in deniall - The blog of Niall Farrell

Thanks for reading

2010-08-23T05:42:00.000-07:00

I've decided to completely stop blogging here. Mainly because I just can't keep it up. I will continue blogging on sports over at nfsport.wordpress.com and reporting for extratime.ie. I can also be found over at DublinObserver.com, where I'm co-editor.

Thanks for reading, anyway. Do keep an eye out for me.

Bank bailout protest

2010-04-30T09:05:00.000-07:00

I deem very few press releases worthy of publication, however one that was sent to me today caught my eye.

Enough is Enough, a protest at bank bailouts, takes place next Tuesday May 11, assembling at the Garden of Remembrance at 7.30pm. Organised by the Right to Work movement and the UNITE trade union, protesters will march to the Dail.

Speakers at the protest will include Fintan O'Toole, John Kidd (SIPTU Firefighters), Janette Byrne (Patients Together), Walter Cullen (Unite trade union), John Bissett (Canal Communities Project), Professor Kathleen Lynch (UCD) and Siobhan O 'Donoghue (Community Workers Co-op).

Aaaaaaaaaand now for the press release:

WHY WE ARE MARCHING
* EUR33 billion of OUR money has already been put into the banks.
* This government is destroying our public services to pay for the bill.
* Instead of pouring vast sums into these banks, we should take them into public control and make the wealthy pay for their economic crimes.
* We need to change economic policy to help the half a million people who are unemployed.
* We should set up a public works programme to provide jobs and build up our public services.
* We should resist wage cuts. Wage cuts mean less spending in our economy - and more jobs losses.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH
Don't just sit at home and get angry. People power is the only way to bring real change. So come out on the streets and make your voice heard. This government needs to receive one big message: GET OUT OF OFFICE.

GET INVOLVED:
The Right to Work Campaign brings together trade unionists, community activists and the unemployed to say: BAIL OUT JOBS AND SERVICES NOT BANKS

We won't let this government divide us between public sector and private sector workers; migrant and non-migrant. We want solidarity - not divide and rule tactics.
After the March to the Dail, we invite you to the Right to Work National Conference on Saturday May 22nd in the UNITE Hall 55-56 Middle Abbey Street, Dublin 1, starting at 12pm.
This is a conference of Resistance and Solidarity and we want to hear your suggestions for how to step up our campaign
If you want to know more about our conference or get involved with the Right to Work Campaign,

* You can text JOIN to 087 2604143
* E Mail: Righttowork@live.com
* Or write to Right to Work Campaign 42 Woodavens, Clondalkin, Dublin 22

Goings-on in Glasnevin

2010-04-04T15:12:00.000-07:00

I'm not an avid follower of Student's Union politics in DCU. However I tend to perk up a bit around election time. This year is possibly the most controversial election yet though.

Something happened. What happened, not many are sure of yet.

The jist of it is (from what I've learned so far) a high profile election candidate was proposed by someone in DCU who was not an enrolled student. Yet had been lying about it all along.

It wouldn't be a huge thing, except that the SU have decided to tell a small group of people around them Class Representatives were sent this email, yet noone else was sent it. The class reps have, in their wisdom, decided not to send it to their constituents.

Nice to see the future FF/FG/Labour hacks starting early anyway. Cover-up training 101 going on over in The Hub.

Following on from a discussion over on boards.ie.

Why the lag? Irish interactivity

2010-03-30T02:54:00.000-07:00

Why are Irish newspapers so behind in their online interactivity?

Many point to The Irish Times as a model for newspapers to move online. However the overwhelming majority of their online reporting is simply copied from the newspaper itself.

A better model is the Mayo News. The Mayo News is the only local newspaper in Ireland to offer regular podcasts. It pioneered the digital edition, for which a small fee is charged. The “contact us” page is fairly comprehensive as it allows people to email in stories directly.

The Mayo News also pioneers “hyper local” news through the many twitter accounts of the newspaper. The national titles (Indo and Examiner, I’m looking at you) should learn from the Mayo News.

Cross-posted from my other blog, where I post semi-regularly for my Online Journalism class.

Monday Round-Up 15 March 2010

2010-03-15T12:06:00.000-07:00

Lots of interesting reports have come out of the South by Southwest Interactive (SXSWi) conference held over the last few days. One which caught my sports-loving eye was how cricket's Indian Premier League is the new buzzword in social networking. A model for sport, particularly now revenue streams are down.

The shocking news broke that the HSE left a 16 year old in an Internet Cafe overnight because of a lack of beds. Remember that it came after the Tracey Fay scandal and that makes for an even more astonishing blunder.

Reuters started telling their reporters not to break news on twitter. As Mark Little says, "if Reuters have to tell their reporters not to break news on Twitter they are losing."

In an interview about his new film; Michael Moore, a supporter of US President Obama, said "our enthusiasm for President Obama has been taken to a level of extreme disappointment. The fact that he and the Democrats have not come in with guns blazing and done the job that we elected them to do is very disappointing."

I also saw a fantastic video on TED about how innovation in design can save newspapers. Jacek Utko details his experience of redesigning Eastern European newspapers and how their sales rocketed following redesign.

AND FINALLY...

StumbleUpon is fantastic for some things, such as alerting me to stories like how the "Bank of America apologises for repossessing parrot". Need I say more?

I also found some Zombie Hunters in Glasnevin.

WikiLeaks was investigated by US government

2010-03-15T11:41:00.000-07:00

Today I tweeted about the news that US intelligence planned to destroy WikiLeaks. A 2008 report from the US Army Counterintelligence Centre, entitled "Wikileaks.org—An Online Reference to Foreign Intelligence Services, Insurgents, or Terrorist Groups?" was launched to investigate the threat posed to the US Army by WikiLeaks.

In the key judgements of the document, it concludes that "The possibility that current employees or moles within DoD or elsewhere in the US government are providing sensitive or classified information to Wikileaks.org cannot be ruled out. The claim made by Wikileaks.org that former US government employees leaked sensitive and classified information is highly suspect, however, since Wikileaks.org states that the anonymity of the whistleblowers or leakers is one of its primary goals."

WikiLeaks has long been a tool for people to view documents that would otherwise not be obtainable. As The Guardian says; "[WikiLeaks] ... serves as an uncensorable and untraceable depository for the truth, able to publish documents that the courts may prevent newspapers and broadcasters from being able to touch."

The key judgements conclude, "Web sites such as Wikileaks.org use trust as a center of gravity by protectingthe anonymity and identity of the insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers. The identification, exposure, termination of employment, criminal prosecution, legal action against current or former insiders, leakers, or whistleblowers could potentially damage or destroy this
center of gravity and deter others considering similar actions from using the Wikileaks.org Web site."

Harney's boo-boo

2010-03-10T00:24:00.000-08:00

I listened with interest this morning as Mary Harney went on Morning Ireland to discuss the role she played in the controversy around the non-review of 57,000 X-rays at Tallaght hospital.

Harney said that the protocol for dealing with a situation of malpractice follows;
1.Ensure that the practice has stopped
2.Ensure a speedy review takes place
3.Inform patients of the malpractice
4.Inform the public

With RTE News (Radio 1, 8am) saying that up to 15,000 of the 57,000 patients had not been informed, what has Harney been doing? She had the time to inform all patients, given that the top brass in Tallaght knew all about this last summer.

One person has died already and another is seriously ill partly due to misdiagnosis.

Is this the smell of another political casualty in the air?

'There's going to be a change. Things are going to catch up.'

2010-03-09T11:44:00.000-08:00

Mark Little spoke at the DCU Journalism Society last night about Online Journalism.

One of the many questions he answered was "how do you make money from sharing [news on the web]"

His answer:

"A hard question, because ultimately from my point of view there's no point in having a social use for journalism unless there's a sustainable model behind it... Advertising can't be relied upon at the moment, but if you look at the advertising statistics they show that about 10% of advertising goes online. And yet we as people spend 20% of our time online in the Western World. You can see that there's going to be a change. Things are going to catch up. More advertising will go online. The problem is advertisers are scared silly of sharing on social networks because they can't trust the content on it.
What will happen I think, and what I'm trying to do, is we have to create new channels of distribution of ProAm content- professional and amateur put together.
Selling raw content isn't going to work anymore- it doesn't make money on a community. What you make money from is the community."

More will be posted on my other blog in the coming days

Sunday Round-up 21 Feb 2010

2010-02-21T13:43:00.000-08:00

Hopefully every Sunday I'll get to do a round up of all that is good on the web in the week gone by.

Starting with something close to my heart, Blurred Keys wrote about the visit of Press Ombudsman to DCU, but they took a different angle than I did here. BK focused on the role the Press Ombudsman has as a mediator and how seriously he takes some complaints.

Irish Election is one blog I always keep an eye on, and they have an excellent post on the fallout from the Willie O'Dea resignation (as do The Story).

The Story also had a copy of WOD's resignation letter.

The DCU Journalism Society (I'll admit it, I am on the committee) announced that they will award Mark Little with honorary membership after he gives a talk on journalism in the digital age.

Journosoc will host BBC Journalist Alan Johnston tomorrow (expect a blog post on here afterwards).

And finally, I remembered what the first CD I ever bought was;

Irish newspapers in 5 years: The Press Ombudsman

2010-02-19T12:01:00.000-08:00

Press Ombudsman Professor John Horgan addressed the DCU Journalism Society last night. In his address to the inaugural meeting of the society, Professor Horgan had some interesting thoughts on new media and the internet.

"Their business model is in serious trouble" said Professor Horgan of the Irish newspaper industry.

Asked where he sees Irish media being in five years time, Professor Horgan stated; "I think newspapers will probably continue. They’ve [gone through] all sorts of threats to their existence [before]. They will probably be smaller and more expensive. The web will have mushroomed but it will also have taken some kind of shape. Just as the 18th and 19th century; newspapers were pretty chaotic. Anybody could have their say and they pretty well did.

I have a strong view on the web actually. It is not a medium of mass communication in the way that a newspaper, radio or TV station is; it is a place where lots of people go to talk to other people on a one-to-one basis. There are things developing. You have a very interesting thing in Holland; where there are two web-based publications that are regular publications. They have applied to join to Dutch Press Council although they don’t appear on paper at all.

There will be a climate of regulation, perhaps self-regulation, simply because whatever you publish you do want to be read and the best way of being read is if people trust what you’re saying.

We will have lost a few provincial papers I suspect. I think the national papers will survive but they will probably look quite different, have a greater web presence and a more integrated business model between the web side of things and the print side of things."

"Irish Muslims need to be more politically involved"

2010-01-22T08:47:00.000-08:00

British Muslim speaker and blogger Adam Deen came to DCU before Christmas to give talks on miracles in the Qu'ran and on The God Delusion. I caught up with him in DCU's Helix Cafe and in a lengthy discussion, I asked what Irish Muslims could do to better integrate themselves in to Irish society:

“Irish Muslims need to be more politically involved. They need to have their hands in all the institutions because what happened with Britain, for example, is that they were too complacent and they were too interested in having their day-to-day lives and just carrying on. When a tragic event like 7/7 happened, they were not prepared to defend themselves against claims made by people. Now they’re putting out fires, where before they could have painted a more positive picture of Islam. All that we’re doing now is defending, defending, defending and we’re not doing a very good job of that either. What Muslims can Ireland can learn from the UK is to keep politically involved. They’ve got to learn from our mistakes. "

Mr Deen also spoke of the need for Muslims to distinguish themselves from the more radical elements of their faith;

"We also have idiots going out and putting fuel on the fire. Muslims need to ostracise these people."

Finally, I asked Mr Deen about the distinct lack of Irish Muslims in politics. He quickly interjected, saying;

"I’m very against this idea of people being just being a “Muslim candidate”. Muslims need to pull in votes from outside their own community."

Many thanks to Ms. Khaula Bhutta and the DCU Islamic Society for allowing me the time to interview Adam Deen.

Public Sector Protest Photos

2009-11-25T16:20:00.000-08:00

Click on images for full size on my photoblog (here).

The Lisbon Treaty: The Socialist Party View

2009-09-29T02:07:00.000-07:00

Here follows an interview with Stephen Rigney of the Socialist Party, Parliamentary Assistant to Joe Higgins MEP

Sum up for us, in 30 words or less (or as brief as possible), why the Socialist Party is opposed to the Lisbon Treaty.

We believe that the Lisbon Treaty enshrines the concept of the free market, the privatisation of healthcare and education and the "race to the bottom" in wages and conditions, while giving a huge impetus to the militarisation of Europe. It is a continuation of the same failed policies that have resulted in this economic crisis.

Why do you think unions like SIPTU are in favour of the treaty?

Well, we'd draw a very sharp line between the rank-and-file membership of unions like SIPTU and the leadership who support the Lisbon Treaty. The leadership's support for Lisbon is directly related to the fact that they have no faith or confidence in their membership to get active and to organise against attacks on wages and conditions. They are committed to the idea of Social Partnership, where workers should not rely on their own strength and ability to demand decent pay and conditions but that they should seek agreements with the bosses to be given a few scraps off the table, while big business dines on a five course meal. Despite the fact that Social Parternship has been blown apart by this recession, they are still hoping that they can cobble together some sort of deal on the basis of the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which will come info force if Lisbon is passed. They hope that somehow the rights in the Charter will give legal protection to workers in pay and conditions and this will prevent employers from introducing pay cuts and job losses and force them back to negotiations. On a superficial level, the CFR contains many fine phrases and articles about workers' rights but in practice, the European Court of Justice has ruled on a number of occassions that the rights in the CFR are subordinate to the rights of the market and the rights of big business to make profits. The Charter itself, along with its official explanations are very specific and clear about the limitations of fundamental rights, when they interfere with the running of the market. In fact, by enshring the Charter of Fundamental Rights, it will actually only re-inforce the limitations on workers rights and the vicious anti-worker rulings of the ECJ. Despite the conservatism of the union leaderships and their wishful thinking, the only road that will be left open to workers to defend pay and conditions will be to take industrial action and get organised.

Joe Higgins MEP made a great point the other day when he said that part of the treaty (which says that alcoholics and drug addicts should be involuntarily 'confined') goes against the Mental Health Act 2001. Why has no-one else, even on the No side, picked up on this?

There are a lot of important points in this debate which unfortunately have not really featured in the discussion or in the media. The No side has had an uphill battle throughout the campaign in trying to fight their corner and put forward their ideas. The blatant bias of the mainstream media has meant that the Yes side has received a lot more coverage and it's made it very difficult for the No side to get all their points across, particularly when those issues are outside of the "key" issues of workers' rights, militarisation, the democratic deficit and public services. it's just unfortunate that more important issues like this one do not coverage.

We're all hearing a lot about the minimum wage and that it could be altered; what, if anything, in the Treaty could change our minimum wage?

The Treaty itself will make no direct change to the minimum wage. Claims by Cóir that it will do so and reduce the legal minimum wage to €1.84 not only confuse and muddle the real debate on the content of the Lisbon Treaty and what it means but also provides ammunition to the establishment to paint the No side as liars. These claims are an absolute distraction.

There has been an ongoing attempt by big business throughout Europe to lower wages and conditions by forcing workers into competition against each other through a "race to the bottom". The rulings of the ECJ in the Viking, Ruffert and Laval cases are a very significant confirmation that the EU elite are in favour of these policies. The ECJ rulings effectively said that trade unions have no right to take industrial action against companies "posting" cheaper labour from abroad if it interferes or makes it more difficult for a foreign company to set-up in another state. The Court also ruled that employers "posting" workers abroad are not obliged to meet industry agreements or norms but are only required to meet the minimum employment conditions in that country. Even more significantly, the ruling against the state of Luxembourg means that national states cannot impose legislation on foreign companies over and above the minimum legal requirements, if it has any detrimental impact on the company establishing a base in that state. This is a very clear sign that the rights of workers to decent pay and conditions is subordinate to the right to make profit. By setting the minimum wage and not industry standards and agreements as the only bar that has to be reached by multinationals, the minimum wage is quickly becoming the maximum. Lisbon and the Charter will do absolutely nothing to prevent this as the rights contained in the Charter are limited and based upon the rights contained in the other European Treaties. These are the same Treaties that the ECJ based its judgements on!

What does the Socialist Party make of some of the more right-wing elements of the No campaign like Coir and Libertas? Is this an uneasy alliance, or do they raise some valid points?

As I said above, the outlandish claims of groups like Cóir are an actual distraction from the real debate. These groups all have their own axe to grind around issues that have no real impact on the lives or ordinary working people and in certain cases, around non-issues that the Lisbon Treaty does not even concern. They've attempted to turn this debate towards a narrow nationalist outlook on Europe and in the case of UKIP, this is an attempt to whip up racist ideas. Unfortunately, the media and establishment have tried to elevate these groups as the leaders of the No campaign in an attempt to dismiss the entire No side as extremist or anti-European groups. By responding to their strawmen arguments and elevating them as real issues, they can easily knock them down and attempt to portray all the No arguments equally as strawmen.

We cannot choose who is part of the No side but we will continue to run our own campaign, independent of these groups.

Finally, why is Joe Higgins the only MEP opposing the Treaty?

Ultimately, all the other MEPs and their parties are proponents of the status quo in Europe, one where the rights of the market and the rights of profit and big business are king. They offer no alternative to this kind of Europe and the capitalist system that it's based around and so inevitably they have to row behind the Treaty.

The Socialist Party stands for a different kind of European Union, one that's based on the rights of workers and young people to a decent job, decent pay and decent conditions. We support a Europe that's based on democratic socialism, where industry and production is run on the basis of providing goods and services to people, not on providing exploitation and profit to big business.

The Lisbon Treaty: The OSF View

2009-09-28T01:47:00.000-07:00

This is an interview with Marcas O' Mhaoldomhnaigh, Ógra Shinn Féin National PRO.

Can you sum up, in 30 words or less, why OSF are opposed to the Lisbon Treaty?

Ógra Shinn Féin are opposed to the Lisbon Treaty because if passed it would result in a

further militarized EU where smaller states have less say. While further undermining workers rights it

also contains a Revision Procedure which would allow heads of state remove vetoes in particular areas in the future.

We've all seen the Sinn Fein posters about increased militarisation in the EU if the Treaty is passed.

Explain briefly how the Treaty will enshrine militarisation if it is passed.

If passed the Lisbon Treaty would require member states to increase their military capacities.

The treaty also states that in the event of "armed aggression" being directed at a member state then all

other members states are required to intervene or provide assistance (Art.188R). This undermines Irish neutrality.

However this is not all, the Treaty also talks about "assisting third countries in combating terrorism in their territories".(Art.28)

This part is particularly disturbing as it could justify the use of troops in places like Afghanistan.

Would OSF be in favour of a new Treaty? If so, what would OSF like to see in a new treaty?

ÓSF are pro-Europe and if a new treaty which protected Workers Rights, Irish neutrality and many of the other issues we have highlighted

were to be put forward then I believe we would support it. (Please note I can't say for definite we would as it would have to be put before the SF Ard Comhairle,

however assuming everything we had outlined was protected etc. then I would see no reason why we would oppose it).

A group called Generation Yes has been targeting young people out and telling them to vote Yes. Does the Treaty have anything in it that may specifically concern Youth voters?

First off I would like to say something about Generation Yes. This group has consistently criticized opposition groups by stating that we have not been dealing with the text of the treaty ( http://www.generationyes.ie/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/sfblinkers ) while saying that they have. This is untrue, SF and many of the other groups have consistently dealt with the text of the treaty while groups like GY have resorted to laughable scaremongering such as saying that "Some people think Ireland will have to leave the EU, others think there isn’t a legal way to do this. No one knows for certain what will happen if we vote ‘no’." ( http://www.generationyes.ie/lisbon-treaty-guide/ ). Well perhaps if GY knew anything about how the EU works they would realize that no country can be marginalised under the current EU, nor can we leave unless we actually vote to remove ourselves from the EU. However if the LT is passed then, in the future, a situation where countries may be forced out could arise.

I would also question the alleged "independence" of a group whos first meeting was held at IBEC headquarters in Dublin.

Does the Treaty have anything in it that may specifically concern Youth voters? Why should Youth voters vote No?

The EU certainly concerns youth voters. It is about the future direction of the European Union.

If young people want to see Europe where workers rights are protected, where Irish neutrality is not undermined and where we have a

strong voice in Europe they should vote no. The government had a strong mandate to go back to Europe and demand a renegotiated treaty.

They failed the Irish people in this regard and are forcing them to vote again on the same treaty. Young people should vote no, to allow a better treaty to be negotiated which does not give more power to larger states or facilitate a "race to the bottom" in terms of

publuic services.

For a more democratic and de-militarised Europe, people should vote No.

Many thanks to Marcas O' Mhaoldomhnaigh for his time and patience.

The Lisbon Treaty: The CYM View

2009-09-25T08:51:00.000-07:00

I'm starting a series of articles which are interviews with people opposed to the Lisbon Treaty.

First up is Gareth Murphy, General Secretary of the Connolly Youth Movement (CYM).

NF: Sum up for us, in 30 words or less, why the CYM is opposed to the Lisbon Treaty?

GM: The Lisbon Treaty further erodes the sovereignty of member-states and gives further power and policy control over to unelected bureaucrats. This Treaty actually rewards those that have driven the economic crisis that is putting ordinary workers and their families out of work. (Not quite 30 words but that's concise enough.)

A lot of people have a lot to say about the provisions made or not made in the Treaty regarding Worker's Rights. Sum up for us briefly the situation regarding Worker's Rights in the Treaty.

The Charter of Fundamental Rights is subject to non-interference with the ‘general interest’ of the EU that is the common market. These rights are therefore not fundamental but marketised –made subject to the market. The unelected European Court of Justice will decide where and when these rights are applicable and when not. We have seen several cases over the last number of years where the ECJ has came down firmly on the side of big business and against workers rights and trade union rights.

What does the CYM make of the intrusion of big businesses like Intel and Ryanair into the debate on the Yes side?

Our NO vote rocked the establishment. Big business and their bureaucrats in Brussels were not at all happy with the expressed wish of the Irish people (just like that of the French and Dutch before us). This time around the YES side is taking no chances so they have pulled out the celebrities and the big bucks to bully citizens into voting a certain way. This is EU democracy at work. Today, as we speak, there are thousands of unregistered and unfiltered lobbyists wining and dining the authors of legislating that increasingly impacts every part of our lives. This is how Europe works and we oppose it.

Similarly, what does the CYM make of the intrusion of the UK Independence Party into the debate on the No side?

There are many different voices on the No side. In Ireland we have trade unionists and peoples voices, we also have a catholic part of the No side and also in Libertas and Declan Ganley a business group against Lisbon.

There are complex reasons as to why people on the right are opposed to the Treaty and UKIP are most certainly on the right. They see some of the anti-trust and monopoly regulation of the EU as intereference in the market and in business and so oppose.

However UKIP and Libertas are correct in identifying the loss of sovereignty that will occur post-Lisbon. UKIP and their allies have also done enormous research into the waste of money and the cost of EU membership to ordinary citizens. This research is useful for all of us to use.

Does the CYM see a future for Ireland in Europe?

Europe is a geographic entity. Whether we like it or not Ireland is part of Europe. We also share many commonalities with the people of the continent and it makes perfect geographic sense that Europe should forge trading and economic links. However the EU is a political project. From day one, and one must only read Monnet and Schumman etc to see, this has been a project to build a federal state without ever telling the people so. It has been about manipulation and abuse.

The CYM are very much opposed to this imperialist (for it cant be anything but that given the federalisation of the large capitalist powers in Europe) state.

There are living and developing examples of alternative means of trading within geographic speheres. Where states come together and agree upon cooperation for mutual benefit. ALBA (Bolivarian Alternative for Latin America) is a fine example of this.

People of Europe must fight to reclaim sovereignty, reclaim control and step by step build alliances and an alternative means of cooperation based upon the needs of people and not big business.

Many thanks to Gareth Murphy, General Secretary of the Connolly Youth Movement for his time and patience.

54.5 million for Polish Dell plant

2009-09-23T15:48:00.000-07:00

The EU, in its wisdom, has decided that now would be a good time to grant Poland a 54.5 million euro aid package to help launch the Dell plant that recently moved to Poland from Limerick (See here).

RTE say; "After an in-depth investigation, the EU competition authority said the aid was compatible with the bloc's rules, despite protests from Ireland, where Dell is closing its factory in Limerick...The Commission said its investigation had shown that job losses in Ireland would not be a consequence of the aid granted by the Polish authorities to the Lodz factory."

Patricia McKenna of the People's Movement says (and I agree with her); “this decision by the European Commission is a slap in the face to Irish workers and exposes the EU’s hypocrisy and disregard for Irish jobs. It is truly ironic that the EU Commission is here in Ireland urging Irish voters to vote ‘Yes’ to the Lisbon Treaty under the guise of jobs and the economy, while it is
allowing new member states like Poland to provide massive financial bribes to companies to move their operations out of Ireland.”

See the full press release by Patricia McKenna here

Jim Corr on Lisbon

2009-09-23T14:57:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd get back to blogging at last, after a long sojourn.

Jim Corr on Lisbon. That would have been a strange sentence a while ago, not now though.

The Yes side has Robbie Keane and Seamus Heaney... the No side has Jim Corr.

In fairness though, he makes more sense than most who speak about the Lisbon Treaty. Who's starting a "Jim Corr for Ireland East MEP" campaign?

Tabula Rasa for Sinn Féin?

2009-08-10T05:58:00.000-07:00

Today I will be watching the Sinn Féin “activist meeting” in Navan with much interest (see here).

Sinn Féin at the moment is in turmoil, left reeling after the local elections and European elections didn’t go to plan.

People will sneer and make jibes towards Sinn Féin, but I have always found that at a local level, Sinn Féin councillors and TDs do work considerably harder than some of their counterparts.

The potential is there for Sinn Féin to grow, although there seems to be a division between the more socialist- and republican- leaning elements in the party.

Sinn Féin has been left without a genuine leader in much of the South. After Mary Lou McDonald lost her MEP seat, senior party members like Aengus O’Snodaigh has failed to fill Mary Lou’s place in the Dublin publics’ eye.

Grassroots-level Sinn Féiners like Christy Burke and former Wexford councillor John Dwyer have expressed discontent with the upper echelons of Sinn Féin, and this schism needs to be addressed if Sinn Féin is to progress.

Another topic up for discussion is the party position on Lisbon II. While I don’t think the “No” position is in doubt, it will still be interesting to see what the debate throws up

Bertie a NOTW journalist?

2009-08-04T09:27:00.000-07:00

Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has agreed to become a sports journalist for the Irish News Of The World, writing a weekly column for the Sunday edition of the tabloid.

Why?

Because he’s a “fan” I’d say. A fan of English football. Really, could the NOTW not get someone decent?

see here

and @IrishTimesBiz on twitter who broke the story

My summer of Irish holidays

2009-08-04T08:55:00.000-07:00

In 2006, there were 6,981,000 trips made by Irish people abroad. That means that the average Irish person made nearly two trips abroad that year.

There are no statistics for this year available, but from asking people I found that many who would normally holiday abroad in a resort in Spain or Portugal in the summer were considering holidaying at home instead, as were those who may go abroad more than once per summer.

The reasons for this decrease in overseas travel are fairly obvious, but the opportunity is there for Ireland to capitalise on increased domestic tourism.

This summer I did not go abroad. I stayed and travelled in my own country. Here I offer my views on the various destinations I travelled to around Ireland.

Galway

I started out my summer early with a weekend in Galway city in late April. Staying in the lovely (and reasonably priced) Jury’s Hotel opposite the Spanish Arch and overlooking Galway Bay, this was my first ever trip to Galway.

Getting there wasn’t a problem, as the hotel is within 15 minutes of the train station and bus depot. Getting around Galway is easy, with most of the sights within walking distance of the city centre.

Walking along Galway Bay at sunset was a favourite pastime of mine and if you start at the hotel you can take in the Spanish Arch and wonderful views of both the bay an the city of the tribes.

Going out to Connemara is a must. Although many bus companies run buses from the city out to Connemara, I managed to swindle a lift out to Connemara from a relative. Driving out towards Inverin (Indreabhan) and Spiddle (Spideal) we took in great views of the Atlantic coast and the various picturesque villages we passed through.

Wexford

Since I was a young boy, I, like many Dublin people, have holidayed in Wexford. This year I stayed in the lovely village of Blackwater (midway between Wexford town and Enniscorthy) which is easily accesible through the N11 from Dublin and is a long-time haunt of mine. Although the village suffered a big loss this year when the Blackwater Lodge Hotel shut down, it still retains a few Guesthouses, including the Innishladhru Guesthouse.

The mid-Wexford area is ideal for walking and cycling, and Blackwater features a number of excellent routes. A short walk starting at the side entrance to Etchinghams will take you along the Blackwater river and through a small wood, leaving you on the road to Ballyconnigar Strand. From here you can head on to the beach or back to the village. Canoeing along the Blackwater and down to the sea at Ballyconnigar is also really worth a try.

Wexford is famous for the quality of the beaches in the county, and Blackwater possesses a number of beautiful beaches. Ballyconnigar is the nearest beach, although it is quite rocky. You can continue along the beach for miles, taking in the beaches at Ballyvalloo, Ballinesker (where the D-Day scene in Saving Private Ryan was filmed) and Curracloe. All of these beaches are brilliant for sunbathingn and swimming and all are easily accesible by turning off the main Blackwater – Wexford road.

Wexford town is a 20-minute drive and is a great place for a spot of shopping. The town features a number of sights worth taking in, not least the bridge (the longest bridge in Ireland) going in to the town from the Blackwater road, which goes across the sea. There is also the recently redeveloped Wexford Opera House, Bride St. And St. Iberius Churches, the Highlanes Art Gallery and Cafe, and the wonderful boardwalk along the harbour.

Mayo

After my trip to the South-East, I headed West again, where I had the fortune of staying in the beautiful village of Mulranny. Mulranny features perhaps the most uniquely beautiful beach I have ever seen. The village proves to be an ideal base for travelling to see Achill or Westport (the nearest train and bus station) which are both around 30 minutes away. The local Mulranny Park Inn once accomodated John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and features a lovely restauraunt and bar.

Achill is a famous destination for tourists, with highlights being the abandoned famine village up a mountain and the beaches and sea-views on the island. A trip to Broadhaven Bay is also recommended, to see the ongoing Shell To Sea protest camp and controversial Shell gas terminal (however the scenery in the bay is truly breathtaking, even if it is somewhat sullied by the sheer amount of security and heavy machinery in the area). Westport is a town also worth a visit, with many of the local beaches ideal for surfing and wind-surfing.

Monaghan

The very mention of “Monaghan” usually brings up memories of Patrick Kavanagh poems learned off in school, or else a different response- “Where?”. For a county so often bypassed on the way North or West, Monaghan has a lot to offer.

I spent a weekend in Dartry wood, which is near the Cavan border (Rockcorry and Cootehill are the nearest towns.) I stayed in the Tanagh Outdoor Education Centre facilities (Tanagh OEC do activity weekends for groups in the area.) Tanagh OEC led us on forest hikes through Dartry wood, and a canoeing trip through the same forest (which also featured impromptu swimming.)

I didn’t manage to see much outside the forest, but the scenery was romantic and truly memorable both in the forest and on the bus home.

Indonesia Unite

2009-07-19T06:22:00.000-07:00

There's another example of how twitter is being used at the forefront of politics going on right now.

"Indonesia Unite" is a movement which aims to show that the country is united against terrorism after the attacks on the JW Marriot and Ritz Carlton Hotels in Jakarta. See the below video for aerial footage of the scene where the attacks took place.

The movement is calling on people to use the tag #indonesiaunite at the end of their posts and use the Indonesian flag as their profile picture (see here). At the moment it is among the top trending topics on twitter.

Here is an Indonesian website aiming to popularise the movement. Twitter never ceases to enthral me.

Sitting on the gangland fence

2009-07-12T10:33:00.000-07:00

The recent criminal justice bill passed through the Dail left me on the fence. On one hand, it’s easy to see that action must be taken to combat gang crime, particularly (though not exclusively) in Dublin and Limerick. On the other hand, I can see how it may impinge on someone’s human rights- someone only needs to be suspected of being involved with a gang to be arrested and tried in the Special Criminal Court (SCC).

In my state of tandem, I looked to see how other countries have dealt with gangs in the past. The result seems to be the same across the board- they are either killed (in countries like China) or tried with no jury (as in Italy). I would look to Italy as one of the world leaders in dealing with gang crime, as their handling of the Mafia has been very effective.

In may ways, the situation in ‘gangland’ Ireland is reminiscent of the situation in 1970s Mafia-ridden Italy. In Ireland, as in Italy, gangs are very much a family business. In Italy there was the Corleones, in Ireland we have the McCarthy-Dundons. Gangs do not simply ‘die out’ when they are family and community based. Action needs to be taken, and power needs to be given to Police forces to combat gangs.

Trial without jury does go against the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights – most notably Article 9 which states; “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile” but also Article 7; “All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination.” As I heard on Karen Coleman’s The Wide Angle on Newstalk this morning, if this (arbitrary detention) happened elsewhere (for example Guantanamo Bay) there would be complete opposition in Ireland.

The simple fact is, however, that this is not happening elsewhere. This is happening on our doorsteps, and as such, immediate action is needed. As I have already said, trial by jury is ‘best practice’ in this area. In times of crisis, there needs to be more power given to crime-fighting than the criminals have themselves.

Another interesting option is taking the approach modelled in the USA in dealing with the infamous MS-13 (Mara Salvatrucha) gang. This gang is mainly baised in the Central American immigrant community, and is also quite family based. The US Joint Forces Command warned this January that Mexico could be on the verge of collapse, and in the Joint Operating Environment report, which contains projections of global threats and potential wars, puts Mexico on the same level as Pakistan (see here). This is due, largely, to the prevalence of gangs such as MS-13 and their activity in Mexico.

A new FBI taskforce was established in 2005 to deal exclusively with MS-13 (see the USA Today report here). Maybe there should be an elite unit of Gardai equipped to deal with gangs, with branches in Limerick and Dublin. This unit would receive special training, be independent and answerable directly to the Minister for Justice.

The entire issue is complicated, but it is crucial that we look at this as a single thread in a gang problem that reaches across the entire world.

Now here's something truly scary

2009-07-11T16:05:00.000-07:00

Forget horror movies, the Irish Economy is where it's at if you want to b e scared these days.

I came across this in my boredom today. It's a real-time counter for Ireland's debt. I find it truly terrifying.

Speaking of terrifying things- the NTMA have a website which details excellently how buggered the country is.

It even has a strange disclaimer before you enter the site, which reminded me of the health warnings that accompany cigarettes.

The above chart- also courtesy of the NTMA (via politics.ie) - is similarly scary.

This Hallowe'en, I'm dressing up as a statistic.

The thing about fees is...

2009-07-11T12:49:00.000-07:00

My feelings towards the re-introduction of student fees were initially quite straightforward- a big NO. I felt that it would impact most on the lower-income students who were already struggling to cope with university registration fees and accomodation costs. I even spoke to Eamon Gilmore one night in the ‘Green Room’ (If you could call it that) of RTE’s Questions and Answers and urged him to oppose the re-introduction of college fees wholeheartedly. I said that it would stop people from disadvantaged areas going to college, using my own area of Crumlin/Walkinstown as an example. I told him that I was the only one of my group of seven childhood friends to go on to third-level education and that I was one of a handful of people my age in the area I knew who went to university.

Then, as I spent more time in DCU, I realised that it wasn’t all so simple. As it is, there are very few people from any sort of ‘disadvantaged’ areas going to college. DCU’s ‘Access’ programme, which allows ‘working class’ students to go to DCU, doesn’t seem to extend to the southside of our city. Where are all the Access students from Dolphin’s Barn? Jobstown? Ballyfermot? Killinarden? The majority of people in colleges come from at least a reasonably well-off background. As a result, it seems, the majority seem to be terribly relaxed towards their college degree. One lecturer in my course resigned recently after a series of (at least a little bit) unwarranted and exaggerated claims were made against her by my fellow students. College, to these people, is about ‘the buzz’ and ‘the craic’, not the degree.

My message to the Department of Education is this; bring back college fees through the Australian system of student loans. This system is where a student pays no registration fee or fee initially for their course, but instead repays their debt after they have graduated and reached a certain income threshold (which has not been specified). According to The Irish Times in this article, the system could yield e380 million once it is fully operational (although it will cost e75 million per year initially). The amount to be repaid- the loan- will be a minimum of e21,000, with the fee increasing depending on the field of study.

I am in favour of this scheme. Granted, if I was to be selfish I could oppose it, as it will cost students significantly more than a degree costs currently, but we have to look at things (as FF keep telling us) ‘in the wider plan’. The one thing I would advise is that any scheme must be means-tested. The higher your family’s income, the higher your loan should be. Maybe this would force the wealthier students out there into actually thinking before they select a course to study, and not just go to a course because of the ‘buzz’ in the particular university.

There should, however, be certain caveats in any such scheme (as Mark Coughlan points out in his excellent post here). There should, most definitely, be no freeze in third-level recruitment enforced through the loan scheme. The loan scheme must be adequately funded if it is to work correctly. Finally, the ‘Access’ programme, as seen in DCU, should be extended to all colleges (and funded by the institution itself, in combination with the local county council) and it should be correctly applied, not simply to areas that once had ‘a bad name’. It too should be means tested and open to all.

To my fellow students who oppose the introduction of third level fees in any form (the USI et al); the current system of free education for all is nice, but completely unsustainable. Look around you, everyone is being hit. We happen to be in the ‘safe’ zone of university, we must share the hurt with our working brethren who are not so lucky.

Protest at Our Lady's Childrens Hospital, Crumlin

2009-06-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Seeing the numbers at the protest to save services in Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital, Crumlin was a little bit upsetting. I would estimate that just over 100 people were there. Where was everyone else? If people are able to go out and say how upset they are that Michael Jackson died, why don’t they get out and show their support for Irish children that could die if there are further cuts to the wards and staff in Crumlin hospital?

Dr. James Reilly, Fine Gael spokesman for health (above) spoke along with several parents of children who are waiting on operations at the hospital or are currently being treated there. Cllr Joan Collins (who did an interview on this blog here) led the chants of “Harney Harney Harney, OUT OUT OUT!” , “Brendan Drumm can you hear, we don’t want your cutbacks here” and “I don’t know but I have seen, the HSE is a death machine”.

The people who did turn out should be applauded for coming out, but where was everyone else? This hospital caters for all of the children nationwide, not just Dublin children. The next protest is on July 25th, please show your support.

You can access the campaign to save Our Lady's Children's Hospital in Crumlin's website here.

Playing games with the solitaire

2009-06-26T14:34:00.000-07:00

From breakingnews.ie

"A fisherman has been taken to hospital following a rescue operation by the Ballyglass Lifeboat off the Co Mayo coast this morning.

The man is understood to have collapsed on board a vessel in Broadhaven Bay.

He was brought to Ballyglass pier by the lifeboat and transferred to Castlebar General Hospital.

Gardaí later confirmed the fisherman was arrested shortly after 11am under the Public Order Act on suspicion of entering an exclusion zone thrown up by Shell around their pipeline works."

So the fisherman (Pat O'Donnell- whose boat the Iona Isle was recently sunk) was airlifted after he 'collapsed'?
I find that a bit hard to believe.
Then he was arrested, for going about his daily job (he was fishing in an area where Shell told him not to be fishing).
Yet again, no one listens, no one cares.

More moves in the left

2009-06-23T11:26:00.001-07:00

I saw this article today in the Fingal Independent about how the Socialist Party (SP) have gone in to coalition in Fingal County Council (FCC) with the Labour Party (Lab). Given the history of the SP (they grew from a split in the Labour party between Trotskyist and 'mainstream' factions) I was a little surprised to read of this coalition. Many people doubted whether the left could ever work together, is this the start of increased co-operation? It's quite interesting to contrast this SP/Lab coalition on Fingal County Council with the Fine Gael/Lab coalition in Dublin City Council.

Also, in the same issue of the Fingal Independent, I saw that Fine Gael councillors tried to block Joe Higgins MEP from speaking at the first meeting of the new FCC (see article here) as he is now both a County Councillor and MEP, and has two mandates. Let us not forget that the man was a TD and effectively the leader of the SP. Joe Higgins replied to the criticism by saying that the Fine Gael councillors; 'should have taken their Milk of Magnesia' before attending the meeting.

Now that's why Joe got my vote.

The role of the Western media in the Iranian 'downrising'

2009-06-21T04:20:00.000-07:00

Observing the events taking place in Iran now has taught me a few things about Iran, but also a few things about the Irish media.

The way in which the Irish media have portrayed the election and subsequent riots and protests is that they were an ‘uprising’ (As they were referred to on RTE Radio One’s Drivetime consistently during the week). Now, correct me if I’m wrong, but Mr Mousavi draws most of his support from the Middle classes and university graduates. Is this not, therefore, a downrising?

Sunday Tribune Northern Editor Suzanne Breen, speaking on the Marian Finucane Show this morning, spoke very eloquently about the “uprising”. Ms Breen made the point that if these riots and protests were on Irish streets, they would (correctly) be portrayed as the elite moving to get “their” candidate in power. Ms Breen said that the Irish media (and Western media anyway) is blindly following the Whitehouse line of “the wrong guy got in”.

A Reuters report (see here), featured on The Irish Times website today, said; “Iranian state television says 10 people were killed and more than 100 wounded in clashes between police and "terrorist groups" in Tehran, in an apparent reference to street unrest in the capital yesterday.” The very fact that the report found the need to use quotation marks to show the perceived fallacy of the phrase “terrorist groups” (which, as part of a quote, could have been included with “police”) shows the bias of the Western media.

The report goes on to say that some members of the exiled Mujahideen Khalq Organisation (who are actually designated as a terrorist organisation, even by the US State Department- see here- and were allied with Saddam Hussein’s Ba’ath party) were among those arrested.

The media needs to stop this distortion of the lines between fact and opinion in order to fulfil its duty and inform people of the news (which should always be fact).

Interview with People Before Profit Councillor Joan Collins

2009-06-17T14:21:00.000-07:00

Today I spoke with Councillor Joan Collins of People Before Profit who represents the Crumlin/Kimmage ward of Dublin City Council (DCC). Councillor Collins is a well known opponent of the bin tax, high-rise apartment blocks (and abuse of rezoning schemes in DCC) and the cutbacks to Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin (Crumlin Hospital). A councillor since 2004, Councillor Collins works in An Post and has been active in the trade union movement all her life.

NF: A lot of smaller leftist parties and left-leaning independents were elected in the last local elections. Do you think this is the start of a change in Irish politics, a protest vote or a combination of the two?

JC: I’d say it was a mixture of both. I think there is a change in the way people are thinking, obviously because of what has happened over the last year, the impact the cuts are having on people, how quickly they’ve come and how the government has been in the process.

Everyone knew what was happening a few years ago. Developers knew. People on the street knew what was happening because of all the apartments sitting empty. I remember people telling me “ah there’s an apartment building there; fifty apartments and not a person in one.” People knew that there was a downturn coming and the goverment tried to pretend it wasn’t happening.

We went into an official recession last November, so people would’ve seen it developing over a period of time. I think people are very very angry about the inaction of the government and the attack on ordinary peeople that was the last budget. The people that caused this are getting away with it; they’re the ones that are sitting pretty on their big pensions while we’re getting pension levies and cutbacks in our hospitals and communities.

People are seeing people like myself, activists who have been around a long time, as people who’ll kick Fianna Fáil out.

Do you predict a growth for People Before Profit in the future? Will you build on your five seats in DCC and challenge for a Dáil seat?

Yeah we got five council seats across Dublin which was a huge breakthrough as this was the first election we really campiagned as an organised force.

At People Before Profit we want to develop the movement now. I think People Before Profit is a good, catchy idea- it’s putting people before the greed, cronyism and profiteering we’ve had for years in this country.

We are in talks with the Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group, who have fourteen councillors across Tipperary and fourty-three percent of the vote, and they’ve been around for a long time. They also had a Dáil seat but lost it in the last General Election, like Joe Higgins did. We’re looking at linking up with them, and we’ve also been talking to people like Declan Bree in Sligo and Catherine Connolly in Galway, who’d be ex-Labour. Chris O’Leary in Cork who left the Green Party over their policies in government would be another one we’re talking to.

We’re looking at broadening it out now, we’ll be tallking to Joe Higgins and the Socialist Party because there’s a real need now for an alternative. To me Labour and Fine Gael aren’t real opposition. You could see that in Dublin where the working class didn’t really vote for Fine Gael, they know that they’re only a mirror image of Fianna Fáil.

Labour don’t seem to really have in them to go out into communities and get people organised. They talk the talk, but they don’t walk the walk. When they were out canvassing for the local elections they were all talking about going it on their own, now they’re going in with Fine Gael on the DCC. People voted for real change, not the same old crap they;re giving us on that council. They’ve linked up with Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Sinn Fein and all for chairmans seats on the Special Policy Committees.

There’s definitely a need for a group like the People Before Profit Alliance, and I think we will grow. We’re really calling on people like Joe Higgins to organise and build a new Workers’ movement, and hopefully then we can work with him.

You’re very much a campaigner on issues like the bin tax and the cutbacks to Crumlin hospital. How important is it for a successful election campaign to be centred on issues like these?

Well it’s really part of the process. Following on from what I was saying earlier about Labour talking the talk but not walking the walk; well people like myself, Brid Smith and Richard Boyd-Barrett are actually out in the communities organising people to stop bad things happening and to push good things happening. We successfully stopped the sale of ten percent of Pearse Park to a private developer and we also stopped the building of the high-rise apartments there. We stopped the rezoning of the park, and now we’re trying to work with the clubs there to have them go to the council and say “this is about what we want, not what you want.”

I remember a while ago the council commissioned an architect to draw up a plan for Crumlin Village. There was a meeting called, and a lot of people were excited as they went down to it. All it was was five-storey developments from one end of the village to the other. He was asked did he ever put his foot inside Crumlin, did he know the history of Crumlin, and he said he never had set foot in Crumlin, didn’t know a thing about it. That was DCC sending a green light out to developers, saying that this is the sort of thing they’ll accept.

We also stopped that horrible development at the Ashleaf Shopping Centre, and An Bord Pleanala went on and castigated DCC for ever allowing it. You’d nearly wonder where the permission for the developments is coming from.

From there I talked to people in the area and set up the Dublin 12 Development Action Group, which a sort of an umbrella group for community activists which educates people about development law and planning law.

Campaigning on issues is really crucial to politics. It’s crucial for people to see that you’re there and you’re not just around at election time.

I recently saw your statement where you spoke out against the agreement in DCC where Fine Gael and Labour effectively decide mayoral and committee positions amongst themselves. What alternative agreement would you prefer?

Well I would have preferred if Labour had come out with a set of principles for the council and for the community. People like ourselves would then support them, we could be like a block against Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael.

What has been done in other areas, such as in Tipperary, is that the positions are rotated frequently so that each group in the council has a chance to advocate their own ideas. This year Fine Gael and Labour have said to the Tipperary Workers and Unemployed Action Group that they wouldn’t be supporting the policy of rotation anymore.

Ideally we’d have a directly elected Lord Mayor, which is an idea I’d fully support. I know Gormley has said that we’d have that system in place now, but unfortunately I can’t see that happening now.

I’d say what Minister Gormley was originally thinking was that he’s get a Green Lord Mayor of Dublin, but that’s not going to happen now.

So ideally the position of mayor and the other position would be either elected or rotated, so that there’s no alliances made and that it’s independent of the City Manager.

On Monday Emer Costello effectively got in by default. Mannix Flynn had said he’d run against Kevin Humphreys for Deputy Lord Mayor. We’d been told by two independents that they’d vote for Costello because she was in their constituency, but when it came to it they voted for Kevin Humphreys for Deputy aswell. They’d obviously both made a deal beforehand that they’d both vote for Labour.

Women are drastically under-represented in Irish politics. You were the only female candidate in the Crumlin/Kimmage constituency for the local elections, and you are now the only female councillor. How can women increase their representation in Irish politics?

It is a tough question to answer because without the social backup a lot of women you can’t access politics. I work in An Post and for years I was involved in unions all my life. What I always noticed was women were involved in their union at a young age, dropped away from the union as their family responsibilities grew and the came back into it as they grew older.

Unless radical things like workplace childcare start to happen it will be difficult to change.

For working-class women it’s even tougher. Politics takes money, and a lot of women just don’t have that money. However on our Area Committee (in DCC) now, there are six women and five men. But I would question what type of women and men we have in there. Ultimately it does come down to class politics. There’s very few working-class women in politics, but I think it something that you’d have to address over a period of time. Stopping globalisation and crony capitalism with democratic socialism is a way forward.

Many women, due to family and work commitments, just don’t have the time to get involved. By the time they get home from work they’re making dinner and putting the kids to bed, they just don’t have the time.

Do you think there is a mentality of “women never get elected, so what hope do I have?” among women?

I think so, women are sort of put into boxes in that way. The good thing is that women now are much more outgoing than they ever were when I was starting out, when we were all definitely put in a box. Hopefully seeing women like myself get elected will boost womens’ confidence that they can get elected.

Many thanks to Joan Collins for her time and patience

Interview with Labour Councillor Eric Byrne

2009-06-16T13:22:00.000-07:00

I chatted recently to Councillor Eric Byrne of the Labour Party, who was returned in the Crumlin/Kimmage ward this month. Cllr. Byrne was first elected to Dublin City Council (DCC) in 1985, and was a member of Dáil Eireann from 1989-1992 and 1994-1997. Cllr Byrne is a member of of the Dublin 12 Drugs Task Force and Ballyfermot Local Area Partnership board, and helped to found the Fatima Mansions and Dolphin House Task Forces. Cllr.Byrne has kept a blog (here) since 2006, and also has a website at www.ericbyrne.ie. I was luckily able to ask Cllr. Byrne a few questions about his campaign, his use of social media and the Labour Party.

NF:What were the issues brought up the most on the doorsteps during you campaigning?

EB:Well the main issues brought up on the doorsteps were national issues. People generally only wanted to talk about national issues. Public Servants wanted to talk about the Pension Levy, the Elderly wanted to talk about the abolition of the Christmas bonus, and people only brought up topics and subjects that were national. Nobody really wanted to know about local issues like “will you fix that footpath”.

Let me explain my modus operandi when canvassing. Name Recognition is strong for me among people who have been living in the area for a few years, so the real challenge for me would be getting people who have recently moved into the area to vote for me. For new arrivals I’d invariably say; “There’s more to me than knocking on your door. Will you have a look at my website?” I’d have all my policies and updates on each local area on my website, so it’s really an easier way to communicate with people who wouldn’t speak to you on the doorstep.

Do you think your election, and the success of Labour nationally, was a reaction to the unpopularity of the government? Was it a protest vote?

There’s no doubt that there was a substantial element of protest in the vote. However there was clearly an element of people who had voted for Fianna Fáil moving away from the party. The protest vote mainly went to independents and smaller parties like (People Before Profit Councillor) Joan Collins. The Labour Party profited mainly from the ‘political protest’ voters who had moved away from the government, rather than the protest voters who were voting in protest against the political establishment.

How much of your success do you attribute to the current popularity of your party?

Well let me say that I would attribute most of my success to twenty-five years of hard political slogging. I would attribute the increase in my vote to the popularity of the Labour Party, and indeed the popularity of our leader of Eamon Gilmore.

Let me give you an example. Five years ago I got twenty percent of the first preference vote in this constituency. This year I got twenty-five percent of the first preference vote. Together with my running mate Henry Upton, Labour got nearly fifty percent of the vote in the constituency. It’s the increase that I would attribute to the current popularity of the Labour Party.

What do you make of the thirty-year electoral pact (as it is referred to by The Irish Times) in the Dublin mayoral elections between Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael and Labour? Although it gives Labour the chance to have mayors like the recently elected Emer Costello, does it not undermine the poltical independence of the party in Dublin City Council?

I think local government is very different to national government. You rely even more on the support of other parties. It is unheard of in DCC that any party would have an overall majority.

Therefore you need the support of other parties. There are fifty-two seats, so you would need twenty-seven to have a majority. Labour have nineteen councillors on DCC so we must look around and see who we can do business with. In our case we did business with everybody.

Although we were the best represented party on DCC this year (ahead of Fianna Gael with 16 seats), there was an agreement to distribute positions on DCC across all the parties. For example on the six strategic policy committees, there are three Labour representatives, one Fianna Fáil, one Fine Gael and one Sinn Fein.

All parties represented on DCC are represented with at least one official position, except the five independents. Majority rule in politics is the reality of democracy.

We need stability in this current economic climate, and by working together, Labour, Fianna Fáil, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein and the independents are giving this stability to DCC.

How important a role do you think local politics can play in the coming years?

Well I’m twenty-four years on DCC, and I have to say the discussions Labour held with the other parties were some of the most fascinating I’ve ever taken part in because they all wanted to discuss policy.

There are now six Strategic Policy Committees, each has a manager who sits monthly on the Corporate Policy Committee. This is effectively the ‘cabinet’ of DCC, and they shape policy.

For the first time now you’ll see DCC run around policy issues as opposed to gimmicky local issues.

DCC is trying to spread the word that Dublin will be the engine of growth in this country. You hear Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael sort of downplay Dublin’s importance and go on about rural areas, but I believe that Dublin can and will be the engine of growth for Ireland in the next few years.

We’ll be trying to market Dublin as an ‘open city’ in the next few years. This will include working with the Gay community and other groups to make our city as vibrant as possible. This in turn will increase tourism and commerce.

You were one of the pioneers in terms of Irish politicians keeping blogs. Do you see online social networking playing a larger role in future elections?

Well one only has to look at what’s happening now out in Iran. Social Networking and blogging are playing a bigger role. It’s well known that the media and journalists are looking at blogs and social networks to get information from the source.

I’m bringing the local issues to the people by putting up blogs and photos on my website. My website has a section for each area of my constituency, so people can see directly the local issues I’ve been working on in their area. People are always trying to catch up with what I’m doing, and the website lets them.

There is a generational conflict now between the more traditional older politicians, who are struggling to adapt and use new social networking and blogging tools, and the new younger generation of politicians, who are very web-savvy.

Many thanks to Councillor Eric Byrne for his time and patience.

A Visit To Erris

2009-06-13T11:31:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Mayo, I was able to visit the site of the Shell gas pipeline and offshore rig (above). I was able to take a few pictures to illustrate the scene for those who weren't there. Forget everything you've heard; this is an area of unparalleled natural beauty, with kind and welcoming people to match. The Shell company has built an offshore rig and pipeline, showing careless disregard for the local people and environment. If the pipeline were to explode (which is entirely possible, due to the gas running through it at a very high pressure) there would be a massive deathtoll in the area and surrounding areas (see this article in Village magazine). Some houses are only 70 metres from the pipeline. According to this video, aluminium levels in the water discharged from the Shell plant should be less than 200 miligrams, instead they are regularly measured to be well over 1700 miligrams.

Security around the rig is constant, and huge ships (unknown to locals) are seen around the rig all day and night. Aside from the brutality shown to protesters (whose camp can be seen above), the environmental impact and the impact on the local communities is often ignored. Few locals have been employed (aside from a handful working in security) on the project, and families have been spilt down the middle over whether the entire Shell project is positive or negative. Some locals feel that Shell have given them employment and business, but on my visit all I saw was an environmental and social catastrophe in waiting.

More of my photos from my trip out to Rossport can be found here

Victory for Byrne, Collins, Upton and McGinley in Crumlin-Kimmage

2009-06-06T13:55:00.000-07:00

Councillor Eric Byrne of the Labour party has come in at number one in the Crumlin-Kimmage ward of Dublin City Council. Mr Byrne and fellow Labour candidate Henry Upton emerged with 39.7% of the first preference vote in Crumlin-Kimmage.

People Before Profit candidate Joan Collins (formerly Independent) came in with the second highest first preference vote, elected with 17.4%- compare this to her taking of 4.6% of the first preference in the 2007 general election. The supporters of Ms Collins broke into song (singing “the people, united, will never be divided”) as she was elected at around 8pm today.

The final seat was hotly contested between Ruairi McGinley (Fine Gael), Ray McHugh (Sinn Fein) and Charlie Ardagh (Fianna Fail). McGinley had 13.1% of the first preference vote, McHugh had 8.7% and Ardagh had 13.2%. After Ray McHugh was eliminated, only 6 votes separated McGinley and Ardagh at one stage; however the Fine Gael candidate eventually won out in the end.

Of the other candidates running in the consituency; Tony McDermott of the Green Party had 6.9% of the first preference (McDermott got 5.8% of the first preference in General Election 2007), and Ray Kelly of the Christian Solidarity Party got 1%.

The ‘swing to the left’; a protest vote or a genuine shift?

2009-06-06T07:37:00.000-07:00

The nationwide ‘swing to the left’ was mirrored in the Crumlin-Kimmage ward, and indeed all over Dublin today.

At the time of writing, Cllr Eric Byrne (Labour) was topping the poll, with the second Labour candidate Henry Upton (nephew of Mary Upton TD and son of the late Pat Upton TD) also polling strongly. People Before Profit (PBP) candidate Cllr Joan Collins, who stood as an independent anti-bin tax candidate in the last local elections and general elections, also looks set to take a council seat. The last seat looks set to be taken by Fine Gael’s Ruari McGinley of Fianna Fail’s Charlie Ardagh, after The Tallaght Echo reported that Sinn Fein’s Ray McHugh “looks crestfallen as he appears to have lost his seat” (via Twitter at 1.12pm). I must congratulate The Tallaght Echo on their regular twitter updates from the National Basketball Arena. The updates direct from the count gave voters a view they would not otherwise have got.

Further south, PBP’s Boyd Barrett is topping the polls in Dun Laoghaire (after he narrowly missed out in the last general election) and Hugh Lewis (also PBP) is also looking good for a seat in Ballybrack. Brid Smith (PBP) took 81% of the first preference vote in Ballyfermot, ahead of former Lord Mayor of Dublin Vincent Jackson.

Mick Murphy of the Socialist Party looks set to retain his seat in Tallaght Central, as does party colleague Ruth Coppinger in Mulhuddart. Former Socialist TD Joe Higgins is polling very strongly across Dublin in the race for the third MEP seat. Mr Higgins took 27% of the first preference vote in Fingal and according to Newstalk was topping the polls this morning across Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown.

The question that the Socialist Party and People Before Profit (as well as Workers’ Party and other leftist parties) must now consider is this; Is this ‘shift’ in voting patterns from the centre to the left as a result of a genuine dissatisfaction with the staid civil war politics of Ireland or is it as a result of a ‘protest vote’ (a kind of ‘anybody but Fianna Fail’ vote)?

Of course, the rise of the smaller leftist party can be directly put alongside the demise of the Green Party, who look set to lose out on a massive scale in Dublin.

Use of Social media in the 2009 European elections

2009-06-04T15:49:00.000-07:00

On my twitter today, I wrote “just saw Joe Higgins canvassing outside the GPO. No moratorium around here!” Within minutes “VoteJoeHiggins” had replied and told me that the moratorium only applies to broadcast media. After the last US Election showed what power social media can wield in a modern election, I went in search of the social media used by the various MEP candidates in my own constituency of Dublin.

Starting out with the aforementioned Joe Higgins, I noticed through his www.joehiggins.eu website that he has a strong presence online. The drop-down tab “social networks” reveals the campaign’s profiles on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Ustream, Bebo, Myspace and CandidateWatch. His Facebook and Bebo pages are regularly updated with snippets from the campaign trail. Photos are uploaded onto Flickr, and recordings of Mr. Higgins talking about his election policies are uploaded onto his YouTube (and in turn onto his own website.) Impressively, the Joe Higgins campaign uses UStream to stream some press conferences and speeches as they happen.

The Sinn Féin MEP candidate works mainly from a section on the Sinn Féin homepage. Mary-Lou McDonald keeps a regular blog on the site, detailing her experiences while campaigning. Her YouTube channel features speeches and excerpts from Ms. McDonald’s time in the European Parliament (although her pronunciation of “Eorpach” is a bit dodgy in one of the videos). Photos are also uploaded onto her site, although few seem to be from canvassing. Ms. McDonald seems to b e working from the Sinn Féin profiles on YouTube, Facebook, Flickr, Twitter and Myspace (as are all the Sinn Féin MEP candidates).

Fianna Fail candidate Eoin Ryan has his own website www.eoinryan.eu (well, he’d hardly be using the site with the huge Fianna Fail logo on it now). Mr. Ryan has a well stocked Photo Gallery, with photos of him in the European Parliament, on his travels around the world and with a few politicians (Bertie Ahern, Michael Martin, Nicolas Sarkozy, Jean Claude Trichet*, Tom Kitt, one of the many Ardaghs, Brian Lenihan, Pat Cox) and, bizarrely enough, Packie Bonner. Mr. Ryan keeps a well-updated Twitter (although the speediness of his replies does not match Joe Higgins), a Facebook group and a blog on Blogspot entitled “The Campaign Trail”.

Former Green Party MEP Patricia McKenna, now running as an independent, also works from a .eu domain- www.patriciamckenna.eu . Ms McKenna keeps up the trend by having her own Facebook profile- with messages of support from as far afield as The Netherlands and Denmark. Her Information bar (displayed just under the profile photo) reads – “Patricia McKenna was elected to the European Parliament in 1994 and has 10 years experience in the parliament. Standing as an independent, she believes it’s time for a strong independent voice to represent the people of Dublin in Europe.” Compare this to Eoin Ryan’s “Your Voice in Europe”. If slogan length was an indicator of a good representative, Ms. McKenna would surely top the polls. Ms McKenna also has her own YouTube video stream on her website, detailing (albeit at far greater length than any of the other candidates) her policy for the European Parliament.

The award for the best website layout must surely go to Labour MEP Pronsias DeRossa. The Labour MEP bucks the trend of .eu domains with his www.derossa.com website. No first names around these parts. Mr DeRossa uses his slick-looking website for an excellent blog and video stream. Mr DeRossa, at this stage a seasoned MEP (this is his tenth year in office) uses his video stream for more than mere speeches or to outline policy, however. His video stream adresses questions such as “What does an MEP do?” and also to show us “A Day in my life as a member of the European Parliament”. The former Democratic Left and Workers’ Party leader also has profiles on Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.

Independent Emmanuel Sweeney, who is also running in the local elections, seems not to have a huge online presence. The only mention I could find of him were on electionsireland.org, where he has a photo and details of which positions he was running for. Apart from this, there is only a mention on popular forum Politics.ie- one poster enthuses “Emmanuel Sweeney is the only for Europe...word is around my office that he is going to landslide it.” This is met promptly by another post- “Yes, but who exactly is Emmanuel Sweeney ?” However the original poster claims “Emmanuel Sweeney is the only true democrat that doesnt waste tax payers money or try to brain washes you with posters, canvassing, leaflets, websites or even using the TV when on it.”

Fine Gael MEP Gay Mitchell, currently topping the Irish Times/TNS mrbi polls, has both a section on the Fine Gael website and his own - www.gaymitchell.ie . As per usual, videos are uploaded onto this site of speeches, policy statements... they all sound the same after listening to a dozen of them. Actually maybe they usually sound the same anyway. Mr Mitchell has photos of him (from his Flickr account, no less) around Dublin, with various FG councillors and in the European Parliament.

The Libertas candidate, Caroline Simons, is at http://carolinesimons.ie . Ms Simons’ opening page contains an impassioned plea which is rather eye-catching against a black background; “We need to take Europe back for the people of Dublin, Ireland and Europe. I need your Number 1 Vote to do this. Maybe you usually vote for Fianna Fail, Fine Gael, Sinn Fein, Labour or Independent. Are you happy with where they have got us? I’m not, and I’d like to do something about it. If we want something different, we have to do something different. I’m asking you for a job to work for you.” Ms Simons uploads videos including “Never mind the MEPs, here’s the truth” and “Why you should vote for Caroline”. There is also an on-site blog containing, as Ms Simons herself puts it “snippets of how my campaign is progressing”.

Overall the MEP candidates (apart from Emmanuel Sweeney) seemed to have embraced new social media. In particular there is a prevalence of videos, blogs, Facebook groups and twitter updating. These provide prospective voters with a way to see what exactly it is their candidates stand for beyond the posters they see outside. To see the Irish political system lurch forward into this new age of instant communication and information is a little bewildering.

*I fully realise that Jean-Claude Trichet is not a politician, and is in fact the head of the European Central Bank

The Year of the Dodgy Exam

2009-06-04T13:24:00.000-07:00

Is this the year of the dodgy exam? After English paper two was "leaked" (ie. given out by mistake instead of paper one) in our own Leaving Certificate exams, nearly 2000 students in England were given last years French written and aural exams in their equivalent of the Junior Certificate- the GCSE.

From the Guardian;

"The papers, one a reading and one a listening exam, count for 40% of pupils' overall grades.

One invigilator, who oversaw the exam this morning and contacted the Guardian, said the problem was spotted after it was noticed that some pupils had been given a paper with 34 questions, while others had 28. It transpired some pupils were about to sit an out-of-date exam."

As I've said before, I'm just very grateful to the gods of education cock-ups that this sort of thing didn't happen to me last year.

Leaving Cert Paper 2 leaked

2009-06-03T13:06:00.000-07:00

An examiner handed out the wrong paper in Louth today... If this had been me last year I would have been absolutely LIVID as the students now have to sit on Saturday morning.

From rte.ie:
"The State Examinations Commission has decided to postpone tomorrow's Leaving Certificate English papers, both Higher and Ordinary levels, after it emerged that students in one centre have already seen the paper.

The examination will be rescheduled but details have not yet been released of when students will take the exam.

English paper two was opened by mistake at an examination centre in Co Louth this morning.

The error was immediately spotted and the papers were taken back, according to the state Examinations Commission.

It has confirmed that a number of students did see the exam paper.
The State Examinations Commission has decided to postpone tomorrow's Leaving Certificate English papers, both Higher and Ordinary levels, after it emerged that students in one centre have already seen the paper.

The examination will be rescheduled but details have not yet been released of when students will take the exam.

English paper two was opened by mistake at an examination centre in Co Louth this morning.

The error was immediately spotted and the papers were taken back, according to the state Examinations Commission.

It has confirmed that a number of students did see the exam paper.
"The State Examinations Commission has decided to postpone tomorrow's Leaving Certificate English papers, both Higher and Ordinary levels, after it emerged that students in one centre have already seen the paper.

The examination will be rescheduled but details have not yet been released of when students will take the exam.

English paper two was opened by mistake at an examination centre in Co Louth this morning.
Advertisement

The error was immediately spotted and the papers were taken back, according to the state Examinations Commission.

It has confirmed that a number of students did see the exam paper."

Sunday Times may charge for online content

2009-06-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

According to the Guardian, the Sunday Times (owned by Rupert Murdoch's News International) may be about to begin charging for online content.

"Plans have not been finalised, but executives at Sunday Times publisher News International are considering the charges to fall in line with the publicly stated desire of Rupert Murdoch, the chairman and chief executive of parent company News Corporation, for his newspapers around the world to follow the lead of the Wall Street Journal by charging for content." (taken from here.)

It seems to be working forThe Wall Street Journal, albeit in a wholly different market. It will be interesting to see how this pans out, especially as at the moment The Sunday Times shares a website with its daily sister newspaper.

The national team of Ireland, six goalies and Craven Cottage

2009-06-02T09:07:00.000-07:00

The sheer contempt in which the League of Ireland is held by those involved at the top of Irish football never ceases to amaze me.

After West Bromwich Albion’s Dean Kiely left the Ireland squad before last week’s friendly against Nigeria (I’ll come back to that later), Kieran Westwood of Coventry City was the only backup to regular goalkeeper Shay Given left. Westwood informed the management of the national team that he was, in fact, getting married on the day of the Bulgaria match next Saturday.

Through their scouting of goalkeepers, Giovanni Trappatoni, Marco Tardelli and Liam Brady decided that next in line were Colin Doyle of Birmingham City and Wayne Henderson of League Two outfit Grimbsy Town. This season, Grimbsby finished just four points clear of relegation out of the Football League, conceding a massive 59 goals. In fairness to him, Henderson (on loan from Preston North End) only played in fourteen matches.

Meanwhile, Colin Doyle may seem like a decent deputy, as Birmingham achieved promotion with the best defensive record in the Championship, conceding just 34 goals. Doyle, however, made just four appearances all season (one of his appearances was from the bench).

Across the sea, in the supposed home of our national team, calls are being made for Brian Murphy of Bohemian FC to get a call-up. Bohemians are the reigning League of Ireland Premier Division champions, and currently top the table with 29 points. This season, in 14 matches, Bohemians have conceded 7 goals. Brian Murphy has played in all of Bohemians’ league matches this season. While I, admittedly, am no great supporter of Bohemians, I can see that Murphy would be a far better than benchwarmer Doyle or nearly-relegated Henderson.

Neither Trappatoni, Tardelli nor Brady have been to a League of Ireland match since they took their jobs with the FAI. Surely there are some players in our national league that would merit more attention than second- and third-rate players based in England. As Kevin Doyle, Noel Hunt and Keith Fahey have all proved recently, players can make the leap from the League of Ireland to a high level of English football relatively easily. Once they do, players can then be considered for the national team. Why can’t the management of the IRISH national team consider IRISH players? Shouldn’t the policy be to play the best players?

The policy of favouritism towards English players was shown recently with the friendly with Nigeria held in Craven Cottage, London (and the subsequent training session was indeed held in Arsenal’s training ground). RTE’s Tony O’Donoghue said last night on Monday Night Soccer that holding the training sessions and matches in England would “definitely [be] an option” in the future. The friendly in Craven Cottage attracted around 10 thousand fans last Friday, a similar figure to the amount present for last year’s friendly against Nottingham Forest held in Dalymount Park. If held in Ireland, a friendly against Nigeria (or any other opposition) would attract great numbers. What about the RDS, home of the FAI Cup final and host to a number of Leinster Rugby matches this season? Shouldn’t the IRISH national team play in a venue which suits its fans, the IRISH people? Although holding friendlies and training sessions in England may seem logical given that all of our players are based in either England or Scotland, surely the FAI should be looking at commercial viability and the service it owes its fans ahead of pandering to players.

The disillusionment felt by many fans after the tenure of Steve Staunton may yet return.

"Is your Mam in son?"

2009-06-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, a representative for a Sinn Féin candidate for the local elections in my area knocked on my door. As I answered the door, I prepared for the usual “I’ll make your voice heard” shtick which I should’ve heard. When the man saw me, he smiled and asked “Is your Mam in son?” I replied that I am a registered voter, and have been since last summer, to which the man replied “Oh right” and proceeded to simply utter “you wouldn’t consider giving [the Sinn Féin candidate] one of your preferences next week, would you?”

This is not the first time this has happened. Consistently Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and other parties have sent people to my door whose first words are “Is your Mam/Dad in?”

Yet for a party whose support is higher in the 18-25 age bracket than any other age group (according to the Irish Times/TNSmrbi poll published on Friday), the disregard that Sinn Féin showed me set me aback a bit. I am a year shy of my twentieth birthday, and by all acounts I do not look under eighteen. The Sinn Féin canvasser assumed that I was younger than eighteen. Would it not be more helpful for a seemingly progressive, “trendy” party to assume that a young person is of legal voting age until told otherwise? Isolating young people in such a manner only exacerbates the perceived apathy towards politics among people my age .

Sinn Féin and the other established political parties should recognise the considerable support the 18-25 year olds give the party by adopting a positive approach to young voters.

No Lions replacement for Shanklin

2009-05-18T06:52:00.000-07:00

When Tom Shanklin was ruled out of the Lions tour to South Africa, the rumour mills went into overdrive. Who would replace him? Delon Armitage, the English full-back who can play at centre and was a surprise omission from the Lions squad and James Hook, the Wales out-half , were two names consistently mentioned. The English media insisted that Head Coach Ian McGeechan would increase the English representation on the panel (the number of English players selected was well behind the number of Welsh and Irish players selected) by adding either Armitage or Danny Cipriani. In Ireland, after a string of impressive performances, Gordon D’Arcy of Leinster was much talked about as Shanklin’s replacement. After the Heineken Cup semi-final win over Munster, D’Arcy was regarded in some quarters as a definite.

Today, Ian McGeechan has announced that he will not be replacing Shanklin. This leaves the Lions with four natural centres, although Luke Fitzgerald can fill in at centre (his usual position is on the wing).Of the four centres (Brian O’Driscoll, Keith Earls, Jamie Roberts and Riki Flutey) only O’Driscoll has experience on the Lions tour. Shanklin had been on the 2005 side and offered a perfect foil for O’Driscoll. Shanklin gives some much-needed physicality to the midfield, something that is worth more than its weight in gold when playing against the Springboks.

Many pundits had predicted that McGeechan would pick James Hook, who can play at centre but plays naturally at full-back, to cover the two out-halves Ronan O’Gara and Stephen Jones. This leaves the Lions dangerously understaffed at both centre and out-half. An injury to O’Driscoll, O’Gara or Jones could be disastrous for the Lions.

Another question which will now be raised is whether McGeechan will pick a replacement for the suspended Alan Quinlan. With six players left to cover the back row, perhaps McGeechan will not call up another back row. The pack generally looks well covered, with five second rows, three hookers and four props.

McGeechan’s replacement policy (and selection policy in general) is wholly different to that of previous head coaches on Lions tours. McGeechan initially named a 37-man squad, while in 2005 Sir Clive Woodward took a 44-man squad to New Zealand AND Graham Henry also took 44 on the tour to Australia in 2001. The ominous similarities with the winning tour in 1997 are there for all to see. The Lions are coached by Ian McGeechan, they are now one man off the number (35) selected by McGeechan in 1997 and South Africa are World Champions.

One marked difference, however, is that there were just four Irishmen on the 1997 tour, and none were based in Ireland. Twelve years later, and Ireland accounts for the biggest representation on the Lions panel, with at least twelve set to travel, and only one (Tommy Bowe of Ospreys) is based outside Ireland.

A Manifesto for Victory

2009-05-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

Living in Ireland, the Eurovision means a lot to me.

Lately though, Ireland’s relationship with the Eurovision has been one of unrequited love. Ireland hasn’t won since the ‘new countries’ – mostly Eastern European- were let in to the Eurovision. Irish people, and the Irish media, behave like it is their god-given right to do well in the Eurovision. Successive attempts by Mickey-Joe Harte, Chris Doran, Donna and Joe McCaul, Brian Kennedy, Dervish, Dustin the Turkey and this years Sinead Mulvey and Black Daisy have ended in failure. After every failure, the same chorus of gripes comes up from Ireland- “the Eastern Europeans ruined it on us by bloc-voting” , “Ireland will never win it again” , “we should automatically qualify for the final because we’ve won it the most times”. But what can Ireland do to restore the nation’s honour in the Eurovision? Well, here are a few pointers;

Have an irresistible song and a talented singer.

The reality, as demonstrated by the winning song in this year’s Eurovision, is that a great song can transcend political and national boundaries and win. Although Alexander Rybak’s “Fairytale” won “douze points” from the usual suspects; Sweden, Denmark and Iceland; it also got top points from places as far away (both politically, culturally and geographically) as Armenia and Turkey. Apart from singing the song, Rybak wrote the song and played the violin. In his own words; “I won because I had a story to tell.” Looking back at successful songs from the past (“What’s another year”and “Waterloo” for example), story-telling proves to be popular.

Get new friends in Europe.

Cyprus has given Greece twelve points every year since televoting was introduced in 1998 and Armenia has never given points to Turkey (recalling the Armenian genocide of the early 20th century). This year, awaiting the announcement of the Azeri votes, I was able to predict that Azerbaijan would give their twelve points to Turkey. Why? Simply because Azerbaijan had been involved in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict against Armenia in the early 1990s, and Turkey (as The Ottoman Empire) just happened to be the Armenians’ colonial oppressors. Similarly, I knew that Iceland would not give their former rulers Denmark any top points. Having friends in Europe counts. People in Ireland will be well aware of the fact that Ireland have rarely given the UK top points. As an island nation, Ireland needs all the friendly continental votes it can get. How will we do this? Well, maybe if we...

Ship Irish people abroad to smaller countries (e.g. Andorra or San Marino).

The other factor which can lead to mass accumulation of points is having a diasporic community. Unfortunately, most of Ireland’s emigrants went to the USA, Australia or Canada (although Ireland regularly gets twelve points from the UK). Turkey regularly profits from their diasporic population, this year receiving twelve points from Germany, Belgium and Switzerland. People from around Mullingar are unlikely to care if they are moved to San Marino or Andorra, and would perhaps relish the better weather. When there they can vote in the yearly contest and get us a valuable twelve points. The population of Andorra and San Marino are so small that a few thousand Irish people could influence the vote significantly. I suggest sending the residents of Sallynoggin to San Marino, Athlone to Andorra and Laois to Liechtenstein.

Build links with other countries that we share cultural similarities with.

After seeing the similarities between the Irish and the Basques in the recent RTE documentary “Blood of the Irish”, why don’t we show the good people of the Basque country that we are just like them. After seeing this, voting for Ireland in the Eurovision would become a symbol of resistance against the Madrid establishment, and all the while, we would nab Spain’s twelve points. Similar links could be forged with the people of the Spanish provinces of Galicia and Asturias and the French departement of Britanny (who we share a Celtic history and language with). As well as these links, we could look at cultural links with European nations with whom we share a colonial past, such as; Hungary, Finland, Cyprus and Estonia.

Change we can believe in?

2009-05-14T06:53:00.000-07:00

Just as US President Barack Obama seeks to distance himself from his predecessor’s foreign policy, a remnant of the Bush administration rears its head again. President Obama has been widely applauded for the policy of ‘global re-engagement’ typified by the move to take the USA into the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) for the first time. Yet in the same day the United States were elected onto the UNHRC, President Obama has sought to block the publication of images of detainees abused in the custody of the US Military.

The editorial in “The Irish Times” supported Obama’s decision to take the US into the UNHRC; “This is a sensible course, in keeping with his more general foreign policy objective of reasserting multilateralism to improve the US’s international standing.” His predecessor sided with the Israelis in not participating in the UNHRC because of a perceived anti-Israeli bias. One has to think that the reason an anti-Israeli bias may have been perceived was because the UNHRC took heed of the appaling abuses of human rights in Gaza and the West Bank which continue to this day. The decision of the Bush administration to back Israel suited them as it delayed the backlash regarding American abuses of human rights (something which President Obama must now deal with).

I regard the American participation in the UNHRC as a positive move because perhaps it signals a new dawn of accountability in US foreign policy. However, once you juxtapose this with President Obama’s blocking of the release of the photographs of prisoner abuse, it becomes a false dawn. President Obama has said he blocked the release of the photographs because they “could endanger national security.” This marks a complete about-turn on his campaign promise for greater accountability, which has outraged civil liberties groups in the US and worldwide.

What change?

Reporting the underreported; the Darfuri “conflict”

2009-05-12T13:13:00.000-07:00

Actress Mia Farrow, industrialist Richard Branson and US Congressman Donald M. Payne have all been part of a campaign of fasting to raise awareness for the ongoing humanitarian crisis. On the last day of her 12-day fast, Farrow said on her website;

“I have been instructed by my doctor to stop my fast immediately due to health concerns including possible seizures. I am fortunate.The women, children, and men I am fasting for do not have that option.

When beginning this fast twelve days ago, I said that when I could go no longer, I hoped another would take my place, and another, and another, until the expelled humanitarian agencies are readmitted and finally there there is finally justice and peace for the people of Darfur. Richard Branson has stepped forward and so I have ended this fast.”

The actress, who last year starred in Be Kind Rewind uses her website – miafarrow.org – as a hub for activists who want to get involved in lobbying for action on the crisis in Darfur. She gives out phone numbers to the whitehouse so her fans can lobby President Barack Obama and his team. During her fast, (or hunger strike as she would have it) Farrow recorded YouTube videos detailing her progress and put them up on the website. She includes harrowing photos of Sudanese orphans, and drawings that the orphans have given her. One drawing, drawn by an 11-year old girl who told Farrow “her mother had been cooking breakfast when she was shot by Janjaweed. She drew herself fleeing for her life.”

Farrow’s attempts to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in Darfur arise from a widespread belief that this is one of the most underreported atrocities in world history. On the day that the UN mission to Darfur was due to announce that gunmen were now targeting peacekeepers directly, not one column inch was written about Darfur in any of the major Irish newspaper. On the radio today, Katie Price’s marriage breakup was talked about ad infinatum, but not a minute of airtime was given to the humanitarian crisis. The UN news service announced on May 8 that “unidentified gunmen shot dead an international peacekeeper outside his home in South Darfur last night, the joint African Union-United Nations Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) announced with “deep regret” today.”

The crisis in Darfur arises from a conflict drawn up on ethnic lines. On one side is the Sudanese military and the Janjaweed (militia made up from nomadic Afro-Arabs) and on the other is the Sudanese Liberation Movement, representing the southern non-Arab tribes. The death toll since the conflict began in 2003 is near half a million, while over 2.5 million people have lost their homes. International response has been criticised as inadequate; even after a warrant was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the President of Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir, to appear at the court in The Hague. The Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, Mr Luis Moreno-Ocampo, alleged that Al-Bashir “committed the crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur” adding; “Al Bashir is the President. He is the Commander in Chief. Those are not just formal words. He used the whole state apparatus, he used the army, he enrolled the Militia/Janjaweed. They all report to him, they all obey him. His control is absolute.”
The last paragraph may, to those of you who know the background to the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, seem unnecessary. The reason I wrote it is because, due to the underreported nature of the “conflict”, (I use inverted commas because, to this humble observer, it seems like more of a genocide) many people would not have known. I can only hope that through the actions of Mia Farrow, Moreno-Ocampo and others, one day the small girl who drew the picture for Mia Farrow can draw happier picture.

From erection to election; when porn becomes politics

2009-05-12T12:21:00.000-07:00

David Vitter became the first popularly elected Republican in the state when he won the Lousiana election in 2004 on a “family values” ticket. In 2007 his name was linked with a Washington prostitution ring run by the infamous Deborah J.Palfrey –also known as “The DC Madam”. Vitter was to admit that he had used Palfrey’s “high-end escort service”, prompting Hustler publisher Larry Flynt (who payed Palfrey for her phone records and then published them) to claim credit for unearthing the scandal.

Vitter is now seeking re-election to the US Senate in next year’s Senate elections. However, a challenger to Vitter has emerged. Stormy Daniels, star of such classics as Space Nuts and former recipient of the coveted Golden G-String Award, is considering running against Vitter in order to keep the prostitution scandal as an issue in the campaign. Fans of the actress/director extrodinaire are hoping to recruit Ms Daniels into running in the campaign, with the recruitment campaign centred around draftstormy.com. Yet Stormy isn’t the first, nor the last, pornstar or glamour model to embark on a political career.

The phenomenon of pornstars running for political office has quite a history in the US. In the 2004 Presidential Election, Marilyn Chambers (star of Behind the Green Door) was the candidate for vice-President for the Personal Choice Party, receiving 946 votes. Mimi Mayagi, under her birth name of Melody Damayo, ran for the Republican Party in the Nevada governatorial elections in 2006, with the fantastic campaign slogan of “I’m bare and honest at all times”. The bizzare connection between the Republican Party and pornstars (and “celebrity candidates” such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jesse Ventura) continues with Sonny Landham’s attempt in the 2003 Kentucky governatiorial elections. Mary Carey ran for the equivalent position in California in the same year, with a platform including proposals to tax breast implants and introduce a “Porn for Pistols” campaign to reduce gun deaths.

This, however, is not an exclusively American phenomenon. Italy seems to have a similar “pornstar in government” culture. Perhaps the most high profile (even though she isn’t REALLY a pornstar, more of a glamour model) is Alessandra Mussolini, MEP and leader of the conservative Social Action party. Grandaughter of Benito Mussolini, she had a career as an actress, “romantic singer” and appeared on two Playboy covers before her political career took off. She left her acting career in 1990 after a film producer asked her to change her last name (because of negative connotations to her grandfather Benito). She began as an elected representative for MSI, a neo-fascist party founded in support of the Italian fascist regime in 1946, in 1992. She regularly courts scandal; in 2005 she went on hunger strike after her party was blocked from elections due to irreugular signatures from voters, in 2006 she responded to allegations made against her by an Italian transgender candidate for parliament by saying “it’s better to be a fascist than a faggot”, and in 2007 she caused a Romanian political pary to withdraw their MEPs from a grouping in the European Parlliament after she said that all Romanians were criminals.

Also in Italy; pornographic actress Anna Ilona Staller, also known as “La Cicciolina” was elected to the Italian parliament in 1987, promising the right to have sex in prison, and ‘absolute sexual freedom’. Cheri Manescu ran for the office of Mayor of Rome in 2008, and in the same city and same year, Milly d’Abbracio (star of Kiss the Cobra and Imperial Nymphomaniac) featured her behind prominently on her election posters for the city council. D’Abbracio’s main proposal was to create a massive red-light district near the Vatican imaginatively named “Love City”.

Outside of Italy, European pornstars aspiring to political office have tended to be men. Goeran Eurenius was a Swedish councillor for Haerryda, southwest of Stockholm, when his past career of acting in 14 adult films came to light. Defending his past, Eurenius said "I want to work both with politics and pornography." Former German pornstar Peter Bond ran for the Freed Democrats Party in the parliamentary elections in 2002.

In an industry where people are dehumanised to become little more than meat, pornstars sometimes stand up and rise out of the Teufelkreis that is their livelihood.