Ireland's political and cultural magazine
There was a terrible rumpus in Fine Gael and Labour as they realised they voted for the draft Dublin City Development Plan provisions on height – without understanding them. Not surprising really: the Irish Times totally misreported them also. And they are complicated. Management of course always manoeuvre these things and, in this case, describing the changes as “modest” when they were dramatic helped grease the voting wheels of some uncomprehending local councillors.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission – acting through local Gardaí – is currently reviewing an investigation of the original Garda probe into how Declan Ganley acquired 3,000 first-preference votes from independent candidate, Fiachra Ó Luain, in the European election count in early June 2009 in Castlebar.
Carol Coulter replies to John Waters’s comments in the last issue of Village
Posted in:
Public-sector alternatives to the infrastructure market and Public Private Partnerships in Ireland, the US and worldwide Dexter Whitfield In my book, Global Auction of Public Assets I examine Public Private Partnerships (PPPs) in Ireland and 11 other countries. The continuing fiscal crisis and flood damage could see the government further expand the role of PPPs. […]
Shoddy governance, low staff morale and a rash of inexplicable resignations at the Red Cross mean it’s time for a change. by Michael Smith The venerable irish Red Cross (IRC) is controlled by four or five people who serve on what is called the Executive Committee (EC) – a governance structure comprising only volunteers. The […]
A society that does not learn from its mistakes may be condemned to repeat them. Ireland was a poor country, generated a once-in-a-century boom during our lifetimes and allowed itself to be hijacked by corrupt and cute right-wing solipsists.
Posted in:
We asked an informed and not unrepresentative group of people to list who they think are the most influential people in Ireland; and to rank them unattributably. We did not seek to influence contributors’ views of what “influential” means, except to say that it extends beyond politics and perhaps embraces “making a difference in society”; and that the candidates must be alive. The contributors did not express any views on the merits of the people they ranked. We aggregated the contributions mathematically to form the list below.