Norris bid in tatters as media vultures continue their swoop

David Norris' bid for the Irish presidency looks to be on the brink of collapse as a media onslaught that reeks just a little of McCarthyism continues to pile on the ammunition.

The latest scandal to rock the Norris camp looks to be the toughest one yet: the revelation that the flamboyant Senator used his public office to seek clemency for a convicted Israeli sex offender has prompted the desertion of both his elections and communications managers, and left him clinging to a desperate alibi that he 'remains committed' to running for office no matter what.

Norris also took the unusual step of allowing Ireland's biggest selling weekly newspaper The Sunday Independent to reproduce the grovelling correspondence in full. The paper carries the text of the letters as well as photography clearing showing that they were panned on paper headed with the Seanad (Senate) emblem.

The letters -- addressed to the Israeli High Court judges hearing a trial which resulted in the conviction of his ex-lover for underage sex -- were intended either as a character reference or as a 'mitigating factor' in his prosecution (likely both) and try to portray Norris' ex as a hardworking Jerusalemite plumber seemingly caught in the middle of an over-zealous prosecution.

Most critically, however, they clearly show a Senator abusing his position in Government to seek doubtfully legitimate clemency for a former boyfriend. Thus the uproar.

Not the first scandal

This isn't the first 'scandal' to rock Norris' rocky road to a now very unlikely nomination as President this October.

In fact if truth be told his campaign trail so far has been a more or less fluid collection of them.

A talk radio show recently returned to public memory a highly contested interview Norris conducted with current affairs magazine Magill in 2002.

The part Norris strenuously denies is a comment he allegedly made condoning pederasty in Ancient Greece. Although Norris' interviewer has since apparently lost the tape of the interview recording (unfortunately a remarkably common phenomenon where Irish politics and the media collide), few seem to have given Norris the benefit of the doubt from that episode.

Where Norris' treatment at the hands of the all powerful media differs from practically all other candidates, both past and present, is that seemingly only he has been subjected to what appears to be something of a longstanding smear campaign that finds its primary mode of attack in regurgitating decades-old controversies back into the public eye.

That does nothing to make Norris' abuse of parliamentary power any less reprehensible (nor, if true, would it excuse the pederasty remarks), but it has given many commentators - supporters and detractors of his campaign alike - the uneasy feeling that Norris' bid is running 'up against it' in a way that other pretenders to the throne simply aren't. Taking into account his rather colourful history as a longstanding advocate for gay rights - still opposed by a not discountable proportion of the Irish population - there's plenty of reason to believe that the various 'tip-offs' that now seem to have felled his floundering campaign were carefully pre-meditated.

Every candidate for presidency no matter where in the world can expect to come up against some measure of political sniping and dirt-digging during the course of their bid for office, but for some what they face crosses the line of fairness.

As much I don't support his bid and disprove of his letter, Norris, I'm beginning to think, may be one of the latter.

Minimum beer prices could be on the way for Ireland

Fifty cent a can beer may be no longer.

That's the stark reality facing Irish youth and college students if Dublin Lord Mayor Andrew Montague gets his way.

The Lord Mayor claimed yesterday that enforcing minimum alcohol prices would curb alcoholism and anti-social behaviour among Ireland's youth.

The move, if implemented, would mark the first time that such measures have been introduced in Ireland, and the second major government initiative in recent history to curb problem drinking, after the swift and successful passage of the Intoxicating Liquor act through the Dáil enforced a national 10pm curfew on off-trade (liquor store) alcohol sales.

Montague said yesterday that he believed there was a 'strong case' to be made for implementing such measures, citing '50 cent' cans of beer on sale in supermarkets as an example of the sort of bargain basement beer the measures would directly target.

He also claimed that such incredibly cheap larger was almost the sole preserve of 'young people, often underage drinkers, and people with drink problems,' before hastening to add that more sensible drinkers would still be able to enjoy a leisurely 'glass of wine' at home (which can, actually, be almost as cheaply acquired as beer, often found on sale at prices as low as €5 a bottle; realistically, however, such distasteful wine would probably fall foul of anyone but young drinkers' undiscerning palettes..)

What do I have to say about this? While I can understand the Lord Mayor's sincere and well-intended plan to control the levels of alcohol related anti-social behaviour in Irish cities (some would say it's becoming a 'scourge', though in my experience living abroad it isn't significantly worse than what's found in other countries), perhaps imposing greater penalties on retailers found selling alcohol to underage patrons would be a less draconian measure to consider?

While like most people my age the days of drinking 50c supermarket beer have long been supplanted by slightly more lavish delights, it still doesn't seem fair that all of society should be made pay the price of the recklessness of a few retailers for whom selling a bit more 'drink' to boost profits factors as a higher priority than ensuing that that 'drink' doesn't get into the wrong - principally, underage - hands.

Any such minimum pricing policy is also going to have to target vodka, wine, whiskey (all budget varieties needless to say), gin and cider if it's going to have chance of being successful, for if not people will simply make the transition to these drinks after the supermarket beers get the ministerial chop.

With the ever-burgeoning number of liquor stores sprouting up around Ireland, many of which now import 'exotic' drinks not previously available (often to cater to the tastes of the various immigrant communities) enforcing an effective minimum cent-per-unit-alcohol policy may also prove unworkable.As I said in a previous blog,Ireland's newfound penchant for over-regulation (a ban on smoking while driving is also under consideration at the moment) seems to be blazing an unstoppable trail.

Ultimately, though, I think it all boils down to the point that the ultimate responsibility for the enterprise of drinking alcohol (with the exception of the underage) rests with the drinker: a well-to-do thirty something professional on a stag party is as likely to get uncontrollably drunk on on-trade or premium drink as a freshman (admittedly a very cheap one) guzzling the supermarket beer. Should all drink, perhaps, be banned!?

Implementing stricter measures against those found dangerously intoxicated (ie public order offences) and selling drink to underagers might be a smarter policy than stripping society of fifty cent supermarket lager.

Extra: Below a picture of the famous 'Dutch Gold', a notoriously cheap Irish import synonymous with cheap beer in Ireland .

Vatican recalls Papal Nuncio to Ireland -- PR suicide 101

The shocking decision from the Vatican to recall its accredited diplomatic representative to Ireland, 'Papal Nuncio' Giuseppe Lenza, is a decision which will only worsen the impact of the recent Cloyne Report fallout for the already badly damaged institution, and tarnish further their already sullied reputation in the eyes of its faithful.

The Vatican has now chosen to shun any possible opportunity to enter into dialogue over the serious allegations contained in the document, which were numerous, serious, and shocking, and shown that it prefers the sort of 'elitism' that Enda Kenny hit out at in the Dail -- now only available, apparently, in the sheltered haven of Rome -- to functioning like a normal sovereign authority and entering into bilateral discussions and owning up to what it did wrong.

The fact that the Vatican's withdrawal of its diplomat springs directly as a result of Kenny's milestone speech criticising it in the Dail - lauded from all corners and hailed as one of the greatest and most significant speeches in the history of the Irish state - is also childish in the extreme.

Ireland, like any other democracy, has been vocally critical of the conduct of many nations with diplomatic missions here throughout the State's existence (Israel, Libya, Lebanon, to name just a few), yet none of these countries have seen fit to recall their ambassador back in a huff as the Vatican did. Ireland's constitution makes a commitment to maintaining 'concord' between the nations, yet this is a priority clearly not held in the same esteem by the Church's puppet-masters in Rome.

Recent media reports recount how the Papal Nuncio - himself a career diplomat with the Vatican, having served in various roles since 1972 - appeared flustered and hassled after leaving a meeting at Iveagh House, the headquarters of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs, following a meeting with Foreign Affairs Minister Eamonn Gilmore.

If Gilmore gave him a good dressing down, then it's certainly the least he deserved: the Vatican was uncovered to have made serious and deliberate attempts to impede investigations into child sexual abuse in the Irish church, and instruct domestic clerics to do likewise. Perhaps an apology would have been more in order than tendering a resignation.

Most notably, though, this marks the stage where we can definitely say that there is a serious cooling of relations emerging between Ireland and the Church. The New York Times in an article published this morning, described it as a 'deepening standoff'; perhaps an irreparable rift will come to be a more apt description as the crisis plays out.

More than anything, though, you'd wonder why the surprisingly media-savvy Vatican chose this most amateur and draconian course of action as its way of handling a serious assault on its reputation in Ireland.

It's certainly the last thing that will help bring about any sort of reconciliation between the Church and its justifiably disillusioned adherents and may well mark the dawn of a terminal break-up between the two.

And if that does happen, then given today's reaction from the Vatican you'd be hard-pressed not to sympathize with them.

Clarification: contrary to what was stated above, indications are currently that the Nuncio's recall is for the purpose of engaging in 'consultations' on the matter with the Pope, rather than a permanent withdrawal. Articles published following the posting of this blog also quote sources from within the Department of Foreign Affairs as indicating that the move is not now being viewed as hostile, as it may initially have seemed to be.

Weather forecaster in surprise apology after raining on nation's hopes of sunshine

One of Ireland's most senior broadcast meteorologists has made a surprise apology on national radio after the weather agency mistakenly misled weather pundits into believing that some sunny weather would punctuate an otherwise gloomy summer over the coming weeks.

Speaking on popular drivetime radio show Morning Ireland, weather guru Evelyn Cusack said she felt it was her civic duty to issue a national apology for the slipup which will undoubtedly deflate the hopes of countless weather fanatics nationwide, a group thought by some estimates to comprise as much as more or less the entire population.

The remarks came as Ireland suffers through yet another gloomy Irish summer, which has thusfar been dominated by a seemingly endless supply of clouds, showers, and disheartening false good weather alerts, such as the one issued by Cusack and her forecasting cronies in Glasnevin.

The forecaster, who recently also made headlines after being handed down a driving ban driving for driving under the influence, explained that Ireland's hapless latitude - at 51 degrees North it lies closer to the North Pole than the Equator - means that the famously miserable Irish summertime weather will remain a staple of Irish life for many years to come.

And although Cusack was quick to add that it would be a very different meteorological tale if Ireland were situated 'just off the West African Coast', that will come as little consolation to the perennially pasty Irish as such a drastic foray southwards would likely take hundreds, if not thousands, of years to complete.

The apology, however, may come as a minor consolation to the countless Irish barbecue fanatics so often left vexed, angry, and underfed by notoriously unreliable summertime weather predictions. The last major apology from the forecasting service dates back to last year, when radio met spokesperson Vincent O'Shea prompted nationwide complaints after what was described in the media as an 'unusually incoherent' exposition of the day's predicted weather. Met Éireann put the episode down to an apparent reaction with prescription medication. Long sought after weather forecasting accountability may finally be on the way.

Unfortunately the incident only confirmed that after the wettest, windiest, and dullest May since 1972 and a June so unseasonal that national minerals distributor Britvic said that its revenues had dropped by 15.3pc, what's left of July will probably be little better.

Maybe next year!

Kenny's Church attack marks end of the road for famous 'special position' relationship

Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny's sharply critical remarks of the Irish Catholic Church today will undoubtedly be remembered as a milestone moment in the history of Modern Ireland.

The scathing comments, which even prompted a response from the Vatican, seem set to serve as a long overdue curtain-call to a longstanding government policy of reverential deference to the Catholic Church that has its roots in De Valera's first controversial inclusion of a reference to the Church's 'special position' within Irish society in the Free State's first constitutional document, and which has been obsequiously followed by more or less every successive government since.

It's also a minor though undoubtedly importantly symbolic message to the hundreds of broken lives ruined by sexual abuse, as documented in the pages of the just-released and totally damning Cloyne Report, that one of the country's most powerful institutions is no more above the law than the man on the street, and will perhaps also afford them a small sense of vindication in the knowledge that the Government and law enforcement agencies are finally on their side, or sitting at least, as of course they also should have been, on the fence of law and justice.

The Prime Minister also made an unusually cutting remark about the Vatican's supposed control of Irish religious sovereignty, at least in the life of its mostly Catholic adherents - not so long ago, perhaps, a taboo question to raise even in itself - expressing his amazement that the type of obstruction to justice so rawly documented in the Report had taken place just three years ago, rather than three decades.

The Taoiseach (Prime Minister)also sent an unambiguous message to the Church's domestic agents that the sort of responsibility shirking they've been notorious for up to now would no longer be left continue. Kenny's language, directly attacking the 'disconnect, dysfunction, elitism, and narcissism' in the Church left few in doubt as to whom it was directed.

Most of all, though, the broadside was notable for the utter frankness of its criticism, shorn of all the marks of respect and reticence that have colored previous governments' dealings with the Church and the Vatican, once such a pervasive force in almost every facet of Irish life . It was a criticism without precedent in Irish history, but one which we can expect many more of.

As the comments also follow closely in the wake of Education and Skills Minister Ruairí Quinn's recent persistent pressing of sex abusing institutions for monetary compensation to abuse victims, it's fast becoming obvious that the Cabinet is clearly engaging in a collective effort to ensure it sends a clear message that it's the Government, and not the Church, that's now running the show in Modern Ireland.

Respect for all religions is a key principle for any modern democracy to follow, but showing special deference to none would seem like a logical corollary.

The days of the 'special position' seem well and truly over. It's undoubtedly for the better.

Ireland's 'Iron Lady' blasts handout moochers

Ireland's 'Social Protection' Minister Joan Burton has today prompted comparisons to Britain's infamously tough Iron Lady Margaret Thatcher after choosing to hit out at what she termed a social welfare 'culture' in Ireland.

The Minister's misguided remarks have already drawn criticism from Opposition parliament members and unemployment support groups alike and reflect an attitude obviously still prevalent in Government that it's those out of work, rather than those overseeing the running of the economy, who are to blame for the disquieting numbers 'signing on' to social welfare in order to make ends meet.

It's true that there are some who take State handouts for the 'wrong' reason. When the difference between the average weekly Dole (social welfare) payment and a poorly paid four day workweek is often negligible who could blame some easy-going souls for choosing the easier path, at least temporarily? But by and large personal experience living here would indicate that the majority of those signing on are doing so for the 'right' reason, namely providing themselves with a basic weekly income at a time when they wouldn't otherwise be able to get by.

Those drawing the Dole for no good reason bar laziness can sometimes seem like an attractive bunch to follow, of course (the free-money-no-work lifestyle certainly has its selling points!) but most people will make at least some genuine attempt to find paid employment before having recourse to the State's welfare system.

What's disappointing is that the unduly harsh comments - which have been roundly criticized - were made by Ireland's supposed 'Social Protection' Minister, and a Labour Party one no less, who seems to have a doubtful grasp on both the remit of her portfolio - protecting those in society most in need - and the core ethos of the traditionally working-class part that as Deputy Leader she prominently represents.

Mostly, though, it just seems like another display of an aptitude for dodging responsibility that the current government seems to have so easily inherited from the previous one. Is it trite to point out that were it not for these politicians' disastrous economic planning there wouldn't be such heavy reliance upon the social welfare system to begin with?

Whatever about the crux of the Minister's comments, though, whether there is widespread abuse of the social welfare system or not, it's certainly a disheartening example of the kind of chasm that has emerged between Ireland's public representatives and the people they so often underwhelmingly manage to 'represent'.

Burton is an otherwise intelligent, thoughtful, and astute politician, but she could definitely have found better things to say during a recession than criticize those on social welfare.

'Miss Piggy' TDs are an embarrassment to the Irish parliament

Today's news that Independent TDs Mick Wallace (left) and 'Ming' Flanagan have been forced to apologize after being caught slurring another parliamentarian 'Miss Piggy' is hardly a surprising revelation.

Wallace is the same TD (broadly Congressman) who is supposedly planning on defying a planned new dress code for the parliament by continuing to wear his bright pink t-shirts to parliamentary sessions, and whose previous summer employment includes stints working as a human scarecrow (as well as a property developer, before apparently realizing that politics was his calling), while 'Ming' Flanagan (real name Luke) is a West of Ireland TD whose persona revolves primarily around his much publicized use of, and campaign for the legalization of, cannabis, and who has previously served jail time for refusing to pay a littering fine.

And while it may be pushing it a bit to say that for Wallace the Miss Piggy remark and his trademark bright, pinks shirts are in any way connected, they do demonstrate a creeping disregard for decorum and the office of a TD at Ireland's upper legislative chamber that seems to have been picking up steam in recent years.

Green Party TD Paul Gogarty's famous "f**k you" lashout at Labour Deputy Éamonn Stagg, which supposedly prompted concerned members of parliament to hastily draft an experimentary list of outlawed words which could not be uttered while debating in the Dáil, was probably the most shocking example of this, at least in recent parlimentary memory, but the Ceann Comhairle - the officer of the Irish parliament responsible (among other things) for keeping order and keeping the day's agenda going - seems to have been getting a good bit of vocal training recently in his usually futile efforts to quell unruly TDs and their often chaotic arguments.

Kerry politician and scion of the infamous Healy-Rae political dynasty Michael Healy Rae could also be added to this list of less than exemplary TDs, after a tabloid's Freedom of Information request unearthed the fact that he had used, or authorized his staff to use, the parliament's telephones to try convince people to vote for him on a televised gameshow - Celebrities Gone Wild - which he was competing in at the time (the end to this story is that Healy-Rae was unapologetically sacked from a State board and forced to pay back the phone bill as a result).

Irish members of parliament have also taken very strongly to using Twitter as a means of communicating with constituents in recent times, as well, of course, as gossiping about one another, and it was a Tweet from Fine Gael TD Simon Coveney that set the wheels of the whole 'Gargle-gate' scandal in motion (in which Cowen allegedly came on national radio while still badly hungover).

So it may just be me, but it does seem as if Irish politics is headed on a downward spiral, at least so far as decorum and the respectability of some of its members is concerned, and while it's one thing for the country to descend into financial chaos, forced emigration, etc, it's quite another for a situation in which public representatives are allowed debate issues of national importance while dressed as if they're heading for the beach, call other members of parliament 'Miss Piggy', swear at each other, and use the chamber's telephones to try win votes for Celebrities Gone Wild to be allowed persist. Collectively, it risks turning the whole business of national politics into little more than a thinly glorified farce -- and that will do nothing to aid its already damaged image.

As former British Prime Minister Tony Blair said during a celebrated farewell address before the British parliament, the people in politics are a direct reflection of the greatness of the political system itself. Unfortunately it seems as if that's a lesson that some of our own Deputies could learn.

Google forced to hire Ukrainian and Russian grads -- for jobs in Dublin

Internet search giant Google says that it's being forced to hire Russian and Ukrainian graduates to fill out jobs at its EMEA headquarters in Dublin because Irish grads simply lack the necessary skills to do the work.

The disappointing news comes amid ongoing expressions of dissatisfaction from Irish industry chiefs unhappy with Irish graduates' lack of skills in mathematics and technology, which they say is forcing them to either offshore these jobs abroad or else find foreigners resident in Ireland to do the work instead.

Not enough tech grads to fill jobs

As Irish Central's Cathy Hayes reports in an article last year, Ireland's precipitous slide down an Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) ranking table assessing educational skills, from 5th to 17th place in literacy -- the most sudden drop among any of the developed nations polled -- was cause for alarm, and recent developments bear out why this was so.

Speaking at the recent Intel Open Forum on Education, Intel Ireland Chief Executive Éamonn Sinnott said that transforming Ireland' second level (high-school) system was the only way that Ireland could feasibly improve its chances of getting enough hi-tech grads out of its colleges to satisfy the demands of big industry players like Intel and Google, for whom these skills are a must.

Students who don't take Higher level mathematics and sciences for the Leaving Certificate (broadly, the Irish equivalent of the SATs) are prevented from entering into many of the scientific and numeracy-based courses the recruiters are looking for graduates from, so addressing the skills shortfall here seems a logical place to start.

Increased use of Informations and Communications Technology (ICT) and netbooks in schools were just two of the ideas floated at the Forum to try bring about an improvement in these skills, although coming from the Intel boss, the conflict of interest here is admittedly not hard to spot!

The two stories, though, do really drive home the dangerous economic bed Ireland seems to have set for itself when it chose luring foreign direct investment (FDI) - almost invariably comprising companies from the high tech sector: Microsoft, Google, Intel, etc - as the catalyst with which to fuel its explosive economic growth in the glorious but long-dead Celtic Tiger era.

Rock-bottom corporate tax rates of just 12.5% and a 'young, skilled, educated work force' (implicitly in IT) were the twin pillars of Enterprise Ireland's many successful sales pitches to US bosses and companies, who flocked and opened operations here to our financial delight, but it now seems as if the future of these two advantages looks dicey at best, and is going to look ever less convincing given our relatively high wage-base compared to countries in the Far East like India, who often also boast a more suitably skilled pool of graduates.

As the Irish Times' Caroline Madden reports, Ireland landed €21bn ($30.4bn) worth of FDI last year alone, the second highest net amount landed from outside the EU, but it remains to be seen how much of this windfall can be sustained if graduates lack the skills necessary to fill the jobs employers are demanding of them, and if migrant workers from Eastern Europe continue flocking home it seems as if even they, the Russians and the Ukraonians of the Google case, may not be available to fill these jobs. Fears justifiably run high that the ship may eventually simply set sail.

The fact that badly needed jobs are having to go to migrant workers at a time when our own unemployment rate stands above 14pc is a tragic one, but hardly an unsurprising one given the economy's seismic shift from agriculture-based to hi-tech in the space of not even fifty years.

Universities are also not renowned for acclimatizing to what's going on in the outside world, and it may be the case that the more vocationally focused institutes of technology will emerge as the leaders in supplying the needs of hi-tech industry (a case in point is Cork Institute of Technology (CIT), which this Fall is starting enrolment in the first cloud computing degree in the world).

Broadband not up to scratch

The all powerful search engine, currently spinning out a social network that it hopes can rival Facebook, also said that Irish internet is not up to scratch, which makes you wonder whether it's our government, which has long been slow in bringing out a decent national broadband scheme, or our graduates, that are really at fault for the skills shortage problem.

"I am very surprised [by the internet quality], you were doing very well with broadband until the financial crisis hit," Google CEO Eric Schmidtreportedly told workers at the firm's Dublin base recently, before adding that Ireland needs to be taking more steps to ensure that it gets more businesses online.

If there was one thing the now deposed Fianna Fáil government didn't specialize in, it seems to have been planning for the future. Let's just hope improvements are made before more of Ireland's young generation are forced to leave Ireland because there are no jobs -- or because they're too unqualified to take the ones going.

Correction

Larry Page replaced Eric Schmidt as CEO of Google on Apr. 4 of this year, however he remains an Executive Chairman at the company. Schmidt's comments cited above were made a recent gathering in Dublin (27th Jun.). Link to a report from The Irish Times is here.