Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
The story tells the tale of two Darndale boys in 1985 and their escape to the Big Apple without being detected.
Keith Byrne, 10, and Noel Murray, 13, made headlines when they hopped on a Dart and dodged authorities in three countries to make it to New York.
The post, a retelling of an Irish Times article by Alison Healy, documents the boys’ journey when Keith said he wanted to see his favourite TV star, B A Baracus from the A Team.
When his mammy said ‘don’t go far, your dinner’s nearly ready’, he said he wouldn’t.
Lies.
Advertisement
The pair got the Dart down as far as Dun Laoghaire and managed to wrangle their way on the ferry to Holyhead, where they managed to sneak on the train to London and on an Air India flight to New York.
They only got caught when they left JFK and asked a cop which way was it ‘to town’. The lads made headlines all over the world. Keith Byrne is now 40, Noel is 43, and they both live in Darndale.
Since it was posted yesterday, the amazing story has been liked over 27,000 times, and shared over 11,000, with people commending the lads for their big adventure.
You can listen to the entire Radio 1 documentary here.
Written by Nicola Byrne and posted on DailyEdge.ie
Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article.
Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.
Do not like your work conditions? Find another job. Nobody is forcing anyone to work there. This all was started by one-quarter of Irish pilots who wanted “seniority” who wanted to be able to pick routes and bases themselves instead of doing what the manager told them to do.
Hang tight, Michael. Never give up. Do not yield to communists.
@Pat Patovic: While I applaud your optimism, the unions will no doubt maintain their resolve. Bear in mind that a lot of those pilots are reduced to a 4 day weekend, and have to find a way to feed themselves and their families on €175,000 p.a.
Imagine trying to get by on only €15,000 a month?
@Pat Patovic: Think we all know the story now about Ryan Airs cavalier attitude to those who are the bedrock of its customer service. It is possible to run a successful operation without O’Leary’s combative approach. Chickens coming home to roost and long overdue. And yes other airlines are happy to take up the slack. Ryan Air will face into a shortage of pilots if it isn’t already.
@Pat Patovic: clueless pat!! It’s 25% of Irish pilots because the rest as contracted pilots- therefore they don’t have a Ryanair contract. But they all 100% back the other pilots! Don’t comment if u don’t have a clue what ur talking about
@Greeneyes17: Semantics. Fact is that they are bullying company into accepting that their job will be untouchable. They think that few years of service grants them some right to say what they will be doing and what not.
Do not like your job? Find another one.
Do they think they can run the airline better? Go ahead and build one.
@Pat Patovic: they aren’t looking for anything that isint in other airlines…. most of them will move on anyway. It’s only a stepping stone airline as nobody would put up with their tactics and bad management & bad culture & a team who are unhappy in their job. Don’t forget that the whole quoting 25% of Irish pilots is because 75% of them are contracted to Ryanair not directly employed by them. So all the pilots are in support but they can’t do anything about striking as they are not directly employed by Ryanair.
@Greeneyes17: Since when you have to do things which other companies do? Every company follow their own strategy and vision. It worked extremely well for Ryanair until wannabe communists got involved.
Not to mention that most of “other airlines” you are happy to copy work conditions and perks are operating at a loss.
If I was in charge of Ryanair
Sack all pilots & cabin crew who strike & if they wished to be employed again
By Ryanair it wilful day be on a contract basis
As per the norm… Union’s once again strangles companies that are doing well or making money
Unions have been the death of many companies in Ireland especially
@James Brady: blame lies squarely with Ryanair for avoiding basic rights to their employees such as applying local laws to crew! Something that the European court recently ruled. This is years in the making it didn’t happen overnight.
@James Brady: unions as ever getting the blame.when being in a union makes u far less vulnerable. Anyway its not their fault ,this is the fault of ryanair treating employees like no frills customers – with comparatively poor conditions .
@Gearoid Mag Lennain:
Agree, blame management for allowing unions into Ryanair.
Up until Ryanair allowed unions, you could depend on ryanair for reliability and punctuality.
Believe it or not the pilots and cabin crew that are striking want Ryanair to succeed, they’ve watched thousands of their colleagues leave to better employers over the past number of years, but they believe in a lot of what Ryanair does. They are the hardest working in the business, they just want to be treated fairly by their employer.
Shareholders forced Ryanair Management into the always getting better for customers, it’s only a matter time before they recognise that this needs to extend to the way they treat their staff as well, if Ryanair get this right I believe they will be unstoppable.
You’ll still get your cheap flights, and maybe there’ll be a content happy staff providing the service.
As Forbes put it, O’Leary took the perfected model of Southwest Airlines, and changed it.
@Chris: No.
It was started by one-quarter of pilots based in Dublin which is one of the smaller Ryanair hubs. It is just a few disgruntled employees who think that working a few years give them some extra leverage. They are calling for “seniority” they do not care about other Ryanair employees, they are fighting to make their positions untouchable with policies like last in first out. They are bullies who think they can hold company ransom to get extra perks.
@Pat Patovic: no Pat it didn’t. clearly you haven’t got a clue. you just blow on with same propaganda Ryanair come out with. you clearly lack or ignore information from the other side of this story
@Pat Patovic: Sorry Pat, but you have been sucked into the Ryanair propaganda machine. Only 25% of the pilots operating in the Dublin base are employed by Ryanair, the rest are stuck on bogus self employment contracts so are legally unable to strike. The majority of the 75% of remaining pilots fully support their colleagues.
@Chris: Nobody is forcing them to work if they do not like work conditions. There is no problem to find a work if you are experienced pilot. My argument still stands. They are bullying company and clients to ensure their job is untouchable.
@Pat Patovic: yes exactly that’s why loads of them went to Norwegian and wow air…… so I know what I’m talking about. You, unfortunately, don’t have a bulls. They are still right to stand up for their rights as professional highly responsible individuals
@Pat Patovic: What’s better so, a couple of strikes to try and improve their medieval working conditions, or they quit as you say and the whole airline folds because they don’t have the pilots to fly their aircraft.
Theses pilots have been significant stakeholders in the building of the airline to what it is today. They have every right to fight for change. Especially after watching the crew shortage crisis that management created last Christmas by doing nothing to improve the conditions of the 1000s of pilots that have been leaving in their droves.
@Chris: 1000s of pilots left and 1000s of pilots joined. What are you talking about? It is not their company so either they do the job as required or they can leave. Nobody is forcing them to stay there. They own nothing there and are paid for their work. Simple.
@Pat Patovic: I worked in a company where a portion of the staff enjoyed ‘Seniority’ in the form of Last in, First out which was implemented as a result of strikes.
As soon as LIFO was practiced their militant union drove their wages up sky high by holding the company to ransom. This caused huge unrest with the other workers so soon they followed suit.
Work levels deteriorated but staff could not be changed nor relocated nor dismissed. Soon the company costs were so high that it became non competitive. Eventually the company had to close and everyone lost their job. ‘Even the union closed its doors soon after. Twas a pity, a 3rd generation family run business, gone.
The militant union encouraged the workers to kill the goose that lasted the golden egg.
@Gareth Cooney: That is precisely what is happening here. Some people want to cement their job and do not care about anything else. They do not realize or care that they are biting the hand which feeds them. As in customers who will move on to other airlines. Then these clowns will have to join another airline and enjoy LIFO in real life.
@Pat Patovic: I noticed a common trait between the union officials, the shop stewards and a lot of the LIFO workers, most of them lived hand to mouth. They didn’t care about the hand that fed them in the slightest.
So what is the difference between
“I am sorry mr bank client, but I have to take you as a hostage because the bank refuses to give me money”
And
“I am sorry mr holiday maker, but I have to take your holidays as a hostage because I dont like the contract I signed” ?
Ryanair up to now has been a great irish success story we all should be proud of.
When a company has a great buisnesses model that has been working for 25 years, to go and change it is crazy.
Allowing the trade unions to manage the company will only mean one thing. Higher fares and travel disruption.
And of course, aer lingus will follow suit.
Bad desicion, Michael, bad decision.
If I was in charge of Ryanair
Sack all pilots & cabin crew who strike & if they wished to be employed again
By Ryanair it wilful day be on a contract basis
As per the norm… Union’s once again strangles companies that are doing well or making money
Union’ s have been the death of many companies in Ireland especially
@Shaun Gallagher: Ryanair refuse to pay out if it is an extenuating circumstance such as the weather but a strike (while not a decision made by Ryanair) is actually something they need to at least refund to the customer. If they refuse, the customer brings it higher to the Aviation Authority. Some customers are also entitled to compensation by completing an EU261 form.
Ryanair staff can unite powerfully across national boundaries and take the fight to Ryanair. The unions are stopping that happening.
The unions and their role:
Quote, from USA.
“…..65. The true function of the unions was spelled out by union lawyers in oral arguments in the Supreme Court case of Janus v. AFSCME on the constitutionality of “agency fees,” which require workers in public-sector unions in some states to pay the equivalent of union dues, even if they do not belong to a union. David Frederick, representing AFSCME Council 31 in Illinois, stated: “The key thing that has been bargained for in this contract for agency fees is a limitation on striking. And that is true in many collective bargaining agreements.” Fredrick continued: “The fees are the tradeoff. Union security is the tradeoff for no strikes.” If the court makes the decision to overturn prior precedent allowing states to mandate agency fees, he warned, “you can raise an untold specter of labor unrest throughout the country.”
66. The nature of the trade unions is manifest in the corruption scandal that has engulfed the United Auto Workers, concerning the payment by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) executives of more than $1.5 million to UAW officials involved in contract negotiations. In exchange for these payouts, the UAW pushed through, by means of intimidation and fraud, contracts that abolished the eight-hour day, halved the wages for a new class of “second-tier” workers, and expanded the number of temporary part-time workers who pay union dues but have no rights.
67. The character of the unions is rooted, fundamentally, not only in the corruption of individual leaders, but in the nature of the organizations themselves and changes in the structure of world economy. The nationalist and pro-capitalist unions reacted to the rise of globalized production and the crisis and decline of US capitalism by abandoning the struggle for even limited gains. The union apparatus integrated itself ever more directly into the framework of corporate management, with the proliferation of union-management partnerships that ensured a continued increase in the income of the union executives, even as membership in the organizations declined and the wages and benefits of workers collapsed. …….”
Ireland needs 23 beds for eating disorders - but seven years on, there's still no sign of them
Paul O'Donoghue
1 hr ago
476
3
CLINT HILL
Secret Service agent who leaped to shield Kennedy from assassination dies aged 93
2 hrs ago
4.0k
Murder Investigation
American mother drops newborn to death from Paris hotel window
10 hrs ago
45.1k
Your Cookies. Your Choice.
Cookies help provide our news service while also enabling the advertising needed to fund this work.
We categorise cookies as Necessary, Performance (used to analyse the site performance) and Targeting (used to target advertising which helps us keep this service free).
We and our 152 partners store and access personal data, like browsing data or unique identifiers, on your device. Selecting Accept All enables tracking technologies to support the purposes shown under we and our partners process data to provide. If trackers are disabled, some content and ads you see may not be as relevant to you. You can resurface this menu to change your choices or withdraw consent at any time by clicking the Cookie Preferences link on the bottom of the webpage .Your choices will have effect within our Website. For more details, refer to our Privacy Policy.
We and our vendors process data for the following purposes:
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
Cookies Preference Centre
We process your data to deliver content or advertisements and measure the delivery of such content or advertisements to extract insights about our website. We share this information with our partners on the basis of consent. You may exercise your right to consent, based on a specific purpose below or at a partner level in the link under each purpose. Some vendors may process your data based on their legitimate interests, which does not require your consent. You cannot object to tracking technologies placed to ensure security, prevent fraud, fix errors, or deliver and present advertising and content, and precise geolocation data and active scanning of device characteristics for identification may be used to support this purpose. This exception does not apply to targeted advertising. These choices will be signaled to our vendors participating in the Transparency and Consent Framework.
Manage Consent Preferences
Necessary Cookies
Always Active
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
Targeting Cookies
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
Functional Cookies
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
Performance Cookies
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Store and/or access information on a device 104 partners can use this purpose
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development 136 partners can use this purpose
Use limited data to select advertising 106 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Create profiles for personalised advertising 78 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Use profiles to select personalised advertising 77 partners can use this purpose
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Create profiles to personalise content 37 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Use profiles to select personalised content 33 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Measure advertising performance 127 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Measure content performance 60 partners can use this purpose
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Understand audiences through statistics or combinations of data from different sources 75 partners can use this purpose
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Develop and improve services 82 partners can use this purpose
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Use limited data to select content 38 partners can use this purpose
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
Use precise geolocation data 43 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Actively scan device characteristics for identification 25 partners can use this special feature
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Ensure security, prevent and detect fraud, and fix errors 86 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Deliver and present advertising and content 96 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Match and combine data from other data sources 68 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Link different devices 50 partners can use this feature
Always Active
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Identify devices based on information transmitted automatically 84 partners can use this feature
Always Active
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
Save and communicate privacy choices 64 partners can use this special purpose
Always Active
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say