festival. Picture: Chani Anderson "Over 20 chefs from the VQ have poured their heart and soul into this menu, which ultimately is the primary focus of the night, and we couldn't risk ruining their efforts with the forecasts being so unpredictable. We hope that the diners appreciated their huge effort. 'There was still an element of the outdoor experience and, thanks to TS Events, who played a blinder to help us, we secured a marquee at the last minute to ensure the drinks reception could be hosted on the street before going in to dine.' The newly refurbished Metropole made for a splendid venue, and a genuinely superb dinner, considering it was being served up to 450 guests, was every bit as good as it would have been outside — a five-course sharing menu featuring the cream of Cork producers, beginning with snacks and then bread and dips, followed by starters of Castletownbere crab and Glenbrook Farm pork terrine. The main course featured Fitzgerald black Angus striploin 'rosé', while delicious dessert starred West Cork strawberries. Lady Mayoress Karen Brennan enjoying the 'long table' dinner in the Metropole hotel on MacCurtain St. Picture: Chani Anderson The first plates hit tables, a few brief showers fell, but after that, the evening remained dry and balmy. Whether that rain fell in sufficient volume to deter Corkonians, well used to the stuff, was briefly debated before the party resumed. Chairman of the VQ business district, Liam Maher, said: 'Despite the disappointment of having to move such a unique event indoors, we were delighted to host the opening night of Cork on a Fork Fest once again this year with an evening that not only showcases the food and flavours of Cork, but also highlights what can be achieved when we all work together to put a spotlight on this fantastic city which we all love. "This evening's experience has been brought to you by 20 chefs and over 40 front-of-house staff from across the VQ, and it's an incredible showcase of what we have to offer.' In the heel of the hunt, if you choose to gamble in the weather gods' casino, the house invariably wins. Either way, it was a tremendous evening and a superb celebration of the best of Cork food. Maybe next year, we'll just take the brollies and stay outside.
The Advertiser
03-06-2025
- The Advertiser
Trial date set for man accused of killing mum Samantha Murphy
A trial date and location have been set for the trial of the man accused of murdering Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy. At a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday June 3, a date of April 8, 2026, was set to begin the trial of Patrick Orren Stephenson. Stephenson, 23, is charged with murdering Ms Murphy, 51, after she left her Ballarat East home for a run on the morning of February 4, 2024. Stephenson has denied any involvement in the disappearance of the Ballarat mother. At Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing, it was heard the trial would take place in Ballarat and begin after Easter, 2026 Stephenson was represented by barrister Moya O'Brien in the proceedings. Ms Murphy's body has not been found. Victoria Police has conducted extensive searches of the Ballarat region, including Mt Clear, in a bid to find her remains. Support is available for those who may be distressed: A trial date and location have been set for the trial of the man accused of murdering Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy. At a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday June 3, a date of April 8, 2026, was set to begin the trial of Patrick Orren Stephenson. Stephenson, 23, is charged with murdering Ms Murphy, 51, after she left her Ballarat East home for a run on the morning of February 4, 2024. Stephenson has denied any involvement in the disappearance of the Ballarat mother. At Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing, it was heard the trial would take place in Ballarat and begin after Easter, 2026 Stephenson was represented by barrister Moya O'Brien in the proceedings. Ms Murphy's body has not been found. Victoria Police has conducted extensive searches of the Ballarat region, including Mt Clear, in a bid to find her remains. Support is available for those who may be distressed: A trial date and location have been set for the trial of the man accused of murdering Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy. At a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday June 3, a date of April 8, 2026, was set to begin the trial of Patrick Orren Stephenson. Stephenson, 23, is charged with murdering Ms Murphy, 51, after she left her Ballarat East home for a run on the morning of February 4, 2024. Stephenson has denied any involvement in the disappearance of the Ballarat mother. At Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing, it was heard the trial would take place in Ballarat and begin after Easter, 2026 Stephenson was represented by barrister Moya O'Brien in the proceedings. Ms Murphy's body has not been found. Victoria Police has conducted extensive searches of the Ballarat region, including Mt Clear, in a bid to find her remains. Support is available for those who may be distressed: A trial date and location have been set for the trial of the man accused of murdering Ballarat mother Samantha Murphy. At a Supreme Court hearing on Tuesday June 3, a date of April 8, 2026, was set to begin the trial of Patrick Orren Stephenson. Stephenson, 23, is charged with murdering Ms Murphy, 51, after she left her Ballarat East home for a run on the morning of February 4, 2024. Stephenson has denied any involvement in the disappearance of the Ballarat mother. At Tuesday's Supreme Court hearing, it was heard the trial would take place in Ballarat and begin after Easter, 2026 Stephenson was represented by barrister Moya O'Brien in the proceedings. Ms Murphy's body has not been found. Victoria Police has conducted extensive searches of the Ballarat region, including Mt Clear, in a bid to find her remains. Support is available for those who may be distressed:
RTÉ News
22-05-2025
- RTÉ News
Influencer speaks out on violent attack and growing online abuse
Ahead of a special television programme tonight, Prime Time has published a series of articles about concerns regarding the impact of online influencers and content which promote negative or distorted forms of masculinity. Here, podcaster Charleen Murphy speaks about her experience in which a man who had commented constantly on her social media accounts attacked her in person. On 10 February 2023, influencer Charleen Murphy was having dinner with a friend in a hotel restaurant in Dublin. The two were having a drink, waiting on their meals. As was normal for her at the time, she posted a photo on Instagram and tagged her location. A short while later, a man entered the restaurant. "I just felt this blow to the back of my head," Ms Murphy told Prime Time. "My head basically went so full force forward into my glass that the glass completely shattered and smashed and I got a cut in my hairline." Ms Murphy said she recognised the man immediately as someone who had been constantly messaging her on social media. "I looked to my left and I could see him standing there. Straight away, I knew who it was… He had been messaging me in the past online," she told Prime Time. "I could feel this warmth on my face - the blood rushing down - but I didn't realise what that was. My friend said: 'We need to call an ambulance.'" Ms Murphy has made a career from sharing her life online, posting lifestyle content across her Instagram and TikTok accounts, which have a combined following of almost 600,000. She spoke to Prime Time as part of a programme examining how certain types of online content may be shaping Irish teenagers' views on gender roles, masculinity, and fuelling misogyny. Ms Murphy went to St James's Hospital in Dublin and received stitches for the cut on her head. Her attacker walked out of the restaurant and sent Ms Murphy a message asking 'how's the head?' Hours later, he presented himself to gardaí. At his sentencing, the judge in the case described the attack as "unprovoked, unwarranted and terrible" and said "Ms Murphy had no way of protecting herself as she was hit from behind". She also added that he had spoken about Ms Murphy in "utter derogatory terms, a female who had done nothing to him". Since the attack, Ms Murphy has changed how she shares her life. "If I'm in a restaurant or on holiday anywhere, if I'm posting, I've already actually gone from there. I'll put it up as if it's the moment, just to keep the continuity. But I won't actually be there anymore. You just don't know who's watching." Ms Murphy also hosts a podcast, which includes live recordings with ticketed audiences in well-known venues. "I've had to get security, just to feel safe and have that extra layer of security. That obviously comes at a cost. It's not cheap." She says her efforts to stay safe have became the target of criticism, with people leaving comments saying things like "Who does she think she is?" "They condemned me for my own personal safety. I'm trying to be safe… I'd rather not do it. I'd rather not pay that money. You're damned if you do, damned if you don't." Online abuse has become a growing part of her daily life, Ms Murphy says. "Probably the most common one would be 'slut', which is mad that that's a common word thrown around online in such an open space. 'Slapper, whore, fat'." "They range from really small to something really like... 'wow' when you're reading it." She remembers the first time she got an onslaught of abuse, when a tweet of hers went viral. The now 26-year-old said she was young at the time and it had a serious impact on her. "I was getting all sorts of 'slut, who does she think she is', 'the biggest loser on the internet'. I was quite young at the time. I remember just breaking down." "I'm sure, subconsciously, it affects me even more than I think." 'Bubbling up': Teachers on how online content is shaping teens Some of the most disturbing messages come when she speaks out. "When I came out with the story [of being attacked] that time, people said: 'You're not a real victim because it was only this or only that.' They downplay your pain or trauma," she said. "You don't have to have something worse than someone else to still have gone through something bad." Ms Murphy says that often people think she should expect abuse because she shares her life online. "People say it comes with the job. And obviously, people are allowed to give their own opinion - it's free speech. But it doesn't make it any nicer or easier. And it doesn't mean they should." Ms Murphy says there needs to be more policing online and that she monitors her own comments. "It's usually a fake account. Usually a man. But sometimes it's their own account and they just have no shame." "Men try to flirt by replying to stories. If you don't reply, it's like, 'Well, you're a slut.' They say something nasty because you didn't give them attention." Increasingly, Ms Murphy says abusive comments are coming from younger users. "It's happening much younger. People have these words and this information so young. Their brains are being shaped by it all. It's scary. I'm scared for the younger generation." Although Ms Murphy says she can't identify the root cause for the rise in abusive comments, she does see a wider shift in what young people are exposed to. "I feel like maybe the content online is more toxic. There's a lot more toxic masculinity out there." "And there's a lot more women coming forward with their stories. I don't know, is it happening more because of that? Or are people just more open to sharing?" Ms Murphy says people underestimate the impact of what they post. "People think it's so minor and so small - it's just a comment. You can brush it off. But kids are reading that. And that's saying to them, 'It's okay for me to post this too.'" "All the little things turn into the big things. They build up. And it can lead to something like an attack or a stalker or anything. It's scary."
Irish Daily Mirror
27-04-2025
- Irish Daily Mirror
Wife and brothers of killer Jozef Puska to go on trial tomorrow
The wife and brothers of murderer Jozef Puska are scheduled to go on trial tomorrow over allegedly withholding information that could have led to his prosecution. Marek, 34, and Lubomir Puska, 35, are charged with withholding information that could have led to the arrest or prosecution of their brother Jozef Puska for the murder of 23-year-old schoolteacher Ashling Murphy in January 2022. Puska's wife Lucia Istokova, 34, is also charged with withholding information on a date unknown between January 12, 2022 and January 27, 2022 at Tullamore Garda Station. All three are accused of failing without reasonable excuse to disclose as soon as was practicable to a member of An Garda Siochana information which they are alleged to have known or believed might be of material assistance in securing the apprehension, prosecution or conviction of Jozef Puska for the murder of Ashling Murphy. The offences are contrary to Section 9 of the Offences Against the State (Amendment) Act 1998. The trio are set to appear before Judge Paul McDermott in the Central Criminal Court on Monday morning. They have all been on bail since being charged and first appearing before Tullamore District Court in December 2023. Jozef Puska is currently serving a life sentence for Ms Murphy's murder after a lengthy and highly publicised trial in 2023. Two other women have also been charged in connection with the same case - but with separate offences. Jozefina Grundzova, 31, and Viera Gazoiva, 38, are charged with impeding the apprehension of Jozef Puska. Both women are accused of committing the offence on a date unknown between January 12, 2022 and January 14, 2022 at an address in Lynally Grove, Mucklagh, Co Offaly. In particular where another person committed the murder of Ms Murphy, she's accused of knowing or believing that person to be guilty of the said offence or some other arrestable offence and without reasonable excuse acting with intent to impede that person's apprehension or prosecution. The offence is contrary to Section 7(2) and (4) of the Criminal Law Act, 1997. Jozef Puska brutally stabbed Ms Murphy 12 times and sliced her neck in a random and shocking attack while she was out for a run at the canal in Tullamore. His sentence came after harrowing and extremely powerful victim impact statements from Ms Murphy's partner Ryan Casey, her mother Kathleen, and sister Amy. Mr Casey became tearful and emotional throughout his powerful speech, in which he turned to the killer sitting in the dock and said: 'I don't care where you end up, or what happens to you after today. 'But you smirked, you smiled, and you showed zero remorse throughout this trail, which sums up who you really are, the epitome of pure evil, but one thing is for sure, you will never ever harm or touch another woman ever again and when your day of reckoning comes, may you be in hell a whole half hour before God even knows you're dead.' In her own victim impact statement, which was read out by family liaison officer Sergeant Lucy McLoughlin, Ashling's mother Kathleen told of a heartbreaking final conversation she had with her daughter on the day she was killed - warning her not to go running by the canal. 'Before she left that morning, Ashling told me she was going to be home from school a little bit later that afternoon. 'She was going for a jog on the canal line after work. I begged her not to go there as it has always made me feel ill at ease and asked her to go jogging out near home. 'She responded, 'Ah mum, I am 23 years old.' She gave me a big hug as she said, 'I love you, you're the best mum in the world,' and walked out the door,' she said. 'As a parent you want your child to go out into this world and live a full and meaningful life yet being acutely aware of how fragile their safety is, wanting to protect them. I couldn't protect my darling Ashling and now she's gone forever.' Ashling's sister Amy said she was haunted by the thought that no one was able to save her sister - and how she fought for her life. Speaking directly to Puska, who refused to look at her, she said: 'I agonise over whether you had already inflicted your first blow before she was hurled off the canal pavement. 'Had you time to place your bike down into the ditch as you knew she had already sustained a fatal injury and the rest was yet to come. 'Ashling's last 10 minutes on this earth must have felt like the longest 10 minutes of her existence as she fought for her life. You stole her life, you took her voice, you robbed us of our family of five.' Following the incredible statements, Judge Tony Hunt said there was nothing further that he could add. He told the court that Puska's sentence was 'richly deserved' before saying that the one question that remains unanswered is 'the why.' He said that "unless that becomes known, the question of your safe return to society must be an open one."
