Bosco Meets Bertie

Image via WikipediaBertie meets Bosco & Grainné

Graffatti

As much as i am loathed to encourage or display any flouting of the law, I found this Spraycan image on the Royal Canal as I was driving home today of An Taoiseach Bertie Ahern most amusing.

Aer Lingus(again)

So you would imagine that the national airline would do as much as possible to stay out of the headlines....not so. Apparently they have stopped, no wait RTE says they "ban[ned]"-(yes that is more sensational, let's go with that word)- their staff from using Irish during flights from their Belfast hub. Now this may seem slightly pedantic but erm what is the difference of using English only on these flights? Well lets see, 23% of Aer Lingus is owned by the Government of Ireland, and as such is a vested interest within the affairs of the Irish state. So maybe this is a strategy to boost sales or something considering the disastorous trading in the first couple of months of their operation in Belfast. Yas know how it goes, the first thing to go is the chocolates, then the other little luxuries etc. and then it is the dual-language. Of course nobody is suggesting that Mr. Dermot Mannion has not done a relatively good job in turning the fortunes of the company after the skethy international setting. He has, the problem is, he is the CEO of a Government of Ireland who has a policy of implementing and supporting the Irish language. It took long enough for the language to be recognised properly. Tá an Gaelige mo teanga agus an teanga níos fearr i mo thuaraim. Agus Ba bhfear liom ag caint i Gaelige má bíonn seans agam ach is duine réadúil mé agus labhraíonn mé i mBearla gach lá mar níl bród mór ag duine leis a teanga. Fós níl dochas ag daoine chun seirbhisí a fháil i Gaelige ina saol. Mar sin, tá sé ró-tabhatchta gach cinneach míhasta thart ar an teanga, triod a chur ar an cinneach. Sin é cén fáth tá an cinneach seo míhasta, mar; inniu tá Aer Lingus cros ar croisc ar an teanga agus amárach beidh a lán comhlachtaí na Stát ag cur amach an teanga.

Besides its always fun listening to the health and safety instuctions on the planes (*cue* the prop box-Your exits are here *points down the plane* here *points to the wings* and here *points behind*) however its more fun when its in a different language. :-)

The Road Safety Authority's new Safety Measures:

So the RSA finally has grabbed the Government's balls and forced them to act even moreso than the paying of lip service to the issue, which has been the norm hitherto, on the Road Safety Issue. The measures which they have announced on Learner drivers are pretty standard run of the mill measures, which could have been introduced a long time ago, given the political will necessary for example After failing a Driving test, applicants were able to drive away from the test centre! I should know I did it twice myself.
Did I feel guilty about that, maybe. Did it stop me driving my car. No. Because why? It was not an offense to do it & I was not breaking the law (I was also on my second provisional license as well, which meant I could do it legally without a fully licensed driver!). However One thing I am glad about all this, is that I am no longer a Learner driver anymore so this does not affect me majorly in any way!
HOWEVER in saying that, complacency is a driver's worst enemy & just because you have had your license for some 50years, 25 years, 2 years, 2 minutes, is no reason for the flouting of legislation & road safety advice.


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Government announces crackdown on learner drivers
25/10/2007 - 19:17:28

Learner drivers who flout laws on travelling unsupervised were today warned they face hefty fines in a major road safety crackdown.

Provisional licence holders must have a fully qualified driver of at least two years experience in the car with them from next Tuesday, under the new provisions.

There are presently around 420,000 provisional licence holders in country.

The measures form part of the Government's latest road safety strategy which it vows will prevent 400 deaths over the next five years.

While 126 specific actions were outlined in the plan - all with built in timeframes between now and 2012 - an expected imminent reduction in the drink driving limit has yet to be decided.
[.................]

Gay Byrne, RSA chairman, said the new measures were necessary as inexperience was one of the major causes of road accidents in Ireland.

"It's absolutely statistically true that the 17 to 26-year-old male - and it's a male problem, not a female problem - are among the most dangerous drivers on the road," he said.

"Because young men suffer from a disease which can only be described as '17 to 26' - that is the disease in itself."

Contd: http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/?c=IRELAND&jp=mhmhmhqlaukf&d=2007-10-25


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Also


Learner drivers' cars to have speed restricted
25/10/2007 - 20:30:23

Technology will be installed in every car used by a leaner driver that will cap its power, under plans unveiled today.

Road safety chiefs want to limit the acceleration or capacity of engines being used by inexperienced motorists as part of a crackdown on road deaths.

Noel Brett, chief executive of the Road Safety Authority (RSA), said that once the right device or technology is found new laws will be brought in to make it mandatory.

“We are searching to find the most appropriate way of limiting the power of a car – that already happens for motorcycles,” he said.

The road safety chief said bringing in restrictions on car engine size for learner drivers alone was too simplistic.

“That wouldn’t work and that would have all sorts of issues for our community,” he insisted, at the launch of the Government’s five-year road safety strategy.

“What we have to find is the mechanism to limit vehicles, mechanically or otherwise, that keeps people as safe as possible without denying them access to [safety] features that are on bigger cars.”

Mr Brett said research is already under way to find the most appropriate way of stopping inexperienced drivers getting behind the wheel of powerful cars.

The technology is also likely to limit anyone else using the same car.

contd: http://www.breakingnews.ie/archives/?c=IRELAND&jp=mhmhmhqlauey&d=2007-10-25

Vladamir Putin.............here we go again

So Mr. Putin has given his strongest indication yet that he has every intention of remaining in power for the foreseeable future. (Source: http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/frontpage/2007/1002/1191223002341.html) . Now perhaps it is just me, but it is not Safe to have that level of power concentrated in the same person for that length of time. As the old saying goes, 'Power Corrupts, Absolute Power Corrupts absolutely' . Putin has been in power since 2000 and re-elected in 2004 which means next year when he is due to step down he will be 8 years in office. The plan, based on the source would be that Vlad would step down as President of Russia, but take up the post of Primeminister but upon the ending of his term as PM, he would be legally allowed to contest the 2012 Presidential elections. That in my view, is not good for democracy & not good for the seeds of democracy in Russia.

However something struck me as I was thinking about this post, Bertie Ahern has been in power since 1997. Now I am not saying that he is by anyway comparable in a shape or form to Mr. Putin, however the old saying stands.