I’ve been nominated for Best Politics Blog and Best News/Current Affairs Blog and Best Personal Blog in this years Irish Blog Awards. Along with 135 others I’ve also been nominated for Best Blog. That’s a few too many nominations for a smooth judging process. (Poor Damien, he’ll need more that a few gins to get through this.)

Judging now begins and unlike last year there is no voting by the masses but a two stage judging process.

Best of luck to the others nominated in the quest for the short list and goddess help the judges

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Dear Irish based Cyclist.

That yoke I am sitting in is a mobility scooter for people with disabilities/walking difficulties. You are supposed to be on the road or on the cycle path – I am on the footpath.

When I cross the road and the man is green and beeps go or indeed am on a pedestrianised road (Henry Street in particular) you are not supposed to be cycling.

Do not be surprised when this disabled woman unleashes the wrath of Jehovah upon you as you try to pull a fast one and evade traffic lights to mount footpath as I am trying to cross the road.

The yoke I’m in is rather big and awkward, It can’t bend around you. I will go for you in it the next time. I don’t care what damage I do to either of us.

GOOMFWYE** You have been warned.

(Next week it will be Dear Irish based Pedestrian…)

Maman Poulet.

* OK so I don’t hate all cyclists…don’t start on me for generalising
** New acronmyn for submision to Oxford English Dictionary. Get Out Of My Fucking Way You Eejit

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I rang the HSE press office this afternoon to get the full scéal so to speak. I spelt out my blog name to the nice man on the phone and he said he’d be back to me.

And true to form (ok ok not true to form at all…) Surprise surprise… They rang me back and even emailed a response.

The HSE is committed to establishing the full facts of what information was available to the health services in relation to Dr McElwee. The HSE expects to receive the report from Mr Conall Devine, the inquiry’s independent chair in the coming days.

Upon receipt of the report, the HSE will consider its findings and consult with its legal representatives with a few to its publication.

So no surprise there then really but then again as I’ll outline later this should not really have been the HSE’s issue in the first place. This should have been in the remit of the HEA and the Department of Education.

I’ll post tomorrow on my predictions for the report based on my background knowledge so far (far too much really) and the information given by Ciaran Mullooly in his report on RTE today.

Update – all posts on this topic on this blog can be found here.

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More leaks than a colander has become the discovery of the long list for the Irish Blog Awards 2008.

What do I find but the long list for the Best Specialist Blog. The full list and how you get judged etc. will be available tomorrow on Awards.ie

Best Specialist Blog

In order of nomination date:

1 Beaut.ie
2 Planning Dispatch by Garry Miley
3 The Waiting Game
4 Greetings Earthlings
5 Rate This Toilet
6 Style Treaty
7 World Debating
8 Public Inquiry
9 Piaras Kelly PR
10 Eoin Purcell’s Blog
11 Grumpy Frenchman
12 Irish Taxi
13 Irish Sally Gardens
14 Clerical Whispers
15 Irish Family History
16 McGarr Solicitors
17 Team Gearedup
18 Blurred Lines
19 Album archive
20 Crime Always Pays
21 Green Ink
22 The Blacknight Blog
23 Rambling Man
24 The Wedding Planner
25 Annie Get Your Gun
26 Red Cardinal
27 Ask Direct
28 Oliver Moore
29 Wood Pellet Ireland
30 First Stop Health
31 Cearta
32 Keep Bishopscourt Green
33 kind I like
34 Paddy Anglican
35 Lexferenda
36 Yaboya
37 Price watch
38 The Family Voyage
39 Bad Librarianship
40 SCC English
41 Basketball in DKIT
42 Design Undercover

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Maman Poulet pat’s her crystal ball and strokes her cat. RTE’s BB provider have been pointed this direction for over a week as it is, and it was busy this morning.

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When is a long-awaited report done being long-awaited?

Jan O’Sullivan T.D. asks about the whereabouts of the overdue reports from the HSE into recent Cancer Scandals.

In particular she mentions

The report of the Ann O’Doherty review of into cases of suspected breast cancer mis-diagnosis in Portlaoise.
Due to be published in November 2007 – delayed

The report by John Fitzgerald into the circumstances surrounding the misdiagnosis of breast cancer in Portlaoise.
Still not complete

The report by HIQA into the circumstances surrounding the mis-diagnosis in the case of Rebecca O’Malley.
Due to be published in December 2007 – delayed

The report by HIQA of a review of pathology services at University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) in the wake of another breast cancer misdiagnosis case where a woman was twice wrongly given a breast cancer all-clear
Still not complete

The internal report by Cork University Hospital into the appointment of pathologist Antoine Geagea, despite the fact that his work was subject to two reviews in Finland
Never published

There’s nothing new in this delayed report thing at all.

If you commission a report in 1999 and it finally gets published in 2007? Is this a record in long-awaited reports? Actually the history of that report’s contents is firmly swept under the carpet by the delay and also the subject matter – we seem to be averse to talking about abuse these days, there’s a whole tone of get over it and don’t get angry and don’t do anything anymore except appoint consultants and ‘await the report’. And it helps if you release the report in December.

Which brings me to another HSE commissioned report to be completed by Conall Devine into what the HSE knew about Dr. Niall McElwee’s conviction of offences in Amsterdam. That report was due by the end of November. Some were told it was imminent, then people were told it was not imminent. The Department of Health who said they wanted the report aren’t really that interested in when it will be published. Maybe the HSE don’t want us to know what they – the HSE – did with the information.

A few months late is nothing in comparison to over 7 years and I do believe that the women in PortLaoise and Cork and other areas who were misdiagnosed deserve their report more that those interested in the McElwee case. But I wonder what’s in the Devine Report that the HSE are trying to bury? The numerous daily searches from all over Ireland and beyond for information on Niall McElwee make me wonder that I am not alone either. Or maybe he’s got a new job somewhere consulting for someone himself.

Update – all posts on this topic on this blog can be found here.

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Shane Hegarty writing about blogging and nastyness and commenters in particular wonders about heterosexual male privilege. In particular he wonders if women bloggers

do attract particular nastiness;

and with reference to the practice of commenting generally

how much the anonymity allowed by comments threads gives people licence to be homophobic, racist or sexist; and whether it’s rare – or depressingly common.

While I think about my reply why don’t you go over and comment yourself. (Nicely of course!)

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Well as it gets a bit hot over there on the campaign trail (and rather dirty) Hilary is answering questions from the young people in an attempt to woo them as they all desert her for Obama. They’ve twittered the questions in and emailed them seemingly.

It’s refreshing to see a candidate talk about something other than the usual ‘avoid the marriage but talk about equality’ question. If only Irish politicians were as well versed on the many other matters that affect lesbians and gay men. Perhaps if we had organisations and individuals that spent more time telling them…

Anyway the relevant question is about 3:22 into the video.

(Please also note that this is the first Youtube posting on Maman Poulet! Ye have been warned!)

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Update: You know the way newspapers give away free CD’s? Well this post is especially for readers of the Sunday Tribune today – you are all welcome to the show. Thanks to Una.

Track 1 of Michael Lynn’s Greatest hits (my title for the CD which I’ve had in my CD player now for nearly a week) is a traditional Irish lyric written by Thom Moore. ‘My Cavan Girl’ was recorded during the mid 90’s by Lynn when he took time off from his solicitors practice and business interests to demonstrate his other talents (self funded in a recording studio and published and distributed to his friends and colleagues). Please note I don’t believe Lynn is anywhere near Cavan at the moment!

Today’s Sunday Business Post believes that Gardai have reported that Lynn has been in 6 countries since he went missing and that charges are currently being prepared in great detail against him for fraud. (allegations for fraud of a ’systematic, premeditated, and calculated’ nature, not that this phrase is a surprise to Maman Poulet given the other information I’ve had for some months now.)

So for this Sunday’s listening I thought I’d print the lyrics so you can sing along as you listen (I know, I Know, no thanks needed!!)

My Cavan Girl

As I walk the road from Killashandra weary I sit down
For it’s twelve long miles around the lake to get to Cavan Town
Lough Oughter and the road I go once seemed beyond compare
Now I curse the time it takes to reach my Cavan girl so fair

The autumn shades are on the leaves, the trees will soon be bare
Each red gold leaf around me seems the colour of her hair
My gaze retreats to find my feet and once again I sigh
For the broken pools of sky reminds the color of her eyes

At the Cavan Cross each Sunday morning there she can be found
And she seems to have the eye of every boy in Cavan Town
If my luck will hold I’ll have the golden summer of her smile
And to break the hearts of Cavan men she’ll talk with me a while

So next Sunday evening finds me homeward Killashandra bound
To work the week till I return to court in Cavan Town
When asked if she would be my bride at least she’d not said no
So next Sunday morning rouse myself and back to her I’ll go.

If you are new to Michael’s music you might also wish to listen here, here and here.

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I’m sick and tired of men. I’ve had enough of their whining and this does not apply to John Waters. (But I bet he gets in on the act too!)

Why when responding to the announcement of a campaign to encourage people (of all genders) to campaign for women’s health care and in particular access to better breast care services do some of the lads pop up with the oh so funny
‘So….. www.twoballsandavote.com, anyone? or how about www.oneballandtheremovalofvotingrights.com ?’

Maybe because nobody has yet got off his hairy arse to do it. (I don’t have much experience of men’s arses to know if they are hairy or not…forgive me…)

Or perhaps if it were prostrate cancer screenings that were being misread, delayed, mismanaged and ignored then we would see more immediate action. Or infact those screenings aren’t mismanaged and indeed most of men’s health issues are managed well because those at the highest levels of medical management in this country are wait for it …. men. (I do try not to believe that last point – but it’s very difficult to be dissuaded when you experience the health service on a regular basis!) By the way the blood test for prostrate cancer has been available for years…the one for some forms of breast cancer is only now being developed.

Someone else posted a comment elsewhere about men’s fatality from cancer being higher – if this is true then yes we should all be doing something about it – like making sure men go to the doctor and do something proactive about their health. Women trying to be proactive about their health are getting fucked over in this country – that’s a scandal. (Other scandals involving women’s health in recent memory, Hepatitis C, Neary in Drogheda.)

But actually lads you don’t seem to see the fact that by campaigning for better cancer services for women that everybody would benefit by making sure that the roll out of the National Cancer Strategy was properly done.

And of course not all men are like the fine specimens I mention above – Squid gets it, as does Conor, Cian, Damien, Rick, etc.

Get your mouses clicking, sign the petition, send emails to your friends, facebook it, tell your mothers, fathers, brothers, best friends. Tell the Government and the HSE to stop stuffing it up for everybody.

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