EGM - Opinions from the North West

DonegalMan

Meeting Held in Donegal
31st August 2004

Present:
Paul Cunnane (OscarBravo)
Paddy McLean (Paddy20)
Martin Harran (DonegalMan)


A) OVERALL VIEW OF IOFFL

Should IOFFL Remain in Business?
Yes. A lot has been achieved but there is still much to be done. IOFFL has achieved an almost unbelievable profile with and level of respect from the media, the politicians and the general IT industry in Ireland. It has provided a mechanism where the ordinary user can bring forward their problems and their opinions. The organisation is too important to be allowed to fade away at this vital time when Internet access in Ireland is drifting further and further behind the rest of the world.

Should IOFFL become a 'Watchdog' type organisation?
No - at least not at this stage. The original objective of IOFFL was "Affordable Internet access for all " - this has still not been achieved an and should remain the objective.

Whilst IOFFL have been successful in achieving FRIACO, this is now yesterdy's technology. Broadband is now the only acceptable form of Internet Access, yet only a tiny minority of Irish Users have access to Broadband.

How should IOFFL go forward?
There are a number of ways that IOFFL can go about its objectives. The exact methods to be used will be determined largely by the IOFFL committee and will be influenced by their own ideas and aspirations.

The fundamental structure of IOFFL as a cyber organisation means that the IOFFL membership has always left a significant level of freedom to the committee and this is likely to continue. The most important thing at the EGM, therefore, is to get a committee in place that will put in the time and effort and will work towards the objectives in a way that is broadly acceptable to the membership.

Our collective views on areas the new committee should tackle are given below.


SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS

• The Media
  Our profile with the media seems to have slipped a bit, we need to get it restored. In the early days of IOFFL, the mainstream media were not greatly interested in Ireland's 'Internet story'. Now they are and we have to milk this for all it's worth. It is ridiculous that the radio stations have let Eircom get away with their policy of not appearing on any show where IOFFL have a representative, this must exposed and stopped. It was great to see the coverage on RTE News the other night but we need to get the story moved on from a late night filler to a prime time slot.
  
  
• The Politicians
  We need to restore our relationships with the politicians and - perhaps even more important - the people who advise them.
  
  Whilst we might criticise individual aspects of Government action, they have shown a greater awareness of and willingness to address the problems. The recent Dáil report has a few holes in it but, overall, its script could have been written by IOFFL - it is a realistic assesment of how bad the current situation is and is a damning indictment of the Telco's, particularly Eircom.
  
  Where the Government seems to struggle is coming up with realistic solutions rather than throwing yet more money at yet more fibre.
  
  Dermot Aherne has put a lot of work into improving Internet access, he is likely to move in the Autumn reshuffle so IOFFL should get in and meet with him before that so that we have an entrée into the next Minister.
  
  
• ComReg
  We are totally dissatisfied with the role and performance of ComReg. This body is needed, however, and we can't just whine and moan about it. We need to determine what the real problem is - do Comreg not have the teeth they need or do they just not effecively use the ones they have have? - and work on this with both the Media and the Politicians.
  
  
• The Telco's
  Trying to get anywhere with the major telco's is a waste of time. Eircom have shown no appetite for accepting the changes that are happening in the world of communications, they are only interested in holding on as long as possible to current revenue generating activities. EsatBT seem to have lost any desire to try to change the situation and have settled into the role of picking up the crumbs from Eircom's table.
  
  We believe that IOFFL has to base its forward strategy on the assessment that Eircom is in a state of terminal decline and we should plan for its eventual demise. This assessment impacts two areas of activity:
  
  a) We must make a public outcry about any deterioration in the national infrastructure cause by Eircom's lack of investment.
  
  b) We should encourage other forms of Internet access
  .In regard to the latter, we feel that IOFFL has probably concentrated too much over the last year on local wireless groups as a single issue but we should not overreact by dropping it as an issue. These groups have now shown that they can work and that there is a real alternative to Eircom. We should do everything we can to make the media and the politicians more aware of this.
  
  One area we need to be careful about is that IOFFL does not leave itself open to any accusation of vested interest. We suggest therefore that anyone likely to be involved in any commercial way with the provision of wireless services to local groups should not be directly involved in the IOFFL committee.

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Report By Martin Harran

Note to Committee - feel free to add this to IOFFL site if you feel it would be useful.

byte

Great report Martin. I agree with everything there.

jwt

Nice one Martin

I prepared a powerpoint presentation a while ago for the EGM based on all the feedback and comments from members here and on the survey.

Strangely enough it broke out fairly neatly into the broad headings you described.
This ppt is to designed to show attending members the rough directions people want us to go. TBH I wouldn't be too far adrift of your comments but on the points I disagree with I'll make my opinions known at the meeting not that its a wild difference of opinion

It is going to be a vote and something the incoming committee should and probably must heed.

One area we need to be careful about is that IOFFL does not leave itself open to any accusation of vested interest. We suggest therefore that anyone likely to be involved in any commercial way with the provision of wireless services to local groups should not be directly involved in the IOFFL committee.

As in a employee of said wisp or say the community member of the partnership?

If it's the latter then you are ruling out people with experience, or stopping the committee members from working directly with their own community.

I don't see that going down to well

John

Moriarty

I think what they may mean would be people that could be seen to have a vested intrest in steering ioffl in one particular direction or another, to the possible detriment of the overall cause.

damien

We suggest therefore that anyone likely to be involved in any commercial way with the provision of wireless services to local groups should not be directly involved in the IOFFL committee.

Mmm, I do think that needs to be explained in more detail. I think if we have someone that is in a non-community company that makes money selling broadband to people who utliize a scheme we promote then yes, it can be understood that it might be seen that this person has a vested interest and the more we push for these broadband schemes , the more this person could profit.

I do think though that the above is diifferent to a community who creates their own business isp and brings in broadband to the community and resells it. I would class that as non-commercial, even if the person earns a wage and the community company makes a profit.

Saying that, I think the committee shouldn't bog itself down into too many rules and exceptions as it can just turn messy and become very administrative minded with people quoting rulebooks at meetings.

I would suggest that a committee member declares their interests and it should be up to the committee to decide if the committee would come under fire for this interest.

But then, how about this exampple: If we had someone from Eircom on the committee it may be prudent for the sake of their job to not declare this. The committee would of course know and they'd decide if the person should be allowed to stay on the committee.

DonegalMan

damien.m wrote:

Mmm, I do think that needs to be explained in more detail.

We were thinking along the lines of someone who gets involved up in a commercial operation setting up Wireless Broadband for other community groups as opposed to someone who is involved in setting it up in their own community.

We weren't trying to be too hard and fast on this, it's just that one of IOFFL's strengths to date has been its independence and it needs to be 'cleaner than clean' going forward.

There are a number of 'wrinkles' to this, the example you gave of an Eircom employee is just one. It depends to some extent how high a profile the person has in their employment and how obvious their influence is in IOFFL.

We do think it's an issue that should be thought about now to avoid problems down the road.

jwt

Fair enough................I think Damien's idea of allowing the committee to decide is fair,but and its a big but if someone has NOT declared an interest, this should result in immediate expulsion. No if's buts or maybe's ignorance is no excuse sort of idea. If in doubt explain your interests.

We do think it's an issue that should be thought about now to avoid problems down the road.

Dead right


John

DonegalMan

jwt wrote:

Fair enough................I think Damien's idea of allowing the committee to decide is fair,but and its a big but if someone has NOT declared an interest, this should result in immediate expulsion. No if's buts or maybe's ignorance is no excuse sort of idea. If in doubt explain your interests.

I personally am totally happy with that approach, just as long as it's an issue that the committee are aware of.