Joe’s Blog

Apologies for the downtime earlier on. It is due to power issues today with hosting365 as you can read here: Power Issues - 15th June - 10:35am

I just recently got to hear the RTÉ Radio 1 Documentary on “Patricia, Mary and Mary-Lou Too” You can download the mp3 of the show here
It brings back all the memories of the canvassing, the awkward moments, the strategy, the public reactions, the leader’s visit (Enda of course, not Adams or Ahern) and the last-minute letters.
It quite clearly shows how Bertie isn’t that loveable, even in his own constituency & with his running mate. I feel sorry for Mary Fitzpatrick and how she was treated.

Secondly, here is an interesting article from the Irish Times on donations and election spending (not sure if registration is required)

A few things have prompted me to write about Independent News and Media (IN&M) now. The election coverage, the confrontation between Eoghan Harris and Fintan O’Toole and Denis O’Brien’s purchase of shares to bring his stake to 8% and today’s headline “Big rise in first buyers after stamp duty ends“.

Firstly - that headline is misleading as it is an expected surge and there is no commitment on it being ended. Everyone agrees on abolishing stamp duty for first time buyers it seems (was 0% up to €317,000 anyway). And from the Green’s economic policy, it appears they want to use Stamp Duty as a tool rather than abolish it completely.

The Green Party is proposing to grant a Stamp Duty exemption to those trading down into smaller properties.

Indeed such an abolition would cost approximately €3.7 billion (2006 figures), the majority of which comes from commercial property transactions, followed by expensive house transactions and non-first-time-buyers. According to the Independent & Fianna Fail costings

House buyers paid around €1bn in stamp duty last year. According to Fianna Fail’s election manifesto, the cost of abolishing stamp duty for first-time buyers will rise from €44m this year to €109m in 2008 and to €200m in 2012

This was of course the campaign by the Independent and perhaps a distraction from the meat of what needs to be fixed* - health, infrastructure and reckless management in areas like water, planning.

The people behind the Independent are of course CEO Tony O’Reilly(26% shareholding approx.), Chief Operating Officer - Gavin O’Reilly. Not only have they had meetings with Brian Cowen but guess who was made chairman: former Fianna Fail TD, Brian Hillery and only after shareholders demanded that O’Reilly not hold both CEO and chairman positions.

The company has a huge influence on public opinion and other Irish media outlets. It consists not only of the Independent and Sunday Independent, but also The Star, The Sunday World, The Evening Herald, The Sunday Tribune (29.9%) and regional papers including The Anglo Celt, Bray People, Carlow People, Corkman, Drogheda Independent, Enniscorthy Guardian, Fingal Independent, Gorey Guardian, Kerryman, Meath Chronicle, Nenagh Guardian, New Ross Standard, Offaly Independent, The Argus, Westmeath Examiner, Westmeath Independent, Wexford People and Wicklow People (all listed on independent.ie)

Indeed Fintan O’Toole argued that papers should be reporting rather than fighting campaigns. When they got what they wanted (or at least an embarrassing u-turn by Fianna Fail and Brian Cowen), they claimed victory and swung in behind the government or at least stopped attacking and made them look acceptable again.

What would Denis O’Brien do? Well he donated money to Fine Gael, Fianna Fail and the PDs so I don’t think he is too partisan. And it is likely that the O’Reilly’s would block any takeover bid so I’m interested to see what he wants to do and if he can do it.

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*When I say “fixed” - I don’t believe throwing money at it is good either. The treatment purchase fund, while it is good for clearing waiting lists - it does not replace the need for well managed and resourced hospitals. It is an expensive, quick-fix.

The posters have been taken down, the spare leaflets are being recycled and a government is being formed. This is why I’ve been quiet recently. We’ve been canvassing and working with and for Kieran O’Donnell.

It has been an eye-opener to see just how much time it takes to meet people. There are around 125,000 people in 55,000 houses and throw apartments into the mix to make it interesting. There are short periods when you’ll catch people in their house because of things like work, bingo, the Champions League, communions etc etc.

I’d like to thank all the people who I got to know over the past 4 weeks and I look forward to seeing everyone again on more canvasses (doesn’t stop cos the election is over) and meetings, an Ard Fheis or two and of course the next election
We got to see parts of Limerick that I’d never seen before including; Ardnacrusha, Annacotty, Ballinacurra, Ballysimon, Caherconlish, Cahirdavin, Castleconnell, Castletroy, Clareview, Ennis Rd, Garryowen, Kileely/Thomondgate, Janesboro, The Island, Lisnagry, Monaleen, Moyross, Parteen, Prospect, Rathbane, Shannonbanks, Westbury…

And those were just the areas I was in. Other people did Hospital, Murroe, Oola, Pallas, Southill and god knows how many other places.

Lego USB flash drives:

hehe:

How to talk to the press via geewiz - Del.icio.us and blog

Borg like startups in Cork/Kerry Genesis Enterprise Project

The 12-month Programme offers the start-up entrepreneur the following supports:

• potentially 50% of prior year income (up to a maximum of EURO 38,000)
• an environment with other entrepreneurs in the early stages of business development
• business accommodation & address in incubation facilities in Cork and Tralee
• up to 30 days of business training in strategy, finance, marketing, sales etc. delivered via classroom instruction, workshops, one to one clinics and coaching.
• experienced business mentor for each participant
• opportunity to access the staff, capabilities and facilities of the Programme Partners
• funding supports

Burned out cars in Berlin - I stayed in the area marked by the blue dot - nice and safe.
The website list what cars have been burned too

Truphone is a VoIP service that I’ve signed up to. If the logo below says “call me”, you can ring me using my US number - 0012062796014

If you use Truphone too, they have free landline calls until the end of June