Monthly Archives: May 2014

Motion in support of Gay Russian Community

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Cllr Flynn Motion May 2014

Cllr Flynn Motion May 2014

The motion above was before Dublin City Council at its monthly meeting in April. It was postponed for a month as one Councillor associated it with censorship and questioned whether it was supported by the gay community etc. The exhibition itself is by artists who are long deceased and relates to the Russian Revolution and it is meant to coincide with the 2016 celebration. It is in no way an act of censorship it is more in line with sanctions and challenges that are designed to oppose the manner in which Putin has threatened the gay community in Russia.

The Gay community the world over and indeed many in society at large are absolutely appalled at the draconian measures that have been brought into legislation to suppress and oppress the Gay community of Russia. As an artist and a politician, I am wholeheartedly opposed to these measures, hence, the motion. Please indicate your support by sharing this motion and if you email me mannix.flynn@dublincity.ie I will forward your support to the Council meeting tomorrow (Monday 12th May) where I will speak on this motion.

Many artists from musicians to visual arts are withdrawing from scheduled concerts and artistic events such as Documenta 10 in solidarity with the Russian Gay Community.

 

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/arts_n_ideas/article/manifesta-10-plays-down-concerns-about-russia/497323.html

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/05/russia-anti-gay-law-criticism-playing-into-putin-hands

 

https://www.allout.org/en/actions/russia-attacks

Giro d’Italia Road Closures, Dublin – Sunday 11th May

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Please see info below relating to the road closures around Dublin city today. 

The race will then head towards Dublin city via Baldoyle, Clontarf, Alfie Byrne Road, East Wall Road, the 02, North Wall Quay, Custom House Quay and will cross the Liffey at Talbot Memorial Bridge.

It will continue down City Quay, Lombard Street, Westland Row, Lincoln Place to the finish line at Merrion Square West at around 4.30pm.

A number of road closures are in place for the event. Merrion Square West, Merrion Square South, Merrion Square East, Merrion Street Upper, Mount Street Upper and Fitzwilliam Street Lower will all be closed until 11pm tonight.

And from 1:30pm to 4:30pm there will be the following closures: the R132 from Co Meath to Balbriggan via Drogheda Street, Bridge Street, Dublin Street and Old Market Green, Mill Street, Clonard Street, Quay Street, the Skerries Road (R127) to Skerries via Balbriggan Road, Ballbriggan Street, Thomas Hand Street and the Dublin Road, the Skerries /Lusk Road (R127), Post Office Road, the R127 from Lusk to Blakes Cross, the R132 from Blakes Cross to Seatown Road, the Mantua Road, Estuary Road, The Mall in Malahide, Strand Road/ Coast Road (R106) inPortmarnock, the Coast Road (R106) towards Baldoyle, the Main Street to Dublin Road via Warrenhouse Road, the Dublin Road (R105) in Baldoyle.

Dublin Bus advises that there will be a number of diversions along some of its routes. Check Dublin Bus for details.

 

The Cutlers, Thomas Reads, in miniature by Tom Hudson

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The Cutlers, Thomas Reads, Parliament Street Dublin

The Cutlers, Thomas Reads, Parliament Street Dublin – Miniature model by Tom Hudson

Reads LH window

The genius of the visual literature of miniature. After years of vigilance regarding the protection and preservation of Thomas Reads, The Cutlers in Parliament Street, a building loved by Dubliners and the world over, of all the things to fall into my lap and hands, these photos of Tom Hudson’s miniature models of Thomas Reads in around the early 1970tys are certainly the most wondrous and precious.

Fantastic to have confirmed that actual models in these photos are still in existence in the hands of a collector (Charles Dudley) of Tom Hudson’s works.

 

Here is vanished history in great detail rendered back for today’s society.  How important are these works is anyone’s guess.  But the fact that they are here I’m sure is going to be to everybody’s delight.  Take a closer look and enter the window of Thomas Reads for a true bit of window shopping into the past. Notice the matchbox and its size and then you get a sense of scale of the detail. James Joyce would be proud.  As they say, you can rebuild Dublin from Ulysses but here is certainly one of its oldest shops, actualized in miniature in extraordinary detail.  As alive now as ever it was.

Reads RH window

Reads Right Hand Window in miniature

Reads door

Doors of Thomas Reads, in miniature

The Vatican, UN Committee on Torture, Geneva and Children’s rights

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Report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Jan 2014

Report by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child, Jan 2014

Today in Geneva the Vatican have been called to give account of cover up at the UN Commission against Torture in Geneva and to answer why nothing substantial has been done to protect children from sexual attack by religious and the culture.

The UN committee is reviewing the Vatican on its compliance with international prohibitions against torture and other cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment under the Convention Against Torture, which the Vatican ratified in 2002. This will be the second time in four months that top Catholic officials have been called before the UN to account for the Vatican’s human rights record on addressing the ongoing worldwide crisis of sexual violence and cover-ups within the Catholic Church. Vatican representatives will appear before and be questioned by the Committee on May 5 and 6, 2014.

Today testimony from those who have experienced abuse at the hands of religious will give evidence.
I was invited to participate but due to my workload it is not possible. My thoughts and prayers are with all of those who are engaged in the fight for truth and justice.

The image attached is the last report from the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child which was published in Jan 2014.It was the first time the Holy See had been called to account for its actions, or lack thereof, on these issues before an international body. In February 2014, the Committee on the Rights of the Child expressed “grave concern that the Holy See has not acknowledged the extent of the crimes committed…has adopted policies and practices which have led to the continuation of the abuse by and impunity of the perpetrators,” and that “[t]he Holy See has consistently placed the preservation of the reputation of the Church and the protection of the perpetrators above children’s best interests.”

http://ccrjustice.org/newsroom/press-releases/vatican-summoned-report-un-committee-torture