That’s Ireland

On this week last year (Mar 10 to Mar 16, 2007):

• How did a young Dublin beggar change a law introduced during the famine?
• Who was Falmouth Kearney, and why was he in the news?
• What territorial occupation did the Minister for the Environment oppose?
• Why did Bebo remove pages by Limerick teenagers?
• Who distributed 50,000 free books at public events and through letterboxes in Dublin South East?

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Answers

• Niall Dillon, who had been charged with begging, claimed that the Vagrancy Act breached his constitutional right to freedom of expression and his right to communicate. The High Court agreed with him.
• Falmouth Kearney emigrated from Ireland to New York in 1850. He was Barack Obama’s great great great grandfather.
• A plan by Waterford City Council to take over some of south Co Kilkenny.
• The pages were advocating armed violence between rival Limerick gangs.
• The Progressive Democrats were giving away copies of Breaking the Mould: How the PDs changed Irish Politics, in Michael McDowell’s constituency (the books would have cost over €600,000 if purchased at the full retail price).