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The above is a picture of a toll plaza on the Dulles Toll Road in the US state of Virginia. Note the structure: barrier free lanes on the left with an overhead gantry for transponder (EZ Pass) users with separated toll lanes on the right giving a choice of exact change payment or full [...]
Someone emailed this from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform apropos our post on the mergers of the Equality Authority, National Disabilitiy Authority and IHRC (among others). Source asks about the vetting process and the final two three organisations in the press release relative to the others.
In a move that seems to have surprised not just the commentariat but some advisers, McCain has picked Sarah Palin, governer of Alaska, as his running mate. Hugely surprising given she hasn’t been in the Washington inner circle and of course - because she’s a woman! She is not just the first republican female candidate [...]
Who can be surprised by the announcement - reported in today’s Irish times - that Village Magazine is to cease publication?
Village went intro terminal decline pretty quickly. From the start the mag made losses that were as impressive as its copy was unimpressive. True there were a handful of strong journos at times - Justine [...]
Plugged-in politics hits our shores
Online politics hits Australia
Simon McGarr’s post raised the issue of state agency rationalisation. It is an issue we may well not care much for at the moment, as we’re ‘too busy’ with the recession. Yet we should be concerned that some the agencies being tied together and taken back into departments are those ones with a nasty habit [...]
A tiny autonomous archipelago off Finland could soon add to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty woes…BBC
That isnt the kind of thing you expect to read everyday on the BBC website - or perhaps it is. Anyway it seems that not alone can the Irish do damage to the treaty by effectively killing it. A small island [...]
The Dail Ministers: Mary Harney
Dail Minsters profile of Mary Harney. Words dont do it justice, just go read it.
The government has announced that it intends to save some money by merging and closing various state agencies. So far the common thread linking all the named agencies for the chop is that in some way they have opposed or embarrassed the executive during their existence.
However, I’d like to use this as an opportunity to [...]
Here we go again with another round of debate on third level fees. And again we all climb back into our ideological boxes. Free fees are fair because education should be free to all, scream the egalitarian idealists, or at least those who made a politicial stroke out of free fees. Too right, scream the [...]
It has been called “unhelpful” and “unwise” however I am not sure what the reasoning for that is. Dick Roche suggested that we may well have a second referendum on Lisbon as a means to keep us at the heart of Europe.
A SECOND referendum on the Lisbon Treaty would “ultimately” be required and ratifying key [...]
Source: Ballyer.net/Sundayworld
It would be remiss of us here not to congratulate Kenneth Egan on his excellent performance in the semi-final of the Olympics light-heavyweight boxing. Class and poise, well done and best of luck.
Politics Gets Personal
How the Conservative party square the politicisation of personal life and their belief in the small state.
Dopes.
Truly, a tale of two economic cities. First, the Irish Times heads an article ‘Wage Increases Higher than EU Average in 2007‘. Citing a recent European Industrial Relations Observatory survey it stated:
‘Irish workers enjoyed higher wage increases than their counterparts across Europe in 2007 . . ‘
Well, actually we didn’t. The report [...]
Today’s Humbert Summer schools has the opposition berating Cowen and attempting to frame the narrative for the upcoming election run-in. In her speech (wonderfully titled Brian Cowen and the Riddle of Cleopatra’s Nose)
Then, Brian Cowen enjoyed huge public and media approval and was received in his home county as a conquering hero. That has all [...]
techPresident – The Future of Campaign Technology: The Ground Game
Irish Parties looking at learning online and database lessons from Obama could do worse than bear this post in mind. Almost as soon as the election is over, improvements and evolution are making some parts redundant and others essential. Get your campaign an i-phone for everyone? Might be better than printing flyers, it goes to show how parties, if they take it seriously, need to keep ahead of the wave - not just follow.
Colman at the EuroTrib give his reasoning on why Lisbon is dead. The Government's incapable handling of the budget cuts are the nail in the coffin.
Fine Gael’s Leo Varadkar offers his view on how the SBP Opinion Poll would translate in an election.
Think tank: Time for democracy to click into place
Dan Sullivan gets himself into The Sunday Times, calling for the internet to connect citizens to a more meaningful democracy. Its an argument I agree with wholeheartedly myself. Have a read and let him know what you think.
Colm Burke MEP reckons that we need to get honest and tell people we will be holding a second Lisbon Vote in Oct 2009 with protocols desigend to secure a yes vote.
