IrishEyes

Irish education must produce more

KILKENNY -- I worked from home for a month last year, as an outsourced technical writer. It was a strange situation because I'm an American and I worked from my Irish home for an Indian company who was outsourced through an IBM contract. This was not ununusual. My arrangement verified what CEOs have said they were doing: finding the lowest cost source for manufacturing and intellectual capital that met quality standards.

Millions of new EU citizens have rolled up their sleeves, aspiring for a comfortable Irish (American, Canadian, Australian, European) lifestyle. They will work for less than I charged if it gets them started on the ladder of progress. They will not be denied in their quest for meaningful employment because they're good and they charge the right price.

I wonder if college lecturers in Europe and America have copped onto the competition out there. I know I must instruct students to produce code, templates, and databases faster and more complex than I created five years ago. Irish products must be sufficiently complexity to be valued higher than the market average. They must be sophisticated enough to prevent easy copying. And they must involve fewer in the production process.

Accompanying this scenario is a picture of hundreds of unemployed. I don't know what the government can do about this except to acknowledge that "full employment" might mean 10% of the able-bodied population is unemployed.

To keep the "real unemployed" at a socially acceptable level, we must produce new employees who are able to invent and program the future. That could be more challenging than we admit in Ireland, because a sizeable amount of school leavers need to pay for special grinds in order to pass their Leaving Certificate. More than half of my students could not afford those grinds, meaning they enter my classroom with below average academic aptitude. They must scale a real mountain to gain meaningful employment.

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Underway plus

UNDERWAY -- My weekly schedule puts me on the road between Kilkenny and Dublin every Friday morning. Today I go from an outstanding glass show displayed in the Kilkenny Castle Yard to a MAVIS discussion about post-production (relevant to Justin Mason's pointer below) in Temple Bar. In order to make my meeting schedule in Dublin, I walk to Kilkenny Castle for a departure at 0630. That puts me on a bus from JJ Kavanagh and gets me to centre city Dublin no later than 0900. It's not much faster to drive. The EUR 6 Kavanagh bus trip is cleaner, quieter, more comfortable and less expensive than any other option. Plus, I get a tray table with cup holder and reclining seat with a lapbelt. I can draw a window curtain or adjust overhead lights. At 0630, the only irritation is a country boy who chats for hour with the driver. My Sony earbuds solve that problem.

Americans traveling through Ireland could be excused for failing to notice the bus service from Kavanagh. Where I grew up in the States, the bus was not a runner. After nearly 10 years working underway in Ireland, I couldn't imagine tying myself to a car. I've become addicted to my mobile office. I need to work while underway, read books, grade papers or listen to music. Those things happen easiest on a Kavanagh bus.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
Justin Mason -- "Art" using amazing post-production techniques in Flash by
Machine Molle.
And a big thanks to Joe Murphy, who knows good design because he makes it happen.
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Green Ireland

KILKENNY -- We need more green in Ireland. It's Easter Sunday and there are lusher, greener spaces in the world than I can see when walking around Kilkenny. Like Malacca, Malaysia, shot by Jasmine and used with permission.

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Image © 2004 Jasmine, the Malaysian photographer.
Word Photo -- the word of the day is "green."
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Globalism and e-voting

TAINT -- Justin Mason offers up a very revealing transcript snipped from the on-going debate about e-voting in Ireland. The two local candidates who stumped in my estate assured me that the new electronic process is "safe" and "well-thought-out." Sure, we'll be grand. We sorted out that cigarette smoke problem, didn't we? For anyone close to the issue, it's revealing how those advocating a paper trail to an electronic process are tarred by Irish government ministers as "anti-globalist" and worse. This important question for democracy is being reduced to the level of partisan politics.

From the debate, just before the measure is rammed into law.

Mr. Bernard Allen, FG: Electronic voting is a good idea but this system has been badly thought through and public confidence has been badly shaken by a Government unwilling to listen to anyone but its own so-called experts. The Government has called the introduction of this system a step forward, a point reiterated by the Minister. I submit that it is a retrograde step based on insufficient knowledge on the use of technology. The Minister has a new toy and thought everyone would like it. They do not. The Irish Computer Society said: 'Any electronic voting system must include a paper-based voter-verified audit trail.' The Minister in his arrogance recently said these people were cranks and Luddites.

Mr. Bernard Durkan, FG: Are they cranks?

Mr. Martin Cullen, FF: They are linked to the anti-globalisation movement. The Deputy should check them out. They are all the same.

Mr. Allen: It is all a--

Mr. Cullen: If Fine Gael bases its policies on such people, it is no wonder it is in decline.

Mr. Durkan: The people concerned are computer experts.

Mr. Allen: We do not know what the Minister's policies are and where he stands on any matter.

Mr. Paul Kehoe, FG: The Minister should know more about policy having been a member of more than one party.

Mr. Allen: Irish technology experts have told the Government its system must include a paper-based voter-verified audit trail.

Mr. Cullen: They are not experts in this field.

Mr. Allen: The Minister has made a serious allegation about genuine people--

Mr. Cullen: They are not accredited to anything. They have no expertise or international accreditation.

(Interruptions).

Mr. Michael Ring, FG: Fianna Fáil are experts on everything. They have filled every tribunal in the country.

Mr. Allen: The Minister has come to this House and--

Acting Chairman (Jerry Cowley, Ind): Deputy Allen should direct his comments through the Chair.

Mr. Allen: The Chair should ask the Minister to cease interrupting.

Mr. Cullen: Such comments are pathetic. It is no wonder Fine Gael is in such a disorderly state.

Mr. Ring: Fianna Fáil are the experts.

Acting Chairman: I remind Members that this is not a Committee Stage debate. We are dealing with Second Stage and I ask Deputies to allow Deputy Allen to continue without interruption, please.

Mr. Allen: The Minister has vilified people who cannot protect themselves.

Mr. Durkan: Outside the House.

Mr. Allen: The Minister should withdraw the allegation against--

Mr. Cullen: I have not vilified them. I said they are not accredited--

Mr. Allen: The Minister said they are linked to the anti-globalisation movement and suggested we should check them out.

Mr. Cullen: Yes, they are.

Acting Chairman: Deputy Allen, please continue.

Mr. Allen: The Minister should withdraw that allegation against people who cannot protect themselves.

Mr. Cullen: I will not.

Acting Chairman: Deputy Allen, please continue.

Mr. Durkan: The Minister has cast aspersions on people outside this House. In accordance with Standing Orders--

Mr. Cullen: I think they are proud of their links.

Mr. Durkan: On a point of order, the making of such an allegation is not in accordance with the Standing Orders of this House. Perhaps the Minister would like to comment.

Acting Chairman: The Chair has ruled on that matter.

Mr. Durkan: With respect, the Chair has no authority to rule on this matter. Standing Orders apply.

Acting Chairman: That Chair has ruled on the matter.

Mr. Durkan: No, I am sorry, I do not agree. On a point of order, the Minister has cast aspersions--

Mr. Cullen: I paid them a compliment.

Mr. Durkan: The Minister has cast aspersions on people outside this House.

Mr. Cullen: They will regard my remarks as a compliment, a badge of honour.

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Justin Mason -- "McCarthyite smearing"
John Lambe -- "E-Voting Anti-Globalisation"
Parlimentary Debate -- Electoral Amendment
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Pub Laws

KILKENNY -- The first weekend of the dreaded smoking ban has passed without incident and several students offer first-hand observations. It seems that smoking has given way to a festival-style mood that mixes outdoor smokers with door staff, tourists, and regulars in search of a good party. It would appear that the new regulations will reduce binge drinking as they force some of the serial drinkers into greater social interaction throughout the evening. In every premise in Kilkenny, queues stretched down the street as young men and women met each other outside for conversation rather than inside while jostling for the toilets. I think it's remarkable to watch.

I am documenting little facts to complement the useful information in The Story of the Irish Pub.

• On average, there is one pub for every 448 people in Ireland today, compared to an average of one for every 242 in 1969.
• In 1700, King William of Orange introduced the requirement that all pint vessels in pubs bear an assay mark, certifying that the pint measure is true.
• Up to the mid-18th century, marriages in pubs were common, because so many were arranged spontaneously.
• Under the Coroners Act of 1846, a coroner could direct that a dead body be brought to the nearest tavern and the owner had to allow it to be kept there until the inquest. the act was in force until 1962.
• Today, pub closing hours affect all pubs at the same time but this was not always so. Before 1880, each town in Ireland operated its own local time. Cork was 11 minutes behind Dublin. The differences caused difficulties with the railways, so clocks were standardised.

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Cian Molloy -- pub facts in his book.
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Note to John Hearne

SILICON REPUBLIC -- I work in County Tipperary and spend the equivalent of a workday in Thurles once a fortnight, which gives me an opportunity to see things that could be at variance with the marketing brochures about the place. That's not unusual as we always market ourselves with a difference.

When marketing bumpf permeates tech journalism, we have a situation akin to the inmates running the asylum. So to level the accolades, I offer some observations about "Take a Town: Thurles" that appears in "Digital Ireland" today.

• John Hearne points to the Tipperary Technology Park, a fine building with very swish facilities. But I wonder if he has walked its grounds and talked to the companies inside. There's a big story waiting to break on the business pages once he shakes the hands of at least three different company managing directors there.
• The article reports "cuts in local authority funding mean that the library internet service must now be paid for." It saddened me to watch a local VEC school get smacked down for its ISDN connection fees. And you have to wonder why local authority funds must be redirected to pick up after the yobbish packs that literally litter the street every weekend. That isn't a technology story--unless it explains how potential resources for technology are held hostage by local behavior.
• The normally eagle-eyed John Hearne might have missed telling features of the Tipperary.com web site. He spots the fact that places like Thurles.com and Thurles.org are not local made or maintained. How much of Tipperary.com pertains to Thurles or North Tipperary? And who does the heavy lifting (the design and the core data elements) of the web site? It deserves accolades since "the look and feel is great." Yet it looks and acts much differently from the Tipperary North web site, the local environs of Thurles. All credit to the team that fields and nurtures the best technology.
• It would be interesting to see which county council leads the table for the richest cross-section of local information on the government-funded web sites. The taxpayer plumps out large pockets of money to get this information into the public domain, but some councils noticeably lag others in terms of actually information constituents about community activities, sports clubs, and information events. While North Tipp awaits money from the Mobhaile initiative, other councils have spun together microsites with much less overhead.
• Does anyone think there is an economic model that can sustain broadband in farming communities? Nearly 20% of the article deals with this idea when the Irish tech development community continues rolling out community-based wide area networks. And on the reverse side of Hearne's article, an equally amount of text explains that "critics find flaws in regional plans." According to Ireland Offline spokesman Christian Cooke, "the only viable model for rural broadband is to allow communities to go it alone using not-for-profit structures without being required to partner with a broadband ISP."

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Thurles Marketing Initiative -- "Thurles: Connecting Business and Quality of Life." Authors sometimes referred to as the Thurles Marketing Group.
John Hearne -- "Country pursuits with a shot of high-tech" in the Irish Independent Digital Ireland, March 25, 2004.
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St Patrick's Day Visitors

KILKENNY -- Nudged by Halley Suitt, Dearbhaile Hanley offers a primer on what is means to be Irish. I learned a little about what others think about Ireland by scanning through 1454 referrers left behind here by visitors on St Patrick’s Day. My initial conclusion is I have to stop writing about food. You are what you eat and if you think about eating, your identity may morph into part of the Irish gastronomical landscape. Considering the calories in the Guinness, Irish breakfasts and takeaways, that’s not a good thing.

Snippets of search engine referrers that attracted people here looking for St. Patrick’s Day suggest there are widely divergent ideas of the Irish culture.

• St Patrick’s Day food and menu items(i.e., milkshakes, milk floats, soda bread)
• drunk St Patrick’s Day pictures, reasons to get drunk on the day, pubs in Ireland
• what to know on St. Patrick’s Day, silly things on St. Patrick’s Day, Irish jokes (look no further than Father Ted), what happens if you don’t wear green
• celebrations on St. Patrick’s Day (especially pictures of Dublin, Belfast, and NYC with specific reference to what they wear and sightings of leprechauns)
• Irish desktops
• Irish Buddy List sounds
• Irish blondes
• ”orange green Irish” outranks “wearing of the green” on this blog.
• Irish technology
• Kilkenny pint
• the man himself: St. Patrick’s legend, St. Paddy, St. Patty
• why Irish people suck (I have blocked seven different people for their hate comments on this blog.)
  

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Halley Suitt – “Wearing of the Green” mentions “green bagel eaters and green beer drinkers,” two things I have never seen in Ireland.
Dearbhaile Hanley -- “For Chrisssssakes (and for Halley’s, too)” cites 51 reasons that make her “glad to be Irish on this St. Patrick’s Day” then attracts dozens more in comments left by visitors.
Taterfay on Excite Boards – “Irish Soda Bread” where part of the conversation reveals more about the “Made in America” version of St. Patrick’s Day:

I had always thought that St. Patty's Day was mostly just an American holiday and nothing else but I guess it's pretty hardcore over in Ireland, too, though I still don't know if they eat the traditional corned beef/cabbage/potatoes meal. I'm looking forward to our dinner, maybe drinking some sort of Irish Cream and then heading out to see our local Pogues-esque band "Toad in the Hole" for some real foot-stomping. Oh, and I want a SHAMROCK SHAKE.

Breakfast on St Patrick's Day

NEWBRIDGE -- While standing in the centre of a horse paddock on a sunny St Patrick's morning, I devoured a gigantic "Irish Omelette" at Austin's Well Farm, wondering whether it would be more authentic if washed down with a Guinness. Then I watched a parade of fine horses under the watchful eye of grandmaster Paul Magnier who was in his element as selector of some of the next generation of Irish horse racing winners.

I am continually amazed at the earning power of the horse industry. That fact was well-understood by the appreciative members of a select audience who had invested tens of thousands of euro in each of the 12 young horses kept in this 80 acre farm. That money will return in healthy dividends--sometimes in under three years' time--meaning there is much greater financial reward gained from racing stock than from similar investments in the Irish stock market.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service from Austin's Well Farm, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland.
Claus Meyer -- "St Patrick's Day essen und trinken"
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Kilkenny People on St Patrick's Day 2004

KILKENNY -- Contortionist Tsvetelina from Circus Vegas graces the front page of the Kilkenny People on St Patrick's Day 2004. The caption in the photo says she "checks the Kilkenny People for entertainment in the city over the national festival. But since she is holding last week's paper, she won't find any parades or special events mentioned.

Those St Patrick's Day events unfold on page 5 in the 19 March 2004 edition of the paper.

• Graignamanagh's parade starts at noon. "An attack is expected on the monks of Duiske Abbey."
• Urlingford's parade begins at 1330 and includes 50 floats. That suggests vintage cars will feature in the parade.
• Kilkenny city's parade kicks off at 3PM with 30 floats. A float can be a bicycle.

Rain has stopped by the morning of the national holiday and temperatures feel spring-like. It wil be fun.

The leading headline on the Patrick’s Day Kilkenny People describes “Mart plan in tatters.” The Kilkenny Mart claims that if they cannot offer a lease to the National Car Test Centre, the entire livestock market will be unviable after its proposed move to the Carlow Road.

Four other headlined items make the front page.

• "Stunning price for city premises." A Waterford man paid €3.55m for a corner shop on High Street and Rose Inn Street.
• "Ref shortage to blow whistle on games?"John Knox repeats a piece from the sport section about GAA clubs failing to provide adequate numbers of referees.
• "Bacon eats cabbage after Vietnam hunt." Three young boys finally caught a runaway Vietnamese pot-bellied pig. They used a quad bike and a hurling net to snare the pig who had captured the front page readers for the past three weeks.
• "Bad news at Good’s" relates the loss of 20 jobs at a Kilkenny store.

Seven other small items make the front page.

• Bypass millions. TD John McGuinness has pointed out how the cost of bypassing Piltown and Fiddtown ended up costing €23.36m instead of the planned €14.73m. When finished, school buses cannot use the underpass constructed for them.
• Doctor fined. A doctor who worked at Aut Even Hospital must pay €18,000 compensation to his former secretary because he sacked her after finding out she was pregnant with twins.
• Top dog. A Callan woman’s life was saved when her dog alerted her to a fire in her home. The woman woke from her dog’s barking and managed to flee her burning house. The dog perished.
• Litter hotline. Kilkenny City’s reputation as a heritage and tourist destination is threatened by litter so the mayor offers a telephone number to ring if citizens spot litter.
• "The Paulstown pugilist" is Darren O’Neill who won the intermediate Irish championships in the National Stadium, Dublin.
• "Full details on local parades" continue to attract dozens of people to this blog every day. Here’s hoping the Kilkenny People publish the best photos online.
• "Big deal" is a reference to Seanie Ryan dealing out the cards for a game of 25s in Urlingford.

Ten pictures make the front page, including those of a contortionist, boxer, St Patrick, Seanie Ryan, a male model, a pig, potted roses, and two shots of women’s legs. Seven advertisements grace the front page. Good’s gets the largest (featuring the women’s legs). Others advertise burglar alarms, men’s clothing (2), kitchens, gardens, and lunches.

On the editorial page, the single editorial says it’s “time to think about citizenship.” Ireland awards citizenship to anyone born on Irish soil. The brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden bought his Irish citizenship in 1990, along with dozens of other people. The longest letter to the editor laments the Madrid bombings.

In her Voxpop column, Edwina Grace discovers some interesting perspectives about the ban on smoking in Irish pubs.

In her weekly column, Josephine Plettenberg talks about horses. From her enthusiastic tone, I bet she would have enjoyed a visit to Austin’s Well Farm with her daughter.

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Sent mail2blog from Langton's Pub, ground zero of the reviewing action.
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Living in Ireland

KILKENNY -- I am approaching 10 years in Ireland, now expecting to live longer in the country of my forebears than in the place of my birth. I came to Ireland because it offered a change from Germany where I had spent eight years underground, in the air, and on the road. I needed "slow" and found that along the Wicklow coastline.

As the years rolled over, I felt part of the Celtic Tiger, learned to savour my Guinness, relish my Smithwick's and count more friends as Irish than any other nationality. That's partially because many of my American relations consider themselves Irish. From the nuns in my primary school to my coaches in high school, there was a sense that we were part of a transatlantic parish. Being an expat today feels like a doubling, rather than a dividing, of loyalties. And this week, when many of my friends from my hometown wear green on Paddy's Day, I feel a double love for both sides of the Atlantic. That's what being a global citizen should feel like, isn't it? It's certainly a hallmark of a global holiday.

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Bernard Goldbach -- "Living off the grid"
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Irish food on St Patrick's Day

KILKENNY -- If American friends visit Kilkenny looking for authentic Irish food, I recommend Kytelers Restaurant because it delivers the traditional. Celebrating St Patrick's Day with a special menu may mean looking for something like these items.

• Cheeses from Carrigbyrne and Conneen
• Guinness and oysters
• Salmon steak with colourful veg--green, white and orange vegetables presented with flair--they could be peas, mashed potatoes and carrots.
• Bacon and cabbage
• Apple tart for dessert. Or orange-filled Jaffa cakes

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Pubs in Irish lifestyle

CORK -- The Irish style of socialising has changed during the past nine years I have lived in Ireland. Statistics show spending on drink fell 6% between 2002 and 2003. I think that reflects people searching for a comfortable atmosphere where it is not noisy or smoky. With the no smoking ban arriving 20 days from now, Irish publicans need to focus on making their premises cleaner and quieter.

Gerard O'Neill from Amarach, says that even without the smoking ban, Irish pubs had to change because the 18-24 year olds who consumed mass quantities of alcohol were maturing. Many need to save their pocket money for a down payment on a new home. You can do that by getting your alcohol cheaper at Aldi and Lidl, then kicking back for an evening with friends at home.

Ireland also needs more pubs with good food. Pubs that don't will miss out on an important revenue stream. They simply will not attract an affluent, middle-ageing society that views pubs as social destinations, not as drinking venues. Getting this mix correct means fine-tuning the smoking pub model, introducing healthy food, wine on tap, and outdoor decking for smokers.

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Kilkenny Castle free openings

OPW -- The Office of Public Works has opened the Kilkenny Castle free of charge during every Friday in March. The Butler Gallery, located in the basement of the Kilkenny Castle, is always free to enter. The Kilkenny Castle tours, conducted by tour guides, operate between 1030-1245 and 1400-1700. They are free every Friday in March and well worth the time.

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Free Wi-Fi Dublin Pub

DUBLIN -- Visit the canteen in the Smurfit Business School and you will see laptops on most tables. So it comes as no big surprise that a local pub offers free Wi-Fi for all comers. The Avoca House on Carysfort Avenue, just down the street from the Smurfit campus, is the first pub in Dublin to offer an always-free service. I've used the Bitbuzz network in The Front Longue but it's scheduled to go commercial.

Jim O'Rourke, owner of the Avoca House, spent €3500 on Wi-Fi setup and he has another €169 in monthly ADSL charges. He could have cut the setup in half and unless he's using the broadband for some mission-critical function, he could shave at least €60 a month off it. Still, it's a powerful word-of-mouth advertisement and a good pub as well.

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Adrian Weckler -- "Free Wi-Fi with your pint of plain" in Computers in Business, March 2004
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Kilkenny Houses to rent

KILKENNY -- It's a warm Sunday morning and I ambled around Kilkenny where I spotted six places to rent by Pat Gannon. These are quality properties and the prices appear to be lower than last year.

• William Street: 2 bedroom apartment
• Dean's Court: 3 bedroom home
• Pococke Valley: 3 bedroom home
• John's Quay: 3 bedroom apartment
• Ashurst, College Road: 2 bedroom apartment
• Fairways: 3 bedroom house

I know from comments on this blog that people are considering Kilkenny as a destination when they return to Ireland. I started house-hunting in Kilkenny with Pat Gannon and it was a painless, efficient process.

Buying a home now in Kilkenny will produce a handsome return as housing prices are rising at 15% annually in my housing estate and across Kilkenny City. The surge in house prices is being helped by an additional €1.1bn being paid to public service workers by the government in 2004.

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Pat Gannon, Auctioneer, is down John Street from the Kilkenny Train Station. Tel: +353 56 7723298

Lithuania in Kilkenny

KILKENNY -- When 10 nations are welcomed into the European Community on May 1st, a delegation of Lithuanians will mark the occasion in Kilkenny. I think the medieval streets of Kilkenny cover the same acreage as the old part of Vilinus. It will be interesting to observe the event first-hand in the Kilkenny Castle, where I believe the ceremony will unfold.

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Maureen Kennelly has details on the event, run in conjunction with the Lithuanian Embassy. Kilkenny organisers include Donna McGreevy on +353 56 77 86446.
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Where dogs go when owners die

INISTIOGE -- Ballygup sits high above Inistioge in County Kilkenny, home of the most prominent feature of this remote townsland. For Ballygup is home to Brenda Stone's puppy rescue. It's the place where some dogs go when their owners die. I know about that because we have rehomed a black Pomeranian during the terminal stages of his owner's illness. It hurts to know that as the little Pom's confidence grows, his owner's health might be declining. We're hesitant to ask about the dog's name, so we call him "Chuckie" since he responded to it on the first go.

Chuckie is a polite urban dweller. When on the lead, he struts purposefully along storefronts without lifting a leg or squatting to go. That's more self-control than shown by many drunken yobs who tumble onto the streets from Kilkenny's pubs on weekend nights. He sleeps all night on a small blanket that he adopted, lying next to a couch in the sitting room. He guards that space until someone comes downstairs to relieve him of his watch duties. When walking the perimeter of the back garden outside, he barks menacingly at noises coming from the other side of the border wall. We think the neighbours in Kieran Crescent can tell he is a one-stone fluffball. The bark announces his ownership of several toys that he has placed in strategic positions throughout the back garden. We're not sure he can see them at night.

As Chuckie slowly adopts our semi-detached lifestyle, my thoughts go out to other dog owners, especially those in poor health. They should draw comfort in the knowledge that people like denise cox and Brenda Stone will provide homes for dogs long after their owners pass away.

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Inistioge Puppy Rescue is supported by rabid volunteers Irish Animals. Inistioge is home to Woodstock Gardens, The Circle of Friends pub, and other charming suprises.
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Irish hospitality

UNDERWAY -- Where else but in Ireland could a shivering student board an inter-city bus and be given free bus travel because she lost her money? At the pub the nght before. In many ways, Bus Eireann serves the small towns of Ireland by keeping its small-town perspective. It's heart-warming, really.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
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Pricing the loading zones

KILKENNY -- Sitting in McDonagh Station, it is clear that only two trains can be in the Kilkenny Station at one time. Standing along Dublin's Quays, it is clear that only one bus can park at each bus stand at one time. The airports run with the same constraints because only one airplane can land at any single minute on each runway. Each individual landing slot, parking place and boarding platform has temporal value. I wonder why the privatisation of Dublin Bus is not approached in similar fashion. The Transport Minister could clear the quays by invoking parking slot limitations on Dublin Bus. A bus could remain in a parking slot for no more than 20 minutes. After that time, the slot could be purchased by a private operator who could use the pre-defined 20-minute slot once a day for one year. Having the slot time also grants the use of Quality Bus Corridors. I wonder if unions would oppose this kind of privatisation-by-temporal privilege?

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Loudest

UNDERWAY -- I travel a nominal 158 miles each week by rail and 76 miles by bus each week. Today I am in a first class carriage with 25 other people. Most are conversing. The only voice I can hear is the American woman working on her second can of Carlsberg. It's moments like this that I resent the long arm of American tourism. My travel serenity is often disturbed on public buses by Yanks with packs. They run in packs of three or four with backpacks as big as boots in Micras. But no matter what their volume, they're much less irritating than Brits on the hunt during Stag Weekends.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
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JackL inside Sindo

JACK LUKEMAN -- The best skip-diving on Monday morning would be outside newsagents, looking for the magazine section of the Sunday Independent because it contains a CD from Jack L. Among the eight tracks: "Can't get you out of my head" that I heard Jack L perform on Today FM in an acoustical set. It's as good as Kylie's original but with greater depth and resonance.

I searched hard for another reason to buy the Sunday Independent but it remains as punchless as ever, clearly deserving its "red-top broadsheet" moniker.

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"Chez Jack L" is now available as a DVD.
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Constables on rails

KILKENNY -- Walking through Heuston Station on Friday mornings I see an increased uniformed presence of men looking like constables. It's a little unnerving because these guys have eyes-on the swarm as it weaves through the train platform's barriers and ever-changing plastic crowd control ribbons. If only they would take special interest of those smoking (but there's no blanket restriction in place) and I wish they were clearly evident on Friday afternoons when stags and hens mount the Kilkenny train with open tins of lager.

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Immigrants and optimists

WSJ -- The face of the official Irish welcome is that of the immigration officer and it means enduring at least a visual shakedown on landing at a major Irish airport. The
Wall Street Journal points out financial reasons why immigrants should enjoy a friendly handshake on landing.

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Wall Street Journal -- "Immigrants and Optimists: The key to America's continued prosperity. "
Wall Street Journal -- "Welcome to America: Fifteen thinkers offer a Conservative Statement of Principles on Immigration."
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Waking up Ireland

TEMPLE BAR -- By 0630 on weekday mornings, places like the cobbled streets of Sachsenhausen in Frankfurt resonate with the sound of people headed to business. Not so in Ireland, where people don't seem to head to work until the sun is up. That means you won't find most shops open until after 0800. Which means you won't easily get a morning coffee between bus transfers in centre city Dublin if you're opening up an office across town. There are many reasons for this morning lull. I think the main reason is the lack of foreign nationals in the corner shop trade, suppressed by the restrictive work permit procedure. Let individuals get work permits and watch Dublin wake up two hours earlier every morning. The practise would generate millions in new tax revenue as a by-product.

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Sheep Train

DERVALA -- Anyone who needs a shot of pastoral living to clear their head of the burden of technology needs to hike Croagh Patrick. If you had followed Dearbhaile and Tim up the summit last weekend, the loudest thing you might have heard would have been the sheep on the rocky paths. Tim shot the photo of the sheep on the climb. From the looks of the landscape below, Dervala and Tim got higher on the summit than my last attempt on the climb.

One of the things you can count on discovering is that many of the people on Croagh Patrick appreciate diversity and sacrifice. It's also fair to assume that those who have a coffee in the (excellent) little village shops below don't care for loud criticism, immigration officials, poor public transport, smoking and litter. At least that's what I overheard the last time I was on Mayo's coast.

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Dervala Hanley -- "Sheep pilgrimage on Croagh Patrick"
Picture by Tim Vetter using a pocket-sized Olympus Stylus Epic 2000.
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Shannon Stopover

KILKENNY -- I have endured the Shannon Stopover a half dozen times and it ranks as one of the worst blights in my traveling experience. On half of the occasions my aircraft has stopped in Shannon, only the coffee bar was open. No Internet services were available in the terminal. I felt like catching the bus back to Kilkenny when on return legs. I believe the Shannon Stopover hurts Irish tourism more than it inconveniences the traveling public.

Aer Lingus chief executive Willie Walsh is on record seeing the enormous potential to develop US routes--by chopping off the Shannon stopover. Losing the restriction opens up dozens of landing slots to Aer Lingus jets in the US. Liberalising the Shannon Stopover by fully endorsing Open Skies could enlarge the tourist market to 750m travelers.¹ Looked at another way, proponents of holding the line on the current Shannon stopover requirement are damaging Irish tourism. Let's get the perspective straight and acknowledge that those clinging to a semi-protectionist policy not only run counter to free trade but they damn those who depend on free-flowing air links for their bed and breakfast jobs. Kill the Shannon Stopover and focus on incentives that attract budget airlines to operate in the regions.

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¹Niamh Connolly -- "Trouble in Open Skies," a news feature bleeding over from the front page of The Sunday Business Post, 1 Feb 04
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Making Irish Laws

DUBLIN -- Unlike the rigorous method used in the States to draft, review, pass and approve legislation into law, the Irish government often rams through change when appointed ministers pencil-whip their ideas into law. For that reason alone, the current Irish system excels in the realm of institutionalised arrogance.

In fairness, most politicians are so aware of backlash at the parish pump that they are "open to consultation." In many occasions, that means paying millions of euro in fees for professional services or setting aside thousands of work hours to listen to union leaders yammer away. It also means paying barristers to take your case to court against the government, as in the case of the M50 Motorway versus the Carrickmines Ruins.

Front page news gives victory to the ruins, as Mr Justice Kearns said the legality of a motorway construction project involved whether primary legislation could be amended by secondary legislation (regulations or ministerial orders). He found it could not. This means the government overstepped its bounds when it subordinated the Office of Public Works to the Department of Arts, Culture and the Gaeltacht and then further flattened the function to the Department of the Environment. It is difficult to find the Minister for the Environment wearing anything other than a hard hat.

So there's a moment of pauses as the Minister for the Environment burns the weekend oil drafting language for a new law that enshrines his one-stop road-paving service into an institution. While that will help me circumvent Dublin on a second world-class (no median barriers installed) motorway, the process of the work closes down any appeal by archeologists or environmentalists. Such will be the legacy of Fianna Fail, the government of the Irish Celtic Tiger.

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Mark Hennessy -- "Latest Carrickmines court ruling may require new law" on The Irish Times front page, 30 Jan 04.
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Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel Conferences

KILKENNY -- The Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel hosts several big conferences each month--I am one of the professional liggers who avails of courtesy coffee next to the meeting venues in the hotel. I wish they had some things to enhance conference capabilities.

• Wi-Fi. All conference venues need Wi-Fi. An operating Wi-Fi network makes every nook into a place to work company e-mail during the day.
• Room controllers. The Ormondee uses eye-to-eye with the staff when tending to things like lights and curtains, although many of these functions can be controlled with handheld devices.
• DLPs. Digital Light Projectors connect laptops to large projection screens. Everyone can follow your Powerpoints that way.
• Plasma screens. They enhance presentations, and are especially suited to news loops that complement events.
• Whiteboards. I like interactive whiteboards but have succeeded in using a low-tech solution that gives bog-standard whiteboards digital features for collaboration.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service from the lobby of the Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel.
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Travel hazards

UNDERWAY -- My job puts me on stretches of road that kill and injure people in accidents that achieve national headlines. I have to drive between Cahir and Cashel on Ireland's N8, sharing the flow with an elephant march of trucks driven between Cork and Dublin. On Thursday, two trucks opposed each other when overtaking in opposite directions. Members of three generations of a family died in their car when sandwiched between the lorries. The road was closed for 10 hours to clean up the mess. The next day, more than 450 trucks per peak hour returned to the stretch. It needs to have striping that restricts overtaking to only one direction at aa time. Until that happens, I have confined myself to an alternate route of travel. It's three miles shorter and although I have picked my way through four accidents on the alternate stretch during the past three years, no one was killed in those collisions.

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Eddie Cassidy -- "High volume of trucks travel crash road" in The Irish Examiner, 23 Jan 04
Sent mail2blog uisng Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service while stationary in Hueston Station, Dublin.
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Genuine Irish

TEMPLE BAR -- Where is the locus of the real Ireland? The best Irish athletes play in British teams. Ryanair flies Irish on more holidays away than natives spend in Ireland. On any given weekend, there is a real Irish presence criss-crossing all of Europe. Irish prices make it sweeter to enjoy time out in central and southern Europe noiw more than ever. From a visual perspective, I wonder if Ireland would be more appealing if it was more European, not more Irish.

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Kilkenny News

KILKENNY -- Shortly after coming to Ireland in 1994, I discovered that my local newsagent often knew more about the pulse of current events than what was published inside the titles on the shelves. That is also my experience in Kilkenny where I learn important details about my city by listening to the perspective of newsagent Tim Power. It's not hard to figure out why Power's perspective is so fresh--just linger in the shop and listen to people converse, share little observations and comment about what they're reading. Power remembers those things and has become a balanced font of information for me behind his newsagent counter. Plus, he sells useful magazines, postcards and offers the least expensive Internet access and lowest cost international dialing of any point in County Kilkenny. Thanks to him, I connect to the States and pay no more than 10 cents a minute. American students visiting Kilkenny need to save their money by spending it wisely on the communications he resells and the advice he gives (only when asked).

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Kilkenny Antiques

KILKENNY -- Over €3m worth of antiques are in the Newpark Hotel for the Kilkenny Antiques Show. The fair is open to the public from 1100 to 1900. More than 50 dealers have things in place. Objects for sale include furniture, jewelry, porcelain, pictures, glassware, clocks, phonecards and curios. But it's nothing like the Antiques Road Show in England.

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Irish house values like a pension plan

KILKENNY -- Walking down the main streets of Kilkenny is an easy way to see the value of homes in the county because all the estate agents display details on properties in their windows. House prices continue their robust performance in 2004, because banks offer cheap money, public service sector wage packets have increased, unemployment is decreasing and people feel good. We expect to see an 8% increase on the value of our home, meaning that it will have increased more than €55,000 in value over three years. That's the kind of increase you would expect in a well-run pension fund.

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Eamon Quinn -- "House prices set to surge" on The Sunday Business Post front page, 11 Jan 04
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Building a better Ireland

KILKENNY -- The 2003 Magill Summer School papers are out, rather disjointed, giving a feeling that Ireland of the 21st century is a country whose social fabric has broken down. Editor Joe Mulholland observes, "In the absence of old traditional values, customs and religious beliefs, there is a gaping void into which are pouring 'me-ism,' irrespnsibility, depression, loneliness, suicides." Bishop Walsh's essay says it's rampant "aggressive individualism."

I watched the Tiger Economy blossom in Ireland and it doesn't look like it generated real wealth. Public infrastrucuture is creaking. Social and economic disadvantage have not reduced.

The book's 174 pages suggest the debates that must rage at the Magill Summer School, where contributors to this compilation need to be heard to be appreciated.

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Joe Mulholland -- "Why Not? Building a Better Ireland" from the Magill Summer School 2003.
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e-vote problems

KILKENNY -- In the coming months, the Irish government will mount an expensive publicity campaign to explain how the local, European and presidential elections in 2004 will be conducted with electronic voting machines. I don't care if I am labeled a Luddite for resisting this computerised technology. For in all the government evangelicising, there will be no rock-solid guarantees that nobody can hack the system and influence either the casting or counting of the votes.

If I have learned anything from the incessant running of high-level tribunals in Ireland, it is that government officials take bribes, party polticos lack integrity, and that white collar criminal activity is synonymous with public office. We don't need to relinquish the durable paper ballot for an alleged time-saving electronic replacement. In this case, the 21st century voting machine is not a step forward.

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First downloadable Irish paper

TRIBUNE -- Although the Sunday Tribune advertises itself as "Ireland's first digital newspaper," don't expect to find all the contents of the magaazine or all the classifieds in the edition you download from the Internet. And it's not free.

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Surviving Ireland's Rip-offs

KILKENNY -- Although three sets of friends will make international journeys to visit me in Kilkenny this year, I won't risk their wallets in the rip-off culture that has permeated Ireland. American tourists feel the worst of it because the dollar is 25% lower against the euro and Irish tax is 15% higher than where my firiends live. As a good host, I have recommended some specific things to protect their spending money.

• Buy trinkets in chain store places that you find in Merchant's Arch, Dublin. Don't buy the trinkets in smaller shops down the country.
• Buy a EUR 10 phone card from newsagents like Tim Power in Kilkenny so you can always avail of cheap calls, even from hotel rooms. The card assigns you a passcode that you use with a toll-free number. Mine gets me 10 cent a minute calls to the States.
• If you must eat where there's a crush of tourists, consider pasta.
• Look at the price lists for restaurants before you sit down. Reconsider your choice when the least expensive fare costs more than EUR 12.
• Give up on your search for cheap drink. Try to offset the cost of a perfect pint (now cresting over EUR 4 in most hotels) by sipping it next to an open hearth or in an authentic Irish pub.
• Sort out your car rental arrangements before landing. That alone will save you half the cost of a rental negotiated over the counter at the airport.
• Avoid Internet cafes, except to get an updated list of free Wi-Fi connectivity in Ireland. Ignore this rule if the Internet cafe charges EUR 4 or less per hour.
• B&B accommodation remains the least expensive option for overnights.
• Train and long distance bus travel is reasonably priced, especially when considering petrol costs three times as much as in the States.

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Diversity at Work Network

KILKENNY -- The Chambers of Commerce in Ireland (CCI) has launched the Diversity At Work Network, aiming to respond to Ireland's new ethnic diversity on foot of more than 42,000 work permits issued last year. I think Dublin Bus is a good example of diversity at work and should be showcased.

The Institute of Technology in Blanchardstown plays a role in this process. Its National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism is funded under the EU Equal Programme.

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Rapid change ahead

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- While I don't think any established expert group predicted the rise of the Celtic Tiger, several industry voices have forecast significant globalistic forces, such as the offshoring of programming, that are much more potent than the dotcom explosion that swept the country. These sentiments are bubbling up on Slashdot and being discussed by some Microsoft bloggers.

In the views of my teaching colleagues, the Irish economy has already started to cede low-skill jobs to cheaper countries. This means dozens of easy pickings in basic multimedia authoring have left the country--guaranteeing lower entry positions for several of our marginally qualified multimedia diploma students.

Several bloggers have pointed out that back-office white collar jobs have left England, France, Germany and the United States for India. Some of these jobs were created in the 80s to replace manufacturing jobs that dried up. And forget call centre jobs. Indian broadband, coupled with clear-speaking customer service specialists, means Ireland is no longer planning to attract call centre companies.

Ireland needs to keep the accelerator down on funding for research and development. We could leverage synergies in the field of telecommunications, especially wireless mobile phone technologies. Biomedicine is promising too.

I live in an area where the number of jobs related to agriculture will decrease in the next ten years. Yet the county government seems slow off the mark in terms of filling the gap left by decreases in that sector. For my part, I know I can produce highly-qualified knowledge workers who would like to live and work in the county. It would be comforting to know the Irish government is dedicating the proper efforts to infrastructure that will enable businesses to thrive.

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Michael Jensen -- "Modern Industrial Revolution, Exit, and the Failure of Internal Control Systems"
Business Week Online -- "The changing face of offshore programming"
Mark Hennessy -- "Congress is predicting another decade of rapid change" in The Irish Times, 2 Jan 03.
Slashdot -- "The changing face of offshore programming"
Robert Scoble -- "offshoring of programming" attracted dozens of comments during a quiet New Year's weekend.
John Robb -- "the commoditization of software" with comments.
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New Year's in Ireland

KILKENNY -- With all the M&Ms munched already but two bottles of Bailey's Cream waiting to be opened, three Mahers and one Goldbach spent New Year's Eve sitting around a blazing fire on New Year's Eve, making the evening one of the most pleasant celebrations I have enjoyed. I want to record where I was on New Year's Eve but some times I don't remember. I blame Guinness for that forgetfulness, what with all the brain cell damage from ingesting black stout.

So I want to revisit this blog and recall where I was on New Year's Eve in Ireland.

• 31 December 2003, Kilkenny, Garringreen. We greeted the New Year with the Mahers while a warm fire roared in the hearth,
• 31 December 2002, Kilkenny, Ormonde Hotel. Just before midnight, we were accidentally doused with two flutes of champagne that slipped from a service tray. The hotel kept us in free drink for the early morning hours.
• 31 December 2001, Drogheda, Ashfield. Along with Ruth's family and friends of her sister Elaine, we watched fireworks above the River Boyne.
• 31 December 2000. Abbey Farm, Celbridge. Gay Byrne counted down the minutes on RTE1 as we traded stories with the family.
• 31 December 1999. Streets of Westport, County Mayo, Ireland. Hundreds of revelers swarmed through the streets the turn of the century. We couldn't get a mobile phone signal and discovered three ATMs that were not dispensing cash.

Until I wrote this little entry, I had not realised the many times I shared the new year in an Irish family home. There's a lot of joy in those memories, but I also remember the mountains of clean-up that followed. And I'm off to tackle that job today.

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The walking M&Ms are actually Megan and Richard Brophy in the annual Wellie Race Parade, held every January 1st in Castlecomer, County Kilkenny, Ireland.
Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
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Foraging for produce

KILKENNY -- Produce shelves in Kilkenny supermarkets provide a social welfare function. That's my conclusion as I watch elderly pensioners and bratty urchins help themselves to grapes, apples and pears at my local Dunnes Stores. They look over the fresh selections, grab something to munch, then walk around the shop while eating their choice.

I used to be appalled at this behaviour until I realised that it was very Darwinian. Fruits and vegetables have been responsible for about as many reported cases of food poisoning as beef, chicken, fish and eggs combined. But in Ireland's litigous society, some shoplifter is probably going to sue Superquinn for failing to wash its produce.

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Sent mail2blog using mail2blog O2 Typepad service.
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Kilkenny Internet Cafe

KILKENNY -- Thanks to flat screen monitors, affordable DSL and the presence of a hallway, Kilkenny now has a reasonably-priced Internet cafe. (Well, it's actually an Internet access point like it says above the shop.) It's run by Powers' Newsagent and it's prominently located in Johns Street just off the eastern approach to the well-known John's Bridge. You can access the Internet for €3 an hour, which means it's cheaper to check your mail now than it was in 1999. All the Irish broadsheets are at least 14% more expensive than in 1999. It's good there's value-added with easily available broadband.

FACT: All three of the flat screen PCs have Kazaa installed. That's news to Tim Power, the shop owner. It's old news for Yahoo, where more people looked for Kazaa than anything else on the Internet in 2003.

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BBC -- "Music sharing tops file searches"
Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator Vodafone Typepad service.
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Christmas in Kilkenny Ireland

KILKENNY -- Doggie doesn't know it's Christmas Day so he reverts to his long-established routine and insists on having a walk at sunrise. Nothing is stirring at 0700 in Garringreen--just a hint of activity under Christmas trees in 7 of the 37 homes we passed. You can be sure that more than 20% of my housing estate has kids under roof, so the low morning activity level might be more a function of an enforced limit, one imposed by late night Santas in need of rest.

We got good news a few days ago when hearing from Brenda Stone that Holly, our Samoyed-Spaniel-Collie is now in a farm home. That is a wonderful development because Ruth and I wanted Holly to find a home before Christmas. I hope she minds her new owners and respects the rights of chickens to coexist on her patch.

We're off to Drogheda for a big family feast, arranged by nine-month pregnant Elaine. Along the way, we may stop into Lusk to see Tim Kirby and family. We will cover more miles than we normally travel on a work day. We won't be alone. Irish roads are a hive of activity as family members crisscross the countryside en route to famiy events.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
Fuji S602Z picture of Christmas Lights in Ireland
Fuji S602Z picture of Christmas lights in Dublin's Grafton Street.
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Christmas Shopping in Ireland

KILKENNY -- Like several of my friends, I had some major shopping to do on Christmas Eve. And as I made my way around a few places, I remembered Christmas shopping tips from years before.

• Always seek out the cash till with the glazed eyes. Chances are that person is walking drunk and will grab and scan whatever they think is right. and when they do, they won't separate items for separate transactions, meaning you can get two-for-one before the Christmas sales begin.
• Be very cautious of spending money in shops that don't open on Christmas Eve or in shops closed for more than 10 days in the month of December. Thye're making enough to close on essential revenue days for most merchants which means they're getting more than their share of profit throughout the year.
• Be prepared for trolley wars when using parking lots populated by cretins who use the stripes between spots as centreline markings.
• Avoid loud teenagers holding beverage cans at noon. They could mark you with projectile vomit.
• If you buy a new mobile phone every Christmas in Ireland, strike up a relationship with a dealer who will reward you with a best price even without a network subsidy.
• Buy next year's cards during the psot-Christmas sales and save more than 60% on the sticker prices.
• You can never have enough battery power or video camera cartridges. Charge up a day ahead and place blank film where you drive or in bags you carry.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 TypePad service after a liesurely meal in The Italian Connection.
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The California of Europe

KILKENNY -- Ireland has lost its competitive edge without becoming the "California of Europe." Places like Cambridge or Edinburgh might deserve such a moniker. At the moment, low-value jobs are migrating from Ireland. That means some of Ireland's low-cost software development efforts are going elsewhere. That's not surprising because the Irish government has not funded the kind of postgrad programmes that are on every university campus in California.

It's simple--give PhD researchers a stipend and they will live like students while producing commercially viable work. Fail to match the California funding model and watch Ireland slip further down the table of software developers.

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Cathal Friel -- "Software will sink if it doesn't evolve fast" in The Sunday Times, 21 Dec 03
Sent mail2blog after a second Irish coffee in The Hibernian, Kilkenny
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Irish broadband about to kick

SUNDAY TRIBUNE -- Matthew Magee writes one of the most succinct pieces about Irish broadband and his article should be required reading for all small businesses and concerned citizens. For he cogently explains the basics of the Irish government's €140m "new" investment to wire small towns with broadband. Provincial areas like Kilkenny benefit from this decision. The idea has been mooted before but this time there's actually money flowing into the pot. This means local authorities can commit to funding fibre optic lines, knowing the national government will pay for 90% of the costs.

There is a hidden story in the government's moves. It concerns the need to offer universal telephone service to all areas. As is being shown in the States, where broadband starts, VoIP follows. If Irish telecommuications becomes a VoIP game, those withut broadband could be left far in the backwater. By setting up state-funded 21st century wiring, the small areas are likely to remain connected to the least expensive telecoms access.

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Matthew Magee -- "Broadband about to kick into gear" in The Sunday Tribune, 21 Dec 03
Rob O'Connor -- "Broadband Price Cuts"
Irish Typepad -- "Irish Schools Broadband Initiative"
Sent over breakfast coffee in Kilkenny, Ormonde Hotel, using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepa service.
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Kilkenny People in December

KILKENNY -- More than half of the 19 Dec 03 Kilkenny People front page deals with news, which surprised me because of the strength of the Christmas advertising market. Those advertisements fall inside the paper and many run in colour.

Front page news includes

• "Santa Claus comes early" describes good news following the 2004 national budget.Five new state-of-the-art playgrounds are to be built in the city and county as part of a EUR 2.3m windfall.
• "Local keeps eye on Saddam" explains how Sgt Mark Halpin is based in Iraq and "he is one of those who is aware of where Sadam Hussein is being held."
• Carmel Hayes says "health cutbacks are on the way" as the Southeastern Health Board sheds 36 jobs over the next two years.
• The largest picture (five columns wide) is of hounds on the hunt.
• Three pictures make it above the fold. Keith Wood will address a local goup, so he gets a picture in his rugby uniform. Martin Mulhall has retired from flying and is pictured at the Kilkenny Airport. Alex Ferguson hsmiles about his "Kilkenny friends."
• One sidebar explains "a majority of local businesses say spending has been slow this Christmas." Has anyone thought of kicking off pre-Christmas sales to coincide with the timing of Macy's in NYC?
• "A pregnant woman whose skull was fractured during an ugly melée in Gowran was an innocent victim, Thomastown Court heard this week."
• "Arcon, the Kilkenny-based zinc mining company, said it has withdrawn protective notices issued last week to all its mine employees."
• The biggest advertisement (18 square inches) is a green Christmas greeting from Cullen Steel.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service after breakfast in Kilkenny at Chez Pierre.
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Market failure in Irish broadband

LANCASTER -- At least three advertisements for broadband an hour come beaming through the television as I watch ice hockey games in the States. There's nothing like that in Ireland, where the Irish Information Society Commission (ISC) labels the land as an example of "market failure in broadband." The conclusion follows from a report commissioned by the ISC from Sonas Innovation and Peter Bacon and Associates.

The Irish solution? Establish a National Broadband Infrastructure Programme with clear delivery targets and timelines. Then fund it. That's funny--I cannot find any mention of this initiative in the current Irish budget. If the Minister for Communications (Dermot Ahern), knew of this important initiative prior to the most recent budget drill, why wasn't it folded into the current Budget Estimates? And why release this announcement just after elected politicians set out on their Christmas holidays? Dropping the announcement into the national broadsheets during the Christmas recess means getting a gutter item, not a feature story.

Government programmes cost money. No money for this new imperative means another year in waiting. That delay erodes competitiveness. That erosion costs jobs and reduces the quality of education to students who need broadband to see course materials effectively.

I don't think the government programme will put broadband into many parts of rural Ireland, even though the Ireland Offline concept of "group water schemes" is an interesting proposition. Quite simply, some parts of Ireland couldn't be bothered with either broadband satellite dishes or mobile phone masts. I believe they should be left to their own devices. Since opinion polls prove they don't want high-speed Internet access, concentrate resources on areas that do.

It makes sense for the government to start funding Metropolitan Area Networks. Getting them into place will help reduce the cost of connecting to a broadband service and I know dozens of families in Kilkenny where I live who would use the service.

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Why in the world would Peter Bacon and Associates offer technology advice and not maintain a Web site?
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Budget 2004 After the Ball

KILKENNY -- More Irish column inches will concern Budget 2004, released yesterday and to be drawn down over the next year. I happened to be finishing After the Ball on Budget Day and noted the analysis one could draw between the book and the budget.

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• Because Minister Seamus Brennan intends to award larger scale, multi-year construction contracts, Ireland will attract eastern European companies to the bidding. This means future infrastructure spending here will employ more non-Irish than before. It's a trend familiar to many Irish families whose forebears built London sewers and American railroad lines.
• Irish investors will not be deterred from building hotels throughout the country because existing incentive structures remain intact. Expect to see at least four hotel projects break ground in South Tipperary next year. Those translate into paying customers and local (albeit low-skilled) jobs.
• The corporation tax rate remains the lowest in western Europe but the labour force demands higher wage packets than anytime in Irish history because the national budget contributes at least one percent to the inflation rate. The end result should see a continuing decline in Foreign Direct Investment in Ireland.
• Private incentives--such as radically reduced telecoms rates from EsatBT--will do more to improve business efficiencies than anything coming from Budget 2004. Small Irish firms remain amazingly low tech, with little incentive to improve their status.
• No large carrot appeared in the new budget to stem the tide of Irish investment in the US. Money from Irish accounts for the ninth largest source of FDI in the US.
• Thanks to tools like the Business Expansion Scheme and the Section 481 tax status for Irish film, small firms starting up have a source of capital protected by the Minister for Finance.
• Failure to invest in public infrastructure is costly. While the budget pours billions into roads, sewers, drainage schemes, railroads and buses, Irish infrastructure does not meet business needs any better than similar facilities in Prague, Warsaw, or Budapest. Yet in those other places, the cost of a week's grocery shopping is well below mine in Ireland. Intelligent public investment and a long-term commitment to having efficient and attractive public transport run for the benefit of citizens would save vast sums for both private business and the taxpayer. But this type of investment in Ireland requires borrowing for the future and is not on the table with Budget 2004.

The current budget document continues a trend of neo-conservative economics, but it holds the line on tax cuts. Closer examination suggests more privatistion is upstream, affecting the state airline and Dublin bus. If I am correct, Irish taxpayers respect the government more when they are treated as consumers rather than as citizens. Whether that vision results in a better Ireland will be known before the end of the decade. It panned out in the 90s, in my opinion.

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Sent after early morning coffee in Irishtown, Kilkenny, using mail2blog Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
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Christmas in Ireland

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- Fifty-nine college students have described "Christmas in Ireland" for me. It's a concept that interests me because I came to Ireland for Christmas 1994 and never returned to the States. Over the years, I've learned to appreciate the things that distinguish Christmas in Ireland from Christmas in America. But just for fun, I'm returning to the States in a few weeks to observe an early Merry Christmas. I'll be taking Christmas drawings that my students dashed off with a Nokia Digital Pen.

Some memorable quotes from several students about "Christmas in Ireland" follow.

• "Being with my family on Christmas, opening presents and sitting around the fire eating and drinking."
• "It's an opportunity to get drunk as often as possible over a period of a week or so."
• "It is a time for children to play in the snow, a time which warms your heart."
• "The shops treat is just like Valentine's Day."
• "Young Irish people like to go out with friends and have fun at Christmas. The adults go out for a few drinks."
• "Shopping fever usually reaches a frenzy as the "big day" looms ever nearer."
• "Christmas tress go up all over the country."
• "Children's eyes sparkle as they pass shop windows and parents' eyes roll up to heaven."
• "Even my little brother has a Christmas tree in his room."
• The light from the flames in the fireplace makes the Christmas wrapping paper on the gifts dance."
• "Films you've seen four million times before but on Christmas Day it's different."

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Living in Kilkenny

KILKENNY -- Living in Kilkenny means hearing the birds fly overhead in the morning. On a cold winter's morning with Doggie on his lead, crows pull through the air in search of handouts. It's tough flying when the beak is frozen and tough scavenging for white bread on frosty grass. You can't hear the birds fly in Dublin's Phoenix Park--I know because I've tried during walks at dawn two years ago. As much I miss Dublin's diversity, I enjoy living in Killkenny more, even when frozen roads mean the morning papers won't arrive until noon.

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Can a Mexican restaurant survive in Kilkenny?

KILKENNY -- During early morning hours, you can see La Cochina, the token Mexican restaurant in Kilkenny, Ireland. I don't think many people know Mexican food in Ireland's provincial towns. Consequently, La Cochina may not last a year. That would be a shame, because it's centrally located in Kilkenny's Parliament Street, its Early Bird fare offers value for money (about EUR 15 per plate) and the food is fresh with a strong vegetarian influence.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 service after breakfast in Kilkenny (Chez Pierre).
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You can't eat the scenery

KILKENNY -- Although Kilkenny culture continues to attract people into the area, it's largely because of individual initiative, not because of the efforts of the Kilkenny County Council. And that's a shame, because wonderful local amenities exist near the city of Kilkenny that should be nurtured. Local TD John McGuinness knows this and he calls for a review of the County Development Plan. The current plan is a mishmash. There appear to be no advocates. There seems to be vacuous vision at the very top. Some elected representive needs to wade in and start banging the drum. Last year, McGuinness would have taken the challenge. This year, national law forbids him from holding an elected position at the county level. So we have a pregnant pause.

Kilkenny needs vibrant tourism and an environment that cultivates business and industry. There is no overall plan that advocates both. There is a lot of clap-happy reference to high amenity areas, wooded river valleys and scenic landscapes. But you can't eat the scenery. It's time for the County Manager to acknowledge this issue and to show executive leadership. If he stays the present course, he condemns Kilkenny to a second-rate touristic status and he will marginalise Kikenny's opportunities in the minds of commercial property developers.

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Lunch in Kilkenny

KILKENNY -- The most common question I'm asked by people doing business in Kilkenny is "Where is a good place to have lunch in Kilkenny?" I live here and prefer lunch in The Italian Connection, 38 Parliament Street. The pizzas are fast (and hot if you like Testarosa chili), pasta is fresh and chicken very filling. Carlo and Berna Cardillo run the restaurant with a cross-section of their family in the kitchen. My only complaint is I cannot get a seat during peak times even though I am a regular. It's worth a call ahead: +353 56 7764225.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator Typepad O2 service after breakfast in Chez Pierre up the street.
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Kilkenny People Front Page

KILKENNY -- Only eight column-inches prevents front page advertising from surpassing front page news in The Kilkenny People this week. I've watched this trend with interest since early summer and wonder if the Christmas shopping season will push advertising space ahead of news space on the front page.

The headlines:

• Flu warning after toddler's death
• Parents to demonstrate outside health board HQ
• Dog left to die in locked skip
• Armed robbery

The biggest advertisement is for "Luxurious Leathers" and it covers 14 square inches.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service after reading The Kilkenny People 25 Nov 03 edition in Mondrian.
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After the Ball

DUBLIN -- I missed Fintan O'Toole's panel discussions in Ennis a few weeks ago but I haven't missed the opportunity to get his book. Judging from the coverage he gives to the Celtic Tiger, I will make After the Ball an essential reading on a fourth year course. I doubt that I will meet anyone in my reading circle who will put it on their Christmas list this year. But it's good enough to be mandatoy reading for those seeking to understand modern Ireland. It might be a difficult find, because the title is not available through Amazon.

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Fintan O'Toole -- After the Ball
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Naming my address

KILKENNY -- When Ruth and I bought the land under our house, I asked for its latitude and longitude. That wasn't on the map used for the transaction. When I looked at a map of the surrounding estate, everything was in English. I still wonder if there is an Irish translation for "Garringreen" (the name of my housing estate) but I doubt it because Kilkenny has a long-standing English heritage.The definitive and legal place names of the country are contained in Ordnance Survey Ireland maps, which date back to 1824. Detailed maps of Kilkenny appeared 200 years before that.

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Victoria Ward -- "Place names as Gaeilge to be legally recognised" in The Irish Examiner, 22 Nov 03
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Trying to stifle Irish press

NUJ -- The Irish National Union of Journalists continue waging their fight against Justice Minister Michael McDowell's ill-advised statutory press council. These kinds of organisations have often been used to maintain state control of the press. The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum have called on the Irish government to abandon the plan. What makes the Irish newspaper industry so bad that it deserves draconian control?

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Micahael Brennan -- "World's newspapers and editors oppose McDowell press council" in The Irish Examiner, 22 Nov 03
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Black market hole in Ireland

EXAMINER -- Two billion euro a year is being lost in Irish tax revenue because spiralling costs force Irish business to operate in the black economy. When I first came to Ireland, this shadow economy, estimated to account for nearly 6% of GDP, could be detected in the number of Transit vans parked near shops being renovated late at night. Most of those late-night and weekend workers operated on their own time, getting cash in hand for shop fittings and specialised work. Today, entire businesses have folded their books from the taxable economy and started working outside the scope of the Revenue Commissioners. Some cannot afford insurance premiums which have increased 290% in the past three years, up 55% since 2002.

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Neans McSweeney -- "Black market costs State EUR 2bn in lost tax" in The Irish Examiner, 22 Nov 03
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November 23, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 22, 2003

Cybercafe comments

KILKENNY -- I spend some Fridays inside a Kilkenny cybercafe (in fact, it's Powers Newagents, the least expensive Internet connectivity in Kilkenny) where I hear uneducated comments about technology. Yesterday, I listened to three different people mangle the concept of broadband. They didn't understand what it would do for them. They didn't know they could get it in Kilkenny. They didn't know it was less expensive than ISDN, a relatively clean and fast connectivity option. My telephone charges have risen faster than any other utility charge. Assuming my experience parallels those of small business, a compelling fiscal argument exists for Irish enterprise to learn more about ADSL for their connectivity.

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John Gilsenan -- "Telecoms Trends and Expenditure in Ireland 2003"
Mark Twomey -- "Survey finds knowledge of broadband is poor"
Tim Power -- offers the cheapest means to call and connect in Kilkenny.
Sent mail2blog from Langton's breakfast atrium using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad service.
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November 22, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 20, 2003

Things missing in Dublin

DUBLIN -- Walking around Dublin with fewer than 20 shopping days remaining until Christmas, I noted a few surprising things.

• Christmas lights handing across Grafton Street are turned off at night.
• Street cleaning crews are overstretched because there are many fallen leaves waiting for sweepers. Walking on fallen maple leaves feels a lot like walking on small piles of dog poo.
• The mobile phone shops should be doing well, based on the noise. While aboard five different buses, the only ringtones I heard were polyphonic, the kind associated with newer phones.
• Early morning breakfasts have not become the fashion. Flanagan's in Georges Street offers one of the least expensive Irish breakfast in centre city Dublin, at EUR 3.20 a plate.
• It seems you cannot have enough buses. During the morning rush, you must plan to wait for at least two overfilled buses to pass by bus shelters

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November 20, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 19, 2003

In search of genuine Irish pixels

DUN LAOGHAIRE -- While discussing the status of an original Irish visual aesthetic with Mick Wilson at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, the thought occurred that globalism and an overbearing European influence might have compromised an original Irish visual aesthetic. That would be a major concern for me, because I hope to spend a year documenting the source of inspiration and the nub of creativity for mid-career Irish artists. That creativity ensures we can mark and identify "authentic Irish pixels" in new media. If we have lost a uniquely Irish visual perpective, we have debased our national culture and become too European.

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November 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Making your politics with profiling

DUN LAOGHAIRE -- I watched uniformed immigration officials observe passengers disembarking from Stena Lines tonight and wondered what would happen to Joichi Ito if he was aboard the vessel. Joi has been treated less than welcome in the US. There's no guarantee what kind of tactic would fit him on arrival to Ireland. Both the US and Ireland are trying their hand at sophisticated profiling, even though many technologists warn that profiling with the assistance of advanced technology doesn't really work. I will be on the receiving end of these technologies next month. They take some of the fun out of international travel.

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Joi Ito -- "My position on the US"
Bernie Goldbach -- "Refused leave to land in Ireland"
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November 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 18, 2003

Sparking a multimedia culture

KILKENNY -- John McGuinness is a national politician who believes Kilkenny has the seeds of a multimedia culture. Nicky Gogan is a Dublin creative who believes there's a multimedia culture in The Liberties. Attracta Brennan was pulled back to Galway because she missed its creative multimedia sheen. Aileen MacKeogh surrounds herself with multimedia students in Dun Laoghaire. But can any of these places assert themselves as the centre of Irish multiumedia?

Arthouse, the self-acclaimed multimedia centre of the Arts, imploded in Temple Bar in August 2002. Its three storey shell stands empty, but with the windows open on the upper floors, heralding the start-up of higher education in the building. What could this portend?

Things have become cynically commercial in Temple Bar, meaning artistic venues have to fend for themselves in Dublin's cultural quarter. Arthouse collapsed ahead of several educational multimedia companies in Dublin. The business world demands commercial viability. In the current climate, that translates into bums on seats and demands the presence of a sponsor. In the reincarnation of Arthouse, the main sponsor may be third level education institutions. And if their baby steps are successful, it could lead to collaboratively delivered streams of multimedia education flowing into Arthouse from several third level institutions.

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November 18, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

November 16, 2003

Andrew McGuinness in local government

KILKENNY -- Andrew McGuinness followed a long family tradition with his co-option onto the Kilkenny Borough Council. The McGuinness family hs given the city three Aldermen, 16 mayors, a TD, two Freeman and a vice president of the Council of Europe.

Andrew replaces his father, John McGuinness TD, on the locql authority after John stepped down following theh ending of dual mandate for members of the Oireachtas. John McGuinness has been elected to the Daíl on two occasions, winning the highest number of first preference votes in recent history.

At 23, Andrew brings a youth perspective into local government.

Jack McGuinness, Andrew's great uncle, took his seat in the same chmber in 1900 and he served for 53 years until his death. He was recognised as a Freeman of the City in 1952.

Andrew's grandfather, Michael McGuinness, began his 50 years of service when he took his seat in 1950 and his contribution was acknowledged in 1995 when he was made a Freeman of the city.

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Sean Keane -- "No one defended the dig ity of the Council" in The Kilkenny People, 14 Nov 03
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November 16, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Things getting better in Ireland

KILKENNY -- When much of Ireland talks about bloodletting in the current government Budget, a few things deserve noting.

• More Irish people take foreign holidays than their German equivalents. I know, because I have lived in both countries.
• The average Irish working family eats one takeaway Chinese meal a week, suggesting the common man is better off than one generation ago.
• When mobile phone saturation has reached 83% for Ireland, it's obvious almost every young worker has one.
• Statistics show that more Irish households have PlayStations than anywhere else except Japan.
• Irish spend three times more on DVD and video rentals than British.

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November 16, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Cows under hammer

COW PARADE -- The best of the herd from Dublin's Cow Parade go to auction at the Four Seasons Hotel in Dublin this week. Proceeds go to the Simon Community and the Jack and Jill Foundation.

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Cow Parade -- Bid online
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November 16, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 15, 2003

Lo-call Nodes Enhance Local Internet Services

KILKENNY -- People visiting Kilkenny need to know how they can set up and use high-speed data services in hotel rooms, conference venues and on the street. We have Indian, Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, American, Australian, Canadian, German, French, Dutch, Romanian, Albanian, Nigerian, Lithuanian, South African, and Flemish here because I have seen all these nationalities strolling through the Kilkenny Castle last week. Plus the token Scot, Brit, and Kerryman. All of them need to know the least expensive means of business communications in the city.

My fact sheet would contain the following info:

How to make the least expensive call to the States.

How to reach a low-cost international voice service.

Local numbers for Internet access.

How to configure an Internet phone in the hotel room.

Where to find a VoIP phone.

Where to rent space containing a router.

Facts about pre-paid SIM cards.

Where to borrow a SIM-free mobile phone.

As we move into a realm where voice is data, we will recognise that our need to pay for dedicated voice circuits revolves around completing emergency calls. I would never trust my VoIP desk phone to function in a critical 911 situation. What casualty unit or disaster response team considers communications as the place to trim costs? Check them out and you will find frequency-swtiching, interference-smart dedicated voice circuits.

But most traveling into Kilkenny on business just need to keep their expenses under control. And for them, we need a comms factsheet.

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Dan Gillmor -- "Defining Local in the Internet Age"
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November 15, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

November 09, 2003

Notes from Damien Kiberd

SUNDAY TIMES -- Damien Kiberd's "Irish Outlook" never disappoints those in search of acerbic wit.

• "The Irish Congress of Trade Unions still appears to regard the Celtic Tiger as a conspiracy against organised labour."
• "Cheque-in-the-post farming is now divorced from physical output."

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Damien Kiberd -- "Tax regime still adds up" in The Sunday Times, 9 Nov 03. Info also featured on "Lunchtime with Damien Kiberd" on Newstalk106, the source of the Kiberd image.
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November 9, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Problems with Computer voting

TRIBUNE -- "Opposition is mounting in Ireland and all over the world to a process which critics say jeopardises crucial accuracy for the sake of a quicker result on election day."¹

Nobody in Irish political or legal life outside of environment minister Martin Cullen's department has inspected the voting machines ordered in a €38m contract from Powervote. The internal workings of the machines cannot be examined by citizens, political opponents or technology experts. Could you imagine the government buying a jet without opening its engine cowlings?

Margaret McGaley raised important questions when she published her undergraduate research at the National University of Ireland in Maynooth last year. "Computers are inherently untrustworthy." You don't have to see The Matrix to appreciate the truth in her research. Irish technologists demand systematic review of the Powervote technology before next June. If the Irish government fails to comply with this bottom-up request, Martin Cullen will galvanise a firestorm from the Irish IT industry. The drumbeats have started.

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¹Matthew Magee -- "Computer voting concern" in The Sunday Tribune, 9 Nov 03
Margaret McGaley -- e-voting
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November 9, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 07, 2003

Lidl in Kilkenny

KILKENNY -- During the last two years as a home owner in Kilkenny, I have listened to local merchants moan about the damaging effects of low-cost stores in the city. Those moaners help keep Lidl, the German retail giant, outside of the city limits. But last week, the county council gave planning permission for a 1661 square metre store on a two-acre site near the Loughboy Shopping Centre. This is good value for shoppers looking for ways to control their weekly grocery bills. Competition and variety help all around.

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Sean Keane -- "Lidl gets green light" in The Kilkenny People, 7 Nov 03
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November 7, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 06, 2003

Superquinn's excellent bytes of fresh food

THURLES -- Superquinn needs its accountants--to measure the improvements made in its IT processes. The Irish supermarket chain has developed a world class team renowned for excellence in fresh food and customer service. Superquinn uses technology to improve customer service to "getting the customer back" and ensure that they "get the product that they want". Superquinn have improved their on-shelf availability from 94.5% to 98%. The company made an investment of €32m on a new centralised distribution centre and so far have centralised 142 suppliers to this new centre. This has resulted in reducing the previous 72 hour lead time to 15 hours max.

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Sent by Denise Kelly as mail2blog by Nokia Communicator 9210i O2 Typepad service
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November 6, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

November 02, 2003

Second lines around Katie Holten

KILKENNY -- It's my second time through the Butler Gallery to look at Katie Holten's exhibition. I wonder if third level students could produce quality lines while getting here to the Butler Gallery. I've some snippets of thoughts that might be useful when observing Holten's display with my Media Studies students during their visits in November.

• There are more artistic longitudinal lines emanating from the diffused light streaming through several glasswork pieces of "Collaboration" in the Kilkenny Castle Yard.
• Holten's work is the most simplistic synthesis of intertextuality on the Irish art scene.
• I remembered my primary school maths teacher as I entered one of the whilte gallery spaces displaying Holten's 137.5° crocheted work across a broad expanse of white space.
• I enjoy Holten's attention to patterns but I think some of the random street art in Kilkenny is just as striking as Holten's installation.
• I wonder how Holten would sketch the blogosphere's network of connected nodes. She has already discovered the world of Internet spiders, likening them to real-world crawling spiders. She includes Warren Sack's essay "Mapping Very Large-Scale Conversations" in her collaborative text.
• Could Holten create without the American Post-It note creation?
• There is room for the category of "Failed Project" in the ICT BSc Computing curriculum at Tipperary Institute.
• O'Tuama's cafe in Clonmel's Market Square should give away "artistic cookies" and Glühwein next month.
• I enjoy "some stitches" best of all of Katie Holten's work.
• Should purists object that Holten includes non-native plants as part of her indoor installation?
• I enjoy "bookscapes" so I found reference to "Bibliomania" entertaining.

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Katie Holten -- Drawings Instances Collaborations + Texts >Temple Bar Gallery and Studios, 2002, ISBN 1-903895-03-0
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November 2, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

October 31, 2003

Mike Fagan resigns from IEDR

ENN -- The suspended chief executive of the Irish Internet domain registry, Mike Fagan, resigned from the company yesterday after reaching a legal settlement. Fagan had presided over the most derisive period of Irish Internet histrionics. He was suspended in October 2002 pending the financial management of the financial affairs of the company. The Irish technical community hopes the IEDR function becomes responsibility of a professional association, such as the Irish Computing Society.

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Antoin O Lachtnain -- "Time for more changes"
Jamie Smyth -- "Domain registry chief resigns"
John McCormac -- "Fagan resigns as CEO"
Anthony Quinn -- "IEDR chief resigns before disciplinary hearing"
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October 31, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Kilkenny People drive to shop

KILKENNY -- People around the city of Kilkenny are more likely to drive to shopping destinations in neighbouring Carlow, Clonmel and Waterford than they are to shop locally. It's all down to value for money and availability of parts. I have DIY things to do on weekends, when most hardware shops in the local area close by 1PM on Saturday. Twice in October, I drove to Dublin to get the things I needed. That also meant buying food, petrol and magazines outside of Kilkenny as well. Kilkenny city has lost its prominence as a major retail destination. "There is better value and more choice elsewhere," points out Deputy John McGuinness in a front page news item. McGuinness believes the Chamber of Commerce and Industry must facilitate developers in placing new sales outlets in Kilkenny. That's not happening now because developers are often rebuffed by government planners.

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Sean Keane -- "Shoppers shun Kilkenny for cheaper rivals" in The Kilkenny People, 31 Oct 03
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October 31, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 28, 2003

Decline of Irish film

KILKENNY -- As Jack Valenti, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America, pointed out in Dublin two weeks ago, Ireland will be the only English-speaking country in the developed world which does not provide a tax incentive for film-making if the Minister for Finance ends Ireland's Section 481 tax relief for film production. Neil Jordan, Jim Sheridan and Roddy Doyle have stated that production levels will decline by 80 per cent if the tax relief ends. Jobs will be lost and skilled workers will emigrate. The Irish film industry employs over 4000 people, according to Screen Producers Ireland. It attracts business from India and England because of the tax incentive. Lose the incentive and the big budget films go elsewhere.

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October 28, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Ireland's two-tier rax system

KILKENNY -- Every morning when I walk my dogs at 0600, I pass at least four different vans that home owners drive from work so they can briskly start their morning rounds from their homes. The Irish Finance Minister plans to tax those vans as a benefit in kind. Every morning when I go to work I drive abeam hundreds of acres of land purchased by millionaires in the bloodstock industry. They pay no tax on their farm land and no tax on their livelihood. This appearance of a two-tier tax system has stoked up resentment among ordinary members of the public who have little or no control over the net pay they receive at the end of the month. This sentiment, when reinforced by the Finance Minister's raft of stealth taxes, will begin to unsettle the current government. The rumblings have already started as Kieran Crowley, the chairman of the Small Firms Association, rounded on Irish entrepreneurs who live abroad rather than have their massive earnings distributed in Ireland via the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance.

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Frank Fitzgibbon -- "Time for the tax-exile tycoons to pay their dues in full" in The Sunday Times, 26 Oct 03.
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October 28, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 27, 2003

Discontented tourists

KILKENNY -- At least two people visiting Ireland expressed their discontent with prices during the first hours of daylight saving time because I heard them. That's no news to the Hospitality Ireland magazine, because its survey reveals 88% of 506 visitors enjoyed their stay in Ireland but 77% complained it was too expensive. I think Ireland is a fun holiday destination. I enjoy living in Ireland. But it is certainly not an inexpensive option for a holiday, unless you carefully plan where you eat and sleep. In Kilkenny, it's less expensive during the week, especially if you request and receive a company rate.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad service in The Ormonde Hotel, Kilkenny.
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October 27, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Corrupt, incompetent, lazy

TRIBUNE -- Millward Brown IMS conducted a poll of Irish voters and asked people to choose words to describe Irish politicians. Half of those surveyed chose "corrupt," while only 5% of those polled said politicians were "honest." Very few described their elected politicians as "public spirited" or "efficient."

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Stephen Collins -- "Corrupt, incompetent, lazy and self-serving" on the front page of The Sunday Tribune, 26 Oct 03.
Sent mail2blog by Nokia Communicator TypePad service from The Hibernian Hotel, Kilkenny, Ireland.
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October 27, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 23, 2003

Kilkenny People front page hospitals

KILKENNY PEOPLE -- The local paper dedicates more than half of its front page column inches to coverage of government plans to close maternity and emergency services in St Luke's Hospital. Most observers think this is unworkable.

The front page headlines:

• Closure of maternity and accident units "impossible"
• Council pollute river again
• Thugs attack pensioner

The paper gives most of the space above the fold to a five-column colour photo of a Lions Club wine tasting. Five other colour photos, around two inches across, are on the front page and include a singing politician, Mother Theresa, a GAA official, a wall clock and a sitting room.

The Kilkenny People's breezy coverage would make a good case study in next year's Online Journalism course.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad service.
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October 23, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 22, 2003

Useful facts about Irish winter

CLONMEL -- There are some interesting things about winter in Ireland that visitors should know.

• Be prepared to rain, rain and more rain.
• The North wind is bitterly cold and cut through you like a Toledo saber.
• Narrowly winding iced coutry backroads make driving quite a nerve rending experience.

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Sent mail2blog by Darren Fennessy (shown at left) using Nokia Communicator O2 TypePad service in the Tipperary Institute Writing Skills class.
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October 22, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 20, 2003

Real jobs in Ireland

KILKENNY -- With opposition policians dumping all over the economic achievements that local TD John McGuinness has helped forge into national policies, the publication of updated vital statistics from the Central Statistics Office is a timely reminder of the most important figure of all. Suggestions that Tipperary Institute's IT graduates entered a ball of smoke hold no weight as it has been revealed that employment has grown by 25% since 1996.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad service from McDonagh Station.
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October 20, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 19, 2003

Irish Spar Generation

DAVID McWILLIAMS -- I remember visiting the Spar in Ranelagh at 2 AM one Saturday morning, totally awed by the idea that you could shop after midnight in Ireland. David McWilliams thinks "the growth of Spar and Centra has been one of the most interesting phenomena in Irish life over the past ten years. The way we shop reveals a lot about who we are, how and where we live and what type of lifestyle most of us enjoy. Nothing so accurately reflects Irish people's changing daily experience as the shops on our main streets.

What we buy and when we buy it sheds light on what and when we eat and with whom. It tells us about the state of the Irish family and the state of the workforce."

"Our shopping habits are affected by our hours of work. The things you put in your basket tells whether you are single, divorced, widowed, in love, on the rebound, or the head of a traditional family of six kids under the age of ten.

Spar also tells us more about the state of an area, particularly urban areas, than any estate agent's blurb. The arrival of a Spar on the corner of an inner city street means that gentrification is underway or has nearly been completed. So if you're a property investor and are bullish, buy on the arrival of a Spar. If like me you are bearish, the opening of a Spar could signal the top of the market.

The future of Ireland is in the hands of the Spar generation. Today's twentysomethings shop three times a week in Spar. Their shopping habits indicate how much the old divide between urban and rural Ireland has disappeared.

The fact that over the last two years the fastest growing retail products have been ready-made meals and food-on-the-run products indicates a serious fall-of in family dinners at set times. Members of the Spar generation are reasonably rich, but indebted and very consumer savvy. They are staying single longer and they are not having children.

They are working long hours, many in what are called "prairie dog" jobs. This description captures well the image of huge numbers of young workers in office jobs where they are hemmed into walled workstations only sticking their heads above the parapet for a "recce" every so often to see what's going on with their workmates.

These are people who have been elbowed out of the property market by silly prices. They are also largely apolitical. Most importantly, the Spar generation consists of the bulge in the Irish population that peaked in 1980--on average they are 24 years old. As a result, these people are a marketer's dream and a political strategist's nightmare.

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David McWilliams -- "Dawn of the Spar generation brings a convenient way of life" in The Sunday Business Post, 19 Oct 03
James Corbett -- "Irish Spar Generation"
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October 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Gagging Ireland

KILKENNY -- The Irish press has done nothing to deserve becoming the first in Europe directly supervised by government. The clock is counting down on a formal government decision to set up a statutory press council. Michael McDowell, the justice minister, has set the consultation period to expire on 31 December. If McDowell recommends a statutory press council, Ireland's Fourth Estate will be further curtailed. It will put Ireland into the same camp as Zimbabwe, another country using this form of control.

As Sir Christopher Meyer, chairman of the Press Complaints Commission in Britain, said, "A press free from interference by the state is fundamental to democracy. Self-regulation is a manifestation of this truth. Without it, no press anywhere in the world can truly claim to be free."

Talk show hosts and broadsheet editors need to explain to people what statutory control of the press means and how self-regulation would work. It's the only way to go.

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The Sunday Times -- "Gagging Ireland," 19 Oct 03
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October 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Expensive Irish phone charges

KILKENNY -- I've used a SpeakEasy pay-as-you go account for nine weeks, averaging €17 a week in charges. When I had my monthly contract, I averaged €28 a week during the first year. The difference is in the monitoring. I know how much remains on my SpeakEasy account and I simply do not pay more than €20 a week. I wish I had the same discipline with a post-paid account because it's less expensive when using a contract SIM for Internet access.

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October 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Glass Art Ireland

GLASS ART IRELAND -- It's been decades since I cut my last piece of stained glass and my work was never as creative as Irish glass artists. Irish homeowners are going for glass in worktops, walls, stairs and screens. The Kilkenny Castleyard is the venue for several glass art exhibitions every year, including award-winners from England during the Spring 2004 season.

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October 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 17, 2003

Losing local voice

KILKENNY -- There's a poster hanging across High Street in Kilkenny, calling passersby to support local radio. The station closes at the end of November, to be replaced by another with a larger two-county reach. Based on the strength of the submission made by the competing radio consortium, I think the new station will be just a strong a voice for community interests.

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Michael Clifford -- "Radio Kilkenny's final months" in The Sunday Tribune, 12 October 2003
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October 17, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 16, 2003

Get a shirt online signed by Irish Team

EBAY -- Bids open at $300 for an Official Republic of Ireland Soccer Jersey signed by the entire, current Senior International Soccer Squad, including superstars John O'Shea and Robbie Keane. Proceeds from the auction go to charity. I think this is a unique opportunity to own a piece of footballing history. I would enjoy sitting under it wherever it was hanging.

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RALet -- Rush and Lusk Educate Together Primary School in Rush, Co Dublin
Underway in Ireland -- shirts online in Ireland
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October 16, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 14, 2003

Missing the TV battle

WIRED -- While Irish newspapers cover in the head-to-head battle on Friday night television between Pat Kenny and Eamon Dunphy, they're missing an important consumer pattern that transcends this little skirmish. Because the battle isn't between two television personalities. The real battle lies in the fight that viewers have over the control of the TV schedule, the content and the ads. An increasing number of Irish have time-shifted their viewing habits by first using their VCRs and now their PVRs. Technology gives you the ability to skip ads by using the remote control when watching a live feed or by setting up your PVR to avoid the electronic ad markers. Clutter from ads or from boring content gives you the reason to click into programming that you prefer. This means total relegation of the television executive. In Ireland's small viewing market, it's only a matter of time before a major slice of the viewing audience has adapted the technology for personal viewing, not network programming.

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Frank Rose -- "The fast-forward network-smashing future of television" in Wired, October 2003.
The Sky+ PVR system shown at right.
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October 14, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 12, 2003

Vibrant Kilkenny People

KILKENNY -- One of the best events of 2003 has been the redesign of The Kilkenny People and it's a shame its online version lags behind. The last I checked, it wasn't online. I turn toward the "Health and Food" section where I read the thoughts of Josephine Plettenberg, a German who runs Ideas Unlimited from her Gowran home. Last week, she convincingly argued that "banning children from pubs is wrong" and after living in Ireland for nine years, I heartily agree.

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Josephine Plettenberg -- "Please don't kill the pub by banning children" in The Kilkenny People, 10 October 2003
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October 12, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 11, 2003

Legal bullying in Irish

KILKENNY -- The biggest change I have seen in Ireland is the determined attitude on part of elected government to bully the citizenry into compliance. This differs from a desire to enforce speed limits, company regulatons and tax compliance. Legal bullying is what I feel is an intentional by-product of Minister for Justice Michael McDowell's proposals concerning data retention and pub hours, Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy's constraints on freedom of information and Minister for Health Micheal Martin's cold turkey clampdown on smoking.

I understand the rationale behind all the proposals. As an American living in Ireland, I detect a growing resentment by Irish against a government resented for bullying its way towards enforcing complaint behaviour. If what I feel is true, an opposition government will gain power in local elections next May, followed by an erosion of the power base of the national politicians one year later.

You cannot govern by alienating the governed.

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Karlin Lillington -- "McDowell is hypocritical"
Sent mail2blog by Nokia Commuicator O2 TypePad service after listening to spirited discussion in Zuni, Kilkenny, Ireland.
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October 11, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 06, 2003

Through the box

UNDERWAY -- The percentage of residential users online in Ireland has remained static at 39% for the past three quarters. I really don't think it will ever get above half of the population in the next five years. There has been a doubling of DSL broadband connections following price reductions in May 2003. I think the telcos would see a major demand for broadband if Sky boxes were able to accommodate a DSL back-channel instead of the current dial-up capability currently installed.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia Communicator O2 TypePad service aboard Irish Rail.
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October 6, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Toxic Smoky Backlash

KILKENNY -- As the Irish government heads towards a courageous implementation of a "no smoking" ban, it has conjured up a talking point more likely to result in a change of government than in an improvement in public health. I have never observed an initiative so effectively rally the attention of the populace than the Irish government's plan to ban smoking in pubs on 1 January.

The idea goes to the front burner because the Minister for Health has muscled it onto the Cabinet table. As much as I would like to see it implemented, I know there's no enforcement mechanism. Quite the contrary--publicans are openly promoting their tactics of civil disobedience. The grassroots voters, like the rural citizens around Kilkenny, see the outright ban as another example of arrogance in government. They are more likely to mark their displeasure with a protest vote rather than observe the ban. The latest Irish Independent Millward Brown IMS poll finds only 37 percent of the Irish public support a total ban on smoking in public places. A wide gap exists between the majority of the government and the wishes of the people. The no-smoking ban brings with it the toxic smoke of change. And the biggest change will be in who is at the seat of government after the next election. Irish have never advocated politically correct social engineering. Those who impose it never perform long in the public arena.

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Sam Smyth -- "Smoking ban threatens ballot backlash" in The Irish Independent, 2 October 2003.
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October 6, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 05, 2003

Taxing home workers

SUNDAY TIMES -- Irish workers and their employers will be forced to pay new taxes on a range of perks, due to new rules in January. Benefits such as home broadband acess, medical insurance subscriptions and membership of professional organisations will be included. These measures will undermine teleworkers who cannot prove all of their home Internet connectivity is for company use. If they use a company conncection or a company-supplied computer for Internet access, they must pay tax on the connectivity funded by the company, if the connectivity is not used for business requirements. There are other taxable activities as well and all will be published as part of the December 2003 Budget Estimates.

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Jane Suiter -- "Taxman to target perks of the modern job" in The Sunday Times, 7 October 2003

October 5, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Just got Friday mornings back

UNDERWAY -- I didn't have enough handouts for my 0900 Friday class because nearly all the studnets showed up for the hour. I think part of the reason lies in the fact that Thursday nights lost their honorary status as part of the weekend. Irish pubs must close at 2330 Thursday rather than 0030 Friday. The side effects include students able to attend their first hour of college classes and friends with enough money for hot lunches on Fridays.

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October 5, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

October 04, 2003

Developing a medieval city

KILKENNY -- American friends visiting me in Ireland always talk about the laneways and little nooks they find while walking about the city centre. It's not a long walk but it's interesting when you get lost. Kilkenny's long and narrow streets attract weekend shoppers by the busloads and they appeal to the thousands who live within two miles of city centre. It's an effective design for sustainable urban commerce and I like doing my shopping there. Unlike many others, I think Kilkenny's appeal is strong enough to accommodate another shopping centre near the train station. It would inherit some of the dynamic in its closeness to both trains and buses. It would be as far away from High Street as Henry Street is from Grafton Street in Dublin. Both of those shopping areas co-exist with a synergy that Kilkenny could easily inherit. It's all down to careful planning and selection of anchor tenants.

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Sent mail2blog with a Kilkenny Train Station coffee using Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad services.
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October 4, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Thinking about Mount Juliet

KILKENNY -- The world's richest golf tournament returns to Kilkenny in September 2004 when the World Golf Championships open at Mount Juliet for the second tie in three years. The record prize fund of over EUR 7m will attract the biggest names in professional golf. The weekend tournament starts on 30 September 2004. I've seen two morning sunrises in Mount Juliet just like this mornings.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad services from McDonagh Junction, Kilkenny, Ireland.
Another Fuji 602Z picture shot by Bernie Goldbach and uploaded over Wi-Fi.
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October 4, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

On the pedestrianisation of High Street

KILKENNY -- I live in a city that would regain more of its medieval charm if its main street became pedestrianised. I occasionally walk the High Street early on weekend mornings when you can hear birds on the wing. I remember the first day on a crisp January morning when I walked Grafton Street in Dublin. That pedestrianised zone accommodates more people on a Saturday than live in the whole of County Leitrim. Pedestrianisation works in Annecy, France, where a robust street cafe culture has flourished. In an era where pubs and restaurants have to force smokers not to light up, the only place one will be able to eat or drink with a fag on the side is under a piece of street furniture. If the cars went away from High Street in Kilkenny, a whole new character would embrace the city. I hope it happens soon.

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Sent mail2blog with Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad services.
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October 4, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

October 02, 2003

Listening to strong Irish exports

UNDERWAY -- Although "software" is touted as one of the leading Irish exports, I think more people worldwide have heard Irish pop music than have used Irish software. The facts are skewed because although the Irish Revnue Commission enjoys greater proceeds from the software sector, most of the core coding activities occur elsewhere. In the music sector, much of the export of the titles happens through music industry offices in London or the States, homes of the record titles. When the individual proceeds return to Ireland, they often enjoy tax-free status because the revenue is the result of creative work. Nonetheless, the whole spectrum of Irish music is an export commodity that performs better internationally than Auustralian pop music.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator O2 Typepad Services from McDonagh Junction, Kilkenny, Ireland.
Greg Young -- "Communicating Australian Pop Music"
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October 2, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 27, 2003

Tipperary Institute's first graduation

THURLES -- Hundreds of well-wishers crammed into the conference centre of Tipperary Institute (TI) to congratulate 32 degree graduates from the business, computing and rural development departments. This marked the first college degree graduation programme in the history of Tipperary Institute and ranks as one of the leading indicators of the Irish government's intention to spur regional development through the continued funding of meaningful third level programmes.

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I watched Sarah Egan proudly accept Tipperary Institute's first degree, a Bachelor of Arts in Rural Development. She joined 23 other students who received National Diplomas in Sustainable Rural Development or BAs in Rural Develoment on the day, presented by Padraig Culbert, the CEO of TI.

Seamus Purseil, the chief executive of the Higher Education and Training Awards Council, formally conferred a host of awards. In his remarks, he recalled how he has watched the staff of TI develop an idea from the ground up. I remember walking through the muck (Irish for winter mud) to reach the lobby for my first class presentations which were held in a seminar room across the road from the main campus. Of the 46 students on my November 1999 software development attendance rosters, 11 earned their BSc degrees in Computing in the graduation ceremony. Although the raw numbers suggest a high attrition, they also reflect the fact that the path to the degree was not accredited at the time of the first classes. Nearly half of the entering cohort had finished their National Diplomas last year when I was out of the country in the company due to the declining health of my father.

While I shook hands with nearly everyone who walked from the conferrals with parchment, I will mark the day with the memory of conversations I had with Ben Hearne (Special Award for Software Development), Eamon Kearns (NETg Student of the Year), and world class academic work from Camelia Bondre and Ciara Fogarty. Assessing projects like theirs will mute the comments I am able to make on this blog during the current academic year.

The student numbers in the computing programmes have more than doubled since the first days, along with the difficulty of the continuous assessments that I have devised for the younger students.

Much of the heavy lifting done for County Tipperary's ICT infrastructure comes on the backs of students like these who relentlessly pursue a third level qualification so they can competently administer the software tools of the trade for hundreds of small businesses in the region. More graduates like them, from the Certificate, through Diploma and Degree levels, provides a meaningful foundation of ICT proficiency for the Southeast of Ireland. And that translates into Ireland moving up the ladder in the knowledge economy.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia Communicator Vodafone HSD TypePad service after a long session crawling through the streets of Thurles.
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September 27, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (10) | TrackBack

September 22, 2003

Refused leave to land a year ago

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- One year ago, I was walking the streets of New York City after being refused leave to land in Ireland. I had returned to the Dublin Airport on a short holiday to Sicily and Detective Sergeant Michael Walsh took issue with my status in Ireland. At the time, I was on an unpaid leave of absence from Tipperary Institute. Irish immigration determined that I lacked the requisite paperwork needed to return to my home in Kilkenny, so they booked me into Mount Joy prison prior to giving me a free trip to the States. I had last traveled through New York City in 1986. Up to my unplanned journey back to NYC, I had spent no more than 100 days in the States since December 1986. I've had a memorable year since being refused leave to land in Ireland. The incident gives me great empathy when reading about others who have encountered unflinching immigration authorities.

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Click on stamp for bigger image. Read more about my most significant day in Ireland.
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Get a Work Permit or Go to Jail
By Bernie Goldbach in The Irish Examiner, 27 September 2002

IN THE SUMMER OF 1973, I drifted off to sleep on a cold concrete slab, listening to a scratchy Oriental sing-song melody. Part of 72 hours in a mock POW camp in Colorado courtesy of Commandant Nguyen Tan Dong.

In the summer of 2002, I slipped in and out of sleep atop a well-used mattress pad on a cold concrete floor, listening to a screeching pop music melody. Part of one night in Mount Joy Prison, courtesy of Chief Officer Egan.

The two episodes have interesting parallels. As a mock-POW in '73, I was blindfolded inside a small cage because I refused to sign papers. Inside The Joy, I stared drowsiy at a blue-white fluorescent ceiling because I didn't have proper papers at Dublin Airport.

The Joy's evening welcoming committee of Burke, Weldon and Kelly ("The Handsome One") locked away my Nokia 9210i and Palm m505. Class Officers Durkan and Gallagher ran out of mattresses in the "Liam Lawlor Wing" where I stayed with two Lithuanians, a Brazilian and a Romanian. There was no floor space for David Cranny from Sandyford, in for a short stay on an outstanding bench warrant.

Since 9/11, all direct entry points to the US have to show the INS they are clamping down on arriving passengers. Detective Garda Michael Walsh has done this, by deporting me, among others.

Irish immigration authorities will produce record annual numbers. This newspaper provides details of Garda sweeps for illegals and documents cases of undesireable aliens.

It is irrelevant that I am on a one-year unpaid career break from a permanent position on a third level ICT lecturing staff. It doesn't matter that I carry an NUJ card, own land in Kilkenny, pay a mortgage, vote in national elections, meet all tax obligations, and represent Irish technical issues at industry events.

I didn't intend to fall into this unwelcome status, but my inattention to detail caught me out. I failed to note an expiration date. I failed to present myself at a local immigration control point. Detective Segeant Martin Donohue saw no option but deportation.

In 1898, the McAuliffes from Clare settled in St Mary's Parish, the oldest Catholic community west of Philadelphia. I grew up there, among 4m other Irish-Americans in Pennsylvania. But I haven't lived statyeside since 1986.

I came to Ireland at a time when the tech boom of the 90s mandated a constant flow of qualified workers. I passed freely through the Republic's regional airports with a laptop on my shoulder. I mingled with dozens of retuerning emigrnats, Irish-Americans like me who could trace their ropots to the post-Famine State.

Today, family ties don't matter, if they ever did.

I wonder how Ireland's enthusiasm of turning away foreigners will play in sustaining Irish growth. The raw numbers of applicants to third level ICT courses have declined. The number of students opting for computer courses as their first preference almost halved from more than 10,000 last year to just 5,000 in 2002. This dramatic fall in applications has prompted employers to warn of a skills shortage of 3,000 IT professionals over the next 5 years.

Microsoft's Human Resource Director, Mark Keane, knows trouble looms ahead for Ireland's ICT Ireland forum, "The number of software engineers is not yet a crisis, but we are building one in the long term."

IBEC points to glaring inadequacies in Ireland's infrastructure. Without constructing projects in the National Development Plan, Ireland will remain mired in Third World conditions of transport and rural communities will face longer periods without essential services.

Labour costs have escalated for these projects. Mihai Hoyda, a talkative Romanian who jabbered away the early morning hoursd, gestured passionately with hands calloused by two years wielding a jackhamer. Like some builders, he worked on the black side of the Irish economy, constructing social housing and building industrial parks along the Southern Cross in Bray.

After three years, trying to get an Irish work permiy, Hoyda was ousted to Romania. On his way out, he wondered aloud why Ireland "cuts her face" by "putting out her people."

Eight years ago, I landed in Rosslare as a tourist. I decided to stake my claim as a returning Irish emigrant. I developed professionally during the ascendancy of the Irish tech industry. My payback to the Irish people continues as I get my personal documents back in order.

September 22, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (4) | TrackBack

September 21, 2003

Making money with FRIACO

SUNDAY TRIBUNE -- UTV Internet has reported that it made profits in the first six months of 2003 of just over £400,000 on turnover of £1.6m. The company is making nearly 20 percent profit on a service that consumers want.

The UTV Internet service is aimed primarily at the residential market, where its Clicksilver package is the cheapest in its class in Ireland. It cost €45 monthly and includes a DSL modem. Clicksilver is bundled with UTV Internet's carrier pre-select telephony service.

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Matthew Magee -- "Internet connectivity looks set to impove as UTV shows flat-rate can make money" in The Sunday Tribune, 21 September 2003
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September 21, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Irish obsessions distort the vision

KILKENNY -- While Irish politicians, commentators, and development agencies obsess over smoking in pubs, employment levels, foreign direct investment jobs announcements and payments to politicians, the fast-rising East is making goods formerly manufactured in Ireland and dwarfing Irish innovation. I often wonder if the dotcom era produced anything truly innovative from Ireland. I also wonder if the Irish government has the vision to spark and nurture indigenous innovation.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia Communicator Vodafone TypePad service.
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September 21, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 19, 2003

e-Ireland Forum and what?

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- If you enroll in the e-Ireland forum, chances are that you're in a secret society. There are cowboys riding the range looking for ways to wrangle deals with money that can sustain the administration of research contracts. I've gone looking for bona fides behind the e-Ireland forum and I'm convinced that it's cloaked for reasons related to the sustainability of the undertaking.

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John McNamara -- taking a National Social Partnership approach to development of the Information Society in Ireland is shown in a picture with John McGuinness.
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September 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 14, 2003

Sustainable housing

KILKENNY -- Standing on the top of Canice's Tower, you can see new homes being developed within two miles of the base of the tower. Owners of those homes could walk to town to shop and would find schools within an easy 10 minute stroll. If you follow the rolling hills in any direction, you will see a few plots of farm land being developed between 10 and 20 miles from Kilkenny. You need a car to get to restaurants, schools, libraries and shops when building that far away. Those building out that far sometimes try to claim they're settling into a rural lifestyle that combats Dublin's urban sprawl. In actuality, living where you need a car to do everything runs counter to Ireland's spatial strategy. It's not sustainable rural development.

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September 14, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Irish lawyers winning

SUNDAY TRIBUNE -- Law has been extremely good to its successful Irish practioners. Legal fees for Army deafness cases came to EUR 79m. Lawyers got EUR 28m for the planning tribunal. The two senior counsel for the Moriarity Tribunal got EUR 6.3m. Investigations authorised by the Irish government are making millionaires out of barristers. You have to wonder if some legal firms taget groups of people with a possible cause against the state. Potential litigants can act collectively to seek financial redress, opening upo a lucrtive source of income.

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Shane Coleman -- "I fought the law and the lawyer won" in The Sunday Tribune 14 September 2003
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September 14, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Time to start paying

KILKENNY -- When I talk to fellow Americans walking around Kilkenny, they're surprised at the number of free lunches given to Irish residents. Irish homes don't pay for water. Irish college students don't pay "in-state" tuition fees. Irish home owners don't pay property taxes. When the Americans hear this, they understand why Irish roads are a mess, why there's no police to enforce speeding laws, and why Irish primary schools have some of the most dilapidated facilities in western Europe. To me, the message is clear--pay up and move up the league table with your infrastructure.

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September 14, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

September 12, 2003

Irish job losses

KILKENNY -- Local pub talk down the road in Castlecomer often revolves around textile workers laid off by factories. In the city of Kilkenny, weekend music provides a telltale backbeat that the economy is still doing fine. Ireland is changing, shedding herself of manufacturing jobs and trying to move higher up the ladder of skilled employment. It's tough going but a certainty. Eastern Europe, particularly Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary, are the countries now competing for low-end manufacturing jobs originally done in Sallynoggin, Tallaght and Castlecomer. I can see the faces of people who used to do jobs that left Ireland for locations where the daily salary is no more than one dollar.

It may surprise people to discover that given Ireland's work force of1.8m, nearly 15,000 jobs have to be lost every year to ensure there are enough workers available for new projects. "There has to be a certain amount of job loss every year for new industries in order to staff their operations," says Colm Donlon, spokesman for IDA Ireland.

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Colette Keane -- "IDA maintains warnings over massive job losses" in The Irish Examiner 12 September 2003.
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September 12, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Blocking the bin man

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- Most hourly news reports in Ireland cover the street drama between protestors and garbage collectors in Dublin. The protestors resent paying to have their rubbish collected so they're blocking garbage trucks from streets where rubbish bins sit in the sun ready to be emptied. I lived in California during a taxpayer uprising against property tax. In many ways, it's the same argument. Citizens don't like taxation without representation. They want their local authority to pay for rubbish collection out of existing general operating budgets. The government says it doesn't have the money, so it hikes charges on rubbish collection. And the protestors hit the streets.

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Olivia Kelly -- "Anti-bin charge protest set to continue" in The Irish Times, 12 September 2003.
Mark Brennock -- "Ahern says we must all pay our bin taxes" in The Irish Times 12 September 2003.
Tim Kirby -- "Refuse refusal in Lusk and Fingal"
Brian Greene -- "No bin tax"

September 12, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

The Taoiseach and Deputy McGuinness

KILKENNY -- I live in Kilkenny and depend on the effective representations made in my behalf by Deputy John McGuinness. McGuinness takes issues on board and speaks out to make important points. When McGuinness gets face time on the national news, the government's media machine is relegated. During the past two weeks, national attention has focused on tension between McGuinness and those serving in ministerial positions. In an outspoken editorial, The Kilkenny People effectively states my opinion.

"The Toasiseach's performance over the past few months has become increasingly erratic. He shows all the signs of a man beginning to crack under the pressire of a sagging economy, personal attacks against his family and a slump in his own popularity.

"Bertie Ahern's criticism on Deptuy John McGuinness reported in these pages this week in a further stage in the Taoiseach's slow retreat from the leader who h elped broder the Good Friday Agreement to the man who spends his days opening pubs and closing hospital wards.

"Mr Ahern's inaccurate and personall attack on the Kilkenny deputy highlights the Taoisearch's inability to argue about ideas. It is a sign of intellectual defeat when a person facing critizism counterattacks with an irrelevant character assasination.

"It is even stranger for Mr Ahern to attack a m an for holidaying in France when half the country laughed at the Taoiseach's role in his daughter's elaborate Hellow-sponsored wedding in the same country only weeks earlier.

"The failure to engage intelligently with critcism has long been one of the Taoiseach's worst traaits. The delusional persecution complex is a new and unwelcome addition to Mr Ahern's character that may help to explain why so many of his government's recent innovtaions have tended to erode personal freedoms and bolser the powers of government."

I think the only glowing endorsement John McGuinness will get comes from his hometown paper. The Irish Times claims "Ahern appeared to win strong support among TDs and senators for rebuking" McGuinness for criticisng the Cabinet for a lackluster performance.

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Kilkenny People -- "The Taoiseach and Mr McGuinness"
Mark Brennock -- "The power of positive thinking prevails" in The Irish Times, 12 September 2003
Michael O'Farrell -- "Ahern gives dissenting backbench TDs second warning" in The Irish Examiner 12 September 2003
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September 12, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sound of mud flapping

KILKENNY -- As a kid, I remember an odd sound came from under a truck as it lumbered by and my dad said, "That's mud flapping." Actually, it was a mud guard that broke off and had wrapped itself under the truck, getting caught up in the turning axle assembly in the process. I've heard a similar sound recently around Kilkenny, but it's coming from the top of cars that are flying the county flag from their windows. On Sunday, Kilkenny play Cork in the All-Ireland hurling final. It's a grand spectacle with flags flapping from hundreds of cars as they converge on Croke Park. I want to see Kilkenny win back-to-back titles. That's as easy as consecutive Super Bowl championships.

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Sent using mail2blog Nokia Communicator Vodafone services from McDonagh Station, Kilkenny.
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September 12, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 10, 2003

Buying blank CDs in Ireland

OPEN -- Tech talk regarding the purchase of blank CDs in Ireland suggests

• they are expensive in CompuStore, selling for EUR 1.50 each.
• Peats sell 50 blank CDs for EUR 14.
• CD Media have competitive rates for bulk buys.

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With thanks to Geoff Boyle and Richard Moyles.Open mailing list topic on "where to buy blank branded media"
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September 10, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Debasing the Golden Spiders

OPEN – The Irish Golden Spiders shortlist has been published and it proved to be a talking point for the Irish Open Mailing List. Bluntly speaking, the event no longer represents the best of Irish Internet development. Some of the companies short-listed for best design house do not have cross-browseable Web sites. The experience I get when viewing their content in Opera 7 or Netscape 7 is the same an English browser will get when trying to find ordering info for the Japanese toys at Hideshi Hino's site.

Eoin Costello has entered his main site Register.ie a number of times. The site was designed in-house in conjunction with Nos Design. Despite the fact that the site uses a number of innovative techniques to mak it easy to register .ie domain names, the site has never been shortlisted. In Costello's opinion, "there appears to be a bias towards the bigger design houses in the short lists with the same sites re-appearing again and again."

One of the nominees for the Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources "Best e-Commerce Web Site Award" is for DVD Rentals.ie, a company well-versed in spamming the Irish community.

John McCormac notes that one of the judges has a “directory enquiries for the web” but when you go to the website, you get a page stating that the site is unavailable. “The irony of this is brilliant - the web's equivalent of "all of our operators are busy, please stay online."

Brian Walsh notes, “There is no award for “Best use of Internet Technology.”

Many inside the technical part of the Irish web community agrees with Michele Neylon from Blacknight Solutions, who says, “I don't know why we even bother talking about this farce. I would be very much in favour of an alternative set of awards.” Neylon believes awards should not require paid-for nominations because there are very useful sites worthy of nomination.

Kieran Curtin notes that the Zeddies aren’t running anymore. “They were a once off. It’s too hard to make money on the first year for these type of events. Year two was too far away and the sponsorship climate was very poor at the time.” Curtin would like them resurrected, or see something similar which could give some new names a chance.

Ireland needs a community-driven award for Internet excellence. Perhaps it's time for the dotcom survivors to take up this cause with a passion.

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Thanks to the Open Mailing List.
Cross-reference to Open "Golden Spiders"
Image of toy from Hideshi Hino.

September 10, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 08, 2003

Deliberate stifling of information flow

UNDERWAY -- On the run-up to being "refused leave to land in Ireland" I have started an information trawl about the episode. I have discovered what senior journalists have said all summer. The government is waging a deliberate campaign against the FOI Act. There are internal procedures engrained in State agencies that ensure records are never created. Avoid making them and there is nothing to be discovered. This cynical approach to public record-keeping comes on top of the fees that must be paid for each request.

The fees paid by those searching for information are dwarfed by the money spent by the government to promote itself. This is a perverted structure where the government is paying to spin out information while its citizens must pay to see the source of the spun content. Through all these machinations, I wonder what the Information Commissioner is doing to ensure the rights of an informed citizenry.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i O2 Typepad service passing through Kilamery, County Kilkenny. The picture is taken further north, closer to Callan, County Kilkenny. Picture with Fuji 602Z camera uploaded separately.
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September 8, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 07, 2003

Coffee, Kuchen, Kilkennny

KILKENNY -- On lazy Sundays, nothing beats visiting the homes of friends for "Coffee und Kuchen" but that implies you travel in a German social circle. You wouldn't be disappointed with warm Apple tart in the comfortable Hibernian Hotel bar on a Sunday because the Irish version can be washed down with a pint of Guinness, an espresso, or glass of Irish coffee. I've enjoyed all three and no longer think I need an evening meal.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad services from The Hibernian.
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September 7, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Calling time on Minister McDowell

KILKENNY -- Seated in one of the best lighted pubs in Kilkenny, I listen to irritated customers complaining about the long arm of the Irish Minister for Justice.

• Minister McDowell proposes authorising police to go undercover to monitor drink being sold in Irish pubs.
• The Justice Minister plans to punish members of the Garda Siochana found to have communicated with the media.
• The Department of Justice is lumbering forward with one of the most intrusive data retention measures in Europe.
• While giving lip service to the awarding of penalty points to speeding motorists, the Minister for Justice is not ring-fencing police assets for either a traffic cop corps or the back-end database services to sustain improved road safety measures.

More than any other alpha male in government, Michael McDowell seems determined to eviscerate personal liberties in pursuit of an agenda that seems to be out of touch with values held by most of the Irish voting public. That kind of behaviour has profound consequences at the ballot box.

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Sunday Business Post -- "Calling time on McDowell"
Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i Communicator O2 TypePad service in Zuni.
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September 7, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Winning from Microsoft then investing in Wexford

SBPOST ie -- The cover story for the September Computers in Business is about Irish-American inventor Mike Doyle who told The Sunday Business Post that he has an "eye on a place on the waterfront in New Ross." Doyle could gain up to $200m from a patent infringement judgment against Microsoft. Doyle's company Eolas successfully sued Microsoft in a case about plug-ins to browsers. Most across the professional web development community, led by Tim Berners-Lee, think his patent infringes on prior art.

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Adrian Weckler -- "US inventor sets his sights on New Ross investment" in The Sunday Business Post, 7 September 2003.
Matt Hines -- "Will Microsoft tweak IE?"
Jeff Zeldman -- "IE, Flash and patents: here comes trouble"
Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad service from Zuni's streetside window, Kilkenny.
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September 7, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Empathy deficit in Irish government

KILKENNY -- Until I had seen The Magdalene Sisters, I didn't know the Republic of Ireland funded a system where children worked like pack animals, were denied an education, were half-starved and then raped at bedtime. Current national press coverage suggests the Education Minister Noel Dempsey wants to put all those bad memories behind by authorising only a sampling of abuse cases a full public hearing. Plus he wants to ensure plaintiffs pay the government's legal costs if they lose any court cases when petitioning for higher awards than those outlined by the compensation boards.

Christine Buckley of Aislinn, a group representing many of those abused as children in stste institutions, accuses Dempsey of an "empathy deficit." Similar accusations have been made against politicians who aggressively ram forward with changes faster than Irish society believes is prudent. Said another way, the Dempsey's calculus is evidence that the current government has lost touch with the electorate.

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Sean MacCarthaigh -- "Dempsey failed to listen" in The Sunday Business Post, 7 September 2003.
Sent mail2blog using Nooia 9210i O2 TypePad service from the greenhouse of St Joseph's Mission, a former institution for the care of young Irish.
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September 7, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Rising cost of Irish breakfast

KILKENNY -- I expect to meet friends from Pennsylvania after they land in Ireland tomorrow and I have discovered their Irish breakfast will cost $2.17 more than the western omelette breakfast they buy in Lancaster on most Sundays. Could it be related to the fact that the minimum wage here is 50 cent higher than in Lancaster? I know restaurants pay several hundred euro more for insurance each month than they would stateside. Any increases in minimum wage should be accompanied by productivity increases. They weren't so we pay more for a Sunday fry-up but don't get faster service, better meals or extended operating hours. I ate cheaper in Sicily than in Ireland when on holiday last September. I returned to Ireland where the minimum wage is one of the highest in Europe. The only way to reverse this unfortunate trend is to listen to arguments by the Small Firms Association and to seek out small venues operating with family members serving tables.

For me, that means the best value for Irish breakfast nearest to me is in County Tipperary:

• O Tuama's in Clonmel ( EUR 8 with bottomless cups of coffee) until 1PM
• Horse&Jockey( EUR 9 until 10AM) all you can eat breakfast.

All Kilkenny hotels offer quality Irish breakfasts but they cost more than I have found across the border.

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Ian Kehoe -- "Rising minimum wage will cost thousands of Jobs" in The Sunday Business Post, 7 September 2003.
Sent mail2blog using Nokia 9210i O2 service while having tea and toast in The Kilkenny Ormonde Hotel atrium.
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September 7, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 06, 2003

Talking about government

KILKENNY -- Word on the streets of Kilkenny is that there is mounting public dissatisfaction with the current Irish government's performance. Radio Kilkenny have played local TD John McGuinness's comments about there being "crisis within Government" and that the current coalition has "possibly lost touch with some of the public." That's what it feels like to me, with more concern placed on smoking inside pubs than with the public safety of the streets outside.

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Sent mail2blog using Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad service at Nowlan Park.
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September 6, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Huck Finn in Ireland

CARRICK ON SUIR -- If Huck Finn had grown up in Ireland, he would have felt at home on the Suir although his main adventures would have occurred on the River Shannon. All around Ireland, he could look up and see the stars. That's a contrast to the nightly conditions reported by Misty in Muncie:

Because clouds normally come in at night, few stars can be seen. Instead the clouds glow a pretty calming pink/blue.

I like my deep black Kilkenny night sky. I can see the moon reflect on clouds, deep space stars and occasional jets headed west. That's different from Dublin where city lights washed out the night above.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad service along the Suir after pulling down e-mail from Misty in Muncie.
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September 6, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 05, 2003

Digital government works

KILKENNY -- One of the quiet success stories following the dotcom hypefest is that the delivery of government services via digital channels is working. You can see that success story in the online services offered by South Tipperary County Council. At the start of each academic year, I take new students onto the local government sites. Prior to that visit, no more than one in ten have ever gone to a government website. After one year in our Media Studies programme, students attending Tipperary Institute have a working knowledge of where to find information about government services online.

Irish government e-services suffer from some self-inflicted wounds. Many council IT directors fail to protect the lower-level IT job authorisations from being diluted by candidates deemed qualified because they show "other relevant experience" drawn outside of IT. This means the web apprentices are often long-term civil service survivors, not applicants with recency of ICT experience or those with current qualifications. When that happens, local government must commission outside help to field complex projects because daunting timelines and costly deliverables hang in the balance. This will change only if both the Minister for Local Government (Martin Cullen) and the Minister with special responsibility for the Information Society (Mary Hanafin) underscore their discomfort with the routine practise of diluting the requisite skillset needed by those in the field of delivering e-services. Their action is required to ensure Irish e-government services deliver value for money.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad services at McDonagh Station.
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September 5, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

September 02, 2003

Reads of Nassau Street

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- Everyone attending school in Dublin knows "Reads of Nassau Street" from advertising jingles and aggressive marketing of price points. But search Golden Pages online for their phone number and find nothing. Search Google for "Reads of Nassau Street" and you have to poke around for the contact details.

So, here's a public service placement for Reeds of Nassau Street (deliberately misspelled because people do that). The phone number for Reads of Nassau Street is +35316796011. I get my wireless notebooks (the analogue version) from Reads of Nassau Street. They're durable A5 Feint with Elastics (reference 300150 from Tiger Brand) that used to cost me £2.50 and now cost €4.85 each. My Media Writing class will learn to enjoy their usefulness.

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Picture of Bernie's wireless notebook shot with Fuji 602Z camera.
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September 2, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Brown strips of autumn

KILKENNY -- For my first time in Ireland, grass crunches underfoot. That sound tells the story of a hot and dry autumn--a welcome thing in my calendar because we couldn't afford to travel this summer. Hot concrete curbs caused soil to crack and become parched along residential streets. My lawn didn't require cutting as often because rain fell infrequently. Nearby fields turned golden brown and made easy harvesting, noted by the neighbourhood gurriers who added hay bales to their pyromania hitlists. The birch trees are starting to alternate yellow and green now as the daylight hours diminish and the nightly temperatures slip below 13C. Here comes another season, leaving behind the memory of the sunniest August I've known in Ireland.

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Sent from McDonagh Station using mail2blog Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad services.
Check out pictures of Kilkenny in the summer sun.
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September 2, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 31, 2003

Surviving Ireland

KILKENNY -- During my past eight and a half years in Ireland, I have watched the country survive seismic events including the demise of Aer Lingus, Y2K, the advent of the euro, the abolition of duty free, the ascent of Jackie Healy Rae, and the plastic bag tax. Now Ireland is holding its breath for a radical "no smoking" ban. Somehow I think it's just as significant as the other seismic events I've survived with the country. In fact, surviving a no smoking ban is much less stressful than losing your runners to Holly, the Samoyed-Spaniel with a shoe fetish.

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Sent mail2blog with Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad services from McCourt's Bar and Restaurant.
Photo of Holly in Upper Garringreen taken with Fuji 602Z camera.
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August 31, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Squeezing Irish Old Boys

KILKENNY -- One of the worst things about Ireland is its blatant Old Boys' Networks and the Football Association of Ireland (FAI) is an example. All of the Sunday papers carry stories about a leak about a possible EUR 600,000 pay deal for Fran Rooney, an astute businessman brought in by the FAI to improve the running of Irish football. Rooney would get the money only if he achieved targets related to commercial sponsorship. But some old boys in the FAI, notably Kevin Fahy and Milo Corcoran, are a little miffed by Rooney's hands-on approach. So they're leaking confidential information even before discussion occurs. I hope the FAI defers to Rooney's inquisitorial manner and gives Irish football the kind of professional foundation it deserves.

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Sent mail2blog over Nokia 9210i O2 Typepad services from the Kilkenny RIvercourt Hotel.
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August 31, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 29, 2003

With summer sun comes visitors

KILKENNY -- It's the warmest summer in Ireland since I first landed here in 1994. With these Mediterranean conditions comes visitors who often buy take-away food when strolling and rats who come out for the droppings. I spotted three rats when walking from the Kilkenny Golf Club to St Mary's Hall this morning. They are scurring out of breaks in walls and circling around bin bags prior to the Friday collection. I don't remember seeing this many rats since the days of Foot and Mouth Disease, when rat colonies operated fearlessly in Dublin's Phoenix Park.

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John McGuinness -- "Rat plague fuelled by fast food" in The Kilkenny People, 1 August 2003
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August 29, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

McDonagh Junction

KILKENNY -- You cannot walk along the old train platform at the Kilkenny Railway Station without crunching glass underfoot. Vandals have trashed the fixtures that once served as a ticketing office and waiting area. All this will get a facelift if Chesterbridge Developments starts its EUR 100m project at the Railway Station Site. The ambitious plans call for an anchor store, 40 retail units, a 120 bedroom hotel, office space and 138 residential units. The project will give a new lease of life to the Goods Shed and former Kilkenny Work House on Hebron Road.

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Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i O2 TypePad service from McDonagh Station.
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August 29, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 28, 2003

Irish immigration policy

INDEPENDENT -- The Irish government plans to introduce a formal immigration policy by April 2004 and I don't think it will have John Robb's suggested three-year work permit option in it. At present, non-EU citizens like me can come to Ireland only on work permits or visas. These do not give permanent rights of employment or residence. As I discovered, this temporary status can lead to prison. I would llke better treatment.

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John Robb -- "More thinking about immigration"
John Ihle -- "A threat to national security"
Brendan Keenan -- "Formal Irish immigration policy likely during 2004" in The Irish Independent, 28 August 2003.
Bernie Goldbach -- "Refused leave to land in Ireland" on 21 September 2002.
Sent mail2blog by Nokia 9210i O2 Typepad service aboard Bus Eireann in Callan, County Kilkenny.
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I published a short column in The Irish Examinerabout my experience with the Irish immigration officials on September 27, 2003.

"Get a work permit or go to jail" by Bernie Goldbach in The Irish Examiner

IN THE SUMMER OF 1973, I drifted off to sleep on a cold concrete slab, listening to a scratchy Oriental sing-song melody. Part of 72 hours in a mock POW camp in Colorado courtesy of Commandant Nguyen Tan Dong.

In the summer of 2002, I slipped in and out of sleep atop a well-used mattress pad on a cold concrete floor, listening to a screeching pop music melody. Part of one night in Mount Joy Prison, courtesy of Chief Officer Egan.

The two episodes have interesting parallels. As a pracitse-POW in '73, I was blindfolded inside a small cage because I refused to sign papers. Inside The Joy, I stared drowsiy at a blue-white fluorescent ceiling because I didn't have proper papers at Dublin Airport.

The Joy's evening welcoming committee of Burke, Weldon and Kelly ("The Handsome One") locked away my Nokia 9210i and Palm m505. Class Officers Durkan and Gallagher ran out of mattresses in the "Liam Lawlor Wing" where I stayed with two Lithuanians, a Brazilian and a Romanian. There was no floor space for David Cranny from Sandyford, in for a short stay on an outstanding bench warrant.

Since 9/11, all direct entry points to the US have to show the INS they are clamping down on arriving passengers. Detective Garda Michael Walsh has done this, by deporting me, among others.

Irish immigration authorities will produce record annual numbers. This newspaper provides details of Garda sweeps for illegals and documents cases of undesireable aliens.

It is irrelevant that I am on a one-year unpaid career break from a permanent position on a third level ICT lecturing staff. It doesn't matter that I carry an NUJ card, own land in Kilkenny, pay a mortgage, vote in national elections, meet all tax obligations, and represent Irish technical issues at industry events.

I didn't intend to fall into this unwelcome status, but my inattention to detail caught me out. I failed to note an expiration date. I failed to present myself at a local immigration control point. Detective Segeant Martin Donohue saw no option but deportation.

In 1898, the McAuliffes from Clare settled in St Mary's Parish, the oldest Catholic community west of Philadelphia. I grew up there, among 4m other Irish-Americans in Pennsylvania. But I haven't lived statyeside since 1986.

I came to Ireland at a time when the tech boom of the 90s mandated a constant flow of qualified workers. I passed freely through the Republic's regional airports with a laptop on my shoulder. I mingled with dozens of retuerning emigrnats, Irish-Americans like me who could trace their ropots to the post-Famine State.

Today, family ties don't matter, if they ever did.

I wonder how Ireland's enthusiasm of turning away foreigners will play in sustaining Irish growth. The raw numbers of applicants to third level ICT courses have declined. The number of students opting for computer courses as their first preference almost halved from more than 10,000 last year to just 5,000 in 2002. This dramatic fall in applications has prompted employers to warn of a skills shortage of 3,000 IT professionals over the next 5 years.

Microsoft's Human Resource Director, Mark Keane, knows trouble looms ahead for Ireland's ICT Ireland forum, "The number of software engineers is not yet a crisis, but we are building one in the long term."

IBEC points to glaring inadequacies in Ireland's infrastructure. Without constructing projects in the National Development Plan, Ireland will remain mired in Third World conditions of transport and rural communities will face longer periods without essential services.

Labour costs have escalated for these projects. Mihai Hoyda, a talkative Romanian who jabbered away the early morning hoursd, gestured passionately with hands calloused by two years wielding a jackhamer. Like some builders, he worked on the black side of the Irish economy, constructing social housing and building industrial parks along the Southern Cross in Bray.

After three years, trying to get an Irish work permiy, Hoyda was ousted to Romania. On his way out, he wondered aloud why Ireland "cuts her face" by "putting out her people."

Eight years ago, I landed in Rosslare as a tourist. I decided to stake my claim as a returning Irish emigrant. I developed professionally during the ascendancy of the Irish tech industry. My payback to the Irish people continues as I get my personal documents back in order.

August 28, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack

August 27, 2003

Irish Trad Music on the Clonmel Hotspot

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- We have wrapped up the Clonmel Fleadh but the world can continue to enjoy the event by viewing the archived media streams. Lots of hard work went into the production, especially work done by John Hannafin, Tony Hevey, Mike Kiely, Mike Bulfin, Denise Kelly, and Austin Cooney. Their efforts would make a moblogger proud. And the event would never have hit the Internet without the power of the unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum.

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Tipperary Institute -- "Ceili Band Presentations"
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August 27, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Acting on climate change

CLONMEL -- We need to consider taking some stronger action against global warming and could turn to the University of East Anglia for inspiration. A team led by Keith Tovey have launched a project known as Cred, for carbon reduction. Their initiatives should be consideration for replication in Ireland.

• Two wind turbines are due to be installed at the University of East Anglia. They will provide more than enough power for the campus. The surplus electricity they generate will be sold back to the national grid and the profits fed into local community projects.
• Night classes teach people how to make solar panels to provide hot water.
• The Cred team provides environmental audits for companies and local residents.
• Local residents attend community meetings to learn how to conserve energy in homes.
• The Cred team adivses people on environmentally friendly ways to travel. A plane flying from London to Paris emits three times more carbon dioxide than Eurostar.
• The team developed a gadget that, when plugged into an electrical appliance, measures the amount of electricity it uses and works out how much carbon dioxide it is responsible for emitting.

To make a real difference, the US should be doing these things and that will happen when people see the money that can be made through energy conservation.

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Ian Sample -- "Scientists turn up heat on global warming" in The Guardian, 27 August 2003
Shoptalk -- "climate change and tech"
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August 27, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 25, 2003

Simple location-based services

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- Radio presenters are talking about the Irish government's plan to overhaul speed limit signs. It means giving every town at least one speed limit sign since drivers need to know when they should slow to 50kph.

McGrath speculates, "while changing it for the new system, allocate each one a unique four character code. Then, tie the location of the road sign to the code on the web and you have a very simple, very cheap way to deploy location based services." You could easily determine where the nearest hospital is located, how far it is to a major city, or where you might find a petrol station open late at night. All you would have to do is send an SMS with a text query string and get a reply back.

From McGrath: "Use base 36 arithmetic, 1.7 million unique 4 character codes using the letters A to Z and numbers 0 to 9. More than enough. Indeed, businesses might like to get a code and use it to help people find them - both geographically and also on the web. Just get people to jot down the 4 letter code and then they can use that to find your website."

Think about it--the signs will probably have a unique identifier anyway, given by the roads crew to facilitate their placement. The local authorities have GPS mapping co-ordinates for all roads. It would be relatively easy for every community to affix geodetic coding on the signs as they are placed.

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Sean McGrath -- "A simple route to location based services"
James Corbett -- "Location based services in Ireland"
Rob O'Connor -- "signs everywhere.
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August 25, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Winning with the horses

HORSE AND JOCKEY -- One of the best watering holes on the main road from Dublin to Cork is the Horse and Jockey pub and restaurant. It lies just about halfway between the two cities on a long stretch of road that dissects some of the richest horse stables in the world. Stop there for lunch some weekday and look into the corners among all the silk worn by winning jockeys. If you're alert, you might come away with a real tip, like I did when I discovered a vitamin mix used by many of the winning trainers. In a world of connected communications, sometimes the best conversation is at your elbow, not on your screen.

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I'm opening another Irish Typepad channel so I can record what I learn about winning with horses.
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August 25, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 23, 2003

Outside of Ireland

KILKENNY -- Corporate executives openly cite high wage costs and poor infrastructure as reasons to relocate manufacturing outisde of Ireland. But nobody believes the Minister of Finance will borrow to sustain the improvements underway in Irish motorways, broadband or health care.

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August 23, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Rubble on the way

KILKENNY -- While visiting the county dump to deposit papers and plastic, I saw a Duchas truck rumbling along . I wonder if it was ever used to deposit rubbish outside the village of Killenaule in South Tipperary. Someone ordered an ordinary worker to dump more than 4000 tonnes of waste in an unlicensed dump three km from Killenaule at Burnchurch, Moyglass. This kind of thing shouldn't happen but it's nothing unusual for some of the older staff that long retired while still drawing down a civil service salary.

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Sent mail2blog with Nokia 9210i O2 Typepad service while trundling around Kilkenny.
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August 23, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 21, 2003

OK to boo?

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- There's a recurring argument in the Irish press that revolves around the question, "Is it okay to boo?" at soccer matches. So friends of E.F. Fanning from Rathfarnham, County Dublin, have set down their views in a website. Interesting perspectives all around, especially for American viewers where crowd sentiments range from Mexican waves to heated expressions of frustration.

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OK2BOO -- "ok2boo: a non-sectarian, non-racist organisation"
P45 rant -- "OK2boo?"
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August 21, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Why not conserve at source?

KILKENNY -- When I watch my new house being built, I was surprised to see that it did not require a water meter, dual flush cistern or a downpipe water butt to catch rain for garden use. Those features would reduce my household water consumption. I think they should be integrated at source, during new construction projects. After this dry summer, Ireland needs to remember that less than 1% of all water on the earth is fresh water. That's a supply many people crave.

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Sent mail2blog over Nokia O2 TypePad services from McDonagh Station, Kilkenny.
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August 21, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

An expectation of civic responsibility

KILKENNY -- I just sorted paper, tin, aluminium, and three different shades of glass into separate containers before taking them to a recycling yard. It galls me that I pay salaries to government employees who don't sort their rubbish at work. And it deeply troubles me to discover that the Irish Heritage Service (Duchas) has been using an illegal dump across county lines for office trash.

Deputy John McGuinness has pictures and a partial inventory of the dump. He gave them to Environment Minister Martin Cullen who promptly announced he would ask Duchas to look into the matter. He didn't call in the Environmental Protection Agency to investigate. And why not?

Nearly 4,000 tonnes of waste were thrown into this illegal dump. Duchas rented this parcel of land outside the village of Killenaule in South Tipperary, at Burnchurch, Moyglass. It sits inside a game reserve in a very scenic area. The dump backs on to a small lake which has been partially covered by the waste material.

If you walk around the dump, you can see storage heaters, lagging, large bags of concentrated lime, chairs, rubber, paper, cardboard and Duchas brochures. This is refuse normally relegated to weekly bin collections. Things like food waste, plastic piping, bags of cement, plastic buckets, large metal barrels, plastic covering for silage and copies of the Heritage Week 2000 programme.

I cannot fathom how an organisation empowered to preserve national heritage sites could desecrate natural resources in this manner.

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Sean Keane -- "EPA should probe illegal dump, TD says" in The Kilkenny People, August 22, 2003
Sent mail2blog over Nokia O2 TypePad services from McDonagh Station, Kilkenny.
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August 21, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 19, 2003

Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann

CLONMEL HOTSPOT -- Every week, an average of 822 readers of this space come from outside of Ireland. Another 283 come from Ireland. That means 80 percent of those who see this post won't be able to pronounce what it's about. That doesn't discourage John Hannafin who sits 8m away from my keyboard. He's burrowed in some Wi-Fi connections to test the streaming of the Clonmel Fleadh. The technology isn't as potent as on Tenerife (they get 70 km signals wirelessly over the same spectrum) but the Clonmel Fleadh proves Ireland can weave traditional music into the unlicensed Wi-Fi spectrum.

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With gracious support of Comhaltas Live.
Recommended: stay at The Commons Cottage if you're attending the traditional Irish music festival in Clonmel. See photos from the local area around County Tipperary.
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August 19, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 18, 2003

No smoking in pubs

KILKENNY -- The current government is considering a total ban of smoking in all pubs across Ireland, effective January 2004. Depending on who you believe, this is either one of the most forward-thinking measures, or one doomed at birth. During the normally sleepy media season of the summer, it makes good reading as various politicians and lobby groups exchange salvoes.

Update 24 April 2004. The no smoking ban is holding up well. In fact, there's a social network around the front doors of many venues that rivals the best "speed dating" session. It's often more fun to sit outside on the terrace with the smokers than inside where it's more likely to be dark and sweaty.

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Bernie Goldbach -- "no smoking in Ireland"
John Smyth -- "Don't make passes at women with glasses…unless it's a pint glass"
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August 18, 2003 in Irish | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack