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Malcolm MacArthur
The phrase grotesque, unbelievable, bizarre and unprecedented was paraphrased from a comment by then Taoiseach Charles Haughey, while describing a strange series of incidents in the summer of 1982 that led to a double-murderer, Malcolm MacArthur, being apprehended in the home of the Irish Attorney General Patrick Connolly. The corresponding acronym, GUBU, was coined by Conor Cruise O'Brien, and both it and the phrase are still occasionally used in Irish political discourse to describe notorious scandals. In January 2011 some ministerial resignations from the Government were described by its opponent Michael Noonan as "... bizarre, grotesque and to some extent unbelievable." Background The murderer, Malcolm Edward MacArthur, born 17 April 1945, was a well-known eccentric character in Dublin social circles and never held a job, as he lived off his inheritance from the sale of his father's farm, after his death in 1974. However, as his money ran out, MacArthur decided to fund hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Taoiseach
The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the office-holder must retain the support of a majority in the Dáil to remain in office. The Irish language, Irish word ''Wiktionary:taoiseach, taoiseach'' means "chief" or "leader", and was adopted in the 1937 Constitution of Ireland as the title of the "head of the Government or Prime Minister". It is the official title of the head of government in both English and Irish, and is not used for the prime ministers of other countries, who are instead referred to in Irish by the generic term ''príomh-aire''. The phrase ''an Taoiseach'' is sometimes used in an otherwise English-language context, and means the same as "the Taoiseach". The current Taoiseach is Leo Varadkar, Leo Varadkar TD, leader of Fine Gael, who again took offic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Garda Síochána
(; meaning "the Guardian(s) of the Peace"), more commonly referred to as the Gardaí (; "Guardians") or "the Guards", is the national police service of Ireland. The service is headed by the Garda Commissioner who is appointed by the Irish Government. Its headquarters are in Dublin's Phoenix Park. Since the formation of the in 1923, it has been a predominantly unarmed force, and more than three-quarters of the force do not routinely carry firearms. As of 31 December 2019, the police service had 14,708 sworn members (including 458 sworn Reserve members) and 2,944 civilian staff. Operationally, the is organised into four geographical regions: the East, North/West, South and Dublin Metropolitan regions. The force is the main law enforcement agency in the state, acting at local and national levels. Its roles include crime detection and prevention, drug enforcement, road traffic enforcement and accident investigation, diplomatic and witness protection responsibilities. It also pro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Political Scandals In The Republic Of Ireland
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies politics and government is referred to as political science. It may be used positively in the context of a "political solution" which is compromising and nonviolent, or descriptively as "the art or science of government", but also often carries a negative connotation.. The concept has been defined in various ways, and different approaches have fundamentally differing views on whether it should be used extensively or limitedly, empirically or normatively, and on whether conflict or co-operation is more essential to it. A variety of methods are deployed in politics, which include promoting one's own political views among people, negotiation with other political subjects, making laws, and exercising internal and external force, including war ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
History Of The Republic Of Ireland
The Irish state came into being in 1919 as the 32 county Irish Republic. In 1922, having seceded from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland under the Anglo-Irish Treaty, it became the Irish Free State. It comprised 32 counties until 6 counties under the control of Unionists opted out. The 1937 constitution renamed the 'Southern Ireland' state 'Ireland'. In 1949, only 26 counties explicitly became a republic under the terms of the Republic of Ireland Act 1948, definitively ending its tenuous membership of the British Commonwealth. In 1973 the Republic of Ireland joined the European Communities (EC) as a member state which would later become the European Union (EU). Upon its foundation, the Irish Free State was embroiled in a civil war between nationalists supporting the Treaty and opponents who supported the existing Republic. The pro-Treaty side, organised as Cumann na nGaedheal, emerged victorious from the conflict and won subsequent elections. They formed the gov ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acronyms
An acronym is a word or name formed from the initial components of a longer name or phrase. Acronyms are usually formed from the initial letters of words, as in ''NATO'' (''North Atlantic Treaty Organization''), but sometimes use syllables, as in ''Benelux'' (short for ''Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg''). They can also be a mixture, as in ''radar'' (''Radio Detection And Ranging''). Acronyms can be pronounced as words, like ''NASA'' and ''UNESCO''; as individual letters, like ''FBI'', ''TNT'', and ''ATM''; or as both letters and words, like '' JPEG'' (pronounced ') and ''IUPAC''. Some are not universally pronounced one way or the other and it depends on the speaker's preference or the context in which it is being used, such as '' SQL'' (either "sequel" or "ess-cue-el"). The broader sense of ''acronym''—the meaning of which includes terms pronounced as letters—is sometimes criticized, but it is the term's original meaning and is in common use. Dictionary and st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper of record for Ireland. Though formed as a Protestant nationalist paper, within two decades and under new owners it had become the voice of British unionism in Ireland. It is no longer a pro unionist paper; it presents itself politically as "liberal and progressive", as well as being centre-right on economic issues. The editorship of the newspaper from 1859 until 1986 was controlled by the Anglo-Irish Protestant minority, only gaining its first nominal Irish Catholic editor 127 years into its existence. The paper's most prominent columnists include writer and arts commentator Fintan O'Toole and satirist Miriam Lord. The late Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald was once a columnist. Senior international figures, including Tony Blair and Bill Cl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Book Of Evidence
''The Book of Evidence'' is a 1989 novel by John Banville. The book is narrated by Freddie Montgomery, a 38-year-old scientist, who murders a servant girl during an attempt to steal a painting from a neighbour. Freddie is an aimless drifter, and though he is a perceptive observer of himself and his surroundings, he is largely amoral. Many of the characters in ''The Book of Evidence'' appear in the 1993 sequel ''Ghosts''. Plot Freddie Montgomery is the unreliable narrator who tells his life-story and recounts the events leading up to his arrest for the murder of a servant girl in one of Ireland's " big houses". A cultured but louche Anglo-Irish scientist who has been living abroad for many years, Freddie returns to his ancestral home seeking money after falling foul of a gangster in the Mediterranean. Shocked to discover that his mother has sold the family's collection of paintings, Freddie attempts to recover them. This leads to a tragic series of events culminating in Freddie's k ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Banville
William John Banville (born 8 December 1945) is an Irish novelist, short story writer, adapter of dramas and screenwriter. Though he has been described as "the heir to Proust, via Nabokov", Banville himself maintains that W. B. Yeats and Henry James are the two real influences on his work. Banville has won the 1976 James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the 2003 International Nonino Prize, the 2005 Booker Prize, the 2011 Franz Kafka Prize, the 2013 Austrian State Prize for European Literature and the 2014 Prince of Asturias Award for Literature. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2007, Italy made him a ' of the Ordine della Stella d'Italia (essentially a knighthood) in 2017. He is a former member of Aosdána, having voluntarily relinquished the financial stipend in 2001 to another, more impoverished, writer. Born at Wexford in south-east Ireland, Banville published his first novel, ''Nightspawn'', in 1971. A second, ''Birchwood'', followed two years later. "The R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shelton Abbey Prison
Shelton Abbey () on the north bank of the Avoca near Arklow County Wicklow, is a penal institution operated by the Irish Prison Service (IPS). Shelton Abbey was the ancestral seat of the Earls of Wicklow until 1951 when financial difficulties forced William Howard, 8th Earl of Wicklow to sell the estate to the Irish State. History In 1636, John Howard married Dorothea Hassels. They had one son together, Dr. Ralph Howard. Following John's death, Dorothea married her cousin Robert Hassells, owner of Shelton Abbey. They had no children, and Ralph inherited the estate. In 1770, Dr. Howard's grandson, also named Ralph, converted the existing building on the estate into a two-storey redbrick building of 11 bays. In 1776, Ralph was elevated to the peerage of Ireland, being made Baron Clonmore of Clonmore Castle. On 23 June 1785, he was further elevated in the peerage and became the first viscount of Wicklow. After his death, his wife, Alice Forward, was made Countess of Wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
RTÉ News
RTÉ News and Current Affairs ( ga, Nuacht agus Cúrsaí Reatha RTÉ), also known as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Its services include local, national, European and international news, investigative journalism and current affairs programming for RTÉ television, radio, online, podcasts, on-demand and for independent Irish language public broadcaster TG4. It is the largest and most popular news source in Ireland – with 77% of the Irish public regarding it as their main source of both Irish and international news. It broadcasts in English, Irish and Irish Sign Language. The organisation is also a source of commentary on current affairs. The division is based at the RTÉ Television Centre in Donnybrook, Dublin; however, the station also operates regional bureaux across Ireland and the world. History Early history On 1 January, 1926, 2RN, Ireland's first radio station, began broadcasti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minister For Justice (Ireland)
The Minister for Justice ( ga, An tAire Dlí agus Cirt) is a senior minister in the Government of Ireland and leads the Department of Justice. The Minister for Justice has overall responsibility for law and order in Ireland. The current Minister for Justice is Simon Harris, TD. He is holding this position in a temporary capacity during the maternity leave of Helen McEntee, TD, who continues as a minister without portfolio. Harris is assisted by a Minister of State: * James Browne, Minister of State at the Department of Justice with responsibility for Law Reform, Civil Justice and Immigration. History From 1919 until 1924 the position was known as the Minister for Home Affairs. In 1997, the functions of the Minister for Equality and Law Reform were transferred to this Minister, and it was renamed as the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, a title which it retained until 2010. The minister held the title of Minister for Justice and Equality from 2011 to 2020. As of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael McDowell (politician)
Michael McDowell (born 1 May 1951) is an Irish Independent politicians in Ireland, Independent politician and barrister who has served as a Seanad Éireann, Senator for the National University of Ireland (constituency), National University since April 2016. He previously served as Tánaiste from 2006 to 2007, Minister for Justice (Ireland), Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform from 2002 to 2007, Progressive Democrats, Leader of the Progressive Democrats from 2006 to 2007 and Attorney General of Ireland from 1999 to 2002. He served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for the Dublin South-East (Dáil constituency), Dublin South-East constituency from 1987 to 1989, 1992 to 1997 and 2002 to 2007. A grandson of Irish revolutionary Eoin MacNeill, McDowell was a founding member of the Progressive Democrats in the mid-1980s. On three occasions he was elected as a Teachta Dála, TD for the Dublin South-East (Dáil constituency), Dublin South-East constituency, serving in the Members of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
