StatusIreland

Dublin bus has stopped all services in Dublin City due to the severe weather conditions. There website says:

Dublin Bus wishes to advise customers that due to the recent heavy snowfall there is serious disruption to most services. There are dangerous driving conditions on all main city arteries and we are waiting for roads to be made safe before resuming services. We will have more up to date information available here as soon as possible.

The last of the buses can be seen leaving the city via Dublin City Council cameras:

http://www.dublincity.ie/dublintraffic/

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The economist illustrate how the steady decline in house prices in countries around the world has encouraged some people back into the market very recently. Ireland, however, is one of the few exceptions to this trend. The economist sights Ireland and Spain as having “big supply gluts” which are likely to push down prices for a long time.

ireland house prices, ireland, spain, the economist, uk, USA

It is a fair assumption that the majority of those renting cars in Ireland are tourists. Many arrive into this country on a Boeing 737 having clicked their way into Ryanair’s production line and arrive at the other end with their 15kgs in hand. They have already had their first experience of Ireland before they even know it and if they found the journey here a little less luxurious they are fully aware of what they were getting. They price reflected it.

As many of these budget explorers head to their car rental outlets they assume that their next mode of transport will carry on from their previous. They went online, researched the places to rent from and then proceeded to book their car for their time in Ireland. So it’s a Bank holiday in Ireland, €60 for a car. You can’t beat that.

The car rental companies in Ireland, however, seem to think that the price you pay and the price you were quoted when you book are two different things. It seems that the €60 is more of a ball park for tourists looking to rent a car. As an example, take 2 of the biggest car rental companies in Ireland; Budget car rental and Europcar. It seems that when you collect your car you are told that the insurance you paid for online only covers… well pretty much nothing. If you have a crash you are liable for an excess in the region of a few grand so it makes sense to take out the extra insurance to bring that excess down to around €100. If you’ve booked with Europcar that’ll be an extra €14.09 a day please. There is also an extra Windows and Tyres insurance for €5 a day. How would you like to pay for that? As we don’t accept cash we will accept your credit card so that’ll be €5 extra too. Also, you are collecting the car from us so you’re going to have to pay the €10 “City centre premium” with Europcar and what seems to be €25 for the privilege of collecting the car from the airport. Budget car rental like to treat their customers to a €28 surcharge for both city and airport collections.

So let’s add that all up for our tourist. A car rental for 3 days which was quoted online at 60.78 will actually cost our tourist (AFTER V.A.T.) €151.01 from Europcar and budget are no different. That’s almost 250% of what the budget tourist was quoted.
You’ve been in Ireland 30 minutes and you already want to leave. Oh and before you do leave could you please pay our government €10 departure tax.

Welcome to Ireland, why don’t you tell your friends about us while we’re over here shooting ourselves in the foot.

ireland budget car rental, car, car hire, car rental, europcar, ireland, ryanair, tourist

Here are the top 100 names for new born babies in Ireland in 2007. While “Bertie” is nowhere in the list the name “Brian” is just outside the top 50. It will be interesting to see how many children called “Barack” will be born in 08/09. There is a good chance however that the future leader of Ireland could be a Jack or Sarah, probably not an Enda though.

ireland 100, babies, baby, boys, children, girls, ireland, irish baby names, names, new born, popular irish baby names, top

Developing a culture of enthusiasm, a culture where strong values are put into practise from the bottom up & to have this culture infect the hearts and minds of everyone in Ireland is the key to building a successful country. This is a country in which everyone can win.

If you look at any successful business there are only a few key elements that drive that success. No matter how big an organisation it will always need a core from which leadership emanates. Leadership is not about fire fighting. It is not about doing the little day to day tasks. It is about developing the culture of a business. Bad leadership will lead to bad management and the effects will fizzle down through the ranks. In the end you will have a bad organisation. Good organisations, good businesses always have good leadership. There is never an exception.

Good leaders will often create good mission statements. This is not a statement of what they want; this is a statement of what the organisation wants. Much time will be spent creating the mission statement and everyone in the organisation will have a hand in developing it. In the end there will be a nucleus for the organisation which sets the values and goals. It gives balance, it sets a company ethos, it gives purpose for every member of that organisation because they will have created it and therefore they are committed to its success.

Merge these elements, a strong leadership core, a company mission statement and a workforce committed to the company ethos. Now you have the framework on which you can build a successful business. You have all the soldiers aligned and even in the darkest days your company is ok because you are in control. Everyone is together and everyone will push forward in one motion.

Juxtapose these structural ideas with that of any countries structure and you can see how easily they align and make sense. The US for a long time been the most powerful country in the world and it is worth taking note of the elements that give success to that country and also that which diminishes it. Strong leadership is such a major key to the success of that country and this has never been as obvious as now when we see new leadership providing new hope. The US constitution is their mission statement and it is a statement which every American is proud to commit to and work by. The populace are motivated by it and understand that it can provide the dream that each and every one has searched for.

Other countries have learned from America and are trying to create this structure or more importantly a structure that suits best and what the population want. We in Ireland need to have this. We need to run this country like a successful business. We need leaders who can lead and we need the population to want success for everyone. Perhaps we do have a strong leader, he has shown strong willingness to listen and understand what people want. He has yet to show strong vision. He has yet to make the people understand his ideas. This 2-way process whereby he understands the needs of the country and the country understand his and the governments needs as a leader is a journey yet to be completed.

In summary, we can succeed as a nation but we must clarify where we want to go. Our goals will be set to keep us on the right road. The engine in this is our government.

Jobs, ireland business, Goals, government, ireland, leadership, USA

The number of broadband subscribers, excluding mobile broadband, is 856,375 as of the end of September 2008. If you include mobile broadband the number is 1,125,080. This gives a penetration rate of 19.7% (25.9% including mobile).

In relative terms, Ireland’s current broadband position is behind all countries in the EU with who we are looking to compete with. The Nordic countries stand out as the leaders in both Europe and the world. Denmark has a penetration rate of 36%. Sweden and Finland stand strong above 30%. The quality of broadband in Sweden is quite good with 10% of the population having access to super speed broadband (>10Mbits/s).

The National Broadband Scheme (NBS) is being run by the Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources with the support of ComReg. The aim of the scheme is to bring broadband to areas of the country without any presence. The tender for this was given to ‘3’. In order to facilitate competition ‘3’ will be required to give wholesale access to anyone wishing to serve premises in the NBS area.

As a result of this tendering the lobby group Ireland Offline have decided to reform. “IrelandOffline is a voluntary group campaigning for affordable, unmetered (flat-rate) and broadband Internet access in Ireland, for anyone who wants it.”

IrelandOffline is not happy with “the national contract being awarded to a 3G mobile company with a history of poor technology and customer service.”

Fair enough.

There technically isn’t a major problem with broadband in Ireland, if we were Latvia, but we’re not. Ireland is looking to position itself as a knowledge economy. The Internet is a modern revolution. It is an information revolution and if Ireland is seeking to be a leader in research, development and technology then we have to do better when it comes to broadband, we have to do much better.

Internet Penetration is a key economic indicator and as the old country expression goes “signs on”. We are currently Latvia, EU members since 2004.

ireland, technology broadband, broadband penetration, Comreg, Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources, finland, internet, ireland, irelandoffline, Latvia, mobile broadband, national broadband scheme, NBS, Sweden

House prices are continuing to fall as indicated by the latest ESRI/ permanent TSB House Price Index. The chart below illustrates just how much has fallen of the average house in Ireland since prices peaked in 2007.

Expectations of a return to a vibrant market are very hopeful. The property donkey is dead and if we compare our situation to other countries then we can expect a 40%-60% drop in prices. Dublin prices peaked in April ‘07 and have since seen a drop of 16.6%. With a stockpile of empty property, banks not willing to lend, people not willing to buy and a very uncertain future for the economy it is inevitable that property prices will continue to slide.

In the first 10 months of 2008 there were 43,513 property completions. The total for 2007 was 78,027. A signs of the times. 2009 is going to be a tough year for the sector and as a result the country that relied so heavily on it.

Finance, Jobs, Property, ireland esri, house price index, house prices, ireland, Property, property completions

The killings of 2 polish men in Drimnagh, back in February 2008, by teenagers was the first major tear to appear in the social fabric of Ireland since the end of the Celtic Tiger. Today it appears that the shooting dead of a 50 year old man in the East Wall area of Dublin by teenagers as young as 13 is further evidence that the problem is growing.

The growing anti-social problems are not just confined to Dublin but attention is surely going to focus on the black spots of the city, of which there are many.

If we as a nation are ever to address this problem then this is the best time to start. As the economy contracts, jobs are lost and people are more willing to act tough and are more likely to support stern government actions. These actions, however, must not be to simply follow other countries such as the UK and allow the government to look as if they are doing something. The long process must begin by looking at our own country first and seeing what model best suits us.

Society is always driven by the majority and the majority of Irish people are strong and morally grounded, it is our unique strength that separates us from other countries, this is the strength we must draw on in order to preserve our society.

ireland anti-social, crime, dublin, government, ireland, murder, teenagers

For anyone out there interested in art there is an excellent exhibition of Finnish paintings currently running at the National Gallery:

http://www.nationalgallery.ie/html/exhibitions.html

It’s about €7 to enter the exhibition but worth every penny. Exhibition runs until February 1st 2009.

Art, fun, ireland Art, dublin, exhibition, finland, ireland, national gallery, painting