Maman Poulet

Tonight in Trinity College Dublin a meeting of the Oireachtas Committee on the Constitution will take place to discuss electoral reform. It’s believed to be the first time that the committee will have met outside the Oireachtas to debate. Discussions at the meeting will include presentations by members of the public on electoral reform. (Yes I know the meeting is only down the road, but you never know what this may have started! The decentralisation of the Dáil and Seanad cannot be too far away!)

Tonights meeting will then be followed by a panel discussion chaired by John Bowman with participants including Noel Dempsey, Minister for Transport, Professor Ken Benoit, head of the Department of Political Science, Senator Ivana Bacik, Trinity Fellow, Sean Ardagh, Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee, Jim O’Keeffe, Vice Chair of the Joint Oireachtas Committee and The Hon. Mr. Justice Frank Clarke.

The event is hosted by TCD JS Irish Politics (3rd year) class and TCD Department of Political Science.

There will be a liveblog and webcast, more information can be found on TheStory.ie.  I’ll be liveblogging at some stage hopefully if the wifi goddesses oblige! So please join in and we’ll try and get some points across from the viewing public!

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The Civil Partnership Bill Second Stage Debate will resume this Wednesday 27th January some time between 11.30 and 1.30pm. There are two other bills for debate during this time before contributions can be made. Who’s left to speak? Personally I’m still waiting for Lucinda.

You can watch it here and of course join in the liveblog here.

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Is there a shortage of empty houses in Donegal South West? Senator Brian Ó’Domhnaill writes on the Fianna Fáil blog (yes I know I read it!) about debates happening the Dáil and Seanad this week on the Planning and Development Amendment Bill 2009.

Senator Ó’Domhnaill says the bill will make it easier for people to build houses where they have persmission to buildon a site but have not yet started building.  The legislation will permit an extension in planning permission.

I did wonder about the 300,000 empty homes that there are in Ireland at the moment and if the Senator and his colleagues should not be coming up with some ideas of filling them. And then I realised that Senator Ó’Domhnaill is a senator in Donegal South West. The constituency that for the last 8 months has not had it’s full quota of TD’s since the vacancy created by Pat ‘The Cope’ Gallagher’s election to the European Parliament.  And Senator Ó’Domhnaill may just be in the running for selection to contest the by-election if the government ever get round to moving the writ.

There just maybe votes in sites with planning permission and owners with no money to build.

I know a lot of young people and families in Donegal who were ready and willing to get their foot on the property ladder. They achieved their planning permission they were eager to get going.

But the downturn has seen a lot of people lose their jobs and obviously this hinders their ability to start the building process.

I think that’s called  turning a negative into a positive into a…

I didn’t recognise the Senator from his picture – something tells me I won’t forget his face too easily in the months to come.

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In case the Dáil gets around to debating the Second Stage of the Civil Partnership Bill today (the schedule has changed to allow for statements on Haiti) some information on how to watch and where.

I’ve set up a live blog for the debate and you can watch/listen to the feed and participate in the commentary. (I’ll be at a meeting and will miss the whole thing myself if it happens.)

If you just want to watch the debate without the wit, banter and outrage of the viewing masses then you can watch it here.

If you are at the debate itself or watching it and want to tweet -  the tag is #cpbill and we’ll incorporate the tweets into the blog.  Blog posts, video, photos etc. are also very welcome.

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Update: The Debate may not take place tomorrow due to an emergency round of statements from party spokespersons on Haiti. The Adoption Bill debate may have a large number of speakers and so time for the Civil Partnership Bill Debate may be restricted.

The Second Stage of the Civil Partnership Bill will resume on Thursday next.  It will take place probably around lunchtime and will follow the second stage debate of the Adoption Bill. The Debate is scheduled to conclude at 3.30pm.

If you want to attend the debate in person you should contact your TD (email set up for TD’s is firstname.lastname@oireachtas.ie) I’m working on Thursday but there will be a live blog of the debate with the links to the live feed of the debate. I’ll announce the details later this week.

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We’ve not seen blogging from politicians like this since oh… last May.  Some out there may be planning a funeral for blogs but before you set out for the obsequies come with me on a journey around Ireland to see what snowballs wait to greet you!

I previously referred to Thomas Byrne TD (FF) and his search for grit.  Minister of State Aine Brady has not been seen much since she took on the brief of minister for older people and indeed I was looking for her recently along with Noel ‘Flight from holiers cancelled due to the snow’ Dempsey and John Gormley (Now known thanks to Tommy Broughan as government mudguard instead of Minister for Snow and Ice)

Junior Minister Brady is blogging on the Fianna Fáil website if you are looking for her, she praises Council staff in Kildare and other councils for their work. She also asks older people to take care and others to ‘make a special effort to keep an eye on their older neighbours and relatives, particularly those living alone.’

Is it not snowing in Tallaght, Charlie O’Connor? Surely he’ll be along soon to tell us?

Thomas Byrne by the way has got a postbox in Julianstown recently to replace the recently closed  post office, two of his constituents have been in touch with me, one of them can’t walk to the postbox though due to the lack of gritting.

Senator Paschal Donohue (FG) was wondering where the cabinet went to after their christmas kite flying flurry.

I’ve still not found Enda Kenny but Deirdre Clune TD (FG), who is taking to the blog lark with vigour, is writing spurred on by her colleague Shane McEntee who is the FG spokesperson on Transport.   She has a 3 point plan for ice-bound Ireland. Deirdre is no doubt inspired in her blogging by her FG colleague Cllr. Laura McGonigle who during last month’s flooding provided a near unique public service through her blog with water notices and other information. This time Laura has been blogging and tweeting about weather warnings and roads and water issues in her role as a Cork City Councillor.

Wexford Cllr Joe Ryan (Labour) is a frequent blogger and even has a Liveline appearance this week under his wing talking about the snow. He’s been talking to council officials and explaining to constituents about the problems with gritting and who’s responsible for what (in his view anyway!)

To be fair to the officials (I hope I’m not accused of having been domesticated by officials), they cannot spread grit that they are not responsible for ordering. Rock salt supplies are ordered by the NRA and the provision is put out to tender because of the value. Moreover the council has let go workers because of the reductions in allocations by central government. The point I’ve made to people who’ve raised it with me is that I cannot spend what I’m not given to pay someone who isn’t there to spread what isn’t bought!

FG Dublin City Councillor Eoghan Murphy (remember him!) doesn’t have a blog, well it looks like he’s updating his website with relevant information for constituents anyhow.

Ciaran Cuffe TD. (Green) is blogging about the Killiney Alps, urging us to be careful out there and giving links to safe driving and local council contacts. Ciaran had a fall earlier in the week, not on the snow but in Next in Blackrock Shopping Centre. Hope the ribs recover soon!

By the way in non snow related blogging Liz McManus TD (Labour) and Ciaran Cuffe are continuing a radio interview they were participating in by blogging about each other on the issue of postcodes. They don’t see eye to eye!

Finally to candidates everywhere – if you are still looking for a use for those election posters, James Lawless who contested the local elections in Kildare for Fianna Fáil has a great suggestion

Planning to recycle some election posters into snow toboggans tomorrow – predrilled rope holes and proven tough exterior!

Maybe James got the idea from those who used the posters of fellow candidate and Former Dublin City Councillor David Gaynor for a bit of fun in the Phoenix Park this week.

Happy Sliding! And of course if anyone has any other musings, videos, photos etc. regarding politicians, politics and snow/ice related issues let me know!

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Far too many Review of the Year and Top 10 for 2010 posts about at the moment for me to add to. Instead  a few reminders from 2009 and a spotlight on those who you may not hear about and possibly can do without hearing about too.

Earlier this year you remember my delight at the youngest FG candidate (at that time) issuing a press release saying he was going to knock on doors looking for votes like it was something unusual. He also said he was running for county council as well as town council well before the selection convention agreed to it being so. Simon ran a very active campaign with some unusual features

(We still have yet to discover which child sweated through the early Irish summer for the cause!)

I even had the opportunity to meet Simon when he took the opportunity to visit the blogger room at the FG Ard Fheis before the election.

Four quota’s for a town council seat and a county council seat later (highest polling candidate in the country no less!), Cllr Harris has hit the ground running having clinics everywhere and press releasing like he’s wanting to outdo Val Falvey.

Well Simon wants to be where Val is – Dáil Eireann. And this week he’s issued another stunning press release announcing his latest plan.

Highest polling County Councillor in the country and youngest member of Wicklow County Council announces his intention to run for the Dail in Wicklow at the next General Election.

This time Simon anticipates internal party democracy and notes there will be a selection convention, Enda has said there’s going to be three places on the FG ticket in the garden county and Simon wants one of them!

So in reassuring us of his intention of doing his civic duty and saving the country,  Simon says that he’s doing the decent thing – going after the Minister’s seat.

“Through my involvement in community groups, residents’ associations, charities and indeed the local authority I see the real potential that this county of ours has but I also see that potential being hampered by Government inaction and Government failure. It is not healthy for a country to have one party constantly in Government – democracy and society need a change and I want to play my part in offering people a chance to vote for that change.

“I will seek the Fine Gael nomination with one aim and one aim only – to win an additional seat for the Fine Gael Party at the expense of the sitting Fianna Fail TD, Dick Roche. I believe it is time for fresh thinking, new energy and enthusiasm in politics. This is what people across County Wicklow tell me they are looking for.

I suppose Simon couldn’t say he was after anyone else’s seat but am sure the sitting FG TD’s are looking a bit cautiously over their xmas selection boxes wondering what he’s up to! No doubt super Simon will be entertaining us all with his tireless work on behalf of his constituents in 2010!

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John Burn’s writes in today’s Sunday Times about blogging in Ireland and asking where have all the blogs gone like there is some sort of crisis afoot, that it really matters in the state of things, or more like he wants us to think that newspapers were always right about the ‘amateurs’ and indeed are making a comeback.  He also has a chance to slag off colleagues in the mainstream who blog including Michael O’Toole for not writing frequently like it’s a crime itself!

Many in the media refuse to accept that there are people who enjoy writing and thinking about issues and don’t want to get paid for it. There are many others who like to read these opinions and statistics from Google show that people search for information on everything from news to sport to receipes to reaching out to other parents of children with disabilities. Bloggers don’t need to write everyday because they don’t want to! Yes we don’t have an editor standing over their back making us do so.  It does not matter how many there are or who is reading them. Or that bloggers give up, start again or decide to do something different instead.  How this makes us any less valid or indeed worthy of the continual jibes and comment from the mainstream media won’t be keeping me awake.

The fact is that blogs still exist and things change as technology and people’s interactions change.   Many express opinions and exchange information on Facebook – indeed I often get more comments on blog posts I write on facebook than on the blog itself. My posts are shared on facebook amongst many others who would never visit the blog.  I don’t know what Burns’ problem with niches is either.

Be it on blogs, facebook, twitter or elsewhere people are talking to each other and they don’t need to hang on to every word typed by a journalist or a columnist who is paid.  They thought Guthenberg was mad – some would like to see all bloggers and online researchers and commentators as eejits, that’s fine by me.

Damien Mulley publishes the email correspondence between himself and John Burns on what seemingly started out as a piece on political blogging in Ireland. It’s a shame he didn’t stick to writing about political blogging and the reasons that it is not as developed as in the USA or elsewhere. The party political system, difficulty in accessing information through FOI’s and control freakery of political parties about what their candidates do online, or the positive experiences parties and candidates have had in interacting with readers would all have been interesting discussions to have.

Burns refers to a ‘tipping point’ in 2008 on my blog re Sarah Palin and how we have not had one since. I’d love to know what his tipping point meter consists of.  In the next week or so I will be reviewing my year online and I think we’ll see different.

Did you read the last sentence?

An important absence in Ireland are leading players from business, the arts, education, politics and property who write honestly and revealingly, giving an insight into their sectors. Instead, the blogosphere has been left free for “amateur” commentators and journalists. While some are entertaining, not one continually demands our attention. No Irish blog is important enough to read every day. Until that changes, you’ll be getting your news and comment on paper.

It made me laugh a lot given I had read the story online and rarely get my news on paper. I know I am not alone. I now less frequently get all my ‘news’ from old school newspapers online either.

Ireland as a nation is still too small to be able to resource internet only professional media. However a joint venture between those paid and unpaid may be possible – the so called and often belittled ‘citizen journalists’ without whom people in the Sunday Times and other places would spend a lot of time not finding things out or being able to write articles about.

Last week the Huffington Post held it’s staff holiday party – the crowd was over twice the size that was at last years party, and easily three times the size present in 2007. Love the jumpers by the way!  I wonder what Murdoch bought his staff for Christmas.

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A free half day session for on Online/Social Media for campaigning groups and NGO’s (especially those running campaigns to empower communities) will be held on December 8th.  Hosted by the European Commission and organised by Damien Mulley the session will look at case studies using Web, Twitter and Facebook and will have inputs from NGO’s already using social media.

Places are limited to two per organisation and are not guaranteed.  And it’s free.

Find out more here and sign up and hopefully see you there!

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One of the most active posts on my blog is the one about the Victoria Jackson make up sales people. A lot of people who worked for the company or who interviewed with them and other companies like them have left comments. (It seems these companies do marketing (AKA Sales) for a lot of other companies/products and given the amount of searches I get there is a lot of interest in finding out more about them!)

Protea didn’t like this and sent me an email saying they wanted the references removed . So I’ve removed  mentions of their name in the post but I’m letting you know that I’ve done this because it’s only fair    The other companies I’ve complained about over the years on this blog don’t usually bother getting this antsy about consumers, customers, employees talking about them.  Of course if Protea would like the right to reply and would like to comment on the blog they are more than welcome to do so.

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