Bridgette Keane

❤️ #ThisIsMyDublin #BeActive #SeeTheAbility

And another weekend of road closures for people when heading home from #Howth and no works being carried out by @IrishWater and no extra Darts from @IrishRail #DBN

What a photo.

The principal of Belmayne Community Special School, John Condon, was reportedly briefing other teachers on child protection while he himself was under investigation by Tusla for historic abuse allegations, allegations that have now been found to be "founded" on the balance of probabilities. Safeguarding is not just a paperwork exercise; it is a fundamental promise to keep children safe. The families at Belmayne, and the former students who have bravely come forward, deserve transparency and immediate action. Beyond the investigation, it is vital that the students at Belmayne are prioritized. These children have been let down by the system and that must be corrected in ensuring all supports are put in place. The students need stability and families are demanding that all SNA requirements be fully met. There must be a rigorous review of how individuals with "founded" findings of abuse can continue to hold positions of power within the Irish education system. #BelmayneSpecialSchool #ChildProtection #Tusla #SNA #JohnCondon #PaidiManning @NormaFoleyTD1 @mmoynihantd @1Hildegarde @sinnfeinireland @labour @AontuIE @SocDems @independent_ire @pb4p @DDLETB @DownSyndromeIRL Click on the image to zoom in.

@FineGael Ah @naoiseomuiri suppose to represent #DBN has never responded to one mail sent to him no interest in the electorate past Clontarf

Fine Gael is working to revitalise our capital city.

Not a great look @madf6767 for your Dental Practise williamstreetdental.ie I hope you have more respect for your female patients #IrevWales #Rugby #Womens6nations

@CareChampions2 When did @tusla become aware of this

John Condon, principal of Belmayne Community Special School, was accused of abusing a student at a school he worked at in Wexford between 2001 and 2003, the Mail on Sunday reported over the weekend. The paper reported that a series of allegations made by the former student were "founded" by Tusla, including that the teacher forced the then teen­ager and another stu­dent to sit back-to-back in the dark in their under­wear as punishment. Mr Condon is now principal of Belmayne Community Special School in Dublin 13, which opened in December 2025. Following the Mail on Sunday report over the weekend, parents of children attending the school have expressed concern and raised questions regarding practices at the school. Speaking to Dublin Live, one parent told us their son, who is non-verbal, was suspended multiple times to "reflect" on his behaviour. The parent said they were also told that their child's place at the school was at risk. "It was next to impossible to get him a place," the parent told Dublin Live. "We were tearing our hearts out last year trying to get him a place. We eventually got the school place." The parent said their child was on a reduced timetable, was suspended and had their school place threatened as their behaviour was "not controllable". When asked about the report about Mr Condon, the parent said "I was a bit taken aback and a bit shocked". They added: "You put your trust in these people." Another parent at the school told us: "I was devastated because this had happened to somebody else. Then from my own dealings with the school then, I felt a little bit of vindication because there had been stuff going on in the school with my own child." The parent said their child was placed on a reduced timetable following behavioural incidents at the school. She said these incidents seemed out of character for her child, and they encountered difficulty when requesting incident reports from the school so she could deal with them properly. "At a minimum, I would be thinking they should be able to deescalate a child even with the most severe needs and they should be trained to deescalate a child when they become dysregulated like that. But it seems like there isn't." Dublin Live is not aware of any current active Tusla investigations into the school. The school's patron is the Dub­lin and Dún Laog­haire Edu­ca­tion and Train­ing Board (DDLETB). #Belmayne #RightToEducation #SNA #Safeguarding dublinlive.ie/news/dublin-ne…

He realized he was celebrating the wrong team and immediately corrected it 😂😂

A perfect example of how to lead would include the Minister For Disability NOT blocking a wheelchair accessible space , while double parked on double yellow lines for over an hour outside the Department of Children, Disability and Equality. This is really inexcusable , but a perfect example of how what is said is not matched by actions. @AccessForAll7 #disabilityparking

Instead of hiding his daughter with Down syndrome, Charles de Gaulle raised her proudly, and she became the heart of his life. When Charles de Gaulle died in 1970, he made a quiet request that surprised many. He did not want a grand state funeral in Paris. He asked to be buried in the small village of Colombey les Deux Églises, beside his daughter Anne. For him, that resting place mattered more than any monument. Anne was born on New Year’s Day in 1928, the youngest of three children. She had Down syndrome, a condition surrounded by fear and misinformation at the time. Doctors and society often blamed parents and urged families to hide children like her from public view. For families of power and status, sending such children away was considered normal. Charles and his wife Yvonne refused. They raised Anne at home with her brother Philippe and sister Élisabeth. There was no secrecy, no shame, no separation. She was simply their daughter. To the world, de Gaulle was distant and unyielding. A leader shaped by war, discipline, and command. But inside his home, Anne revealed a side few ever saw. With her, he laughed freely. He sang songs, told stories, and played games. Friends noticed that the man who rarely showed emotion softened completely in her presence. He called her my joy. Anne asked nothing of him except love, and in that simplicity, he found peace. She was never treated as fragile or inferior. She was respected fully, included always, and loved without condition. That love did not end within the family. After the war, Charles and Yvonne founded the Fondation Anne de Gaulle. They turned a château into a home for young women with intellectual disabilities, many of whom had been abandoned. At a time when support barely existed, they chose action over silence. Anne’s life was short. She died of pneumonia in 1948, just after turning twenty, in her father’s arms. In his grief, de Gaulle whispered that now she was like the others, finally free from the limits the world had placed on her. After her death, he carried her photograph everywhere. He believed her presence protected him, even during an assassination attempt years later. Whether faith or fate, he never doubted her importance in his life. Charles de Gaulle found his deepest calm not in leadership or victory, but in loving a child the world did not understand. His family showed that dignity is not about ability. It is about how fiercely we choose to care.

As Ireland Assumes Presidency Of The EU In July -We Have #Disabled Irish Citizens, Young Boys & Girls, Teens & Young Adults Dying -Dying -For Want Of Routine Interventions -Young #Disabled Children Allowed To Become Non-Verbal -Denied The Right To Speech -Ireland’s SHAME #UNCRPD

@McNiffecent @CarrollJennifer @MaterTrauma @HSELive @NormaFoleyTD1 @SimonHarrisTD @MichealMartinTD @AccessForAll7 @adayinmywheels @struggleiswheel @InclusionIre @IrishWheelchair @gardainfo @McNiffecent I’m actually in out patients at the moment loads of parking on the street passed 2 wheelchair spaces free on St Joseph Street

Parking at The Mater is a joke. Jack is a wheelchair user & not a single disabled space to be found. I thought parking at Crumlin was bad. This is a nightmare, I’m queueing for the car park 🅿️which says full & will cost an arm & a leg! Infuriating. @CarrollJennifer @MaterTrauma

Uluru transformed by rain 🌧️ Heavy rainfall turned the iconic rock into a series of flowing waterfalls, creating a rare and spectacular sight.

Will the H3 @TFIupdates due at stop 530 at 15.12 arrive or what excuse will be given that the H3 that left Howth earlier was delayed due to traffic issues caused by @IrishWater works on James Larkin Road that @dublinbusnews never engaged with plans @Dept_Transport

Lets visit infamous this post pub oasis of yesteryear. The site at 23 Harcourt Road had form even before The Manhattan Café. In the 1940s, it was Tony’s Café, run by Anthony Tighe, who made the courts more than once for dodgy practices. For example he was accused in 1941 of selling porter late at night without a licence (he swore he was only “treating” customers), and sued again in 1952 by the Performing Rights Society for letting unlicensed music be played. Shocking stuff! The Woods family took over in 1954, rebranding it The Manhattan. Under the iron rule of May Woods, known to all as Aunty May, the café became legendary. By all accounts I could find May was part doorman, part matriarch. You couldnt just stroll in , you had to “pass muster.” Regulars knew that if you acted the maggot, you’d be barred from food, which was the ultimate punishment. Staff like Bernie, who worked there for decades, became fixtures as much as the faded wallpaper and lethal stairwell to the toilets. The menu was classic post pub delicious junk. The Works (sausages, bacon, eggs, chips, fried liver, baked beans), mixed grills, toasties, and endless tea poured from heavy pots. Rumours persisted of late-night wine served under old licensing loopholes, but a pint of milk in a glass bottle was more likely. Prices were cheap, portions enormous. And its clientelle, apart from gee-eyed locals, was stellar. U2 dropped by in the 1980s, Bon Jovi’s band too. Acts finishing in JJ Smyth’s or the Baggot Inn often wound down here. Bibi Baskin, Mick Lally, Richard Harris, Joe Dolan, Ulick O’Connor, even Dickie Rock. Personally after a few jars if I bumped in to that lot I`d probably shag them all but leave Bibi wanting. A young Charles Haughey was spotted there, long before his diet consisted solely of champaign drank out of the skulls of county council estate children. Niall Quinn met his wife Gillian in The Manhattan at half-three in the morning. He knew she was the one when she shared a scrap of “hairy bacon” from the floor. By the 1990s, The Manhattan was one of the last true all-night eateries in the city, sharing the twilight trade with places like The Gigs Place and Topo Gigio. But stricter licensing laws, changing habits, and the slow creep of gentrification spelled its doom. The café finally closed in the late 2000s, likely around 2009. The building went derelict, and in 2019 Dublin City Council blocked a €1.4m sale for office development, citing its cultural heritage. Some councillors even called for the famous “M” sign to be preserved in the Little Museum of Dublin. By 2024, the site was demolished, probably to make way for offices or student housing. Thanks to @neilbodl and @RareIrishStuff who inspired this a while ago 🍻 SOURCES Irish Independent: “When stars ended Dublin nights with fine wine or baked beans” independent.ie/life/food-drin… Come Here To Me!: “The Manhattan and other late night eateries” comeheretome.com/2012/09/11/the…

This is one of the reasons why the housing system is broken in Ireland. Deutsche Bank's €800 billion investment arm fund has acquired 85% (46 homes) in Belcamp Manor, Dublin 17 for €24.5 million. Originally intended for individual buyers, these properties are now being advertised for rent at €3,175 per month (€38,100 per year) by a London-based real estate investment fund on Draft.ie daft.ie/for-rent/house… It is no surprise that in the past 13 years, rent in Ireland has doubled, and house prices have increased by 55%, making it the fastest growth in any major EU economy. Currently, vulture funds own 1 in 6 mortgages in the Irish housing market, while Cuckoo funds and the State purchase 42% of new homes. This leaves a record number of first-time buyers competing for the lowest supply of housing stock nationwide in over a decade. There are just over 11,000 homes available for purchase nationally, the fewest since 2012 when 60,000 homes were on the market. The 2022 Census reveals that there are 166,752 vacant homes and 66,135 vacant holiday homes across the country. Out of the vacant homes, almost a third (48,387) have been vacant long-term since 2016 and remain unused. Additionally, the current salary required to buy a new home in Dublin is €127,000, which exceeds even a TD's basic salary of €108,987. Meanwhile, in December 2023, there were 18,648 entire houses/apartments available on the short-term letting platform Airbnb in Ireland. This includes 4,666 listings in Dublin City whilst there is a record-breaking number of 13,514 people, including 4,105 children, who are currently accessing emergency accommodation. #Dublin #Ireland #HousingCrisis #DerelictIreland #VacantIreland #homeless #Airbnb

@TFIupdates @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD @Dept_Transport I meant the H3 as per the photo taken of the app update

@BridgetteBKeane @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD @Dept_Transport Hi this service has been delayed but is still on the way and is due to arrive at stop 15:31 at around 15:52, Kind regards, MMW

So @TFIupdates is it the usual excuse that the H2 that my son should disembarking at 15.31 at stop 546 is cancelled due to heavy traffic @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD who doesn’t care @Dept_Transport

@TFIupdates @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD @Dept_Transport That should have been the H3 my error

@BridgetteBKeane @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD @Dept_Transport Hi we're contacting the transport operator and will get back to you shortly Kind Regards, MMW

@jamiek19852013 @TFIupdates @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD Well Jamie try telling my son with an intellectual disability that comment as he stands in the rain waiting at least 3 times a week for the cancelled bus

@TFIupdates @BridgetteBKeane @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD Ever hear of the phrase...... better late than never

What’s the excuse for the cancellation of the H3 today @TFIupdates @dublinbusnews @DarraghOBrienTD