Inside View

Civility in the Digital Age Coming Soon to Ireland

Bernie Goldbach in LSAD-Clonmel | Image of an uncivil pumpkin.

IRISH POLITICIANS have vowed "to put manners on you" if you cross the line of online decorum. That's an underlying theme of the Irish government as it keeps the country in step towards austerity.

The Minister for Communications, Mr Pat Rabbitte, "plans to legislate for the regulation of social media in order to prevent the sending of 'menancing' messages via websites such as Facebook and Twitter. [1]

The Irish Minister for the Environment, Mr Phil Hogan, called menacing reporters "knackers" last week because they hounded him in Doha when the rest of the Irish government was on the airwaves announcing another round of cuts to social spending. The hounding Hogan received caused his press secretary to leave her job. [2]

So expectations are high that the Oireachtas Communications Committee this week will unveil its conclusions on the abuse of politicians in social media. Abuse contributed to the suicide of Shane McEntee, a junior minister, last December. "The Minister will be signaling his intention to broaden the scope pf the communications regulations to embrace all forms of electronic communications," said a spokesman for Rabbitte.

How Many Irish Business Suicides

Bernie Goldbach in Cashel | Photo of Independent Mattie McGrath.

I READ PQ PAGES (pages containing answers to Parliamentary Questions) on politicians' websites. One of local TD Mattie McGrath's PQs about suicide from debts was rebuffed by the Irish government and I believe it needs answering.

Mattie McGrath raised the question through parliamentary channels, asking the Irish Minister for Justice "to provide in tabular form, for the last five years, the number of cases listed before the Commercial Courts where the death of a party to a case is recorded as either being caused due to death by misadventure or suspected suicide." According to Jerome Reilly in the Sunday Independent, "Ceann Comhairle Sean Barrett wrote to Mr McGrath on February 3 saying that "with regret" he had to disallow the question. I think it's a valid one because I'm aware of local suicides arising from bankruptcy, NAMA proceedings and financial stress directly related to government austerity policies. Not putting these matters into the public eye reduces the moral imperative needed in Ireland to adequately deal with depressed assets.

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Jerome Reilly -- "Incendiary Dial Query is blocked" in the Sunday Independent, March 3, 2013.

Bernie Goldbach teaches creative multimedia in the constituency of Mattie McGrath.

Sunday Tech News

Bernie Goldbach in Cashel | Photo of Sunday Business Post.

THE BUSINESS POST in Ireland offers several leading thoughts about technology on the near horizon that I am bringing into our creative multimedia programme. You can click on the image to see a video that explains more details.

I'm posting these trends forward by five years to see how accurate Dick O'Brien's prognostications are.

Tech I Can Use