Man (31) dies in Co Waterford crashA man was killed in a crash early this morning in Co Waterford. The man (31) lost control of the quad bike he was riding at Clonegagale, Ballinamult, sometime after 2am. No other vehicles were involved. The dead man was taken to Waterford Regional Hospital. Gardaí in Dungarvan are investigating.

Drugs worth €210,000 seized in Dublin

A lesbian couple have lodged an appeal with the Supreme Court against a High Court ruling that stated they did not have the right to marry in Ireland. Drs Katherine Zappone and Ann Louise Gilligan lodged their appeal yesterday on the grounds that their High Court case for recognition of their Canadian marriage was wrongly decided. They hope the Supreme Court case could be heard before the end of 2007.

Elderly man dies in Tipperary crash

A 91-year-old man died today after he collided with a truck in Co Tipperary. The pensioner lost his life after his SUV struck the vehicle around 1pm on the N8 road at Ballymooreen, Littleton in the county. His front seat passenger was taken to Nenagh Hospital for treatment for minor injuries.

Armed raiders rob Dublin post office

Gardaí are investigating an armed raid on a south Dublin post office this afternoon. Four men were involved, three of whom entered the post office at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre; at least one of whom was armed with a hand gun, and money was stolen. They fled in a blue Ford Focus car with 2006 registration plates driven by the fourth man. The car was later found abandoned a short distance away at Hermitage Lawns, where it is believed the gang switched to another vehicle.

happy friday everyone!

Ireland lags behind many European countries in terms of seat-belt wearing rates, according to a study published in Brussels today … It found that more than 100 Irish drivers are spared each year by wearing seat-belts. But Ireland is ranked 10th out of 24 countries whose seat-belt wearing rates were studied, with 86 per cent of drivers and front-seat passengers using belts in 2005.

Sucide prevention campaign launched:

GAA star Sean Og O’hAilpin today launched a campaign to help young people suffering from anxiety or harbouring suicidal thoughts.The Cork legend is backing Please Talk campaign which was set up at University College Dublin (UCD) after five students took their own lives since last August.

Two arrested over south Dublin shooting:

Gardaí were called to an incident at Gray Square off Meath Street at around 9pm. The man, who is in his 20s, was seriously injured when a lone gunman entered a house on the Square and opened fire, the injured man was removed to St James Hospital where he is being treated for his injuries.

Also, The Irish Times is On the List for not letting you read the day’s paper–not even the headlines!–on their website without subscribing. Buy a clue, IT! Major newspapers all over the news, and no few small ones, let you find out what the hell is going on without shelling out €80 for a subscription!

Think tank predicts LA-style sprawl

Dublin will soon have a footprint the same size as Los Angeles with less than a quarter of its population, a planning think tank said today.

With the population expected to grow by more than one million over the next 20 years, the Urban Forum today expressed serious concerns for the health of people living in an ever-expanding Greater Dublin Area.

It warned that time-consuming commuting and a lack of facilities could lead to higher levels of stress, diabetes, heart disease and childhood obesity.

Ireland is already one of the most car-dependent countries in the EU and one of the most oil-dependent in the world.

From Ireland.com. It’s interesting stuff–Dublin has been at the top of the fastest-growing European cities list for the last five years, due in no small part to the rise of the Euro in international currency and the amazing effects of the Celtic tiger. But to compare Dublin to a city like LA takes on a whole new level of thought for the city–how many people actually do live here? How does having such a large population in a relatively tight space (as compared, for example, with Los Angeles’ urban sprawl) affect the quality of life of the city’s inhabitants? Over the last few months here at the Dub Metblog we’ve talked about the challenges of the bus service, the overpriced but desparately needed tram/train to the airport, the rising costs and difficult acquisition of apartments and living spaces. This just confirms, in statistics and numbers, what we’ve all been feeling: Dublin is kind of like living in a pressure cooker.

Something is going to have to change–urban planning will need to take a new direction and actually address some of the issues raised here, and goverment will need to fast-track it and not just debate endlessly about what the city needs in theory when the reality is banging at our doorstep. This report may be the first step towards enacting change and not just talking it to death.

ETA: The LA Metblog picked this up for discussion over there, too.

Minister “lucky” after tumour spotted on TV:

Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Conor Lenihan had a lucky escape after a eagle-eyed doctor diagnosed a tumour on his face as he spotted him speaking on television.

Ireland’s pre-election politics:

FEW Irish politicians can match Bertie Ahern in the delicate art of political timing, at least in wooing and winning voters well in advance of a general election which, as taoiseach (prime minister) he must call by June–though May is the expected date. And he is doing so by orchestrating a monthly stream of “good news” events, while exploiting them to good political effect.

From the north, Elections are scheduled for March 7th–maybe:

NO SOONER does Northern Ireland negotiate one hurdle on the road to restored self-government than another one appears. On January 28th Sinn Fein’s members, who once lauded wholesale violence, pledged their support for the Police Service of Northern Ireland–heir to the hated Royal Ulster Constabulary. Gerry Adams, the party’s president, promptly urged victims of crime to seek police help and promised republicans who want to join the force Sinn Fein’s blessing.

And from next door, Letter bomb injures three at Swansea DVLA:

A police cordon has been placed around the DVLA office in Swansea as experts investigate a letter bomb explosion which injured three workers shortly after nine this morning. One woman suffered minor burns and two other women have sustained hearing related injuries. All incoming mail has been stopped while investigations continue.

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You know them all by name, if not by works: James Joyce, Oscar Wilde, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett, Jonathan Swift, W.B. Yeats. Authors of some of the great classic works of Western literature, these men also have the dubious honor of being Dubliners. What is it about this city that gave rise to such great wordsmiths? Perhaps it was the comingling of Irish and English, upper- and lower-class, North and South sides of the river. Lines tend to blur more in Dublin than in other comparative cities, and such a home was a great mine of resources for the literary writer.

Joyce, who set both Ulysses and Dubliners in Dublin, said, “I want to give a picture of Dublin so complete that if the city one day suddenly disappeared from the earth it could be reconstructed out of my book.” That mark of affection is still heard in a city that sports both a James Joyce Centre and a photo tour of Joyce’s Edwardian backwater, as it was thought of in his day.

Wilde, my personal favorite, has had his house turn into a museum and a deliciously indolent statue reclining in Merrion Square. Dublin also gives him the nod at the Oscar Wilde Centre for Irish Writing, a pretty notable namesake for fellow with as many splotches on his prestige as Wilde. He wrote famously witty books, plays, and poems, and was scandalous for his various affairs with Marquess’s sons. My own personal favorite is The Importance of Being Earnest: “it is very painful for me to be forced to speak the truth. It is the first time in my life that I have ever been reduced to such a painful position, and I am really quite inexperienced in doing anything of the kind.”

For more information on these and other great writers originating from Dublin, check out the Dublin Writers Museum, and if you’re really ambitious, there’s the Dublin Literary Pub Crawl, which is supposed to be pretty entertaining.

Oh, Guinness. Frothy, smooth, and deliciously subtle, this best-known Irish beer has arguably set the standard for stout altogether. First made by Arthur Guinness at the St. James’s Gate Brewery in 1759, Guinness was originally produced as a porter that was changed to a stout primarily in the early 1800’s. Now it’s shipped all over the world, including Jamaica, China, Malaysia, the United States, Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Britain, and even Nigeria–which has become the third largest market for exported Guinness in the world, probably due the the 7.5% abv in the export.

Love it, hate it, kind of curious about it, Guinness remains a quintessential part of Irish culture and particularly Dublin life, from the Guinness Storehouse, that mecca of tourism, to the St. James Brewery, to your favorite local. You see it everywhere, sponsoring hurling, world-class jazz festivals, and gracing the back of everyone who comes to visit our fair city.It’s my own personal choice for gabbing around with my friends, and it’s Dublin’s first gift!

But until that glorious Monday arriveth, here’s some things you can do in the meantime.

Friday: Rock It at the Ambassador Theatre with Ham Sandwich, Black Daisy and Hipple Street; Baroness with Torche and Rest at Crawdaddy; Late Night Theatre at the Gaiety, featuring DJ Satellite, the North Strand Klezmer Band, Roadhouse, Cheeze It, and 2 movies on the big screen–odd selection, but go with it; the Dublin Guitar Quartet at the National Concert Hall; Halloween Ball Fundraiser for Anti-Racism Project at Tailors Hall; The Things with Straglers, Sons of Now, and The Heathens at The Hub; and Jack L at Vicar St (through Sunday).

Saturday: Margaret Stewart and The Bobby Schiff Trio at Bewley’s Cafe Theatre; Doctor Blue and The Prescription at JJ Smyth’s; James Yorkston and The Athletes at The Sugar Club; Milburn at the Temple Bar Music Center; Garageland Gigs at The Village.

Sunday: Annapolis Bluegrass Coalition at Airfield Arts Centre; James Brown at the Olympia; the Harlem Gospel Choir at the Pavilion; Boxcutter with Ambulance, Star Little Thing, Decal, Fir Bolg + Pixelcorp, Dry County, Chequerboard at The Sugarclub; and DEAF at Uki Yo Bar.

Bonus, Monday: We Are Scientists with The Blood Arm and Au Revoir Simone at the Ambassador Theatre; The Gipsy Kings at the National Stadium; and Jim Lauderdale and The Believers at The Village.