George Northern Ireland’s electricity consumers are to pay over 1 billion pounds more for their electricity than Great Britain by 2010 thanks to a deal struck during privatisation in the late 1990s. It means providers are prevented from selling cheaper electricity even if they want to. Poor negotiating skills are apparently to blame although nobody seems interested in finding out more. George
It appears the Maze stadium could indeed be in the running for a piece of the London 2012 Olympic pie, which would mean lottery funding would be made available for its construction. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to eat some humble cake of my own. George
An exceedingly small wave has been caused by the participation of the Irish Navy’s LE Eithne and the training ship Asgard in the recent Trafalgar 200 celebrations with one disgruntled Dubliner believing it is a diminishment of Irish sovereignty. Meanwhile, James Kelly in the Irish News takes an extremely unusual tack, if you pardon the pun, by giving out that they didn’t turn up at all (courtesy of Nuzhound). Seems he just wanted to have a go at the Spike …
Hot on the heels of Irish becoming an official EU language, Microsoft has launched Irish language packs for its Windows XP and Office 2003, in partnership with Foras na Gaeilge. Workers in Microsoft’s Irish offices volunteered their time to do the localisation work, which involved translating over 600,000 terms. The packs are available for download from Microsoft Ireland George
The Church of Ireland diocese of Down and Dromore is suffering a drastic drop in congregation numbers with just 17% attending Church of a Sunday. Baptisms and Sunday school attendances are also down.In the same Irish Independent article, as far as I can understand it (could be Galway), there has been a 50% drop in the number of Catholic baptisms in Dublin between 1965 and 1995. Some would take this as further evidence of a crisis for Christianity in Ireland …
The first primary school in the Irish Republic to be established under the joint patronage of the Catholic Church and the Church of Ireland will open in September.Gaelscoil an tSlí Dála in Ballaghmore, Borris in Ossory, Co Laois, will operate along inter-denominational lines, with pupils receiving some shared religious education and separate instruction in the sacraments. Bishop Michael Mayes, the Church of Ireland Bishop of Limerick and Killaloe, and Bishop Willie Walsh, Roman Catholic Bishop of Killaloe say they hope …
An Garda Siochána have launched a crime prevention campaign aimed at encouraging members of the gay community to report any homophobic incidents, including blackmail. The campaign was launched to coincide with the Gay Pride celebrations to give personal safety advice to members of the gay community.Is this a lead the PSNI could follow, especially as in April the House of Commons Committee criticised them for having a “sluggish and disjointed” approach to the protection of the Gay and ethnic communities …
The Irish Republic attracts 20 times more foreign investment than Northern Ireland, which has now just 26% of it’s southern neighbour’s economic value, down from 45% just 13 years ago, according to a report from Goodbody Stockbrokers, who conclude that a reduction in Northern Ireland’s corporation tax rate would give a huge boost to the region’s economy.Not surprisingly, the report also cites the area’s reliance on the public sector as a drag on economic activity and entrepreneurship. “In the most …
DUP leader Ian Paisley has called for Taoiseach Bertie Ahern to keep his “dirty hands” off Northern Ireland. Is it correct for Paisley to use such terms when talking about the leader of one of Northern Ireland’s main trading partners and does this perhaps explain why Paisley still refuses to even shake hands with Ahern in public? George
Mike Tyson is to retire after his knockout defeat by unknown Ulsterman Kevin McBride in Washington DC. Tyson gave up at the end of the sixth round against the 32-year-old Clones journeyman. A sad but probably fitting end to the sporting career of a man whose criminal acts, violent personality and psychological problems probably prevented him from being one of the all-time greats. George
The Galway council of trade unions is to put forward a motion calling for July 12th to be made a public holiday in the Irish Republic as well as Northern Ireland at the upcoming ICTU congress in Belfast, according to a report in the Sunday Tribune (hardcopy available only).The reasons are apparently twofold; to recognise the other tradition on this island and to get Irish workers another public holiday as they are currently shortchanged in comparison to their European counterparts. …
Sinn Féin seem to have ridden out the storm over the McCartney murder and the Northern job in the Irish Republic with the party’s support up two points to 11% in the latest (subs needed) opinion poll commissioned by the Irish Times. Personal satisfaction with party leader Gerry Adams is also on the rise, up eight points to 38%. The poll also shows a big swing in support away from the Government towards the alternative Rainbow coalition.In the TMS-MRBI survey, …
A single electricity market for the island of Ireland has moved a step closer with the signing of a formal Memorandum of Understanding by the Republic’s ESB National Grid (ESBNG) and the System Operator Northern Ireland (SONI).Hopefully this will, as promised, deliver competitive prices to consumers. A formal agreement is expected by next February to establish the new market operator, in time to meet the deadline of July 1 2007 for the start of the single electricity market. For the …
The Irish High Court has found that one of Ireland’s top golf clubs, Portmarnock in Dublin, can continue to prevent women from becoming full members overturning a previous decison by the District Court last year that the club was a discriminating club under the terms of the equal status act. Is this a vindication of the men’s right to freedom of association or a setback for women’s rights? George
The Northern Ireland Statistics Agency has released further table breakdowns on the 2001 census requested by users, which show some interesting trends among the main religions.The “all persons aged of working age in employment” table shows that in the 16-74 age group, Catholics make up 35.1% of those in “higher managerial and professional occupations”. However, in the 16-40 age group this rises to 41.8% while in the same grouping, Catholics account for 50% of “small employers and own account workers”. …
Catholic women in the North are three and a half times more likely to be unemployed than Protestant women, according to new British government statistics. This follows the release of “deprivation” statistics by the NISRA which show that three of the four areas of highest unemployment in the North are in mainly nationalist areas.Local Government District Percentage of population living in most deprived areas in Northern Ireland by parliamentary constituency: 1 Belfast West 79% 2 Belfast North 60% 3 Foyle …
European football’s governing body, UEFA, has commended the Irish Football Association (IFA) in Northern Ireland, pointing to it as “a fine example of the work being undertaken” by national associations to eliminate racism, discrimination and intolerance from football. George
A thread in deference to all those who want to vent their spleen on whether Liverpool beat AC Milan or not in the Champions League final in Istanbul tonight and who don’t have the cúpla focal.Although the furthest thing from a Liverpool fan, Rafael Benitez is a top man in my view, especially for humbling Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho with his tactical nous in the semi-finals, so I’ll not be too upset if the Reds claim a fifth European Champions …
Martin O’Neill will quit as manager of Celtic for personal reasons after this weekend’s Scottish Cup final against Dundee United. I think it’s safe to say O’Neill is a person who by his actions and achievements as a player and manager has won the respect of virtually everyone on these islands, regardless of background, and our thoughts go to his wife Geraldine, who is battling cancer. George
Síle De Valera, a junior minister at the Irish Department of Education, has said the Government aims to phase in school buses fitted with seatbelts.The move follows the horrific crash in Meath, which left five schoolgirls dead and scores injured. The estimated cost of the move is put at 100 million euros while in Northern Ireland, where children also travel on buses without seatbelts, the cost was put at 50 million sterling by a Environment Committee report in 2002. Meanwhile, …
