A Fair Voice in an Unfair Society

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2012-09-13T10:43:00.001-07:00

2012-08-07T08:09:00.000-07:00

Michael Brunnock Making Waves With New Album The Orchard

By Wayne Dean Doyle

This might just be the kicker, that Michael Brunnock‘s music career deserves. The new album, “The Orchard”, by Michael Brunnock, has more emotive content than the final stages of the Titanic. It’s very difficult not to become reflective as an individual while listening to this album, like a guiding hand which forces you to become more in depth about yourself and the world around you. Quite simply, just magnificent and real food for thought.

Catchy and heartfelt from every note to the unassuming soothing voice of Brunnock and the ceaseless sweet cords of his five-band piece. Michael emigrated from Ireland and relocated to New York more than a decade ago, preforming at home with bands such as, Little Palace, The Van Winkles and Dead Can Dance’s, Brendan Perry. Michael seems to have a great sense of Identity, which is a binary fiber throughout his music.

Michael opened for The Frames and The Swell Season, on sold out American tours, whilst also squeezing in appearances on TV shows such as FOX 5's ‘Fearless Music'. Brunnock’s vocal ability received even greater recognition, when his soulful voice guided Sean Penn, through an emotional Journey in, This Must Be the Place (2012).

Brunnock has a rich and almost seductive ability, in this infectious thirteen-track album. He draws listeners in and captivates them, in a somewhat lost sense of time. A mish mash of David Gray and the Killers, without the over emphasized penetrating music, instead it is replaced with a clean cut reliance, on a somewhat soothing meditative voice, which grows and grows. Michael offers an intriguing album, with extremely deep heart felt lyrics for many to connect to. Simply put, very effective in terms of conveying a message.

Similarly with Bruce Springsteen’s latest album, Wrecking Ball, Michael sings of a pictorial magical show and the emotive upheavals of the many, which regardless of what you do in terms of career or life, really hits the nail on the head. It’s a difficult task to pick a favorite track within this album, as each track for the most part, has its own unique tale and identifiable characteristics.

Take Game Changer, track seven for example, extremely catchy and packed with loveable lyrics. The song could easily be applied to the various situations in life we are faced with on a daily basis. The first few seconds of Circle, reminds me somewhat of the 1916 rising, but again, its the ability of Michael’s voice and music to allow listeners to associate his music with such special events in ones heritage and life. Track thirteen; Down by the Araglin, reminded me so much of Ireland, it has a chirpy quality which leaves you toe tapping and swaying without even noticing.

There is certainly an Irish heritage embedded within this track. It would seem unfair not to mention, Sensation, which simply sucked me into a fantasy world with its amazing harmonies. Hearing this live, really did peel back the skin of somewhat buried complex issues, of one’s identity and oneself.

As for the rest, you will just have to visit the link below and immerse yourself in a lyrically beautiful compiled album, an escape from the madness which surrounds our lives today. A five-piece band, with boundless energy and synchronization systematically morphed together, to convey a great deal of trust amongst the members.

These guys were simply magical, a must listen to album. Open a beverage whilst listening to the crackling fire alongside these ardent enraptured tracks. In terms of rating, because this type of album will appeal to the masses and has a moving quality, one would unquestionably have to give an eight out of ten, for this little gem.

www.michaelbrunnock.com www.youtube.com/michaelbrunnockmusic

2012-07-26T07:18:00.000-07:00

Some nice insights into the Con Edison Lockout. http://www.queenstribune.com/feature/Feature_072612_Con-Edison.html

Sincerest Apologies

2012-07-10T10:10:00.001-07:00

Dear Readers, My sincerest apologies for not posting in quiet some time, I am currently working as a full time reporter, so please feel free to read up on my latest articles, and again, thank you for your support. http://www.queenstribune.com/news/News_062812_CounterfeitToyScheme.html I will update as often as I can. Enjoy the rest of your week.

2012-05-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Ever wondered just how much tax you pay on fuel: Well here you go, calculate your weekly tax payment.

Current average petrol price: 167.9 Current Vat: 31.4c/litre Fixed Duty: 59.622c/litre Government take: 91.02c/litre Cost before tax & duty: 76.88c/litre Retailer & distributor margin (est): 11c/litre Base petrol price (est): 65.88 Source :Pumps.ie

From one Childs hand to another

2012-04-13T02:29:00.000-07:00

Shocking revelations of co-operations, chocolate and child labour

By Wayne Dean Doyle

When you’re peeling back the wrapper of that piece of chocolate or being overwhelmed with comfort whilst sipping that cup of cocoa, would you embrace the oncoming delight and comfort if you knew more than 109,000 children from the Ivory Coast work under some of the most horrific forms of child labour? And over 10,000 of these children are victims of trafficking and enslavement according to Change.org.

“Children as young as seven endure sixteen hour days and beatings to produce the cocoa that major companies use to make chocolate. Only days before Easter, these companies are desperately competing with each other to maximize profits”, stated Amanda Kloer of Change.org.

Companies that currently purchase cocoa beans from West Africa where slave tainted labour is being used to produce cocoa include of M&M, Mars, Cadbury Ltd, Butler’s Ltd, Kraft and Ben and Gerry’s.

“These companies do not have to publicise the country of origin of raw materials such as cocoa beans” stated Vanessa Cooling of the Food Safety Authority.
“With meat products and various other products, country of origin must be declared on labelling etc, but not in this instance. I’m sure if you contacted these companies directly, they would provide you with the information you need”.

Companies such as Nestlé, Hershey’s, Cadbury and Butler’s are all lacking when it comes to providing clear accountability within the area of their products.
The lack of traceability is frightening for a concerned consumer.

“We source our beans from Ghana, stated Christine Baldwin, a customer representative of Cadbury Ltd. “I do not have any more information for you”.
Similar enquiries were made to Butlers Ltd, a leading luxury chocolate company within the Irish market and unfortunately requests for information were met with a similar response. “We do not give that information to the public”, stated Kathy Keeney a customer representative of Butlers Chocolate.

Nestlé control a substantial amount of the Irish chocolate industry with a multitude of products. Michelle Doyle a Public Relations officer of Nestle stated, “All our information is available on our website”.

Further efforts made by this publication to obtain basic information such as production traceability and corporate transparency had been circumvented once more.
Evidence from Global civil societies such as Change.org, Raise the bar campaign and documentaries such as The Dark Side of Chocolate, directed by Miki Mistrati and Roberto Ramano clearly outline serious malpractices within the cocoa industry.

Pressure is building, yet these companies refuse to provide consumers with this small moral comfort.

The Dark side of Chocolate and other documentaries alike have found evidence that children as young as seven are being kidnapped and sold for as little as €230 and forced to work up to one hundred hours a week in grotesque conditions.

All enquiries made into where and how chocolate companies source and farm these cocoa pods left a lack of clarity and accountability.
Are these companies currently using child slave labour to process chocolate? If this is not the case, why isn’t there information providing transparency and production lines?

Enquires made to Hershey chocolate company was also met with a continuous ream of public relations orientated waffle. Where does Hershey’s source its cocoa beans?
This question was blatantly avoided over and over again, the company opting to send five page emails of the excellent work they do. No reply to the question.
The public refusal by Hershey’s to release information about its supply chain and production process would suggest Hershey’s cannot guarantee child labor free chocolate.

Nestlé’s cocoa plan-revealed in 2009-stated the company would be working towards displaying a fair-trade logo on all of its Cocoa products. Nestlé has added Fair-trade Kit Kat thankfully.

“Fair-trade Kit Kat involves just 1% of Nestlés cocoa purchase and Nestlé is criticised for failing to deliver on its promise to end child slavery in its cocoa supply chain by 2006” states babymilkaction.org.
A spot check conducted by this publication of location’s in Dublin, Wicklow and Carlow super markets and grocery stores has found that the vast amount of confectionary products do not display the Fair-trade logo, and in Nestlé’s case the Fair-trade logo accounted for 10 per cent of their products in any given store.
An investigation into the transparency and accuracy of the sourcing of these cocoa beans has led this publication to believe that there are serious efforts being made to distort, limit and control the flow of incriminating information needed for clarity and enhance to consumer confidence in these key areas.

According to Euromonitor the chocolate industry in Ireland is worth a staggering excess of €583 million and is expected to reach €631 million by 2015. Seasonal chocolate is worth an average of €86 million.
Ireland has the highest consumption of chocolate per capita in the world with on average 11.2 kg consumed by individuals per year. To put this into context this is the same weight as 3,385 double Decker busses – in chocolate.

Cadbury, who source their cocoa from Ghana in West Africa, announced in 2009 that all their products would be going fair trade. But unfortunately this still has not happened and Irish consumers continue to purchase Cadbury products despite little or no transparency.

Over 60 per cent of chocolate consumption in Ireland is a product owned by Cadbury. It is important consumers in Ireland take issues of this nature seriously, after all who would want to be associated with child labour, or supporting it through the purchase these products?

From one Childs hand to another - New Investigative article to come !!

2012-04-03T07:26:00.000-07:00

Shocking revelations of co-operations, chocolate and child labour

By Wayne Dean Doyle

When peeling back the wrapper of that piece of chocolate or maybe being overwhelmed with comfort whilst sipping that cup of cocoa, would you embrace the oncoming delight and comfort if you knew more than 109,000 children from the Ivory Coast work under some of the most horrific forms of child labour? And over 10,000 of these children are victims of trafficking and enslavement.

The Irish Independent

2012-03-13T05:54:00.001-07:00

http://www.independent.ie/opinion/comment/wayne-doyle-welcome-to-the-deep-web-a-world-of-gunrunning-sex-trafficking-and-assassins-for-hire-3047794.html

A fellow blogger's work. Check it out !!

2012-03-13T02:07:00.001-07:00

http://filmproductionschools.org/

2012-03-06T04:59:00.001-08:00

Exposing the Deep Web

The Internet we don’t know

By Wayne Doyle

“I cannot say that we are familiar with the deep web. What I can tell you is that any server or website that interacts or promotes crime will be subject to an investigation, once a complaint has been made”, stated John , who declined to give his second name, from the Garda Press office.

An investigation made by this publication into the illegal activity within the “Deep Web” has revealed a world of corruption, guns, sex trafficking and information about high profile individuals and their personal lives.

The Deep Web (also called Deepnet, the invisible Web, DarkNet, Undernet or the hidden Web) refers to World Wide Web content that is not part of the Surface Web, which is indexed by standard search engines such as Google, Bing and Dogpile.

When pushed further on the Gardai’s knowledge around the area of the deep web the Garda source concluded, “You can find all our information in relation to internet safety on our website under the frequently asked questions section.

William, a computer programme who is extremely efficient in areas such as Java script, HTML and general software encryption stated, “It’s not a case of just typing into Google and logging in, the deep web is complex and dangerous for those who can’t operate down there anonymously”.

Further investigation proved Williams point as statistical information within the seep web revealed only 800,000 individuals worldwide have made it inside the deep web to date.

To find out more about what the deep web contained there was six hours of programming and downloading plug ins, adjusting our privacy setting manually and removing any tangible trace of our location led us to the deep and murky underworld of the Deep Web.

Within the inner sanctum of the deep web individuals can avail of a multitude of illegal services such as rent-a-hacker, false documentation such as passports, and a wide range of guns and also view sensitive documents and user manuals for heavy weaponry and bombs.
“These doxboxes or documents as we would call them, are constantly being monitored by the FBI and CIA, if you stumble on the wrong images or wrong page, you could find yourself in serious trouble”, states William.

Contact was made with the New York Headquarters of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s internet crime department in order to understand where and how exactly law enforcement is dealing with this current global problem. The investigation was directed to the FBI cyber crime section where evidence of up to seventy prosecutions to date in relation to cyber crime ranging from illegal music and movies to child pornography was discovered.

In 2008, the U.S. President mandated the NCIJTF to be the focal point for all government agencies to coordinate, integrate, and share information related to all domestic cyber threat investigations. The FBI is responsible for developing and supporting the joint task force, which includes 18 intelligence agencies and law enforcement, working side by side to identify key players and schemes.

Its goal is to predict and prevent what’s on the horizon and to pursue the enterprises behind cyber attacks. Unfortunately I did not uncover any evidence which would suggest that the Irish Police force in terms of Cyber Crime is aware of the severity of what is going on inside the deep web through the use of Irish servers.

Access to the deep web was gained through the Tor network, which essentially allows the user to browse the deep net unidentified. For example, when you request information from Google the information travels from the site/server you requested it from thus it can be easily tracked to your computer with your unique user identity.

However, the Tor network uses multiple servers and multiple computers from all around the world, all connected to the Tor network to relay the information back and forth. In this situation it is almost impossible to identify the requester or server of that particular information. These are layers and layers of security to provide maximum anonymity.

New Investigative Article To Come !!

2012-02-22T07:27:00.000-08:00

Exposing the Deep Web

The Internet we don’t know

By Wayne Doyle

An investigation, with the consultation of The FBI and Garda Press Office, into the illegal activity within the “Deep Web” has revealed a world of corruption, guns, sex trafficking and information about high profile individuals and their personal lives.

Amateur International Boxing Association wants Female Boxers to “Wear Skirts”.

2012-02-09T03:49:00.000-08:00

By Wayne Doyle

Female boxing is about to make history, but unfortunately it has been undermined with the bizarre suggestion that female boxers should wear skirts.

The upcoming London games will see female boxing for the first time but female competitors have been asked to wear skirts in order to distinguish themselves from male competitors.

However, the view that sexualising the sport and using women to do so is not only unjust, but also that it has nothing to do with sport and only serves to enforce gender stereotypes.

Britain's Natasha Jonas was damning in her criticism of the idea, saying: "The only people who would want to see women in skirts are men."

Athletes from other sports such as Tennis and Badminton have voiced their opinions, stating that these athletes wear skirts so why shouldn’t female boxers.

Watch this space !!

Hi Everyone

2012-02-02T03:40:00.000-08:00

Hi Readers,

Hope you all have a great New Year. Firstly I would just like to thank the reader who recommended me on StumbleUpon, and secondly to let you all know I'm currently working on some articles which will be available within the next week. Your continued support is greatly appreciated

Media Company Advertising Child sex Trafficking

2011-10-26T02:43:00.000-07:00

Village Voice media executives aware of back page.com child sex trafficking.

By Wayne Doyle

Backpage.com is America’s number one online platform for advertising sex with minors. Despite letters from over 51 law offices to Village voice media outlining over 50 cases in 22 different U.S states, the media company refuses to prevent the adverts being placed.

Backpage.com’s terms and conditions clearly highlight that advertisements of such a nature impede and violate the company’s T&C’s. “Village Voice Media executives are fully aware that their site is used as a platform for child sex trafficking, but have done close to nothing to stop it” stated change.org , an organisation Petitioning against this gross and inhumane sex trafficking ring.

Norman Barnes was arrested in Massachusetts, within ten days he had already made €17,000. He made this large sum of money by forcing a 15 year old girl to have sex with up to eight men for ten days. The truth is, he couldn’t have done it without Backpage.com, which is owned by
Village Voice Media.

“Village Voice Media earns $22.7 million a year from its adult services ads on Backpage.com, which it may have to shut down completely too effectively prevent the site from being used as a platform for selling sex with children” stated change.org.

Your Help is needed!!

2011-10-04T10:48:00.000-07:00

24 hours to tell Florida State's Attorney Angela Corey not to try a 12-year-old as an adult.

Cristian Fernandez is only 12 years old. And if Florida prosecutor Angela Corey has her way, he'll never leave jail again.

Cristian hasn't had an easy life. He's the same age now as his mother was when he was born. He's a survivor of physical, emotional, and sexual abuse. In 2010, Cristian watched his stepfather commit suicide to avoid being charged with abusing Cristian.

Last January, Cristian was wrestling with his 2-year-old brother, David, and accidentally broke David's leg. Despite this, their mother left Cristian with his brother again in March. While the two boys were alone, Cristian allegedly pushed his brother against a bookcase, and David sustained a head injury. After their mother returned home, she waited six hours before taking David to the hospital. David eventually died.

Now Cristian is being charged with first degree murder -- as an adult. He's the youngest person in the history of his Florida county to receive this charge, and his next hearing is scheduled for tomorrow.

Melissa Higgins works with kids who get caught up in the criminal justice system in her home state of New Hampshire. When she read about Cristian's case, she was appalled -- so she started a petition on Change.org asking Florida State's Attorney Angela Corey to try Cristian as a child. Please sign Melissa's petition immediately before Cristian's hearing tomorrow.

As part of his prosecution, Cristian has been examined by two different forensic psychiatrists -- each of whom concluded that he was "emotionally underdeveloped but essentially reformable despite a tough life."

Cristian has already been through more than most of us can imagine -- and now the rest of his life is in the hands of a Florida prosecutor who wants to make sure Cristian never leaves jail.

The purpose of the juvenile justice system is to reform kids who haven't gotten a fair shake. If Cristian is sent to adult prison, it will be more than a tragedy for him -- it will also be a signal to other prosecutors that kids' lives are acceptable collateral in the quest to be seen as "tough on crime."

Cristian's next hearing is in just 24 hours. State's Attorney Angela Corey needs to know that her actions are being watched -- please sign the petition asking her not to try Cristian as an adult:

http://www.change.org/petitions/reverse-decision-to-try-12-yo-cristian-fernandez-as-an-adult

This story was sent by a friend, neither I or my blog claim any attribution to the above story.

2011-08-23T13:21:00.000-07:00

Homeless soldiers

24/8/2011

By Wayne Doyle

Alone in the destitute trenches of Vietnam, young and terrified, the thoughts of getting home alive a constant tormentor. With the whistles of bullets and cries of pain screeching throughout the open air, this was hell on earth for any man. For 64 year old Sergeant Joe Williams a Vietnam veteran whom served for his country between 1967- 1970 as an EF Sergeant, this wasn’t the case. Joe states “I fear for my life now simply because I am homeless and a small portion of the youth today have no respect for people like me. I fear for my life just as much now as I did in Vietnam, I’m just facing a different type of violence, a violence that could easily be avoided.

The coalition of homeless veterans in the United States claims between 130,000 and 200,000 veterans are on the street in any one given night. A further 23 per cent of the homeless population throughout America is made up of soldiers, men and women alike whom so desperately fought to protect their country. An astounding 47 per cent of these are from the Vietnam era alone. Of those soldiers 89 per cent received an honorable discharge for their time served.

Peering through his smoke stained spectacle lens’s Mr. Williams States “ they wanted me to go back, I said no, no way, I served my three years and wanted to be home with my family”.

“ I now live on a non service pension from the American government of $985.19 cents per month. To be honest, I’m barley surviving. I don’t do drugs or have a problem with alcohol, so why is it so difficult to get my own place”. The Army doctor’s evaluation of Mr., Williams stated that he couldn’t be granted the full service pension of $2,500 because his Post Traumatic Stress Disorder was non-service related. PTDS is a severe anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to any event that results in physiological trauma, the US Army stated that Mr. Williams suffered PTDS from his own personal life, states a depleted looking Mr. Williams.

Adam Wawrynek whom assists Mr. Williams and many other Vietnam veterans alike, is working on getting Mr. Williams accommodation. Mr. Wawrynek was unavailable to comment. “ he is a Good man, he has been trying to help me out, and other places just tell you one thing and do something else. Paper work is so strict now a days, it ends up sitting on peoples desks and they don’t feel the need to hurry”. Mr. Warwrynek works for Vietnam Veterans, he doesn’t work with them, States Mr. Williams.

Mr. Williams Speaks of New York City Rescue Mission, which was the first homeless shelter in New York City in 1872. It provides warm meals, clean beds, and clean clothes. Space is limited and if you don’t arrive before 6 :30pm, you cannot enter. “ even if you do arrive in before then, your still not guaranteed a bed. You have to enter a bed lottery and hope and pray that if that person doesn’t arrive for their bed, your ticket gets pulled.

Homelessness is a real problem with real consequences for people such as Mr. Williams, these men and women offered the lives for America, the land of opportunity, the land where all man and women alike are equal. These are just some of the superior labels associated with this great nation. It time to step up to the plate and protect and help people such as Mr. Williams because this country is forever indebted to them.

A Fair Voice in an Unfair Society: Contact Me

2011-07-02T08:10:00.000-07:00
A Fair Voice in an Unfair Society: Contact Me
http://ie.linkedin.com/pub/wayne-doyle/30/9/b71

Contact Me

2011-07-02T08:09:00.000-07:00
Please do not hesitate to contact me in relation to any of the stories entailed on this page or if you have any suggestions or questions for me. Thanks again.
www.wayned@hotmail.com

The Cost of Cheap Furniture ?

2011-06-29T15:25:00.000-07:00

In Sweden, IKEA's factory workers are paid $19 per hour and get five weeks of paid vacation every year. In America? Not so much.

IKEA's Swedwood plant in Danville, Virginia is the most dangerous plant in the wood furniture industry -- workers there have suffered more than 1,536 days of lost work due to accidents on the job in a 30-month period. According to the LA Times, IKEA's Danville workers are paid as little as $8 an hour and face racial discrimination from their managers. Workers often find out on Friday night that they'll be forced to work for the entire weekend -- and if they can't make it, they face disciplinary action.

In Sweden, IKEA's factory workers are unionized, which is one reason they receive better wages and have a safer workplace -- but the company is going all out to prevent American workers from receiving those same rights and protections. Please sign the petition to tell IKEA to give its American workers the freedom to organize.

The workers in Danville have filed for an election to start a union of their own -- the election could come as soon as six weeks from now. But rather than pay its workers fair wages, Swedwood pays the notorious union-busting firm Jackson Lewis thousands of dollars a day to hold mandatory "captive audience meetings" with the Danville workers. At these meetings, the Jackson Lewis associates inundate the workers with anti-union propaganda and veiled threats that are backed up with random firings.

Here's the good news: The publicity surrounding this organizing drive has already made a difference -- last month, Swedwood announced that Danville workers would no longer be forced to work mandatory overtime. But Liz Cattaneo of American Rights at Work stresses that continued public pressure is extremely important: "If IKEA thinks the public isn't paying attention, they're going to play hardball … throughout the election process - which could mean more firings and more union busting."

Now that the workers have filed for a union election, you can bet IKEA will redouble its efforts to squash their rights. They need our support now more than ever.

Please sign the petition to tell IKEA's head of Corporate PR that we are paying attention, and we expect IKEA to treat its American workers just as well as its Swedish workers

The following script was sent to me by a friend and I do not claim any publishing rights. Content is for information purposes only.

Away for the summer

2011-06-15T07:25:00.000-07:00
I am currently out of Ireland for the summer so unfortunately I cannot post as often as I would like. Recently Brian Lenihan Jr passed away, a man whom was so young and contributed vastly to Ireland's governmental policies in our time of economic turbulence. May he rest in peace. I Will however post once every two weeks on events that are being covered and not covered by the Irish press. Thank you again for your very much appreciated support as my blog has reached 4 figure numbers in a relatively short period of time.

Apologies And Hope All is Well

2011-05-09T07:50:00.000-07:00
Due to exams and college obligations I will be very busy and have been over the past couple of weeks. As soon as they finish I WILL be posting weekly.
Thanks again,
Wayne

This New Article Is Worth The Wait!

2011-04-28T01:13:00.001-07:00
Hi Everyone,
I am currently working on an article about a brutal assault - just double cheking sources etc, so will post it in the coming days.
Thanks Again
Wayne

What Freedom of Information

2011-04-14T05:14:00.000-07:00
Freedom of Information in Ireland

By Wayne Doyle

Ever since the foundation of the state in 1922 when Ireland gained its independence from England, there has been this secrecy DNA fibre which has been passed from generation to generation within Dail Eireann. The Irish state has never been in favour of the public viewing of documentation and monitoring the on goings within dial Eireann. During the 1922 civil war decisions were taken by the Irish government and emergency powers were passed in the Dail. These decisions included execution, censorship and internment. A serious level of secrecy was instilled over those horrifically dark days. The cabinet decisions and true account of the on goings in 1922 have never fully been released and some records which have been released are causing public uproar.

However, on the flip side of this gold shiny coin, Ireland is one of a small number of countries to maintain a democratic government consistently. How democratic of a society we actually were, and still are, remains to be seen. The freedom of information act was a major pillar within Irish society when it was enacted in 1922. For the first time in Ireland’s political history, the public could question senior representatives about expenditure and the effectiveness of their particular role. However in order to gain a sufficient understanding of the complex, multi-dimensional aspects and the sheer level of secrecy within Irish government before the bill was introduced, we will look at Ireland before the Freedom of information 1997 and highlight some key aspects which contributed to the delay of freedom of information in Ireland.

The first means of redress for those who wanted greater access to this information came in 1980, with the Ombudsman Act, which allowed individual citizens to have their grievances against government departments and local authorities investigated by impartial officials from the Office of the Ombudsman. While not directly concerned with Freedom of Information, this Act put the everyday practices of state bodies under public scrutiny. (Bull, Newel, 2003)

Until recently anybody who requested information, questioned the authorities, or their ability to do their job, would be seriously marginalised and frowned upon by the main pillars within the political sphere in Ireland. This involved the church of Ireland, the Gardaí and also the Irish government themselves. Representatives that we pay and are obliged to have the public’s best interests at heart, hiding, avoiding and manipulating the truth for well over five decades. It wasn’t until the 1980s that some progress was made as several pieces of legislation had managed to pass through the Dail without contamination. This legislation gave more access and more accountability to the public through state information. In the 1990s the country was shown a real need for accountability and transparency in relation to the on goings in Dail Eireann.

The Beef tribunal was set up in the 1990s to show that a partnership based on favouritism between Albert Reynolds and Larry Goodman whom was for a long time Ireland’s biggest exporter of beef; “nicknamed the beef baron” Mr Goodman had caused massive irregularities in the beef industry. Thee beef tribunal report in 1994 created difficulties within the newly formed government of Fianna Fail and labour as members of each of the party questioned each other’s credibility. The ministers refused to answer on the grounds of cabinet confidentiality and the matter was taken to the Supreme Court, which ruled that cabinet secrecy was a constitutional principle. Lohan, Hannigan, Conrad, Jackson, 1996, p8

Testament to the secrecy and mis-conduct within the Irish government was the comments made by PD leader Des O'Malley. “I've a lot to say but I'm saying none of it.”
With a new coalition in government the then Minister of State, Eithne Fitzgerald of the Labour Party, began investigating legislation that would lead to greater public accountability. She wrote of, “turning the culture of the Official Secrets Act on its head”. Mrs Fitzgerald believed there was a greater need for transparency within Irish politics. Public representatives should be held accountable for their actions, and their motives should be questioned by the public, because after all that is how a democratic society remains purified or in Irelands case becomes purified. For the First time with Irish history there was legislation that could protect but also hold individuals responsible for gross misconduct within Irish society. The Freedom of Information Act, 1997, gave the citizen three new rights – to see official records, correct personal information and be given the reasons for public decisions.

In 1997 after vast and much needed progress in terms of freedom of information in Ireland, the Freedom of information act took an unprecedented attack from the Minister for Finance Charlie McCreevy. In a premeditated showcase of power, the minister had handicapped the bill. Mr McCreevy stated that this was in a bid to cut costs in the finance section. Two restrictive steps were taken which would see applications for information half within the following two years of the bills implementation. One amendment was the fees to access non- personal information. Whilst the current charge for access to the documentation is only 15 euros, the researcher will also be charged a further 20.95 euros for every hour that is spent retrieving the work, even if the documentation you receive is not what you were originally looking for. Anybody looking to access material under the freedom of information act will pay anything in excess of 200 euros per application.

The second amendment made the freedom of information act in 2003 was that cabinet papers were to be held for a period of ten years. The original duration of holding cabinet papers was 5 years. Now that a new government has been elected what changes can we expect? Each party pitched its vision to us as voters through many keywords such as transparency, honesty, integrity and the ability to affect change.

This is exactly what the voter wants to hear, because Irish society is in great need of some honesty and integrity and above all leadership. Ireland needs somebody who can implement positive change and policies from the top down. Fine Gael have outlined the following

A New Freedom of Information Act

Fine Gael wants to reverse the restrictions that Fianna Fail has placed on Freedom of
Information in Ireland

It has two main goals:

• Short term: To provide a mechanism whereby the Citizen could access both personal
and non-personal information.
• Long-term: To fundamentally change the relationship between the State and the
Citizen as a result of the legislation.

Fine Gaels proposals seem to be very attainable, but also will have a positive effect on the general public as a whole. It seeks to gain the trust of the citizen again which is definitely as step in the right direction. It remains to be seen if the legislation is introduced. The coalition between the Labour party and Fine Gael means a middle ground may be found between the two political parties. The Labour party introduced the freedom of information act initially. As stated before this was a milestone in terms of Irish politics.

Labour Believes

• Public bodies must be held accountable to the public and that accountability requires openness
• Freedom of information has brought about more open government and better administration of public services.
• Fianna Fáil attacked the principle of Freedom of Information by introducing a prohibitive fee structure. The watering down of the Freedom of Information Act, along with the rise in number of quangos, served to build a barrier between government and the public.

• The Labour Party in government will foster a spirit of transparency, accountability and good governance. We will reinstate and extend the Freedom of Information Act and pursue an agenda of Open Data.

Labour also speaks of data and how it influences a great amount in our lives and the need for accountability and transparency on a daily basis. The need for the immediate release of truthful data which is being collected on a daily basis. Data is collected to improve the services and life of the public not to alienate them. Upon further research it must be noted the difficulty in obtaining information in relation to Fianna Fail and Sin Fein’s stance on the Freedom of information act.

Sinn Fein Believes

Sinn Fein’s Deputy Leader Caoimhghín ó Caolain stated “The current political system is dominated by special interests, corrupted by clientelism and dynastic politics, and resistant to change. The Oireachtas has consistently failed to exert sufficient scrutiny over the government and public bodies.

There are many steps we would take to restore confidence and trust in political leadership in Ireland”. Sinn Fein has highlighted that they are clear on the intrests of the public with a promise of dimantaling the ‘golden circles’ with have been created and maintained by particular political parties. Tranacparency and accouintability again came to the fore as the public finances have become very topical in this particular general election. In relation to the freedom of information act 1997, sinn fein have clearly outlined there intentions such as

• A reverse the dilution of the Freedom of Information Act brought in by Fianna Fáil and extend the operation of the FOI Act to include a wider range of bodies, including NAMA. Sinn Féin would introduce legislation to protect whistle-blowers and establish a
register of lobbyists.

• We will change the law to allow for the impeachment or removal of from the Dáil of anyTD involved in corruption, deliberate misuse of public money or fraud. We will make whatever legislative change required, going after and securing for the state the personal assets of those developers and bankers involved in NAMA and the bank bailouts.

Fianna Fail seem to have missed the importance of the Freedom of Formation Act as there is no clear reference (except for a measly five lines) made to reform or the implementation of new legislation anywhere in there manifesto which couldn’t be found on their website but could be found on RTE’s website. Fianna Fail’s manifesto seems to be a very poor effort in trying to reassure the Irish republic that they have an understanding and the ability to empathize what the people of Ireland want and need.

Fianna Fail spoke of significant strides which been made in recent years to open government to citizens which by any stretch of the imagination is laughable. Outlined in in the manifesto is pure contradiction in relation to reforms to the Freedom of information act. Fianna Fail declared:

• We support the automatic publication of all granted Freedom of Information requests online save in limited circumstances concerning personal data.

• We will formalise the requirement that all data gathered as a result of publicly-funded research be made publicly available in a data archive. In addition, the outcomes of publicly-funded research programmes must be made freely available save where there are specific commercial intellectual property issues.

The current legislation in and around Freedom of Information under fourteen years of a Fianna Fail government has not strived to implement any such reforms. Instead it has strived to hinder, hack and dismantle any of the above reforms. The freedom of Information Act is badly damaged and fractured in many ways, however with the removal of charges and correct implementation, the information provided could not only create jobs but contribute to the recovery of the economy. The Labour party and Fine Gael have clearly outlined how they will go about implementing and creating an effective freedom of information act, based on accountability, transparency and accessibility which is well overdue and a much needed change within Irish politics.

Wayne Doyle Investigates the Education system in Wicklow

2011-04-11T08:36:00.000-07:00
Austerity Cuts Seriously Hurting Wicklow Students

By Wayne Doyle

An investigation into the effect of the recent budget cuts on Wicklow students has revealed deep flaws within the education system in County Wicklow with over half of applicants for government assistance rejected.
Currently under half the applications made to Wicklow VEC requesting financial assistance are rejected.

In 2007 only 36 per cent of the applications made were financially assisted. Shockingly this is the case from 2004 to present with a mere 38 per cent of applicants given some or full financial assistance.

The proposed budget cuts in September 2011 will effectively cripple students whom are already struggling in and around the Wicklow area. Students in local schools have voiced their concerns in an independent survey with over 75 per cent of students expressing concerns about financial pressure.

An astonishing 62 per cent stated they would have had a better chance in college if they had attended between the years 2006-2009.
Political parties such as Fine Gael and Labour continue to speak about “The Knowledge Economy”, but the fact is that the factual information being provided is far from the much talked about Knowledge Economy.

Recent cuts which will come into full effect from next September have been branded "A sneaky change of the qualifying criteria for grants will means that many students living in Bray, Greystones, Kilcoole, Enniskerry and Delgany will experience a cut of about 50% in their grant from the next college year.

When you add this illogical change in criteria to the increase in the college registration fee which this Government has also presided over, it is clear that Wicklow students and their families are being left with a huge financial burden by this outgoing Government," stated Councillor Harris.

Government investment in this crucial field has fallen from 5.2 per cent of GDP in 1995 to just 4.6 per cent last year. Scandinavian countries, meanwhile, spend more than 7 per cent.

The sample schools which were questioned in areas such as student progression to third level of education obtained. Three of the schools whom cannot be named couldn’t provide any record of their students progressing to third, with the principal of one school stating that there “was never a record of any form kept”.

In response the Department of Education queried “Well what you want that for”, and “I will check with supervisors and email you”, bearing in mind the information sought was simple explanatory figures.

A Source in The Higher Education Authority who wishes to remain anonymous stated that “the figures and information records for the Wicklow area among the worst he/she has seen. The Numbers I have here in front of me are so small you could probably easily identify the individual’s, so for that reason I would be cautious as to how you use this information”.

It is the secondary schools and the college’s responsibility to ensure the information is logged with the HEA. Information that should be accurately logged by the department of education is only being done for the leader schools.

Employees whom questioned the destination of the information required advised that “in order to get the information you seek you might have to go through the freedom information act “.

However, when a manager or supervisor was requested Mrs Blaithin Dowling Finance Unit of the Department of Education and Skills, assisted with the required documentation, explaining that the query “should have been dealt with more efficiently”.

Funding is divided into two subheads which are explained below, which doesn’t give an accurate reading or provide the transparency which is evidently needed.

Subhead D.6 Annual Grants to Vocational Educational Committees - this caters for pay and non-pay grants. Subhead F.2. - Second Level Schools - Building Grants and Capital Costs. Additionally depending on educational activity from year to year other payments may issue from programme subheads in the Department's Vote to cater for ad hoc expenditure.
The Department's supplier payment history for the year 2005 to 2009 indicates that the following cumulative amounts were paid to Wicklow VEC.

The payments below were made to Wicklow VEC between a January to December basis.
 2005 €32,474,015.27
 2006 €44,593,226.34
 2007 €50,932,969.63
 2008 €46,172,460.33
 2009 €46,599,858.39
The amount of students whom received part of or a full grant Form Wicklow VEC

2004 2258(applications made) Grants Received 865
2005 1779 769
2006 1927 736
2007 1997 726
2008 `1402 827
2009 Not available

The graph above provides a clear illustration that students progressing into third level education are steadily declining. Colleges whom run programmes such as HEAR, New ERA and other equal access programmes are facing an uphill battle with helping students from ethnic minorities or financial difficulties progress to third level.

“Current student and students looking to progress to third level have always faced difficulties these are just some aspects of college life which challenge students”.

In conclusion to this investigation it must be noted, the current government is not investing in education in the Wicklow area to the extent it should. We have young very capable individuals being turned away by the system, a system with false promises and depictions.

It is time for representatives of the Wicklow area to address the current problem before it spirals out of control. How can we insist we provide equal opportunities to all when over half of potential gradates do not get the assistance they need. Currently one can only conclude the knowledge economy doesn’t exist and never did.

A major stigma in 21st century Ireland

2011-03-23T03:26:00.000-07:00

My Name is James. I am Twenty one years old. I suffer from anxiety and depression. James has taken the first positive steps in tackling his mental health problems in a mature and responsible way. Research has shown that over half of student would rather tackle depression on their own as a pose to speaking with friends or family members about mental health issues. Mental health problems such as depression are very common and the chances are you or someone close to you has or will experience depression during their lifetime.

Upsetting events or situations derail the regular routine of an individual, leaving then saddened and with a sense of isolation. This is only the beginning of the process; problems will escalate as the desire to remain stagnant in time takes hold. You will begin to feel as if the world is passing you by as all efforts to continue daily tasks eludes you. Driving you further and further into a shell of negativity and despair.

Share the burden and remove the stigma from mental health problems in Ireland today. Mental health issues are easily dealt with one you acknowledge the problem and speak about it. The feeling of despair and isolation can engulf you with doubt and restlessness which will inevitably become too much for you on your own if you do not know how to handle it. Society and individuals need to promote understanding and compassion when dealing with depression. We as a society need to promote awareness and tackle problems such as mental health issues head on.
In the current economic climate students are especially vulnerable to periods of depression, anxiety and worry. Firstly: everyone experiences times in their life where they think they can no longer cope with the pressures of daily life. Mental health is both complex and multidimensional and consists of many layers.

Depression does not simply arrive one day and go in a week or two. There are currently 300,000 people in Ireland who are experiencing some form of depression as you read this now. Depression is the steady increase of anxiety and pressure, and once this becomes too much for the individual, rational thinking and actions evaporates. “It’s something that nobody wants to talk about, I was afraid to bring it up with any of my friends in case they thought I was being a drama queen”.
Sometimes life becomes too much. Sometimes young adults cannot deal with mental health problems easily. Students and young adults tend to ignore mental health issues and opt for going it alone. Friends and family should promote speaking about mental health issues amongst each other, we as a society need to break the mould; we need to welcome discussions and problems amongst young people. As Harry Truman former president of the United States once said “the buck stops here”. We need to take action if any kind of halt is brought to the stigma associated with mental health issues. Times have changed dramatically but still youngsters and adults alike refuse to speak openly. I would urge anybody feeling under down, exhausted or consumed by daily life, to stop and acknowledge that maybe you’re not ok, and that is perfectly fine and easily rectifiable once the correct steps are taken.

Symptoms of depression are :
 Feeling unhappy
 Find it harder to make decisions
 Find it difficult to preform daily tasks
 No interest in daily life
 Loss of desire to succeed
 A feeling of isolation and defeat