Many across Ireland will be glad to hear that John and Pat Hume’s car crash yesterday evening was not a serious one and that we can look forward to seeing them both up and about very soon.
This St Patrick’s weekend all our elder statesmen are making the news. Big Ian is calling for St Patrick’s day to me made an official public holiday in Northern Ireland and Seamus Mallon is in the Sunday Tribune which reports on his opposition to a FF - SDLP merger. Martin is in the states drumming up support for the investment conference. As for his southern colleagues in government, you’ll find them anywhere but here on home turf. The annual sales show on our big day is well underway. I fully support them. For one day a year our small island is the talk of the globe. No better time to try and build commercial and diplomatic relations.
I’m off for a trot around Belfast in the sun. Vic square looks great and the preparations for tomorrow’s parade have passed without controversy. Enjoy the day off (and I hope you do have a day off) and remember you can always join the celebrations in Second Life.
I was able to listen to RTE on FM outside my front door in South Belfast for the first time ever last night. The national broadcaster’s climb down after a campaign by this blog, the Irish News, other bloggers and many letter writers across the North was a great example of advocacyin action. An Oireachtas Committee intervention increased the pressure on the Donnybrook team as did the support from the SDLP, SF, FG and the Labour Party.
Full marks for the switch to 87.8FM after closing down the MW signal yesterday. Next step must be a proper TV signal and availability of TV and radio on the Freeview platform.
I’ll be tuning in. Life is only full when you can enjoy the full tapestry of opinion across the island and the outputs from Dublin and Belfast.
I am no longer alone as a business blogger in Northern Ireland. Late last month UTV’s Business Editor, Jamie Delargy joined the fray with a blog hosted on the U.TV site.
O’Conall St is looking forward to Jamie’s insightful take on the affairs of our local economy.
Paddy Corrigan who run’s Amnesty International here is also back in the blogosphere with a new look Amnesty blog called Belfast and Beyond. Look forward to following it also.
Today’s announcement by the Executive that 11 super councils are to be created in 2013 is unlikely to cause public uproar although some considered voices will fear a balkanising effect with the creation of four ‘nationalist’ and six ‘unionist’ councils leaving only Belfast as a politically shared city. Real issues exist for governance at a local level as there will reside in each council area new minorities and majorities who may be unaware how to manage, or be clearly hostile to their new positions. The role and protection of minority ethnic groups (new and existing) will be a particular issue for concern.
Problems could be alleviated however, if the Assembly makes power sharing at local government level a requirement. On a more positive note, new community planning powers and within them’ the power of welbeing’ will leave room for real innovation in the exercise of power.
Seamus Mallon has spoken publicly today about the possibility of a Fianna Fail - SDLP merger and has reflected what I think is the position of very many within the SDLP. The party’s former deputy leader said Fianna Fail excluded the SDLP from key negotiations last year and that he for one was not minded to ‘get into bed’ with people who excluded his party.
Over the past week there has been some considerable debate within the SDLP about future realignments. What has been notable about the tone of this convesation are the strongly held views by the majority if SDLP members that the party and it’s social democratic principles are not ‘for sale’. Many would be happy to sit down with any of the major parties in the south and rationally discuss the future of politics on this island and that of course includes Fianna Fail. But as Seamus suggests, the SDLP is a proud party with a tremendous history and conversations must to be based on trust and mutual respect.
Have to run out the door to lecture some District Policing Partnership Managers on marketing now. Before I go I wanted to express an official protest at a poor budget for Northern Ireland.
No incentives, in fact only significant relief for business will be on capital gains which has the perverse effect of benefiting those who invest for a living rather then those who create jobs or produce something. Great news if you are a developer or a hedge fund manager but pretty crap if you are just about anyone else. That’s the thing with Mr Darling’s approach. It’s designed to keep the home counties happy and frankly stuff the rest of the UK.
Rant over. Was involved in a lively debate about the future of communications last night with Queens University Students here in Belfast. There was a lot of discussion about the impact of social and digital media.
The racing post says the greatest two days in racing history start today. After yesterday’s abandonment, 65,000 can be expected at Cheltenham for the serious business of world class national hunt racing. Chris is off to the bookies with our kitty. I hope he remembers there is a thing called an each way bet.
Finally I watched Austin O’Callaghan’s lovely documentary about the Irish Cricket team’s journey to the Super Eight stage of the World Cup last summer on the BBC last night. Big Weber Shandwick connection. Our Ali’s fiance Iain Knox is the team physio and made a number of notable contributions to the documentary. Check it out on IPlayer.
It’s a big bonus when you get to work with creative clients who have embraced advocacy and are exploring new ways of using social and digital media to communicate their message. Tourism Ireland has provided us with a great story to communicate on their behalf. I am sure it will capture press attention here in Ireland and abroad.Tourism Ireland will host the world’s first virtual St Patrick’s Day parade on Sunday 16th March, in the internet-based, virtual world of Second Life. The virtual parade will include 20 Irish and Celtic themed floats and will be the highlight of a three-day Discover Ireland Festival in Second Life, sponsored by Tourism Ireland.Second Life is one of the largest virtual worlds in existence, with over 12 million registered users, 3 million of whom are considered regular users. Sixty per cent of Second Life’s users come from Ireland’s four biggest tourist markets: Great Britain, US, Germany and France. Half of those users are aged over 30 – a key demographic for tourism to the island of Ireland. These “residents” can explore, socialise, and participate in activities and services using Second Life’s currency, the Linden Dollar.
As well as the first virtual St Patrick’s Day parade, Tourism Ireland will organise a range of events and activities during the St Patrick’s festivities in Second Life’s replica city of Dublin. Events will include a live broadcast of the largest ever contemporary Irish music expo – “Snakes and Ladders” – from the World Financial Center in New York; a treasure hunt which will involve visitors exploring Dublin to find clues that will enable them to collect points and win prizes (clues are located on www.discoverireland.com; as well as live bands and DJs.
The virtual cruise ship the “SS Galaxy” will visit Dublin during the festivities and will host an onboard digital exhibition of Irish artists’ work. Guided helicopter and bus tours of Dublin in Second Life will take place throughout the weekend, giving visitors historical information on the many famous Dublin landmarks that are recreated in Second Life.
Tourism Ireland’s objective is to encourage those who visit this virtual world to come and visit the real Ireland during 2008. “Dublin” in Second Life is a well-established destination – frequently making the Top Ten list of the most popular places to visit there. Tourism Ireland launched the first ever tourism marketing campaign in Second Life last October, with a Discover Ireland music festival.
Some experts predict that the web will be three-dimensional in a decade’s time and virtual worlds such as Second Life give us some idea of what the web may look like in the future. Second Life is one of the biggest virtual worlds in existence and many major brands, including Coca-Cola, Vodafone, IBM, Toyota, Sony and Adidas already have a presence there.
Anyone can join in the St Patrick’s Festivities by getting a free Second Life account through www.secondlife.com or at the virtual Dublin website: http://www.dublinsl.com
For those of you wishing to party online here’s the programme (all times GMT):
Saturday 15th March
17:00 Grand Opening
17:01 Treasure Hunt begins and will run for the next three days with instruction and clues at 30 locations
17:15 Saturday Swing
- Irish/Celtic rock by live DJ (2 hours)
20:00 Carraig
- Irish/Celtic rock by live DJ (2 hours)
23:00 Highland Marching Band parade and concert
- fully kitted marching band with kilt and pipes (2 hours)
Sunday 16th March
15:00 Sunday Riot
- Irish/Celtic rock by live DJ (2 hours)
15:00 Bus and Helicopter Tours of Dublin start (4 hours)
17:15 Celtic Muse
- Irish/Celtic sports music by live DJ (2 hours)
19:00 St Patrick’s Day Parade
- 20 Irish and Celtic themed floats (2 hours)
21:00 Sunday Slam
- Irish/Celtic rock by live DJ (2 hours)
21:00 Live Music Showcase
- Keltish live music band (1 hour)
23:00 Snakes & Ladders: New Irish Music Festival live simulcast from New York
- the largest expo of new Irish music in the world, ever! (2½ hours)
- Featuring: Green Time Ensemble, Somadrome, Amoebadoid, Deep Burial, General Practise, Toirse, Richard G Evans, Educution, Daniel Figgis
01:30 Carraigh
- Irish/Celtic rock by live DJ (1½ hours)
Monday 17th March
16:30 Snakes & Ladders: New Irish Music Festival live simulcast from New York
- Featuring: Brian O’Huiginn, Roger Doyle, Daniel Figgis
19:30 Live Ireland traditional Irish music festival live simulcast from the real world Dublin to virtual Dublin (3 hours)
20:00 Fibber Magees Grand Opening live music simulcast from the real world Fibber Magees to virtual Dublin featuring the band “World of Good” (2½ hours)
22:00 Carraig at New Fibber Magees
- Irish/Celtic rock by live DJ (2 hours)
I am displeased and concerned the main parties in the North are heading for a stand off over the devolution of policing and justice. Sinn Fein and the DUP are squaring up rightly over the near certain slippage in the May deadline for the transfer of powers to Stormont. O’Conall Street will save it’s shoppers the ins and outs of this particular spat. You could say SF handed the DUP a string of vetoes on critical issues at St Andrew’s or that the DUP are spending too much time looking over their shoulders to Jim Allister. Bottom line is that on this issue the DUP is in the driving seat and has the legislation on its side.
This is not a principled battle, it’s a political one. The DUP say it is not about if but when. SF have moved onto new ground today by trying to link the DUP’s foot dragging to an undermining of NI’s attractiveness as an investment location. Many in the business community will be worried by this stance. The two are clearly not connected and investors are very unlikely to consider the devolution of policing and justice a deal breaker, however much the majority of both communities might want to see it happen.
What investors will be looking for is clear incentives from the British Government to invest here. To be fair to Nigel Dodds he continues to lobby hard for this. I hope SF raised this important issue with An Taoiseach when they met yesterday although there are no reports of them having done so in today’s press.
Two reports came out yesterday which further strengthen the case for fiscal incentives in the North. The first was from Ulster Bank which points out in its PMI report that private sector activity in NI has declined for the third month in a row and it now at its lowest level since August 2002. According to a report on Business World the bank said:
”Following a weakening in private sector output for the sixth consecutive month, February signalled a new survey low among NI firms. The latest survey represented the third month of declining output levels in NI which is in marked contrast to continued growth within UK firms. With the levels of new business declining for the third month in succession, NI firms have become increasingly reliant on the backlogs of work built up before the current slowdown. As a result, employment growth remains weak but encouragingly still in positive territory and stronger than four other UK regions. The current weakness in activity is most apparent within retail and services with the latter experiencing its first fall in output in the survey’s history. This suggests that the NI consumer is reining in expenditure as rising inflation, particularly in relation to food and energy, erodes disposable incomes. Meanwhile the subdued levels of demand are restricting the pricing power of NI firms in the face of persistent cost pressures.”
The second report came from the CBI out of London and highlighted the UK’s increasingly high corporation tax. According the CBI the UK is slipping globally and becoming more uncompetitive.
They say the UK has now reached a tipping point. The ever rising business tax burden and the failure of the tax system to respond to increasingly global business activity is creating a corporate tax system which is unsustainable in the long-term. To tackle this, the CBI report proposes a headline corporation tax rate of 18 per cent within eight years, with the cut more than paying for itself over time through increased economic activity.
O’Conall Street would commend these reports to the folks on the hill (Stormont for those of you who are no BBC NI viewers). The big political debates are important and parties are entitled to their views but the economy must transcend politics and the parties must unite to strengthen it.
John Simpson has a good article yesterday in the Belfast Telegraph Business Supplement (not available online yet) picking up on something we highlighted on O’Conall Street last month, Gordon Brown’s commitment to reopen the debate on business tax discreation for Scotland . The debate about fiscal disharmony in the UK has already started and its Scotland that is in the lead. It appears the government there is really putting the economy first.
The High Court in Belfast today ordered a retrial in a landmark case involving a local restaurant and the Irish News newspaper. The restauranter sued the Irish News for libel after a negative review in the paper.
Dr Eoin O’Deil on his cearta blog has the judgement for those legal eagles amongst you.
The case is being followed across the world by food writers and publishers alike. The retrial is likely to attract considerable international attention.
In Dublin this morning and enjoyed my dawn drive through some of the nicest weather I have seen all winter. Things are quiet in the capital and there are reports of flooding in the South East. What does seemed to have worked is a major public information campaign on both sides of the Irish sea which has ensured we were all ready even if the worst never materialises. Back up the road in Belfast now. One hour forty each way, it makes being in an all island business very easy.
We have come a long way since Michael Fish and his infamous, storm, what storm comment on the BBC.
ps. Eddie O’Sullivan needs to go and the FA cup has gone mad. Good mad but mad none the less.
I turned to the blogs for some consolation after the defeat to Wales in Croker today and found Mick Fealty on Slugger O’Toole had a gem. He has posted a video of Down’s 1960 victory over Kerry. It’s all there in wonderful technicolour. What day it must have been when the two ancient Kingdoms went head to head.
It’s all way before my time and anyway I’m a Jack. The first big game I can remember was the Dublin - Kerry semi in 1977. My Da brought me to the Hill and I spent much of it on his shoulders. They say it was the greatest game of Gaelic ever played. I was way too young to know. All I cared about was Tony Hanahoe and fatso Keaveney and the sea of blue which I was a tiny part of. Tom Humphries chronicles the summer well in his Dublin - Kerry book published last year. The video below is a beautiful summary of the game. You won’t get bored but even if you are not a huge Dub’s fan, and lets face it most O’Conall St readers are not, there is a big movie star and some Thin Lizzy at the end which is worth waiting for. For the record Dublin lifted the Sam Maguire that year defeating Armagh in the final.
Congratulations tio Amergin2006for a lovely bit of editing. Croker has come a long way since then but remains the finest sporting stadium in the world. I am sure every Welshman alive will agree on that one today!
