“Sometimes I feel like I’m not opinionated enough. If I was, I probably wouldn’t have as much trouble writing a blog.”
“What do you mean? Of course you’re opinionated. Sure when we watch the news, you always have something to say about something.”

Opening thoughts: Good that Dobbo and Shaz are back. It was weird last week with Finnerty and O’Hagan for a while.

Joe O’Reilly’s mobile records clash with alibi
(watch clip in Real Player)

Now, generally I’m not one to assume guilt until its proven. But I think with all the odd behaviour reported previously in the trial - like apologising to the Gardaí for moving the body because “I’m probably after ruining it on you now” - when you say you’re supposed to be in a Phibsboro bus depot, and your phone says that you went from the Airport to Balbriggan, and passed down the road from your gaff, your number is up.

He’d “had an affair”, but it was over. And he lied to her about playing softball when he’d been off schmoozing. Well. North along the M1, towards a mast near their home, and then back to the bus depot.

And then there’s the talk about the voicemail - a month after her death, Joe left a voicemail on Rachel’s phone at 8am, saying “Hiya Rach [...] now you’re so cold. The sun was out, it was a normal day, but you had two hours left to live.”

Frankly, not even O.J. could buy his way out of this one.

100% mortgage holders may now have negative equity
(watch it)

First-time buyers who took out 100% mortgages could now have their loans exceed the value of their houses. A third of buyers in 2006 - a third?! - took out 100% mortgages.

First things first, you’ve seen this coming. Surely. I’ve thought - nay, hoped - since the age of 14 when I became aware of the hyperinflated prices of houses in Ireland, that the arse would eventually fall out of the housing market and prices would collapse. Obviously now it’s beginning to happen, as someone who’ll be thinking about buying in 5+ years time, I hope it goes on. As the son of parents who’ve just built a new house, I hope it’s stable enough. Obviously it’s only a problem if they’re selling on, and might then owe the bank money, but there’s no way this is a shot in the dark. Pity the souls who had to take out 100% mortgages though.

Later, Mary O’Dea from the Financial Regulator, comes on and explains her fears that people take out mortgages they can’t afford. Basically it’s all well-intentioned but nobody in the country can pay attention because she has a very, very, very pronounced jaw, and curses the editor for cutting to shots of Dobbo (balding?!).

Four guilty of involvement in 2005 Tube bombing plot
(watch it)

Remember the failed 21st July bombings? Four men, all of middle-eastern origin, were found guilty today. The attacks were only foiled after problems with their homemade explosives. All four tried to detonate their bombs, but only one detonated and the other three were basically dead. They defended that the bombs “were never meant to go off” but were rather visual manifestations of their opposition to the war in Iraq. The jury are still to reach verdicts on another two.

What’s to say about this, really? It’s still not clear on whether there was any link at all between the two sets of bombings on July 7th and 21st but you can only be thankful that the devices never did blow up. They made them with hydrogen peroxide, though - one assumes the chemical reaction made by dropping it onto whatever other package was there must have been violent. Hydrogen peroxide is fairly tame by everyday standards - my mum used to use it to bleach my spots.

Ballymun tower demolition put on hold
(watch it)

Samantha Libreri, formerly of my own University Observer, with her daily contribution. The HSA has stopped work on knocking a tower because they neglected to check the absence of asbestos. (How did they forget? The stuff is lethal. You can’t forget.)

Quoth the head honcho responsible, Junior Minister for Labour Affairs Billy Kelleher:

Asbestos is a very dangerous substance, and obviously we want to make sure that no asbestos goes out into the air, and that it could jeopardise the health of the residents, the employees, and also the people near Dublin Airport.

Well, Jaysus, lads, that’s exactly the type of cutting-edge analysis that lands a young Cork lad into a plush Junior Ministry, hah? Christ. He could have read that much off Wikipedia. If you’re that concerned about asbestos today, then why weren’t you concerned enough to get rid of the old ceramics in the tower like you did with all the rest?!

Greens tell Councillors that their Seanad ballots will be inspected
(watch it)

The Green Party have emailed all of their Councillors telling them that their completed Seanad ballot papers will be inspected by party leadership. Then their Party Leader (remember?), Trevor Sargent, says that’s “a mistake”. He comes out with this comment at a snazzy, Live Earth-inspired (ha!) photo call where he’s buying his ministerial car, a second-hand hybrid Toyota Prius, from cryptosporidium-o-phobe Galway ex-mayor Niall Ó Brolchain - a bargain on eBay at €29k-odd.

But get this - Sargent’s defence is that the Greens were merely trying to comply with amendments to the Seanad electoral rules. Which, eh, haven’t been changed. Now is that a canned Fianna Fáil response or what? Now there’s “no question” of inspecting votes. Nor has any rule ever existed that allowed for voting inspection - which surely would overrule the founding democratic principle of a secret ballot. A Green spokesman said, covering their tracks, that Sargent hadn’t been properly briefed.

Wow. I knew they were turning into FF but… wow.

But what to make of this whole ballot inspection lark? Angry Green Councillors say that it’s a directive by the leadership. And the leader hasn’t a clue what’s going on. So who’s behind it all (aside from FF)? One can only assume that John Gormley might have had a hand in it. Is it just me or did the Rumble in Ranelagh forever tie McDowell and Gormley as one and the same? He’s our new Führer, folks, and he’s coming for you.

Personally I’ve always had a beef with inspecting ballot papers. It’s happened me twice in the last two years - each time as a UCD Students’ Union delegate to USI Congress. The President of the day would inspect peoples’ ballot papers before putting them in to ensure that the Council mandate for voting a certain way was upheld.

It’s my opinion that anyone who defies a mandate doesn’t deserve it, but anyone willing to be honourable enough to abide by it doesn’t need to be patronised by having their ballot checked. And that, I think, is that.

Man and two women arrested over Galway ‘freezer’ case
(watch it)

Two women? Sorry, I’m sexist, but I didn’t see that coming.

20,000 Galway residents given green light to drink water again
(watch it)

A bit of good news in the show at last - it only took 14-and-a-half minutes. Thanks, Sharon. 20,000 people on the eastern side of Galway have had their boil notices lifted on their water. Which is, in fairness, a good start. Obviously it’d be nice if there wasn’t another 70,000 brushing their teeth with Ballygowan, but it’s a start. Jim Fahy’s opening sentence (who else?) sums it up best:

…really good news.

Well done, Jim.

Former Building Society boss cleared of money laundering
(watch it)

Clontarf bloke pled not guilty. Was alleged to be paid €1.1m over three years. Was found not guilty. Fair enough. Next? A tea break. Lovely.

Two arrestees over Cork cocaine haul detained further
(watch it)

The Gardaí have been given extra time to question the two men arrested over the floating €100m cocaine bounty in Cork. The haul was recovered by the emergency services. Because people were worried the mutant fish in the river would get hyper?!

John Wilson, former Táiniste, dies at 84
(watch it)

Someone most people of my generation - self included - would overlook as an experienced, solid statesman. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dilís.

Half-British girl (3) reunited with parents in Nigeria
(watch it)

A story that I hadn’t heard about til now: 3-year-old Margaret Hill was released by her kidnappers who held her in for four days, and was in good health but for some mosquito bites. She’d been abducted from her car on the way to school. The kidnappers basically gave in when no money was forthcoming.

Well, that’s nice, at least - if only the same had been done to Madeleine McCann.

Dog breeds to be banned from Dublin housing estates
(watch it)

Dublin City Council has decreed that German Shepherds and Staffordshire Terriers, as well as pit bulls, will no longer be allowed to be kept in DCC housing estates. Their owners now risk eviction if they continue to keep them. The DSPCA are right to be worried - what’s going to happen to these dogs? Will the Council take them in? Can they deal with that many new dogs when they can’t find homes for most of the ones they already have?

Tenants will be allowed to appeal to keep family dogs, but ‘fighting’ dogs are basically banned. Which is odd, considering they only seem to be a problem in tower blocks.

The next step is banning them from city parks. Surely that’s bordering on animal cruelty - the less places these dogs are allowed to be walked the worse it’s going to be for the dog’s physique and mental attitude.

…skipping onwards, because this is a tedious exercise…

The Sports News! With Après Match favourite Colm Murray! Wooot!

GAA: the 2nd Round qualifiers are fixed for next Saturday. Meath get Fermanagh at home at 7pm. Clare and Wicklow are drawn on opposite sides of the Tommy Murphy Cup - Páidí and Micko to face each other on Croker sod again?

Declan Browne, Tipp’s dual star, retires from inter-county football. Fairly good going to win two football All-Stars with Tipp. They’ll miss him.

Sligo come home to heroes’ welcomes after beating Galway. And fair dues. Crap weekend for Galway in general, unless you can drink your tapwater again, in which case, be thankful for small mercies.

Waterford savouring their third Munster SHC in a decade already - who’d have thought it? Can this be the year where they make it to an All-Ireland Final?

Soccer: Ferguson confirms that Manchester United are sorting legal terms with Carlos Tevez. Random German named Schuster takes over at Real Madrid. Whatever.

Horse Racing: The Galway Races are three weeks away. Yet it’s news. Bertie opened a new stand at Ballybritt. Fancy new Killanen stand, costing €22m. Slow news day, clearly. RTE self-promotion - they’re covering all seven days on TV this time.

Cycling: The annual (and bafflingly international) Tour de France hits Stage 2, from Gent to Dunkirk. Yes, Dunkirk - in Belgium. After Stage 1 between London and Canterbury. In the UK. That’s right, the UK. I mean, it was nice to have it back in Ireland back in 1998. But. It’s the Tour de fucking France. And it was dramatic. 20 leading cyclists, basically, fell.

And that pretty much does it. That’s the news for ya. Anything that gets your goat, lash in a comment.