[RANT WARNING]\n<\/p>\n
I heard on the radio that one of our ministers, Martin Cullen (the dude responsible for buying the disastrous E-Voting machines that we\u2019re paying to store because they can be neither used nor sold) was in a near helicopter accident.\u00a0 You see, Martin wanted to travel 190KM (around 120 miles) from his native Waterford to Killarney to hang out with some bigwigs at a mini conference.\u00a0 He didn\u2019t want to drive because he wanted to attend a meeting in Dublin afterwards.\n<\/p>\n
The Irish Aer Corps (our budget air force) provided the helicopter.\u00a0 Our Aer Corps flies turboprop planes and very often the choppers are grounded because of the lack of spares to certify them.\u00a0 It appears that when the chopper was in the vicinity of Killarney with our *insert sarcasm here* beloved minister and his secretary on board a door fell off!\u00a0 The pilot managed to make an emergency landing without the minister falling out.\u00a0 *insert more sarcasm here* What a relief!\n<\/p>\n
Note: I have the greatest respect for our military.\u00a0 On a very limited budget, equipment and with little fanfare or pay, they put their lives on the line for our nation while serving in peace keeping action in very dangerous places.\u00a0 They don\u2019t get the headlines or praise they deserve when they are involved in action.<\/em>\n<\/p>\n Today we were told that unemployment in the Republic of Ireland has hit 10%, it will likely hit 500,000 by the end of the year (population of 5.9 million according to Wikipedia), the budget deficit is growing by billions and that there will be an emergency budget to raise taxes after a recent one in October.\n<\/p>\n Also in the papers today was the bill to the tax payer so Martin Cullen could have his little chopper flight: \u20ac8,000<\/a>.\u00a0 We already pay for this guy to have an S class Mercedes and a police driver.\u00a0 And this is just Cullen.\u00a0 Mary Harney has been doing this a lot, e.g. her trip to the beautician in Florida (\u201cone miracle, please!\u201d), her trip to the Superbowl last year (for cancer research?!?!?), etc.\n<\/p>\n What\u2019s really getting me is that these guys have a \u201clet them eat cake<\/a>\u201d attitude.\u00a0 We saw how in the USA there was uproar in the press when the big 3 auto CEO\u2019s flew on private jets to The Hill to beg for a tax payer bailout.\u00a0 Why isn\u2019t that happening here?\n<\/p>\n Cullen said that he needed to get to Dublin to have a meeting with another minister so he couldn\u2019t drive.\u00a0 What is this, 1930?\n<\/p>\n Please join us in the 21st century.\u00a0 You can easily have a secure conversation using the myriad of technologies that are available right now with people who are even on different continents.\u00a0 Let me introduce you to Unified Communications<\/a>.\u00a0 You can chat via instant message, phone and do video chats.\u00a0 You can even interact with applications!\u00a0 What\u2019s more, all it costs you is an internet connection because you probably already have the licensing.\u00a0 Imagine: no more expense to us tax payers when you need to talk to someone when physical presence isn\u2019t important.\u00a0 Wouldn\u2019t that be more efficient?\u00a0 Heck, I can even introduce you to an Irish company that specialises in this stuff.\u00a0 If it\u2019s good enough for private business then it must be good enough for a cowboy operation like the Irish government?\n<\/p>\n I\u2019m begging someone in MS to make this sale.\u00a0 I know you\u2019d love to \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 MS is the only one in Ireland trying to help the small business<\/a>.\u00a0 Imagine if they were to also stop this waste by the Irish Government?\u00a0 I think I\u2019d have to write in Paul Rellis<\/a> for a vote in the next election!!\n<\/p>\n [\/END RANT WARNING]\n<\/p>\n Hmm, MS Ireland as our government?\u00a0 It could be worse.\u00a0 They are regularly selected as one of (if not the) best companies to work for in Ireland<\/a>.\u00a0 Employees seem happy there.\u00a0 They get cheap X-Boxes and games in the company store.\u00a0 My only concern would be that they might convert the outside lane on motorways and dual carriage ways into "Software Assurance only commuter lanes" \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [RANT WARNING] I heard on the radio that one of our ministers, Martin Cullen (the dude responsible for buying the disastrous E-Voting machines that we\u2019re paying to store because they can be neither used nor sold) was in a near helicopter accident.\u00a0 You see, Martin wanted to travel 190KM (around 120 miles) from his native … Continue reading “Dear Irish Government: Please Join Us In the 21st Century”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9493","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t