Maman Poulet

It’s the final Questions and Answers programme tonight. The funeral is a specially extended edition at 10.30pm on RTE1 with 20 mourners as guests. (Kathy Sheridan, one of the better panellists over the years interviewed John Bowman in Saturday’s Irish Times).

Unfortunately there are very few Q&A clips on Youtube - so jogging your moment with ‘the best of’ was going to be very difficult.

But you may be able to relive them for us without clips for Maman Poulet’s Q&A awards?

The 1990 presidential election and Brian Lenihan Snr and his claims of having ‘no hand, act or part’ in attempt to pressurise President Hillery not dissolve the Dáil comes to mind for me.

My favourite guests - Michael D. Higgins, Pat Rabbitte (shock!), and Nell McCafferty when she was on form.

I’m also thinking up awards categories that you might not hear of on tonights show. Care to add a few?

Most frequent audience member award?
There must be UCD Alumni (Kevin Barry Cuman members in particular) all over the world who got plenty of free beer on regular Monday nights to keep them going through college - some probably have showreels on the basis.

Most tokenistic female panelist ever?
Q&A was legendary for it’s one female panellist among all the lads.

Tonight’s programme promises archive clips and it’ll be liveblogged.

Have you other award categories we could use in a Q&A awards programme?

Meanwhile this is the only clip on Youtube I could find apart from Michael O’Brien’s recent compelling intervention. It’s a good one of Dermot Ahern and Pat Rabbitte pre the last general election.

not

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Any day now someone will call for the Civil Partnership Bill to be gender proofed. Because surely as it stands by not recognising families and family responsibilities one group is being favoured over others?

Even Glen (did you see the lowercase on the len bit?- I’m taking the lead from the paper of record) are saying there’s a gender problem with the bill’s failure to recognise couples who are parenting children or children who seek to have legal ties to parents.

Eoin Collins from Glen writes in today’s Irish Times.

A major area of concern for Glen, however, is the lack of progress made in providing legal recognition for the large number of same sex couples, especially women, who are co-parenting children. For example, dissolution of a civil partnership can be obtained without the legal requirement to make any specific provisions for the children being parented by the couple.

Nor will a child being parented by a same-sex couple – unlike a child being parented by an opposite-sex couple – be able to claim maintenance from a partner who is not their biological parent. This will seriously disadvantage children living in these situations, and we strongly urge the Government to address these gaps as the legislation is progressed.

I’m looking forward to the opinion pieces in the Irish Times from Marriage Equality, LGBT Noise, OPEN, LINC, One Family and indeed and other individual or ‘expert’ on the matter. None of them represent anyone any more than Glen do and actually may represent women a whole better!) so they’ll surely get equal space to debate the matters. ( By the way you can leave comments on the Opinion piece. )

Can anyone tell me if the Government (and I include the Greens) have proposed in any recent statement what is actually going to happen to children’s rights and policy on same sex family matters if it’s not going to be in the Civil Partnership Bill? Are we just going to watch people wring the hands in fake agony until the debates are done and dusted?

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‘Green Party Leader John Gormley, Gay and Lesbian Equality Network (GLEN) Chairperson Kieran Rose, Deputy Chair of the Green Party’s National Council Roderic O’Gorman, and Green Party Justice and equality spokesperson Ciarán Cuffe discuss the Government’s new Civil Partnership Bill.’

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Firstly for those people who’ve waited for the moment the state actually recognises their relationship and offers a chance to get their affairs in order I’m sure yesterday was a very good day and by the end of the year or early next year there will be a lot of people queuing up to get the deed done and celebrate.

It’s a good day for those people who’ve been together for years and want to sort out the pensions, property and next of kin issues.  But for many people this bill does not meet their needs and they need to be heard.

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For those raising children or wanting to have children and legally protext families I have heard nothing from anyone about what will be done to protect these families.  Those children that want to have legal ties to their non biological parents and those parents who want legal recognition of their role and succession rights will have to wait - or maybe they should not even bother waiting. There’s been little from anyone who’s been welcoming the bill talking about the many who will be left behind.

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For those who wanted marriage and marriage only (some would say in a manner to the detriment/ignorance of those who wanted something, anything at all)  no doubt they are disappointed but surely not surprised.

And as I predicted on this blog and elsewhere the lack of focus on the detail of what the government are actually proposing to introduce has allowed some to enter by the back door and get a deal done that was easy for FF to swallow and the Green Party to claim brownie points for.

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Maybe the fact maintenance will have to be paid will put a stop in the whist of some people rushing to the registry office and that’s no bad thing.  Given the number of people who’ve walked away from relationships leaving ex’s penniless it’s good to see the darker side of lives, loves and money covered. Yes lesbians and gay men are try to be as conniving and ruthless as many straight people in dissolving their relationships.

Attachment orders to earnings of partners who are better off to assist in the payment of maintenance may deter some from entering into civil partnerships. The recognition of cohabitants will confer rights on the dissolution of those relationships though.

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One should also note that this legislation may give Mary Hanafin the powers to enter your bedroom. A turn off if ever there was one.

The recognition of civil partnerships under taxation and social welfare codes extends far beyond those relationships that will actually be registered.

This means that same sex un-civilly partnered relationships may well be considered fair game for means testing by the Department of Social and Family Affairs. For years they could not be recognised as there was no marriage or civil partnership options for people to enter into so no penalties could be applied in assessing people for welfare payments.

Can you imagine the training courses the inspectors will get in how to spot that two men or women living together may well be shacked up and therefore considered financially dependent on each other! Many an interesting social welfare interview to come.

You may only be fuck buddies but if Mary and co. gets a whiff of co-habitation there may be no more individual social welfare payments. Instead failed means tests and refusals of rent allowance and assumptions of inferred dependency will be made.   You may thank the lads in GLEN for that one if it does turn out this way. A new form of poverty due to sexual orientation?

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Things will change, change utterly following the adoption of this bill. Oh the term marital status is no more in terms of equality legislation - civil status will be the new phrase not rolling off your lips seemingly.

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Lack of functioning broadband (Chorus NTL are definitely not top of my christmas list) means that I was merely tweeting stuff during the day. You can read the bill here and the memorandum here.

If  you want to catch up on links etc and see who said what and when the women in Gaelick have kept their eyes peeled. I won’t be reinventing the wheel but plan over the next few days to have a closer look at the bill and the implications and pick up over some of the entrails. Other bloggers who are writing on this please leave a link in the comments and I’ll add it in as I can.

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Congratulations to Cllr Ruth Illingworth on her election as Mayor/ Cathaoirleach of Mullingar Town Council.

Ruth is being described as Ireland’s first Out Mayor a tag I think she doesn’t really have much truck with. I do think she’s probably one of the first elected out lesbian councillors in the state. A member of Fine Gael, Cllr Illingworth has spoken out about homophobic bullying and the role of the Catholic Church in education/management of schools.

She was interviewed on Tuesday by Matt Cooper on The Last Word and spoke about lesbian and gay issues and her personal experiences of coming out.

A historian, Cllr Illingworth plans on donating her allowance to charities in the town.

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So there we go - keep an eye to the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reforms’s website tomorrow lunchtime maybe. A Friday dumper if ever I saw it. No press conference planned from Minister Ahern to explain it all.

Meanwhile the Green Party Leader and others are going to visit GLEN tomorrow to have a chat.

More here later…

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It’s a year since the Heads of Bill were published on Civil Partnership. I noted the Sunday Business Post’s story this week saying the publication of the bill is imminent. While the mothership is not parked outside Stephens’s Green awaiting smoke from the Ministers office I’ll be keeping an eye out.

I was wondering if Dermot Ahern would get all sentimental and publish it during Pride Week. He probably does not really fear a few thousand irate queers dancing on his image in rage. The Green Party however might be a bit more worried.

Watch this space!

(PS. Chorus NTL have seemingly given me weak/no broadband in their installation during the recent move. Bet some people are more than happy about that!)

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Dermod Moore’s short film ‘My First Kiss’ is now up on Youtube

It cheered me up no end - Great stuff! Click through and rate it if you like it too. I assume a documentary maker has been born!

There are other shorts as part of the DublinPride Film Shorts viewable here - I’ll get through them in the next few days and let you know if any stir me.)

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Today’s Questions to An Taoiseach specifically about his Department of the Taoiseach raised the issue of PR companies and the way Government tenders are awarded. The word Twitter was heard in the Dáil and Ciaran Cuffe was not involved. It was time for me to get out my shovel.

Deputy Enda Kenny: The Government information service provides information about Government decisions. Every Minister who makes an announcement makes a Government announcement specific to a Department. What is the relationship between the Government information service and public relations firms contracted to Departments when the end result is much the same?

I would like to bring two cases to the Taoiseach’s attention. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform launched a PR awareness campaign on knife crime in February, and he allocated €200,000 even though it never got off the ground. There has been a 72% increase in knife crime and the use of offensive weapons in five years that have led to proceedings. Three out of ten offenders are aged under 20. The aim of the campaign was to access social networking websites and promote the campaign in tandem with a national campaign in schools. The on-line campaign was a total flop. Only 17 followers made contact on Twitter and there were 39 friends on Facebook. There are 170,000 people between the age of 18 and 20 in Ireland, so this campaign has failed completely to resonate with the group for which it was intended. A PR firm was contracted to promote the campaign, but it stated that it only held six out of 12 planned workshops. That is 12 workshops across 733 secondary schools, which speaks for itself. In 2001, the “Cool Choices” alcohol awareness programme cost €50,000 and was off-line within five months.

Is there a system of monitoring public relations contracts on awareness campaigns approved by the Government? Does any group look at the advertising consultancies involved? What does the Taoiseach think of the Quigley report, produced in 2005? It recommended that the Department of Finance should consider providing advice on the monitoring and the recording of work done under those contracts and in respect of the quality of the work they carry out.

The Taoiseach: If there are any particular public awareness campaigns related to a Department, they should be referred directly to that Department. I do not have any information on those campaigns. As I said already, there is no group that oversees PR contracts. These are matters for individual Ministers and Departments. Arising from the Quigley report, a need was identified to bring forward guidelines. These guidelines were provided and the Secretaries General of all Departments are aware of them, and must utilise them where they are relevant. There is no group looking after that.

The Government information service has no role whatever in the procurement of PR contracts for Ministers and Departments. It is a matter for Departments to work with public procurement rules themselves.

The campaign referred to by Enda Kenny is the How Big Do You Feel Campaign?

This is was a knife crime awareness campaign launched in February which was based on the use of social media.

From their Bebo page - (372 profile views and 226 friends including many 2fm Dj’s and the like.)

The ‘How Big Do You Feel’ Campaign aims to highlight the risks and consequences of carrying a knife. Here, we offer you the chance to have your say.

What do you think about carrying a knife? Is it cool? Do you know anyone who has been stabbed or has stabbed someone? How has this affected their life? Don’t be shy, leave a comment, do our quizzes, interact with our blogs.

Let’s prove to everyone that carrying is knife is just stupid!

So for 39 fans on Facebook and 15 followers on Twitter(to correct Enda they were following 17 others but only had 15 following them back) and a few hundred ‘friends’ on Bebo and a load of workshops that didn’t happen the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform allocated €200,000. (The Gardai said last month that online component of the campaign cost €4,500 )

I knew I had not heard about this before or seen anything on Twitter or Facebook (750k Irish users, over two thirds of who are over 25). While I may not be a young male in the habit of carrying a knife or tempted to, if the Gardai were using social media in such a way I’m sure I and lots of others online would have heard about it. But nobody seems to have told anyone. And yes this might be where FAIL is more than appropriate.

And the PR Company? According to the IE Domain Registry - Carr Communications. (Managing Director of Carr Communications, Tony Hughes wrote recently that ‘Social networking websites provide the opportunity to network on steroids’. As someone who knows a little bit about social media and an awful lot more about steroids I’d be questioning the dosage used!)

So Department of Justice Equality and Law Reform/Garda Siochana, next time you want to run a social media campaign that gets noticed you might talk to a few of the many people in Ireland inside and outside PR that actually know something about it? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - it’s all very well to sell people the buzzwords and set up the sites but you actually need to know what to do with the tools and it might actually work! Money for old rope and a huge disservice to the very positive work with young people online that many are engaging in also comes to mind.

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