President O'Neill?

Gay icon Panti Bliss got a dose of the “planning blues” yesterday as Dublin City Council refused planning retention for her contentious 3.5m-high illuminated sign at the landmark Panti Bar venue.

Panti Bliss is on course to be named one of Time Magazine's most influential people in the world.

The Department of Foreign Affairs is providing consular assistance to the family of an Irishman who has died in San Francisco.

GIG WISE: The countdown has begun for Live at the Marquee in Cork, with young whippersnapper Cliff Richard kicking it all off on Monday, June 9, followed by the equally youthful Dolly Parton (June 12).

MUSIC NEWS:

RTÉ bosses have insisted they were right to pay out over the “homophobic” defamation controversy on The Saturday Night Show — despite the fact that those allegedly damaged initially only sought an apology.

The head of RTÉ has said the recent 'Panti-Gate' controversy helped to open an important debate about homophobia in Ireland.

DRAG artist Panti Bliss’s speech on homophobia, in the Abbey Theatre on February 2, is one of the greats of Irish politics, up there with Robert Emmet’s parting words. For anyone who has followed Bliss’s (real name Rory O’Neill) career, this is not surprising.

The difference between last week’s big story — Pantigate — and this week’s — the alleged bugging of the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission’s (GSOC) office — is about 100 yards.

Gay rights activist Rory O’Neill, whose comments on homophobia resulted in RTÉ paying an €85,000 legal settlement, said that he hopes the episode has opened a proper debate about equality.

AS an Irish citizen, I would have waded into this whole Panti / Iona thing earlier but I live in Brighton where everyone is busy bringing up their ordinary children in ordinary same sex households and getting married to whoever they ordinarily love without further ado, and to be honest it passed me by.

A long and extensive apology proposed by journalist John Waters following comments made about him on The Saturday Night Show was “not acceptable” to RTÉ, the broadcaster said.

When I spoke in the Dáil on the debate on RTÉ’s decision to pay €85,000 in settlement over comments made on The Saturday Night Show, I did so not just as a gay person, but also as a member of society who wants to be treated equally.

WHEN did Barack Obama cease to be homophobic? Is Enda Kenny redeemed from his homophobia? If some of the hoopla of recent days is to be taken seriously, then anybody who doesn’t favour same sex marriage can be described as homophobic.

Drag artist Miss Panti’s impassioned speech about the vulnerability of gay people in society has exposed shallowness of the same-sex marriage debate

A Fine Gael TD is demanding to know why RTE did not push the option of a "right of reply" in light of legal complaints over the Panti Bliss episode of the Saturday Night Show.

The debate about homophobia in Ireland took centre stage in the Dáil with Fine Gael TD Jerry Buttimer describing how he was “beaten, spat at, chased, harassed and mocked because of who I am”.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has said he will not interfere in RTÉ's decision to make a settlement of €85,000 in relation to comments made in a discussion on gay rights on The Saturday Night Show.

Broadcaster defends €85k payout over ‘homophobia’ claims

From Russia to Ireland, gay rights activists are asserting themselves as never before, writes Dan Buckley

The Minister for Communications, Pat Rabbitte, has hit out at the notion that people involved in public debate should "reach for the defamation laws" to vindicate their points of view.

Performer Panti Bliss - aka Rory O'Neill - gave an impassioned speech at the Abbey Theatre on Saturday. The clip of 'Panti's Noble Call' has now garnered worldwide attention.

A protest against homophobia is taking place in Dublin this afternoon following controversy over comments made by the gay rights activist Rory O'Neill on RTÉ's 'Saturday Night Show' last month.