Description: Taoiseach of Ireland, Bertie Ahern enters the Dragons’ Den and faces the music. Chanting Fianna Fail policies for the upcoming election, the Dragons let him know what they really think of him.

via Mulley.net.

Original video link here and original website here.

No adult will be permitted in a playground unless accompanied by a child

It will be an offence for anyone other than a child to use playground equipment

Only families are allowed to take photographs in playgrounds

Kerry County Council have introduced new byelaws regulating the playgrounds in their county. Introduced because of concern that the playgrounds are not being used for the purposes intended, the new byelaws are designed to stop the ‘overaged’ using playground equipment. Dan Kiely (Fianna Fail) is quoted in The Irish Times (sub req) as saying, ‘Thirty-five-year-olds and 50-year-olds are swinging around at 3am in the morning‘. Presumably they’re swing-abusers and not swingers! And to avoid getting scared in the dark (I made that up), nobody is allowed in playgrounds after dark unless they are a council employee (I didn’t make that up).

Those breaching the laws will be fined €75.

You’ve been warned.

I may have miscounted but I’d like to congratulate the 27 councillors who thought deeply about this issue and debated it at great length. You’re worth every penny euro.

I bet the committee that came up this name thought it was really catchy.

Seriously though, the letter that came with this envelope was to do with an opt-in marketing campaign, rather than opt-out. Which is still not good.

Edit: May have got my knickers in a twist & now having trouble remembering what opt-in & opt-out means. In this case, Eircom say that, even when I stop using their service, they will sell my personal data to other companies, unless I specifically tell them not to.

Some kids tried to break into my house by smashing a double-glazed window at the rear of my property. Thankfully, the muppets made so much noise that the neighbours were alerted and scared them off. The neighbours also called the police, who did actually turn up to examine look at the crime scene.

Now, in fairness, I don’t expect any CSI-type examination, nor do I expect the police to catch the idiots. How could they?

I visited the police station today to report it and get a ‘log number’ for my insurance claim. The crime happened in a small town where car break-ins so rare that they are reported in the local newspaper. When I entered the station (or barracks, as my relatives call it), there were two Guards having a bit of banter in the lobby. One of them politely asked what I wanted. When I replied that I wanted to report a crime, he got all excited and the two of them vanished, not to be seen again. The Guard who was actually manning the desk eventually turned up. As I said, it’s a small town so I just had to mention the address and she knew about it.

I didn’t have to tell her about the crime but, after getting the log number, she started to ask me for my name, address and date of birth. Not many people know that the Guards have a policy of recording everyone that comes into contact with them. It’s to do with their super-duper PULSE computer system (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively). Technically, I’m a victim of crime and now the police who fight crime now more about me than the crime itself. I now have a file on the police database and the criminals do not. And I’m not 100% comfortable with that.

There’s a phrase, ‘What have I got to hide?‘. Another way of looking at it is, ‘What have I got to lose?‘

I wanted to find out more about PULSE and Garda policy towards it. I’m sure they’ve nothing to hide but the search function of the Guards homepage doesn’t work! The only information about PULSE I can find on the official Garda website is this tidbit on their IT page:

PULSE (Police Using Leading Systems Effectively)

PULSE is the largest IT system within An Garda Síochána. The system is available to all members of An Garda Síochána nationwide and ensures that accurate up-to-date information is available to all members in responding to the demands of a modern police force.

Development and enhancements to the system are on-going. The most recent major development is the introduction of Fixed Charge Processing to process fixed charge offences or fines on-the-spot and enable the effective recording of penalty points resulting in the “penalty points” being integrated into PULSE.

If you search Googe.ie for ‘Garda, Pulse’, 50% of the entries on the first page are negative. Indeed, this one for the Data Protection Commissioner is interesting. The title is:

Gardai- Inappropriate data on “Pulse system” -data deleted when access request received- not fair to person- could frustrate the provisions of the Act

The Data Protection Commissioner keeps mentioning ‘the prevention, detection or investigation of crime’ when discussing PULSE so I guess these are central aims of the system. Now obviously, some will question why I’m so exercised about giving the police my date of birth. I guess it’s because I believe I live in a free country and I believe I’m allowed to go unhindered in the course of my business (there’s probably even something in the constitution about it??).

PULSE is considered a great success among (sic) law enforcement agencies throughout the world and the Guards would have us believe that several of them have visited Ireland to study it’s implementation. To my mind, it’s a nascent tracking system for a country’s citizens and not to be encouraged.

Before you make up your mind, think about those two phrases again: What have I got to hide? and What have I got to lose?.

A friend needed a passport renewal form and called into Drogheda Garda Station for one.  She couldn’t get one because the Superintendent (or Sergeant) had the key to the stationary room and wouldn’t be back until Monday.

Onto Dundalk Garda Station for the form. She spent an age queueing behind a Northern Ireland women who also wanted an (Irish) passport renewal form.  The Garda was convinced that she couldn’t get one because she wasn’t ‘Irish’ and she’d need a visa anyway.  The Newry woman made a convincing argument about the ‘Free State’ and the Constitution.  After consulting with a colleague, he gave the Newry woman her application form without a hint of embarrassment.

How long do I need to do this to get to 25,000,000 people?

I’m sure that everything that can be said has already been said but I’m absolutely amazed at how much damage one can do with 2 CD’s…

…Once the deal is posted out to them. Then all they have to do is post the yea/nay forms back to HQ.

It’s no wonder the British are masters at satire.

Nobody actually openly accused Bertie Ahern of lying yesterday. But if you were to look up a thesaurus, you’d find that just about every possible alternative word for ‘lie’ was used by Enda Kenny and Eamon Gilmore when describing the Taoiseach’s evidence to the Mahon Tribunal…

What is the population of Rathmines etc? #5820

Central Statistics Office – 4,984,000