Is Merging the NDA and Equality Authority raising questions for Angela Kerins?
Simon McGarr’s post raised the issue of state agency rationalisation. It is an issue we may well not care much for at the moment, as we’re ‘too busy’ with the recession. Yet we should be concerned that some the agencies being tied together and taken back into departments are those ones with a nasty habit of rocking the boat. Agencies who might discuss the uncomfortable issues of inequality, rights and disabilities and government contravention of national and international conventions on the rights of many citizens.
Those agencies represent areas where the government and legislators agreed with best practice and fairness and guaranteeing the independence of the actions of the agencies. Indeed the Equality Tribunal was established as an imparital and quasi-judicial body with legally binding judgements on cases concerning the Equal Status Act and the Employment Equality Act. The Irish Human Rights Commission is included in the Good Friday Agreement and is a statutory body whose powers and mandate are outlined in the Human Rights Commission Act 2000.
The Government wants cuts and those cuts are to come from the proposed merger of the National Disability Authority, the Irish Human Rights Commission, the Equality Tribunal and the Data Protection Commissioners with the Equality Authority.
Yesterday’s story on Angela Kerins (CEO of Rehab Group/ Chair of the NDA/ Chair of the Equality Authority) makes me slightly uncomfortable about the politics which is in operation in the management and proposed merger of the agencies.
The chairwoman of the National Disability Authority (NDA), Angela Kerins, is also chief executive of Rehab, one of the largest disability service providers in the State. The authority last month awarded a €200,000 contract to Rehab Enterprises - a division of Rehab - for support and advice in relation to its “excellence through accessibility” awards.
Their vast enterprise services include recycling projects and running
Ms. Kerins is also a board member of the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (another ministerial appointment), a member of Comreg’s Consumer Advisory Panel and a member of the Department of Foreign Affairs NGO committee on Human Rights. She has also served as a member of the National Executive of the Irish Business Employers Confederation. Much busier than Celia Larkin!
Back to the mergers for a minute - It is worth reflecting on how the responses of two of the agencies affected by the proposed merger be independently anchored and guided by the same person. (Those responses are due back to the Dept of Justice, Equality and Law Reform are due by the middle of September.)
There are many issues which are not being addressed in the drip of information regarding the moves of the Dept of Justice Equality and Law Reform and the Department of Finance, that need answering, like the conflicts of interest, the influence of department heads, and most importantly the challenge of independence that was supposedly guaranteed to institutions to speak for those whom government couldn’t or wouldn’t
Lindsay Lohan’s New Stepmother Will Be 2 Years Older Than Her
Ali and Lindsay Lohan are about to get a new stepmom in their lives.
Michael Lohan, 48, to his longtime girlfriend, Erin Muller, 24.
However, it was official enough to talk about publicly.
When asked if Lindsay’s relationship with Samantha Ronson was the problem, he clarified saying that his father is battling cancer and that’s his main concern at this point. Oh yeah, and that little paternity case thingy.
“We’re waiting for the paternity test and my father’s situation to be resolved.”
Kristi Kaufmann claims Lohan is the father of her child. A child that was supposedly conceived while Michael was having an affair on his ex-wife, Dina. He has since submitted his DNA for testing but won’t be processed until the court orders it to be.
And so much for being ‘unofficial’. Muller was spotted showing off her flashy ring this past weekend at the Mercedes-Benz Bridgehampton Polo Tournament.
At that same event Michael talked openly about his daughter’s lesbian relationship with Samantha Ronson. He said,
“I’m not happy. Ever since she got out of rehab and all these people came back into her life, things haven’t been right. People like Samantha Ronson don’t need to be around Lindsay. She shouldn’t be dragging Lindsay around nightclubs. Who was Samantha Ronson before Lindsay Lohan? She was nobody. She is using her for her own gain. All these people have inserted themselves into her life like parasites, and it’s not right. I’m done with them.”
And as usual, he had a few spare words for his ex-wife.
“Dina is a kiss-ass. She’s just nice to everybody, trying to be friends with everyone, just so she can be on Lindsay’s good side. And it is wrong. She should be a mother first.”
Islands of Aland to Join Ireland in Rejecting Lisbon Treaty?
A tiny autonomous archipelago off Finland could soon add to the EU’s Lisbon Treaty woes…BBC
That isnt the kind of thing you expect to read everyday on the BBC website - or perhaps it is. Anyway it seems that not alone can the Irish do damage to the treaty by effectively killing it. A small island off Finland with 27,000 inhabitants is likely to hammer a nail into the treaty.
The island enjoys a degree of autonomy under Finnish law and has yet to ratify Lisbon - even though the Finnish parliament has ratified it. Failure by them to ratify the treaty would make life very awkward for Brussels and Helsinki.
A senior Finnish justice ministry official, Jaana Jaaskelainen, said “it would create a very awkward situation for the Aland Islands if they rejected the Lisbon Treaty - we don’t have experience of such a matter”.
…
A two-thirds majority is needed for the Aland parliament to adopt the Lisbon Treaty. “Today there is a strong feeling among our politicians that there is not a qualified majority in favour of Lisbon,” Ms Eriksson said.
Democratic Convention I
Although Hillary Clinton gave a great speech last night, it did little to heal the division in the party.
The party is “worried” now about mass defections by Clinton supporters to John McCain.
Well, what in the hell did they expect? After the May 31 charade effectively handing Obama the nomination, they lost what little chance they had in the fall.
Don’t expect Clinton supporters to “get over it” any more than Gore supporters when the 2000 election was stolen.
This part is damning:
Perhaps the best example of the persistent divide in the Democratic Party came after Clinton’s speech Tuesday night. The lights went down in the Pepsi Center, and some influential Democrats left downtown for good. They planned to head for the airport and fly home, long before Obama accepts the nomination in a speech at Invesco Field on Thursday night.
Clinton will hold a private meeting with her top financial advisers Wednesday, and many donors plan to leave immediately afterward. Terence R. McAuliffe, Clinton’s campaign chairman and the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, also plans to leave before Obama’s speech. Many of the women from 18 Million Voices, Fiechter’s pro-Clinton group, booked tickets for Wednesday and Thursday because “we really are taking a position of being indifferent to Obama,” Fiechter said.
Clinton’s delegates inside the Pepsi Center had no choice but to stick around, at least until the end of Wednesday’s roll call.
“I wish I could leave,” said Straughan, the professor from California. “To be honest, that would make this whole thing a lot easier.”
Too bad Clinton’s delegates can’t stage a walkout at the convention.
I Sure Agree With This Post
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No more should people who pointed out the absolutely despicable behavior of the Obama supporters, the Obamas, and the Obama campaign be told they have to “get over it” and have to tolerate the insults of being called “dead-enders.” The Obama supporters continue their quest to disenfranchise as many voters as possible, first with the rigging of the caucuses and the DNC, now with insults.
Support has to be EARNED, and Obama and his campaign haven’t done one thing to earn it.
Obama is going down and probably sooner rather than later. The knives are slowly coming out, and Obama will bleed a million cuts before this is over.
Not only should Obama go into the trash bin of history, but so should the nutroots who blindly followed this guy and swallowed the media propaganda.
Che Jian Hokkien Mee: Now that’s what I call traditional HKM!
With Amagada
If you are looking for a truly traditional Hokkien Mee, then this is the place to get it. It’s got it all. The opeh leaf, the crunchy pork lard, boiled melt-in-your-mouth belly pork, cut chilli and most importantly, a stock made from Sea Prawns or “Sua Lor” as it is called in Hokkien.
Yes, the taste of farmed prawns still fails to meet up to what God originally created prawns to taste like. When you bite into a “Sua Lor”, you can immediately make out that extra sweetness in its flesh which you don’t get with the farmed tiger prawns. And when they are used to make the stock, it adds that special old school taste to the Hokkien mee the fills the air with the aroma of anticipation when the Hokkien Mee is being fried.
Chomp Chomp is a Hokkien Mee lover’s paradise. Aside from this particular stall and
I think that there are going to be fans of both Hokkien Mees here. I ate both at the same sitting and in my opinion, Che Jian edges out Ah Hock in terms of the taste of the noodles, the use of sea prawns, the addition of belly pork AND the fact that they have crispy pork lard when you request for it. So for that, it deserves a 4.5/5. And on top of that, their signboard is also quite old school, as is the old man’s 555 all cotton T-shirt!
Conclusion
Two great hokkien mees in the one Food Centre! So how many are fans of Che Jian and how many of Ah Hocks?
Che Jian Fried Hokkien Mee
Chomp Chomp Food Centre
Left hand side towards the back
Open 5.30pm till 1amieatishootipost.blogspot.comOne man’s attempt to eat all the delicious food in Singapore and take pictures of them!
