This has provoked outrage from many amongst the Irish political elite who have referred to the measure as knee jerk populism. There is a general consensus at the moment that the political system is broken. That it may have played a part to bringing the republic to the current economic crisis would seem to prove this. Cutting out an entire chamber from the political system seems rather crude on the surface, but should definitely be examined as an option.

The proposal’s detractors say the house should be reformed and not scrapped and that there is always value in a second chamber in a democracy.  I beg to differ. Allow me, for a moment, to indulge my Scandophilia. Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland frequently finish in the world’s top ten list for lack of political corruption, transparency, female and minority representation and press freedom. All of them bar Iceland have a bigger population than Ireland and all of their polities function with a unicameral system – one chamber, no senate. To the best of my knowledge, there is no movement in any of these countries to bring in an upper house. In fact, Iceland got rid of theirs in the early 1990s and hasn’t looked back since.

The cry remains that the house can be made relevant by reform.  Every manner of suggestion has been made, from letting Irish expats have representation to representation for unions and other interest groups. How on earth could consensus be reached on reform in these circumstances?

Supporters of the senate say that unlike the Dáil, the focus of all the members of the house is on national issues and not local or “parish pump” issues.  There are simpler more effective and cheaper solutions to this this. Firstly, local government could be made more powerful. With no direct tax raising measures Irish local government is one of the weakest in Europe. Turning local councils into effective forums for local issues thus reducing the demand of local issues on national representatives is surely sensible.

The second idea is to introduce a list or partial list system for parliamentary elections. This would insure that a certain section of TDs would have been elected on a national mandate and would, presumably, be appointed by their respective parties to cabinet or frontbench. As they would not have a local constituency to deal with, this would allow the deputies in question to focus energy on their briefs.

There is also the belief that the Senate gives a platform to those in public life who would not normally be elected. The classic case in point is gay rights campaigner Senator David Norris. I see no reason why Norris would not be elected as part of an “independent” list as outlined above. But at the heart of this argument is a belief that broad ranging societal problems can be solved with tokenism. For example, the problem of the electorates supposed reluctance to elect a homo can easily be solved by putting one in the Senate. This is a band aid solution in the most Irish sense of the phrase.

The Senate costs the taxpayer about €60 million per annum and gives little benefit in return. It can do little more than hold up legislation by fourteen days or so.

I believe the Senate should be scrapped. I say this as a registered and active senate voter. I support the Government’s proposed referendum.

VERSION ESPANOL

A medida que España acude a las urnas el 20 de este mes, el gobernante socialdemócrata PSOE está en problemas. La oposición de centro derecha Partido Popular (PP) es una oportunidad de conseguir la mayoría más grande de partido único desde la muerte de Franco. Cualquier gobierno que preside una tasa de desempleo del 21% y el aumento de, por supuesto, tienen dificultades para conseguir la reelección.Aunque en este caso, desde el punto de vista de un liberal social, como yo, esto es por lo menos un poco decepcionante. El presidente Zapatero ha legalizado el matrimonio gay y el aborto, la retirada de Irak, la liberalización de las leyes de inmigración y ha presidido el gabinete del mundo, la mayoría mujeres primero. El derecho ha sido muy vocal en su deseo de fila en algunas de estas medidas.
En juego al final del mes son 350 de los escaños en la cámara baja de España, las Cortes. 348 de los cuales son elegidos en circunscripciones de varios puestos bajo el método d’Hondt de representación proporcional. Los dos puestos restantes en los enclaves del norte de África de Ceuta y Melilla son elegidos por el “first past the post” método. El sistema ha favorecido tradicionalmente a los dos bloques más grandes en las Cortes e hizo más difícil para los partidos tercero para obtener una mirada en el, en lo que interpretan como un intento de evitar una repetición de la fragmentación política de la Segunda República en la década de 1930 que con el tiempo condujo a la Guerra Civil.
Por lo tanto, lo que hace esta elección interesante si es sólo para ser otra vía de la derecha? Bueno, no puede ser. Las encuestas todavía muestran tres de cada diez votantes indecisos y campañas en España se han distinguido por sus cambios dramáticos en los últimos días. Todos recordamos el 2004, cuando la mala manipulación de José María Aznar del atentado terrorista de Atocha se acredita en gran parte con provocar un giro importante hacia la izquierda en los últimos días antes de la votación.
Sin embargo, la principal área de interés para nosotros, anoraks voluntad política más que probable que sea el destino de los partidos más pequeños.
No menos importante, la coalición de izquierda dominada por los comunistas, conocido como “Izquerda Unida”. Dado que el “occupy” el movimiento se inició la vida en Madrid bajo el nombre de “indignados los” (es una pena que el nombre del idioma español no fue guardado por el movimiento internacional aún una prueba más de la dominación global sobre el idioma Inglés, pero eso es para otra entrada) y se da esta tenacidad los movimientos que podemos esperar este partido para obtener ganancias.Un cínico podría decir que un partido con sólo dos asientos que no tienen a dónde ir sino hacia arriba, pero no me sorprendería en absoluto si lo hacen a cifras de dos.
Por el contrario, con los famosos partes de la región de España que predicen los contratiempos. Como anécdota, muchos de los catalanes y los gallegos los que he hablado en los últimos meses han mostrado una cierta fatiga con el proceso de devolución constante y la duplicación de la energía en las regiones autónomas. Esto se ha reflejado en los sondeos de opinión más bajo para los movimientos nacionalistas. De hecho, en Cataluña, algunos creen que el PP puede tener la oportunidad de venir 2 º general – esta sería la primera vez que un “federal” partido había sido en los dos primeros de esta región que esto suceda.
Una advertencia debe ser añadido para el País Vasco, donde el éxito inicial de fomentar el proceso de paz que se puede invertir esta tendencia.Pase lo que pase el día 20, el nuevo panorama político todavía tiene una situación muy grave para tratar y un conjunto limitado de opciones para hacerlo. Cuando el polvo se asienta, un nuevo gobierno no puede ser capaz de hacer todo lo que muy diferente a la que sustituye.

Forging a working relationship with teenagers in such circumstances is essentially walking a proverbial tight rope. One has to be feared enough to be listened to whilst being liked enough to be thought relevant and interesting. The experience often called to mind George Orwell’s essay, “Shooting an Elephant” in which the writer finds himself working in the British colonial police force in Burma. Orwell finds it necessary to put on heirs of authority in order to maintain the respect of the locals. He must even eventually shoot a wild elephant; something which he finds personally repugnant. This he concludes, is evidence of the servitude colonialism puts on the conqueror, as they will have some of their values and aims compromised in an exchange that is usually thought to be entirely one sided.

For the most part, during teaching I was able to define my own potent blend of carrot and stick. I hardly ever raised my voice but I managed to speak clearly and forcefully. I built a good rapport whilst keeping a good distance and thought little more about authority.

Then the riots happened. I was lucky in that I lived in a fifth floor apartment on a secure university campus at the time. I still witnessed gangs of young teenagers marauding at street level dressed from nose to toe in black, their eyes visibly devoid of respect for anything. I have already spoken briefly about what I think the cause of the civil unrest in urban England was. I will reiterate however, that I believe that a breakdown in authority has led to this. A culture where teachers in secondary schools are technically not even allowed to raise their voices at the disruptive has clearly helped bring this about. Authority over the youth in Britain, has to a certain extent, fallen off the tight rope.

Now, I know what you must be thinking, a liberal, especially a near bleeding heart liberal like myself cannot be arguing for more rigorous authority. Well I am. In the context of young people I believe that their learning should and can be as autonomous as possible but that when you undermine the leadership of their role models you threaten their loyalty to society as a whole.

It was also around riot time that I finally piked up Aldous Huxley’s “Brave New World”. Yes, I know I know. I left it a tad late, didn’t I? Orwell was the dystopian of my adolescence and I had Huxley constantly suggested to me by friends and colleagues as further food for thought. “Brave New World” had been sold to me as more prediction than warning. After publication, Huxley made it clear that ideally he would have offered his savage protagonist a third alternative apart from the reservations and the world state that would embody the best values of both. With that in mind, and being keen to examine new prospective social structures in the wake of the riots, I became engrossed. Huxley’s World state establishes it’s authority in a much more subtle fashion than in Orwell’s Oceania. The state is benign, folk are conditioned to enjoy their work and remain docile and these values are reinforced by the universal availability of sex and drugs.

The teaching method I was schooled in earlier this year would seem, in hindsight, to be giving a nod to Huxley. This CELT or Cambridge method seeks to minimise teacher input whilst maximising learner autonomy. Subject matter for classes should concern topics of interest to the learner. It also sounded very wishy washy to me on paper. I had been hoping for more traditional “chalk and talk” based methods. In practice, in Birmingham I can say that it worked well, but only when buttressed by my supervision especially when teaching lower level classes. This cannot be forgotten.

There is much we have yet to learn about the science of what motivates people and what methods maximise social efficiency. There are basics we can get right in the meantime that can hopefully prevent urban unrest.

A greatly increased police presence and a rather impressive clean up by council workers and members of the public alike means that central Birmingham seems to be largely back to normal this afternoon. Below are some photos I took about an hour or so ago. 

It seems that where just hours ago the worst of Britain was witnessed, the best of Britain, Great Britain, the country that won two world wars had prevailed as all parts of the community came together to condemn the violence and join a near spontaneous clean up. An examination of why this happened could wait.

Last night was somewhat eerie. The first inclination I had that something was a miss was via friends on various social networking sites asking about my well being. In the middle of all this my flat mate invited me to come to the kitchen and see the drama first hand. The view from my apartment at Aston University didn’t give much away. I could see gangs of about five to ten youths marauding suspiciously along the Queensway and police personal patrol the area both by foot and squad car. I could also hear more sirens than usual- but I saw no actual violence. Despite this, I resolved that it was gonna be a night in!

To it’s credit, the body politic’s response has been one of swift consensus – that consensus being that public order is the immediate concern and water cannon should be used if necessary to achieve this. David Cameron (eventually) came back from holiday to recall Parliament and to order a few thousand extra police officers into the capital.

Appalling reports of looting and general vandalism poured in via mainstream and social media. On twitter, the left blamed Maggie Thatcher, the right saw it as a vindication of Enoch Powell and everyone seemed it as a lamentable reflection on modern Britain.

Being an old school social democrat, with a small “s” and a big “d”, I am inclined to give Mags her fair share of the blame. Her government, and governments after that put in train a series of policies that exacerbated the class divide in the UK. Coalition policy has merely cemented this. The most tangible of these policies is to be found in higher education. One of the principle means of class mobility remains a decent undergraduate degree. The infamous policy of allowing Universities to charge up to nine grand a year in fees has burned a bridge to this mobility for a large section of young school leavers who cannot be blamed for despairing at their prospects. This certainly does not excuse the violence we have seen but it does serve to partially explain it.

Enoch references simply are not relevant. The rioters here in Brum are of all ethnic backgrounds. Making reference to Powell at a time like this is just cheap and shameful point scoring by the anti immigrant lobby.

Personally, I do not predict any serious violence in Birmingham this evening. At the very least, I don’t think it will be anything like last night, but we shall see.

And why wouldn’t they? The people of rural Ireland have grown up in a political system based on clientalism bordering on gombeenism. Why shouldn’t a Mayo Taoiseach be expected to deliver more than your standard pot hole filling backbencher?

It is bizarre and arguably quiet sad that Irish electors have primarily local and not national issues at heart when exercising the franchise.

What’s that I hear you cry? “The system is broken The solution is political reform.” You’re not wrong. But this can only be part of the solution.

A more concrete way of alleviating this problem would be to adopt a more geographically balanced approach with public spending, in particular spending on infrastructure.

A cursory glance at the demographics of the Irish Republic will show glaring divisions between the populous east and the barren west. County Louth for example, has a population density of 135.7 persons per square km whilst in Mayo this figure is 22.2.

Government capital spending should seek to balance out this situation. It should not slavishly follow the statistics (often in the pursuit of votes!) as they arise in each census as this has only made matters worse.

Outgoing Fianna Fail administrations, to their credit, have made some token efforts in the pursuit of the above. Decentralisation was ill thought out at best, quasi-Stalinist at worst but it’s end goal of making centres of population in the BMW more viable was worthwhile. The national investment programmes in road and rail were similarly amiable, but the general thrust of investments in both areas was a case of all roads lead to Dublin.

Employment and wage levels are slightly lower in the west so any government stimulus can be predicted to go that bit further in that part of the country.

Now before I am branded a bleeding heart lefty, let me state that I believe the private sector can have a positive role in developing the west as well. For example, the western seaboard is currently littered with more airports than we need at the moment. Proof of this came in the immediate aftermath of the recent and tragic accident at Cork Airport. Ryanair was able to all but instantaneously move all its traffic using Cork to Shannon thus confirming the underutilisation of the island’s second airport. There should be a conscious effort to get as many European and global airlines using these airports so as to fly in tourists and to enable business links needed for job growth in the region at large.

Quangos such as boards of enterprise and chambers of commerce do not necessarily need to be abolished but they certainly need to be held accountable in their role of drawing in sustainable investment.

In short, I think if the cake was divided up properly in the first place you wouldn’t need a gombeen to go fetch you the crumbs.

(Population statistics taken from the 2006 census)

The Independent decries the cut in the PSO (public service obligation) subsidies that prop up the regional air routes between the capital and the rest of the country.

A report for the department of transport that recommended the reduction of Galway airport’s PSO cited the improved road links (now pretty much motorway all the way) between Dublin and Galway and the revitalised rail line that allow for a journey of about 2.5 hours by either bus or train and which clearly lessen the need for domestic air transport in a country this size. With this and the current state of the national coffers in mind, the cut proposed is more than reasonable.

One of the sections most surprising contributions is the campaign’s shameless endorsement by Green Senator Niall O’Brolchain. I believe that the Senator is aware enough of his own green principles to know that an aircraft burns the vast majority of its emissions upon take off and landing and that therefore a 35 minute flight by a small aircraft across the island is lethal for the environment. He should also be aware of his parties sterling work in promoting investment in rail transport across the nation. We can therefore assume that the Senator has taken a leaf out of his coalition partners play book and jettisoned some core principles at the slightest whiff of a vote.

What’s easily the most alarming thing about the whole piece is the apparent lack of suggestions from contributors as regarding the future of the airport bar prolonging an outdated subsidy.

Surely, the viability of attracting a lowcost airline, be it Ryanair, or others from Britain or the continent could at least be examined by a joint task force comprising of the airport the chamber of commerce, the tourist board and the city and county councils. Galway is an attractive destination for tourists in Summer and many Galwegians would appreciate an alternative to Dublin and Shannon for air travel. They may even be willing to pay a little more for the privilege. Enquiries should be made.

It’s pieces like this in local newspapers up and down the country that focus on nothing but knee jerk reactions to cuts without so much as a column inch given over to consider the rationale behind the decision and even less for a solution to the situation that make me despair for the future of this republic.

Come February, new government won’t be enough. We will need new thinking as well.

Dear Sir/Madam,

I originally opened a bank account with the Bank of Ireland in Headford, Co. Galway in October of 2001.

Since then, I think we all can agree that the Irish banking sector has been on quiet the roller coaster. I remember the great novelty of first having a bank account, the ATM card and security and independence that it brought. My generation of customers also remembers a few years later when we were bombarded with offers for cheap and easy credit in the form of credit cards, term loans and mortgages at knock down interest rates all fuelled by large capital flows from mainland Europe.

When this model of banking collapsed spectacularly, I, for one, did not begrudge the help offered to your company from my taxes when you were given access to one of the most elaborate banking guarantee schemes in the western world nor the large capital injections that you also obtained. I figured that we, the voters had elected successive governments who promoted this model and it was only fair that we, as a community should pay for at least part of the clean up.

It was a step too far, however, when you announced late last year that ordinary and loyal customers like myself, will as of next February, have to have at least €3,000 per quarter entering our current accounts in order to avoid prohibitive charges for every day banking.

Given all of the above, I feel somewhat insulted. I am writing you today to let you know that unless this situation changes, I shall be taking my business elsewhere in February and you will have lost a lifelong customer.

Kind Regards,

Shane Heneghan

 

The red tram line should have at least partly been built underground!!

For me there is perhaps no greater symbol of the mindless spending of the Celtic tiger than the construction of the LUAS tram network. It was clear that some form of transport solution was needed for the city. An overground tram system was built with 2 lines to be refered to as the green line and the red line. The Green line runs pretty much entirely on it’s own track segregated from the street traffic. However, the red line bisects the North inner city crossing some of the busiest streets. By what logic exactly does one ease traffic by running a big metal tube in the path of the aforementioned traffic? The fact that it runs through such a busy area means that it is liable to hell of a lot of disruption for various events. Since I’ve lived here, service has been disrupted for, snow, fire, a visit from an ex British PM, Gay pride and that infamous time a bus plowed into a tram on O’Connell street which proves that the design of the thing is not only foolish, it’s dangerous.

Had it been built underground, it would be quicker due to avoiding the above and the elimination of a variety of stops (umm Four Courts.. I don’t think so! – walk to Smithfield you lazy lawyer). It was a poorly thought out folly and infuriates me on a near daily basis.

Freebies

It would seem this is one of a handful of capitals left in Europe where most of the main attractions one wants to see are free. I hope this is a phenomenon that survives the recession.

Trinity

I don’t care what calibre of an alumni it has Trinners is more a little bit of blighty just of Grafton Street than a Uni. Whatevs. Diversity is good.

Planning

Won’t somebody please think of the children? Dublin has 1 million people living in the same area that Berlin manages to fit 3 million. The spread out nature of the conurbation has obvious connotations for carbon footprints and commuting time. The absence of the frenetic activity in the property market that we saw in recent years presents a vacum where decent binding planning laws can be made to prevent cronyism and brainless urban sprawl in the future.

The Liffey

Is it water? Can’t be. I’ve decided it’s more of a shopping trolley soup.

Yes, some of Israel’s conduct in the past few months and indeed, the past few decades has been abhorrent, but I fail to see for one moment how this makes Palestine, where homosexuality is punishable by death, women’s rights are somewhere between limited and non-existent, and children are taught that criminals should have their hand’s cut for stealing, a completely wholesome entity.

On the other side of the argument too, the pro-Israeli lobby seeks to paint an image of plucky little Israel as an oasis of liberal western democracy in the barren desert of despots that is the Middle East whilst describing the illegal and brutal blockade of Palestinian territory as wholly necessary “self-defence”.

You could collect countless statistics and sources of information to prove either side is “right” in this conflict just like you could in any other and indeed many of them may even be correct but they all should be taken with the very sage adage – that truth is always the first casualty of war. Irish history proves that it is only when one is willing to consider the views of both sides and not just ones own can conflict be resolved. A mature approach to the whole situation is lacking and desperately needed.

Just under an hour and a half long flight from Dublin, the city at Europe’s political core is ideal for a quick break.

Brussels is a microcosm for the linguistic divide in Belgium between French speaking Walloonia and Dutch speaking Flanders as it is officially bi-lingual. This clash of Romantic and Germanic civilisations is viewed either as a fault line by some or as a symbol of European unity by others.

Getting around Brussels is relatively simple. Though the public transport is an odd mix of Bus, Tram, Metro and Pre-Metro (basically trams that go underground) the ticketing is integrated, moderately priced and the system resilient – visiting in January the same sub zero temperatures that caused chaos in Dublin left this city seemingly unscathed.

In terms of architecture Brussels is a disorganised mish-mash of various styles having been founded in the 10^th Century and often finding herself as a major centre of power and commerce at several intervals since then.

The focal point of the city is the medieval Grand Place/Grote Markt, the striking central square with well preserved Guildhalls and town hall that has become a UNESCO world heritage site.

Belgian waffles and the famous double fried “frites” abound in the side streets near hear. Though the national dish of choice, Moules et Frites (Muscles and Chips) should not be overlooked either.

Belgian’s drink around 93 litres of beer a year. It would be impossible to list all the better beers of Belgium here but it would be somewhat of crime not to insist upon the reader that some of them be tried.

Not to far away from the square is the Cathedral of St Michael and Gudula, temple of choice for Belgian royalty, which tellingly plays Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” at the top of every hour and is a very pretty medieval building similar to Notre Dame. This cathedral is stinkingly more aesthetic than the gargantuan Basilica of the Sacred Heart on Brussels outskirts which is the 6^th largest Catholic Church on Earth and was completed in 1969 with all the ugliness that these facts inherently imply.

On to what Brussels is really famous for- the headquarters of the European Union in the Schuman district. The bland if utilitarian structures that house the institutions of the EU are awe inspiring in size and worth a look if just to say you were there. One can contact one’s MEP to seek admission to the parliament.

Near the Schuman district is the Cinquantenaire; a park designed to commemorate the 50^th anniversary of the formation of Belgium in 1880. The centrepiece of which is the grandiose Triumphal Arch somewhat reminiscent of Berlin’s Bradenburg gate.

Next to the arch is Belgium’s Military History Museum complete with fully restored World War One tanks and regalia and with free entrance is a nerdy few hours well spent.

Also on the Museum list is the Africa Museum which mainly seeks to chronicle Belgian misadventures in the Congo and does it’s best to paint the affair in the most positive light possible.

The most divisive of the capital’s landmarks is perhaps also the best known. The Atomium was built for expo in 1958 and represents an atom at 165 billion times its original size. Is it a post modern eye sore or a marvel of postwar engineering? Perhaps one should see for oneself. Admission is €11 which also allows access to the lift to the top.

At an hour away by train and at a most competitive fare of €9 day return, Bruges, in Flanders offers gentle medieval relief from the city. Fans of the film will pass a day or so spotting locations from the Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson film, “In Bruges” while aficionados of early modern art will enjoy the Flemish primitives.

Brussels shall probably never top the travellers wish list of dream destinations. As a curiosity on the fringes of our radar but the centre of our continent, I, for one, will argue for it to have an honourable mention at least.

Getting There

Aer Lingus fly to Brussels several times a week from Dublin whilst Ryanair have similarly frequent services from Shannon and Dublin to Brussels South (Charleroi) which is around a one hour bus journey away.