Digest – August 15 2010

It’s back. The Digest is all up in this here! Rejoice dear reader! Rejoice!

Or don’t.

HOME

Gerard O’Neill, ‘fear itself’.

Here in Ireland we appear to be suffering from an unholy combination of inaction and over-reaction – giving rise to the mood of negativity that Coleman and others have recognised. NAMA is the over-reaction: the inaction relates to the wider re-structuring of our economy to ensure we never again suffer the consequences of our self-inflicted crack-up credit boom. One advantage of de-commissioning NAMA would perhaps be to re-start a debate about the future structure of our financial institutions.

Iain Nash goes for the chicks (I kid! I kid!) of  The Anti-Room.

Gav Reilly; How AIB’s gym fees staff expenses could cost more than double the amount it will make from increasing mortgage interest rates.

In the name of faux-balance (more because it is a beautifully written piece of work) June Caldwell of The Anti-Room on the ‘still missing’ women post-Larry Murphy’s release.

Despite the medieval braying from the tabloid press that he’ll strike again and soon, I personally don’t believe for a second that Larry Murphy is going to put a foot wrong for a very long time. He can wait. He can play with the authorities and the public. Memories will sustain him. This day is a very special one for him after all. Even just the God of small things: he hasn’t seen any of our modern capital’s hallmarks for a start: the Luas, the spire, etc. There’s a lot to take in. Especially the reams of happy young women pacing along the city streets, tired women too, stomping home from work. Women who will have no idea who he is or what he’s done. It’s been an age since he was able to glance sideways at strangers, with every ounce of his civil rights protected. The fact remains that there are dozens of Larry Murphys out there, a lot of whom we’ve handily forgotten.

Seamus Coffey on stamp duty; ‘Stamped out’.

I’m not sure if Hugh Green’s criticisim should be directed at the editorial or the broader arguement, either way, he makes some interesting points in this piece about Wyclef Jean, the US and Haiti.

Did you miss this? The Last Word with Matt Cooper; Minister O’Cuiv admits rollback on employment investment.

Speaking on The Last Word on Today FM Thursday evening, Minister for Social Protection Eamonn Ó’Cuiv admitted the Employment Subsidy Scheme – to which the government allocated €250m – had in fact ceased with only €133 million spent.  The Employment Subsidy Scheme was set up in 2009 to protect jobs at viable but vulnerable businesses. ISME Chief Executive Mark Fielding sought the Minister’s clarification on this point to which O’Cuiv confirmed, “Yes, that figure is correct”.

WORLD Continue reading “Digest – August 15 2010”

Minister for Finance diary 2007

As part of an ongoing process. The appointments diary of the Minister for Finance for 2007.



Previously:

Finance diary May 2008 to March 2009
William Beusang diary May 2008 to May 2009
Ann Nolan diary May 2008 to May 2009
Derek Moran
Kevin Cardiff diary May 2008 to May 2009

Public Information and Power

Guest post: Nat O’Connor is a policy analyst with TASC and contributes to their Progressive Economy blog. He recently published two discussion papers on democratic accountability and the economic logic of strengthening public access rights to official information. The first paper can be viewed here and downloaded as PDF here. The paper on public access to official information can be read here and downloaded here. In recent weeks there has been much media attention given to the papers with articles in The Irish Examiner, an appearance on Morning Ireland and an opinion piece by Hugh Linehan in The Irish Times stemming from their publication, to name a few. – Mark

—

It may be stating the obvious, but the extent to which the public can readily access official information has got a lot to do with the health of our democracy.

The Freedom of Information Act 1997 has come to represent this idea in some ways, in direct opposition to the Official Secrets Act 1963 (still in force) which represents government decision-making behind closed doors, where the reasons for those decisions remain secret.

Yet, the need for public access to information in a democracy is much more than just freedom of information law.

In a democracy, people need reliable information to vote; otherwise voting is a meaningless exercise. And just as importantly, people need reliable information between votes, when the real business of running the country takes place. We need information so that we can monitor where tax money is being spent, what policies are in place, what evidence informs decision-making, etc.

This democratic argument is spelled out in more detail in one of the discussion papers I wrote for TASC.

Continue reading “Public Information and Power”

Gripe site publishes Shell internal emails about Corrib

The usually-reliable Royaldutchshellplc.com blog has published what it says are leaked emails relating to the Corrib gas pipeline.

Shell Corrib Gas Pipeline – flood of leaked internal emails.

Nothing explosive (excuse the pun) as far as I can see, though some readers may be interested in having a goo. There’s a natural gas glossary here for those in need too.

Two things did twig my interest, according to the last few mails Shell didn’t really have any idea who had the “current asset ownership of the wells”. That was in early 2009.

Also, Shell told the government that documents are commercially sensitive when they may not have been, thus ensuring the department would have to inform them were the documents to be released under FOI.

That blog is run by some guys with a serious gripe with Shell, but has been recognised for its work in exposing strange workings inside Shell over the years. It is seen as a forum for Shell whistleblowers. The Financial Times, Reuters, Times of London and Fortune magazine have all recognised it as a bona fide source. It’s former owner, Alfred Donovan has featured in several documentaries about adversarial websites and online activism.

I was away in Niger. I’m back blogging. The Digest shall return on Sundays this week.

Taoiseach’s diary 2001

As part of an ongoing process. The appointments diary of then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for the year 2001. Redactions marked ‘A’ are so because the department believes them to be “personal information” as defined in Section 28 of the FOI act. Entries marked ‘B’ relate to the Taoiseach’s private papers as a member of the Oireachtas. Regards ‘B’ redactions – the cover letter from the FOI officer states “Section 46 of the Act states, inter alia, that the Act does not apply to records relating to any of the private papers of a member of the Oireachtas and as such I consider that the Act does not apply to these entries.”



Previously:
Taoiseach diary April 1998 to March 1999
Taoiseach diary April to December 1999
Taoiseach diary 2000
Taoiseach diary 2005
Taoiseach diary 2006
Taoiseach diary May 2008 to May 2009

Taoiseach’s diary 2000

As part of an ongoing process. The appointments diary of then Taoiseach Bertie Ahern for the year 2000.



Previously:
Taoiseach diary April 1998 to March 1999
Taoiseach diary April to December 1999
Taoiseach diary 2005
Taoiseach diary 2006
Taoiseach diary May 2008 to May 2009

CIE fuel consumption 2005 to 2009

A very long time ago I sent a request to Coras Iompar Eireann, the operator of Dublin Bus, Iarnrod Eireann and Bus Eireann seeking information on how much fuel they consumed, its cost, and the estimated carbon footprint. They have replied, finally, to my request.

In the five years from 2005 to 2009, CIE consumed 546,257,128 litres of diesel. This equates to approximately 1.747 billion kilos of carbon (at 3.2kg per litre), or 1,747 metric kilotonnes. The numbers are broken down as follows:

Dublin Bus consumed 168,940,369 litres from 2005 to 2009 (31% of total)
Iarnrod Eireann consumed 234,874,458 litres from 2005 to 2009 (43% of total)
Bus Eireann consumed 142,442,301 litres from 2005 to 2009 (26% of total)

The carbon dioxide emissions amount to over five times the mass of the Empire State Building.

CIE refused to give costs information on the basis of commercial sensitivity. The process of getting this information was an interesting one in itself and I will write more on this and give a further analysis of the data soon.

Phone numbers

A reader has commented that coincidentally perhaps, the phone numbers of Ivor Callely and his son Ronan are almost identical. According to his Facebook page, Ronan Callely’s number is 086 2571489. According to the Oireachtas documents, Ivor Callely’s number is 087 2571489 – a one digit difference which applies usually when your provider is different. Curious.