Bertie's Tribunal in crisis
 The Planning Tribunal is threatening further political embarrassment for Bertie Ahern. The tribunal is in crisis because of the disclosure that it misled the High Court earlier this year on, potentially, an explosive issue, and because it has emerged that for years the tribunal was acting illegally, abusing the constitutional rights of persons appearing before it.
The tribunal, now chaired by Judge Alan Mahon and formerly by Mr Justice Feargus Flood, has made two startling admissions recently,
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The Greening of Hypocrisy
 Every promise broken, ‘core' beliefs abandoned in a naive conviction that the Greens in government can make a difference. And then a striking act of integrity: the resignation of Trevor Sargent as leader and his rejection of a senior cabinet position. By Vincent Browne
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Senate: the usual suspects
Presumably, a Taoiseach's Senate nomination for Dan Boyle and Tom Parlon. Tom Parlon's continuance in the Oireachtas may save the PDs from extinction, for a while. Dan Boyle's continuance in active politics is important for the Greens, perhaps for the two Green ministers. Otherwise probably the same mixture of party hacks, wannabee TDs and retirees.
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Ballyfermot to lose train station
Dublin's newest train station is handling half its expected passenger numbers. Ballyfermot is to lose its train station, catering for 25,000 people. By Tom Rowe...
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The Bertie factor
 For Bertie Ahern the election was a triumph. It seemed at the beginning of the campaign he might lose and lose in disgrace because of the revelations about his finances. He seemed almost a forlorn figure at the Palace of Westminster nine days before the election as he was feted by British Parliamentarians while seeming rejected by his electorate. That turned around in part because the media and public were befuddled by the information he put into the public domain about his finances, in part by ...
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Concern about advice given in private interviews
 One of the concerns there are about the off-the-record discussions during private interviews arises from what is known about the on-the-record discussions. The following is part of one of the transcripts arising from one of the interviews between two barristers then representing the tribunal, Pat Hanratty SC and John Gallagher SC, and Frank Dunlop, who was accompanied by his own counsel, Senan Allen....
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Lismullin part of a greater national monument
The defining archaeological feature associated with the major prehistoric royal centres of Navan Fort, Co Armagh, Knockaulin, Co Kildare, Rathcroghan, Co Roscommon and the pre-eminent royal site of Tara, Co Meath, is the concentration of large-scale, high-status and unusual monument types, many of which are of a funerary, ritual or ceremonial nature. It has long been recognised that each monument within the Tara landscape is an integral part of Tara.
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The Avant Gardener
 Gardener Diarmuid Gavin, reputed for his wacky bold garden designs, returned to Ireland this year having reaped success across the pond. But success did not come easily. By Emma Browne
Diarmuid Gavin has been called many things – “enfant terrible”, “the punk rock gardener”, “the Damien Hirst of garden design”. And the impression portrayed by the media, mainly the British media, is of an arrogant, difficult man with a big ego.
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The pornographer who invented Wanderley Wagon
In 1957, the first Dublin Theatre Festival was thrown into chaos when gardaí arrested the director of a new play, at a tiny theatre, on charges of profanity. By the time the charges were thrown out a year later, the theatre was practically bankrupt, its owners marginalised, and the second Dublin Theatre Festival was also in chaos. This is the story of The Rose Tattoo. By Colin Murphy 
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Judicial restraint or passing the buck?
 Ex-Supreme Court judge Sean O'Leary's posthumous op-ed in the Irish Times last year criticised the judiciary for pandering to a populist sense of justice. Donncha O'Connell examines the veracity of his claims and asks why the Supreme Court stays silent in the face of media and public criticism...
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Questions to the Planning Tribunal on the tapes
Village has submitted the following questions to the Planning Tribunal. At the time of going to print no response was forthcoming. In the event that the tribunal does respond to the questions we will publish the response in full in the next issue of Village....
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Somalia: the third 'theatre' in Washington's war on terror
 History is being repeated in Somalia where the worst fighting in 15 years recently erupted causing a massive humanitarian crisis. Yet again, the US plays a central role and UN is inept in resolving the conflict.
By Malachy Browne ...
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Blinded by his light
 Football has always been the life-blood of Sunderland, but it wasn't until Roy Keane's arrival as manager that the fans' passion was rewarded with some truly superb play. But the decisions that now face Keane will determine his worth as a manager and ultimately, the fate of the team, says Ken Early...
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A burden on the state
 Only after seven long years in Ireland did Zainab Disu finally wade through the bureaucratic mire and secure some sort of stable status here. This bright and determined young woman talks to Colin Murphy.
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Birch: nurse and provider
There are two species of birch native to Ireland, downy (Beith chlúmhach, Betula pubescence) and silver (Beith gheal, Betula pendula). The most common is the downy, which, like silver birch, is a delicate tree with fine branches and small leaves. In springtime the flowers, catkins, appear and remain on the tree and in autumn contain the mature seed....
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Gilmartin altered evidence
 In a series of phone conversations with the former Minister for the Environment, Padraigh Flynn in in1998, Tom Gilmartin (according to Padraigh Flynn, apparently authenticated by contemporaneous notes made by the latter of these conversations) made certain admissions about a crucial change in his evidence. He had previously stated that the £50,000 he had given to Padraigh Flynn in the autumn of 1989 was for Mr Flynn's own purposes. He subsequently changed his evidence, claiming that the mo...
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Birds: Robin (Spideog, Erithacus rubecula)
 Having covered lots of different Irish bird species in previous issues, it's probably about time that I got around to writing about the one that most people tell me is their very favourite. The Robin is a very common year-round sight in gardens, parks and woodlands all over the country, and as many as four million breeding individuals are estimated to live here.
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Plants: Dyer's Rocket (Reseda Luteola)
 You can tell a lot about a society by the way it treats its past. Some of these glories are all around us, but we are far too busy to notice them. Whilst we fret about the loss of our built heritage, as well as the many rare plants and animals that that are slowly being squeezed out of existence, some things are great survivors. Plants that were once widely used in Ireland, for eating, brewing, weaving and dyeing have proved remarkably persistent.
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Walks: Budapest, Hungary
Stroll along the cultural route linking the castle district in old Buda with the city park in Pest. Theatres, museums, churches, art galleries and cafes enliven the way. High above the Danube, Buda was a strategic site during Turkish and Austrian rule. Restored after World War II, the castle area is ideal for walking. Reflecting diverse styles, the Royal Palace houses the National Gallery where art depicts Hungary's turbulent history. 
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A good feed before courtin'
 Butterflies are like flying flowers. They are one of the creatures that everyone likes. Seeing them flying in large numbers over flowery meadows on summer days gladdens the heart. You'd never think they were originally voracious caterpillars that demolished cherished plant species.
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Classic theatre, but nothing new
Arthur Miller's The Crucible is a masterclass in political drama, and the Abbey production is well staged and broadly well acted. But is it good enough for the National Theatre, asks Colin Murphy...
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The 'left' is left behind
In the recent election, Labour played a crucial role in reviving Fine Gael, from the near oblivion of 2002, while Labour's own vote dropped marginally and its seats tally decreased by one. ...
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Letting yourself go
Jason Biggs gets over the death of his fiancée by proposing to the first woman he meets in Wedding Daze, while in Brazil, the unhappy campers of Paradise Lost just want to escape with all their organs intact. By Declan Burke...
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Media Junkie with author Colin Bateman
Favourite book:
Catch 22 - I read it when I was about 11, so I'm sure most of it flew straight over my head, but the sense of humour was a huge influence....
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Bertie, Big Brother and Tom McGurk
There were two great interviews – both with Bertie Ahern as it happens – done on the broadcast media during the election campaign and the immediate aftermath. One was conducted by Matt Cooper on The Last Word on Today FM. Matt Cooper is now maybe the best of current affairs radio broadcasters. He is articulate, coherent, fluent and oh-so informed. He took Bertie briskly through the issues, always with sufficient back up knowledge to challenge Bertie when the latter went into his deta...
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Flat out futuristic
Village predicts that all technology in the future will be flat. Except movies, which will be in 3D, naturally...
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Google goes Big Brother
Google's data-retention activities come under scrutiny by authorities on both sides of the Atlantic. By Tom Rowe...
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Of mice of men
The most conspicuous 2007 hype, widely regarded as the cause of the much-discussed “squeeze”, was the media's insistence on treating the election as a straight fight between two men – or, at a stretch, two coalitions. Opinion-poll figures were regularly aggregated over pictures of Enda and Bertie. We could hardly complain this was unfair to smaller parties (what's fairness got to do with it?) if it gave an honest and accurate picture of the alternatives. But it didn't. ...
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Turnout for the books
The general election was not all it was cracked up to be by the media. In some cases it was just the opposite, with sloppy and erroneous assumptions and assertions dominating the coverage before, during and after. At the risk of filling a page with sour grapes or straw-clutching from a disappointed left-wing watcher (our only pleasures were whooping-out McDowell and relishing the rise of Richard Boyd-Barrett), let's take a last look back.
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Variations on a team
Ideological bias teamed up with sheer laziness to scupper any decent analysis of one of the most interesting post-election questions: what happened to Sinn Féin? The rather pathetic pundit consensus focussed on Breakfast-Roll Man, ex-dole sponger turned ambitious worker, symbol of how the boom has made working-class voters richer and more conservative, turned off by SF's focus on social housing and public services. (Why BRM was so turned on by SF in the mid-boom 2002 and 2004 elections wa ...
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Bloomsday 2007
The James Joyce Centre at 35 North Great George's Street is hosting a number of ticketed and non-ticketed events. The Joycean activities taking place on the day will include....
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The future is 3-D
The head of US film studio Dreamworks Animation has predicted that the future of cinema will be three-dimensional. Jeffery Katzenberg, one of the founders of parent company Dreamworks SKG along with moguls Steven Spielberg and David Geffen, said that three “magical” factors were coming together to make the rejuvenation and triumph of 3D possible: the increased power of computers which allows clearer images, digital cameras and affordable 3D eyewear. From the studio's point of view, t ...
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Jailhouse tales
The story of Kilmainham jail's famous prisoners – DeValera, Robert Emmet, Charles Stewart Parnell – is well known. But a new book on the history of the jail gives an insight into the prisoners who were not famous.
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The dangers of virtual smog
Ireland has the highest concentration of wireless hotspots in the world. At 18 per 1,000 head of population, we just about beat the UK to the number one spot. The US leads in sheer volume of these locations with 26,000. Japan, regarded as one of the most technologically-advanced countries, has actually moved beyond Wi-Fi, and now has over 30 million 3G mobile phone connections....
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The ghost in your browser
A survey by Google has discovered more than one million websites that contain Malware. This hidden software is capable of stealing your personal information and spreading computer viruses. By browsing the internet, a user can unknowingly be the victim of what the Google Anti-Malware Team calls a “drive-by download”. It may be the case that the owners of the websites that infect your system are themselves not aware of the presence of the surreptitious software. The goal of
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Ulysses: An Odyssey
In 1907, James Joyce made brief notes for a short story about a Jewish character called ‘Mr Hunter'. He then abandoned this story but held onto the idea, believing that, with a little work, it might become something more.
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A large site on the Tara motorway route is unlikely to be saved, despite it having been declared a national monument. By Emma Browne 
Do you believe in God? 