Built in Dublin ahead of time ahead of budget and ahead of U2 Tower

Stephen Collins in today’s Irish times (page 13) writes about an anomaly where the number of TDs per constituency is set by the population size via census not by the citizenship of the constituency.

1. this is only an anomaly if you want to disenfranchise non Irish citizens and Irish babies, children and youth up to the age of 18

2. Collins holds up an anomaly, there is none, the constitution says population and the boundary commission uses population, No anomaly there!

3. Should a non Irish citizen be less represented than an Irish Citizen? No.

4. Are there more Irish Citizens that stay at home and don’t vote than the “anomaly” Collins thinks he has uncovered? yes.

5. All the population are entitled to representation.

6. So the two Constituencies that are least represented are Dublin West & Dublin North which should return two Socialist Party deputies at the next election. Memories of Gerrymandering.

7. Collins argues that areas that have had decreasing populations (i call it empty nest syndrome) have higher proportion of Irish citizens than DW & DN, this is an “anomaly”?

8. The votes are secret ballot. All TDs / Councillors in my area represent me. But they wont should I disagree with their policies and planning ideas etc. So in general the best way I have of getting represented, and particularly for marginalised population is to have a public representative that is voted in by me/them, ideal with STV PR and not ideal in a first past the post system. Much more possible if the number of TDs is proportionate to the population not the voters (over 18) or Irish citizens.

Perhaps the real anomaly is that we take your Income Tax, Value Added Tax on your mars bar (and Irish Times), road tax TV licence, waste charges tax, capital gains, stamp duty, but if your not an Irish citizen living here you can not vote, so we will give your area less TDs! Perhaps Collins should look into the vote for the non Irish Citizen, rather than think that the constitution has an anomaly and that areas really are not under represented.

No taxation without representation becomes ”all tax no representation“ anomaly

so Mrs T did have some advice for true (blue) Labour PM!

this shot of the front of the daily express (ireland:yuk) is from mid election campaign in ireland, feel good factor headline. Any one got last thursdays evening herald snapped?

Niall Gormley (Northside People) wrote a good piece on the demise of the Vincent Browne Show on RTE Radio 1.

apologies I can’t link to the text its only in print in this weeks Northside People

He dismisses the number crunching that I think is JNLR based. I disagree here, flawed or not the numbers may be inaccurate but at least they are consistently inaccurate allowing us to compare station against station and quarter on quarter. But Niall fixes in on the fact the 20,000 listeners as a bottom base is still way too many to drop a show (and he has a point) I heard commercials on the VB 2nite show, im sure I did, wogan interiors! anyone else hear commercial advertising during that late night show?

He suggests that RTE’s resource excuse is thin, suggesting RTE can take this show online or split frequency MW/LW and have muzak on FM - I like the idea, couldn’t radio schedulers who work in the business come to this conclusion or do RTE really not want VB anymore.

Gormley fails to reach the conclusion I reach. The bourgeoisisation of RTE Donnybrook Dublin 4.

Listen to radio1 and you will feel that pseudo D4 suits run it, own it, programme it and listen to it. Yes the rest of the Irish population and diaspora listen (agreed, see yestersdays happy clappy JNLR numbers for Radio1) but the day and night is filled with market loving SSIA promoting rugger boys! and Brown was the last man standing in the sticky corner the FF’ers used to red scare about. FF’ers hated RTE so much in 1988 things happened like the CAP, the century radio setup, the forcing of RTE to carry independent signals on their network and the proposed privatisation of 2FM, we even had a module dedicated to the century radio antics of rambo in the tribunals, tribunals - browne getting the link?

Browne v Bertie (and Mara) during May ‘07 election, the summer stand in choices by RTE radio1 and the gifting of half price legal costs to Bev Flynn TD (indie FF) are not isolated actions, its RTE doing what modern RTE does well. They are the Irish marketing department for James Murdochs Sky TV.

The sale of their OB unit, the audience council, their lack of vision in DAB DTT and HD, and their abject failure to offer DVB direct to home Free To Air.

The problem is not the losing of tonight with VB, we have lost an entire national broadcaster to the whims and wishes of an elite few who are driving RTE to a place far away from where Irish people are, case in point the afternoon show (rte1 tv), packed with fashion and hand bags worth €1000’s not to giggle at but to aspire to and the same goes for its food fascism and body image and money advice. By, for and devoted to an elite that we Irish are not.

If this was the other way round the press would call it a coup, a revolution a take over. Keep paying the licence fee, i think their salaries are going to need it.

Now: [press release from minister of state Tony Killeen TD]

Then: his views on the dangers to Shannon recorded some time before the ‘07 Election for the RTE Radio show the constituency

fast forward to 13:09 MP3

“there are people who will forever feel I suppose that Shannon is under threat and some of them will be doing that for political reasons” Tony Killeen TD

[this MP3 is not flash playable as it is chip'ed]

 test: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

The latest Ryanair advert annoys the unionist camp. [link 1] [link2] [link3]. yesterday over our radios we heard Aer Lingus shareholder Ryanair [RYAAY] boss Michael O’Leary tell that his company would back a Govt. call that would see Aer Lingus keep the LHR /SNN Shannon link.

You see if the Irish government didn’t sell Are Lingus to the sharks, Denis O’Brien & Michael O’Leary would not have got shares in it. (by the way check how much the irish tax payer got in the sale, the monies went back into privatised aer lingus) so now he has shares he can call up the govt. (another minority share holder) and advise them on Shannon takeover. Aer Lingus would not be in the shannon belfast move if they didn’t sell it. Another fine mess. read ireland for sale march 2006 by bhg. Even if you agreed with privatisation, you would have to admit the Fianna Fail party are pretty woeful at it.

There are some things money can’t buy -
for everything else there’s Fianna Fail

thanks liz

John Gormley TD Minister for Environment is rethinking the sweetie deal Dick Roche TD gave the chewing gum industry. The fact remains that chewing gum causes the chewing gum problem but having seen a pack of chewing gum discarded on the ground as litter I can’t help but agree that in order for the gum to become the pavement sticking litter we must chew it, masticate it to make it sticky. So humans who chew & drop are also to blame. They can pay more for the item by allow a tax on it or they can cop on and discard it carefully. BTW cigarette end discards are greater in number as littering offences than gum drops.

Bournemouth Council UK came up with a novel idea, chewing gum boards. Taking that one step further with the agreement of object of peoples disgust ‘the politicians’ at large; chewers could be influenced to stick their gum on the face of a cause celeb politico

While on the subject of politics 400 meters north of the old Tayto factory on the Malahide road is a Left Wing Govt. No Thanks - PD election poster - FINE THEM DCC!

Eamon Ryan’s website is a tad outa date. He is a minister now not a mere spokesperson.

Perhaps they could recycle the election posters by bye law, gum sticking prohibited for 10 days prior to election, rest of the time the boards are for gum. This is how it is done on the continent, election fly posting is sanctioned on special boards.

japan france netherlands in china its one party one poster and look at the capitalists swarm that growth problem.

first here 16/3/07 ~ irish sun editorial 16/march/2007 “like it or not, globalisation the free market and fossil fuels are the forces that will do most to deliver rising living standards for the world’s poorest”

ok so globalisation the free market = capitalism has done what for the worlds poor? created the largest divide between people and capital, or put locally can a young person get a house? no. The Sun are on a different wavelength to the rest of us. Globalisation spreads equality to the third world, the equality to be exploited like the working poor in the rest of the world. globalisation the free market has done LESS for the worlds poor than Band Aid and that was a sticking plaster. Capitalisms addiction to fossel fuel means that third world countries will find them self at war for oil with rich nations. Stick to big brother house coverage, its what your good at in the Sun, leave world climate debate and the economy to the people who know and care.