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LAST UPDATE | 28 Sep 2023
GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
Cargo ship
1. Gardaí made three further arrests as part of their investigations following a multi-agency operation that led to the seizure of €157 million worth of cocaine from a cargo ship after it was boarded by Army Rangers yesterday.
“Gardaí investigating the detention of the Panamanian registered bulk cargo vessel, MV Matthew and associated events have this evening arrested three men for alleged organised crime offences contrary to the Criminal Justice Act, 2006,” a garda spokesperson said.
“All three are detained under section 50 Criminal Justice Act 2007 at Garda stations in the Southern Region.”
Prison staff under investigation
2. Multiple staff members in the Irish Prison Service are under investigation amid allegations they used fuel cards registered to State vehicles for their own cars.
The cards, which are used to buy fuel for vehicles transporting prisoners to and from prison, were used a number of times on vehicles that were not part of the service’s fleet.
It’s believed that approximately €3,000 worth of fuel was paid for using the cards.
Republican debate
3. Seven US presidential hopefuls tussled over immigration, China and the economy last night at the second Republican primary debate.
However, frontrunner Donald Trump, who is battling multiple criminal cases, decided to skip the debate, and instead met auto industry workers in the battleground state of Michigan.
Trump’s no-show prompted former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie — the ex-president’s biggest antagonist among the candidates — to accuse the 77-year-old tycoon of hiding “behind the walls of his golf clubs.”
Sarah Mescall
4. Tributes have been paid following the tragic death of Clare teenager Sarah Mescall.
The 14-year old from Kilnamona passed away peacefully in Crumlin Hospital on Monday.
Sarah was a second year student in Coláiste Muire in Ennis. In a statement, the school described Sarah’s death as a terrible tragedy for her family, school and community, adding that she will be greatly missed by all who knew her.
Ballina
5. Gardaí arrested a man in his thirties after he barricaded himself inside a business in the town and threatened to injure himself with a knife.
“Gardaí in Ballina responded to reports of a male brandishing a knife in a threatening manner in the Market Square area of Ballina, Co Mayo this evening at approximately 6pm,” a garda spokesperson said.
Gardaí said they had brought the incident to a conclusion and the man has been arrested and taken to a Garda Station in County Mayo.
Canada
6. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau offered an “unreserved” apology in parliament after the legislature publicly but mistakenly celebrated a Ukrainian World War II veteran who fought alongside the Nazis.
“I would like to present unreserved apologies for what took place on Friday and to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and the Ukrainian delegation for the position they were put in, for all of us who were present,” Trudeau told lawmakers.
“To have unknowingly recognised this individual was a terrible mistake and a violation of the memory of those who suffered grievously at the hands of the Nazi regime.”
Stardust
7. Former Stardust Manager Eamon Butterly has told an inquest that the locking and unlocking of exit doors at the nightclub was his joint policy with door staff.
Butterly said the policy was the head doorman’s initiative and could not say how much of the policy he was “willing to own”.
He accepted that the evidence he has now given to the Dublin District Coroner’s Court is “contradictory” to evidence he gave to an original tribunal into the fatal fire that killed 48 people.
Storm Agnes
8. More than 2,000 thousand homes and businesses have been left without power this morning in the aftermath of Storm Agnes.
The southern and southeastern parts of the country, where the storm was strongest, see the most outages.
Arklow in Co Wicklow is among the worst affected areas, with around 2,000 customers experiencing outages.
Ryanair
9. Ryanair is cancelling a number of flights from the end of October as a scheduled delivery of aircraft has fallen short.
The airline has confirmed that it expected to receive 27 aircraft from Boeing between September and December.
However, due to delays in production, repairs and deliveries, it now expects to only receive 14 aircraft between October and December.
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How many girls watched ‘The Little Mermaid’ and grew up wanting to be half fish half human.
I’m a merman.
My entire junior infants class wanted to be mermaids after that movie came out so that argument doesn’t really hold lol.
In fairness I’m actually currently undergoing surgery to make myself look more like a ninja turtle.
I don’t think any kind of beauty should exist any more. It just makes other people feel bad
You should drop in here more often stephen…
A consumer society cannot exist unless people feel miserable and that is from the man who constructed and invented the consumer society; Edward Bernays.
Yeah before this chap came along nobody desired material wealth
Ah, let it go, will ya.
Next they’ll say that Mickey Mouse is a poor role model for mice because he wears shorts.
Donald where’s your trousers?
Females (Young and old) are clever enough to figure out that a 2d kids character is not actually real, give us some credit!. Sick of this PC crap.
I must have been a stupid kid then. I wanted a waist like a Disney princess when I was younger.
But you knew they weren’t real at some point right?
But the Kim Kardashian ppl are making it really for young girls…forget Disney…Have you seen the Kylie lip challenge?
Real*
I knew they were drawings by they still had that feminine curviness that I really wanted. And when they all look like that you start to think that’s how girls should look. It’s weird though that people think this way of figures represented in the media rather than everyday people in real life.
Why is there never any concern for the ‘unrealistic ideals’ the likes of Action-Man or He-man set for young boys? I don’t believe in any of it to be honest, but it’s almost as if girls are expected to not be able to make that distinction between fantasy and reality, bit sexist in itself.
Nobody praises He-Man for his looks though O_o
Trust me, women do not find He-Man attractive. =P
Really? I thought the tiny pants and furry boots look was a good one!
Journal, too cheap to pay for a picture of Elsa?
They couldn’t take the risk in case any little girls are reading the article
Hilarious!
For goodness sake, what next??, of course dolls are pretty, they’re supposed to be, what little girl wants to play with an ugly doll??, dolls have been with us for centuries, every little girl remembers her favourite doll, not because it was pretty but because she got hours of enjoyment out of it, this is all that is wrong in our world, analysing and over analysing our children!, ever heard the term doll face??, , it frightens me all this gender neutral business, let little girls be little girls and little boys be little boys, the natural order of things, there would be a lot less wrong in our world if we could go back to basics and to a time where children were allowed to be children and plain speaking and a no nonsense attitude were the order of the day!
Hear hear kate.
Kate- very well said.
He is entirely correct. How many women do you know that can shoot ice or build an ice palace from nothing? Completely unattainable!
Disney and realism aren’t compatible. Take the real story about the extremely young native American Indian girl getting carted off by some fat old fella, that became something completely different in Pocahontas.
I’ve never seen Frozen, I know the song but not the movie. I feel like I’ve let everyone down.
Teddington , do you feel left out now ? You should watch it over the weekend . great movie !
Reality is often quite far from expectation. Teach them that and don’t fret so much.
I know several women that fit into the size zero category naturally.They’re sick and tired of articles telling them they’re unhealthy and unnatural.They eat well and exercise regularly.One was bullied throughout her school days and nicknamed the sardine can because of her of her physique developing an eating disorder where she’d periodically stuff her self with food to the point of being hospitalized for a near ruptured stomach.The point being that this unhealthy obsession with others appearance can cut both ways. Just teach kids to be healthy and happy and stop the bloody moaning if you yourself can’t be arsed to be the same.
If people really learned not to depend on unattainable looks for their self-esteem, the guy would be out of a job or removing warts and scars for a living.
I thought I was Steve Mcgarrott, when I wore a pair of checkered trousers, watch the original Hawaii five O, and you’ll see I’m not such a weirdo.
What’s even worse is the real life girls on Facebook who photo enhancing apps to make their eyes bigger, whiter in the whites than they really are, their wastes smaller, their lips bigger, their baps bigger…..the list goes on. Thousands of people are living lies every day. I think it starts with not telling your little girl she is a beautiful little princess every day or else she will grow up thinking her sole purpose is to be beautiful, make her see she has other qualities and while being pretty, while it can be nice or fun, is not a trait worth her entire self esteem.
Yup. Definitely want to minimise those ‘wastes’ alright!
Sorry Michael, yes, waists of course. Glad to see you got so much out of that, jog on.
She’s a cartoon, you morons – of course it’s unattainable.
The film is not a true story so why would it based on real looks Disney deal in fantasy not reality
More bollocks!
Headline should read: “Plastic Surgeon Keeps it Real”, with sub head, “#Isn’t it ironic”.
The only realistic looking Disney female I’ve ever seen was in Lilo and Stitch. Nani was a reasonable body shape. And she is the most beautiful female Disney has ever produced, in my opinion.
unless we start having Disney films all look like lilo and stitch, we won’t get realistic looking women. And having only one style of drawing in films will not be interesting at all. Do they want Disney to stick with animals, monsters and cars as their main stories so they are PC enough?
You’re kidding right? A cartoon is bad for little girls while the models and actresses aren’t? Her eyes are unrealistically too big, yes, but because she’s an ANIMATION! And little girls are smart enough to realise that as they also know that most girls don’t look like the emotions from Inside Out.
Whats the betting that if it were possible to alter the female appearance to mimic this cartoon character then the plastic surgeon wouldn’t have an issue with it.
I really don’t think anybody who’s job it is to carry out a lot of unnecessary cosmetic surgery is really in a position to say what or who can be considered a good role model.
Dying to see how Tom Burke swings this one to be about abortion.
I had a thing for Wilma Flintstone, when I was a young fella.
He’s quite right. I for one am disappointed plastic surfpgery can’t make me absorbent, yellow and porous, or allow me to live in a pineapple under the sea. Cartoons LIE!!!
Another RTE transcript…
I can see where he was coming from… I saw The Incredibles when I was younger, very pissed that I wasn’t going to attain superpowers
……………”that’s nice” ………
Irish plastic surgeon says Frozen’s Elsa is not a good role model for little girls…
Tron might be better then lol.
have your say