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The Week on Twitter | Leo Varadkar, Bernie Sanders, & Fyre Festival

By Jade Hayden

This week, the Citizens’ Assembly confirmed their recommendation on Ireland’s abortion laws, Leo Varadkar received some backlash for his ‘social welfare cheat’ campaign, and tickets for a Bernie Sanders talk sold out in 5 minutes. Ja Rule’s Fyre Festival also turned out to be a bit Lord of the Flies-y, to the delight of many.

#CitizensAssembly vote overwhelmingly in favour of liberalising Ireland’s abortion laws #repealthe8th 

On Sunday afternoon, members of the Citizens’ Assembly voted to allow abortions to be had without any restricts before 12 weeks gestation. 64% of people at the assembly voted in favour of making abortion legal in the early stages of pregnancy, with a further recommendation being held that terminations should be allowed up to 22 weeks due to socio-economic circumstances.

The assembly had voted the previous day against keeping the 8th in the constitution.

Following the result, people took to Twitter to express their gratitude and relief that the citizens had voted in favour of safe and legal abortion, of protecting women, and for human rights. Amnesty International director Colm O’Gorman called the result a ““truly momentous leap for the human rights of women and girls in Ireland,” and said that it would be “unthinkable” for the government not to follow though on the recommendations.

Enda Kenny said yesterday that a special Oireachtas committee would be set up within the next two weeks.

https://twitter.com/TochmarcEimear/status/856283781178822656

#LeoVaradkar launches social welfare cheat campaign, massively exaggerates some numbers

Late last week, Minister for social protection Leo Varadkar launched his social welfare cheat campaign, urging people to report other people who may be getting more welfare benefits than they’re entitled to. According to Varadkar, the state had saved about €500m already through anti-fraud schemes.

This week, Varadkar was accused exaggerating that number, a lot. Sinn Fein’s Eoin O’Broin stated that the actual number of millions saved due to anti-fraud measures was closer to €41m. “These numbers are a joke and a blatant attempt to gain exposure ahead of a leadership race rather than a genuine attempt to tackle fraud,” he said.

Varadkar’s campaign also generated a lot of scrutiny on social media this week, as users took to Twitter to criticise the government’s focus on citizens claiming benefits, instead of all those other people that owe considerable amounts of money to the state, like corrupt bankers, politicians, and the Sisters of Charity.

Someone also used Varadkar’s campaign to complain about the rising price of Freddo bars. It was good.

https://twitter.com/FrankieGaffney/status/857013724074446849

#BernieSanders talk sells out in minutes #FeelTheBern 

On Friday at 9am, tickets for a Bernie Sanders talk in the Bord Gais theatre went on sale. On Friday at 9.05am, tickets for the Bernie Sanders talk in the Bord Gais theatre had sold out. Lots of people were annoyed that the tickets sold out so quickly, because people like Bernie and enjoy listening to him speak and were maybe hopefully a bird would land in and sit near Bernie and make everyone happy again for just a moment or something, idk.

Sanders is giving his talk on June 4th as part of the Dalkey book festival. Tickets were only 15 quid and included a free copy of Bernie’s book which was sound enough like.

If you, like most people, didn’t manage to grab a ticket to see Bernie you can probably still get one on Seatwave for like €400.

https://twitter.com/rubot/status/857885102612860929

#FyreFestival leaves attendees stranded, fighting for food, and eating slices of cheese from styrofoam boxes

Last year, Ja Rule started announcing details of Fyre Festival – his ““cultural moment created from a blend of music, art and food.” It was basically a music festival in the Bahamas except it cost about 4 grand minimum to attend and tickets sold out before any acts were even announced, somehow.

This week, Fyre Festival got off to a bad start. Or, it didn’t really start at all, as attendees were left on planes for hours, ‘luxury accommodation’ turned out to be a dodgy tent, belongings and passports were stolen, Blink 182 cancelled their performance, people were turned away due to overcrowding, slices of cheese were served in styrofoam boxes, and people took to Twitter to ask the US embassy to please come save them.

But hey, at least there was a ball pit.

https://twitter.com/alliharvard/status/857774212307668993?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailyedge.ie%2Ffyre-festival-3363154-Apr2017%2F

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Jade Hayden 144 posts 0 comments

Jade Hayden has an MA in journalism, a degree in English, and a house rabbit who sleeps in her bed sometimes. You'll often find her wearing glasses, fixing her fringe, and complaining about the amount of time she spends on public transport. Jade is also the editor of HeadStuff's topical section, and she'd love if you sent your submissions over to [email protected].

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