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Deaths on Irish roads this year could approach 170, erasing years of progress

Eight people died in three separate road traffic collisions since last Friday, including two 3-year-olds.

ROAD DEATHS HAVE gone up by almost 25% so far this year compared to the same period last year.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) and gardaí said earlier this month that years of road safety progress “is being undone” as new figures revealed that road deaths in the first half of 2023 were the worst for six years.

Gardaí and the RSA this week issued further warnings to motorists and passengers after eight people died in three separate road traffic collisions since last Friday, including two children aged 3 years old.

Four people died in a tragic crash in Clonmel, Co Tipperary last Friday night.

18-year-olds Grace McSweeney, Zoey Coffey and Nicole Murphy were heading to a Leaving Cert results celebration event and were being driven by Luke McSweeney, aged 24, when the incident happened. 

On Tuesday this week, Tom O’Reilly (48), his wife Bridget O’Reilly (45) and their grandson Tommy O’Reilly all lost their lives in a crash shortly when a car they were passengers in hit a wall in the Windmill Knockbulloge area of Cashel.

And on Wednesday afternoon a three-year-old died after being hit by a car in Co Laois.

Speaking to reporters this week, Garda Superintendent Liam Geraghty warned motorists that using the road “is probably the most dangerous thing you will do on any given day”.

“We ask everybody to please take care on the roads,” he said.

When asked what had caused the increase in road deaths this year, Geraghty said there had been an increase in the number of collisions where there had been multiple fatalities.

Geraghty also provided an overview of the latest statistics on road injuries and garda enforcement. He said gardaí had carried out 27,000 checkpoints so far this year, and had detected 5,100 people driving over the influence of drugs or alcohol and 105,000 people breaking the speed limit.

He said that over 12,500 people been issued with fixed charge penalty notices for using their phone while driving. But how do these stats measure up with previous years?

Death and serious injury

A total of 125 people have died on Irish roads so far this year, an increase of 24 (just under 25%) compared with the same period last year, and 38 more than the same period in 2019.

In total, 156 people died on Irish roads last year, which was up 19 on 2021, when 137 people died. The previous year (2020), 146 people died on Irish roads. In 2019 the number was 140. 

The year with the lowest ever recorded fatalities was 2018, with 135 deaths. In general, according to RSA figures, deaths on Irish roads have been dropping significantly over the decades. In 2007, for example, 338 people died on Irish roads.

The year with highest recorded deaths is 1972, when 640 people died on Irish roads.

While deaths are up this year, latest figures from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) show that up to 23 July, there were 649 serious injuries on Irish roads. This is 163 fewer serious injuries compared to the same period last year, a drop of 20%.

However, an RSA spokesperson said that data in serious injuries usually lags behind the figures for deaths, as they take longer to report. This means that the half year figure may not give an accurate picture of how many serious injuries there have been.

A serious injury is an injury for which a person must receive hospital treatment, or where they suffer fractures, concussion, internal injuries, crushing, severe cuts and lacerations, and/or severe general shock requiring medical treatment.

Last year, a total of 1,292 people suffered serious injuries, compared to 1,360 in 2021. In 2019, 1,506 people were seriously injured in road traffic accidents.

Garda enforcement 

Meanwhile, garda enforcement figures relating fixed penalties and driver arrests over the past number of years have been broadly similar, with an increase in fixed penalty notices for speeding.

Speaking this week, Superintendent Geraghty said speed is “key feature in any road traffic collision”.

So the basic message will be to people to slow down.

Geraghty said that 105,000 people have been detected speeding so far this year. Gardaí issued close to 166,000 fixed charge notices for speeding last year, and close to 180,000 in 2021. This is compared to just 136,000 in 2018, a significant increase.

Geraghty also said that over 12,500 people have been issued with fixed charge notices this year for using their phones while driving. Last year, a total of 18,612 people issued with notices for using their phones. The number has been dropping steadily in recent year. In 2018, 31,174 were issued with such notices.

The Road Safety Authority 

Figures in relation to deaths and injuries on Irish roads are compiled and released by gardaí and the Road Safety Authority. The RSA was established in 2006 and has a goal of making Irish roads safer.

Within this remit, the RSA has responsibilities around road safety promotion, education and awareness, and carrying out road safety and collision research.

It also has primary responsibility as the lead agency for the governance and implementation of the government’s Road Safety Strategy, and is responsible for driver testing and driver licensing.

The authority’s budget has increased significantly since the Celtic Tiger years, largely driven by a rise in income from sources such as driving tests and registration of driving instructors.

Annual reports show that grants given to the RSA by the Department of Transport reached a peak in 2008, when it received €40 million in direct State funding – a huge proportion of the authority’s entire €58 million income that year.

The grant was gradually wound down in the years that followed and was replaced by an Oireachtas grant worth just €139,000 from 2015 to 2020.

But as direct government funding has decreased, the RSA’s income from other sources – including fees for driving tests, licence renewals, and the NCT – has exploded.

According to its accounts, the authority made €83 million via ‘other’ sources in 2021, up from €63 million in 2020, though both those numbers were down on the pre-pandemic figure of €95 million it received from ‘other’ sources in 2019.

In 2019, it took in more than €50 million in driving test fees and via the NCT levy combined, as well as a further €25 million through fees paid for driving licences.

The authority’s incomings in 2021 – the last year for which figures are available – are broadly the same as what they were in 2015, even accounting for a drop during Covid.

Annual reports show the RSA reported a total income of €80.7 million in 2015 and €87 million in 2021.

With reporting from Stephen McDermott and Press Association 

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    Mute David Bourke
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    Jun 29th 2020, 3:58 PM

    “The clip is a bit jarring for Irish viewers more accustomed to impartial TV anchors”

    lmao, that’s a good one! So impartial and unbiased!

    Anyway, companies are pulling ads because we’re in a massive global recession and they want to cut costs. Nothing to do with some social consciousness.

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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:10 PM

    @David Bourke: You possibly think they are not impartial just because you don’t agree with them.

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    Mute Kevin Lonergan
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:19 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: Most Irish TV hosts/journalists are anything but impartial. You only have to watch interviews with different politicians, and listen to the language and tone used in putting questions to them, to see that there is very little in the way of impartial or unbiased interviewing.

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    Mute Will
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:23 PM

    @sean o’dhubhghaill: There is no impartial news in America (except maybe local news). The news over there first became a product or simply another part of the entertainment industry as far back as the 80s (maybe earlier) and now every news organisation has a narrative they try to push meaning they only report the bits of the news that support the narrative.
    Fox news were the first to blatantly do this but they all do it now.

    38
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    Mute Gerard Lord
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:53 PM

    @David Bourke: Coca Cola are probably not losing money let’s be honest not enough to stop advertising

    8
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    Mute Hana Barbera
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    Jun 29th 2020, 6:11 PM

    @Will: Oprah Winfrey, opening the door for even worse pseudo-journalists.

    12
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    Mute sean o'dhubhghaill
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    Jun 29th 2020, 6:14 PM

    @Kevin Lonergan: each journalist has a totally different style.

    2
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    Mute David Bourke
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    Jun 29th 2020, 9:33 PM

    @Gerard Lord:

    If their competitors are too broke to advertise, then Coca Cola has no need to advertise themselves.

    (and actually their sales have been hit quite badly due to changes in consumer spending habits)

    4
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    Mute Gerard Smith
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    Jun 30th 2020, 2:48 AM

    @David Bourke: they more than made up for this with their investments in Waters, Juices and Coffee.

    1
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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:06 PM

    Is this the beginning of the end for Facebook.. hope so…

    174
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    Mute Seamus McLaughlin
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:33 PM

    @Pat Kelly: why do you wish its demise? Genuinely interested.

    26
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    Mute Michael Patrick Newell
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:46 PM

    @Seamus McLaughlin: Because like all social media, it has some good points and uses but sadly its becoming the cause of so many issues and like lots of social media is being linked to causing stress and anxiety in users and has done nothing to stop some of the darker aspects of social media

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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:01 PM

    @Seamus McLaughlin: just have major problem with the content it allows and has gotten away with.. I mean it is literally responsible for some of the worst misinformation and appalling graphical content ! And I know it is so big now that it cant police every single post, but o dont see that as acceptable when peoples lives have been affected so dramatically by the issues Fackbook refused to address for a long time. Not to mention selling information on its users with out their knowledge and the subsequent attempted cover up…

    41
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    Mute Dara O'Brien
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:12 PM

    @Pat Kelly: the problem is with people surely? There is always a tendency to let individuals off the hook for their own actions as soon as there’s a big bad boogeyman corporation to blame.

    People post that rubbish – blame them at least as much as the media – preferably more.

    20
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    Mute Seamus McLaughlin
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:19 PM

    @Pat Kelly: yeah, l know – the promotion of left and right wing rethoric, political propaganda, hatred crap along with people self-promoting when they go to the airport, night out, cinema etc. I personally use it for cycling, swimming and running events, dates, timings. It’s also great for buy and sell. Others probably find it good for their interests and hobbies. If they could clean up the darker side, l don’t see any reason for its demise.

    13
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    Mute Paddy
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:22 PM

    @Seamus McLaughlin: It’s essentially become too big to manage and as a result the overall quality of the content is in the dumpster.

    There’s no real standards and quality control.
    Nothing is stopping misleading and outright false advertisements (see any mobile game being advertised on the site). Copyright control is almost non existent,with hundreds of unrelated pages regurgitating the same videos and clips. Dangerous misinformation can be spread without any form of fact checking to hundreds of thousands of people. Rage and click bait articles/advertisements have become the norm thanks to headlines needing to grab the attention of those scrolling through it….

    It really is just a mess and has significantly changed from a way to connect with friends to a way of targeting content at audiences.

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    Mute Gerard Lord
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:51 PM

    @Pat Kelly: But isn’t twitter just as bad

    13
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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:54 PM

    @Dara O’Brien: true but still doesn’t change fact Facebook gets a free pass because of.. lack of regulation and FB ability to take advantage could backfire on it’s own credibility..

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    Mute Hana Barbera
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    Jun 29th 2020, 6:42 PM

    @Pat Kelly: My question is why have we allowed a bunch of barely out of university silicon valley billionaires to decide what is right and what is wrong today. Who has abused that power we aren’t aware of yet? Their interference concerns me more than any country’s outside the West. Do we really think their moral compass has no price?

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    Mute Kieran Shortt
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:08 PM

    @Dara O’Brien: might be easier to police the corporation rather than an individual- The fact we have bots used by state actors to spread misinformation (for years) is very concerning – a lot of people will not be able to judge whether it’s true or false and act on it. It’s no longer just a social platform

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    Mute Kieran Shortt
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:11 PM

    @Gerard Lord: at least they’re doing something. Would be better if FB and Twitter didn’t allow politicians to use their platform at all.

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    Mute Kieran Shortt
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:12 PM

    @Hana Barbera: Bang on!

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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 29th 2020, 10:40 PM

    @Gerard Lord: yeah if anything its actually worse..

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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 29th 2020, 10:44 PM

    @Hana Barbera: I think it’s just about the money with these companies, but then how could it be about anything else theses days. I go back to the policing of theses companies or lack of and the fact they can get away with anything. It’s really the lack of regulation by governments that is the bigger problem…

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    Mute Pat Kelly
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    Jun 29th 2020, 10:49 PM

    @Dara O’Brien: your properly right, but isn’t there always going to be a ” bogeyman corporation ” of some sort ? If government doesn’t stop it getting out of control when it to becomes complicit in the act. Ultimately government failings is what allowed FB to become the Monster ( in every sense of the ) that it is today…

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    Mute Rossa Crowe
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    Jun 30th 2020, 6:52 AM

    @Paddy: The entire Internet is like that. Facebook is just the fall guy.

    1
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    Mute Isabel Oliveira
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:11 PM

    I don’t like being told what to do by “ organised pressure groups “ . Never have and never will.

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    Mute Diarmuid Hunt
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:32 PM

    @Isabel Oliveira: As long as you don’t do the polar opposite on principle. Going against the grain for the sake of it is the same as doing what you’re told by ‘organised pressure groups’.

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    Mute Tom Smith
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:39 PM

    @Isabel Oliveira: you’d rather be fooled by targeted ads then.

    27
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    Mute Gerard Lord
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    Jun 29th 2020, 3:54 PM

    Facebook is starting to look very ineffective and messy now compared to Instagram or Twitter even. It’s starting to look like Bebo lol

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    Mute Seán O'Loughlin
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:21 PM

    @Gerard Lord: But Instagram is owned by Facebook, so why arent they run the same way?

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    Mute Seán O'Loughlin
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:25 PM

    Anyone know why the comments on the Zoom Misinformation post are turned off?

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    Mute Migeldy
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:56 PM

    @Seán O’Loughlin: They’re fairly different content wise, it doesn’t need tackling like Facebook does. Mostly people putting up holiday/night out/general life photos, comments usually limited to compliments or talking about the photo. Don’t have news constantly being shared and arguments in comment sections all the time. Nicer place to be, once you’re following people you genuinely like.

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    Mute Seymour business
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:49 PM

    Seems to me facebook is a general reflection of society. Just like influencers who are famous for being famous have millions of followers/lemmings hanging on their every word. Maybe Facebook isn’t the problem..

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    Mute Michael Patrick Newell
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:12 PM

    Time to dust off the bebo profile, get back to good aul days of light touch social media

    44
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    Mute Gerard Smith
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    Jun 30th 2020, 2:49 AM

    @Michael Patrick Newell: ah auld Nidge…”I was updating me Bebo profile”.

    1
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    Mute David Van-Standen
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:46 PM

    I have personally spent a lot of time online since internet access first became available with a paid subscription to Ireland online and have been on Facebook since 2009, yet as far as I can recall I have never seen any “hate speech for profit” and other than a few muppets making racist or xenephobic comments, that’s about it.

    I think like everything else on the internet you really have to be looking for it to find it, either because you hold these views, express them and are looking for like minded people to have a hate filled grunting sessions with, or you are looking for it so you can be offended by it and launch a campaign against it just to demonstrate your woke credentials….

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:47 PM

    You should read what the die hard USA trump supports say about this. They seem very confused about how hate speech can be defined. They are crying about it saying the liberals are silencing them for their own “agenda”. The agenda isn’t very clear as some seem to think it is to make everyone gay while others claim it is to emirate the white race. They don’t seem to understand that many countries have laws against hate speech and it can certainly be defined. Many people even here think unrestricted speech is great, it isn’t. What I also find funny is they are ignoring all the time conservative groups boycotted many brands and companies to change their ways. It is actually freedom of speech to tell companies to stop supporting other companies. The companies don’t have to listen.

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    Mute Hana Barbera
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:05 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: You’ll probably never get the multiple points of irony in this comment.

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    Mute Damon16
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    Jun 29th 2020, 9:41 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: Define it so. I’d be interested to hear your definition.

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    Mute Ross O'Donnell
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    Jun 29th 2020, 4:56 PM

    Talking about adds and the like and I clicked into the adds scrolling through this article accidentally. So sick to my back teeth of incessant advertising.

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    Mute Craic_a_tower
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    Jun 29th 2020, 5:58 PM

    @Ross O’Donnell: it is “ad” as in short for advertisement. Always annoyed when people get that wrong

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    Mute Ross O'Donnell
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    Jun 29th 2020, 6:08 PM

    @Craic_a_tower: good god. I’m ever so sorry.

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    Mute Kieran Shortt
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:17 PM

    @Ross O’Donnell: Actually that’s the thing that bugs me the most. I even feel like it’s affected my concentration.

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    Mute Hana Barbera
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    Jun 29th 2020, 6:45 PM

    FB is the industry’s sacrifice. That’s all.

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    Mute Éanna McClean
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    Jun 29th 2020, 7:45 PM

    To me it is strange to see comments that Facebook will go the same way Bebo did. At its highest point Bebo had 117 million active users. Latest data shows FB has 2.6 billion active users, thats with a B.

    Some context is needed here, Facebook is not going away. But clearly change is needed

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    Mute Dermot O'Reilly
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    Jul 1st 2020, 8:53 AM

    Facebook is anti Catholic

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    Mute David H Moloney
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    Jul 3rd 2020, 3:00 PM

    Facebooks Failure to moderate the material on their Platform.
    • Channel 4 programme in July 2018, highlighted how Facebook moderators in Dublin were instructed not to remove extreme, abusive or graphic content from the platform even when it violated the company’s guidelines.
    • Facebook aim to make profit and are only interest in getting views and selling ads.
    • IRELAND’S PRESS OMBUDSMAN has said that the government needs to take action to regulate information being spread on Facebook in the same manner as traditional media content is regulated in this country. He described social media as a place where “untrue, dishonest, angry and ugly” information can be posted “largely without any means of being challenged”. He said “It’s very difficult to get stuff taken down from Facebook,”
    • He said: “Facebook have 1,600 people across the road from our office but you can’t ring them. We’ve asked Facebook for a phone number for members of the public to pass on their concerns. We’re directed to complaints@facebook.com. At a newspaper, at least you can get to speak to someone who can action your problem.”
    • It would be “useful” if the Government introduced new hate crime laws, the Garda Commissioner said.

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    Mute David H Moloney
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    Jul 3rd 2020, 2:50 PM

    Facebook’s Advertisers Stop Supporting Online Hate & Harassment.
    Facebook Advertising Boycott “StopHateForProfit” international campaign.
    Spending by some advertisers in Ireland between Mar 2019 – Jul 1, 2020 on Facebook Ads

    Fine Gael €111,000
    Fianna Fail €94,000
    Sinn Fein €52,000
    AIB €34,000
    Labour Party €24,000
    Leo Varadka €18,000
    Irish Farmers Journal €17,000
    Ulster Bank €11,000
    Ref Facebook Ad Library Report
    All advertisers should stop supporting hate, harassment, incitement to hatred and extremism on Facebook by stopping paying for adverts. They should send messages to Facebook that profits will never be worth supporting hate of any kind and look for offending posts, comments and groups to be removed.
    Facebook puts profit first and turn a blind eye to harmful content on their platform.

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