Tag Archives: North Africa

SHOCKING television images of the migrant crisis in Calais has spurred one Clare woman into dramatic action. A conversation at the end of last week between Inagh’s Róisín Ní Gháirbhith and a friend of hers in Cork about the situation at the French port has now turned into a national humanitarian aid convoy involving two trucks, 10 vans, two camper vans, six cars and 40 volunteers. Desperate migrants from North Africa and the Middle East have been travelling to Calais in an effort to enter the UK. Some have attempted to walk the 31-mile Channel Tunnel, while others try to stow away on trucks using the Eurotunnel or on ships travelling from the port. Others try to climb aboard the Eurostar train. Now Calais is home to large, poorly-equipped camps and an estimated 3,000 migrants, mainly men and boys, many of whom paid large sums to people smugglers to get there. “I was watching all this on television and reading …

The Competition Authority is to investigate a complaint from Clare TD Michael McNamara about Irish regulations that restrict the export of live cattle by boat. McNamara had previously complained in the Dáil that the Irish regulations governing the transport of live animals posed an unnecessary barrier to trade in live animals and were contrary to EU free competition. Deputy McNamara said that because of falling beef prices in Irish farming, he has complained to the European Commission and to the Competition Authority that the licensing of boats from Ireland servicing the live cattle trade is far stricter than those applying in other EU countries and that boats licensed in other EU member states could not operate in Ireland. “I am very pleased that the Competition Authority will examine this situation. In the last Dáil session, I tabled a parliamentary question asking how many boats were licensed to take cattle to Libya and the Minister [ for Agriculture]  very proudly told me …