Floating Aer Lingus

// June 28th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

One of the main concerns around the floating of Aer Lingus is around the strategic nature of air travel for an island nation and the value of the slots into UK airports in particular Heathrow and the possibility that a private company might be tempted to sell those assests to companies which might fly into those slots from non-Irish destinations.

My suggestion would be that the current Aer Lingus would continue to exist as a state owned holding company and that it would own the landing slots, it would in turn then license those slots to the new floated Aer Lingus entity. This would be mean the slots would be retained in the control of the Irish people while Aer Lingus the transportation company would be free to expand.

FF backbenchers

// June 26th, 2006 // 1 Comment » // Uncategorized

So, the FFer backbenchers are complaining about being ignored by the government. So now at last, they must have some idea of what most of the citizens feel like when dealing with this government.

The grand ould duke of Cork he had two dozen men,
He marched them up to see old Bertie
And he marched them down again

When they were up, people feted them.
And when they were down, people ignored them.
And when they were only halfway up,
No one knew what to do with them.

The Grand old Duke of York he had ten thousand men
He marched them up to the top of the hill
And he marched them down again.

When they were up, they were up
And when they were down, they were down
And when they were only halfway up
They were neither up nor down.

On the passing of Charles Haughey

// June 14th, 2006 // No Comments » // Uncategorized

This last week the Northside has lost one of her most noted sons, and while I would be of a very different political persuasion, I recognise the depth of genuine human emotion that many people feel at this time. As it is well known he said of himself

“I have done the state some service and they know’t. No more of that.”

but the piece goes on to say ask us

“I pray you, in your letters,

When you shall these unlucky deeds relate,

Speak of me as I am; nothing extenuate,

Nor set down aught in malice: then must you speak

Of one that loved not wisely but too well;”

At such times, we should not be quick to parcel up a life into mere pluses and minuses like some bookkeeper adding sums to see if the credit and debit balance out, but rather should look at a life as a whole thing. We should speak of him as he was, splendidly right at times, the building of the IFSC, free travel, and horrendously wrong others, opposition to the Anglo-Irish agreement, failure to tackle the national finances, being dependent on the largesse of others. The state too has done him some service too, and he know’t, No more of that. The greatest justice we, as Gaels, can ask for any life is for people to tell the whole tale, to leave nothing out and let the future draw its judgement where it may.

Ar dheis De go raibh a anam dilis!

Letter to the Editor – June 2nd 2006

// June 2nd, 2006 // 2 Comments » // Uncategorized

Madam, – The case which has lead to the voiding of a section of law intended to protect children from sexual predators is another example of a failure to plan or anticipate outcomes.

Surely the Attorney General’s office and the Department of Justice was aware that this case was coming before the Supreme Court. And it should have occurred to someone at some level that the court might rule in favour of the plaintiff. And it would be expected that some thought would have gone into how to address that outcome and its possible effects.

The simple issue of competence at the heart of this is that (a) people should have been aware an event was about to occur; (b) they had to have some idea of possible outcomes; and (c) they should have prepared some measures to deal with those outcomes should they arise. Call it anticipation or planning – I believe the term used in politics is “being on top of your brief”.

The basic fact remains that the system has failed because of a lack of due attention by those in high office to what was going on around them. If not one single person of significance loses their job over this, then we are being told as bluntly as you like that no matter what happens, no matter how big the screw-up, no matter how dire the consequences, no one in this Government will ever take responsibility for anything that goes wrong. – Yours, etc,

DANIEL K. SULLIVAN, Beaumont, Dublin 9.