General election

fi

appologies firstly if this has been covered but i didnt see it...

over the last few weeks i ahve had only 2 people call to my door campangaining... they went on about this and that.... all reasonable good issues for teh general area....

then they asked if i had any thoughts... so i asked among other things... what about improving teh internet servise to Ireland?

the reply was blank facces, but one guy was really interested and he was camoangining for Mary Lou McDonald Sinn Fein, i ahve her phone number if anyone feels it would help, as you know i am in the dublin 15 area so this is her catchment area,

if there are other north siders here that would like to ring her there might be some good.

cant cause any harm.... but she is ready to listen and is or seems generally interestes,

has anyone else had canversers mentioning this to them?

the_corpo

i've been living in blackrock for about 10 years now, and i think maybe twice we've been canvassed

ridiculous

Chaos-Engine

Sinn Fein seem genuily interested in PEOPLE. They will be getting some votes from me. To FF+FG, the word "The people of Ireland" means large foreign national(US) firms. So when they say "Broadband for all the people of ireland" they really mean just the FDIs. Sinn Fein on the other hand are interested in developing Ireland with Irish firms first. And the issues that matter to us. like "Broadband".

b20uvkft6m5xwg

To: The Corpo

The tendancy for a TD to call to your door depnds where you live.

The previous electoral counts can show how the voters on a particular street voted-
So for arguments sake, if 90% of the people on your street voted Fianna Fáil, then it is unlikely that any Political Party are going to put much time and effort into canvassing there (bar of course something posted in the door), because they will all just concede it will go to Fianna Fail.

However if the vote disperation is wide on the particular street you live on then expect a call to your door by your TD. So that may explain your lack of a visit.

Dont forget they all tend to hang around supermarkets and mass on Sunday- You can contact them there or of course visit their clinics.

aidan_dunne

Originally posted by fi
then they asked if i had any thoughts... so i asked among other things... what about improving teh internet servise to Ireland?

the reply was blank facces......

And therein lies the problem. The politicians in this country just do not know about the dreadful internet situation in this country. As soon as you mention the internet, LLU, FRIACO, ADSl and all those other acronyms a look comes across their faces which simply says, "Huh?"

I think a lot of it stems from the fact that most of the politicians are not tech-savvy. They probably just about know how to switch on their computers and maybe check their e-mail but, because they are not tech-minded, they just don't understand the issues the rest of us tech-minded people are raising with them.

Educating them about the dire situation in this country is very important and then, perhaps, they will understand a bit better and decide how important it is to tackle the whole internet and telecommunications mess in Ireland. That's why I'll be printing up lots of little handouts explaining this to give to them and telling them Ireland Offline's goals and urging them to visit the website when they start coming to my door looking for my vote. I think we all should be doing the same in order to educate them and explaining how bad things are. After all, they can't solve a problem they don't fully understand.

Victor

Yeah, I've only seen stuff from the PDs (only one to really raise net issues), FF & FG. No canvassers. But in my building, only 1 or 2% of people are on the register.

Originally posted by Chaos-Engine
They will be getting some votes from me.

Votes? Seems reminiscent of the Sinn Fein mantra of vote early and vote often.

80p, the best information that can be gleaned from elections is a tally (guesstimate) of how a polling station voted (admittedly some polling stations have more than one box). At best they could tie it down to would be a neighbourhood of several hundred houses.

Iteki

i think this is possibly a key issue in irelands broadband struggle.
I live in sweden these days, and a major part of their i-net success is due to the government stepping in and basically paying for the backbones to be built. They decided that everyone in the country should have access to broadband internet. Unfortunatly the north of sweden is one of the most sparsly populated regions in the whole of europe, so that part of the deal cost them a bit however, this means that everyone has access (almost, will have by the end of this year) and most people in towns have a number of options for access. I have the choice of ADSL, ISDN (if you wanna call that broadband), Cable-inet through the telly lines, and a regular t1 line in the wall. None of these options cost more than 100 quid to get set up, and 30 quid a month.

Lobby the goverment *hard*, talk to some of the swedish broadband companies about how it all actually worked out over here, I am sure they have a lot of insight and tips...

If not, maybe its time for this group to band together, get some capital from an investment source (i am sure the americans would love to help little ireland) and set up shop yourselveS?

b20uvkft6m5xwg

Originally posted by Victor
80p, the best information that can be gleaned from elections is a tally (guesstimate) of how a polling station voted (admittedly some polling stations have more than one box). At best they could tie it down to would be a neighbourhood of several hundred houses.

Maybe I should have clarified that-
By me using the word "street", that also means housing estate, apartment complex etc. I'm on a main road so that may explain the confusion.

In each polling station, The Ballot boxes are dividied up in order of where you live- so for instance there will a 4 digit prefix- indicating your street/apartments/estate and then another (usually 3 digit) number indicating you. You then place your ballot in the box corresponding to your 4 digit number-
Then the results tallied can be analysed as to how those residents voted as per your 4 digit prefix.

This is one reason why the Electronic Voting system is being objected to by alot of TD's because they will no longer be able to get this useful information on their constituents when it comes to canvassing.

yellum

Originally posted by Victor


Votes? Seems reminiscent of the Sinn Fein mantra of vote early and vote often.

Thats a Charles Haughey phrase.

fi

I found in talking to alot of ppl in "power" thier responce has been, oh i have isdn in work and i ponly use the pc there i didnt know there was a problem!!!

i mentioned this group to the guy that called and i am awaiting a call back from McDonnald, she wishes to discuss it with me further

mike65

If Sinn Fein bring affordable net access to the people I'll have to eat my hat! I can't see it being a bargaining point in the formation of the next government somehow...

Mike.

fi

wekk i ahve to say at least she is taking the time to listen and ear what we need, if she is Really interested i would like to put her in contact with someone from the board so they can talk to her in greater detail.....

who would like to speak with her?