What Gerry Adams Really Said to David Trimble in the Toilet During Peace Talks – The Irish Times

What did Gerry Adams say to David Trimble when they stood in neighboring urinals at Stormont at a critical stage of the war Good Friday Agreement conversations in 1998? Their joint comfort break has become the stuff of legend, but a slight discrepancy has emerged in several stories about what was said as the couple relieved themselves.

In an interview with The Irish Times last year, Adams dismissed as apocryphal the suggestion that he followed the then leader of the Ulster Unionist Party into the men’s toilets, deliberately to get a quiet word in. “I’m on record saying to David Trimble, ‘How are you, David?’ and he said, “Grow up,” as we stood shoulder to shoulder.

But with Owen McCafferty The agreementto be seen at The Gate Theater in Dublin, which is a five star rave from The Irish Times, the exchange has the Adams character saying, “So, this is where the big boys go,” when he encounters Trimble, to which the late UUP leader responds, “Grow up.”

So what did they actually say when they held the fate of Northern Ireland in their hands? When asked about it during an onstage Q&A after the performance, Adams corrected the record and said his icebreaker was, “We need to stop meeting like this,” to which Trimble responded, “Grow up. “

Of course, we have to take Adams at his word, since Trimble died two years ago. And unlike his bathroom buddy, he never leaked anything.

Saoirse Ronan – aim too high, think too big

Saoirse Ronan has been a chameleon-like actress since emerging as a child star in the 2007 film Atonement. Whether she’s playing a teenage murderer or a homesick Irish expatriate, she fits seamlessly into any role. However, her plans for a new home in west Cork are deemed too pushy by local planners, who say the plans submitted by the actress are at odds with the local landscape.

Ronan, who recently married Slow Horses actor Jack Lowden, told planners earlier this year that she planned to make Foilnamuck, near Ballydehob, west Cork, her permanent home. She bought a townland house for €650,000 in 2020 and applied for planning permission earlier this year to demolish it and replace it with a larger 332 square meter house.

Ronan’s planning consultant argued that the existing “uninsulated” house was in poor condition, with cracks, leaks and “woodworm”, adding that it did not meet fire safety regulations. But Cork County Council has refused permission for an environmentally friendly, contemporary replacement home.

Council planners said the existing house integrates well into the rural coastal landscape, while the replacement house would be built at a higher level on the site, which would have “seriously detracted from the visual amenity of the area” due to its “location , scale, design and mass”. Back to the drawing board.

( Saoirse Ronan: ‘Going out and breaking down… I’m careful about where and when I do that’Opens in a new window )

Even more unrest at Dún Laoghaire law firm

Unrest continues at south Dublin law firm Thomas Montgomery & Sons, which was forced to close its practice last year after a €1.7 million hole was discovered in its client accounts. Last week the tax authorities issued two judgments against the Dún Laoghaire company, one for €86,707 and one for €606,552. Both are not satisfied so far.

The firm’s managing partner, David Montgomery, drowned in Dún Laoghaire harbour in October 2022. At the time, he was under investigation by the Legal Association. The company was founded by David Montgomery’s father, William, who is named in the two Revenue judgments.

Last month the High Court heard claims that a pension fund run by David Montgomery on behalf of Foxrock-based businessman Connie Kelleher is still owed a significant amount of money from the late lawyer’s estate. Montgomery is alleged to have carried out a scheme that involved lending money from Connie Kelleher’s pension scheme to borrowers, who paid interest on the loans, thus topping up the pension, but there is now a €618,834 hole in the client’s account.

The Napoleonic building plans of multi-millionaires are having a hard time

Tipperary’s Louis Ronan snr, a multi-millionaire who made his fortune from BSE test kits, spent €3 million last year on The Battery in Sandycove, south Dublin, a Grade II listed military structure built in the 19th century as part of the Irish defense against a Napoleonic invasion. But obtaining planning permission on the site of the protected structure, on a rocky outcrop overlooking the Forty Foot, could prove more difficult than conquering Russia.

Ronan snr submitted plans last summer to add a contemporary extension to the granite coastal defences, but his plans, which were opposed by the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, have now been blown out of the water by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown. Provincial council.

The council ruled that the proposals were not appropriate for a protected building, which is also classified as a historic monument. It ruled that Ronan’s proposed house would negatively impact the area’s military heritage and would conflict with several provisions of the provincial development plan.

‘Keep the sound high’

It’s common for people to object to a nearby project because of all the noise it causes. You don’t see people objecting to apartments that much because it can affect how loud they can play their music. But in Grafton Street the buskers are rioting. A group of them, including Andrew Glover and Andrew Kavanagh of pop band Keywest, who began plying their trade in Grafton Street, are objecting to plans for four new luxury apartments on the top floors of numbers 4-5 Grafton Street, which were completed last year have been purchased. for €16 million by Brian McKiernan, the former CEO of Davy Stocksbrokers, and David Goddard, who heads Davy’s real estate division.

In his objection, Glover points out that buskers and residents in Temple Bar regularly clash over noise. He fears the same thing will happen on Grafton Street, which he says is “best known worldwide for its buskers”. He says the “charm and culture” of buskers attract thousands of tourists to Ireland every year, but they will have nowhere to perform as streets like Grafton Street become residential.

Kavanagh reiterates his points, saying Gavin James, Dermot Kennedy and U2 have given the street a worldwide reputation as buskers. Anyone up for a cover of Where the Streets have no Buskers?

Sabina Higgins takes on a woolly role

Last week, our attention came to a press release announcing that Sabina Higgins, wife of President Michael D. Higgins, had become patron of an organization called Wool in School. Apparently, the first lady will encourage children to take up knitting and appreciate wool as “a natural, renewable resource.”

When Higgins, an actress and activist, wonders what to encourage kids to crochet, she can look to her particularly knittable husband for inspiration. After all, he’s already spawned a collection of Michael D dolls, as well as a popular line of Michael ‘Tea’ cozies.

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