theirishtimes--2020-06-27--What long-term impact will school shutdown have on children?

In the past the State ’ s schools stayed open during war , famine and storms .
However , the Irish education system was never built to deal with the extended shutdown caused by Covid-19 .
Yesterday marked the formal end of the academic year at primary level , but significant numbers of pupils have been disengaged since schools closed on March 12th last .
“ This is a crisis situation and it needs to be named as such , ” says Dr Paul Downes , an associate professor of education at Dublin City University ’ s Institute of Education @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to be concerned about the shadows that will be left by the unprecedented extent and length of current school closures imposed by the coronavirus pandemic .
A major concern , he says , is around the damage to children ’ s concentration levels , as well as reading and maths loss .
While principals , teachers and parents have worked hard to keep learning alive online , these efforts are not likely to provide anything close to the quality of education delivered in the classroom .
In normal times , teachers are all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” , where students ’ learning regresses .
There is now mounting concern over damaging long-term impact six months out of school will have on pupils when they return in September .
During the two months of summer holidays , children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to lose up to 20 per cent of their learning during the previous academic year .
“ We ’ re now talking about two months , plus four months out of school , so the problem will be much , much bigger .
.
.
The risk of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than for English.
” Of course schooling hasn ’ t stopped completely , as it does during holidays .
Most schools have been offering some form of distance learning , but it has its limits .
There is emerging evidence that pupils working from home have been doing less learning than was previously thought .
Nationally , the Corona Citizens ’ Science study , a population-wide survey conducted by research teams at NUI Galway and Dublin City University , found that only 29 per cent of children had daily contact with their schoolteacher @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cent – reported contact two or three times a week , but for most – 47 per cent – it was once or less often each week .
For 3 per cent of children there is no contact whatsoever with their primary school teacher .
At second level , there was more contact time : a total of 64 per cent of under-15s and 54 per cent of over-15s reported daily contact with teachers .
Most experts agree , however , that the most vulnerable – children from disadvantaged homes and those with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to lose out most .
For poorer children , homes are more likely to be overcrowded or noisy ; children are more likely to rely on phones rather than tablets or computers ; parents are also less likely to have had a positive experience of education themselves .
In disadvantaged primary schools in Dublin , latest research indicates that at least 25 per cent of students have not been engaging with school since the shutdown in mid-March .
This rises to 50 per cent in some individual schools .
One principal of a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have had no power to compel parents to ensure their children engage .
“ Normally there ’ s a understanding that you have to go to school , but with the lockdown there was none of that .
.
.
we don ’ t have powers like the Garda ; we depend on families and it comes down to conditions at home and the value that ’ s place on education and parents ’ experience of it.
” Another principal of a Deis school worries that much of the good work done in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ over the past decade will be reversed .
“ We will only realise the full impact of this when we get back and settled into the new year , and the department won ’ t realise what has happened until standardised tests are completed in a year ’ s time , ” the principal says .
If the impact on disadvantaged pupils is severe , the toll of pupils with special needs – and their parents – is even more acute .
Many parents report that – in the absence of education , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have lost key skills and their behaviour has deteriorated .
“ Children are not the face of this pandemic but they risk being among its greatest victims , ” says Dr Carol Barron , from DCU ’ s school of nursing , psychotherapy and community health .
“ The use of technologies to try to overcome the lack of social contact is only minimally effective .
Children report emotional , social , physical and behavioural difficulties.
” Zoe ( 8 ) is one of those children .
Diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and incontinent .
Thanks to the painstaking intervention of teachers and therapists at Rosedale special school in Galway , she learned to spoon-feed herself , sit upright , use a computer and take joy in everyday things such as the arrival of the school bus .
Since schools closed last March , her mother Angelina says she has grown frustrated and started throwing temper tantrums for the first time .
Physically , her legs are deteriorating .
In recent weeks , she lost the ability to spoon-feed herself .
“ It ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ School closures just aren ’ t fair on her .
When I think about it , all I want to do is cry.
” “ It took months to teach her to hold a spoon for a few seconds , then to move it to her mouth , then to put food on it ; then to move that spoon to her mouth again .
Steps like that can take up to two years to teach .
Months of repetitive work , day in day out , with dedicated support .
Now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this is a crisis , what emergency measures are under way to tackle it ?
Most experts agree that much better infrastructure is needed for remote teaching .
For example , there is no national learning platform for schools .
Instead , they are required to find their own solutions .
They also point to the need for a full return to school , if at all possible , in order to begin the work of tackling learning loss .
In the meantime , the Government has announced plans for a summer programme @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and those from disadvantaged backgrounds .
In practice , this will amount to about 40 hours or two weeks of support in school or at home .
Most experts believe this is little more than a sticking plaster .
Dr Paul Downes , who is also director of DCU ’ s Educational Disadvantage Centre , says a far more ambitious and wide-ranging policy response is required from the incoming government .
“ In the UK , the Tory government has invested £1 billion in catch-up programmes , ” says .
“ Our response @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young people is tepid by comparison .
”

In the past the State’s schools stayed open during war, famine and storms. However, the Irish education system was never built to deal with the extended shutdown caused by Covid-19.
Yesterday marked the formal end of the academic year at primary level, but significant numbers of pupils have been disengaged since schools closed on March 12th last.
"This is a crisis situation and it needs to be named as such," says Dr Paul Downes, an associate professor of education at Dublin City University's Institute of Education.
Downes is not the only one to be concerned about the shadows that will be left by the unprecedented extent and length of current school closures imposed by the coronavirus pandemic.
READ MORE
During the two months of summer holidays, children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to lose up to 20 per cent of their learning during the previous academic year
A major concern, he says, is around the damage to children’s concentration levels, as well as reading and maths loss.
While principals, teachers and parents have worked hard to keep learning alive online, these efforts are not likely to provide anything close to the quality of education delivered in the classroom. In normal times, teachers are all too aware of the “summer slump”, where students’ learning regresses.
There is now mounting concern over damaging long-term impact six months out of school will have on pupils when they return in September.
During the two months of summer holidays, children from disadvantaged backgrounds tend to lose up to 20 per cent of their learning during the previous academic year.
“We’re now talking about two months, plus four months out of school, so the problem will be much, much bigger . . . The risk of learning loss is even bigger for maths than for English.”
Learning loss
Of course schooling hasn’t stopped completely, as it does during holidays. Most schools have been offering some form of distance learning, but it has its limits. There is emerging evidence that pupils working from home have been doing less learning than was previously thought.
Nationally, the Corona Citizens' Science study, a population-wide survey conducted by research teams at NUI Galway and Dublin City University, found that only 29 per cent of children had daily contact with their schoolteacher.
A large proportion – 21 per cent – reported contact two or three times a week, but for most – 47 per cent – it was once or less often each week. For 3 per cent of children there is no contact whatsoever with their primary school teacher.
In disadvantaged primary schools in Dublin, latest research indicates that at least 25 per cent of students have not been engaging with school since the shutdown
At second level, there was more contact time: a total of 64 per cent of under-15s and 54 per cent of over-15s reported daily contact with teachers.
Most experts agree, however, that the most vulnerable – children from disadvantaged homes and those with special or additional needs – who stand to lose out most.
For poorer children, homes are more likely to be overcrowded or noisy; children are more likely to rely on phones rather than tablets or computers; parents are also less likely to have had a positive experience of education themselves.
In disadvantaged primary schools in Dublin, latest research indicates that at least 25 per cent of students have not been engaging with school since the shutdown in mid-March. This rises to 50 per cent in some individual schools.
One principal of a disadvantaged school in north Dublin says they have had no power to compel parents to ensure their children engage.
“Normally there’s a understanding that you have to go to school, but with the lockdown there was none of that . . . we don’t have powers like the Garda; we depend on families and it comes down to conditions at home and the value that’s place on education and parents’ experience of it.”
Another principal of a Deis school worries that much of the good work done in narrowing the gap between haves and have-nots over the past decade will be reversed.
'The use of technologies to try to overcome the lack of social contact is only minimally effective. Children report emotional, social, physical and behavioural difficulties'
“We will only realise the full impact of this when we get back and settled into the new year, and the department won’t realise what has happened until standardised tests are completed in a year’s time,” the principal says.
If the impact on disadvantaged pupils is severe, the toll of pupils with special needs – and their parents – is even more acute. Many parents report that – in the absence of education, therapies or social interaction – their children have lost key skills and their behaviour has deteriorated.
"Children are not the face of this pandemic but they risk being among its greatest victims," says Dr Carol Barron, from DCU's school of nursing, psychotherapy and community health.
“The use of technologies to try to overcome the lack of social contact is only minimally effective. Children report emotional, social, physical and behavioural difficulties.”
Zoe (8) is one of those children. Diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder, she is intellectually disabled, non-verbal and incontinent.
Thanks to the painstaking intervention of teachers and therapists at Rosedale special school in Galway, she learned to spoon-feed herself, sit upright, use a computer and take joy in everyday things such as the arrival of the school bus.
Since schools closed last March, her mother Angelina says she has grown frustrated and started throwing temper tantrums for the first time. Physically, her legs are deteriorating. In recent weeks, she lost the ability to spoon-feed herself.
“It’s so distressing,” she says. “School closures just aren’t fair on her. When I think about it, all I want to do is cry.”
“It took months to teach her to hold a spoon for a few seconds, then to move it to her mouth, then to put food on it; then to move that spoon to her mouth again. Steps like that can take up to two years to teach. Months of repetitive work, day in day out, with dedicated support. Now it’s gone.”
Emergency
So if this is a crisis, what emergency measures are under way to tackle it?
Most experts agree that much better infrastructure is needed for remote teaching. For example, there is no national learning platform for schools. Instead, they are required to find their own solutions.
They also point to the need for a full return to school, if at all possible, in order to begin the work of tackling learning loss.
In the meantime, the Government has announced plans for a summer programme of support for children with special needs and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.
In practice, this will amount to about 40 hours or two weeks of support in school or at home. Most experts believe this is little more than a sticking plaster.
Dr Paul Downes, who is also director of DCU’s Educational Disadvantage Centre, says a far more ambitious and wide-ranging policy response is required from the incoming government.
“In the UK, the Tory government has invested £1 billion in catch-up programmes,” says. “Our response to our most socioeconomically marginalised children and young people is tepid by comparison.”


theirishtimes--2020-06-27--What is this jellyfish with nasty-looking stingers? Readers’ nature queries

We saw this striking blue jellyfish on the shore in Clew Bay .
It had some nasty-looking stingers underneath .
I ’ m glad I didn ’ t find it while swimming .
– Kirstin McDonagh , Westport , Co Mayo It ’ s the blue jellyfish , Cyanea lamarckii , the same family as the brown lion ’ s mane , which is twice the size .
The blue jellyfish grows to 30cm diameter and has eight groups of 40-60 tentacles underneath the bell .
The stinging cells are on the upper surface of the bell .
I spotted @ @ @ @ @ @ @ wall recently .
Regardless of identity , she is certainly a little beauty for distracting 40-odd GPs amid Covid shenanigans .
– Dr Peig Costello , Cloughjordan , Co Tipperary That is the pale tussock moth laying eggs .
The first time I saw this insect was last summer , when it was flying .
I saw it again this year on a bay leaf .
Is it a damselfly ?
– Michael D ’ Arcy , Terenure , Dublin 6W It ’ s the male beautiful jewelwing damselfly .
Biological records show @ @ @ @ @ @ @ south of a line from Dublin to Westport .
I found this insect in my new tunnel .
It ’ s about the size of a queen bee ; what is it ?
– Mary Corless .
Claremorris , Co Mayo It ’ s a rove beetle , Stephylinus caesareus , of the same family as the black scorpion-like devil ’ s coach horse .
It seems to be rare – there is only one report in the biological records .
My granddaughter Mia spotted this beautiful creature .
and wanted to know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Bray , Co Wicklow It ’ s the green silver lines moth , a long name for such a small moth .
There were several requests to identify the brindled hoverfly .
This photo was sent by Brendan Smyth , Glenageary , Co Dublin .
Ethna Viney welcomes observations and photographs at Thallabawn , Louisburgh , Co Mayo , F28 F978 , or by email at viney @ anu.ie .
Include a postal address

We saw this striking blue jellyfish on the shore in Clew Bay. It had some nasty-looking stingers underneath. I'm glad I didn't find it while swimming. – Kirstin McDonagh, Westport, Co Mayo
Pale tussock moth
It’s the blue jellyfish, Cyanea lamarckii, the same family as the brown lion’s mane, which is twice the size. The blue jellyfish grows to 30cm diameter and has eight groups of 40-60 tentacles underneath the bell. The stinging cells are on the upper surface of the bell.
I spotted this furry productive moth on my shed wall recently. Regardless of identity, she is certainly a little beauty for distracting 40-odd GPs amid Covid shenanigans. – Dr Peig Costello, Cloughjordan, Co Tipperary
That is the pale tussock moth laying eggs.
The first time I saw this insect was last summer, when it was flying. I saw it again this year on a bay leaf. Is it a damselfly? – Michael D'Arcy, Terenure, Dublin 6W
It's the male beautiful jewelwing damselfly. Biological records show it plentiful in this country but confined south of a line from Dublin to Westport.
READ MORE
Jewel-wing damselfly
I found this insect in my new tunnel. It's about the size of a queen bee; what is it? – Mary Corless. Claremorris, Co Mayo
It's a rove beetle, Stephylinus caesareus, of the same family as the black scorpion-like devil's coach horse. It seems to be rare – there is only one report in the biological records.
Rove beetle
My granddaughter Mia spotted this beautiful creature. and wanted to know what it was. – Marie Hannon, Bray, Co Wicklow
It's the green silver lines moth, a long name for such a small moth.
Green silver lines moth
There were several requests to identify the brindled hoverfly. This photo was sent by Brendan Smyth, Glenageary, Co Dublin.
Brindled hoverfly
Ethna Viney welcomes observations and photographs at Thallabawn, Louisburgh, Co Mayo, F28 F978, or by email at viney@anu.ie. Include a postal address


theirishtimes--2020-06-27--Between cliff and sea: The curious trail of a puffin

“ I was trying to remember today how the colours are banded on the puffin ’ s curious triangular bill : was it red-yellow-blue or blue-yellow-red ?
So I descended the northern cliff for a closer look at them .
“ I was not put off by its precipitous plunge and the boiling of the sea below , but made my way down cautiously , kicking my boots well in at every step .
At about a hundred feet down I found myself at the flight-level of the puffins .
“ These gay little auks fly in wide ellipses between @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and indefinitely , but it is not easy to follow an individual puffin for their whole circuit of a teeming merry-go-round .
“ They were flying so close to me today , within a yard or so , that I could see them glance at me as they passed .
Their flight is quicker than one thinks for all its apparent whirring clumsiness , so that trying to note the permutation of their bill colours was like trying to read the title on a revolving gramophone record ... ” That was me , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ young eccentric camped on a Blasket island and pursuing this trivial and risky impulse .
Why not stay on the clifftop , lying among the sea-pinks , to watch them perch outside their burrows in the evening sun ?
I must have forgotten my binoculars .
Puffins , one of many of the world ’ s declining seabirds , are receiving much more necessary and serious attention .
Like others – petrels and shearwaters , for example – who visit land only to breed , nesting in burrows and crevices and using darkness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ challenging questions .
How many are there , where do they go in winter , and what threatens their populations ?
The latest report on our breeding seabirds , from the National Parks and Wildlife Service , speaks of the “ cryptic breeding ecology ” of this 20 per cent of burrow-nesters and waits on the results of ongoing surveys .
In the last big census attempt , Seabird 2000 , many Irish islands proved too hard to land on or were beyond the capacity to organise .
Puffins , in particular , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ inaccessible clifftops .
Playing tapes of recorded calls brought responses from most of the “ apparently occupied burrows ” , numbering more than 16,000 .
Since then , more intensive and hi-tech surveys by researchers at University College Cork suggest that some population figures for burrow-nesters have been gross underestimates .
UCC ’ s Gavin Arneill and a fieldwork team found almost 4,000 pairs of storm petrels nesting on High Island , off Connemara , compared with the Seabird estimate of 22 .
UCC ’ s Dr Mark Jessop , an Australian zoologist @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the winter travels of Irish puffins , their bright summer colours dulled or discarded .
Tagging dispersing birds with GPS locators , he found puffins from Skellig Michael flying the Atlantic as far as Canada and Greenland to feed on shoals of oil-rich capelin .
In 2017 came an international study , led by Oxford University and involving UCC , that had tracked 270 birds from 13 puffin colonies in North America , Norway , Iceland , Greenland and Ireland .
While US puffins migrated several hundred kilometres at most , birds from @ @ @ @ @ @ @ flights across the Atlantic .
This , Jessop says , could leave the puffins too tired to breed when they arrive , barely able to lay one egg and forage food for a single chick .
This could help to explain falling numbers at many Irish colonies .
Another recent study , by UCC researchers and the Zoological Society of London , found that puffins from colonies at the Saltee islands , Co Wexford , use strong tidal currents to float , rather than fly , between areas where they could dive most @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them substantial energy .
On the Great Saltee Island – a special area of conservation for birds – predation by rats has reduced breeding puffins from 2,000 to 50 birds .
On the more remote and rat-free puffin cliffs , the main predators of eggs and chicks are the great black-backed gulls , breeding elsewhere on the island .
Storm petrels and shearwaters return from fishing to feed their chicks under cover of darkness .
But puffins bring beakfuls of sand-eels to the burrow by day and roost offshore at night .
The @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crucial first journey to the sea under darkness , having been left alone to get hungry .
A witness to this was the Welsh ornithologist Ronald Lockley .
In his classic Letters from Stockholm ( 1947 ) , he told of measuring the period of the parents ’ desertion by pushing matchsticks upright in the mouths of marked burrows .
At length , in late July or August , several days after the last flattening of the matchsticks , the chicks emerged at night “ to blunder onwards and downwards until they could @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the sea ” .

“I was trying to remember today how the colours are banded on the puffin’s curious triangular bill: was it red-yellow-blue or blue-yellow-red? So I descended the northern cliff for a closer look at them.
“I was not put off by its precipitous plunge and the boiling of the sea below, but made my way down cautiously, kicking my boots well in at every step. At about a hundred feet down I found myself at the flight-level of the puffins.
“These gay little auks fly in wide ellipses between cliff and sea, seeming without purpose and indefinitely, but it is not easy to follow an individual puffin for their whole circuit of a teeming merry-go-round.
“They were flying so close to me today, within a yard or so, that I could see them glance at me as they passed. Their flight is quicker than one thinks for all its apparent whirring clumsiness, so that trying to note the permutation of their bill colours was like trying to read the title on a revolving gramophone record...”
READ MORE
That was me, a mere half-century ago, a solitary young eccentric camped on a Blasket island and pursuing this trivial and risky impulse. Why not stay on the clifftop, lying among the sea-pinks, to watch them perch outside their burrows in the evening sun? I must have forgotten my binoculars.
Puffins, one of many of the world’s declining seabirds, are receiving much more necessary and serious attention. Like others – petrels and shearwaters, for example – who visit land only to breed, nesting in burrows and crevices and using darkness to dodge their predators, they invite challenging questions. How many are there, where do they go in winter, and what threatens their populations?
The latest report on our breeding seabirds, from the National Parks and Wildlife Service, speaks of the "cryptic breeding ecology" of this 20 per cent of burrow-nesters and waits on the results of ongoing surveys.
In the last big census attempt, Seabird 2000, many Irish islands proved too hard to land on or were beyond the capacity to organise. Puffins, in particular, were nesting on dangerously steep slopes and inaccessible clifftops. Playing tapes of recorded calls brought responses from most of the “apparently occupied burrows”, numbering more than 16,000.
Since then, more intensive and hi-tech surveys by researchers at University College Cork suggest that some population figures for burrow-nesters have been gross underestimates. UCC's Gavin Arneill and a fieldwork team found almost 4,000 pairs of storm petrels nesting on High Island, off Connemara, compared with the Seabird estimate of 22.
UCC's Dr Mark Jessop, an Australian zoologist, has worked with colleagues to track the winter travels of Irish puffins, their bright summer colours dulled or discarded. Tagging dispersing birds with GPS locators, he found puffins from Skellig Michael flying the Atlantic as far as Canada and Greenland to feed on shoals of oil-rich capelin.
In 2017 came an international study, led by Oxford University and involving UCC, that had tracked 270 birds from 13 puffin colonies in North America, Norway, Iceland, Greenland and Ireland. While US puffins migrated several hundred kilometres at most, birds from Ireland travelled up to 4,700km on return flights across the Atlantic.
This, Jessop says, could leave the puffins too tired to breed when they arrive, barely able to lay one egg and forage food for a single chick. This could help to explain falling numbers at many Irish colonies.
Floating on the tides
Another recent study, by UCC researchers and the Zoological Society of London, found that puffins from colonies at the Saltee islands, Co Wexford, use strong tidal currents to float, rather than fly, between areas where they could dive most successfully for sand eels. This saves them substantial energy.
On the Great Saltee Island – a special area of conservation for birds – predation by rats has reduced breeding puffins from 2,000 to 50 birds. On the more remote and rat-free puffin cliffs, the main predators of eggs and chicks are the great black-backed gulls, breeding elsewhere on the island.
Storm petrels and shearwaters return from fishing to feed their chicks under cover of darkness. But puffins bring beakfuls of sand-eels to the burrow by day and roost offshore at night. The single chick, however, takes its crucial first journey to the sea under darkness, having been left alone to get hungry.
A witness to this was the Welsh ornithologist Ronald Lockley. In his classic Letters from Stockholm (1947), he told of measuring the period of the parents' desertion by pushing matchsticks upright in the mouths of marked burrows.
At length, in late July or August, several days after the last flattening of the matchsticks, the chicks emerged at night “to blunder onwards and downwards until they could at last flutter over the cliffs to the sea”.


theirishtimes--2020-06-26--More than €5 million raised for Irish charities through RTÉ’s Comic Relief

A total of €5,071,701 has been raised for Ireland ’ s community and voluntary sector through RTÉ ’ s Comic Relief event .
Irish actors , musicians , comedians and presenters took part , from around the globe , on Friday for RTÉ Does Comic Relief to help raise funds , which were then matched by the Government up to the value of €3 million .
Some €2,535,850 was raised through public donations to Friday ’ s show , which featured appearances from Saoirse Ronan , Hozier , Niall Horan and the cast of Derry Girls .
The highlight of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ crossover between hit shows Normal People and Fleabag , which brought actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones together with Andrew Scott for a rendition of Tracy Chapman ’ s Baby Can I Hold You Tonight in a church confession box .
An RTÉ tweet featuring a clip of the sketch , which was written by playwright Conor McPherson and directed by Lenny Abrahamson , had already attracted 212,000 views by 12:30am on Saturday .
Later in the show , members of the RTÉ Concert orchestra joined Hozier in an otherwise empty Croke @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Garfunkel ’ s Bridge Over Troubled Water in memory of all those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic .
The show also featured a jump back in time to the early 1990s , with Ray D ’ arcy retaking his seat as the Den presenter accompanied by Zig , Zag and Dustin , as well as the return of the 2000 Irish comedy Paths to Freedom .
Brian O ’ Driscoll and Amy Huberman took on Chris O ’ Dowd and Dawn O ’ Porter in a lip-sync battle , while the 2 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ joined forces for an all-in-white Westlife rendition .
Anne Doyle presented news bulletins from Waterford Whispers , The Panel hosts Dara O ’ Briain , Colin Murphy and Neil Delamere were reunited , and ukulele players from around Ireland presented their new-found musical skills developed during the pandemic .
The event was hosted by Deirdre O ’ Kane , Nicky Byrne , Baz Ashmawy , Jennifer Zamparelli , and Eoghan McDermott , RTÉ and Comic Relief ’ s charity partner for the event , The Community Foundation For Ireland , will distribute the @ @ @

Paul Mescal, who plays Connell and Daisy Edgar Jones, who plays Marianne in Normal People. Photograph: Enda Bowe
A total of €5,071,701 has been raised for Ireland’s community and voluntary sector through RTÉ’s Comic Relief event.
Irish actors, musicians, comedians and presenters took part, from around the globe, on Friday for RTÉ Does Comic Relief to help raise funds, which were then matched by the Government up to the value of €3 million.
Some €2,535,850 was raised through public donations to Friday’s show, which featured appearances from Saoirse Ronan, Hozier, Niall Horan and the cast of Derry Girls.
What a performance from @hozier
We miss Croker
Whatever colour your county jersey is get involved in #RTEComicRelief and give what you can.
DONATE | https://t.co/pilQZIdhsT@RTEOnepic.twitter.com/ho4uCJeDCD — RTÉ (@rte) June 26, 2020
The highlight of Friday’s variety show was the crossover between hit shows Normal People and Fleabag, which brought actors Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar Jones together with Andrew Scott for a rendition of Tracy Chapman’s Baby Can I Hold You Tonight in a church confession box.
READ MORE
An RTÉ tweet featuring a clip of the sketch, which was written by playwright Conor McPherson and directed by Lenny Abrahamson, had already attracted 212,000 views by 12:30am on Saturday.
Later in the show, members of the RTÉ Concert orchestra joined Hozier in an otherwise empty Croke Park for a rendition of Simon and Garfunkel' s Bridge Over Troubled Water in memory of all those who died during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The show also featured a jump back in time to the early 1990s, with Ray D'arcy retaking his seat as the Den presenter accompanied by Zig, Zag and Dustin, as well as the return of the 2000 Irish comedy Paths to Freedom.
Brian O’Driscoll and Amy Huberman took on Chris O’Dowd and Dawn O’Porter in a lip-sync battle, while the 2 Johnnies, Marty Morrissey and Des Cahil joined forces for an all-in-white Westlife rendition.
Anne Doyle presented news bulletins from Waterford Whispers, The Panel hosts Dara O'Briain, Colin Murphy and Neil Delamere were reunited, and ukulele players from around Ireland presented their new-found musical skills developed during the pandemic.
The event was hosted by Deirdre O’Kane, Nicky Byrne, Baz Ashmawy, Jennifer Zamparelli, and Eoghan McDermott,
RTÉ and Comic Relief’s charity partner for the event, The Community Foundation For Ireland, will distribute the funds raised.


theirishtimes--2020-06-27--Who is in the new Cabinet? Members in profile

A new Taoiseach was elected on Saturday and a range of new Ministers were appointed .
Here ’ s all you need to know about them : Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin ( 59 ) is the poster boy for persistence .
Thirty one years after he was first elected to the Dáil , 22 years after he was first mentioned as a future taoiseach and nine years after he became party leader he has finally reached the political pinnacle of Taoiseach .
He became party leader in 2011 just weeks before the general election when Fianna Fail lost 51 @ @ @ @ @ @ @ collapse .
The five wilderness years were spent re-organising the party and its decimated cohort of TDs .
In 2016 Fianna Fáil had a mini-revival , regaining 23 seats and in the 2019 local elections won the most seats of any party .
The four years since were spent building up a still volatile parliamentary party but Fianna Fáil suffered further losses in the 2020 election and dropped six seats , partially blamed on the party ’ s confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael .
The 2020 election had become do or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ constituency will now be home to three Cabinet members - himself as Taoiseach , his party colleague Michael McGrath and former tánaiste Simon Coveney .
The first Cork Taoiseach for 41 years since Jack Lynch , he has been a TD since 1989 , served on Fianna Fail ’ s front bench since 1995 and held four senior government portfolios during the party ’ s time in office - foreign affairs , health , education and enterprise .
Single-minded and driven with a huge work ethic , the pragmatic Martin can be sensitive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he is however seen by some within the party as distant and colleagues are hoping that communications within the party will improve .
Health conscious and very proud of introducing the smoking ban in Ireland , he has pushed the Public Health ( Alcohol ) Act despite the reluctance of rural TDs within the party .
Leo Varadkar , Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise , Trade and Employment After a terrible election result and what appeared initially to be a guaranteed trip across the Dáil to the opposition benches , Leo Varadkar ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ those of his party .
His calm and assured leadership performance through the coronavirus pandemic combined with a lengthy stalemate over coalition formation talks have resulted in Fine Gael soaring from losers to clear victors in the opinion polls and with Varadkar moving from spent political force back to key player .
Nobody has batted an eyelid at the fact that he will preside over the party ’ s abandonment of its Civil War stance after a century and move into a historic government coalition with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ demotion to Tánaiste for over two years as Fine Gael participates in the previously vilified notion of rotating taoiseach .
But he also leads his party into an unprecedented third term in office .
A social agenda trailblazer , he is Ireland ’ s first openly gay minister , the State ’ s youngest taoiseach and is now Tánaiste .
The son of an Irish mother and Indian father , his qualification as a doctor helped during the pandemic and assured him of good publicity when he decided to re-register as a medic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ day a week on the helpline for people who suspected they had the Covid-19 virus .
Never one to shy away from a photo opportunity , the 41-year-old was also the first taoiseach to assiduously use social media to push his message and his carefully cultivated image .
And he got into the much discussed habit during lockdown of quoting a variety of books , films and other media in his speeches .
He has also used his speeches to throw out provocative messages reflecting his economic views including his oft quoted controversial @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who “ get up early in the morning ” .
He previously served as minister for social protection , for transport and for health and now moves into the Department of Enterprise , Trade and Employment .
But it remains to be seen if he will innovate rather than merely manage as he was perceived to have done in his previous portfolios .
When political heavy hitter Michael McGrath ( 43 ) became Fianna Fáil ’ s finance spokesman , then minister for finance Michael Noonan pronounced that the accountant had a big @ @ @ @ @ @ @ That future has finally arrived for the Cork South-Central TD who has been finance spokesman since 2011 , when Fine Gael was in coalition with Labour and again when Fine Gael relied on Independents and Fianna Fáil ’ s confidence and supply arrangement .
First elected to the Dáil in 2007 he has retained his seat at each subsequent election .
It has been a long road for the man who will finally take the helm at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform .
A constituency rival and colleague of his party @ @ @ @ @ @ @ successor , is well liked by his party colleagues and has a well-oiled constituency machine .
Originally from Passage West but now living in Carrigaline with his wife Sarah O ’ Brien and seven children , he secured a first-class honours commerce degree in UCC and qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in Cork City .
A central member of the party ’ s negotiating team in the government formation talks , he is a low-key , calm and effective spokesman .
The appointment of Stephen Donnelly to Cabinet makes it two @ @ @ @ @ @ @ his Wicklow constituency taking the baton from Simon Harris .
It is a job often seen as a political crucifixion for the holder .
Elected to the Dáil as an Independent on his first attempt in 2011 , he went on to form the Social Democrats with Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy in 2015 and surged to a poll-topping performance in Wicklow in 2016 .
Shortly afterwards however , he left the party following disagreements with his co-leaders .
In the Dáil he has since had a number of disagreements with the Social @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and all eyes will be keenly watching how he deals with the much debated health roadmap .
After a short second span as an Independent he joined Fianna Fáil in 2017 .
While party leader Micheál Martin saw his recruitment as a major coup , his arrival left many noses out of joint in Fianna Fáil .
Those tensions and the move , appeared to dent his 2020 election chances but he was elected on the 15th count .
Another member of the Fianna Fail negotiating team to get a seat at the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 45 ) becomes Minister for Housing in the new three party Government .
Party spokesman on housing , planning and local government in the last Dáil , he was first elected to the Dáil in 2007 .
He lost out in the 2011 decimation of the party in the economic recession .
He became one of 51 party TDs to be defeated at the hands of angry voters .
He successfully ran for the Seanad that year on the Labour panel and became Seanad leader , keeping a place in the Oireachtas .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ effect , resulting in him building up a strong constituency base with his brother as a local councillor .
It may have contributed to local party tensions with Dublin Fingal colleague former senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee .
He went on to top the poll in Dublin Fingal in the 2016 general election .
Before entering politics he worked in the financial services sector for 15 years as an area manager with Life Assurance Company .
He was elected to Fingal County Council in 2004 before successfully contesting a Dáil seat in 2007 .
He @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barry Cowen , Minister for Agriculture and the Marine The no-nonsense Fianna Fail spokesman on public expenditure and reform Barry Cowen ( 52 ) has been appointed Minister for Agriculture .
The man who sealed the fate of the water charges in the 2016 government formation negotiations , was again a key member of the negotiating team this time round .
The 2016 talks led to the confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael but left Fianna Fail out of government .
The intense five-weeks campaign in 2020 led to government and the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ table for the Clara , Co Offaly native .
A brother of former taoiseach Brian Cowen he has been spokesman in a number of portfolios since his election to the Dáil in 2011.As well as spokesman on public expenditure and reform he also held the position of spokesman on environment and local government and on social protection .
A married father of four , he was first elected to Offaly county council in 1999 , where he served until his election to the Dáil to the seat vacated by his brother .
A @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Offaly in the Dáil continuously since 1977 .
His father Bernard Cowen was elected in 1969 but lost his seat in 1973 .
He regained it in 1977 and held it until his death in 1984 .
Kerry TD Norma Foley , who nominated her party leader Micheál Martin to be Taoiseach has been appointed Minister for Education , five months after her election to the Dáil for the first time .
Martin is said to prefer TDs to have done at least a term on the backbenches but the new TD who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ shown herself to be an impressive performer and has been effective at the Covid-19 committee in the questioning of witnesses .
Calm , courteous and well prepared , she has a great grasp of detail and the bigger picture .
The Tralee native took the fifth and final seat in the general election in Kerry , edging out her running mate and outgoing TD John Brassil .
It is her second run at the Dáil , having been on the Fianna Fáil ticket in the 2007 election , when she was selected over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ represented the people of Tralee Municipal District on Kerry County Council , topping the poll in last May ’ s local elections .
She has also served on Tralee Town Council , and held the position of mayor of Tralee on three occasions , most recently in 2017/2018 .
In 2018/2019 she served as mayor of Kerry .
She is the daughter of the late Denis Foley , who served as a TD for the constituency for 18 years , broken up by a three-year stint as a senator .
He was named @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Ansbacher account .
She is married to fellow teacher Denis Maguire .
He may have lost his role as tánaiste but Simon Coveney ( 48 ) has retained the much coveted position of Minister for Foreign Affairs .
Greatly admired by departmental staff as probably the hardest working Minister in that portfolio , he has received much acclaim for his efforts in dealing with Brexit and is seen as the driving political force in Ireland securing its temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council .
Loved by the party ’ s grassroots @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he still retains ambitions to be party leader and is seen as likely to get there .
A cautious and moderate politician , his tearaway teenage years when he was expelled from Clongowes school for drinking and partying , before being asked back – are at odds with his later serious image .
From Cork ’ s so-called merchant class and a keen rugby and sailing fan , he has a degree in agriculture and land management and was catapulted into the world of politics following the death of his father Hugh , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 1998 .
He later successfully ran for the European Parliament in 2004 but returned to Ireland for the 2007 general election and he has successfully retained his seat since .
He served as minister for agriculture for all five years of the Enda Kenny-led administration from 2011 later adding defence to his portfolio when Eamon Gilmore resigned as tánaiste .
From 2016 he spent just a year as minister for housing , when his pledge to end all emergency hotel and B & B accommodation backfired , before he moved to the hallowed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Seen as open in his approach and meticulous in his work practices , he has risen solidly and steadily through the party ’ s ranks and his experience in Brexit talks paved the way for his central role in the government formation talks .
As soon as Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe confirmed he was putting his name forward as a unity candidate for the presidency of the Eurogroup , it was clear he was confident of returning to his office in Merrion Street .
Ever cautious and highly political he would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on the line without some assurance of keeping his own job while he applied for the top spot in the influential club of finance ministers from countries that use the euro .
The deadline for that role came a day before the outcome of the vote on the programme for government .
He is highly popular within the party although less so after his poison chalice position as director of elections for both the Dáil and Seanad elections .
The electorate proved less than happy with the party ’ s budgetary and spending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ seats .
It was also embarrassed by the failure to have any women elected to the Upper House .
Nine years a TD for Dublin Central , the 45-year-old has held the finance portfolio since 2017 .
He previously served as a minister of state and then as minister for transport .
A central member of the party ’ s leadership and key to the government formation talks he is viewed as culturally one of the more rounded Cabinet members with an interest in books , film and theatre .
The former sales @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all his skills as a party persuader and negotiator to navigate the traumatic economic conditions facing the State while keeping faith with his wary Fianna Fáil and suspicious Green Party colleagues .
He will be happy to leave his one stated regret – not managing to control the costs of the new national children ’ s hospital – to Fianna Fail ’ s Michael McGrath who takes up the re-divided Department of Public Expenditure and Reform portfolio .
He is married with two children and lives in Phibsborough , Dublin .
Heather Humphreys @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and Rural Development and the Islands One of the Ministers always seen as sure of keeping her seat at the cabinet table , Heather Humphreys fits the criteria for geography , gender and ability .
A border-county TD , she was the first woman elected to the Cavan-Monaghan constituency in 2011 , when she took over from fellow Presbyterian Fine Gael colleague Seymour Crawford .
Now in her third Dáil term and one of three female TDs in the five-seat constituency , she is highly regarded within Fine Gael and viewed as capable @ @ @ @ @ @ @ A first-term backbench TD when she was appointed to cabinet in 2011 as minister for arts , heritage and the Gaeltacht she won plaudits for her stewardship of the successful 1916 Rising centenary commemorations .
A loyal ally of former taoiseach Enda Kenny she was re-appointed to the portfolio by him in 2016 but was one of the first Ministers to declare her support for Leo Varadkar in the 2017 leadership contest .
He promoted her to the Business , Enterprise and Innovation portfolio in 2017 following the resignation of tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald @ @ @ @ @ @ @ with Ulster Bank and as manager of Cootehill Credit Union also helped secure her appointment .
The coronavirus pandemic brought her biggest political challenge with the crisis facing thousands of businesses and leaving a 25 per cent unemployment rate .
Grant and income support schemes , loans and other initiatives have helped cushion the initial blow .
Tánaiste Leo Varadkar will now have to deal with the fallout from a controversial High Court judgment striking out a sectoral employment order and ruling that she had acted outside her powers in making the order @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in finance , experience as minister for business and farming background in Co Monaghan , where she is married with two adult daughters , make her a good candidate for the rural development portfolio .
Elected for the first time in the 2011 general election , she lives in Aghabog , near Monaghan town , and her family is from the Cavan-Monaghan border area .
A reserved but smart politician Helen McEntee ( 33 ) from Castletown , Co Meath , has been a TD since 2013 when she won the byelection following @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Minister of state for European Affairs since 2017 , the Meath East TD proved her mettle in the ever present and fraught Brexit crisis , leading the Government ’ s response on a number of related issues .
She has been described as Leo Varadkar ’ s “ secret weapon ” and is considered level-headed and a very good negotiator .
Former president of the European Council Donald Tusk called her “ diligent ” and an “ exceptional diplomat ” .
She is one of 10 vice-presidents of the European People ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ centre-right representative grouping in the EU .
Graduating from DCU in 2007 having studied law , politics and economics , she worked briefly in a Citibank subsidiary .
She later completed a masters in journalism and communications and worked with her father in Leinster House , first in opposition and then when he was appointed minister of state .
A supporter of Varadkar ’ s from the start she has been by his side throughout the Brexit crisis and has a keen understanding of its intricacies and complexities .
Despite his increased stature @ @ @ @ @ @ @ health Simon Harris ( 33 ) became a focus of increasing speculation in recent days that he would be demoted from Cabinet .
In the fateful 2017 Fine Gael leadership campaign he took sides early on in favour of Simon Coveney as opposed to Leo Varadkar but held onto the health portfolio taoiseach Enda Kenny appointed him to in 2016 .
Described as the “ teenage ” minister when first appointed to the hugely significant but poison chalice department , he has visibly aged in the past three months through the stresses of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ popular choice in his Wicklow constituency in the election despite concerns about a shortage of hospital beds , the spiralling cost of the new national children ’ s hospital and the recruitment and retention difficulties around healthcare staff .
Those issues disappeared during the pandemic with the unprecedented takeover of all private hospitals and the return home of emigrant doctors and nurses to assist with the crisis .
These problems have re-emerged but are no longer an issue for Harris as he moves on from the department described as a war zone .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of the party ’ s top media performers , assured and persuasive in his delivery , accessible and generally guaranteed to avoid political gaffes .
He first became engaged in politics while campaigning for his younger brother and other children with autism .
He topped the poll in the local elections and secured the highest vote in the country through his social media campaign .
While a councillor , he approached then Seanad leader Frances Fitzgerald , became her parliamentary assistant and moved into Leinster House politics from there .
Viewed as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ leader he is far from the inner circle .
He is married with one child and lives in Greystones , Co Wicklow .
It has been a torrid few months for Green Party leader Eamon Ryan ( 56 ) as he enters Government with a deeply scarred and divided party .
In all the controversy the spectacular success in winning 12 seats in the general election has been all but forgotten .
Now appointed to his long sought role in climate action and transport he will have little time to relish the challenge @ @ @ @ @ @ @ within the party .
It is a reflection of the party ’ s divisions that when he was mired in controversy after repeating a racial slur in the Dáil that it took a minister from another party , Charlie Flanagan of Fine Gael to publicly defend the Dublin Bay South TD by saying he did not have a racist bone in his body .
But through all the accusations , insults and recriminations he has been calm , conciliatory and with party deputy leader Catherine Martin has persuaded the party ’ s membership @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fine Gael and Fianna Fail .
He now faces a leadership contest against his deputy leader but has remained sanguine about the prospect .
An impassioned speaker prone to gaffes , including a call during the election campaign for the re-introduction of wolves , he nonetheless led a team to rebuild the party after its disastrous first foray into coalition government after which it lost all six Dáil seats .
A councillor before his 2007 election to the Dáil he previously ran a bicycle shop and cycling holiday business .
He is married @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four sons .
Catherine Martin - Minister for Media , Tourism , Arts , Culture , Sport and the Gaeltacht Dublin Rathdown TD and deputy Green party leader Catherine Martin ( 47 ) emerged as a surprising contender for the top job in the party .
Her stance on coalition has strained the previously close working relationship with Eamon Ryan but his move to appoint her as lead negotiator in the coalition talks was seen as an inspired move .
Cautious by nature , she is said to seek advice widely and does @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her party are said to find it hard to gauge where she stands and those on the other side of the negotiating table have described her as an enigma .
As an influential voice in the party she will have a significant role in attempting to heal the party ’ s schism .
From her first days in the Dáil she forged good relations across all parties and founded the Irish Women ’ s Parliamentary Caucus in the Oireachtas , pressed for anti-bullying protocols in the Leinster House campus .
From Carrickmacross , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ singer and after graduating from NUI Maynooth , she taught music and English at St Tiernan ’ s Community School in Ballinteer .
Her initial foray into politics was when she was co-opted to her brother Vincent P Martin ’ s council seat in Monaghan in the 1990s .
She returned to politics in Dublin , was elected as a councillor in 2014 and came from nowhere to win a Dáil seat in 2016 .
Her husband Francis Noel Duffy became a TD in 2020 and took an opposing view in rejecting the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ children .
Long predicted to make the high table Roderic O ’ Gorman ( 38 ) is one of the Green party ’ s most experienced politicians .
His victory in the 2020 general election marked his 10th foray in 15 years including four general elections , two byelections and four local elections .
The party ’ s justice and equality spokesman he was on the negotiating team and insisted in the talks that the coalition must make a commitment to end direct provision .
A former chairman of the party he served @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he lives with his partner Ray Healy in Blanchardstown .
A lecturer at the Brexit Institute and School of Law and Government in DCU he is a graduate of Trinity College and the London School of Economics .
Close to both party leader Eamon Ryan and deputy leader Catherine Martin he is courteous , considered and reflective in his deliberations and well regarded across the party .
He is a fan of TV shows West Wing , Game of Thrones and Arrested Development .
Hildegarde Naughton - Minister of State at the Department @ @ @ @ @ @ @ attending Cabinet One of the survivors of the electoral cull of Fine Gael TDs , Hildegarde Naughton ( 43 ) has consistently grown in experience and stature since she first arrived on the political stage in 2009 .
That was the year the former schoolteacher was first elected to Galway City Council , becoming mayor two years later .
Mentored and promoted by then taoiseach Enda Kenny , the Galway West TD was appointed to the Seanad in 2013 .
In 2016 she seized the chance to get on the Fine Gael ticket @ @ @ @ @ @ @ stepped aside from politics on health grounds .
Chair of the Oireachtas Committee for Communications , Climate Action and the Environment in the last Dáil she fought the green fight in an uphill and forthright battle to persuade many reluctant party colleagues to the cause and has been Fine Gael ’ s leading environmentalist .
That role , that experience and her capability has brought her to the Cabinet table - along with the need to have some gender balance at cabinet and take account of geographical considerations .
Outside politics she is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ won awards for her roles in musical theatre .
While a senator she established a group called Bel Canto with two other sopranos , who sang at charity events .
She has described her musical interest as “ my golf ” .
Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett ’ s appointment as a “ Super Junior ” Minister of State is the first appointment of a Senator to Cabinet since the early 1980s .
She takes on the role of Minister of State for Agriculture with responsibility for land use and biodiversity .
Her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speculation that someone among the party ’ s TDs might be selected .
A farmer from Offaly and the party ’ s agriculture spokeswoman , she was elected to the Seanad in a byelection in November when a vacancy arose following the election of then Senator Grace O ’ Sullivan to the European parliament .
But the move is as much a surprise because it is virtually unprecedented .
The last time a Senator took on a ministerial role was in 1981 when then taoiseach Garrett FitzGerald nominated Senator James Dooge as minister @ @ @ @ @ @ @ held for a year .
A vocal supporter of the programme for government , Hackett was elected unopposed to the agricultural panel in the Seanad when the other parties opted not to contest the seat .
Formerly an Offaly county councillor she lost out in the general election for the Laois-Offaly constituency when she was eliminated in the final round .
Originally from Ballandine , Co Mayo she is married with four children and lives in Edenderry , Co Offaly .
New Government chief whip Dara Calleary has Fianna Fáil in his DNA @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the Dáil since 2007 and is the son of late TD and former minister of state Sean Calleary who served in the Dáil from 1973 to 1992 .
His grandfather Phelim was TD for Mayo from 1952 to 1969 .
Affable and steady , popular with party colleagues he is deputy leader and viewed as a safe pair of hands .
He has had a previous taste of government when he served as minister of state for labour affairs and public service transformation from 2009 to 2011 in the Fianna Fail , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trinity College with a degree in business and politics he has served as the party ’ s spokesman on justice , equality and defence , as well as spokesman on jobs , enterprise and innovation .
This will be Paul Gallagher ’ s second time in the job , having previously served from 2007 to 2011 .
During his first term , he was called to offer legal advice on some of the biggest issues ever to face an Irish government , including the bank guarantee scheme , the establishment of the National @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Fund Troika programme .
He is regarded as one of Ireland ’ s top barristers , with a fearsome work ethic .

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has been elected Taoiseach by 93 votes to 63, with three abstentions, in a historic Dáil vote which has taken place in Dublin’s Convention Centre. Video: Oireachtas TV
A new Taoiseach was elected on Saturday and a range of new Ministers were appointed. Here’s all you need to know about them.
Micheál Martin—Taoiseach
Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin (59) is the poster boy for persistence. Thirty one years after he was first elected to the Dáil, 22 years after he was first mentioned as a future taoiseach and nine years after he became party leader he has finally reached the political pinnacle of Taoiseach.
He became party leader in 2011 just weeks before the general election when Fianna Fáil lost 51 seats in the fall-out from the economic collapse. The five wilderness years were spent reorganising the party and its decimated cohort of TDs.
In 2016, Fianna Fáil had a mini-revival, regaining 23 seats and in the 2019 local elections won the most seats of any party. The four years since were spent building up a still volatile parliamentary party but Fianna Fáil suffered further losses in the 2020 election and dropped six seats, partially blamed on the party's confidence and supply agreement with Fine Gael.
READ MORE
The 2020 election had become do or die for Martin, whose Cork South-Central constituency will now be home to three Cabinet members - himself as Taoiseach, his party colleague Michael McGrath and former tánaiste Simon Coveney.
The first Cork Taoiseach for 41 years since Jack Lynch, he has been a TD since 1989, served on Fianna Fáil's front bench since 1995 and held four senior government portfolios during the party's time in office - foreign affairs, health, education and enterprise.
The Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has been elected Taoiseach. Photograph: Damien Eagers/PA
Single-minded and driven with a huge work ethic, the pragmatic Martin can be sensitive to criticism. A good media performer he is however seen by some within the party as distant and colleagues are hoping that communications within the party will improve.
Health conscious and very proud of introducing the smoking ban in Ireland, he has pushed the Public Health (Alcohol) Act despite the reluctance of rural TDs within the party.
Leo Varadkar—Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment
After a terrible election result and what appeared initially to be a guaranteed trip across the Dáil to the opposition benches, Leo Varadkar’s fortunes have been transformed along with those of his party.
His calm and assured leadership performance through the coronavirus pandemic combined with a lengthy stalemate over coalition formation talks have resulted in Fine Gael soaring from losers to clear victors in the opinion polls and with Varadkar moving from spent political force back to key player.
Nobody has batted an eyelid at the fact that he will preside over the party’s abandonment of its Civil War stance after a century and move into a historic government coalition with Fianna Fáil and the Green Party.
Even less remarked on has been his demotion to Tánaiste for over two years as Fine Gael participates in the previously vilified notion of rotating taoiseach. But he also leads his party into an unprecedented third term in office.
A social agenda trailblazer, he is Ireland’s first openly gay minister, the State’s youngest taoiseach and is now Tánaiste. The son of an Irish mother and Indian father, his qualification as a doctor helped during the pandemic and assured him of good publicity when he decided to re-register as a medic and said he would do half a day a week on the helpline for people who suspected they had the Covid-19 virus.
Former taoiseach Leo Varadkar is now the Tánaiste and Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Employment. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
Never one to shy away from a photo opportunity, the 41-year-old was also the first taoiseach to assiduously use social media to push his message and his carefully cultivated image. And he got into the much discussed habit during lockdown of quoting a variety of books, films and other media in his speeches.
He has also used his speeches to throw out provocative messages reflecting his economic views including his oft quoted controversial remark that Fine Gael should represent those who “get up early in the morning”.
He previously served as minister for social protection, for transport and for health and now moves into the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment. But it remains to be seen if he will innovate rather than merely manage as he was perceived to have done in his previous portfolios.
Michael McGrath—Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform
When political heavy hitter Michael McGrath (43) became Fianna Fáil's finance spokesman, then minister for finance Michael Noonan pronounced that the accountant had a big future ahead of him in politics.
That future has finally arrived for the Cork South-Central TD who has been finance spokesman since 2011, when Fine Gael was in coalition with Labour and again when Fine Gael relied on Independents and Fianna Fáil's confidence and supply arrangement.
First elected to the Dáil in 2007 he has retained his seat at each subsequent election. It has been a long road for the man who will finally take the helm at the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.
A constituency rival and colleague of his party leader he is seen as a potential successor, is well liked by his party colleagues and has a well-oiled constituency machine.
Originally from Passage West but now living in Carrigaline with his wife Sarah O'Brien and seven children, he secured a first-class honours commerce degree in UCC and qualified as a chartered accountant with KPMG in Cork City.
A central member of the party’s negotiating team in the government formation talks, he is a low-key, calm and effective spokesman.
Stephen Donnelly—Minister for Health
The appointment of Stephen Donnelly to Cabinet makes it two Ministers for Health in a row for his Wicklow constituency taking the baton from Simon Harris. It is a job often seen as a political crucifixion for the holder.
Elected to the Dáil as an Independent on his first attempt in 2011, he went on to form the Social Democrats with Róisín Shortall and Catherine Murphy in 2015 and surged to a poll-topping performance in Wicklow in 2016.
Shortly afterwards however, he left the party following disagreements with his co-leaders.
Fianna Fáils Stephen Donnelly is now Minister of Health. Photograph: Alan Betson
In the Dáil he has since had a number of disagreements with the Social Democrats on the much lauded Sláintecare plan and all eyes will be keenly watching how he deals with the much debated health roadmap.
After a short second span as an Independent he joined Fianna Fáil in 2017. While party leader Micheál Martin saw his recruitment as a major coup, his arrival left many noses out of joint in Fianna Fáil. Those tensions and the move, appeared to dent his 2020 election chances but he was elected on the 15th count.
Darragh O’Brien—Minister for Housing, Local Government and Heritage
Another member of the Fianna Fáil negotiating team to get a seat at the big table Darragh O’Brien (45) becomes Minister for Housing in the new three-party Government.
Party spokesman on housing, planning and local government in the last Dáil, he was first elected to the Dáil in 2007. He lost out in the 2011 decimation of the party in the economic recession. He became one of 51 party TDs to be defeated at the hands of angry voters. He successfully ran for the Seanad that year on the Labour panel and became Seanad leader, keeping a place in the Oireachtas.
But his Dáil defeat had a salutary effect, resulting in him building up a strong constituency base with his brother as a local councillor. It may have contributed to local party tensions with Dublin Fingal colleague Senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee.
He went on to top the poll in Dublin Fingal in the 2016 general election.
Before entering politics he worked in the financial services sector for 15 years as an area manager with Life Assurance Company.
He was elected to Fingal County Council in 2004 before successfully contesting a Dáil seat in 2007.
He is married with a young family.
Barry Cowen—Minister for Agriculture and the Marine
The no-nonsense Fianna Fáil spokesman on public expenditure and reform Barry Cowen (52) has been appointed Minister for Agriculture. The man who sealed the fate of the water charges in the 2016 government formation negotiations, was again a key member of the negotiating team this time round.
The 2016 talks led to the confidence and supply arrangement with Fine Gael but left Fianna Fáil out of government. The intense five-week campaign in 2020 led to government and the reward of a seat at the top table for the Clara, Co Offaly native.
Fianna Fáil’s Barry Cowen is now Minister for Agriculture. Photograph: Dara Mac Dónaill
A brother of former taoiseach Brian Cowen he has been spokesman in a number of portfolios since his election to the Dáil in 2011. As well as spokesman on public expenditure and reform he also held the position of spokesman on environment and local government and on social protection.
A married father of four, he was first elected to Offaly county council in 1999, where he served until his election to the Dáil to the seat vacated by his brother.
A member of the Cowen family has represented Offaly in the Dáil continuously since 1977. His father Bernard Cowen was elected in 1969 but lost his seat in 1973. He regained it in 1977 and held it until his death in 1984.
Norma Foley—Minister for Education
Kerry TD Norma Foley, who nominated her party leader Micheál Martin to be Taoiseach has been appointed Minister for Education, five months after her election to the Dáil for the first time.
Martin is said to prefer TDs to have done at least a term on the backbenches but the new TD who is a teacher by profession, has shown herself to be an impressive performer and has been effective at the Covid-19 committee in the questioning of witnesses. Calm, courteous and well prepared, she has a great grasp of detail and the bigger picture.
The Tralee native took the fifth and final seat in the general election in Kerry, edging out her running mate and outgoing TD John Brassil.
It is her second run at the Dáil, having been on the Fianna Fáil ticket in the 2007 election, when she was selected over Brassil.
Since 2004, Foley has represented the people of Tralee Municipal District on Kerry County Council, topping the poll in last May's local elections.
Fianna Fáil’s Norma Foley is now Minister for Education
She has also served on Tralee Town Council, and held the position of mayor of Tralee on three occasions, most recently in 2017/2018. In 2018/2019 she served as mayor of Kerry.
She is the daughter of the late Denis Foley, who served as a TD for the constituency for 18 years, broken up by a three-year stint as a senator. He was named as the holder of an undisclosed offshore Ansbacher account.
She is married to fellow teacher Denis Maguire.
Simon Coveney—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Defence
He may have lost his role as tánaiste but Simon Coveney (48) has retained the much coveted position of Minister for Foreign Affairs. Greatly admired by departmental staff as probably the hardest working minister in that portfolio, he has received much acclaim for his efforts in dealing with Brexit and is seen as the driving political force in Ireland securing its temporary seat on the United Nations Security Council.
Loved by the party’s grassroots and accessible to TDs and Senators, he still retains ambitions to be party leader and is seen as likely to get there. A cautious and moderate politician, his tearaway teenage years when he was expelled from Clongowes school for drinking and partying, before being asked back – are at odds with his later serious image.
From Cork’s so-called merchant class and a keen rugby and sailing fan, he has a degree in agriculture and land management and was catapulted into the world of politics following the death of his father Hugh, a TD and former minister, in 1998.
He later successfully ran for the European Parliament in 2004 but returned to Ireland for the 2007 general election and he has successfully retained his seat since. He served as minister for agriculture for all five years of the Enda Kenny-led administration from 2011 later adding defence to his portfolio when Eamon Gilmore resigned as tánaiste.
From 2016 he spent just a year as minister for housing, when his pledge to end all emergency hotel and B&B accommodation backfired, before he moved to the hallowed halls of the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Seen as open in his approach and meticulous in his work practices, he has risen solidly and steadily through the party’s ranks and his experience in Brexit talks paved the way for his central role in the government formation talks.
Paschal Donohoe—Minister for Finance
As soon as Minister for Finance Paschal Donohoe confirmed he was putting his name forward as a unity candidate for the presidency of the Eurogroup, it was clear he was confident of returning to his office in Merrion Street.
Ever cautious and highly political he would have been slow to put his reputation on the line without some assurance of keeping his own job while he applied for the top spot in the influential club of finance ministers from countries that use the euro.
The deadline for that role came a day before the outcome of the vote on the programme for government.
He is highly popular within the party although less so after his poison chalice position as director of elections for both the Dáil and Seanad elections.
The electorate proved less than happy with the party’s budgetary and spending policies and Fine Gael lost 12 Dáil seats. It was also embarrassed by the failure to have any women elected to the Upper House.
Nine years a TD for Dublin Central, the 45-year-old has held the finance portfolio since 2017. He previously served as a minister of state and then as minister for transport.
A central member of the party’s leadership and key to the government formation talks he is viewed as culturally one of the more rounded Cabinet members with an interest in books, film and theatre.
The former sales manager with a multinational firm will need all his skills as a party persuader and negotiator to navigate the traumatic economic conditions facing the State while keeping faith with his wary Fianna Fáil and suspicious Green Party colleagues.
He will be happy to leave his one stated regret – not managing to control the costs of the new national children’s hospital – to Fianna Fáil’s Michael McGrath who takes up the re-divided Department of Public Expenditure and Reform portfolio.
He is married with two children and lives in Phibsborough, Dublin.
Heather Humphreys—Minister for Social Protection, Community and Rural Development and the Islands
One of the Ministers always seen as sure of keeping her seat at the cabinet table, Heather Humphreys fits the criteria for geography, gender and ability.
A border-county TD, she was the first woman elected to the Cavan-Monaghan constituency in 2011, when she took over from fellow Presbyterian Fine Gael colleague Seymour Crawford.
Now in her third Dáil term and one of three female TDs in the five-seat constituency, she is highly regarded within Fine Gael and viewed as capable and a safe pair of hands.
A first-term backbench TD when she was appointed to cabinet in 2011 as minister for arts, heritage and the Gaeltacht she won plaudits for her stewardship of the successful 1916 Rising centenary commemorations.
A loyal ally of former taoiseach Enda Kenny she was re-appointed to the portfolio by him in 2016 but was one of the first Ministers to declare her support for Leo Varadkar in the 2017 leadership contest.
He promoted her to the Business, Enterprise and Innovation portfolio in 2017 following the resignation of tánaiste Frances Fitzgerald.
A business background through her work with Ulster Bank and as manager of Cootehill Credit Union also helped secure her appointment. The coronavirus pandemic brought her biggest political challenge with the crisis facing thousands of businesses and leaving a 25 per cent unemployment rate. Grant and income support schemes, loans and other initiatives have helped cushion the initial blow.
The Government will now have to deal with the fallout from a controversial High Court judgment striking out a sectoral employment order and ruling that she had acted outside her powers in making the order for the electrical industry.
Her career in finance, experience as minister for business and farming background in Co Monaghan, where she is married with two adult daughters, make her a good candidate for the rural development portfolio.
Elected for the first time in the 2011 general election, she lives in Aghabog, near Monaghan town, and her family is from the Cavan-Monaghan border area.
Helen McEntee—Minister for Justice
A reserved but smart politician Helen McEntee (33) from Castletown, Co Meath, has been a TD since 2013 when she won the byelection following the death of her father Shane McEntee.
Minister of State for European Affairs since 2017, the Meath East TD proved her mettle in the ever present and fraught Brexit crisis, leading the Government's response on a number of related issues.
She has been described as Leo Varadkar's "secret weapon" and is considered level-headed and a very good negotiator. Former president of the European Council Donald Tusk called her "diligent" and an "exceptional diplomat". She is one of 10 vice-presidents of the European People's Party, Fine Gael's centre-right representative grouping in the EU.
Graduating from DCU in 2007 having studied law, politics and economics, she worked briefly in a Citibank subsidiary. She later completed a masters in journalism and communications and worked with her father in Leinster House, first in opposition and then when he was appointed minister of state.
A supporter of Varadkar’s from the start she has been by his side throughout the Brexit crisis and has a keen understanding of its intricacies and complexities.
Simon Harris—Minister for Higher Education, Innovation and Science
Despite his increased stature during the coronavirus pandemic as minister for health Simon Harris (33) became a focus of increasing speculation in recent days that he would be demoted from Cabinet.
In the fateful 2017 Fine Gael leadership campaign he took sides early on in favour of Simon Coveney as opposed to Varadkar but held onto the health portfolio Kenny appointed him to in 2016.
Described as the “teenage” minister when first appointed to the hugely significant but poison chalice department, he has visibly aged in the past three months through the stresses of the Covid-19 crisis.
He remained a popular choice in his Wicklow constituency in the election despite concerns about a shortage of hospital beds, the spiralling cost of the new national children’s hospital and the recruitment and retention difficulties around healthcare staff.
Those issues disappeared during the pandemic with the unprecedented takeover of all private hospitals and the return home of emigrant doctors and nurses to assist with the crisis.
These problems have re-emerged but are no longer an issue for Harris as he moves on from the department described as a war zone.
A social media expert, he is one of the party’s top media performers, assured and persuasive in his delivery, accessible and generally guaranteed to avoid political gaffes.
He first became engaged in politics while campaigning for his younger brother and other children with autism. He topped the poll in the local elections and secured the highest vote in the country through his social media campaign.
While a councillor, he approached then Seanad leader Frances Fitzgerald, became her parliamentary assistant and moved into Leinster House politics from there.
Viewed as having an uneasy relationship with his party leader he is far from the inner circle. He is married with one child and lives in Greystones, Co Wicklow.
Eamon Ryan—Minister for Climate Action, Communications Networks and Transport
It has been a torrid few months for Green Party leader Eamon Ryan (56) as he enters Government with a deeply scarred and divided party.
In all the controversy the spectacular success in winning 12 seats in the general election has been all but forgotten.
Green Party Leader Eamon Ryan is now Minister for Climate Action and Transport.
Now appointed to his long sought role in climate action and transport he will have little time to relish the challenge as he bids to heal the schism within the party.
It is a reflection of the party's divisions that when he was mired in controversy after repeating a racial slur in the Dáil that it took a minister from another party, Charlie Flanagan of Fine Gael to publicly defend the Dublin Bay South TD by saying he did not have a racist bone in his body.
But through all the accusations, insults and recriminations he has been calm, conciliatory and with party deputy leader Catherine Martin has persuaded the party's membership to decisively back an unprecedented government with Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil.
He now faces a leadership contest against his deputy leader but has remained sanguine about the prospect.
An impassioned speaker prone to gaffes, including a call during the election campaign for the re-introduction of wolves, he nonetheless led a team to rebuild the party after its disastrous first foray into coalition government after which it lost all six Dáil seats.
A councillor before his 2007 election to the Dáil he previously ran a bicycle shop and cycling holiday business.
He is married to journalist Victoria White and they have four sons.
Catherine Martin—Minister for Media, Tourism, Arts, Culture, Sport and the Gaeltacht
Dublin Rathdown TD and deputy Green party leader Catherine Martin (47) emerged as a surprising contender for the top job in the party.
Her stance on coalition has strained the previously close working relationship with Eamon Ryan but his move to appoint her as lead negotiator in the coalition talks was seen as an inspired move.
Cautious by nature, she is said to seek advice widely and does not say things lightly. Some in her party are said to find it hard to gauge where she stands and those on the other side of the negotiating table have described her as an enigma.
As an influential voice in the party she will have a significant role in attempting to heal the party’s schism.
From her first days in the Dáil she forged good relations across all parties and founded the Irish Women’s Parliamentary Caucus in the Oireachtas, pressed for anti-bullying protocols in the Leinster House campus.
From Carrickmacross, Co Monaghan she trained as a classical singer and after graduating from NUI Maynooth, she taught music and English at St Tiernan's Community School in Ballinteer.
Her initial foray into politics was when she was co-opted to her brother Vincent P Martin’s council seat in Monaghan in the 1990s. She returned to politics in Dublin, was elected as a councillor in 2014 and came from nowhere to win a Dáil seat in 2016.
Her husband Francis Noel Duffy became a TD in 2020 and took an opposing view in rejecting the coalition deal. The couple has three children.
Roderic O’Gorman—Minister for Children, Disability, Equality and Integration
Long predicted to make the high table Roderic O’Gorman (38) is one of the Green party’s most experienced politicians. His victory in the 2020 general election marked his 10th foray in 15 years including four general elections, two byelections and four local elections. The party’s justice and equality spokesman he was on the negotiating team and insisted in the talks that the coalition must make a commitment to end direct provision.
A former chairman of the party he served from 2011 to 2019.
From Tyrellstown he lives with his partner Ray Healy in Blanchardstown. A lecturer at the Brexit Institute and School of Law and Government in DCU he is a graduate of Trinity College and the London School of Economics.
Close to both party leader Ryan and deputy leader Martin he is courteous, considered and reflective in his deliberations and well regarded across the party. He is a fan of TV shows West Wing, Game of Thrones and Arrested Development.
Hildegarde Naughton—Minister of State at the Department of Climate Action, she will be attending Cabinet
One of the survivors of the electoral cull of Fine Gael TDs, Hildegarde Naughton (43) has consistently grown in experience and stature since she first arrived on the political stage in 2009.
That was the year the former schoolteacher was first elected to Galway City Council, becoming mayor two years later. Mentored and promoted by then taoiseach Enda Kenny, the Galway West TD was appointed to the Seanad in 2013.
In 2016 she seized the chance to get on the Fine Gael ticket in the general election after Barry Walsh stepped aside from politics on health grounds.
Chair of the Oireachtas Committee for Communications, Climate Action and the Environment in the last Dáil she fought the green fight in an uphill and forthright battle to persuade many reluctant party colleagues to the cause and has been Fine Gael’s leading environmentalist.
That role, that experience and her capability has brought her to the Cabinet table - along with the need to have some gender balance at cabinet and take account of geographical considerations.
Outside politics she is a talented singer who has performed and won awards for her roles in musical theatre. While a senator she established a group called Bel Canto with two other sopranos, who sang at charity events. She has described her musical interest as "my golf".
Pippa Hackett—“Super Junior” Minister of State
Green Party Senator Pippa Hackett’s appointment as a “Super Junior” Minister of State is the first appointment of a Senator to Cabinet since the early 1980s.
She takes on the role of Minister of State for Agriculture with responsibility for land use and biodiversity.
Her appointment has taken some by surprise amid speculation that someone among the party’s TDs might be selected.
A farmer from Offaly and the party’s agriculture spokeswoman, she was elected to the Seanad in a byelection in November when a vacancy arose following the election of then Senator Grace O’Sullivan to the European parliament.
But the move is as much a surprise because it is virtually unprecedented.
The last time a Senator took on a ministerial role was in 1981 when then taoiseach Garrett FitzGerald nominated Senator James Dooge as minister for foreign affairs, a portfolio he held for a year.
A vocal supporter of the programme for government, Hackett was elected unopposed to the agricultural panel in the Seanad when the other parties opted not to contest the seat.
Formerly an Offaly county councillor she lost out in the general election for the Laois-Offaly constituency when she was eliminated in the final round.
Originally from Ballandine, Co Mayo she is married with four children and lives in Edenderry, Co Offaly.
Dara Calleary—Chief whip
New Government chief whip Dara Calleary has Fianna Fáil in his DNA. The Mayo TD who has been in the Dáil since 2007 and is the son of late TD and former minister of state Sean Calleary who served in the Dáil from 1973 to 1992. His grandfather Phelim was TD for Mayo from 1952 to 1969.
Fianna Fáil’s Dara Calleary is now chief whip. Photograph: Eric Luke/The Irish Times
Affable and steady, popular with party colleagues he is deputy leader and viewed as a safe pair of hands.
He has had a previous taste of government when he served as minister of state for labour affairs and public service transformation from 2009 to 2011 in the Fianna Fáil, Green Party coalition.
A graduate of Trinity College with a degree in business and politics he has served as the party’s spokesman on justice, equality and defence, as well as spokesman on jobs, enterprise and innovation.
Paul Gallagher SC—Attorney General
This will be Paul Gallagher's second time in the job, having previously served from 2007 to 2011. During his first term, he was called to offer legal advice on some of the biggest issues ever to face an Irish government, including the bank guarantee scheme, the establishment of the National Asset Management Agency and the International Monetary Fund Troika programme.
He is regarded as one of Ireland’s top barristers, with a fearsome work ethic.


theirishtimes--2020-06-27--Nine of the 11 Taoiseach’s appointees to the Seanad are women

Traveller rights activist Eileen Flynn is one of Taoiseach Micheál Martin ’ s 11 appointments to the Seanad .
Ms Flynn is the only non party political figure among the senators , with the rest comprising nominees from Fianna Fáil , Fine Gael and the Green Party .
Ms Flynn , from Ballyfermot in Dublin , ran in the Seanad elections earlier this year but did not take a seat .
She grew up in in the Labre Park Traveller housing site and has lived in Donegal since 2018 , having married a local “ settled ” man , Liam @ @ @ @ @ @ @ The Programme for Government said that at least half of the Taoiseach ’ s 11 should be women and split the appointments on the ratio of four each for Fianna Fáil and two for the Greens , with one independent .
The Fianna Fáil nominations to the Seanad are former Clare TD Timmy Dooley , who lost his seat at the last general election , Lorraine Clifford Lee , who was a member of the last Seanad and was an unsuccessful general election candidate in Dublin Fingal , Dublin city councillor Mary Fitzpatrick @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Dublin Central but who did not take a seat , and Louth councillor Erin McGreehan .
Fianna Fáil currently has no Dáil seat in Louth and will be hoping that Ms McGreehan can use the Seanad as a platform to become a TD .
For Fine Gael , Tánaiste Leo Varadkar has chosen Emer Currie , who was his running mate at the last general election in Dublin West but did not win a Dáil seat , former minister for Social Protection Regina Doherty , who lost her seat in Meath East , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the general election in Roscommon-Galway and South Dublin councillor Mary Seery-Kearney .
For the Green Party , Kildare councillor Vincent P Martin has also been appointed .
Mr Martin , a senior counsel , is a brother of Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin .
He ran in Kildare North at the last general election and will hope to win a seat in the constituency for the Green Party in future .
The other Green Party nominees is Clare councillor Róisín Garvey , who also ran for the Greens in Clare at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as loyal to party leader Eamon Ryan .
Mr Martin ’ s appointments means that the Seanad is now fully constituted and can pass required legislation .
The previous government had maintained a new taoiseach must appoint 11 senators to fully constitute the Seanad and renew the Offences Against the State Act and the Criminal Justice amendment acts , decisions which renew the mandate of the non-jury Special Criminal Court for another 12 months .
The Seanad also needs to pass legislation proposed by the last government to assist businesses through the economic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Upper House will now sit on Monday to elect a cathaoirleach on Monday and to deal with the required , outstanding legislation .

Traveller rights activist Eileen Flynn is one of Taoiseach Micheál Martin’s 11 appointments to the Seanad. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw
Traveller rights activist Eileen Flynn is one of Taoiseach Micheál Martin's 11 appointments to the Seanad – the only non-party figure among the nominations.
Ms Flynn, from Ballyfermot in Dublin, ran unsuccessfully in this year's Seanad elections. She grew up on the Labre Park Traveller housing site. Since 2018, she has lived in Donegal, having married a local "settled" man, Liam White.
The programme for government said that at least half of the Taoiseach's 11 should be women and split the appointments on the ratio of four each for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, two for the Greens, with one Independent.
The Fianna Fáil choices are unsuccessful Dáil candidates, former Clare TD Timmy Dooley; former senator Lorraine Clifford-Lee and Dublin councillor Mary Fitzpatrick.
READ MORE
Louth councillor Erin McGreehan also wins a nomination. Fianna Fáil currently has no Dáil seat in Louth and will be hoping that Ms McGreehan can use the Seanad as a platform to become a TD.
Fine Gael has chosen Emer Currie, who was Tánaiste Leo Varadkar's Dublin West running mate last time; former minister for social protection Regina Doherty, who lost her seat in Meath East; Galway councillor Aisling Dolan, who ran in the general election in Roscommon-Galway and South Dublin councillor Mary Seery-Kearney.
For the Green Party, Kildare councillor Vincent P Martin has also been appointed. Mr Martin, a senior counsel, is a brother of Green Party deputy leader Catherine Martin.
He ran in Kildare North at the last general election and will hope to win a seat there next time. Clare councillor Róisín Garvey, who is seen as loyal to Eamon Ryan, has been chosen, too. She ran for the Greens at the last election.
Legislation
The appointments mean that the Seanad is now fully constituted and can pass required legislation. including the renewal of the Offences Against the State Act, that had been held up for months.
The Seanad, which meets today, also needs to pass legislation proposed by the last government to assist businesses through the economic fallout of the coronavirus crisis.
Speaking on Sunday, Ms Flynn said her nomination was “phenomenal”, adding that she wanted to work for all marginalised groups, but would never presume that she could be their voice.
“I can’t speak for black people because I am not black,” she said. “‘Nothing about me, without me’ is something I have always said . . . But I’d like to work with and bring people into the Seanad and let people speak for themselves.”
The number of women chosen is “positive, said the director of the National Women’s Council, Orla O’Connor, especially since just 22.5 per cent of TDs were women and 30.6 per cent of elected senators were women.
“And of course we are absolutely delighted by the nomination of Eileen Flynn, who has been such a strong, important activist on issues that affect women predominantly – like housing, poverty and disadvantage.
“Eileen will be an important voice on diversity. But we are disappointed that there remains no woman of colour in the Oireachtas at a time when we know racism is so present throughout society.”
Human rights commissioner and founder of Akidwa – the migrant women’s network – Salome Mbuga said she was “disappointed an opportunity to make the Seanad more diverse, has been missed.
The lack of a Northern Ireland-based candidate breaks with decades of practice, too, though Cllr Currie is a daughter of former Fine Gael and SDLP politicians, Austin Currie.


theirishtimes--2020-06-27--Counterfeit jewellery, handbags, footwear and clothing worth €52,000 seized in Dublin

Counterfeit jewellery , handbags , footwear and clothing worth around €52,000 have been seized by gardaí from a number of @ @ @ @ @ .
The raid was carried out on Friday , June 25th under a warrant by @ @ @ @ @ the assistance of gardaí from Cabinteely , Shankhill , Blackrock , Dundrum and other units @ @ @ @ @ Region .
The items seized were labelled as Canada Goose , Hugo Boss , Chanel @ @ @ @ @ among others .
Investigations into the incident are ongoing .

Counterfeit jewellery, handbags, footwear and clothing worth around €52,000 have been seized by gardaí from a number of premises in Cabinteely and Clondalkin. Photograph: An Garda Síochána
Counterfeit jewellery, handbags, footwear and clothing worth around €52,000 have been seized by gardaí from a number of premises in Cabinteely and Clondalkin.
The raid was carried out on Friday, June 25th under a warrant by gardaí from Dun Laoghaire with the assistance of gardaí from Cabinteely, Shankhill, Blackrock, Dundrum and other units from the Dublin Metropolitan Eastern Region.
The items seized were labelled as Canada Goose, Hugo Boss, Chanel and The North Face, among others.
Investigations into the incident are ongoing.