Be right back

To anyone who bothers to read this blog, I know that I haven’t posted anything in a while and a lot (99%) of the traffic on here is from Twitter.
There has been a lot going on in current affairs lately and I definitely have some questions – so come back and see what I have to ask!

FÁS left short changed by Robbie

So we were told by the Comptroller & Auditor General (C&AG) report this week that all but one of the payments, made between 2002 and 2008, was approved by former director general Rody Molloy.
There was a plethra of different things that Rody approved -

U2 and Westlife tickets feature on €69,000 entertainment bill

* €7,000 for tickets for All Ireland football and hurling finals. For each final between 2006 and 2008, 10 tickets were purchased, while between four and eight were bought for each final between 2002 and 2005.
* €4,640 on tickets for rugby internationals between 2006 and 2008.
* €1,960 on tickets for soccer internationals between 2007 and 2008.
* €3,724 on concerts, including four premium tickets for U2 in 2005, tickets for Billy Joel, Bon Jovi and Robbie Williams in 2006, The Police in 2007 and Westlife and Neil Diamond in 2008.

But the thing is, those who went to the Robbie Williams concert were short changed, because if my memory (and google) serves me right, didn’t Robbie promise to come back and do a free gig?

While the mortified star promised to make amends by returning with a free gig, Dublin is a place that Robbie Williams will undoubtedly want to forget.

But they never got to go that free gig, as it didn’t happen. I can just imagine the look on the faces of Robbie’s management team when they heard that. But fear not, it is not happening at the moment. But if it does happen, will those who recieved their tickets from Santa – aka Roddy, will they go and who were the lucky recipients or unlucky recipients of the tickets???

Put the TV on the E-voting machine!!

I had a thought today on the electronic voting machines which are costing about €800,000 per annum to store. There are people in court every day fighting to keep their homes, due to job losses, crippling mortgages that they thought they could pay etc but can’t. So why don’t the Government look at where they ‘outsource’ some of their spending, like paying some company to store these machines, and why not look at giving others a chance to earn extra money to help finance their mortgages, thus ensuring that they keep their homes, and that they don’t have to get help from the Government for housing.
I don’t really know how big these machines are but come on, given the option of a few extra euro, couldn’t the goverment get people to store these in their homes (TV stands, in the garage, etc).

This may be a daft call, but it got me thinking, what else is the Goverment, local and nationally paying for that could be done by people who are having difficulty making ends meet or out of work?

Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies

And so we are told that Minister Noel Dempsey has been trying to get home since last Tuesday – 5th of January. Why are the governement lying to us. That is just rubbing salt in the wounds of those who were thrown off buses on Wednesday the 6th, or not helping all ages of people who have shown up in A&E since the cold spell started, or those who can’t get fuel cos they won’t dare drive out in the icy secondary roads that we haven’t enough grit for.
Another thing I want to ask, where are Fianna Fáil?? Well any programmes on RTE, Newstalk etc have a Green minister talking, e.g. John Gormley (a.k.a Minister for Snow etc) on Primetime. Is Gormley (Gormless) the Government scapegoat.. Stop the press…
Batt O’Keeffe (a.k.a Santa Claus for kids & teachers) sure didn’t he come out of hibernation to declare that the teachers will have an extra week off after the holidays – no school until Thursday the 14th of January.

So where is our Government, and will they be going back to the Dáil after their holidays???

Brian Lenihan will work through treatment

I have just listened to Brian Lenihan’s interview on Radio 1 on RTÉ and he came across very well.
It is interesting to hear him say that anyone would get the same treatment as him, fair enough Brian. But come on, would the treatment happen as quick, he is starting treatment this week? I imagine that this is going to be the way that some news agencies may report this. With the high number of cancer patients in this country, should there be a difference in how those with health insurance and those that don’t are treated. I would be interested to find out more on this. Surely we should all get the best treatment, not matter what our financial situation is?

But…Shame on you TV3.

Leinster Rugby Xposéd to losing fans

When is it not a good time to show your support for upcoming TV presenters? When it is at the determinant of losing fans perhaps? Huh?

Well Leinster Rugby’s Facebook page posted their support for Ruth O’Neill in her fight to win the position of presenter of the TV3 show Xposé on the show Total Xposure. She is up against two guys, Simon Atkins & Séan Munsanje, who have been called the Richard & Judy of the show by judges after last weeks task – co-presenting at the Galway Races.

Facebook fans revolt against Leinster

Leinster Rugby’s fan Facebook page posted their support for the last girl in the competition yesterday, Monday the 11th of August and there have been 84 comments, the majority of them stating that the comment has nothing to do with Rugby and others asking why they would post such a comment.

What has this got to do with rugby. What a joke….

Then there was a dirge of fans looking for an apology, which has not been forthcoming. Others have said that they are deleting Leinster Rugby from their list of favourites unless there is an apology.

You’ve been asked for an apology …. you’ve not delivered so now you’ll be deleted

How to loose all your fans in 1 day, by leinster rugby. BYE!

Did Leinster Rugby bet on a winner…NO, she came 3rd!

Live or not live…that is the question!

On Sunday the 19th of July, a lot of speculation was growing as to what teams would be pulled out of the GAA Football draw for round four of the Qualifiers on online message boards. There was quiet a lot of discussion going on in the forums and then at 20:20 someone posted the qualifier draw on Boards.ie as announced on Kildare Local Radio a half an hour ago.
Forward the clock onto 21:30, the Sunday Game begins on RTE 2 and Des Cahill reads off what is going to be on the show tonight…a live qualifier draw for the football. Well is it live or isn’t it?
The reported draw at 8pm is –

Kerry v Galway
Kildare v Meath or Roscommon
Wicklow v Limerick
Donegal v Antrim

Has the internet shown us that the GAA draw is not live?
Looking at the teams involved, it has been reported before that Kerry supporters don’t travel, so what team could they be put against that would mean they will travel…Galway maybe? Oh and if they are really clever and want the Kerry supporters to travel to the match, then they should not televise it!!
Wicklow supporters will travel…sure as Des said himself, welcome to the draw Wicklow supporters, you are not usually here in mid July! Very true, so put them with another team who may travel a bit and “lets try and get more gate receipts” I can hear cried from HQ.
Donegal V Antrim…what can I say about this except it will keep them happy in the North to have a neutral venue in the north of the country, not too far to go eh? So supporters should flood the venue.

Before the first break in the programme, Des reeled off what was coming up in the next part and he did say about the qualifier draw…

Live here in studio 5….

It is now 22:13 and I am watching the end of the highlights of the Ulster final where Tyrone beat Antrim, I would presume after this there will be the analysis from the panel.

The LIVE Draw

So the draw was LIVE!
Kildare V Wicklow
Antrim V Kerry
Galway V Donegal
Limerick V Meath/Roscommon

So, did RTE hear about it being leaked and decide to show the draw live?
Or was it someone spoofing? And to see what kind of reaction there would be? From watching the Sunday Game, they seem to have heard about the talk on the net as they mentioned it a few times. So news travels fast… not always the right news!

A jab & a vote work together

According to the Tribune, the ministers will be given the flu jab first…mmmm.
I was going have a rant asking how they fall into the category of the description from the RTE site yesterday

Vulnerable sections of the population, health workers and workers in essential public services will get the vaccine first and it will then be offered to the wider population.

.

But I am trying to work on turning negatives in to positives, so here is what I have come up with…
If all or 90% of adults in Ireland take the offer of the swine flu jab, can this be done in conjunction with the electoral role? So why can’t the Dept of Health assist the electoral registry and help build a concise list up. There are so many people who have a vote in 2 areas due to living away from home etc. Or wrong information being held. The government need to get to grips with ensuring that the countries electoral is correct to a higher degree than what it is. Ask people to bring a recent bill with their address and their PPS Number…so that we can’t get the jab twice in different doctors.

Why can’t different Departments and ministers work better together…it is not rocket science, but common sense!

Failure to elect will result with failure to go to school!

Flicking through the papers today, I was shocked to read what I perceived to be childish, immature, selfishness from one of the leading parties TD’s…Fianna Fáil’s Ned O’Keeffe!! Way to go Ned!

Firstly, it is farcical to think that kids in Ireland still have to be taught in prefabs in 2009. I remember it in the 80′s when we had to “tighten our belts”…going out in the rain to the classroom, and sitting in a room that was so difficult to heat during the winter months.

And now we have a publicly elected TD warning stating on

Cork’s C103 radio if Rathcormac wanted to rise up the pecking order it should reconsider its voting allegiance.

“I’ll prioritise, as a politician, my own area and the areas I think are right and are necessary and where I get my support from. Because I won’t be in Dáil Eireann if I don’t get that support.

Oh to have a choice of what you will do in your job…and what you will lobby for! I guess that is one of the joys of being a TD in this country. How dare he decide whether or not kids are taught in a prefab or a room in a proper building. I guess people of Cork need to decide whether Ned has a job after the next election..whenever that is.

Ned you are assisting the cause of changing Fianna Fáil to Fianna FAIL!

Dangerous Irish Drivers!

Riding along in my automobile….
My phone beside me at the wheel…
I stole a text at the turn of a mile
Cos my curiosity was running wild
Crusin’ and textin’ all of my friends
with no particular place to go

We see plenty of drivers all over Ireland, driving & texting or driving & talking on the phone! One word…crazy!
This is a new law brought in to Law in 2006. It is a new law, but I imagine that it is a well known law that it out there, so why do so many people hold their phone whilst driving? If caught, the driver is fined €60 and 2 points. Not a lot perhaps, for something that can cause a bad accident if the driver loses control whilst holding the phone. Is it another thing that we believe is not so bad, and that drivers think they can control and won’t cause an accident whilst driving! I don’t have any proof of accidents that occurred due to someone using their mobile, but come on…it happens!

So I am kind of perplexed why 2 drivers shown on the RTE programme Traffic Blues, were let go with a word of caution tonight rather than fined!!! It was a perfect opportunity for the Gardaí to show us what will happen if you are caught holding a phone!!! So 2 girls were caught and cautioned and then one guy was caught and fined. So let’s take that as an example – 33% of all people stopped are fined and awarded points.

I have done some further investigations and found on the Penalty Points site statistics showing how many drivers have been fined in May – 69,601 drivers were fined. But if I take what I saw tonight on Traffic Blues, then there were potentially 208,803 drivers using their mobile whilst driving! Holding a mobile whilst driving was the top offence in May 2009. Also mentioned on the show, the Garda said that when the law to wear seat belts came in, there were a high number of drivers been cautioned about this. However, the offense in 2nd place in May with 54,652 offenders was the driver not wearing a seat belt! How dangerous are Irish drivers? Do they not realise the power they posses when they take to the road!