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You will need RealPlayer to see this work

This is a test of a new yokeamebob that Jazz Biscuit have come up with, which allows you to embed RTE videos on your website/blog.

While every other broadcaster on the planet is looking to Youtube, RTE seem to move as quickly as the vatican when it comes to making changes, hence they are still using that awful Realplayer.

Here is the video from the One news about the Cork Rail Strike. let me know if it works for you.

If you want to try the application on your own blog go here.

Pictures sent in to us by Lez. More photos from the ongoing works at Thomond Park below the fold.

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Well I did say I would publish his statement in it’s entirety so here it is. There still remains the question as to whether someone can walk into a business premises, remove an item from the window without asking, and cycle off.

The view on a Garda station in Westbury is not the disturbing issue here. it is the removal of items from a business premises without asking.

Anyway I will comment no further.

From Counciller Cathal Crowe:

I wish to make my position clear regarding the possibility of a new Garda facility for the Westbury area.

For several months I have had concerns about Ardnacrusha Garda Station. In the last fortnight the gardaí based at the station have been without their regular patrol car and perhaps more worryingly the station has been left without a sergeant for several months. Against the back-drop of the un-lawful killing of a local youth and a number of aggressive incidents I have taken it upon myself to write to the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern T.D. seeking assurances that the station at Ardnacrusha will remain open and continue to receive the support of his department in the months and years ahead.

I have called on the Minister to:
•Commit to keeping the garda station open.
•Renovate and / or extend the current garda station building so as to have it.
•Extend the opening hours of the facility bearing in mind the considerable local area it serves.
•Bolster the garda presence in the locality by assigning additional gardaí to the station, increasing the number of patrols and allocating the necessary resources to equip the gardaí to police the area.

If assurances are given by the Minister then I will have no problem in endorsing plans to establish a new garda facility for the Westbury area. I would want such a facility to co-exist Ardnacrusha station rather than resulting in it’s downgrading or closure. Thousands of people and several centres of population depend on the gardaí at Ardnacrusha and it is important that any proposals for a new garda facility at Westbury be cognisant of this fact.

I am aware that Tony Hayes, proprietor of the Westbury Stores, has suggested that a building owned by him adjacent to his shop would be suitable for the gardaí to establish a base. I have no problem with Tony or any other landlord in the area wishing to enter talks with the Office of Public Works regarding such a facility. Indeed, if I receive positive correspondence from the Minister for Justice regarding the future of the Ardnacrusha Station I will channel all my energy into the realisation of this.
I have made this position very clear to Tony and find it regrettable that he has chosen to misrepresent me locally. I took offence to the fact that Tony taped a page from last week’s Clare Champion to the front door of his shop last weekend and highlighted a paragraph that said that I was “opposed” to a new garda station for the area. The highlighted section of the article was framed in a way that suggested I am completely opposed to this. This is not the case.

As I have already mentioned I am supportive of a garda base that would co-exist with Ardnacrusha. I am also looking at tangible short term solutions such as assigning more gardaí to Ardnacrusha and increasing patrols of the area. I am trying to take a pragmatic approach to this. It is a time for all interested parties to channel their energies into how best to address the local policing issues and not engage in provocative or trivial arguments.

I wish also to confirm that Minister Willie O’Dea and I plan on sitting down with our Labour colleagues Jan O’Sullivan TD and Cllr. Pascal Fitzgerald with the view to establishing a neighbourhood watch committee for the Westbury – Shannon Banks and Carraig Midhe area.

Image: Norma Lowney and Charlie Cassey in the stage play “Lessons from Louise” Photo by Kevin Murphy.

Holed up in a Carmen’s bedroom surrounded by snacks, Carmen and Louise play out their intense co-dependent friendship. In a flurry of discussions and writing they furtively seek the essence of creativity, sanity and pistachios. Where power gently see-saws back and forth between the two friends, the lines between care and control gently begin to blur.

The Gallery at Limerick Printmakers will be the setting for the latest production by the Impact Theatre company, following the massive success of Problem Child during the Beltable Fringed festival earlier this year.

“Lessons from Louise” was written by Constentine Sandis, and sees Norma Lowney play role of Carmen. Playing the title role of Louise, is a new addition to the Impact ensemble, Birmingham born Charlie Cassey.

Director of the play, Anne Blake:

“I stumbled across it by accident on the website of a small theatre company in London and it just grabbed my attention. It’s very unusual to find a play online and it was immediately accessible. It’s very exciting, challenging and fast paced. It’s also nice to come across two very well written female characters. The play is dialogue driven and really comes to life on stage,”

The play will run from June 6 to 8 and commences at 2100 hrs.

You can find out more from the Impact Theatre blog.

OK, I am going to hold my hands up and say that I know absolutely nothing about architecture. So you will have to excuse the fact that I copied and pasted this from an e-mail from the organisers of this event. If this is your thing, then you will be best to go along as it is an opportunity to be heard at the very least.

The Limerick event takes place on the on June 5th at the City Gallery, Pery Square.

Here is the blurb

The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Irish Architecture Foundation have launched a series of public meetings to consult with the public on the new Policy on Architecture. The Irish Architecture Foundation and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government will host “Conversations about Architecture and the Built Environment” at eight locations nationwide between May 29 and June 12, 2008.

The mid-western public meeting takes place on THURSDAY JUNE 5 at the Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. All are welcome. If you would like to attend, let us know in advance by calling 01-6708620.

Commenting on this, the Minister said, “The onus is on us to respond to the changing nature of issues relating to the built environment and, it is in that context, that I approved the development of the new policy. The next stage in the process is this public consultation exercise, which I feel will be critical to the entire undertaking. This will provide the maximum level of public input into the key themes and issues which are emerging as the policy is being developed. A website will also be developed which will act as an additional forum for public engagement.”

Nathalie Weadick, Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, which is organising the Conversations about Architecture and the Built Environment series of events, added, “The Irish Architecture Foundation is an organisation committed to celebrating good architecture and inspires people to become considered and passionate champions of good design of the built environment. We are delighted to work in partnership with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government to coordinate Conversations about Architecture and the Built Environment with the public, and see it is an essential and vital opportunity to listen to the public who are the users and developers of the built environment.”

The new policy on architecture is being developed by the Department, overseen by a Steering Committee appointed in 2007 by Minister Gormley, and chaired by Professor Loughlin Kealy. Minister Gormley noted “The Policy on Architecture will address issues which have arisen in the years since the publication of the first policy on architecture, Action on Architecture 2002-2005. It will place more emphasis on sustainable development of the environment and on urban design and will also aim at incorporating architectural heritage in a holistic, integrated manner. Finally, it will develop an action plan which will respond to, and promote awareness of, all those areas.”

It is expected that a draft of the new Policy on Architecture will be ready in Autumn 2008.

More information available at www.conversationsaboutarchitecture.ie from Thursday May 22.

See also www.architecturefoundation.ie or telephone 01.670 8620.

It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for those planning on going out in the month of June here in Limerick. The bank holiday weekend will kick the month off with a marathon DJ set from the well renowned Mr. Scruff, (pictured) who is coming to Limerick to mark the Fifth birthday of nightclub Trinity Rooms.

This will be one of the last chances you will get to see his performances this year as Trinity Rooms is the last date on his Irish tour. The event will take place in the Clubhouse Courtyard of the club and will run from 2000 hrs until 0200 hrs on June 1st.

Two weeks later, we have group Hot Chip coming to the same venue. You don’t know who hot chip are, you will probably recognise this.

Video comes from official Hot Chip Youtube Channel

From the blurb

Ahead of their main stage show at Oxegen, Hot Chip have just confirmed a very special Dj show at Trinity Rooms on Friday June 13th . One half of the band lead singer Felix and percussionist Al will take on the main room at the Limerick club in what is surely set to be the gig of the summer! Hailing from London, Hot Chip entered the picture with the release of their 2000 debut, Mexico. The EP was released by Victory Garden Records, a label owned and operated by members of London’s resident lo-fi psychedelic rock institution, Southall Riot. The Mexico EP was a hypnotic wash of subtle — nearly subliminal — pulse-like techno beats, acoustic guitars, and plinky pianos, but the vocals were the true star of the show (no small feat in a musical climate overrun with disaffected Lou Reed-esque mumblers and bland Eddie Vedder impersonators). The voices of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard are a fine study in contrast. Taylor offers dreamy, effortless falsettos that cut to the heart of the beauty of performers like Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake (minus any of the pretentiousness of Radiohead or even Coldplay or the bland vocal acrobatics of Remy Zero). Meanwhile, scattered throughout the record (and in the occasional duet), Goddard offers a tone that sounds a bit more world-weary and at times almost gruff in comparison to Taylor, calling to mind Damon Albarn’s cool monotone tendencies. 2002’s self-released Sanfrandisco E-Pee showed the band dabbling in more playful sounds, from the beatbox dubbing of the title track to the closing notes of “Fanta,” in which Taylor pleads with the listener to “make sounds of the summer.” There are moments of gorgeous melancholy as well, but on the whole the album feels a bit more hopeful than Mexico had. The group signed to revered N.Y.C. record label DFA in 2005 and released the Over and Over EP, as well as the excellent 2006 release The Warning. Hot Chip kept busy in 2007 by supporting The Warning with singles and consistent touring, and released a DJ Kicks mix album. Late that year, the single Ready for the Floor heralded the arrival of Made in the Dark, which featured some of the band’s most focused grooves and poppiest melodies to date. Ready for the Floor and an appearance on Later with Jools Holland cemented their superstar status and this summer they play Glastonbury, Coachella and every other major festival from Japan to Iceland!

Hot chip play trinity rooms on Friday June 13. On that day of all days you wouldn’t want to be unlucky, so get in early.