Submissions from the public are now being sought by the Advisory Group before February 22. Full information is available here .

To examine and report on the policy objectives underpinning the Budget 2012 proposals regarding:
i. Changes in the eligibility criteria and rates of payment for Disability Allowance (DA);
ii. The increase in the age threshold for payment of Domiciliary Care Allowance (DCA);

The findings of this group will be used to back up future changes proposed by the Minister. Therefore it is important that people with disabilities, their families and those working to support them illustrate both the difficulties in obtaining support and the rationale (and reality) for it being awarded. Income support issues regarding disability cannot be viewed in isolation from other policy areas and the lack of implementation of the Disability Act and restricted sectoral plans in Education and Employment and Health Departments might also be important to reflect on and the extra costs of disability included as a reminder.

Have you ever read a newspaper article and felt a bit stupid because you couldn’t understand it? A number of people pointed me in the direction of this article yesterday and it took me a good three attempts to get the gist of what Tony Humphreys has to say about autism, or “autism” as I’m sure he likes to call it. After my third attempt, I decided I couldn’t understand the article not because I’m thick, but because it’s the biggest pile of steaming excrement I’ve ever read on the subject.

The gist, as I understood it, is that there’s this clinical psychologist with a book to sell who has decided to call into question the very existence of autism and that for those who are diagnosed with autism, the mammies are to blame for a) not resolving their own ‘emotional turmoil’, b) rearing boys differently to girls and c) living “predominantly in their heads and possess few or no heart qualities”.

So, Tony, my mother clearly showered me with love and affection, nurturing me more than my twin brother and , obviously reared him differently because he’s a boy, therefore he’s autistic and I’m not. Easy.

Ma, your unresolved emotional turmoil is responsible for my twin’s autism. Scarlet for ya. The only emotional turmoil my mother suffers is muttonheads implying that it’s all her fault because she didn’t hug him enough as a child. The fact is, my twin is more loving and openly affectionate than anyone else in my family – he’d make a show of you in Tesco shaking hands with the men and hugging the women on the tills! Is that because he doesn’t get enough love at home? Come on now, Tony, get real.

Ma, you know the way you reared me and my twin totally differently, just for the craic like? Well guess what, it made me twin autistic. You were obviously bored, having reared your first three children in the usual way and decided to have a little experiment when your twins came along. I don’t blame you Ma, it was the days of only two channels and sure you had to make your own fun.

Missus, your child is autistic because you lack heart qualities. What does ‘heart qualities’ even mean? Compassion, patience, love? I don’t know about you Tony, but I’d say watching the same episode of Postman Pat 20 times a day because it makes your autistic child happy demonstrates quite a lot of ‘heart quality’. But then, I’m not a clinical psychologist.

Parents and teachers force children to go through the process of being assessed and diagnosed with autism because it’s easier than facing their own inner turmoil. Seriously? This nonsense got past an editor at the Irish Examiner? Have you ever tried having a child assessed when you don’t have the means to pay for private psychologists? Camping outside the headquarters of the then Eastern Health Board to shame the state into providing decent services for your child? Sure that’s a great distraction altogether from all that inner turmoil. I’d highly recommend it.

Shame on you, for taking a cheap shot at the dedicated, hard-working, loving and often exhausted parents of children with autism. Shame on you for upsetting mothers for the sake of some publicity for your book. Shame on the Irish Examiner for publishing this contemptible, self-serving diatribe.

As of December 31^st 2005, there were 557, persons having the Vatican citizenship, of which 58 Cardinals, 293 of the Clergy having status as members of the Pontifical Representations, 62 other members of the Clergy, 101 members of the Pontifical Swiss Guard and 43 other lay persons.

The persons authorized to reside in the Vatican City maintaining their original citizenship were 246, of the aforementioned numbers.

The persons residing in buildings outside of the Vatican City in buildings exempt from expropriation and taxation were 3,100 on the above mentioned date.

From The Vatican website (yup the least attractive website I’ve seen in a while)

The US Government estimate the population in 2011 to be 829.

The Italian Embassy in Rome, a few feet away, will be well able to conduct the diplomatic affairs of the Irish government with the Vatican state.  Times of austerity or not.

Fine Gael backbenchers (and a few ministers) think otherwise.

So far seven Irish MEP’s have signed the 10 point pledge on LGBT rights issues.

So Liam Aylward, Mairead McGuinness, Gay Mitchell (remember him?), Pat (The Cope) Gallagher, Brian Crowley, whenever you are ready?

The self flagellation approved no doubt by whomever wrote yesterdays editorial in the Irish Times.

Fianna Fáil’s ard fheis in the RDS on March 2/3 will be a dry house. Word is reaching the grass roots (and me) that the party have decided not to have a bar available and no alcohol will be allowed in the venue for the duration.

The measure is reported to save thousands of Euro in service and insurance costs and is aimed at ‘removing drunken stereotype of such events’.

So the chances of this (and shouts of ‘Up ya boyah’ at Micheal Martin) have been reduced significantly.

Unless of course the party faithful top up at Paddy Cullens before the leaders speech?

Wanted: emergency budget

Sir, – It is now clear that austerity policies are not working. The domestic economy will remain recession this year. The Government has accepted that employment, consumer spending and investment will fall again. We are experiencing a worrying rise in income inequality, with nearly one-in-four in the country suffering from deprivation. Women and children are particularly adversely affected. We are entering into a lengthy period of low-growth, high debt and high unemployment, while creating a society with deep social injustices, not least for young people who have no sustainable jobs and no future in Ireland.

We need a Plan B. We urge the Government to adopt emergency policy measures that can create jobs, generate sustainable growth, raise incomes and reduce poverty. This is the only sustainable route to economic recovery and fiscal stability.

Such a Plan B must include a substantial investment programme directed at infrastructure, education and labour skills. From Next Generation Broadband to pre-primary education, to a modern water and waste system, we must create new wealth-generating assets that will grow jobs, income and the economy in a sustainable and environmentally just way. This can be funded from part of the €15 billion or more the Government currently holds in cash and assets.

We need to redistribute income from high incomes and large wealth-holdings to low- and average income-earners, whether they are in work or reliant upon social protection, or both. This will lift demand in the economy, boost enterprises and create new jobs.

This should be done through new taxation measures on capital, property and high incomes.

We need to end overall spending cuts in public services, social protection and community projects; these are depressing employment in the private sector due to declining demand for goods and services, while undermining public sector reform and efficient management. It is socially demoralising and politically damaging.

We need to face up to the burden private banking debt is placing on the economy. In particular, repaying the debts of Anglo-Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide is economically irrational and socially obscene. The total cost of bailing out these dead banks could exceed €70 billion over the next 20 years. The Government must take immediate action to renegotiate this debt with a view to redirecting these payments into investment, public services and living standards.

Repeating past failures is no longer an option. We, the under-signed, call on the Government to launch an emergency budget that will instigate a Plan B for jobs, growth and a socially just and sustainable Ireland. – Yours, etc,

AILBHE SMYTH, Feminist Open Forum; ALISON SPILLANE, Irish Feminist Network; ANASTASIA CRICKLEY, Department of Applied Social Studies, NUI Maynooth; Dr ANDY STORY, School of Politics International Relations, UCD; Dr AUSTIN CARROLL, General Practitioner; ANNA QUIGLEY, Director, Dublin Aids Alliance; Sr BERNADETTE Mac MAHON, DC, Vincentian Partnership for Justice; BREDA GRAY, Department of Sociology, University of Limerick; BRIAN DONOVAN, Business owner and Director, Eneclann Ltd; BRID O’BRIEN, Head of Policy, Irish National Organisation of the Unemployed; BRID MAGUIRE, Psychotherapist; Fr BOBBY GILMORE, Columban Missionary Society; Dr COLM O’DOHERTY, Dept of Humanities and Social Science,Tralee IT; CHARLES STANLEY SMITH, Former Chair An Taisce; Dr CHRIS MCINERNEY, Dept of Politics and Public Administration, UL; CHARLES GILLANDERS, IT Director; Dr CONOR MCCABE, Historian and Author; DEREK SPEIRS, photographer; DONAGH BRENNAN, Editor, Irish Left Review; FIONA FITZSIMONS, Historian and Director of Eneclann Ltd; FRANCES BYRNE, CEO, OPEN; Dr GAVAN TITLEY, Dept of Media Studies, NUI Maynooth; Dr HARRY BROWNE, School of Media, DIT; HELEN LOWRY, Chairperson, Community Workers Cooperative; Dr HELENA SHEEHAN, Prof Emerita, DCU; JAMES KELLY, Film Producer, Feenish Productions; Dr JOHN BARRY, Centre for Sustainability and Environmental Governance, Queen’s University; JOHN BISSETT, Community Worker, Canal Communities, Dublin; JOHN BAKER, UCD School of Social Justice; JOHN SUTTON, Public Communications Centre; JOE LARRAGHY, Dept of Applied Social Studies, NUI Maynooth; JOHN LONERGAN, former governer, Mountjoy Prison; Dr KATHLEEN LYNCH, Centre for Equality Studies, UCD School of Social Justice; LIAM HERRICK, Director, Irish Penal Reform Trust; LINDA KELLY, Cork Feminista; MALACHY BROWNE, Editor, politico.ie; Dr MARIE MORAN, Equality Studies, UCD School of Social Justice; Dr MARY MURPHY, Dept of Politics, NUI Maynooth; Dr MARY McAULIFFE, Women’s Studies, UCD School of Social Justice; MICHAEL BARRON, Director, BeLonG To Youth Services for LGBT young people; MAUREEN WARD, Chairperson, Irish Traveller Movement; MAJELLA MULKEEN, Dept of Humanities, IT Sligo; Dr NAT O’CONNOR, Director, TASC; NIALL CROWLEY, Equality Consultant; NIAMH McCREA, Dept of Humanities, IT Carlow; NIALL WALSH, Leitrim Sculpture Centre; Dr PEADAR KIRBY, Dept of Politics and Public Administration, UL; PHILIP WATT, former director National Consultative Committee Racism and Interculturalism; RACHEL MULLEN, Co-ordinator, Equality Rights Alliance; ROBIN HANON, Director, European Anti-Poverty Network; RONNIE FAY, Director, Pavee Point; Dr RORY HEARNE, Community Worker, Regeneration Co-ordinator, Dolphin House, Dublin; SIOBHÁN O’DONOGHUE, Director, Migrant Rights Centre Ireland; Dr SHEILA KILLIAN, Kemmy Business School, UL; Dr Stephen James Minton, School of Education, Trinity College Dublin; SUZY BYRNE, Blogger and Disability Activist; Dr TERRENCE McDONAGH, Dept of Economics, NUI Galway; THERESE CAHERTY, Irish Feminist Forum; Dr TOM O’CONNOR, Dept of Social Studies, Cork IT URSULA BARRY, School of Social Justice, UCD. C/o Parnell Square, Dublin 1.

The campaign is calling for the suspension of Anglo/INBS repayments as a first step towards renegotiation and writedown of the debt. The bulk of the re-payments are government issued “promissory notes” – a promise to pay money in future. Debt write downs happen all the time. A pause while we get a write down and stop rolling over and paying debts that are not ‘ours’ would be in line with the policy of both parties in government before the last election. Not that they seem to remember that. It is high time that they were reminded.

More on this fabulous European campaign and the organisations behind it.

My experience in Ireland has been that many lesbians are involved in work in the area of domestic violence but refuse to work on or acknowledge domestic violence in same sex relationships. But no all lesbians want to do is get married. There have been some changes but there is much more discussion, acknowledgement and action needed. Where would Irish based women experiencing domestic abuse from another woman go? (Garda LGBT Liaison officer list as of November 2011 is here - other suggestions in the comments please!)

“Tourism Ireland has always strived to be at the cutting edge of e-marketing and we have worked hard to strengthen our social media presence.”

So says Vera Stedman, Tourism Ireland’s deputy head of Great Britain, when she accepted the award for Best Use of Social Media’ category at the UK travel industry’s Travolution awards in London last month. Tourism Ireland have won a number of awards to date.

To be fair in Ireland we know very little of the online campaigns that Tourism Ireland are using abroad to sell Ireland. Their Facebook page gets huge traffic and they have people ‘listening’ in to conversations on line to butt in (politely no doubt) and sell Ireland.  And they have won loads of awards for the stuff they do online.

It might be worth keeping a closer eye on as tonight I checked my spam folder and found an email via the Guardian mailing lists (I’m on a few and no doubt have let them sell my email to partners). It was titled Out of Office: I’m on holiday in Ireland – I clicked for a look.

Now I’m wondering how much the social media guru charged Tourism Ireland (and us as tax payers) for a stupid pretendy unsigned email to land in my spam box. They should have sent one from Jedward – it would have probably got hordes of people over for a visit.

Fail.

Update

Tourism Ireland have been in touch with a response.

This particular email campaign was devised to inspire people around Britain to imagine themselves on a holiday or short break in Ireland and used peoples’ names to try and put them in that position. Email marketing is such a crowded space and we are always trying out new ideas to achieve some kind of ‘standout’, particularly in GB, where – as you can imagine – it is incredibly competitive. Really sorry this email ended up in your spam filter; occasionally, despite our best efforts, an email can get trapped by spam filters. Overall, this particular campaign has delivered good clickthru rates for us in GB, with a good level of engagement to date (so far, almost 11,000 people have clicked through to enter the competition).