Saturday January 17th – POA*

Image by LostCarPark via FlickrIm bored on the train, so decided to make up my plan for tomorrow. So the hope for tomorrow is to get up earlyish (I am going out tonight, so give me some chance) and do some shopping. I don’t see myself heading over to the IFSC for Dublin OpenCoffee Club.
After that it is either meet with Vlad (of Etre Mortal, Etre Sincere) and then onto the Pre-TeenCamp meet in Starbucks on College Green.

Then it is off to TeenCamp from 1pm to 7pm. After that, someone expects me to buy them a pint. I think it’s of Guinness. Then it is food time (not sure where yet, supermacs at the train station??? ), before the train at 21:00 from Dublin Heuston to Cork Kent.

Should arrive into Cork for 23:55 then it is home bed, not pub, as I have work on Sunday.

A good plan I think.

*POA = Plan of action

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Looking for something to do before TeenCamp?

I know a few people will be wandering aroud Dublin before TeenCamp, especially those (like me) who are travelling up for it.I know of two events that are happening on Saturday that might make the day more fun (and techie).

The first is brought to my attention by The Angry Hedgehog, informs us on his blog that Dublin OpenCoffee Club is happening on Saturday morning at 10:30 in the New York Grind, which is on Excise Walk in the IFSC. I love Cork OpenCoffee Club so will try and head along to the Dublin one.

The other event is a pre-TeenCamp Meet being organised by ChrisD. He is suggesting that people meet from 11.30am in Starbucks on College Green.

I may be meeting people before hand so will try and make it to one of these events!

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• The Hedgehog @OpenCoffee Dublin

Im so excited!

Yes, Yes I am a big child and I am counting down to going to Dublin on Friday for TeenCampIreland on Saturday between 1 and 7pm in the FilmBase, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin.

Will Knott has a great post for any who is attending a tech/blog event for the first time and I say I will be looking at that again on Friday or Saturday morning!

If anyone is looking for company on the train to or from Dublin. I am on the 19:30 to Dublin on Friday night and the 21:30 back to Cork on Saturday night!

I am hoping to meet a few people in Dublin before the event too, so it should be fun!

In other news... I got my tickets for Brussels

Two Months, Too Soon?

Image by stephen.spillane via FlickrI blogged recently enough about the time I told my boyfriend I loved him. I have also told it to a few people. A comment I hear alot is "Do you think it is too soon for that?" I must admit, it was starting to niggle me from the back of my head. But last night I went out (and didnt drink) and met with a friend from New Jersey. He was with two of his friends from Dublin and we were doing the whole getting to know you, how long have you been with your boyfriend and that.

They told me that they had said that they had told each other they loved each other after less then two months and they moved into together after five months. That happened six years ago they told me! This was a weight off my mind. Here was a good example of gay couple that worked.

Unfortunately, in the gay scene in Cork and among my friends, there isnt a whole lot of long-term relationships, so actually meeting someone who was in the same situation was a great relief to me (and Russell when I rang im later in the night to tell him!). It was like a weight was lifted off my shoulders as now I can say, I know of others who were in the same situation and are still together.

I couldnt be happier then after I met Tom and Eugene and basically told me, what I feel is normal, and is not too fast!

LGBT Noise Protest - Register Your Protest

LGBT Noise are holding a protest next Saturday December 6th in Dublin at 13:45pm. The time is a strange one to have a protest isn't it, why not 13:30 or 14:00 makes it easier to remember. Anyway the protest is from the Dáil to the Civil Registry Office on Grand Canal Street "to stand up for the Civil Institution of Marriage". This is according to an email I got from their info list.

In the email about the protest LGBT Noise complain about "threats by Cardinal Seán Brady of legal challenges to the recognition of gay and lesbian couples"

This may be news to LGBT Noise but the church, as a legal entity, have the right to bring legal challenges against actions they might see as impinging on the Constitution. Gay activists always amaze me, they are the first to use the courts if they think it will further there cause (KAL Case) but if they see at something that might hold back there cause, its just not cricket.

Secondly they complain about "ideological attacks on gay families on RTE One and RTE Radio One" if they think that shouldn't they be writing to RTÉ and the papers? A protest on Civil Marriage is not going to change anything about who RTÉ gets on its shows.

They go on to say "gay and lesbian people have a civil right to have their relationships, and their families, protected by the State". While this is correct to a point the Irish Constitution the supreme law of the land states, in Article 41.1

1° The State recognises the Family as the natural primary and fundamental unit group of Society, and as a moral institution possessing inalienable and imprescriptible rights, antecedent and superior to all positive law.

2° The State, therefore, guarantees to protect the Family in its constitution and authority, as the necessary basis of social order and as indispensable to the welfare of the Nation and the State.

Also Article 41.3.1 states:

The State pledges itself to guard with special care the institution of Marriage, on which the Family is founded, and to protect it against attack.

This shows the constitutions places limits on supposed Civil Rights.

A lot of Civil Rights being claimed by LGBT Noise such as:

Civil Marriage is a Civil Right.
Protection for parents is a Civil Right.
Protection for children is a Civil Right.

have not been validated by the Irish Constitution or by the courts. They are presuming that these rights exist. In fact we are waiting for a Children's Rights Referendum so I am surprised that they have mentioned Protection for Children which is a bit off track in that sense.

In relation to the threat by the church over legal action they say:

It's time that our government and the religious lobby recognised that church and state should remain separate. The right of gay and lesbian couples to get married in a civil registry office does not in any way interfere with the free practice of religion.

Who said it would interfere with "the free practice of religion"? Not a single person I know would use the argument of free practice of religion against the campaign for Civil Marriage as it wouldn't have a leg to stand on. I think the fact the Church is threatening to take the State to court shows that there is separation of Church and State in this country, because if it were not the case, the church would not have to take the case against the state.

In the entire email I find myself agreeing with only one part of it and that is one of the lines in the concluding paragraph

pretending that we must only see the arguments in terms of conflict between gay and religious people ignores both the countless gay people of faith, and others in the faith community who support equality for all

Yes, there are many religous folk out there in support of Gay Marriage and Civil Unions and I have been lucky to meet some of them.

Anyway best of luck to those attending the protest, but personally I don't see the point.

EPP Meet in Dublin: Who was there?

So there has been a bit about Merkel's trip to Dublin for the EPP meeting co-chaired by Enda Kenny and President of the EPP, Wilfried Martens.

So who else was there?

The Minister of Belgium, Yves Leterme was there along with the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Affairs Minister of Malta, Tonio Borg. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Radek Sikorski, Deputy Foreign Minister of Greece, Yannis Valinakis, Minister of the Czech Republic, Cyril Svoboda, and Foreign Affairs Minister of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Antonio Milososki also attended.

The following party leaders also attended, the leader of GERB (Bulgaria), Boyko Borissov; the Chairman of TS-LK (Lithuania), Andrius Kubilius; the Chairman of the CDA Group in the Dutch Parliament, Pieter Van Geel; along with the Chairman of the EPP-ED Group in the European Parliament, Joseph Daul.

Sounds like a fun party?

Morning Briefing, 19th January

Dia Duit,

The Govt is to publish the Children's Rights Amendment today (Breakingnews). Taoiseach Bertie Ahern has said he will only go ahead with the referendum if he gets all-party consensus on the wording.

The 5 axle ban comes into effect in Dublin (RTÉ) AA Roadwatch says the introduction of a ban on five-axle trucks travelling through Dublin city centre has had an impact on M50 traffic this morning.

The US Senate is try and find new avenues of limiting Bush's power in Iraq (France 24) Leading Democrats touted a proposal that would revoke the October 2002 authorization that allowed Bush to invade Iraq.

Germany is the latest country to cancel footbal games over hooliganism (BBC)

Germany has also jailed a Holocaust denier (Al Jazeera)

A prominent far-right acvtivist has been sentenced to five years in prison for Holocaust denial by a German court.

Ernst Zuendel was extradited from Canada and on Thursday was handed the maximum possible sentence under German law for the crime in the southwestern town of Mannheim.

The court said it had counted 14 instances on Zuendel's Internet homepage where he denied the historical facts of the Holocaust and incited anti-Semitism

The 67-year-old has previously published works entitled The Hitler We Loved and Why and Did six million really die?

Thats it for now, have a good day!!

Interesting take on the yesterdays IMS poll

got this off a friend

I'm sure you've seen or heard about the IMS poll in the Tribune yesterday.

FF - 39
FG - 22
Lab - 12
PD - 5
Green - 5
SF - 7
Others - 10


IMS did similar polls during the 2002 general election, and their predictions were woeful. 2 days before the election they had a poll which had FF on 50% (they got 41% on the day) and had FG on 18% (we got 22.5%). This crazy margin of error seems to continue to this day and would explain why FF are so high and FG so low in IMS polls, compared to the MRBI and RedC ones.

So if you correct yesterdays poll in line with the margins of error IMS had in 2002, you get:

FF - 31%
FG - 26%
Lab - 11%
PD - 6%
SF - 8%
Green - 4%
Others - 13%

FF/PD - 37%
FG/Labour - 37%
FG/Labour/Greens - 41%

A crude way of looking at it perhaps, but it paints a very different picture - one that the Sunday Tribune dont seem to think is worth noting.

So if the Tribune, or anyone else, think that the election is over..........then they need their heads examined!

PS: If you meet any crowing FF members in the next few days- you might ask them what they think of the plunging FF support in Dublin - down from 44% to 31% in the space of 2 months. If you believe IMS, their support in Dublin is actually 4% LOWER now than it was before Ahern blubbed and sobbed about his money troubles.

Luas congestion charge will penalise workers & force them back into cars - Mitchell

Decision will set precedent for hikes on bus, DART and rail tickets. Fine Gael Transport Spokesperson Olivia Mitchell TD has described the decision to introduce a congestion charge for morning rush hour LUAS customers as 'outrageous'. She was speaking after the Rail Procurement Agency confirmed that an extra charge of 10 cent will be imposed on tickets between 7.45am and 9.30am.

'It is completely unacceptable to have congestion charging introduced into this country without any prior notice or public debate. This is a completely new departure in public transport pricing policy, and is also the thin edge of the wedge for all commuters. Higher peak hour charges will undoubtedly follow for bus, DART and main rail services, all of which are equally congested at peak times. Like congestion charges elsewhere this charge will continue to rise over time.

'A fare increase like this is counterproductive, because it will discourage the use of public transport and force passengers back into their cars. It assumes that commuters have alternatives, and that they can and will vary their work hours and departure times to avoid the 10 cent surcharge. It assumes that commuters enjoy and consciously choose to travel in congested carriages. The reality is that the lives of most workers are restricted, not just by their working hours but also by family considerations, such as the need to bring children to crèches and schools.

'In many cases commuters simply cannot vary their departure times to avoid the LUAS morning peak period. To suggest they should leave earlier and 'have a cup of coffee' before going to work is simply an insult and an extra cost for hard-pressed commuters.

'This exercise can only be seen as revenue-raising, rather than a genuine attempt to deal with overcrowding. Instead of using price differentiation to penalise workers, the Government should provide extra peak hour trams and liberalise the bus market to increase public transport capacity.

'LUAS customers have been unanimous in their delight with the service so far. It is a real slap in the face to their most loyal daily users to single them out for this odious charge.'



I don't get why they are introducing it? LUAS is paying for itself so therefore its profiteering. This is the time of day it is supposed to be used, so we dont have traffic gridlock on the streets of Dublin

Real-Time dislay for bues?!

Labour's Transport Spokeswoman, Dr. Mary Upton has issued a press release calling on the 'Dublin Bus and the Minister for Transport, Martin Cullen, to develop a system to display real-time data about bus arrivals at bus stops around the capital.'

This is typical of Irish Politics. Focusing transport initiatives on the capital. When will they realise that the rest of the country needs these improvements also and may be better suited to testing the system! Im not sure how these would work as they will show how bad public transport, bus wise unlike the Luas which is up this year, is in Ireland especially if they show the timetabled time and the due time. The nearest city with these displays is Belfast so maybe they should be developed by Bus Eireann in Cork, Limerick, Galway, and Waterford where there is large suburban bus networks.

Jingle Bell Bopp! @ Filmbase, 21st December, 8pm

Under 18s Lesbian Gay Bi & Trans D.I.S.C.O.




BeLonG To Youth Project brings you Dublin’s only under 18’s LGBT club night - returning for its fifth and bestest Bopp!

Doors €5. Open at 8pm at Filmbase, Curved Street, Temple Bar.



Expect fabulous frolics, pretty performers, elfish excitement, and a Rockin Robin inspired disco.



Everyone is welcome, so spread the word and bring your straight friends and your neighbour’s reindeer.

BeLonG To Youth Project works with Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender (LGBT) young people in Ireland. It supports and resources them to actively participate in the world around them, and provides them with a space where they can experience inclusion, acceptance, social justice, fun and safety.

BeLonG To meets every Sunday (for LGBT youth aged 14-23): 3.30 - 6pm

RE: Dublin Coastel Developments

well it turns out that that excellent video is not showcasing what will be built in Dublin Bay but is a viral advert (only found out about that today) for funda.ie a property sales website. Must say it was an excellent video.

post in question
Below is info from Wikipedia for those of you, who like me, have no idea about Viral Marketing.

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use pre-existing social networks to produce exponential increases in brand awareness, through self-replicating viral processes, analogous to the spread of a computer virus. It can often be word-of-mouth delivered and enhanced online; it can harness the network effect of the Internet and can be very useful in reaching a large number of people rapidly.

Dublin Coastal Development

Well this was mentioned on gaycork.com and I found the above video on youtube looks like a fantastic idea, it the long run i think it cause problems for flooding as land reclamations always do im my opinion.

The details from dublincoastaldevelopment.com

The development will be constructed in five phases:

1. The construction of the South Wall motorway to the proposed development site in Dublin bay.

2. The construction of three artificial islands with a total surface area of over 12 square kilometers.

3. Infrastructure finalised. The tracks for the luas link tramway are laid. The completion of the link to the East Point Toll bridge and the N11.

4. The construction of the impressive central business district, the hub of commerce and industry.

5. The construction of the residential areas. The 2 tiers of apartments and villas. Over 42 thousand separate residences.

Dublin to Host Mark Bingham Cup 2008

Dublin - based rugby club, Emerald Warriors RFC has beaten off stiff competition from Paris and Sydney to be selected as the venue for the 4th Mark Bingham Memorial Cup. The Bingham Cup is the largest biennial amateur 15s rugby tournament in the world. The 2006 cup which took place in New York in May was the biggest yet. Thirty teams drawn from clubs around the world competed in the three day tournament. The International Gay Rugby Association and Board (IGRAB) have been deliberating for the last month on who will host the Bingham Cup 2008. There were three cities in the running, Paris, Sydney and Dublin. The announcement of the winner took place at 8pm on Friday December 1st in Seattle.

Announcing The Winner, IGRAB Chairman Raimundo Martinez said: "It is my pleasure to announce the winner of the 2008 Bingham Cup bid. This year we received three great bids from Paris, Sydney and Dublin. All of the bids reflected the great spirit that characterizes our organization. Before announcing the winner, I want to first, thank first all the bidding cities. We recognize the incredible amount of work that it takes in putting a bid together and we are excited that our spirit of camaraderie continues to expand around the world as we continue to expand. So, after careful consideration by each team and the subsequent vote, it is my pleasure to announce that we will be drinking Guinness in 2008 in Dublin! There are many details about the Dublin tournament I want to invite those of you who have not seen the video to get more information about the tournament by looking at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6ARxz9Iq4o I could not be more proud to be part of this family. When I look back six years ago I can hardly believe what we have accomplished. And I can't imagine where we will be in six more years. But for today, I smile knowing that in 18 months we will all be together again, as brothers, drinking Guinness and enjoying the great rugby tradition and hospitality that the Irish have always demonstrated! So, please join me and raise your glasses to the Emerald Warriors as we toast to their success and to our next great Bingham Cup! Slainte!" Endorsed by the IRFU, the competition will take place at the DCU Sports Complex, Dublin in June 2008. The competition includes women's and men's rugby. Speaking at the announcement, Emerald Warriors Chairman, Barry Joyce said: "On behalf of The Emerald Warriors I'm delighted to welcome the Bingham Cup to Dublin. This is a great honour for our club and a world event for Dublin to host bringing visitors from all over to our capital city. We look forward to welcoming new friends from the international rugby fraternity - many of whom we have played in our recent competition in the Bingham Cup in New York and previously in London." Tournament Director Richie Whyte added: "We have put many man hours into the bidding process and had to compete with the natural attractions of two world cities like Paris and Sydney, either of which would be deserving winners of this bid. We are delighted with the outcome and look forward to working with the IRFU the excellent facilities at DCU, Dublin City and our many supporters in and out of the gay community." Philip Browne, Chief Executive of the IRFU said: "The Irish Rugby Football Union extends its best wishes and message of support to the Emerald Warriors rugby team and its participation in the Bingham Cup rugby tournament."

The Mark Bingham Cup - commonly referred to as the Gay Rugby World Cup, is named for Mark Bingham, one of the heroes of Flight 93 on September 11th 2001 in recognition of his membership of the San Francisco Fog RFC which was the first club to host the event. The Mark Bingham Cup has subsequently been hosted by London (2004) and New York (2006). Emerald Warriors RFC was established in 2004 to provide gay, bisexual and heterosexual men the opportunity to take part in rugby union.

Source: Emerald Warriors RFC

Heres the promo video for the bid that has been given huge credit in Dublin winning the bid!