Primal Scream
-
Primal Scream 18th November 2008 The Savoy, Cork Heineken Green Spheres Can
I get my gripe out of the way first? What is the purpose in everyone in the
aud...
15 years ago
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Ding! Dong! The Beep is Back!
Well, what can I say? I went for a walk this morning and, lo! and behold! the beep is back at the traffic lights! Only a year or so after it first went awol. And only a smidgen over the two weeks I was originally promised it would be back within. And when you consider that the last word I had on it was that apparently there never was a beep to begin with so there wouldn't be one put in at all, all I can say is Huzzah!
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Cork City Abú!
“If you must hold private conversations while the councillor is trying to speak, please take them outside.” I felt like I was back in school. The Council Chambers was full of local representatives, giggling and Googling and generally not paying attention until it got entertaining enough, and presiding over the unruly bunch, in lieu of a classroom monitor, was the Lord Mayor.
I arrived during preliminary discussions of special matters raised, where there was a heated exchange taking place regarding the scheduling of extra meetings to consider submissions on the Draft Development Plan and to meet with representatives of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The general timbre, from those taking part, was that they worked hard enough as councillors and gave up enough of their time without having more meetings being scheduled on an ad hoc basis. Just so you know how often they are expected to attend meetings on a normal basis, the meetings of Cork City Council are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 5.30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Cork. And in case there is nothing on of a Monday evening on TV, the public and the press are admitted to these meetings to witness events as they unfold.
Once the furore surrounding the extra scheduling was calmed and placatory gestures offered (to the effect that, although the extra meetings would stand, in future consultations would be made, of course, of course), the meeting proper got underway.
But you wouldn’t have known it unless you were told.
One of the more lively ‘debates’, which interestingly I cannot find in the recorded minutes, concerned the regeneration projects being undertaken in the city. In particular, attention was brought to bear on two areas: Sprigg’s Road and Boyce’s Street. It was claimed by Councillor Mick Barry of the Socialist Party that promised monies (to the tune of several million) were not forthcoming and that time was rapidly ticking on. He became quite animated. But not as animated as the rest of those paying attention who denied most hotly that monies were being held up either by themselves or by the present government and, quite to the contrary, the monies were simply whizzing along the bureaucratic by-ways. It became quite the hot potato. Indeed, Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn, one of his opposers, who as rule were claiming that Cllr. Barry merely wished to hear the sound of his own voice, suggested that we “find whichever village was missing its idiot and return Cllr. Barry to it”. Parliamentary language indeed. I am reminded of that old chestnut; when you lose your temper, you lose the argument. Which would of course be true, if this were the report of an argument or even a debate, as you would hope. However, it appeared to be simply a talking-shop, where each councillor in turn (of those, again, who were paying attention) could stand up and list out their achievements, such as they were. For example, one councillor stopped browsing the web long enough to point out to one of his more technologically-challenged partners that information on the Government’s Home Choice Loan Scheme was available on-line.
The Home Choice Loan Scheme was also subject discussion, though does not appear in the recorded minutes. For those of you not in the know, this is a scheme which was first broadcast as part of the Budget 2008 Dáil Speech by our Finance Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan. In it, he stated that the government was planning on extending “the existing local authority mortgage scheme by increasing the maximum loan available to borrowers. This extension will assist purchasers who wish to become homeowners but who are, at this time, unable to obtain loan finance.” In other words, the government was letting us know that it was entering the sub-prime lenders market. He informed us that the funding would be provided by “the Housing Finance Agency and it will be operated by a small number of local authorities acting on a regional basis.”
On a side note, it is interesting to watch the different ways in which the authorities are trying to dig themselves and their countrymen out of this financial crisis. In the UK, the government have put into place the framework by which they can guarantee up to 80% of loans to small businesses as part of a multi-billion pound package of measures to stimulate the economy. The idea is to provide support to both large and small companies in an aim to maintain and increase diversity in the economy and thereby avoid the pitfalls inherent in placing your fiscal future in an economy dependant on one or two main industries. Now, this is not to say that there are not teething problems, such as a long time-delay between application and financing, off-putting levels of paperwork involved and the fact it is felt in some quarters of the business world that some businesses should be allowed to fail as to support them would be to take invaluable support from going concerns. However, it is a good step in a good direction. Simply put, it appears to be a case of diversify and survive.
Back in Ireland, we have the Home Choice Loan. This loan is a mortgage provided through a number of local authorities for First Time Buyers who cannot get sufficient finance from a bank or building society and will provide up to 92% of the market value of a property purchased. The maximum loan amount will be € 285k, will be a normal Capital and Interest bearing mortgage and will be repaid on a monthly basis over a maximum 30-year term. The Home Choice Loan will only be available for newly built homes.
This results in the relatively ludicrous situation where, in a failing economy, which has for a decade been over-reliant on construction, our government’s idea of a rescue plan is to provide mortgages to (presumably) young, financially-insecure individuals to buy new-built houses. In other words, the powers that be are securing monies to enable developers build yet more houses for a saturated and collapsing market while businesses in other areas are going to the wall. Have we learned nothing from our history? When the potato crop fails because the prevailing conditions will not allow them grow, do you plant more potatoes? We’re planting more potatoes.
But back to lighter relief, also known as the City Council Meeting. Yet another entertaining snippet from the meeting was left on the cutting-room floor as we were regaled by one of the elder statesmen regarding the necessity of having the Cork equivalent of the London Black Cab. This need to colour-code the taxis emerged from private discussions on how to improve the general levels of safety on the streets of Cork. The speaker took the floor during a different discussion which rested on the argued need to reduce the number of taxis in the city as many lie idle and the worrying fact that owning a taxi or hackney licence is no guarantee now of a livable wage. However, the interruption to decide on a colour-scheme was deemed worthy of five minutes’ monologue. Perhaps it gave the rest of the councillors time to boil the kettle in the staff room next door before they settled in to some real debate. Or perhaps I am being unkind by indulging my cycnicism and maybe they simply felt that they could not do the topic as much justice as the speaker and so hid their sense of inadequacy by talking to their neighbours or leaving the room altogether.
But seriously folks, sitting to the side and watching proceedings, I was shocked and appalled by the manner in which the councillors conducted themselves. I witnessed behaviour that would not be tolerated in a classroom full of children. While individual councillors made points, the room was full of whispered (and not-so-whispered) giggling conversations, individuals checking phones and websites or wandering in and out of the room to make calls or get coffee. The lack of attention to the matters in hand by the bulk of those in my line of view and the cavalier manner in which they were behaving showed to me an almost complete lack of respect for the public, on whose behalf they are supposed to be working. I came away with a very bad taste in my mouth and no respect left for the council. I can only imagine what the IDA and the Enterprise Board will make of them when they meet. Assuming they can fit the extra meetings into their schedules, that is.
On second thoughts, if you choose to spend your Monday evening watching our City Councillors at work, rest and play, leave the big picnic at home and travel light – just bring tomatoes.
References:
1) Own notes taken from City Council Meeting, 12th January 2009
2) Websites:
a) http://www.corkcity.ie/
b) http://www.corkcity.ie/ourservices/housingcommunity/housingloansandgrants/
c) http://www.corkcity.ie/ourservices/corporateaffairs/minutesofordinarymeetings/MinsCouncilMeeting120109.pdf
d) http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/10/economic-policy-small-business-loans
I arrived during preliminary discussions of special matters raised, where there was a heated exchange taking place regarding the scheduling of extra meetings to consider submissions on the Draft Development Plan and to meet with representatives of the IDA and Enterprise Ireland. The general timbre, from those taking part, was that they worked hard enough as councillors and gave up enough of their time without having more meetings being scheduled on an ad hoc basis. Just so you know how often they are expected to attend meetings on a normal basis, the meetings of Cork City Council are held on the second and fourth Monday of each month at 5.30 p.m. in the Council Chambers, City Hall, Cork. And in case there is nothing on of a Monday evening on TV, the public and the press are admitted to these meetings to witness events as they unfold.
Once the furore surrounding the extra scheduling was calmed and placatory gestures offered (to the effect that, although the extra meetings would stand, in future consultations would be made, of course, of course), the meeting proper got underway.
But you wouldn’t have known it unless you were told.
One of the more lively ‘debates’, which interestingly I cannot find in the recorded minutes, concerned the regeneration projects being undertaken in the city. In particular, attention was brought to bear on two areas: Sprigg’s Road and Boyce’s Street. It was claimed by Councillor Mick Barry of the Socialist Party that promised monies (to the tune of several million) were not forthcoming and that time was rapidly ticking on. He became quite animated. But not as animated as the rest of those paying attention who denied most hotly that monies were being held up either by themselves or by the present government and, quite to the contrary, the monies were simply whizzing along the bureaucratic by-ways. It became quite the hot potato. Indeed, Councillor Kenneth O’Flynn, one of his opposers, who as rule were claiming that Cllr. Barry merely wished to hear the sound of his own voice, suggested that we “find whichever village was missing its idiot and return Cllr. Barry to it”. Parliamentary language indeed. I am reminded of that old chestnut; when you lose your temper, you lose the argument. Which would of course be true, if this were the report of an argument or even a debate, as you would hope. However, it appeared to be simply a talking-shop, where each councillor in turn (of those, again, who were paying attention) could stand up and list out their achievements, such as they were. For example, one councillor stopped browsing the web long enough to point out to one of his more technologically-challenged partners that information on the Government’s Home Choice Loan Scheme was available on-line.
The Home Choice Loan Scheme was also subject discussion, though does not appear in the recorded minutes. For those of you not in the know, this is a scheme which was first broadcast as part of the Budget 2008 Dáil Speech by our Finance Minister, Deputy Brian Lenihan. In it, he stated that the government was planning on extending “the existing local authority mortgage scheme by increasing the maximum loan available to borrowers. This extension will assist purchasers who wish to become homeowners but who are, at this time, unable to obtain loan finance.” In other words, the government was letting us know that it was entering the sub-prime lenders market. He informed us that the funding would be provided by “the Housing Finance Agency and it will be operated by a small number of local authorities acting on a regional basis.”
On a side note, it is interesting to watch the different ways in which the authorities are trying to dig themselves and their countrymen out of this financial crisis. In the UK, the government have put into place the framework by which they can guarantee up to 80% of loans to small businesses as part of a multi-billion pound package of measures to stimulate the economy. The idea is to provide support to both large and small companies in an aim to maintain and increase diversity in the economy and thereby avoid the pitfalls inherent in placing your fiscal future in an economy dependant on one or two main industries. Now, this is not to say that there are not teething problems, such as a long time-delay between application and financing, off-putting levels of paperwork involved and the fact it is felt in some quarters of the business world that some businesses should be allowed to fail as to support them would be to take invaluable support from going concerns. However, it is a good step in a good direction. Simply put, it appears to be a case of diversify and survive.
Back in Ireland, we have the Home Choice Loan. This loan is a mortgage provided through a number of local authorities for First Time Buyers who cannot get sufficient finance from a bank or building society and will provide up to 92% of the market value of a property purchased. The maximum loan amount will be € 285k, will be a normal Capital and Interest bearing mortgage and will be repaid on a monthly basis over a maximum 30-year term. The Home Choice Loan will only be available for newly built homes.
This results in the relatively ludicrous situation where, in a failing economy, which has for a decade been over-reliant on construction, our government’s idea of a rescue plan is to provide mortgages to (presumably) young, financially-insecure individuals to buy new-built houses. In other words, the powers that be are securing monies to enable developers build yet more houses for a saturated and collapsing market while businesses in other areas are going to the wall. Have we learned nothing from our history? When the potato crop fails because the prevailing conditions will not allow them grow, do you plant more potatoes? We’re planting more potatoes.
But back to lighter relief, also known as the City Council Meeting. Yet another entertaining snippet from the meeting was left on the cutting-room floor as we were regaled by one of the elder statesmen regarding the necessity of having the Cork equivalent of the London Black Cab. This need to colour-code the taxis emerged from private discussions on how to improve the general levels of safety on the streets of Cork. The speaker took the floor during a different discussion which rested on the argued need to reduce the number of taxis in the city as many lie idle and the worrying fact that owning a taxi or hackney licence is no guarantee now of a livable wage. However, the interruption to decide on a colour-scheme was deemed worthy of five minutes’ monologue. Perhaps it gave the rest of the councillors time to boil the kettle in the staff room next door before they settled in to some real debate. Or perhaps I am being unkind by indulging my cycnicism and maybe they simply felt that they could not do the topic as much justice as the speaker and so hid their sense of inadequacy by talking to their neighbours or leaving the room altogether.
But seriously folks, sitting to the side and watching proceedings, I was shocked and appalled by the manner in which the councillors conducted themselves. I witnessed behaviour that would not be tolerated in a classroom full of children. While individual councillors made points, the room was full of whispered (and not-so-whispered) giggling conversations, individuals checking phones and websites or wandering in and out of the room to make calls or get coffee. The lack of attention to the matters in hand by the bulk of those in my line of view and the cavalier manner in which they were behaving showed to me an almost complete lack of respect for the public, on whose behalf they are supposed to be working. I came away with a very bad taste in my mouth and no respect left for the council. I can only imagine what the IDA and the Enterprise Board will make of them when they meet. Assuming they can fit the extra meetings into their schedules, that is.
On second thoughts, if you choose to spend your Monday evening watching our City Councillors at work, rest and play, leave the big picnic at home and travel light – just bring tomatoes.
References:
1) Own notes taken from City Council Meeting, 12th January 2009
2) Websites:
a) http://www.corkcity.ie/
b) http://www.corkcity.ie/ourservices/housingcommunity/housingloansandgrants/
c) http://www.corkcity.ie/ourservices/corporateaffairs/minutesofordinarymeetings/MinsCouncilMeeting120109.pdf
d) http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/jan/10/economic-policy-small-business-loans
Monday, November 24, 2008
The Obama Effect
“I must admit that even the attitude (of) immigration officers at the airports has changed … not every black person is a desperate coming to the West for greener pastures.”
So says Deo Ladislas Ndakengerwa, the Policy and Campaigns Officer for the Irish Refugee Council, when asked about the effect of having a US President-elect of colour. “He is the most living and REAL inspiration to each of others especially to the next generation.”
This sentiment is being echoed back and forth and around the globe as arguably the most important election since the founding of the United States concludes. But the question has to be asked: Will this have a lasting motivational effect on the involvement of ethnic minorities in public life or is it simply a flash in the pan?
Here in Ireland, we are no strangers to controversial campaigns, having elected the first female president in Europe in 1990 with the inauguration of Mary Robinson and breaking yet more new ground when Mary McAleese was elected as the “first woman president having succeeded another one … in history”.
The effect that having female presidents has had on Mná na hEireann is debatable. When Robinson first came to the Áras, it was during a time of general female emancipation in Ireland and there was a growing trend already for greater political awareness and activity among Irish women. The National Women’s Council of Ireland had been in existence for nearly two decades, the Good Friday Agreement was proving pivotal in cross-border cooperation between women’s groups and there had been a surge in the number of female candidates standing for election to the Dáil from 8.5% of the total of those running in 1982 to 13.9% in 1987. So perhaps the time was ripe for a lady president. Added to this general ground-swell of female activism, ill-timed misogynistic comments by a government T.D. only added fuel to the fire and assured her of a sweeping victory.
During his election, the situation Obama faced States-side was not that dissimilar to Robinson’s election. On the one hand, Obama as a candidate of minority representation generated hot support from the black population. On the other, being put under direct threat by the Klan presented a powerful incentive to the populace to protect and support the (apparent) underdog.
But was the ground-work already laid for a coloured US president just like the path was cleared for a female president here? The growing body of Americans of colour attaining precedence in their fields of endeavour and making their mark on history, from musicians Sammy Davis Junior and Snoop Dogg to sportsmen Jesse Owens and Arthur Ashe, from Bond-girls Rosie Carver and Halle Berry to scientists Benjamin Banneker and Marjory Joyner, might say, yes, the foundations had been dug from aeons past. A coloured president was perhaps not so far out after all. Also, with the rise of Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to preeminent positions in the US administration, it is perhaps less and less surprising that a man of colour should be about to sit in the Oval Office. After all, standing on the shoulders of giants is a time-honoured way to reach the top and glass ceilings have been cracking in this manner though the generations.
According to Dr Maryann Valiulis, Director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in Trinity, when Mary Robinson came to the Áras, she made a point of visiting and encouraging women’s groups and community groups, started up women’s studies courses and was very supportive of women’s issues in general. On one occasion, she invited the entire editorial staff from the Irish Journal of Feminist Studies to the Áras for lunch, which was a move guaranteed to impress watchers both national and international and it was one which gave women’s and community groups in Ireland a legitimacy heretofore largely unknown. However, as Dr Valiulis points out, in practical and real measures the representation of women in public life has remained to a greater or lesser extent static, stagnating in or around 13%. It may therefore be argued that a female presidency did not have a revolutionary effect on the motivation of women to partake in public life and was instead simply a welcome bright spot on a longer journey. But was it a necessary shot-in-the-arm to the women’s movement here in Ireland? Would the drive have faltered without President Robinson’s feminist priorities and does President-elect Obama have the same focus on colour-issues in US?
Unlike Robinson who wore her gender like a badge, stating in her inaugural address “As a woman, I want the women who have felt themselves outside history to be written back into history”, Obama only owned the issue of his colour towards the end of the race, acknowledging it almost grudgingly, almost reneging on his early commitments to not play the race card during the election. While Mary Robinson wanted to be elected as a Woman, Barack Obama did not want to be elected as a Black Man, but simply as an American. While understandable, this may prove crucial to those who wish to use him as a mascot for change.
A number of questions need to be answered. Will Obama’s personal ambition be translatable into a desire and impetus for representation beyond Obama and his immediate supporters? In other words, will his mere existence be powerful enough as a mascot or will he need to be an active and driving force behind the ethnic minorities’ movements to see lasting change in our governments worldwide? And will the euphoria being witnessed by ethnic minorities in general and black communities in particular translate into real changes in public representation? All this remains to be seen.
Perhaps Mr Ndakengerwa sums it up best. “After the election of the most intelligent and smart black living (sic) at the moment, it feels like impossible is nothing. But it also has demonstrated that nothing comes easily- you need to earn it.”
References:
Websites:
http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/00women2.htm
http://www.nwci.ie
http://www.cleveland.com/moviebuff/index.ssf/2008/11/female_bonding_from_ursula_and.html
http://blog.spout.com/2008/11/12/5-bond-girls-who-died-after-wearing-a-bikini/
http://afroamhistory.about.com
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmpeople6.html
http://www.cmgww.com/sports/ashe/
http://www.lehigh.edu/~incntr/publications/perspectives/v19/Patterson.PDF
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/new_hibernia_review/v012/12.3.hardy.html
Email:
From Deo Ladislas Ndakengerwa (Deo@irishrefugeecouncil.ie) to Anne-Marie Curtin (a_m_c_29@hotmail.com) on the 19th November 2008, 16:09:32
Telephone conversation:
With Dr Maryann Valiulis, Director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in TCD on the 7th November 2008
Books:
Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 4th Ed. p272-302; ed. Coakley, J. & Gallagher, M.; pub. by Routledge in association with PSAI Press 2006
Newspapers:
Obama’s victory speech, transcribed in p4, The Guardian, 6th November, 2008
So says Deo Ladislas Ndakengerwa, the Policy and Campaigns Officer for the Irish Refugee Council, when asked about the effect of having a US President-elect of colour. “He is the most living and REAL inspiration to each of others especially to the next generation.”
This sentiment is being echoed back and forth and around the globe as arguably the most important election since the founding of the United States concludes. But the question has to be asked: Will this have a lasting motivational effect on the involvement of ethnic minorities in public life or is it simply a flash in the pan?
Here in Ireland, we are no strangers to controversial campaigns, having elected the first female president in Europe in 1990 with the inauguration of Mary Robinson and breaking yet more new ground when Mary McAleese was elected as the “first woman president having succeeded another one … in history”.
The effect that having female presidents has had on Mná na hEireann is debatable. When Robinson first came to the Áras, it was during a time of general female emancipation in Ireland and there was a growing trend already for greater political awareness and activity among Irish women. The National Women’s Council of Ireland had been in existence for nearly two decades, the Good Friday Agreement was proving pivotal in cross-border cooperation between women’s groups and there had been a surge in the number of female candidates standing for election to the Dáil from 8.5% of the total of those running in 1982 to 13.9% in 1987. So perhaps the time was ripe for a lady president. Added to this general ground-swell of female activism, ill-timed misogynistic comments by a government T.D. only added fuel to the fire and assured her of a sweeping victory.
During his election, the situation Obama faced States-side was not that dissimilar to Robinson’s election. On the one hand, Obama as a candidate of minority representation generated hot support from the black population. On the other, being put under direct threat by the Klan presented a powerful incentive to the populace to protect and support the (apparent) underdog.
But was the ground-work already laid for a coloured US president just like the path was cleared for a female president here? The growing body of Americans of colour attaining precedence in their fields of endeavour and making their mark on history, from musicians Sammy Davis Junior and Snoop Dogg to sportsmen Jesse Owens and Arthur Ashe, from Bond-girls Rosie Carver and Halle Berry to scientists Benjamin Banneker and Marjory Joyner, might say, yes, the foundations had been dug from aeons past. A coloured president was perhaps not so far out after all. Also, with the rise of Colin Powell and Condoleeza Rice to preeminent positions in the US administration, it is perhaps less and less surprising that a man of colour should be about to sit in the Oval Office. After all, standing on the shoulders of giants is a time-honoured way to reach the top and glass ceilings have been cracking in this manner though the generations.
According to Dr Maryann Valiulis, Director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in Trinity, when Mary Robinson came to the Áras, she made a point of visiting and encouraging women’s groups and community groups, started up women’s studies courses and was very supportive of women’s issues in general. On one occasion, she invited the entire editorial staff from the Irish Journal of Feminist Studies to the Áras for lunch, which was a move guaranteed to impress watchers both national and international and it was one which gave women’s and community groups in Ireland a legitimacy heretofore largely unknown. However, as Dr Valiulis points out, in practical and real measures the representation of women in public life has remained to a greater or lesser extent static, stagnating in or around 13%. It may therefore be argued that a female presidency did not have a revolutionary effect on the motivation of women to partake in public life and was instead simply a welcome bright spot on a longer journey. But was it a necessary shot-in-the-arm to the women’s movement here in Ireland? Would the drive have faltered without President Robinson’s feminist priorities and does President-elect Obama have the same focus on colour-issues in US?
Unlike Robinson who wore her gender like a badge, stating in her inaugural address “As a woman, I want the women who have felt themselves outside history to be written back into history”, Obama only owned the issue of his colour towards the end of the race, acknowledging it almost grudgingly, almost reneging on his early commitments to not play the race card during the election. While Mary Robinson wanted to be elected as a Woman, Barack Obama did not want to be elected as a Black Man, but simply as an American. While understandable, this may prove crucial to those who wish to use him as a mascot for change.
A number of questions need to be answered. Will Obama’s personal ambition be translatable into a desire and impetus for representation beyond Obama and his immediate supporters? In other words, will his mere existence be powerful enough as a mascot or will he need to be an active and driving force behind the ethnic minorities’ movements to see lasting change in our governments worldwide? And will the euphoria being witnessed by ethnic minorities in general and black communities in particular translate into real changes in public representation? All this remains to be seen.
Perhaps Mr Ndakengerwa sums it up best. “After the election of the most intelligent and smart black living (sic) at the moment, it feels like impossible is nothing. But it also has demonstrated that nothing comes easily- you need to earn it.”
References:
Websites:
http://www.terra.es/personal2/monolith/00women2.htm
http://www.nwci.ie
http://www.cleveland.com/moviebuff/index.ssf/2008/11/female_bonding_from_ursula_and.html
http://blog.spout.com/2008/11/12/5-bond-girls-who-died-after-wearing-a-bikini/
http://afroamhistory.about.com
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/bhmpeople6.html
http://www.cmgww.com/sports/ashe/
http://www.lehigh.edu/~incntr/publications/perspectives/v19/Patterson.PDF
http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/new_hibernia_review/v012/12.3.hardy.html
Email:
From Deo Ladislas Ndakengerwa (Deo@irishrefugeecouncil.ie) to Anne-Marie Curtin (a_m_c_29@hotmail.com) on the 19th November 2008, 16:09:32
Telephone conversation:
With Dr Maryann Valiulis, Director of the Centre for Gender and Women’s Studies in TCD on the 7th November 2008
Books:
Politics in the Republic of Ireland, 4th Ed. p272-302; ed. Coakley, J. & Gallagher, M.; pub. by Routledge in association with PSAI Press 2006
Newspapers:
Obama’s victory speech, transcribed in p4, The Guardian, 6th November, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Rubing the Crossicon
Here is an email which has been sent to the City Manager as I am running out of steam on this.
Dear Cork City Manager,
I am writing about the new pedestrian crossing signals that are appearing in both City and County (I have spotted them as far afield as Castlemartyr), which are silent.
I started enquiring about these on a basis that was purely curious at teh end of June last but have been unable to get a clear answer (indeed, any answer at times) to my queries. These are Green Man crossings that used to be audio-visual (at least where I have personal experience of them) but are now silent, or visual only.
I have had a range of 'clarifications' from the City Council (after sending information requests for over a month, including emailing Ian Winning, form whom I received no response at all, and finally turning to the City Councillors for help), from 'we're adding audio signals later' to 'they are provided with a vibrating touch pad' to 'they were never audio so they will not be now'.
These are all mutually exclusive responses - which one is it?
The signals I have used personally WERE audio signals and do not now have vibrating touch pads. So these responses seem to be a nonsense. And how a vibrating touch pad is going to help a visually impaired person across the road, I have no idea.
This flies in the face of the NCBI's best practice guidelines for Green man crossings. It also appears to contravene the Equal Status Act 2000 (Sections 4 & 6).
I am flummoxed to know how the City Council will be able to pay the (inevitable?) court fine when they are taken to court under the Equality Act or Equal Status Act as providers of a public service which is not usable by all. (See April 2007 when Dublin City Council were taken to court by a citizen in conjunction with the Equality Authority for turning off the audio signals on some pedestrian crossings on O'Connell Bridge.)
The particular crossing that caught my eye is the dangerous junction where High Street, Southern Road, Douglas Road and Capwell Road meet. It is so bad that the cars themselves are restricted from turning right from Capwell Road onto Douglas Road. How is a visually impaired person supposed to cross here without audio signals?
Can you give me any kind of concrete answers?
Such as:
Why have these signals been changed?
How much did it cost?
How does a visually impaired person cross this junction?
Thanks and regards,
Anne-Marie Curtin
Dear Cork City Manager,
I am writing about the new pedestrian crossing signals that are appearing in both City and County (I have spotted them as far afield as Castlemartyr), which are silent.
I started enquiring about these on a basis that was purely curious at teh end of June last but have been unable to get a clear answer (indeed, any answer at times) to my queries. These are Green Man crossings that used to be audio-visual (at least where I have personal experience of them) but are now silent, or visual only.
I have had a range of 'clarifications' from the City Council (after sending information requests for over a month, including emailing Ian Winning, form whom I received no response at all, and finally turning to the City Councillors for help), from 'we're adding audio signals later' to 'they are provided with a vibrating touch pad' to 'they were never audio so they will not be now'.
These are all mutually exclusive responses - which one is it?
The signals I have used personally WERE audio signals and do not now have vibrating touch pads. So these responses seem to be a nonsense. And how a vibrating touch pad is going to help a visually impaired person across the road, I have no idea.
This flies in the face of the NCBI's best practice guidelines for Green man crossings. It also appears to contravene the Equal Status Act 2000 (Sections 4 & 6).
I am flummoxed to know how the City Council will be able to pay the (inevitable?) court fine when they are taken to court under the Equality Act or Equal Status Act as providers of a public service which is not usable by all. (See April 2007 when Dublin City Council were taken to court by a citizen in conjunction with the Equality Authority for turning off the audio signals on some pedestrian crossings on O'Connell Bridge.)
The particular crossing that caught my eye is the dangerous junction where High Street, Southern Road, Douglas Road and Capwell Road meet. It is so bad that the cars themselves are restricted from turning right from Capwell Road onto Douglas Road. How is a visually impaired person supposed to cross here without audio signals?
Can you give me any kind of concrete answers?
Such as:
Why have these signals been changed?
How much did it cost?
How does a visually impaired person cross this junction?
Thanks and regards,
Anne-Marie Curtin
Sunday, August 31, 2008
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
OK - let's look closely at these photos. They were taken today on the public street of a sign for an established educational establishment in Cork - St. John's Central College. Now, if I were going to pay money, any amount of money, to someone or some group to provide me with a service, any service, especially education, I would want them to be able to handle basic constructions in their native tongue without falling at the first hurdle. A college of St. John is written St. John's College, not St. Johns. The random absence of apostrophes in their signage is lamentable and sloppy.
But the real, gobsmacking and, frankly, insulting mess here is that they either a) cannot spell or b) don't care enough to cast even a cursury spell-checking glance over their publications. You see, when this sign went up, they proudly displayed that they are 'St. Johns Central Collage". Putting aside the total lack of the necessary apostrophe, a house of learning, which cannot spell the word 'college', is one to which I do not wish to entrust my education. And one, which, when they eventually realise their error, do not bother to re-do the sign but simply scrape off the offending 'a' and turn it upsidedown, is one indicating an absolute lack of care and pride in their product.
Have a look for yourself and make up your own mind.
By the way, grammar is very important. To borrow from and paraphrase the great Lawrence Durrell, there is a great difference between the following two sentences.
"Lady Chalmsbury has cast off clothes of all descriptions and is inviting inspection."
"Lady Chalmsbury has cast-off clothes of all descriptions and is inviting inspection."
ID
Crossing the Rubicon, Part 3
Here’s an update on the pedestrian crossing situation.
After getting no response or as good as no response from the City Council, I went and contacted the local City Councillors. Here are the responses so far:
21/8/’08 Cllr. Mary Shields: “Dear Anna Marie, I will consult with my colleague-Councillor Terry Shannon in relation to this problem. He is the ward Councillor for the area in question and I know he will be very anxious to make sure this problem is addressed. We have a meeting of Roads Cimmittee on September 1st and I believe this is an ideal opportunity to bring up the problem and discuss it with Cork City Council Officials.”
22/8/0’08 Cllr. Mary Shields #2: “Dear Anna-Marie, I promise I will revert back to you after our meeting of Roads Committee on the evening of Sept 1st and I agree with your sentements but must hear the reasoning behind the move to obliterate the audio sounds at pedesrtian crossings from the officials.”
26/8/’08 Cllr. Mick Barry: “Dear Anne-Marie, Keep the pressure on the local councillors for your ward. There are Council elections next summer and you will find them all eager to please at this stage in the electoral cycle. If there is no change by mid-September it might be no harm to get the Disability Federation of Ireland to contact the Council and remind them of what happened in Dublin. Good luck.”
I have still not had a response from the NCBI so this must be chased but in addition the idea about contacting the Disability Federation of Ireland is good and will be followed up.
29/8/’08 Cllr. Lorraine Kingston: “Dear Ann-Marie, in response to your query I contacted Paddy O’ Neill in the traffic dept. he was aware of the situation and remembered your phone call. Unfortunately they only replaced like with like in other words audio tones weren’t put in.
Now he suggested if you contact Ian Winning he is the Senior Executive Engineer in The Traffic dept. and make a request for High Street to be installed with audio-visual there shouldn’t be a problem.
I will then follow that request up to be sure it happens.”
The problem here is that this is a nonsense. I have no idea what lights Mr O’Neill thinks he is talking about but the lights in question were originally audio-visual so they are patently not replacing like with like. So the options are that either this is an example of confusion or simply that it is a fob-off, to not mince words.
In addition, Mr Winning has been made aware of this by email on the 2nd, 14th & 28th July and has made no response or even acknowledgement of the correspondence yet.
I will keep you posted.
After getting no response or as good as no response from the City Council, I went and contacted the local City Councillors. Here are the responses so far:
21/8/’08 Cllr. Mary Shields: “Dear Anna Marie, I will consult with my colleague-Councillor Terry Shannon in relation to this problem. He is the ward Councillor for the area in question and I know he will be very anxious to make sure this problem is addressed. We have a meeting of Roads Cimmittee on September 1st and I believe this is an ideal opportunity to bring up the problem and discuss it with Cork City Council Officials.”
22/8/0’08 Cllr. Mary Shields #2: “Dear Anna-Marie, I promise I will revert back to you after our meeting of Roads Committee on the evening of Sept 1st and I agree with your sentements but must hear the reasoning behind the move to obliterate the audio sounds at pedesrtian crossings from the officials.”
26/8/’08 Cllr. Mick Barry: “Dear Anne-Marie, Keep the pressure on the local councillors for your ward. There are Council elections next summer and you will find them all eager to please at this stage in the electoral cycle. If there is no change by mid-September it might be no harm to get the Disability Federation of Ireland to contact the Council and remind them of what happened in Dublin. Good luck.”
I have still not had a response from the NCBI so this must be chased but in addition the idea about contacting the Disability Federation of Ireland is good and will be followed up.
29/8/’08 Cllr. Lorraine Kingston: “Dear Ann-Marie, in response to your query I contacted Paddy O’ Neill in the traffic dept. he was aware of the situation and remembered your phone call. Unfortunately they only replaced like with like in other words audio tones weren’t put in.
Now he suggested if you contact Ian Winning he is the Senior Executive Engineer in The Traffic dept. and make a request for High Street to be installed with audio-visual there shouldn’t be a problem.
I will then follow that request up to be sure it happens.”
The problem here is that this is a nonsense. I have no idea what lights Mr O’Neill thinks he is talking about but the lights in question were originally audio-visual so they are patently not replacing like with like. So the options are that either this is an example of confusion or simply that it is a fob-off, to not mince words.
In addition, Mr Winning has been made aware of this by email on the 2nd, 14th & 28th July and has made no response or even acknowledgement of the correspondence yet.
I will keep you posted.
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Crossing the Rubicon, Part 2
Well, after giving up on the written word, I contacted the City Council by phone and got a return message from a Mary on Thurs 31 July in the Traffic division who had asked Aidan the engineer who said that the audio signals would be installed once all the visual signals are in place, in a couple/few weeks time.
Now, that means that, since I first noticed the signals being changed and asked about them on the 28th June, and it is now August, and there will be an undefined number of weeks yet before audio signals are added, a busy road (Douglas Road) is virtually impassible by those of us with impaired/no eyesight and many points along the route.
Q: Is this fine and dandy?
Q: Could the original audio signals have not been left in place until the new audio signals were installed?
Q: Could audio-visual signals not have been installed in the first place?
?
Now, that means that, since I first noticed the signals being changed and asked about them on the 28th June, and it is now August, and there will be an undefined number of weeks yet before audio signals are added, a busy road (Douglas Road) is virtually impassible by those of us with impaired/no eyesight and many points along the route.
Q: Is this fine and dandy?
Q: Could the original audio signals have not been left in place until the new audio signals were installed?
Q: Could audio-visual signals not have been installed in the first place?
?
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