Latest news with #PaulKelly
Irish Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Irish Times
District Court judge resigns with intention to return to practise in higher courts as a barrister
District Court judge Brian O'Shea, who has sat in courts in the southeast of the country, has resigned from the bench. Mr O'Shea told The Irish Times he intended to return to practising as a barrister and will appear before higher courts in the region from next week. He said he had intended to resign in October but 'a couple of opportunities' had arisen for which he could not apply as a sitting judge. The resignation was noted by the President of the District Court, Judge Paul Kelly, who described Mr O'Shea as 'a great colleague who will be a loss to the District Court and to the judiciary generally'. READ MORE Judge Kelly wished him well in his future career. While Mr O'Shea is not prohibited by law from practising at the District Court, it is not allowed under the code of conduct of the Bar Council of Ireland, the professional body for barristers. Mr O'Shea said he wanted to observe the code of conduct and would not therefore practise in the District Court, but would work in the Circuit and High Courts in the southeast from next week. His resignation was conveyed to Judge Kelly and to the President Michael D Higgins, in line with protocol. The resignation of a judge is comparatively rare event. Before Mr O'Shea's resignation, there were 65 District Court judges, seven short of the full complement of 72. In advance of the judge's resignation the Government had already announced plans to name six new judges in coming weeks, with a seventh due to be announced in September to replace one judge who is retiring. Judge O'Shea raised concerns about the state of courthouses in Cork and Tipperary earlier this year and proposed transferring court sittings to two large courthouses due to 'disgustingly unhygienic' toilets and rat infestations at existing courts. In March, Mr O'Shea, who sat in courts in east Cork, south Tipperary and west Waterford, wrote to the Courts Service saying he intended to transfer District Court sittings from Youghal to Dungarvan and from Cashel and Carrick-on-Suir to Clonmel. Mr O'Shea said four of the six courthouses in the courts district – Carrick-on-Suir, Cashel, Youghal and Lismore, whose sittings were transferred to Dungarvan in 2022 – were 'gravely inadequate in terms of their infrastructure'. The Courts Service said it had been 'engaging positively' with the then judge on the potential move. Mr O'Shea said the moves were not the reason for his resignation. Before turning to the law, Mr O'Shea, who is from Kilkenny, served as a garda from 1997 to 2003, and worked as a college lecturer in Carlow Institute of Technology and St Patrick's College in Carlow before being called to the Bar in 2005. He practised criminal, family and civil law as a barrister before he was appointed a District Court judge in 2017.
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Yellowknife school launches land-based junior kindergarten
Gloria Gaudet has been teaching junior kindergarten for two years, and come the fall, she will be doing it a whole new way. She will lead Weledeh Catholic School in Yellowknife's first land-based junior kindergarten class. "I am excited and a little nervous. I think it's such a great opportunity to connect to the children, to the land and our traditional ways at an early age," she said. "And it's also a big responsibility." The new program, open to up to 20 kids, will split the school day between an indoor and outdoor classroom, merging the existing junior kindergarten curriculum with outdoor play and traditional knowledge. So far, three quarters of the spots have already filled up. The program has been in the works since last fall and was designed with help from Weledeh staff, the school district's Indigenous language education team and their connections with the community, from whom they sought feedback. "One of the biggest things we heard is that we want these kids to understand the importance of the land and how valuable it is," said Paul Kelly, the school's new principal. He also sees the return to play as a potential way to fend off the rise in mental health concerns observed in schools "not just here, but all over the world." Kelly says the aim is to bring back opportunities for adventure, exploration, and safely taking healthy risks while playing outside that have been missing from the existing model. Weledeh is in the early stages of building a fenced outdoor classroom area, and will have a fire and cabin for the winter. Part of the outdoor learning will also happen through field trips where possible. Kelly says some existing facilities on the school grounds will also be used for the class, like tents that provide warmth in the winter. Mandee McDonald, a faculty member at the land-based Dechinta Centre for Research and Learning in Yellowknife, says she has not seen many models combining land-based and Western education in the public education system. "The value that I see in land-based programming is specifically from Indigenous knowledge holders being able to teach land-based knowledge, connection to the land, Indigenous worldviews to Indigenous students," she said. "Though I also strongly think that all those lessons around Indigenous worldviews and ways of doing and ways of being are extremely beneficial for all young people to learn." Kelly said that while the school is only starting with junior kindergarten, there are hopes to scale up the program all the way up to high school in due time. "I think in the back of our minds, everyone who's invested in this is thinking next year it's going to be kindergarten, maybe down the road it's going to be Grade 1 and 2," he said. McDonald says she sees promise in exposing the students to ways of knowing the Western curriculum doesn't include. "In my experience, with the public education system, and this is kind of documented in the literature as well, there's a lot of underlying racist assumptions built into Western models of education and the things that we're taught in the school system," she said. She says offering a land-based program can be a way to undermine that. At Weledeh, the plan is for elders to visit the outdoor classroom to share their language and culture with the children. Gaudet expects the kids in her class will learn about Dene law, fire-feeding, drumming and more. "I am very excited to have the community involved at the school, tell their story and share their stories," she said.
9 News
16-07-2025
- Entertainment
- 9 News
Artists serenade Albanese as he meets with Chinese President
Paul Kelly and Midnight Oil serenaded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese during a banquet with leaders at a meeting with the Chinese President.
Daily Mail
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Dree Hemingway spotted portraying Daryl Hannah alongside Paul Kelly's JFK Jr. on the set of American Love Story
One of John F. Kennedy Jr.'s famous exes has seemingly been cast in FX's American Love Story, as evidenced by new photos from the New York City set. Actress Dree Hemingway was spotted filming alongside Paul Kelly as John F. Kennedy Jr. for what appeared to be a date scene in New York City on Tuesday, which comes after their co-star Sarah Pidgeon had a terse response to haters. While neither Hemingway - the great-granddaughter of literary great Ernest Hemingway and daughter of actress Mariel Hemingway - nor the network has confirmed the casting, there appears to be one big tell. Hemingway was spotted wearing a dress that is strikingly similar to the one Hannah was spotted wearing while attending the Rhode Island wedding of JFK Jr.'s cousin Edward Kennedy Jr. in October 1993. Hannah and JFK Jr. dated for five years, after reconnecting at the 1988 wedding of his aunt Lee Radziwill, though they knew each other years earlier since their families had vacationed together in Saint Martin. After they broke up, JFK Jr. started dating Carolyn Bessette, who he would marry in 1996 before their tragic deaths in a plane crash off the coast of Cape Cod in 1999. Hemingway was spotted wearing a brown dress with unique patterns that's quite similar - but not identical - to the one Hannah wore to the 1993 Rhode Island wedding. She also wore a matching light brown coat over her dress and accessorizing with brown sunglasses and a small brown purse with her long blonde locks flowing over her shoulders. The actress completed her look with a pair of brown heeled boots for her day on the set, as she was seen kissing Kelly and getting out of a yellow NYC taxi cab. Kelly was spotted wearing a light brown dress shirt sans tie with a dark brown plaid suit coat over it for the scene. He completed his look with blue dress pants and brown shoes for his day on the set on Tuesday. Hemingway was also seen cutting loose with some impromptu dance moves between takes on the set. It's unclear if the show plans on re-creating the 1993 wedding or if the scenes they're shooting are from a different point and time in JFK Jr.' and Hannah's relationship. Hemingway joins a cast that also includes Sarah Pidgeon as Carolyn Bessette Kennedy, Naomi Watts as Jackie Kennedy, Grace Gummer as Caroline Kennedy, Alessandro Nivola as Calvin Klein (who Bessette worked for), Leila George as Calvin's daughter Kelly, Sydney Lemmon as Caroline's sister Lauren, who also died in the tragic plane crash, and Noah Fearnley as Michael Bergen, Caroline's ex who alleged that they continued a sexual relationship while she was married to JFK Jr. She also wore a matching light brown coat over her dress and accessorizing with brown sunglasses and a small brown purse with her long blonde locks flowing over her shoulders. Kelly was spotted wearing a light brown dress shirt sans tie with a dark brown plaid suit coat over it for the scene. Hemingway was also seen cutting loose with some impromptu dance moves between takes on the set. Fans have already been bashing American Love Story creator Ryan Murphy for wardrobe and fashion choices. Murphy responded to the fickle fans in an interview with Variety, stating they are doing the same thing to actress Sarah Paulson that media and others did to the real Carolyn Bessette. 'There were comments like, "I hate that coat, Carolyn would have never worn that. That was just a coat we threw on for color. People are writing "How dare you use the No. 35 Birkin bag? She wore a 40!" Yes we have a 40 but we just threw on a bag from another costume department because that was the sound stage we were on,' he said. 'They're doing to our Carolyn, what they did to the real-life Carolyn. It's not fair,' Ryan added to Variety.
Irish Examiner
26-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Fáilte Ireland says loss of tourist beds to refugees no longer critical
The number of tourism bedspaces contracted by the Government for refugees has fallen by more than 20% in the past six months. A report from Fáilte Ireland said the number of beds registered with the organisation that were contracted to the State fell to 14,030 in May. This represents a 20.4% drop from November and a 44.1% drop over the past year. A further 43,400 non-registered beds remain contracted to the State, with Fáilte Ireland estimating up to 21,700 of these would normally be used for tourism purposes. The tourism industry in Ireland has warned of long-term impacts from the use of large numbers of bed spaces for refugees. The sharp rise in refugee numbers in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine saw the issue peaking in late 2022, when one in four tourism beds were occupied by refugees or asylum seekers. Speaking in early 2023, Fáilte Ireland chief executive Paul Kelly said housing displaced Ukrainian citizens and international protection applicants in tourist accommodation was not a good solution for them or for tourism long term. He said ringfencing so much hotel accommodation for non-tourism purposes was putting the survival of some downstream businesses at risk. 'We estimate that this will cost the non-accommodation tourism sectors over €1bn in lost revenues this year," he said. "This will be a real loss, as we know, from inbound agents that many visitors who want to come to Ireland are now booking other countries simply because they cannot find accommodation in Ireland." The Fáilte Ireland report said the percentage of registered bedstock under State contract had fallen steadily from 12% to just below 6% nationally. However, four counties have 10% or more of their stock under contract: Wicklow, Clare, Meath and Louth. "For most counties, the impact on destinations has reduced significantly and is no longer at a critical level. However, some areas are still challenged in the peak season," the report states. Failte Ireland also said the 6% average may understate the impact, as many tourism beds are unregistered. A separate Fáilte Ireland survey report, published this week, found more than half of tourism businesses had seen their revenues drop this year, with 60% of operators blaming US president Donald Trump's "radical" economic policies for the downturn. Fálte Ireland's tourism barometer report shows revenue are down in every sector and region compared to last year, with B&Bs, self-catering operators, food and drink establishments, and tour guides being worst affected.
