Great post by Kieran Murphy about Tesco’s decision to deprioritise Irish products on the shelves of shops on the border (and in the new Extra store in Douglas in Cork):
It’s a story that should have caught the attention of anyone who loves food in Ireland, since the ripples of such a decision would be immense. Tesco own around 23% of the Irish food market, and the impact upon Irish food producers (and Irish employment) in losing such a huge chunk of market share could be catastrophic. According to Bord Bia, the average spend of Irish people on imported foods has risen 50% since 2000. With Tesco dumping Irish brands, that percentage would skyrocket as a large segment of Irish consumers would lose easy access to Irish brands. There could be many Irish food companies that would not survive losing such a large percentage of their sales.
I predicted an economic recovery (2 quarters of positive growth) of mid to late 2010 on Foot.ie back in November, however this kind of thing makes me worry that if anything recovery will happen too soon, and bolster the new addition of instant gratification to our national psyche. Irish people need to start thinking beyond the short-term bottom line, to a possible future where we’re being screwed to the wall with no choices because of monopolies and cartels.
An economic recovery without recovery in employment, which is of course what’s going to happen, will not help the situation. Something needs to be done at Government level, and FF and their clown partners are not the people to do it. FG aren’t either, which is why we need Labour in Government with them (despite recent idiocy on their part).
I didn’t know this ‘sport’ existed, and now I want one of these bikes. I wouldn’t be any good at it, but at least I’d feel like I was being just a teensy bit cool, without having to look like a twat on a skateboard, snowboard or surfboard. The whole *board thing has always befuddled me, but this? This is just plain kewl.
(In honour of this post, I have finally added a Sport category to Verbo.se. Who saw that coming?!)
Whatever happened to good old auto-testing? I’ve been to an auto-testing meet in wesht Cork, and it was way cooler than this drifting-style twaddle!
…of the Labour Party. If you send me another piece of campaign literature on Senate headed notepaper or in an Oireachtas prepaid envelope, you’ll be guaranteeing your non-appearance on any ballot card of mine.
I’ve heard all the excuses and had a discussion with Mike Allen about it in 2004, and my opinion remains the same: What you’re doing is theft, right out of my pocket and the pockets of every person in Ireland.
Have a bit of respect for the people and the party you’re supposed to represent, for fuck’s sake.
UPDATE 08/05 11:37: Received another letter in a Dail envelope this morning, with my (renewed) Labour membership card. An incorrect membership card at that. I’ve asked them to send a replacement in an envelope paid for with my membership fee, not my taxes, or a refund.
UPDATE 09/05 15:58: Maman Poulet has received a letter from Green Party candidate David Geary, lobbying for Mr. U-Turn, again in a prepaid Oireachtas envelope. MP takes the time to point out the following section of the Code of Conduct for Office Holders:
Official facilities should be used only for official purposes. Office holders should ensure that their use of officially provided facilities are designed to give the public value for money and to avoid any abuse of the privileges which, undoubtedly, are attached to office.
Lobbying is private party business, not official goverment business. Should we be voting in people who break the rules before the election, never mind after?
UPDATE 13/05 11:37: Phone call from Labour, telling me it’s my fault they didn’t update my constituency when I provided my new address, and that it’s ok to use the Oireachtas envelope because it’s Eamon Gilmore’s. I don’t even understand the logic of that. They also admit that the envelopes are handed over to a private company for the purpose of distributing their membership cards.
I can’t not repost this. It would be morally wrong.
(Thanks Damien!)
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!
Go on then, what gems have you that I haven’t heard of yet? Here’s my lot, with the ones disabled until I need them in italics.
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