Trying to help my daughter with odd things towards her forthcoming Junior Cert, we calculated the interest on the little savings account I had persuaded her to take with Bank of Ireland. It was 0.04 per cent over the year. "But that's ridiculous and pointless," she said. "Also, don't they lend money at about 10 or 15 per cent?"
The proliferation of CCTV has led some people to fear that we are entering an Orwellian world in which, no matter where you are, Big Brother is watching you. But I think we are far closer to the other side of Orwell's dystopia, where things are the other way round and it is you who is always watching Big Brother! We now live in a world that is similar to that of Winston Smith in this regard: there are fewer and fewer places where you can avoid the numbing, incessant, glare of the screen.
SIPTU is organising a public meeting on decentralisation tomorrow Thursday February 1st in Liberty Hall. The Irish times reported on October 6th last year that less than 500 of the 7,000 Civil Service jobs earmarked for decentralisation had actually moved to date yet the government claims that the decentralisation programme is still on track. What arrogance.
Nuala O'Loan's much publicised report on collusion between British forces, including the police, and unionist paramilitaries has awoken many in this state to the reality that was the "nationalist nightmare" for decades. The truth and evidence has eventually leaked out - like blood from underneath a locked door!
According to the White House, America's 'War on Terrorism' makes "no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor terrorists. We are working to disrupt the flow of resources from states to terrorists while simultaneously end state sponsorship of terrorism."
We write as doctors with extensive experience working in the public sector. We write out of frustration and anguish on behalf of patients and of our health service. We believe that the sustained attack on the public health system, both by constant criticism, and the withholding of essential funds for infrastructural development, is damaging to our entire society.
Muireann Ní Bhrolcháin of SaveTara has written to Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, Dick Roche, and the Taoiseach regarding the works being undertaken on behalf of the National Roads Authority / Meath County Council along the section of the proposed route of the M3 motorway in the Gabhra Valley, near the Hill of Tara in Co Meath.
In Justine McCarthy's informative piece on Robin Bury and his ‘Reform' movement last week (‘Reform Movement uses the Guardian to bash Irish language', Village 11-18 January), she referred to his ‘ubiquitous' letter-writing to the papers. This is true but she should also have referred to his other ubiquitous habit of not writing to papers when asked to develop his arguments.
Michael O'Leary thinks a second Dublin airport would be a scandalous waste of public money. He has not done his sums well this time. It may very well not be in Ryanair's interest because Ryanair, like other airlines, is hugely subsidised by the taxpayer for its use of Dublin Airport. The aviation regulator only charges €0.07 per passenger for the use of the 2,500-acre site of Dublin Airport because he values the whole site at less than €20m instead of the €5bn it is probably worth. This is public land which should be required to yield a proper return to taxpayers.
With the announcement of in excess of 20,000 more US troops being deployed in Iraq, it is now more pertinent than ever to accept the real reason for the war in Iraq: control of Iraqi oil reserves. Without accepting this, talk of a withdrawal of troops from Iraq or an end to the use of Shannon Airport is pointless. The reason for this is that the United States government will not allow a Shia-led government to rule in Iraq without their (US) interference. What would a Shia-led government in control of its own resources in Iraq do?