KILKENNY -- All the Irish broadsheets lead with the death of Pope John Paul II. Since his death was announced last night, around five people an hour hit this blog with requests for a download of Abba Pater. I don't have it but plan to upload it tomorrow evening. The Sunday Business Post gives its Computer in Business cover over to Skype instead of the more contentious issue of the Dublin Airport Authority citing "technical reasons" when refusing to let any other WiFi operator except Eircom operate in the airport. Adrian Weckler helpfully points to "Five IP phones to use with Skype" but he doesn't five a picture of the €30 Skype phone itself, perhaps because it's just a USB plug-and-play phone. I bought mine in The Telephone Centre on Dawson Street, Dublin. Weckler also fails to mention other Skype-friendly devices, such as the Actiontec Internet phone wizard. Other interesting things are buried inside the papers, including a DVD trailer in the Sunday Times for Downfall, the much-acclaimed film by German director Oliver Hirschbiegel.
Listed Graham Norton. From The Sunday Times Rich List 2005:
Irish comic and chat show host Norton, 42 tomorrow, started out as a stand-up comedian before appearing in Father Ted. His outrageous humour and camp style lent itself to the Channel 4 chat show, So Graham Norton, which crossed to America under the title The Graham Norton Effect. Norton should be kept busy at the BBC, which poached him from Channel 4 at the end of 2003 in a deal worth £3.5m. Auntie has been slow to find a suitable vehicle for his talents, but he is currently appearing in "Strictly Come Dancing" spin-off show "Strictly Dance Fever" and will present the Bafta television awards later this month. Norton laid bare his personal life in a frank autobiography, So Me which made its way into bestseller lists last year. Born Graham Walker in Dublin, he attended the Central School of Speech and Drama in London. An astute operator, he says: "I'm always calculating how little I can live on, what I could sell," and with a house-buying habit that he likens to the way other peple buy tins of tuna for emergencies, there would be plenty to choose from it the need arose. Norton's So Television production companyh is growing fast and is worth £24m. He has a 50% stake in it, to which we add £10m for past contracts, property and the Doggy Phone Firm.
iPod Alternative. As explained by Computers in Business, Sony's Network Walkman is a possible alternative to the iPod. Increased interest in portable music players means Ireland is ripe for a day-long tutorial course on ripping music.
Irish Deportation Decisions. Kevin Rafter, writing in the Sunday Tribune explains that deportation decisions at airports will not be monitored. That's probably a good decision because increased monitoring of the transactions conducted by the immigration officers at Dublin Airport would document cases of racism. That's my opinion, having watched the process on two separate days. That's the insinuation of Peter O'Mahony of the Irish Refugee Council. He said many non-nationals, without documentation or an ability to speak English, have difficulty explaining their situation and may be deported before their situation is given adequate consideration.
The EU provided €100,000 for a pilot monitoring system at Dublin airport in 2000 but as the Department of Justice refused to cooperate, the money was eventually returned to Brussels.
Figures from the Department of Justice show that over the last three years almost 3500 people claimed asylum at ports and airports. During the same period, over 12,000 people were turned away immediately after their arrival in Ireland (including me).
Blog Watching. Fiona Ness from the Sunday Business Post gets into the blogwatching habit with a visit to the weblog of Margot Wallstrom, the vice president of the European Commission. The Tribune continues its Blogosphere column.
I don't read the Sunday Independent because of things like this Nip/Tuck story.
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