David Higgins

Fine Gael and Labour are planning to table a motion of no confidence against the Ceann Comhairle John O’Donoghue when the Dáil resumes in September.

The Kerry South TD has been embroiled in an expenses controversy for the best part of this summer over his waste of taxpayers money during his time as Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism. Such personal costs included over €400 to pay for a 3 minute limo ride across the runway at Heathrow Airport in London. A free shuttle bus is offered at the airport.

All in all freedom of information requests have shown that Mr. O’Donoghue wasted tens of thousands of taxpayers money in the space of a few years.

Since the Ceann Comhairle is an independent position in the Dáil the Taoiseach can’t fire him (not that Biffo has the balls for that anyway) so he can only be removed by a vote of no confidence. Brian Cowen can’t even publicly criticize him.

It’s clear that the Ceann Comhairle’s position is untenable however if he wins the vote then it will only waste more precious Dáil time and the blame for this will fall at the opposition. Earlier in the year the debate for the motion of no confidence against the government replaced the time scheduled to debate the Ryan Report into child abuse. Support groups of the victims planned a protest outside the Dáil on that day only to find a different debate taking place.

When there is a tie in a Dáil vote, the CC has the casting vote. The government’s majority is slowly dwindling and it could happen that John O’Donoghue will play a much larger role in politics than he currently does. The opposition do not want important debates such as the NAMA legislation to be decided by a man who has no credibility.

However there won’t be a tied vote anyway because the government still has a majority, for now.

Today The Teachers Union of Ireland instructed its members not to teach classes that exceed a certain number of pupils. This could leave classes without teachers for certain overcrowded subjects.

An overcrowded class is defined as 30+ for a general class and 24+ for a practical class such as Music, Art or Woodwork.

The union has denied that classes would be left unattended saying that this would be “unprofessional and irresponsible” however their guidelines do essentially leave classes without a teacher.

Should a class be overcrowded the teacher must escort the pupils to a “safe place” (I thought all schools were safe?) where they can be supervised by a principal or deputy principal.

So what happens then? Does the teacher go back to the staff room and sip a cup of tea while the principal minds the class? Principals or Deputy Principals have a tough enough job running an entire school without having to deal with individual classes, that’s the job of frontline teachers.

The TUI has warned that it may take disciplinary action against teachers who disobey the instruction.

It’s RTÉ radio 1 on a Friday morning and the nation is listening to a discussion on NAMA. In the blue corner is George Lee, one of Fine Gael’s top economic spokesmen. He’s certain to have a cabinet position after the next election and he knows his stuff when it comes to the banks.

Then the green corner, Fianna Fáil. Fine Gael have a heavy-weight out, surely the government will send either a minister, a junior minister or a Green Party TD to debate. No, all they gave us was Frank Fahey! He quite incorrectly described George Lee’s proposals as “11th hour” when all the proposals were made by Fine Gael before George Lee was even a politician, earlier this year. Also considering Fahey is deep in investor circles means he’s not exactly the most appropriate person to debate the NAMA legislation. See here for more information on his conflicts of interest in property and investments.

The most worrying part of this discussion was when Frank Fahey was asked about the property market. He was asked whether the market would rebound. His response was most worrying. “It has already started……”!

Also equally disturbing and alarming was his attitude to spending a suggested 30 billion euro of taxpayers money.
“It’s not. It is ECB money which will be borrowed at one and a half per cent”.

What planet is this guy from?

The Galway West TD was one of the many unknown TD’s we saw this week out to debate NAMA. Where’s the Taoiseach, where’s Brian Lenihan? To be fair the Minister for Finance did make an appearance mid-week to respond to Fine Gael’s bank proposals however it’s clear by the inaction of the rest of the cabinet that NAMA isn’t up for discussion, that it’s a done deal.

It’s not, and the protests scheduled for September 12th and 19th will prove that the public don’t see it as a done deal.

Yesterday Ireland’s largest ISP Eircom announced that they would start blocking the website The Pirate Bay from September.

Pirate Bay, the file sharing site is to be restricted on Eircom only and UPC (my faster and more reliable ISP) is defiantly opposing attempts by Music organizations to restrict the site on its network.

In a statement UPC said that there was no obligation on them under Irish law to restrict access to any website and that they would fight in court to protect their position. UPC and BT are due before the courts soon to adopt a 3 strikes rule on peer 2 peer downloads.

This move by Eircom surprises me as The Pirate Bay is due to become a legitimate content site in the coming weeks. I understand that this may not go ahead however what if it does, will Eircom lift its ban?

Also what about other sites.

Mininova is another prominent file-sharing site and to only ban The Pirate Bay would just move users to alternate sites such as this one. Thousands of torrent tracker sites exist and if one is shut down or blocked, another one will just take its place.

Then there’s the general file sites. Places such as Rapidshare and Megaupload are used for illegal file-sharing however more than half of its use is for legitimate and legal files such as free software and documents. Sites like these would be used regularly by businesses and law abiding citizens. Will these sites be blocked too???

And then there’s YouTube! The world’s largest video sharing site also contains millions of songs. Whether in music video format or just the song with a slideshow or album cover the selection is just as wide as on Pirate Bay or Limewire. Simple websites and desktop software can take the YouTube video, extract the audio and then convert it to MP3 format. This is just as effective, if a little more complex however it just shows that file-sharing is unstoppable and to challenge it is a waste of time.

Will the ban on Pirate Bay stop illegal file-sharing? NO!

The Libyan man jailed for the 1988 Lockerbie bombing has been granted release on compassionate grounds.

Abdel Basset al-Megrahi, who has terminal prostate cancer, will now return to Libya, despite pressure from the US government to keep him in prison. He has served just eight years of a minimum 27-year sentence.

270 people died when Pan Am flight 103 came down over the Scottish town of Lockerbie in 1988.

The decision was announced at lunch time by Scotland’s Justice Secretary, Kenny MacAskill MSP. Under the devolution of powers to the Scottish Parliament he had the final decision on the matter. I was very impressed with his words.

It is terminal, final and irrevocable. He is going to die.

“In Scotland, we are a people who pride ourselves on our humanity.

“It is viewed as a defining characteristic of Scotland and the Scottish people.

“The perpetration of an atrocity and outrage cannot and should not be a basis for losing sight of who we are, the values we seek to uphold, and the faith and beliefs by which we seek to live.

“Mr Al Megrahi did not show his victims any comfort or compassion. They were not allowed to return to the bosom of their families to see out their lives, let alone their dying days. No compassion was shown by him to them.

“But that alone is not a reason for us to deny compassion to him and his family in his final days.

“Our justice system demands that judgment be imposed but compassion be available.

“Our beliefs dictate that justice be served, but mercy be shown.

“Compassion and mercy are about upholding the beliefs that we seek to live by, remaining true to our values as a people. No matter the severity of the provocation or the atrocity perpetrated.

“For these reasons – and these reasons alone – it is my decision that Mr Abdelbaset Ali Mohmed Al Megrahi, convicted in 2001 for the Lockerbie bombing, now terminally ill with prostate cancer, be released on compassionate grounds and allowed to return to Libya to die.”

I agree with this justification of his release and it couldn’t be put any better. It would be cruel to deny this man compassion and we’d be as sinful as him in doing so. Mr MacAskill’s words are very touching and when he says that Scotland prides itself on humanity I’d like to think of Ireland in the same light.

Former Irish Senator Gordon Wilson was a man who will always be remembered for his compassion. His daughter, Marie Wilson, was killed along with 11 others in the 1987 Enniskillen Remembrance Day Bombing by the Provisional IRA.

He came to national and international prominence with an emotional television interview he gave to the BBC the same evening in which he described his last conversation with his daughter, a nurse, as they both lay buried in rubble. He expressed forgiveness to his daughter’s killers and pleaded with Loyalists not to take revenge for her death.

I welcome the fact that Mr. Al-Megrahi has been shown compassion as he only has around a month to live and his health has deteriorated significantly in recent days. No one disagrees with dignity in death however when it comes to prisoners the tables always seem to turn in the wrong direction. Mr. Al-Megrahi is currently on a plane back to Libya.

The American dream is quite simple. It’s only complete if you own a house. Renting is inferior and there’s no greater feeling than paying off your last mortgage payment in your 50s. The Kids have moved out and you and your spouse can enjoy retirement in peace with no financial worries.

The Celtic Tiger born Irish dream was quite similar. It also required that you own a house and renting was a frowned upon immigrant activity. Funny how things had changed from the days where up to 10 Irish guys would rent out flats in London during the 1980s.

As a result of this ‘own a house binge’, people paid huge prices for houses they couldn’t afford. They took out 40-year mortgages that they will be paying back long after they’re retired. Now most of these properties have devalued and many people find themselves in negative equity.

Today it was announced by property site daft.ie that rent prices nationwide have dropped by 15-20%. The highest drop was in Dublin of 20%. This compared with a fix rate mortgage is a huge saving and compared with a tracker or flexible rate it is still a substantial difference.

During the Celtic Tiger rents were high due to the lack of demand however it surprises me that people didn’t do so in order to avoid dangerous mortgages. People knew the property market was going to the wall yet people still threw fuel on the fire. It would have made perfect sense to rent in the past 5 years as all indications were that the prices would eventually go down.

Agencies like the Financial Regulator not only failed in “Regulating” the banks but their personal finance ads made famous by the quote “I don’t know what a tracker mortgage is” failed in advising consumers about the impending implosion of the property market.

This drop in rents is good news for consumers and a welcomed bad news for landlords who made millions on rents during the celtic tiger. The drop is due to greater competition and an increased demand for renting. It’s also good for those wishing to find accommodation for college and for those getting their first house or apartment.

However it a slap in the face for those conned in the so called prosperity of the past few years.

Earlier this year I switched from UPC to Sky. This change saw me going from a dodgy standard definition box to a High Definition box with dual record and series link. This along with way more channels cost me little more than what UPC were charging me for their poxy service.

However since UPC took over NTL and Chorus, things have improved substantially. They were voted ISP of the year 2008 for their fast and reliable broadband service and I kept this service along with their cheap phone line, I only dropped UPC TV. They have up to 20Mb of speed and the 10Mb I have is plenty.

Now they’ve launched their new product, Digital+ HD.

For €7.50 a month you get 8 HD channels and a HD digital box. Compared to SKY+ HD this is no comparison however it is a cheap and convenient way for UPC customers to make the jump to HD.

SKY+ HD is €15 monthly and it provides up to 33 channels (twice as much for four times the channels). The catch, however with this is that it depends what channels you already have to get the HD equivalent. For example, the 9 Sky Movies HD channels are not available unless you already have them in standard definition first. The same goes for the 3 Sky Sports HD channels. Another thing to note is that 2 of Sky’s HD channels are Box Office screens and 2 more (BBC HD and ITV HD) are only available through the “Other Channels” Menu. This means that they are not recordable and also both those channels are rarely broadcasting, especially ITV. Channel 4 HD is not available in Ireland, also the newly launched ESPN HD is subscription only, however UPC also now carry this.

Trim all this fat away and you only get 16 channels for your €15. Therefore UPC works out – Half the channels, for half the cost. Also if you currently have their DVR box for €5 a month then it’s only an extra €2.50. Even the box is better than Sky’s (on paper that is, they’re usually quite buggy and slow). The box has the same hard drive space as Sky does however this one has the whole disk for personal recordings. Sky’s box has half the space reserved for its anytime service.

Altogether this promises to be a competitive service in these recessionary times. The low cost of this box with no upfront fee (except for installation) is a huge incentive for people who want HD but who also can’t find the cash after paying all the government levy’s. The uptake for this should be high and it may even have the potential to draw customers away from Sky to avail or UPC’s triple play offers.

I actually can’t believe how easy this was to make. I did it within an hour.

I went to Google and found the image of this Dun Laoghaire College ID. I copied it to my photo-editing software for Mac, GIMP and got to work.

The image was easy. I just found a simple background and put myself in front of it to take a photo with my built in webcam. I cropped it and then pasted it over the existing image.

Next was the text. Starting with the bottom it originally read “Sept 1999 – August 2000. 2009 was simple to achieve as all I had to do was paste the 9 from the Date of Birth on top of the last 0. However 2008 was a problem. The number 8 looks quite amateurish as I had to manually shape an 8, it wasn’t easy. However with a pre-made 8 it was no bother to just change the date of birth from 79 to 89. This now reads that I am 19 going on 20 which most people agree I look!

Finally but most tricky was the Name. Erasing the existing name was easy but I had to use the title text to replicate my name. The letters D-A-I-H-G-N are all found in the title text however V and S were not. For the V I turned the A upside down and erased the middle of the A. Then for the S, I took the S from Sept and coloured it blue, kind of.

A paper print out of this should get me a student ticket at the cinema tonight. I’m going to see Inglorious Basterds with Jack and Niall.

I’m looking forward to RTÉ’s new schedule more than any other channel this year (after Sky 1 that is). It promises a fresh new set of programs that reflect the times we are now living in. This means an emphasis on current affairs, politics and economics. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea but it’s what everybody’s suddenly interested in now.

As Pat Kenny said as he left the Late Late Show:

“Politics is the new rock and roll” ”.

This season sees The Late Late Show change hands for the second time in it’s 47 year existence, with the young Ryan Tuberty taking the reins of RTÉ’s flagship show. Like all previous series current affairs will take the centre stage and the two previous presenters held debates very well. However this time things are different. Tuberty’s brother Garret unsuccessfully ran for Dublin City Council this year under the Fianna Fáil name (It was a very small logo on his poster but I managed to read it).

I have reservations about a FFer having the minds of the nation at his grasp every Friday Night however we’ll have to judge him as the show proceeds. However don’t be surprised if the opposition are being shushed to let the Minister explain his position!

Pat Kenny, of course has moved on and this season he has his own show to replace the second longest running show on RTÉ, Questions and Answers. This was by far my favourite show on RTÉ these past few years so Pat has a lot to live up to here. His new show The Frontline will be on our screens every Monday night.

While politics is mainly a boring topic Ardal O’Hanlon appears to have stepped in to provide a satirical look at political life. His new show Val Falvey T.D. sees the former Father Ted star play a newly elected TD in a brand new six-part series. And who would know better than Ardal, his father is a TD of course. Rory O’Hanlon of Fianna Fáil is a TD for Cavan-Monaghan and he served as Ceann Comhairle from 2002-2007. Like Tuberty I fear a FF bias coming on however Ardal has shown restraint in the past and I hope we’ll see it here too. His previous show for RTÉ “So You Want To Be Taoiseach” was a great success.

And the political satire doesn’t end there. Following in the footsteps “The Panel” which has been renewed for a new season, is a similar untitled show to air at 10 o’clock mid-week. It’s quoted as “A brand new topical comedy show, which looks back on the events of the week.”  Also in the comedy genre is a new show by Jason Byrne. It’s a six-part panel show called The Byrne Ultimatum. He has me caught with the funny title, but whether the show will be funny is another thing.

Moving onto RTÉ factual now in which I see some more promising programs.

• Addicted To Money: David McWilliams surveys the wreckage of the global economy.
• If Lynch had Invaded: How Jack Lynch dealt with the crisis of August 1969
• Charlie Bird’s American Year: Behind the scenes with RTÉ Washington Correspondent Charlie Bird through an extraordinary year in American and Global Politics.
• The Way We Worked: A six-part series looking at changes experienced in work practices in Ireland

The Final highlight for me comes from RTÉ Young Peoples (Very innovative name I might add). “The Guitar” is where 16 of Ireland’s most electric young guitarists compete to win Fender’s extraordinary Rory Gallagher Tribute Stratocaster guitar. My friend Shane McDonnell is in this competition so I wish him well in that.

All in all this looks like a fine list of shows from a station that is gripping with falls in advertising revenue and with the economic crisis as a whole.

Former Minister for Women’s Affairs and former Fine Gael Dublin South TD Nuala Fennell has died, she was 74. Nuala did great work for women’s rights during the Fitzgerald government during the 80′s and she represented Dublin South well. It’s sad to see one of my former TD’s pass away. May she Rest in Peace.