KildareStreet.com

Well done to the brilliant John Handelar for launching a beta of KildareStreet.com today, where you can apparently:

• Read a dramatically-more-legible version of the Dáil Record going back to January 2004,
• Search that record using a fabulous search engine which I didn’t write – you can restrict searches to speeches or written questions, or by speaker, or by date or date range,
• Sign up for email alerts for when a search query you’re interested changes, or whenever a TD of your choosing says something or asks a question which generated a written reply, and
• Subscribe to RSS feeds for individual TDs or for search queries.

And in the next few weeks you will also be able to “inspect the past five and a half years of TD expenses, and the register of members’ interests”, plus an API is in the works. And then he’s moving onto the Seanad!

Of course this all should have been done years ago, by our government with our taxes, but you couldn’t really expect proper accountability with Bert and Ernie in charge, now could you?

Just one complaint: .com? Kildare Street is in .ie John! You tell me the name and I’ll register it for you boy, FOC!