Live on the Ray D'Arcy Show!

I really enjoyed being interviewed on RTE's Ray D'Arcy Show by the great man himself about the Computer & Communications Museum that I curate.

I have to say in all sincerity that I was struck by not only the professionalism but also the friendliness, humour and down-to-earth nature of Ray and his assistant Niamh.

Photo shows Ray using a 1980 Sony Walkman and me holding a 1980s Motorola mobile phone (aka the 'Brick') whose inventor Martin Cooper was inspired to create this fantastic hand-held piece of communications technology by the 'Communicator' device ("Beam me up Scotty" says Captain Kirk!) from the 1960s children's science fiction television programme Star Trek. Thankfully as a diehard Trekkie fan since my childhood, I am so happy that this series is still with us!

I am glad to report that this great technology heritage facility, that was co-founded by myself and my dearly departed friend Chris Coughlan whom I miss so much, and which has been available for school, university, digital maker, community, heritage and business group visits since 2012, is now open to the general public from 2pm to 4pm every Saturday.
Well worth a visit!

I also enjoyed an interview earlier this week on the same subject with Pat Coyne on Connemara Radio- local community radio at its best.

Supported by the Insight SFI Research Centre for Data Analytics (previously DERI) at the University of Galway since its inception, the museum is now managed by an independent board of wonderful experienced techies under the chairpersonship of Philip Cloherty whose members are Frank McCurry, Liam Ferrie, Pat Moran, Alanna Kelly and Tom Frawley.

Online Learning in 1940s Ireland!

Whilst most of Europe was experiencing the horrors and carnage of World War Two, Radio Éireann, the Irish state radio broadcasting service, launched a series of bi-weekly lessons to help people across the country to learn the Irish language.

The innovative creators of this eLearning teaching initiative realised that learning a language was primarily about unconsciously assimilating sounds. Pronunciation and fluency comes from the spoken word.
It is lovely to know that eLearning has a strong tradition in Ireland that predates the Internet and television by decades,
The 'Listen and Learn' booklet that accompanied the broadcasting lessons was recently purchased as a very welcome addition to the memorabilia of the Computer & Communications Museum of Ireland.

Goverment Should Ask for Resignation of Irish Taxi Regulator!

Kathleen Doyle, the Irish Taxi Regulator, is a huge waste of taxpayers monies & should resign after her embarrassing interview on RTE Radio's "Morning Ireland" programme.

She took little if any responsibility for the dire state of taxi regulation & monitoring in Ireland as portrayed on last night (May 16th 2011) on RTE's Prime Time excellent investigative programme which exposed the endemic corruption & criminality within the Irish government-created taxi service whereby convicted rapists, gangsters & murderers of innocent people are allowed to own taxis thus threatening the lives of innumerable Irish citizens.
Doyle refused to go onto this public broadcasting programme to answer questions that citizens needed to know. This morning she waffled on & on about how good the regulations are rather than hold her hands up, admit things are bad, apologize to the Irish people, state that she wants stronger legislation and more resources to help her in her new crusade to root out criminality.

Sadly she inspired no confidence whatsoever in her answers that she will undertake such a course of action.Her explanations though shows that there are too many agencies involved in the whole process, thus allowing each one to pass the buck and blame others. Ex-minister Bobby Molloy introduced taxi de-regulation a few years ago, but never put in place a proper regulatory structure. Thus he bears a lot of blame for the present dire state of affairs. The dogs in the street knows how bad things are. But our civil servants and politicians for years have turned a blind eye. Once again it is RTE and public broadcasting's exposure of high levels corruption and state inactivity that may embarrass the political establishment to undertake corrective change.
I am writing to the Minister for Transport asking him to ask for Doyle's resignation and t propose new laws to end criminality and ensure a proper public transport service

NAMA is exposed as A Scam to Bail Out the Property Speculators at the Irish Taxpayers Expense

It made my blood boil to watch RTE's Prime Time investigative programme tonight & realise that the people who bankrupted this country & destroyed the hopes of our children, are still living the high life of big mansions, private helicopters, race horses & champagne. NAMA was exposed as a scam to ensure that the taxpayers bailed out the banks in order to save these property developers (I refuse to call them 'developers') from the consequences of their own greed. Worse, they were given the time to protect their most valuable assets by transferring ownership to their wives. As well as getting huge bailouts from us, we are also paying them huge annual salaries to look after our properties! Plus, we also pay them exorbitant annual rents for many of these properties. Believe it or not, they own the buildings that NAMA, the Revenue Commissioners, the Central Bank & many of the government departments & social welfare offices are housed in!!!!

Well done to Fianna Fáil for organising this scam to benefit their friends.
How stupid are we? How come the state doesn't refuse these failed property speculators the rents as they owe us so much? In fact, nationalise these buildings.

The 'Galway Race Tent' old boys network of bankers, property speculators & politicians is now exposed for what it was- an opportunity for the gombeen elite to milk the taxpayer for every cent possible.

Public pressure recently forced the government to do a U-turn and stop the 160Euro millions in bonuses that the AIB senior management had slyly set themselves up for.
We should end too the huge payoffs and pensions that the politicians now jumping ship by retiring before the next general election have organised for themselves. No pension should be given to any politician until they reach the retirement age as laid down by the law that governs the rest of us!!
Abolish too the big bonus payments to senior civil servants!
Shame not just on Fianna Fail but also on the Green Party. You have betrayed the people's trust!!!!!

Gerry Ryan RIP

Yes, he could be arrogant, bias, opinionated & egotistical. But Gerry Ryan will be sorely missed. He was my car companion for years beween 9.00 & 9.40am on most mornings when I was travelling to country schools. I enjoyed his verbal attacks on the greed and powerlust of many politicans, developers, church leaders etc. He gave a national platform for ordinary people to raise issues that would otherwise not get an airing thereby providing an important public service. On a personal note, 2 weeks ago, his RTE2 show provided info on my DERI lectures for parents/teachers on 'Counteracting Cyberbullying'. I was interviewed by him once- he was sarcastic and bombastic. But I enjoyed it!

Yesterday morning I listened to what I didn't realise was to be his last show as he started off with a witty review of the daily papers followed by a piece on parents slapping their children, not a topic that would be considered 'acceptable' by most other media shows. But it sparked a wonderful thought-provoking debate from callers who seemed to be mainly young mothers.

The programme was mad, funny, irreverent, subversive, sarcastic, silly, serious, disrespectful, educational... In other words, the usual mix for a Gerry Ryan show

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam