Archive for November, 2005

Roche on the rationale for evoting

Wednesday, November 30th, 2005

Thanks to the ICTE list I've read a transcript of yesterday's Dáil debate on electronic voting, including this comment from Minister Dick Roche:The Government decision in February 2000 to move to electronic voting and counting in Ireland aimed at securing a broad range of identified benefits compared to the current ...

Irish Ferries dispute threatens ‘partnership’ process

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

Those outside of Ireland may not have caught wind of the current dispute at Irish Ferries, but for those paying attention, the manner in which this single dispute has catalysed much of the tension in industrial tensions, while exemplifying many of the absurdities of globalization and the neo-liberal market-focused policies ...

Data retention mission creep

Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

Terrorism. Organised crime. File sharing. Just rolls off the tongue, doesn't it? That's what the music industry seems to think in Europe, where they are lobbying for the proposed data retention directive to beextended to cover all criminal offences, including piracy, and not just "serious" crimes, as the original proposal ...

Travellers and prejudice in Ireland

Sunday, November 27th, 2005

I've occasionally posted about the challenges faced by the Travelling community in Ireland. The Guardian has a good summary of some rather worrying recent developments.

What implications will the Irish press council have for small/amateur media outlets?

Sunday, November 20th, 2005

Karlin Lillington reports on an interesting observation made by Fergal Crehan (fellow Tuppenceworth contributor and Flirt FM alumn) regarding the proposed Irish press council. The idea is that in return for self-regulation by a press/media council, media outlets will have some protection from the currently rather over-bearing law on defamation/libel. ...

Call to save creative exemption in Irish tax law

Thursday, November 3rd, 2005

The Irish Arts Council is urging people to send 'e-postcards' to the Minister for Finance, asking him not to end the tax exemption scheme for artists. What I find interesting about this is that the Arts Council is a government-appointed entity, though one self-described as autonomous, and with the roles of ...