Banbha 💚

Chef. Lover of all things foodie. Proud Paddystinian. Cliftonville F.C.

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@wolfofx I was raised on anti-cat propaganda, and after 40 years this wee fell came into my life. Things haven't been the same since ❤️❤️❤️

[Tim Brannigan @tim_brannigan]

Standing at the bus stop and there’s a Muslim girl here. Bus slowed down, she went to walk towards the door and it drove on. Apparently, this happens regularly to her. Here 10 years, Belfast accent and a lovely young woman. @Translink_NI time to try some diversity training?

[BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine @RobLooseCannon]

Between Northern Ireland and Scotland, hidden beneath the North Channel of the Irish Sea, lies one of the most alarming and least discussed environmental scandals in Europe.

Beaufort's Dyke is a natural glacial trench, 50 kilometres long, 3.5 kilometres wide, and plunging to depths of over 300 metres. It is also the United Kingdom's largest offshore munitions and chemical weapons dump!

Dumping began after the First World War and continued well into the 1970s. Over a million tonnes of surplus and decommissioned munitions were thrown in, including conventional explosives, artillery shells, radioactive rubbish and chemical weapons!

In July 1945 alone, 14,500 tonnes of artillery rockets filled with phosgene, a lethal choking agent used in the trenches, were disposed of there. Mustard gas shells, a horrific blister agent dating back to the Western Front, were also among the cargo dumped in the Dyke's early years.

For thirteen years, British government ministers flatly denied that any radioactive material had ever been deposited there. They were lying. Secret documents discovered in the Public Record Office revealed that approximately two tonnes of concrete-encased metal drums filled with radioactive laboratory waste and luminous paint were dumped in the Dyke during the 1950s. Officials had been calling environmentalists "scaremongers" and "conspiracy theorists" for raising the possibility.

When the idea of a Scotland-to-Northern Ireland fixed crossing bridge was floated in 2020, the Dyke immediately emerged as the principal obstacle. Explosive ordnance advisers warned that any piling work near it would pose an unacceptable level of risk. Britain built its bomb skip in exactly the wrong place.

The munitions have been corroding for decades. Fishermen pull unexploded ordnance in their nets. Phosphorus bombs washed up on Scottish and Northern Irish coastlines in 1995. An underwater explosion on 8 February 1986 registered as a 2.5 magnitude earthquake. According to independent disposal experts, sporadic explosions occur two or three times a month in the Irish Sea! The dyke has never been fully surveyed. The records are incomplete, destroyed, or still classified.

Buy the Dublin Time Machine a pint and support the DTM Book https://t.co/U7jtCrOTtb

[BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine @RobLooseCannon]

After watching Crimecall on RTE where the families of Deirdre Jacob and Jojo Dullard are appealing again, I`m sharing the details of those missing womens, as members of both women's families previously asked me to post about them in the hopes someone who knows will have the strenght of character to come forward with information Crime Call is 1800 40 50 60. Alternately all the other local numbers are below each set of details.

An 18-year-old student teacher called Deirdre Jacob was back home in Kildare, on her summer break from St Mary’s University in London. She vanished almost in sight of her own front gate on the 28th of July 1998.

Deirdre set out that day to do some messages in Newbridge town, walking the familiar 20-minute route from her parents’ gaff in Roseberry. Her precise movements were captured CCTV At 2:18 pm they saw her at the AIB, withdrawing a bank draft for her student accommodation rent. By 2:26 pm she was seen posting that draft at the Post Office. Deirdre was chatting with a friend at 2:32 pm.

Then shortly after 3 pm she was seen walking the quiet road toward home. She was carrying a black satchel-type bag with the bright yellow letters “CAT”. Deirdre was 5’3”, slim, grey-green eyes, dark chin-length hair. Witnesses saw her just metres from safety. The gate to her house nearly in view, when she disappeared.

For years Gardaí treated Deirdre’s case as a missing person’s investigation. In 2018, after a comprehensive review by the Serious Crime Review Team, the case was reclassified as a murder investigation.

Despite thousands of lines of inquiry and hundreds of appeals, no charges have ever been brought. The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) reviewed Garda files in 2022 and directed that no charges be laid at that time.

One suspect in her case is Larry Murphy, the convicted rapist and kidnapper. His former cellmate later told Gardaí Murphy had confessed to killing a young woman in Kildare, claiming he stopped to ask for directions before dragging her into his vehicle and killing her when she resisted. Thist uncorroborated allegation became part of the renewed case file sent to the DPP.

Gardaí have never been able to place Murphy in Newbridge on the afternoon of July 28, 1998, and repeated appeals for independent witnesses to confirm his presence have failed to produce definitive links.

Deirdre’s father, Michael Jacob, has at times urged the public not to fixate only on Murphy, fearing that speculation might deter other witnesses from coming forward. Other leads, including reported sightings in Dublin in the days after her disappearance, are unverified.

As of early 2026, the case remains open and active, a testament to both Garda persistence and the limits of investigative power. Deirdre’s parents, Michael and Bernadette Jacob, still make public appeals on national media.

If you have any details contact:
Kildare Garda Station
045-521222

Newbridge Garda Station: 045-431212

Garda Confidential Line:
1800 666 111

Serious Crime Review Team: 01-6663444

[BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine @RobLooseCannon]

After watching Crimecall on RTE where the families of Deirdre Jacob and Jojo Dullard are appealing again, I`m sharing the details of those missing womens, as members of both women's families previously asked me to post about them in the hopes someone who knows will have the strenght of character to come forward with information Crime Call is 1800 40 50 60. Alternately all the other local numbers are below each set of details.

On the 9th of November 1995, 21 year old Josephine “Jo Jo” Dullard set out from Dublin City for home after spending the evening among friends in Bruxelles Bar on Harry Street just off Grafton Street. Her destination was Callan in County Kilkenny, where her family lived.

Having missed the last direct bus, she boarded one to Naas in County Kildare instead around 10pm. After that, she planned to hitchhike the rest of the way.

By modern standards hitchhiking is rightly considered extremely dangerous, but although it was also treacherous on that fateful night back in 1995 it was considered a viable option to get home for young people, especially when public transport was far less frequent or to save a few bob. And so Jo Jo thumbed her way first from Naas to Kilcullen, then from Kilcullen to the small village of Moone.

It was there, outside a public phone box in Moone at 11:37pm, that Jo Jo communicated with her loved ones one last time. She rang her friend Mary Cullinan. Her last call is chilling in highsight. Jo Jo said a car had stopped and she was going to accept a lift.

A witness later told Gardaí they saw a woman matching Jo Jo’s description leaning into the back door of a dark-coloured Toyota Carina soon after her call finished. Then she vanished.

The next morning, when Jo Jo didn’t come home, her sister Kathleen raised the alarm with Gardaí and the missing persons investigation started. Naas Garda Station led the inquiry, but despite combing witness accounts and following countless leads the case went nowhere.

On the 25th anniversary of her disappearance in 2020 cold case detectives and the Garda Serious Crime Review Team formally upgraded the case to a murder investigation, concluding what everyone obviously assumed. That poor Jo Jo most likely met serious harm on that November night.

Following that reclassification nearly 800 recommendations generated fresh lines of inquiry. Investigators reviewed old statements, re-interviewed witnesses, and sought new forensic leads.

In November 2024, Gardaí made the first arrest in the nearly 30 year old case. A man in his 50s from the local area was taken into custody on suspicion of Jo Jo’s murder. He had reportedly admitted to giving her a lift that night but denied any role in her disappearance.

After extensive questioning and the start of forensic searches, he was released without charge while a file was prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions. Gardaí conducted excavations of open ground on the Wicklow and Kildare border, near Grangecon but they have declined to publicly disclose the outcome for operational reasons.

No one has been charged with Jo Jo’s murder, and her remains have never been found. Gardaí continue to appeal to anyone with information, including sightings of her distinctive Sanyo MGP21 walkman cassette player, which she had on her that night.

Lets not forget with the passage of time that Jo Jo was not just a "missing person". She was a real person. The youngest of five siblings, the daughter of parents who died before their youngest could see her grow into adulthood. If you have any information contact

Naas Garda Station (Investigation Team): 045 884 300
Kildare Garda Station:
[phone]
Garda Confidential Line:
1800 666 111
Crimestoppers: 1800 250 025

[Christopher Hale @ChristopherHale]

“I carry with me a photo of a Muslim child who, during my visit to Lebanon, was standing there holding a sign that said ‘Welcome, Pope Leo,’ and in this latest phase of the war, he was killed.

“There are many human situations like this, and I believe we must have the ability to think in this way.

“And as a Church, I say again: as a pastor, I cannot be in favor of war.

“I would like to encourage everyone to make efforts to seek answers that come from a culture of peace, not of hatred or division.” — Pope Leo XIV

[Ireland's Trees & Mythology @Tree_Folklore]

I don't know if this was Belfast City Council the DFI or the Department for Communities who take it upon themselves to do this from time to time.

But this is ecological thuggery and whoever is responsible should be ashamed.

These river banks were alive with native wildflowers and you did this why?

How dare you waste our money like this.

@Belfastcc
@deptinfra
@CommunitiesNI

[Rob Cross @RobCross247]

Ireland’s housing system is in disrepair, largely due to ineffective government policies to regulate short-term letting on platforms such as Airbnb and Booking. com.

My graphic shows 21,913 entire homes listed on Airbnb’s short-term letting platform in Ireland. Within Ireland’s Gaeltacht areas in Cork, Donegal, Galway, Kerry, Meath, Mayo, and Waterford, there are 6,201 entire-home Airbnb listings.

These properties, alongside thousands of long-vacant holiday homes owned by wealthy investors for short-term rentals, are forcing native Irish speakers out of their communities. The resulting housing squeeze has left seasonal workers, including waiters, bar staff, chefs, and musicians, unable to find accommodation. In the midst of a housing crisis, a record 17,548 people, including 11,944 adults and 5,604 children, are accessing state-funded emergency accommodation across Ireland.

#HousingCrisis #DerelictIreland #Airbnb #Ireland

[𝐕𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐲𝐫𝐢𝐞🪽 @soulful_indigo]

Birds only sing when they feel safe, thus signaling on a deep, cellular level that you are safe too. Their frequencies calm the nervous system, lowering cortisol and anxiety. Birdsong is nature’s medicine.

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@artilleryyc Great work lads!

[Rob Cross @RobCross247]

Only in Ireland would someone pebble-dash one of the last businesses named in Ulysses that still trades under the same name. 🙈

Rendered over, with blocked-up windows, it has a boarded, “locked-in” look, even though the business still trades from Amiens Street. Mullett’s is a long-established Dublin 1 corner pub at 45 Amiens Street, tucked beside Connolly Station, with a rear elevation onto Foley Street (formerly Montgomery Street, the heart of the Monto / Joyce’s “Nighttown”).

Mentioned in James Joyce’s Ulysses: in the “Eumaeus” episode, Stephen and Bloom walk “bevelling around by Mullett’s and the Signal House” on their way to the Amiens Street railway terminus (Connolly Station).

Google Street View: https://t.co/d08abnFfWT

#Dublin #Ulysses #bloomsday #Bloomsday2026 #JamesJoyce

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@RobLooseCannon Brilliant! I actually laughed out loud on my bus home! Thanks! 😁

[BUCHANAN: Dublin Time Machine @RobLooseCannon]

Happy Bloomsday! James Joyce's novel Ulysses is a modernist masterpiece. The book is set over one day in Dublin, the day of the author's first date with his wife Nora, the 16th of June. Here's 10 locations from the world changing adventure.

Glasnevin Cemetery stands in for Hades, home to some of our nation's greatest dead and the reopened O'Connell tower, it also features special watchtowers to defend against 18th and 19th century body-snatchers.

The Martello Tower in Sandycove is where the novel begins, with Telemachus. It is also home to a James Joyce museum. It was originally part of the coastal defence system against Napoleon. The tower pic below is actually Sandymount as the historic photos of Sandy Cove are either watermarked or are modern with modifications. I chose this one to give a better feel for the original and to see the tramline.

The National Library of Ireland was built in 1877 and plays host to the Scylla and Charybdis episodes. Its home to a fascinating Yeats exhibition and is a great resource for Irish genealogy.

The sadly recently demolished, Ormond hotel on Ormond Quay featured in the Sirens episode and was once home to the Sirens Lounge. The quay, and hence the hotel, was named after James Butler the 1st Duke of Ormonde in the 1670s. Founded originally in 1788 before the Great Rebellion it was remodelled in 1900 into the form Joyce would recognise.

"Circe" is set in a fictional part of the city called Nighttown which was based on Monto, a notorious red-light district. Monto got its name from Montgomery Street (now Foley Street). The area was parallel to lower Talbot Street and Connolly Station. It was home to thousands of prostitutes servicing the locals and the nearby British army barracks. In 1925 the Legion of Mary and the Dublin Police Commissioner closed down the brothels and Monto's dirty days were over.

The original door of 7 Eccles Street, home of Leopold Bloom, Ulysses. Sadly the gaff was demolished in 1967. It's now part of the Mater Private Hospital. The door is preserved in the James Joyce Centre, near King's Inn.

The Merchant’s Arch building dates from 1821 and was originally a Guild Hall serving Wellington Quay. Linking the Ha’penny Bridge with Temple Bar, Leopold Bloom visits the iconic archway to buy pornographic books for Molly!

The Clifton School in glamorous seaside Dalkey was the setting for "Nestor". Joyce briefly taught history here. It is now home of Summerfield Lodge.

Sandymount Strand, along the infrequently sunny south side of Dublin Bay, features in “Proteus” and “Nausicaa”. Bloom commits what would legally be called an act of public indecency, stimulated by the fair Gertie lifting her skirt.

Sweny's pharmacy on Lombard Street, Lincoln Place is beautifully preserved and is home to cultural events associated with Ulysses and Joyce still. In the "Lotus Eaters," chapter Bloom purchases a bar of lemon-scented soap from the chemist here before he heads to the public baths.

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@mamoun_linda https://t.co/iAtBEMQND4

[Amanda Ferguson @AmandaFBelfast]

Online creeps crying about replies being switched off is never not funny. Grow up tantrum guys. I know not hating yourself and respecting boundaries is challenging for you - but lots of people think more of themselves than allowing abuse, lies, and racism on their timelines🤷🏻‍♀️

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@GeorgeDillon @michaelmagee__ Please define "ex-nationalist" What are you trying to say?

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@michaelmagee__ Appalled by some of the replies. I engaged with some of the families who were "burnt out", and tried to get them to safety. It will haunt me forever. The sheer level of hatred towards them always shocks.

[Banbha 💚 @GingerSweeney]

@michaelmagee__ Thank you for writing this. Such an excellent article, and I can relate to everything you said. Thanks also for showing me how to get past the paywall. Keep up the good work.

[Annie McGinley @annie_mcginley]

This is what needs highlighted about Belfast.

Good on ye all.

If you are going to retweet a post today let it be this one showing what Belfast kids are capable of with a bit of good orderly direction.

[Frankie Connolly @FrankieDaLegend]

The recent attacks on immigrant families in Belfast, are from the same people who burnt the Quinn children to death in Ballymoney; threw excrement & urine at primary school kids in Ardoyne; gave us the cut-throat Shankill Butchers…and torched homes of Catholic neighbours in 1969

[Danny Boy @Care2much18]

This is how Belfast looks on my femicide map.

Each of the ~1,000 pins is for a woman or girl murdered in Belfast between 1900 - 2025.

Almost all of them murdered by men and mostly by the type of men who were strolling around Belfast tonight wrecking their own city. /1