Can protectionism now be justified? · 14 October 08 by Ray Crowley
The Irish Government recently passed emergency legislation that guarantees the Assets and Liabilities of 6 Irish Banks.
In Essence the Irish State has taken on a €400 Billion Contingent Liability
Tax-payer support of the core financial services sector raises an interesting question that has not yet been asked in the Irish media;
If the Irish Taxpayer; i.e. those generating wealth in the private sector are effectively guaranteeing the commercial future of financial services in this small open economy, then wouldn’t it be appropriate for the elected representatives of the tax paying class to demand a moratorium on the Off-Shoring of IT services and Financial back-office functions from Ireland to non-EU locations such as India and China?
Pia Fraus · 23 September 08 by Ray Crowley
tags: estonia, musicApple fix problems · 24 July 08 by Ray Crowley
My MacBook had a dud battery
I called Apple support Friday afternoon. Replacement battery was delivered to me on Monday morning. UPS collected my original. Today I receive this confirmation. All communication points with Apple during this interaction were well designed.
ireland | cultural magazines · 24 July 08 by Ray Crowley
why is there no cultural magazine published in ireland that is respected on the european mainland? (I am not referring to academic journals)
have a look at the eurozine.net network
The Treaty of Lisbon in 50 Words · 29 May 08 by Ray Crowley
Here it is. In 50 words.
The full treaty document is here in pdf format
Thanks again to Daniel Steinbock for developing TagCrowd
note: the data used to produce this analysis was taken from the core treaty and excludes the protocols.
Northern Ireland. The North. Ulster. The Six Counties. · 13 May 08 by Ray Crowley
Towards a New European Fabric Design · 17 April 08 by Ray Crowley
From Cristian Zuzunaga
Near to something · 26 January 08 by Ray Crowley
let’s get closer to that centre
enter church of mr. neil young here
The use of internet technologies in Ireland and Estonia · 4 December 07 by Ray Crowley
I am often asked “what is Estonia like?”. I usually respond with references to; the enchanting landscape, economic model and the magical strength of the Estonian Language.
If the questioner has a passing interest in a subject such as connectivity as social infrastructure, I might refer to ubiquity of WiFi.
Today I came across a release from Eurostat; Internet access and e-skills in the EU27 in 2007
The difference between adoption rates of technologies in Ireland and Estonia is revealing.
Here are the results for ie, ee and EU27. Draw your own conclusions:
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In the interests of research and debate I have uploaded all the data from Eurostat here
By looking at the very last table in the link above “Percentage of individuals who have carried out 5 or 6 of the Internet related activities” and taking only the results for “Percentage of individuals who used Internet, ever” then we encounter a rather remarkable picture of the degree of use of technology in Ireland and Estonia. These two societies are at opposite ends of the scale:
Ireland: 5 % (the lowest of the EU27)
Estonia: 41% (the highest of the EU27)
Three shots from Le Mépris (Jean-Luc Godard) · 9 September 07 by Ray Crowley
