Roy Keane leaves man utd

RTE reports that Roy Keane has left Manchester United. How many times are we going to hear the words "driven character" over the next few days.

It was probably inevitable that he might leave at the end of the season. bus as I have said before, is he manager material. I don't think so.

Tags: ireland irish roy keane man utd football

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Willie O'Dea and his gun

What about captions for this ? (from Ireland.com) - the esteemed journalists at the Irish Times already have their tongue in cheek - when you do a right click and save on the site - the default name of the file is 'makemyday'.














Maybe Minister O'Dea was familiar with some iconic film references ?











Anyway, how about

• Vote for me at the next election or else ?

• I'd much prefer to have a gun than a nose....

• Damn, I told you that my moustache must be in the picture

Tags: willie o dea politics ireland irish dirty harry limerick curragh

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ComReg launches site for consumers.

The Irish Times and BreakingNews report that Com Reg has launched a site aimed at consumers, that shows comparison across providers of broadband, fixed line, mobile, text messaging services, etc.

The site is www.askcomreg.ie , with the Irish Times reporting that it is in development for 6 months or so. That report also gave the impression that users could directly compare (the example given) the mobile operator, and be given the most competitive vs. your inputted requirements.

Admittedly, I could be making a dogs dinner of this; I only quickly saw the print version of the paper this morning on the way to a meeting. But this point about comparison sticks out in my mind.....

Update : Yup, it was me - the site for comparison of mobile costs is www.callcosts.ie - it even mentions it on the front page. oops. it took a piece on the evening news to alert me of this - eddie hobbs being consumed by two giant spongebob phones....

Tags: comreg mobile ireland irish consumers

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Bookies and their influence on Radio Sports Desks?

I heard the 6.45 sports news on Radio 1 this morning - they were going on about Terry Venables being the "favourite" for the Irish managers position, something which i commented on a while back.

I must be totally naive or missing something elemental here. Is this the most explicit example to date of bookies having the direct phone number to the sports department of a national broadcaster? Essentially, they are becoming a news source for something which is not really news worthy. According to a later statement from Venables mentioned on the RTE Sport website,

"I have not been approached for the Republic of Ireland job and I have not applied for it."

Now if you remember back, I think this is pretty much what Alex Ferguson said as well; And Martin O'Neill...and George Burley....hmmmm, I think I see a pattern here.

So sports departments, where's the juice coming from on this? Is simply mentioning in the story "according to the bookies" good enough for creating a story which is pure speculation?

Tags: irish ireland bookies venables football rte irish manager

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Groceries Order - will it make a difference?

It seems that the Michael Martin is going to advise the abolition of the Groceries order this morning according to RTE News.

Within the related Morning Ireland interviews, it was mentioned that the average joe could expect to save between €500 to €1000 per annum. Not bad. There was a quick refute in here that the decision was down to Eddie Hobbs and his summertime Rip Off Republic.

Personally, I hate to think that it takes a campaign from a media personality (Jamie's School Dinners started this) to get asses in gear in Government? I understand that with things like fund raising, charities, etc a figurehead is hugely important. The difference here though is that now the vast majority of the population has the opportunity to voice their concerns and grievances using the web as a pretty effective mouthpiece.

c'mon people of Ireland - you have an election only 2 years away - show our public representatives that we care enough about things; complaining is not way to do it, but we Irish are pretty good at it....

I will assemble some examples over the next few days of moving from beeing a complainant to being a bit more civic minded.....

Tags: ireland irish politics eddie hobbs

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Antipathy to New Transport Initiative?

The launch of Transport 21, the Irish Governments initiative for roads, rail and metro over the next 10 years was launched with some fanfair on monday last. I have a theory on this one, which I think has been echoed over the last few days...

When you hear the radio news at 7am on a dull monday morning talking about a Government announcement/initiative later in the day, you might you be a little suspicious. While the announcements themselves are ambitious and positive, there is more than a hint of electioneering in the mix.

Another observation, when you hear Taoiseach Bertie Ahern in the Dail, being this shrill and accusatory towards the opposition, you have to think there is an element of truth to their protestations. Body language is often a given in these situations - for some it is reddening of the gills, facial tics or eyes rolling, forBertie, it's this shrill thing....

Tags: transport21 ireland irish bertie aherne media

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