Four One Nine
Forgive the scraggy style, I’ve something on my chest. Typing off the top of the head.
Amnesty International Ireland have criticised the human rights record of the Irish State for for failing to protect children. Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has also weighed in against the HSE for refusing to supply files on children who died in care. A report on Irishtimes.com has more.
An earlier article, since updated, had this amazing set of quotes and pars about HSE chief, Brendan Drumm… Continue reading “Four One Nine”
Taoiseach briefing papers 1998
As part of our look at Cabinet papers now available under Section 19 (3) (b) of the FOI Act, I sought some briefing papers for the Taoiseach for Cabinet meetings in April and May 1998. Some of the redactions refer directly to the Constitutional protection of Cabinet “discussion”. I will publish the schedule of redactions shortly. My favourite bits:
In the briefing papers for April 28, 1998, in reference to the plans for LUAS:
We are anxious to avoid discussion by Government of the proposal in the presence of the consultants lest it lead to a public perception that the consultants are driving the decision process.
Or discussion of the Copyright Amendment Bill:
The matter is urgent because it is an essential part of an arrangement between the Department of Enterprise Trade & Employment and the U.S. Trade Authorities, the object of which was to persuade the U.S. Authorities not to proceed with an infringement action against Ireland in the World Trade Organisation.
In briefing papers for May 12, 1998, in reference to proposed ESB price increases:
Despite the good performance, the ESB still wish to implement the third phase of a price increase which was part of the CCR agreement accepted by the previous Government. The Department are of the view that this is not warranted as it was based on projected profits of £31 m in 1998. Profits will be at least £160m this year without a price increase.
The set of released documents is here:
Head of Transparency Ireland on whistleblowing proposals
John Devitt of TI lays it out on Dermot Ahern’s whistleblowers’ charter-type proposals…
The legislation will not protect a single employee in our banks reporting dodgy loans to directors. It will not protect anyone reporting insider dealing or any other of the multitude of offences under the Companies Acts. It will not protect any public servant reporting the cover up or misuse of power by other officials or ministers.
In fact, the Government’s sector-by-sector approach to whistleblower protection will not protect many whistleblowers at all. The DPP’s call for meaningful legislation is likely to remain unanswered.
DDDA report
“Published” this afternoon, but still not up on the Department of Environment website. It doesn’t look much different to the leaked version of the report we published back in March.
I asked the Department to email me a copy. 13 attachments, some in Word format, some in PDF. So I stuck them altogether into one PDF, for your convenience:
Limerick Post interview Willie O'Dea
Entertaining ‘exclusive’ video interview with Willie O’Dea by The Limerick Post, below.
He’s certainly allowed talk. He thinks bloggers are widely read in some circles and that they are more representative of the Little Guy. Dunno about that… Continue reading “Limerick Post interview Willie O'Dea”
"Meadow madness"
Two days ago on this site…
I was back in Blanchardstown for the weekend and was informed that Fingal County Council have decided to stop cutting the grass on the big green space near the family home. They’re instead going to slice a big cross through it every once in while so people can walk from one side to the other. Bizarre.
Fingal County Council has devised a scheme aimed at encouraging biodiversity but are now being accused of taking “PR spinning to a new level”.
Under the council’s Growing Places Initiative 2010 they have reduced how often they cut grass in dozens of popular local parks and greens.
However, a local Fianna Fail representative claims that they are running the risk of turning local parks into overgrown rat-infested meadows.
TheStory, bringing you the big stories that matter! First!
Cabinet Agendas January to March 2000
As part of an ongoing process of publishing Cabinet related documents under the 10-year FOI (Section 19 (3) (b)) rule. These are the Cabinet Agendas for the period January to March 2000.
Indo investigation into councils
There’s some nice work by Treacy Hogan and Paul Melia in The Irish Independent today; an investigation into councils’ financial controls and management gets a two-page spread – 20 and 21.
The main story is headed ‘Broke councils fail to collect millions owed by developers’…
Council finances have collapsed to catastrophic levels and the situation has got so bad that some cannot afford to pay outstanding loans and there is no money to pay for projects already under way.
And it can be revealed:
- Developers owe more than €420m in unpaid levies — but many are not being pursued or prosecuted for the money.
- One developer was undercharged by €1.4m and there is no possibility of getting the money back.
- Expensive public projects are running over budget.
- Millions of euro is owed by businesses in water charges, refuse charges and unpaid rates.
- Some councils have sold land at a profit — but not paid back the loans. Others are stuck with expensive unsold houses and landbanks in negative equity.
The country’s 34 city and county councils have been borrowing more than €10m a week to maintain services, despite being owed hundreds of millions by developers.
You can read the rest here.
The second story is your standard “Outrage as senior civil servants earn LOADZA MUNNAY” piece about the salaries of city and county managers (somewhere between €132,000 and €190,000). This story is overdone, in my opinion. The “everyone got a bonus” line is interesting but unsurprising considering what we’ve heard in months gone by. Anywho… Continue reading “Indo investigation into councils”
Digest – May 23 2010
Whatevatreva.
– HOME
Three from the Sunday Times to kick off… because I haven’t got ’round to reading much else yet.
Liam Fay on the opinion pages…
Cowen seems oblivious to the fact that denying people’s democratic right to parliamentary representation, for nothing but narrow party interest, completely undermines his efforts to pose as a leader of integrity, mettle and courage. It also deepens public misgivings about him and his party and creates a vacuum that others would happily fill.
One of the most damaging features of the economic crisis is the widespread feeling that regular people are being taken for granted, if not for fools, by our political overlords. No by-election is likely to change very much other than the Dail arithmetic, but affording voters their right to have their say is crucial.
Sarah McInerney with a news feature… ‘Focus: Mr Popular or Mr Populist? Eamon Gilmore is accused of sitting on the fence on key issues despite poll success’.
And Paul Kimmage with a touching article (which doesn’t seem to be online) on the sports pages. Get a copy and have a look, it’s the main piece on page 12, headed “A life worth living”.
Michael Taft takes on Garrett Fitzgerald.
David McKeown explains why the sky is blue at Ignite Dublin. Video below.