Campus was recently brightened by Rainbow Week – LGBT Society’s hugely successful annual celebration of all things lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender. Amid workshops, entertainment and hi-jinks, one highlight was the Mock Wedding in which three couples were ‘married’ in order to demonstrate the equality of same-sex and opposite-sex couples. It was in response to the Civil Partnership Act, which came into effect on the first of January this year, and bestowed on those in same-sex relationships the right to have that relationship legally recognised, along with many of the rights and responsibilities one finds in marriage.

However, the bill failed to model civil marriage fully. I interviewed Anna MacCarthy, one of the leaders of the same-sex marriage campaign group, LGBT Noise, and former auditor of UCC’s LGBT Society. She cited a ‘MarriagEquality’ report which had noted 300 points of difference between civil marriage and civil partnership, meaning that those who enter into a civil partnership have just about half of the rights those in a civil marriage enjoy. These differences are largely related to provisions regarding children. In fact, references to children are systematically excluded from the Civil Partnership Act.

This is clearly an incredible injustice – not only to those who look forward to one day raising a family, but also to those who already care for children who are not recognised as their own purely because of the gender of those two parents. In a heterosexual family, if a relationship dissolves and one partner re-marries, there are provisions for the new spouse to adopt the children from the previous relationship. But with the civil partnership bill, the government is refusing to offer the children of same sex couples the same protections we all take for granted. Indeed the bill seems to deny these children the security they require exactly at those times in which it is most needed – when a parent is ill, or dies, or at the dissolution of the parents’ relationship.

It wasn’t as though the Oireachtas was unaware of the needs of these children. In July last year, the Ombudsman for Children published a report stating, “It should be borne in mind that this is not a hypothetical problem. The omission of robust protections for the children of civil partners will have real consequences for the young people concerned and it is in their interests that the law reflect and provide for the reality of their lives.” They were warned that the bill was very likely to violate both the European Convention on Human Rights Act and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Instead, the government bowed to the rhetoric of right-wing commentators like David Quinn, who repeatedly suggested that same-sex couples would be unsuitable for child rearing because they could not biologically produce children. This was despite the 2010 report ‘Voices of Children’ which had actually asked the children of same-sex parents what their experiences of growing up in such a family had been. Across the board, they emphasised how loved, wanted and protected they felt by their parents. The only negative experiences they reported stemmed directly from homophobia in their community and in the media, and the hardship and uncertainty they faced as a result of the government’s refusal to protect those in their situation.

Bigots such as Quinn further argued that because gay couples could not create a family as traditionally understood, they were undeserving of having their relation deemed a marriage at all. Setting the crucial issue of children aside, many people wonder how important it is that a same-sex relationship be labelled a marriage rather than a partnership, if it were to grant the same rights. In response to this sentiment Anna stated “language is so important in all of this because in Ireland what civil partnership is telling society is that LGBT people can be treated differently, and that it’s ok to treat them differently in other areas of society.” The fact that LGBT people are still treated as second-class citizens in this country cannot be ignored in all of this.

Anna pointed out that if you are an LGBT teacher in a catholic school you can be legally fired or not hired because of your ‘lifestyle’. By giving same-sex couples civil partnership rather than marriage, the government is reinforcing that difference in treatment. “I guess we have to acknowledge that it does address certain issues for very vulnerable people immediately and that’s a good thing. But I think you also need to view it as essentially enshrining discrimination in law, and I think that’s an awful shame when the government were provided with an opportunity to be a leader in Europe and in the world in terms of equality for LGBT people. They didn’t step up to the mark on that.”

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Apart from the ‘Dot-Com’ bust in 2000, the last four major global recessions all followed a spike in oil prices. In July 2008, when prices surged to over $147 a barrel, transport and food prices around the world were pushed up. Central banks responded by raising interest rates, which burst a massive credit bubble and triggered the banking crisis. Two months later, Lehman Brothers collapsed. By the end of the year Europe and the US were in recession and unemployment was soaring. Because of the level of our dependence on oil, the next recession could be less than five years away.

Last year, Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions fell by an astonishing 8%, the first fall in two decades. Don’t get too carried away though: much of this was due to the economic downturn. It included an amazing 20% drop in emissions from the industrial and commercial sector. We actually have a realistic chance of meeting our Kyoto targets for 2012.

There are some very exciting developments in green technology that could help Ireland recover from its current financial

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difficulties. We have an unprecedented opportunity to turn our system around and become a thriving low-carbon economy. Enough wind blows over the Ireland to generate all of our electricity many times over. We could also earn massive amounts of money by exporting surplus electricity to the UK and mainland Europe.

The main problem we must first overcome is that wind is intermittent. There needs to be a way to store wind energy so that it can be used when the weather is calm. Fortunately, a group of volunteers with expertise in areas such as engineering and business have found a way to do this. The group, which call themselves ‘Spirit of Ireland’, suggest using surplus electricity to pump sea water into large U-shaped valleys on Ireland’s west coast. When the weather is calm, electricity can be generated by releasing this water through hydroelectric dams back into the sea. Some of the valleys are so big they could store enough energy to power the country for two and a half days.

This is not an empty or unrealistic vision. The group has researched its plan extensively and demonstrated its viability. To make it work, our electricity grid needs to be improved and dams need to be built along the U-shaped valleys to contain the water. We are one of the richest countries in the world in terms of wind energy potential per person. The wind that blows over Ireland could be worth tens of billions of euros per year, enough to pay off the Anglo debt in less than 18 months.

It is vitally important that we become less dependent on oil. If we don’t, we can expect serious economic problems in years to come, as petrol and diesel prices go through the roof and just about everything becomes more expensive. Nearly all of our cars today are powered by petrol or diesel. Green Party minister Eamon Ryan recently secured a deal to bring electric cars to Ireland. Nissan will supply its five-seater LEAF hatch back in early 2011. Renault will launch its light commercial Kangaroo Z.E. later in the year, and its Fluence Z.E. in early 2012. Over 2,000 electric cars are expected to be on the roads this time next year. As part of the deal, the ESB is installing 3,500 charging points nationwide by December 2011. The government is also offering a €5,000 grant to anyone who buys an electric car.

Eric Basset, managing director of Renault Ireland, explained: “Due to its relatively small size, Ireland is ideally suited for the introduction of electric vehicles and as a pilot for the rest of Europe. As the population of Ireland is predominantly centred around the major urban areas of Dublin, Cork, Limerick, Galway and Waterford, and with the average vehicle covering approximately 75 km per day, electric vehicles are ideally suited to address the every day needs of both private and business use.”

There’s another exciting development right here in Cork that could help millions of people worldwide to save money and cut their CO2 emissions. Avego is a software application that matches car drivers with passengers who want to travel on the same route. All a driver has to do is let the iPhone App run. Avego notifies the driver whenever someone nearby wants a lift. A passenger can book a ride any time using a computer or an internet enabled mobile phone. The ride is much cheaper than a taxi and the transaction is handled automatically by the software. Headquartered in Kinsale, Co. Cork, Avego has won some highly prestigious awards and is being piloted right here in UCC.

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The exclusion of Seán Óg Ó hAilpín from the Cork panel for the inter county league and championship was surprising to many. Not because a player who has given so many years to his county will be hanging up his boots and calling it a day, but because of the manner in which his departure from the panel took place. In a statement released through the Gaelic Players Association, Ó hAilpín said:

“I met with the Cork hurling manager, Denis Walsh, where he informed me that I was not in his plans for the Cork Hurling Panel. I would love to continue to play for Cork, but I must respect the manager’s decision in this regard. I will however keep playing with my club Na Piarsaigh. I would like to thank all the players who I played with over my fourteen year career. I have always taken immense pride in wearing the Cork jersey and representing the county I love (…) Corcaigh abú.”

What is interesting from this statement is that Ó hAilpín’s retirement seems to have been pushed on him rather then being instigated by the man himself. Usually when a player retires from inter-county level it will be on the their own terms. A player who is getting on in years or who is spending too many games on the benches will often realise that it is time to go. Yet from the above statement, it appears that he had no intention to leave and was surprised by Cork manager Denis Walsh’s decision. Ó hAilpín is clearly of the opinion that he did not retire willingly but rather the decision was made for him.

Seán Óg made his inter-county debut for Cork in 1996. For the past fourteen years he has been a key player on a side that has had some great victories. Playing at wing back, he became part of a famous Cork defense that included hurlers such as Diarmuid ‘The Rock’ O’Sullivan. Since coming on in the Munster Championship in 1996, he has only missed one championship game at inter-county level, which is an amazing feat. He was also a very important member of the Cork senior football team for a period during the 1990s, playing in both the 1999 hurling and football finals.

He went on to win All-Ireland medals in 1999, 2004, and memorably in 2005 when he captained the side and made a famous speech in Irish after being presented with the Liam McCarthy Cup. Dan Shanahan has remarked that “I wouldn’t have much Irish myself but that was incredible for a fella coming from Fiji, and it really summed him up.”

Yet Ó hAilpín’s career has also been sullied by strikes and feuds with the county board, the first of which occurred in the winter of 2002. It was bitterly fought, but public support was on the side of the players and the  board gave way to the demands of the players. This did not put matters to bed, however, and history repeated itself in 2008/2009. This second strike divided public opinion in Cork. Many believed that the players were going too far in their demands and that they should leave the manager and the county board do their job. Others maintained that the hurlers were right to strike in their fight for fair treatment. It’s still a contentious topic in Cork, with some believing that Ó hAilpín’s retirement is a chance for hurling to move on, while other see it as a local hero being betrayed.

One fact that no Cork citizen, nor any GAA fan in the country, will deny is that Seán Óg Ó hAilpín was one of the greatest players to ever grace the hallowed ground of Croke Park. Aside from his involvement in the players strike, he has be thoroughly respected by fellow players and fans of the sport. He has been a fantastic representative, not only of GAA but of an Irish identity for a rapidly-changing country. A famous quote from an equally-famous broadcaster, Micheál Ó Muircheartaigh, sums up what Ó hAilpín represented in the GAA: “his father’s from Fermanagh, his mother is from Fiji, neither a hurling stronghold”. Without doubt he will be missed by rebel and non-rebel alike.

In early June, when college exams had just ended, students had gone home to become procrastinating sloths with no exams or study to worry about (until results were out that is!), the weather without fail was relatively crap and the question of what to do for the summer loomed achingly on everyone’s mind. But amongst all this dullness and monotony lay something beautiful; the 2010 FIFA World Cup. It was the answer to many people’s prayers, providing day-time entertainment with matches and night-time celebrations for when France were (inevitably) knocked out. 31 days of soccer bliss, 6,000 minutes of magic and 3 million tickets… legendary!

This year, the World Cup was particularly special. Being in Africa, this meant more than just an economy and tourism boost: it meant proving to the World that the nation was capable of holding one of the its biggest events. It certainly did that; we got sensational soccer, booming vuvuzelas, a Waka Waka hip-dislocating Shakira anthem and more. But the question ought to be asked; did we see the other side of South Africa during the World Cup? The country with townships, poverty, crime and HIV? It is estimated that during the period of the World Cup alone, 4,500 babies would have been born HIV-positive, 30,000 adults infected and over the space of those 31 days, and 22,500 people dead from AIDS-related illnesses.

The figures are deplorable, but this isn’t a guilt trip. Although we can’t save those who are already gone, we can open our eyes and try prevent it happening to others. We can spread awareness and learn the true facts about HIV. World AIDS Day takes place this month, and there are a variety of events both on campus and in Cork and Ireland generally to mark the occassion. Africa’s hosting of the World Cup was a triumph. They gave us a spectacle to remember and now it’s our duty to give back and say thank you. It’s time to get wise, get aware and get talking about the truth behind HIV/AIDS. This one’s for Africa.

Last month, Choice Ireland – a grassroots pro-choice organisation – discovered that 1,216 packages of abortion-inducing drugs such as Misoprostol and RU486 had been seized by Customs in 2009. The discovery was highlighted by TV3’s MidWeek programme two weeks later, which successfully acquired these drugs through the internet. The ease with which the drugs were obtained and the testimony of doctors who are aware of patients having taken these pills suggests that the number of Irish women ordering them is much higher than those seized.

Both Choice Ireland and MidWeek emphasised the risks involved in using these unregulated medicines – there is no guarantee of their efficacy, ingredients or standards of production. Furthermore, they are typically meant for use under the careful supervision of a gynaecologist, after consultation with a GP and followed by suitable after-care. But due to the legal status of these pills here it seems safe to assume that the vast majority of women taking them are not in a position to avail of such supports.

While some of these online companies are clearly preying on vulnerable individuals in desperate circumstances, others, such as WomenOnWeb.org, seem to genuinely aim at helping women whose only option is to buy these drugs online – making up for the shortcomings of our legislation by trying to render the process as safe as possible. Clearly this is not an acceptable state of affairs, but what the MidWeek programme failed to adequately address were the reasons women have for resorting to these sorts of dangerous measures.

The Irish government relies on women’s ability to travel abroad, usually to the UK, in order to obtain abortions. This gives rise to a situated inequality in which those who can afford to travel have the power to obtain an abortion, and those who can’t, don’t. Depending on how far along you are in your pregnancy you would need between €800 and €1000 in order to travel to the UK for an abortion according to the Irish Family Planning Association. For the most vulnerable in society, struggling to make ends meet, finding €800 is basically impossible.

Furthermore, every week one spends trying to find the money for the procedure, the higher the cost climbs and the greater risk to the woman’s health it becomes. Those women with uncertain residency status, such as asylum seekers, may be unable to leave the country at all for fear of not being allowed re-admittance, and women with children or other responsibilities often would not be able to take the required time off. This effectively traps women and forces them to take desperate, unsafe and illegal measures. This is the situation that prompted Human Rights Watch to publish a 57-page document on the injustices suffered by Irish women as a result of our restrictive laws.

As it stands, legislation seems to suggest that women are permitted to avail of abortion procedures in Ireland if the continuation of the pregnancy poses a risk to the woman’s life. However, the report states that “Human Rights Watch was unable to document a single case of a legal abortion being performed in Ireland and it is clear from our interviews with doctors and medical professionals that many women who are legally entitled to access abortion services in Ireland cannot do so. This situation is not in compliance with international law.” These women are forced to undertake the procedure abroad due to a lack of clear information on the circumstances under which they are legally permitted to obtain an abortion in Ireland, and the fear among medical professionals this uncertainty breeds.

There is also great concern brewing over ‘rouge agencies’ that masquerade as crisis pregnancy services, while instead merely peddling lies in order to scare women into continuing an unwanted pregnancy. A quick glance through the Youth Defence website, for instance, turns up false assertions that women who have abortions run the risk of developing ‘Post Abortion Syndrome’, have an inflated risk of cancer, and may become infertile. Similar organisations pretend to offer abortion information, before subjecting visitors to manipulative psychological attacks. The government needs to regulate information providers so that individuals facing a crisis pregnancy do not have to cope with the added stress of condemnation and misinformation.

Sinead Ahern, spokesperson for Choice Ireland, tells us that “it is time to face up to the reality that Irish women will go to desperate lengths and take huge risks to end pregnancies they feel they cannot continue. It is time to stop turning our backs on these women.” This discovery has made tangible all the inequalities we should have been shouting about for years. Now’s the time to pay heed and make the changes necessary in order to respect the wellbeing and autonomy of these women.

Students Protest at Tory HQ ©PA

“Praising violence over peaceful protest is frankly irresponsible” maintained a statement released by Downing Street in the aftermath of the recent student protests in London, after a group of academics from the University of London lauded the students’ occupation of the Tory Party HQ. The parallels to our own recent march are tangible: a fringe element breaks away from the main march and ends up clashing with the police. They are criticised by the head of the National Union of Students, who in turn is chastised for turning his back on supportive protesters.

While the accusations of irresponsibility may seem reasonable to those of us of average undergraduate age, who’ve grown up mired in a fluffy world of hegemonic pacifism (usually defended by the false reverence for supposedly great pacifists, hilariously referred to by some as the “Gandhi Shield”), waving placards and shouting catchy slogans. All the while, socialism for the rich gets more generous, cut-throat capitalism for the poor gets more brutal, the world’s ecosystems are destroyed at unprecedented rates, global hunger increases, more Middle Eastern countries are criminally destroyed (feel free to add more good protest material ad infinitum).

So, perhaps, in the context of education cuts we should heed the words of the above academics who maintained that “the real violence in this situation relates not to a smashed window but to the destructive impact of the cuts.” Indeed, replace the word “cuts” in the quote with any of the above causes for concern and perhaps we edge that bit closer to the reality of the matter.

Blaming fringe elements for this “destructive and anti-social violence”, as USI and the Gardaí did, entirely confuses symptoms and causes, while reinforcing the universal societal norm that violence can travel un-condemned only down the social hierarchy and not up it. It’s like laying the blame for 9/11 solely on the backs of crazed suicide bombers, as is routinely done in mainstream media, without examining underlying U.S. military aggression and belligerent foreign policy.

Of course throwing a fire extinguisher from the roof of Tory HQ was an act of violent stupidity. But this is mainly because, if violence is to be kept in the arsenal of protest and social change (as it is equally kept in the arsenal of most governments and our economic system), it should at least be kept well-targeted and effective.  We live in an undeniable time of crisis, not just regarding the economy, but also factoring in decades of increasingly rapacious human activity that has rendered the global environment toxified, depleted and in an extremely precarious condition. Geologists increasingly refer to the present period as the “Anthropocene” in honour of the horrendous geological and ecological change our species has provoked on the biosphere. We have single-handedly brought about the 6^th great phase of species extinction in the history of the planet. I can go on.

As the juggernaut of an ethically-perverted human society edges us and other species closer to the brink in a multitude of arenas, it becomes increasingly less defendable. Over 90% of large fish in the world’s oceans are now gone. Unacceptable levels of dioxins are to be found in breast milk of mothers in every country ever examined (actually, is any level acceptable?). World military spending was over $1.5 trillion in 2009, increasing unstoppably even throughout the ongoing global economic crisis.

But no, you have to live with crippling debt if you want to further your education. There comes a point when you see real violence for what it is, and stop believing that making pretty placards is really going to do anything.  As the acclaimed author Derrick Jensen says, you just have to decide at what point that is. When 99% of the large fish are gone? 100%? You might not like the implications of this, it might make you uncomfortable, but then again, I don’t really care. It’s my planet too.

By the way, Gandhi, once wrote letters to Hitler asking him to stop his violence, signing off the last one with “Your sincere friend”. Would you believe it didn’t do anything?

In 2008, all that time ago, Fianna Fail still denied that the country was in a recession. Maybe they knew that because they have been in power for so long, they have no one else to blame (of course after the Wall Street crash we were told it was all Lehman Brothers’ fault). Then we were told that there would be a soft-landing.  Then we were told that there would have to be a minor adjustment, and were sold the magical solution of the banking guarantee. In fact Sinn Fein, for all their posturing these days, comparing Labour to FF and FG, voted in favour of this act of economic stupidity – dare I say, treason.

Nearly €15,000,000,000 has now been cut from the economy in the last 4 budgets – a huge figure (remember Lenihan’s claim last Christmas that we had ‘turned the corner’?).  Even more savage cuts have become apparantly, in the words of Friedman, ‘politically inevitable’.  And what has this slashing of public expenditure actually achieved? Absolutely nothing – in fact, it has further deflated our economy.  Unemployment has inevitably sky-rocketed from a lack of investment, while emigration has surged (unemployment would be half a million people without it).  Yet the government still maintains that the vast majority of the shortfall will be made up in cuts rather than by taxation.  As the cliché says, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different outcome.

The The reason our bond yields had been increasing at such a rate before the IMF stepped in was because investors know that a country needs to have a capacity to actually grow and pay back its debt – cutting everything just doesn’t work.  Obama has been lambasted for investing in a stimulus package in the US, but this has reduced unemployment significantly, as has been the case for other countries in Europe.  Why is our Government so afraid of seeing the obvious benefits of stimulus packages and the multiplier affect? I believe it is due to the belief of many individuals in the media, Government, the Department of Finance and Brussels in the ‘shock theory’ school of economics.

They ignore the real causes of this crisis – massive deregulation, poor governance, low taxes and huge dependance on construction, etc. How do we lower the deficit? Why of course, we have to privatise all productive State companies (recently outlined by Fine Gael in their policy document). We should keep taxes at their unrealistically low level, and we should lay off a sizable portion of the public service. But sure, why would the likes of Sir Anthony O’ Reilly, Micheal O’ Leary or Denis O’ Brien want a more fair distribution of the pain in the Budget?  As billionaires with an extensive influence in the media, they are able to manipulate opinion towards this ‘shock doctrine’ (to borrow the title of Naoimi Klein’s excellent book) – keep the people divided, keep the private sector pitted against the public sector, students versus the middle class, pensioners versus the rest of society – it is a divide and conquer strategy. A scorched earth policy, even.

And while the vast majority of the media, and indeed society, ignore the real perpetrators of this crisis. These same people are able to espouse their shock and awe tactics to the public that had no hand in the making of it.  Make no mistake, the likes of O’ Reilly are rubbing their hands in glee at this ‘opportunity’ to implement their self-serving idealogy on this whole country.  We get multi-millionaires like Peter Sutherland (Chairman of the secretive Bilderberg Group and head of RBS when it had to be bailed out by the British Government) saying that the dole should be hit significantly, and Mike Soden (disgraced ex-CEO of Bank of Ireland who was sacked for looking up porn in his office) saying that college fees should be re-introduced.  It is time that every Irish person stands up and realise the true intentions of these people, and groups like the IMF.  They have a lot of impressive mathematical equations but most of them come down to this: Divided people = Increased Profit.

Members of UCC Students’ Union and the LGBT Society were recently out on campus to protest  against the sustained refusal of the Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) to accept donations from those in the male homosexual community. The IBTS has a number of restrictions on eligibility for giving blood, which it claims are in place to protect both the health of the donor and the safety of the blood supply. These include bans on donations from those who have been in prison in the previous year, or who have recently gotten a piercing or tattoo, as well as all men who have sex with men (MSM).

While the IBTS acknowledges that its policy in relation to MSM causes “considerable offence” and is “clearly discriminatory”, the organisation’s CEO, Andrew Kelly, has defended their current stance. “We discriminate against several groups in the community insofar as we refuse to allow them to donate blood on the basis of perceived increased risk of spreading infections through blood transfusion,” he said in a statement.

However, although in most such cases individuals are allowed to resume giving blood as soon as they can be verified free of transmissible diseases, MSM donors are restricted for life, which campaigners say is unjust and unwarranted. “In the context of temporary bans, it does not make sense that MSM should be banned for life … it contributes negatively to the stigma which is often attached to being gay,” said LGBT Rights Officer Laura Harmon.  As part of the campaign, UCC student Brian Byrne queued up to donate blood, only to be told that he will never be allowed to as a sexually-active gay male.

The policy itself was developed in the early 1980s, before a test for HIV infection in blood donors had been developed. Several European countries have lifted injunctions on MSM donations in recent years, prompting Irish equality groups to call for similar action at home. Gay Doctors Ireland (GDI) have described it as ‘unscientific’, and the Union of Students in Ireland have held regular campaigns against the ban. “It’s very difficult to get information from the IBTS on the policy. They are still recycling information from about five years ago,” said Dr. Conor Malone of GDI.

Protestors spoke also of the need for more detailed vetting of heterosexual high-risk groups, amidst aims to counteract a “culture of misinformation” surrounding sexually-transmitted diseases. “We feel that the questions asked should be closer to those used in Spain, Italy and France, where potential donors are screened on the basis of the risk associated with their actual sexual practices and lifestyle, rather than simple orientation,” said Genevieve Shanahan, who joined in the rally. “Those in higher-risk categories, regardless of orientation, should be deferred for a set period of time, rather than banned for life.”

As far back as 2006, Dr. William Murphy – Medical Director of the IBTS – openly admitted that “any regular blood donor in a stable partnership is safer than one who is not, all other things being equal”, and called for an overhaul of the system. Yet the continued insistence of the board of management to retain the measure in the interim, along with the comments made by Kelly and other senior IBTS figures, suggest that such reform is far from certain in the short term. “If there is to be a change in this policy, the pressure will have to come from outside the IBTS and be maintained, as it has been,” said Ms. Shanahan. “If we aren’t out there setting the record straight on these stereotypes then it will be much more difficult for the IBTS to change due to the widespread misunderstanding of the risks involved.”

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Can one country bring down an entire monetary union? If Herman Van Rompuy is to be believed, we gave it our best effort. Not only that, but the President of the European Council asserts that a failure by Ireland to take a bailout would have precipitated the downfall of the European Union as a whole.  Mr. Van Rompuy may be merely playing the doom merchant, but it illustrates just how grave our situation appears.

Not that long ago, European counterparts were praising our efforts to control our banking and sovereign debts. However, tension has been building steadily over the past few weeks. The result was a serious liquidity crisis. In essence, our banks had no money. The problem was exacerbated when the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, announced a plan to make bondholders liable for sovereign debts, spooking the markets further.

This is where we find ourselves. The IMF have set up camp in the Department of Finance. Our problems alone take up no less than 6 pages in the latest issue of The Economist, one of the most respected international financial magazines. We take pride of place on the front cover of that same magazine, as ‘Good Ship Europe’ is shown sailing into apparent oblivion, guided by an Irish flag. The Financial Times peruses the possibility of Ireland becoming “a ward of the ECB”.

Certain observers contend that a bailout was unavoidable. Whether avoidable or not, something triggered, and aggravated, a rapid economic meltdown in Europe, with Ireland at its core. Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou described Angela Merkel’s recent announcement as a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’. While not renowned for their fiscal responsibility of late, the Greeks believed that Merkel’s comments incited the crisis.

Without doubt, the foundations for disaster were laid on home soil. Described as “an unhealthy boom” by The Washington Post, we inflated a property bubble through tax breaks and negligent financial regulation. Our government were undeniably at the heart of this. However, for opposition parties to claim that all would have been different had they presided over the Celtic Tiger is nothing more than retrospective nonsense.

Every government wants to be popular, and will prolong success to further political ends. A virulent bubble like the one we experienced during the last decade was inevitable. Our actions over recent weeks have been significant. It’s not often that a by-election in Donegal South-West makes international news, however it represents nicely the turmoil in our political system. It may sound facetious, but a football team characterised by constant bickering between the players is never going to win anything.

Repeated calls for a general election, quarrelling and opposition for its own sake sent a message to the markets that we were defeated. International factors had a role to play in the fiasco. Merkel’s recommendations, while logical, were awfully timed. Many commentators believe the Greek bailout was a disaster, as they will never really be able to repay their debts. This, combined with a rushed support mechanism for the euro zone countries reveals a poorly handled debt crisis. European actions seem to have forced the hand of jittery markets.

Where now for our battered economy? According to The Economist it’s not as hopeless as it appears. They believe us likely to return to growth before our Mediterranean neighbours, due to our adaptable workforce and attractiveness to foreign investors. Little solace it is while the IMF take the reins of the exchequer. Nonetheless, we should remember this is not Armageddon. The UK went to the IMF in 1976, and came out the other side.

It seems true that Chancellor Merkel fulfilled a prophecy for us. Maybe that illustrates the problem, however. We haven’t been writing prophecies of our own, we’ve been too busy looking for divine intervention. The day will come when we’ll control our own destiny again. In the meantime though, the IMF don’t do prophesising.

Last month saw the launch of Google Street View in the Republic of Ireland. This free onlineresource allows users to virtually navigate through maps using panoramic views captured from its now infamous Street View cars. The online service has provoked both praise and criticism here and internationally. Ireland has now been added to an ever-expanding list of accessible areas including North America, the UK, Brazil, Australia, Singapore and many more.

Google’s commitment to cover the entire world, once seen as an unachievable pipe dream, now appears within the realm of possibly. Plans are already in place for South Africa, Chile and many Eastern European countries. The program has received praise for its innovation and usefulness, but has also irked many privacy groups and governments, potentially stalling Google’s plans. Groups have raised concerns about the photographing of people, particularly including sensitive buildings such as shelters and abortion clinics, as well as the potential use of the information in criminal activity.

In the UK, failed attempts were made to prevent Street View cars from entering certain areas by locals. Opposition in Ireland has not been as strong. The recent revelation that Street View cars also logged wifi information, including unencrypted passwords and information, has further inflamed privacy concerns. Alan Eustace, Google’s senior VP of Engineering & Research, recently acknowledged these concerns, apologised and has committed to deleting the offending information. This has done little to halt criticism, as the information was made available online and many question whether the action was an unintentional as Google suggests.

Authorities in several countries are said to be investigating this issue with possible action being taken in Germany, where Street View has divided public opinion. Recent surveys show more than half of Germans opposing the service including vocal critic, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle. This has led to Google implementing an opt-out list for the country. Further restrictions imposed by the EU, such as requiring Google to permanently delete requested images including the original photos of blurred faces within 6 months, has lead Michael Jones, Google’s chief technology advocate, to question whether the company will be willing to continue its Street View roll out in Europe.

Whether or not Google will achieve its dream of worldwide coverage remains anyones guess at the moment, but it has both the commitment and resources to make a serious effort. While the future of Street View looks uncertain, its popularity nonetheless reflects the public desire for information and the reliance on online sources, something also illustrated by their other massively popular service, Google Maps.

Alternatives include OpenStreetMap (OSM), which is distinguished by being an open source collaborative project, editable by anyone, and has been dubbed the “Wikipedia of Mapping”.  Recently I met up with intrepid OSM mapper Dermot McNally, who gave a talk on the subject at the Irish Linux User Group AGM, and with whom I discussed the history, development and potential of OSM. Unlike Google Maps, which relies on commercially-obtained maps, OSM’s data is primarily sourced from its users who contribute GPS traces and add information to maps, such as the location of buildings, road types and much more. This real time access is one of its key strengths.

Like Linux and Wikipedia, OSM has shown the power of open source and crowd sourcing. A few years ago, Ireland was almost completely unmapped, lacking even a coastline; a daunting task for anyone to consider taking on. However, thanks to user contributions, that situation has changed radically. Those who contribute to the OSM project are difficult to categorise. There are holiday makers who bring GPS devices with them, people who simply wish to ensure their locality is mapped correctly, and those interested in infrastructure such as new roads. Governments and councils have also donated data to the project, such in the Netherlands, in recognition of its quality and potential.

The power of OSM was recently demonstrated after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. OSM users and other volunteers used existing tools and satellite imagery to create impressively detailed and accurate maps of roads, buildings and refugee camps around Port-au-Prince in just two days, immeasurably helping aid agencies organise relief work. The action has won worldwide praise and illustrates the power of the project.

While the future of Google Street View is questionable, the future for alternatives such as OSM seems bright. Unlike the restrictive Google Map licencing, which prevents users from storing data, OSM is a truly open source project and has spawned innovative new sites focusing on providing accurate cycle routes, public transport information and even ski slopes. OSM apps are readily available for the iPhone and Android, while the data is also being used more and more in commercial devices. The availability of maps online is now taken for granted by web users. However, many are now questioning where their information comes from and the openness of OSM is becoming more and more attractive.