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CLEAR SOME SPACE on your bookshelves, because the best books in Ireland right now have been named.
This evening saw the writers of this year’s best fiction, non-fiction, cookbooks and other literary gems being awarded at the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards 2014.
The winners
Renowned contemporary Irish poet Paul Durcan was presented with the Bob Hughes Lifetime Achievement Award 2014 by Paula Meehan, Ireland Professor of Poetry, while bestselling author Jeffrey Archer was presented with the inaugural International Recognition Award by broadcaster George Hook.
Academy St by first time novelist Mary Costello beat off stiff competition in the Eason Novel of the Year category which featured literary heavyweights John Boyne, David Mitchell, Colm Tóibín, Joseph O’ Conor and John Kelly.
The star-studded awards ceremony took place in the Dublin’s Double Tree Hilton and was attended by Roddy Doyle, Damien Dempsey, Anthony ‘Dalo’ Daly, Rachel and Isaac Allen, Majella and Daniel O’ Donnell, Paul Galvin and Louise Duffy, actor and writer Eoin Macken, David and Stephen Flynn (the Happy Pear twins), Susan Jane White, John Kelly, Donal Ryan and Kevin Dundon.
The event was hosted by RTE’s Keelin Shanley and awards were presented by John Murray from RTE Radio 1, TV presenters Sinead Desmond and Brendan O’ Connor, TheJournal.ie editor Susan Daly, and children’s writer Eoin Colfer.
Eason Novel of the Year:
Sunday Independent Newcomer of the Year:
RTÉ Radio 1’s John Murray Show Listeners’ Choice Award:
Ireland AM Crime Fiction Book of the Year:
Avonmore Cookbook of the Year:
National Book Tokens Non-Fiction Book of the Year:
Books Are My Bag Popular Fiction Book of the Year:
Bord Gáis Energy Sports Book of the Year:
TheJournal.ie Best Irish Published Book of the Year:
Specsavers Children’s Book of the Year:
Junior
Senior
Writing.ie Short Story of the Year:
Chairman of the Bord Gáis Energy Irish Book Awards, John Treacy, said:
These fantastic award winners represent the very best Irish books published this year. They reflect a highly vibrant and creative community and are a wonderful example of Irish writing and publishing at its very best.
David Kirwan, Managing Director at Bord Gáis Energy said “these awards celebrate and promote the indigenous jewel that is Irish writing”.
Interviews
We’ve been interviewing and writing about some of the nominees (some of whom ended up being winners), which you can find here:
From today, the public can vote for their overall ‘Bord Gáis Energy Book of the Year’ by going to www.bgeirishbookawards.ie. Voting is open until midnight on Thursday 4 December.
Interviews with the winners by RTÉ’s Evelyn O’Rourke, along with highlights from the awards ceremony, will be aired on RTE Television on Saturday 29 November.
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they did this in the uk over 20 yrs ago – the only difference it made was that response time were slower and ‘smaller’ crimes went un-investigated due to a lack of manpower at local level ,instead of getting an officer at your door to deal with an incident ,you got a ‘crime number ‘ from someone in a call centre , it was up to YOU to ‘check up’ on the ‘progress’ of the case, al that happened was that people stopped reporting ‘minor’ incidents like shed break-ins, car thefts ,street robberies etc , and those in charge of the police force were able to say that ”reported crime numbers were down ” and so deemed the move to regional offices a success . in reality -crime numbers were rising but no one was reporting them as they new it would be a waste of time doing so . what is needed is MORE gardai at local level -not fewer !
@Eric Davies: I thought the whole idea of the restructuring was to increase the number of garda and Sargents as there would be less admin and the reduction in high level salaries would be reinvested in local level gardai, hence the number of local gardai would increase, would it not?
@Eric Davies: and that’s when the Tony martin incident took place!!
@Eric Davies: yes I got a crime number in Cardiff Wales and that was that
@Vocal Outrage: It didn’t work when the divisions in England/Wales were reduced, there are 20,000 fewer officers now,the divisions in England/Wales rank 27 out of 31 in an International survey of the number of police officers per 100,000 population
@Honeybee: you are right. And guess what, we are ranked even lower.
@Vocal Outrage: thats how it was sold to people -but its not how it turned out – stations that were 20 or so miles apart were ‘amalgamated’ into one – some where even in different counties (lancashire and cheshire for instance) leaving one of the communities without proper cover – when shift changes took place officers had to be at the station for their ‘sign on’ briefing – by the time that was done it meant no officers being available in the non stationed town for over an hour sometimes 2 – also any incidents reported in the town where there was a station would get priority with regard to manpower as they were closer to the station … i know former police officers who were serving at the time and it messed up the entire system .
Also a list of where Krispy Kreme donut outlets will be opening up soon.
@WoodlandBard: hilarious
@Mark Spain: they’re shite donuts.
our fine ruc
@Kieran Cronin: yawn
@Kieran Cronin: Your stone must have needed cleaning that’s fine. Now crawl back under that stone. Stay their clown.
@Kieran Cronin: Muppet
@Kieran Cronin: I, for one, believe the Chief Constable is doing a fine job.
The Cities of Galway, Cork and Dublin are Regional HQs – Kilkenny is upgraded to include its very own ‘Regional Chief Superintendent’ while both the Cities of Limerick and Waterford are ignored? By most accounts both Limerick and Waterford have a higher inner-city crime rate then the entire County of Kilkenny. Something politically amiss here even though I think Commissioner Drew Harris is a breath of fresh air in the corp and the right person to lead the organisation.
@Conor Nolan:
because there is an eastern region covering from meath to waterford. Kilkenny would be in the middle of that. seems logical to me.
@Tim Pot: it does seem strange that. the regional HQ for the Eastern Region is in Kilkenny, I can understand the geography of that one, but the divisional HQ that covers Kilkenny itself will be in Waterford
@Vocal Outrage:
Its the same for the others, example the western region the regional hq is galway, the superintendant monaghan yet the monaghan division hq in drogheda. Its just about finding the right balance between local and central governance. I see no issue.
@Tim Pot: I guess so, I don’t think the army have their overall HQ is the same location as the HQ for the region it’s in, so perhaps that’s a better practice to avoid undue interference from the regional chief super or something
Wenger out
Anyone else see the ad for the fine transit there boss
Joke simple as
As kildare and meath have the lowest number of guards per population this is not good news. We need kildare meath wicklow and louth to be a region on their own. This will lead to these regions losing more guards to other regions. This is not a good idea.
have your say