Catherine Eddery wrote to Frank Murray to express her concerns about spending on wine, gifts and dining beyond the Department’s annual allocation. “This section was not aware of the visit when the 1991 estimates were being prepared,” it said. A dinner in The Berkeley Court Hotel later that day cost £3,946.59, including 27 dinners for ministers and 17 dinners for officials as well as £158.36 on liqueurs. A state banquet held in the Royal Hospital Kilmainham for the culture ministers and their officials on March 16, the following day, cost £2,241.99. The following day, a Government luncheon held in the Department of Foreign Affairs headquarters, Iveagh House, incurred a separate cost of £3,349.95.

Restrictions have been imposed on purchase of office equipment, vehicles, materials as well as recruitment of new posts, till March 31, 2024. The circular issued by the Finance Department has directed all the government departments to reduce all office expenditure by 25 per cent excluding employee salary, pension and loan repayment. The Finance Department had also directed the Director of Accounts not to entertain any bills of purchases made of materials from the date of issue of the Office Memorandum. The Finance Department has encouraged the departments to surrender savings under Revenue Account by making judicious assessment of their requirements. (Official of the Finance department to O Heraldo)

28 Dec 2023| 06:10am ISTGOACAN writes to CCP over faulty ramps on 18th June RoadSays ramps will facilitate riders to access pavementsTeam HeraldPANJIM: The Goa Civic and Consumer Action Network (GOACAN) has alleged that the faulty ramps installed on 18th June Road in the limits of the Corporation of the City of Panaji (CCP) will only facilitate two-wheeler riders to access the pavements. Being a festive time and peak tourism season there will be many young domestic tourists visiting the capital city on rent-a-bike and are likely to misuse these ‘faulty ramps’ and come on to the pavements to ride and park. This is likely to cause conflicts between shop owners, pedestrians and the two-wheeler riders and even result in accidents affecting life and limb, said GOACAN coordinator Roland Martins. After visiting three similar sites on 18th June road i.e. near Hotel Keni, opposite Cafe Aram and next to Cafe Aram, GOACAN volunteers noticed that in all these cases cement plaster had been used to convert these concrete slabs into ramps.

"We aim to have meaningfully fewer ads than linear TV and other streaming TV providers," Prime said in the email. Amazon Prime Video announced in September that it would be introducing ads to its streaming service but had not specified when they would be rolled out. Trying to speak with a human?Best ways to call and chat with Amazon customer serviceHow much will it cost to remove ads from Amazon Prime Video? Live events on Amazon Prime, like sports, already include advertising and will continue to do so. Amazon Prime Video joins Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming servicesWhile ads were once looked down upon by streaming services, they are slowly making their way into the system.

By David Young, PAA Limerick pensioner who says he has walked more than twice the circumference of the Earth is bidding for world record recognition. Vinod Bajaj, who walks on average 37km a day, has applied to Guinness World Records for the title of greatest cumulative distance walked solo. “I’ve done about 2,000 kilometres, more than twice around the Earth, so maybe I am the Forrest Gump of 2023 or the Forrest Gump of Limerick,” he said. Mr Bajaj expects to hear back from the world record adjudicators in the new year after they assess his application. “If they accept it, great, if they don’t accept it, I don’t mind – I did not walk for the Guinness World Record, I walk for myself,” he said.

JoeyMajor fundraising drive for young Offaly boyA major fundraising campaign is underway in Offaly to help meet the costs of vital surgery for a two-year-old boy in Chicago. On August 14, 2021, Tommy and Natalie Conway (nee McCabe) from Tullamore welcomed their gorgeous baby boy Joey. Baby Joey became the little brother to Molly in 2021 and he became a big brother himself to Jordi in June 2023. We nearly lost our precious baby Joey in March when he developed invasive Group A Strep (iGAS), which left our baby on a ventilator in the ICU in CHI Crumlin for two weeks. Portal Hypertension has life threatening symptoms and the risk of death is 40% on a first episode of bleeding.

You will therefore need to look at the retailer's Christmas returns policy, as many provide for extended return periods during the festive season. You DON'T need the receiptLet me dispel the 'you need the receipt to return unwanted gifts' myth; you do not. This is thanks to a law called UK261, which also says you can claim compensation if the flight is cancelled less than 14 days prior to your date of departure. But if you arrived three or more hours late to your final destination, you may be entitled to compensation. However, the airline will be able to dodge your compensation claim if the cause of the delay (or cancellation) was an event that falls within the definition of 'extraordinary circumstances'.

(Photo by Charly TRIBALLEAU / AFP) (Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU/AFP via Getty Images) AFP via Getty ImagesI had same-subject opinion pieces in two British newspapers in the week before Christmas. Just Stop Oil protesters are described as “activists” in the Guardian and “eco-loons” in the Daily Mail. While commenters broadly welcomed my Guardian piece, there was outright climate-change denialism from a great many Daily Mail readers. In effect, I was preaching to the converted writing for the Guardian (even if many readers usually only pay lip service to climate concerns). This might have been true a few years back, but the no-flight movement is gaining momentum with alternatives growing apace.

With the storm coupled with spring tides, the forecaster said coastal flooding was likely. A status yellow warning for wind and rain is in operation for the rest of the country until midnight on Wednesday. Status Yellow – Wind and Rain warning for Ireland Very strong and gusty southwesterly winds in conjunction with spring tides, may lead to coastal flooding. Met Eireann said the strong winds combined with spring tides may lead to coastal flooding in places. In Northern Ireland, a Met Office yellow wind and rain warning covering the entire region came into effect at 2am on Wednesday and lifted at 10am.

Roads are currently flooded near Mallow, Fermoy and DunmanwaySeveral regional and local roads in Cork are reported to be impassable due to heavy rainfall in the county this week. Roads near Mallow, Fermoy and Dunmanway are currently flooded according to Cork county Council. The R-621-0 running east of Cork Racecourse Mallow and connecting the R619 (Quartertown Road) to the N72 (Navigation Road) is impassable due to flooding. This is Cork Newsletter Enter your email address below and click 'Sign Up' to receive the This is Cork newsletter direct to your inbox. North of Dunmanway, a section of the Macroom Road (R-587-167) is also impassable due to flooding.

Conor McGregor has teased a 'big' upcoming announcement in a post on social media. The 35-year-old recently attended the Day of Reckoning boxing event in Saudi Arabia that saw Anthony Joshua secure his third victory of 2023 by stopping Otto Wallin in five rounds and Joseph Parker upset the odds to defeat Deontay Wilder. McGregor was pictured seated alongside Cristiano Ronaldo in the front row, with fans taking to social media to poke fun around the interactions between the pair at ringside. In a post to his 47 million followers on Instagram McGregor wrote: 'Legendary evening of Boxing in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia! The Irishman also tagged Ronaldo and Saudi adviser Turki Alalshikh alongside three photos of the trio sitting together at the event.

Taoiseach says Robbie Keane coaching Israeli football team ‘a matter for him’By Gráinne Ní Aodha, PATaoiseach Leo Varadkar has refrained from weighing in on Ireland’s record goalscorer Robbie Keane’s job with an Israeli football team, saying it is “a matter for him”. The former Ireland international has been the head coach for Maccabi Tel Aviv FC since June this year. Asked during an end-of-year interview about Keane’s position in coaching the Israeli side, Mr Varadkar did not weigh in on his position. “I think primarily that’s a matter for him,” he said. “He was offered a job and he’s taken it up in Tel Aviv.

The coming 12 months should – all things being equal – mark the end of the recovery phase for the world’s airlines following the Covid pandemic. And that could severely curtail growth just as the world’s airlines are swinging back to expansion mode. Dublin Airport also has another problem – its new runway. Two planning conditions attached the runway limit its use and overall aircraft movements at Dublin Airport. But there’s intense resistance among some local communities to any more growth at Dublin Airport.

Storm Gerrit hits Ireland with very heavy rain and strong windsBy David Young, PAA status-orange rain warning has come into effect for the southwest as the island braces for Storm Gerrit. A rain warning covering Kerry and west Cork began at 8pm on Tuesday and will be in place throughout Wednesday, lifting at midnight. A status yellow warning for wind and rain is operation for the rest of the country until late on Wednesday night. On Thursday, a yellow wind warning is in effect from midnight to 4pm, covering Clare, Kerry, Donegal, Galway, Leitrim, Mayo and Sligo. In the North, the Met Office has issued a yellow wind and rain warning covering the entire region from 2am to 10am on Wednesday.

Chris Wood puts former side Newcastle to the sword with hat-trick for ForestBy Damian Spellman, PAChris Wood retuned to haunt Newcastle with a stunning hat-trick as Nottingham Forest handed new boss Nuno Espirito Santo the first Premier League victory of his reign. A 3-1 victory was little more than the visitors deserved on a day when Eddie Howe’s men, who took the lead through a contentious Alexander Isak penalty, were ripped apart by Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White in front of a disbelieving crowd of 52,207. Almiron won possession on the edge of the visitors’ box, but failed to pick out a team-mate, allowing Gibbs-White to sprint upfield and find Elanga, who handed Wood the simplest of tasks to equalise. It might have been worse for the hosts within seconds of the restart when Gibbs-White glanced a header wide from Elanga’s dangerous cross with Newcastle looking increasingly vulnerable. Howe swiftly replaced Burn and Almiron with Tino Livramento and Callum Wilson, but his side were undone again on the hour when Murillo’s through-ball split a ragged defence and Wood deftly stepped around the painfully exposed Dubravka to complete his hat-trick.