Current committee stepping down on June 9th 2007

jwt

On the 9th of June the current committee will resign their positions in
IrelandOffline.

The current committee has been running for nearly three years and took
IrelandOffline to new heights and professionalism.

However it has been a long and tiring road and the current committee
feels that now, with massive changes in the market, it is time for new
fresh and invigorating blood to take up the reigns and lead
IrelandOffline to greater successes.

The committee would like to thank the previous committees that lead
IrelandOffline and in particular thank the volunteers, members and forum
posters who contributed to the current
successes of IrelandOffline.

Between now and the 9th of June the committee would like volunteers for
the new committee to step forward either in public on the forum or in
private by email. In the event of no one stepping forward the committee
will then vote to dissolve IrelandOffline.

In that event a number of steps will take place to ensure the privacy of
member mailing lists etc which will be detailed in public should the
need arise.

Regards

John

Vice Chairman IrelandOffline

Slaanesh

*Loud applause*

Well done to all.

smellslikeshoes

Very big shoes to fill. Fair play to the current committee for their fantastic work.

lucernarian

They've left a big mark on the Irish internet landscape, with IO being the main source of unbiased information on the provision and access of competitive broadband to the media.

Comreg, however, have only hindered consumers and IO in the last 2 years IMO (e.g the most expensive line rental in EU). ComReg have also completely ignored IO's many press releases and treated the committee and the organisation with utter contempt. And in the face of the passive-agressive crap, the committee still built up a significant media presence. Something Comreg couldn't replicate.

I hope that John and Damien will continue to enjoy the success that IO had on many occasions. My best regards.

dahamsta

Well done to ye all for the nth time. I hope people will step up to the plate to take over, as I believe there's still plenty of room for a pressure group in the area. And the last thing ye want is some tit as interim chair again.

adam

oscarBravo

I'll echo the sentiments above, particularly with regard to Damien's and John's future success. You and the rest of the committee have done a sterling job over the past few years.

It would be a shame if no-one stepped in to carry on the fight, as it's far from over. Having built up a superb media presence, it seems only right that the work should continue.

Xennon

Bravo!

FunkyChicken

Good work guys

watty

Great work lads.

But there is certainly more to do!

bk

Great work guys, you all did a fantastic job.

surveys

dahamsta wrote:

Well done to ye all for the nth time. I hope people will step up to the plate to take over, as I believe there's still plenty of room for a pressure group in the area. And the last thing ye want is some tit as interim chair again.

adam

Well done Damian and all the Committee. We all owe you a massive thanks for the work you did which literally got us on the internet map. Goodness knows where we would be without your considerable efforts on our behalf..

No doubt the 'Tit' referred to above was only doing his best as well. ?

jwt

surveys wrote:

No doubt the 'Tit' referred to above was only doing his best as well. ?

dahamsta was the 'tit' errrr interim chair

dahamsta

Mmmm, tits.

ChrisJefferies

Thanks for fighting for us...

surveys

jwt wrote:

dahamsta was the 'tit' errrr interim chair

Blaster99

It sounds like Ireland Offline will be committee-less in a few weeks and therefore presumably defunct. In the event that this is the case, are you taking down the forum and site?

clohamon

If Minister Dempsey is still in place, he will make hay with this.

damien

Blaster99 wrote:

It sounds like Ireland Offline will be committee-less in a few weeks and therefore presumably defunct. In the event that this is the case, are you taking down the forum and site?

Very valid point. I think it might be good to leave the forum in some form, no matter what happens. The community around the forum has shrunk massively over the past few years but there's still a good one here.

Fergus Cassidy

It's been a remarkable journey from the IOL No Limits fiasco, which, lest we forget, was only six years ago. That carry-on was the catalyst which brought people together to form IrelandOffline.

A lot has changed since then and while there are many who still can't get broadband, I've no doubt whatsoever that the current situation would be much worse if IrelandOffline had never existed.

There were difficult times but there were significant victories along the way as well.

Supporting IrelandOffline (as much as I could) was always important. The internet is a radical technology and anything standing in the way of access to it has to be removed.

Now that there is some light at the end of the broadband tunnel, it seems to me that there are newer, fresher obstacles appearing. Not as big a blockage as broadband access, but barriers nonetheless.

The quality of service from many ISPs is atrocious. 12 month locked-in contracts; arbitrary and extremely punitive download caps; price gouging; filtering by ISPs and prohibiting use of VoIP are just some of the issues. From other threads on Boards, I've seen an increase in frustration and anger caused by ISP behaviour.

'Stop complaining, haven't you got broadband!!!', seems to be the mantra of many of them.

Perhaps the time has come to consider forming a watchdog organisation to engage with the ISPs, taking them on when necessary. Such a group could also maintain a watching brief on the broadband roll-out situation.

It would be a fitting evolutionary path for the great work carried out over the years by everyone involved in IrelandOffline. Well done and thanks.

Fergus

dahamsta

Fergus Cassidy wrote:

It's been a remarkable journey from the IOL No Limits fiasco, which, lest we forget, was only six years ago.

Six years, and the company still hasn't a clue.

rahtkennades

Fergus Cassidy wrote:

It's been a remarkable journey from the IOL No Limits fiasco, which, lest we forget, was only six years ago. That carry-on was the catalyst which brought people together to form IrelandOffline.

A lot has changed since then and while there are many who still can't get broadband, I've no doubt whatsoever that the current situation would be much worse if IrelandOffline had never existed.

....


Now that there is some light at the end of the broadband tunnel, it seems to me that there are newer, fresher obstacles appearing. Not as big a blockage as broadband access, but barriers nonetheless.

.....

Perhaps the time has come to consider forming a watchdog organisation to engage with the ISPs, taking them on when necessary. Such a group could also maintain a watching brief on the broadband roll-out situation.

It would be a fitting evolutionary path for the great work carried out over the years by everyone involved in IrelandOffline. Well done and thanks.

Fergus

All,

To be honest, I'm pretty new to the whole IO thing, so my comments must be taken with this in mind. I must also say that I wouldn't be able to do the job myself, so hats off to the current committee.

In terms of broadband access, I can see where Fergus is coming from, assuming that you actually have broadband. But it's also obvious that there are large swathes of the country that have no broadband, and as has been shown since the announcement of the 'National Broadband' scheme, there will continue to be large swathes that will never get broadband.

I think that it would be playing straight to the hands of the lazy politicians and civil servants if IO effectively disbanded or morphed into something else. Their m.o. for most things seems to be to starve the dog, then throw him scraps, and wait for him to lick the master's hand with gratitude for whatever he gets.

There is certainly a case for a 'consumer watchdog' to police the sometimes shabby implementation of broadband services, but there is surely also a role for a group to campaign for actual nationwide coverage.

I know there's no shortage of good ideas out there, and there are certainly more experts in the broadband field reading this forum than there are in government.

damien

jwt wrote:

Between now and the 9th of June the committee would like volunteers for
the new committee to step forward either in public on the forum or in
private by email. In the event of no one stepping forward the committee
will then vote to dissolve IrelandOffline.

So far, one person has emailed us asking about this. Any other takers?

flogen

damien.m wrote:

So far, one person has emailed us asking about this. Any other takers?

Damien - you hardly expected people to jump at the chance of heading up an organisation like IoffL unless it paid well, did you?

You seem quite keen to get out the door yourself - not anything to do with the eircom job I heard you were offered, is it?

viking

flogen wrote:

Damien - you hardly expected people to jump at the chance of heading up an organisation like IoffL unless it paid well, did you?

Just looking back on Damien's and John's posts and clearly neither of them asked for anyone to head up the organisation, in fact they clearly state that "volunteers for the new committee" are required. If and when a committee is formed then a chairman (or woman) would be chosen from the committee.

IOFFL is a voluntary organisation without ANY funding, so no salary or remuneration is offered. Its funny how when the last committee (and all previous committees) put themselves forward as volunteers there was no pay on offer yet they still put themselves forward?

flogen wrote:

You seem quite keen to get out the door yourself...

Christ, the guy is 3 years at the helm of IOFFL, the longest serving chairman and arguably the most hardworking and you describe him as "keen to get out the door". You're having a laugh right?

flogen wrote:

Not anything to do with the eircom job I heard you were offered, is it?

Jaysus, if thats true then he's probably the best man to sort out eircom from the inside... what job was he offered?

dahamsta

CBO, arf arf.

flogen

viking wrote:

Just looking back on Damien's and John's posts and clearly neither of them asked for anyone to head up the organisation, in fact they clearly state that "volunteers for the new committee" are required. If and when a committee is formed then a chairman (or woman) would be chosen from the committee.

Well the committee itself heads up the organisation, doesn't it? The chairperson doesn't had complete power over its direction.

IOFFL is a voluntary organisation without ANY funding, so no salary or remuneration is offered. Its funny how when the last committee (and all previous committees) put themselves forward as volunteers there was no pay on offer yet they still put themselves forward?

Maybe times have changed and people are less charitable.

Christ, the guy is 3 years at the helm of IOFFL, the longest serving chairman and arguably the most hardworking and you describe him as "keen to get out the door". You're having a laugh right?

I'm not having a go at his work over time or saying he aught to stick around forever - just saying since he made the decision to step down he's been very keen to make the move quickly.

Jaysus, if thats true then he's probably the best man to sort out eircom from the inside... what job was he offered?

Not certain on the exact title but if what I've heard is true (and I've no reason to believe that it's not) it's far from a tea-boy position.

jwt

Hardly quickly, it's been under discussion for 9 months, the last 6 months agreeing when the committee should step down. The current date was agreed once the General Election date was set so as not to conflict with that and that any new volunteers would have an idea of who would be in power and what Ministers were doing what.

As far Damien wandering off to eircom, it's news to me.

For all of us IOFFL has cost us money. No-one has made money from this. Taking time off work, travel expenses, phone bills etc all add up. TBH I would guess I have spent a few thousand euro all in all over the 3 years and thats ignoring loss of revenue on days where I could have been makng money but was attending meetings etc.

On the other hand I have made some good friends, useful contacts and learned a lot. So for me it's been a break even imho.

John

dahamsta

Lies, lies, lies. We all know ye all did it for the money and the hoors.

watty

The biggest issue for me is time. I just don't have any. I'm 100% behind what IOFFL is trying to do, but I feel if I was on the committe I'd only be apologising all the time for doing nothing. However hopefully the "day job" helps.

damien

Heh. I'm not joining eircom. Nor BT. I'd have loved that ComReg Broadband Manager job though but the person who I believe got it is dead on and should do a good job though doing it under ComReg rules might not get the results we all want.

ALTO might be getting back into the fight though. Heard they have had a change of staff in there.

Well, with 6 days to go it seems IrelandOffline will now fade away. It's been fun. Ah well.

Boston

Flogen, shut up.

Sorry to see this go. I remember when it started up, I was one of those esat people.

flogen

Boston wrote:

Flogen, shut up.

Tee-hee

Cabaal

Well done to the committee, ah I remember the Surf No-Limits day, I also remember suggesting names for the group before it became known as Ireland Off-Line,

All in the historys books now

ElNino

I was one of the people who got the infamous Esat Surf No Limits letter also. I would like the committee for everything they have done. I thought that I would never be able to get broadband but I have DSL now and I sure the committee played some not insignificant part in many others like me getting broadband.

RangeR

I have no idea what I want to say but I can't just say nothing. I remember hearing about IOFFL soon after they started up. At the time I was very unhappy about the internet situation. Memories are very fuzzy trying to think back that far.

I seriously think that we wouldn't be were we are today without the un-tiring help and pushing of IOFFL. I wish you and those that have gone before you, all the best in your future prospects.


Keith

DonegalMan

Cabaal wrote:

I also remember suggesting names for the group before it became known as Ireland Off-Line, All in the historys books now

And for the record, the original names proposed included:

IRELANDOFFLINE
CUBIC (Campaign forUnmetered and Broadband Internet Connectivity)
CUBIT (Campaign forUnmetered and Broadband Internet Telecommunications)
CUBA (Campaign for Unmetered and Broadband Access)
CRISP (Campaign for Real Internet Service Provision)
MAIA : Movement for Affordable Internet Access
MAFIA : Movement for Affordable (Free?) Internet Access
NUI : Net Users Ireland
AIM : Affordable Internet Movement
CRAIC (Campaign for Reliable Affordable Internet Connection )
CIH (Campaign Internet Highway)
ROCHTAIN (Irish for 'Access')
NIA (National Internet Access)
IIUA -(Irish Internet Users Association)
CAIN (Campaign for unmetered internet access)
NAG (Net Access group)
INTERCAM (Internet Campaign) or NETCAM
MANIA (Movement for Affordable National Internet Access)
CHOPSTIC (Campaign to Have ODTR Power Supplemented To Transform Internet
Communications)
MADFRISBEE (Movement to Allow Development of Flat Rate Internet
NAILBOMB (National Action for Internet Local-Loop Based On Modern Broadband)

DonegalMan

Just to add my own 2 cents as someone who was involved from the very start, I genuinely believe that IOFFL did make a real impact.

One particularly important thing was to create a source of real and accurate information for the media trying to cut through the tripe put out by Eircom and Comreg. Not to take anything away from the sterling work done by previous commitees and many helpers in the background, Damien Mulley and John Timmons did a really outstanding job in that regard.

I enjoyed my involvement with IOFFL, I'm kinda sad to see it go, but our ultimate aim was always to achieve the situation where we were no longer needed. Whilst there are still issues out there to be resolved, I think that IOFFL has come close to that objective, everyone out there now fully understands how far Ireland is still behind by international standards and what has to be done.

Martin Harran

the_syco

IMO, the two good things IrelandOffline did were to kick ComReg up the ass on occasion, and to let the press know when companies were talking through their ass.

dahamsta

Jesus, can you imagine how bad ComReg would have been if IrelandOffline wasn't about? The mind boggles.

adam

cgarvey

Congrats to Damien. He's been a real worker and motivator and has steered IO through a number of certain deaths to have it become a respected opinion/voice. I presume, and hope, he'll continue to be a respected individual opinion. He's been a pleasure to work with (and in my case, not work with!).

Congrats, too, to all those who helped out down through the years, Adam & Martin notably (and Christian and the early guys).. all who gave time, money, holdiays and dedication to the cause. The individual congrats is still reserved for Damo, who was the only one I've worked with (and who seems to take on the vast majority of the work load)!

I think now is a good time to wind down, with more and more people getting Broadband, with IO workload increasingly falling on fewer hands, and with a shift away from availability towards consumer issue (not saying availability is no longer the main issue or anything!). If we were to take a reality check, and do a membership count, I'm pretty sure we'd see a huge dip, so the peak has definitely gone. That is a mark of success of the group, I think, and congrats to those involved.

Dangger

One particularly important thing was to create a source of real and accurate information for the media trying to cut through the tripe put out by Eircom and Comreg. Not to take anything away from the sterling work done by previous commitees and many helpers in the background, Damien Mulley and John Timmons did a really outstanding job in that regard.

Here here. The speedy accurate no nonsense counter spin that has been required in answering slick telco talk was one of the many IOFFL activities that Damien, John and the IOFFL crew excelled at. I was continually amazed (having been involved at committee level myself in the past) at their press release turn around times.

The management of their relationship with the media has been excellent. As Damien mentioned the Irish press and radio did a lot to pick up and run with the issues and in doing so developed their own understanding of the issues. So thanks to the fourth estate for all the coverage over the years!

Ireland Offline educated many from punter to politician, DJ to journalist. It's willingness to do so has been a key part of its success and also a huge draw on the energies of its committee.

So once again thank you all for stepping up when you did, giving so much and doing such tremendous work on all our behalf over the years.

I enjoyed my involvement with IOFFL, I'm kinda sad to see it go, but our ultimate aim was always to achieve the situation where we were no longer needed.

It was always the aim to make ourselves unnecessary.

I was in Dublin airport when the story buzzed into my ear and I thought back to IOFFL's beginnings on quite a nostalgic trip........the initial get together, the rumbles, the site design arguments, the trips to Athlone to meet Mary (who gave us keys to the first door), the first meetings with Esat, Eircom, the cups of tea in ComReg, the cups of tea in Elana and Brendan's, the early morning Dáil briefings, the first meeting with Dahamsta, waiting to go on air on radio [shudder], waiting to record a tv item [even bigger shudder], trying to make magazine copy deadlines (and not getting paid), trying to make newspaper deadlines and making the front page, trade shows, conferences, sharing stages at First Tuesday with head honchos, taking individual cases to the honchos, bar room brawls, corporate secrets, whip arounds for room hire charges, member revolts, slanderous emails, unending phone calls, long drives, last minute speech edits, 4 free pints (yay!), having coffee and bending the ears of journalists, presenting the case to the European telecoms hearing in Brussels, being warned by ComReg not to go , all the support, the progress.

A snippet, all voluntary, and I feel a fraction of what the latest carnation of IOFFL has been through.

Thanks guys.
(and thanks for the pints Dahamsta)

Ruu_Old

Cabaal wrote:

Well done to the committee, ah I remember the Surf No-Limits day, I also remember suggesting names for the group before it became known as Ireland Off-Line,

All in the historys books now

I was one of those connected with Surf No-Limits, got the dreaded letter telling me I was to be cut off because I was abusing the "spirit of the service". Fair play to all involved in IOFFL over the years, well done indeed.

viking

D-day.

Well done to all who sailed in the good ship IrelandOffline over the years. I greatly value the time I spent on the committee and enjoyed the experience immensely.

Gareth

jwt

It was a sad day. IOFFL has done more to highlight Broadband and expose the slugs under rocks than any other organisation in Ireland.

And yes there are slugs, but there are also gems, people who worked in the most unexpected companies and Government departments offering help advice and most of all confirmation that we were making a difference. That important people were paying attention, getting annoyed at us overturning their spin and highlighting deficiencies.

It did feel at times like you were banging your head against a brick wall but yet when you saw a nugget of information IOFFL had ferreted out being used by the media to great effect in a debate on broadband it was very satisfying.:)

It was an incredible learning experience and in particular learning just how much power and influence the media and journalists wield in Ireland. At the same time it could be a soul destroying grind, watching the same old tripe being regurgitated in print, passed off by lazy journalists as gospel truth with no fact checking of any kind.

I also learned how much dicipline it requires to do live interviews and deal with the nerves and fumbles that occur during an interview. I have a lot more respect for politicians and others who do this day in and day out. It is not easy and takes a high level of mental agility and intelligence. Next time you see someone fumble, stutter, loose track of their argument and generally come off as an idiot, thats an ordinary Joe Soap. The polished and prefessional ones are very very good. David McRedmond, IOFFL's arch nemesis, was one such and although he was the enemy, was a consumate professional. He made it look easy.

Lessons learnt are as follows.

Regulators in Ireland are baaad, mm okay?

Not deliberately bad, not populated by roaming hoards of trolls but by the very nature of them and the environment they operate in, Irish regulators are the ultimate “Designed by a committee” solutions. Tied by regulation, shafted from above by politicians, below by consumers and sideways by vested interests they have and will be ineffectual in their current guise.

Stick to facts ma’am

Spin and anti-spin is the cut and thrust of any debate these days and IOFFL were incredibly successful by sticking to the facts, backing up their facts with statistics, reports and third party publications. By countering spin with easy to digest nuggets of information, researched data and concise summaries of EU and other reports we were able to consistently give a straight answer to a straight question.

Oireachtas committees mean well.

When I heard that an Oireachtas committee was issuing a report that slammed broadband in Ireland and was offering clear easy steps to the solution that were echoed in earlier reports from other Government reports I though “Here we go, we’ve cracked it”. Not a hope. In theory everyone in Government should pay attention to such a report, in reality the few people who could actually implement the report didn’t.

Be careful what you wish for.

In a few cases when lamenting about a particular Minister or the implementation of a brilliant idea, IOFFL’s wishes were granted. We got a new Minister and we got an idea using the Group Water Schemes as a template for broadband implemented. Sadly in the first instance it was out of the frying pan into the fire and in second the resulting mishmash of ideas, concepts and implementation resulted in a half cocked plan that was unwieldy, difficult to implement and staggeringly hard to get access to.




It’s been fun in general and I am more than willing to help anyone who wishes to continue the work of IOFFL or other lobby groups relating to this area.

Thank you to the members, who kept us going, contributed to the debate and gave us the moral support. In particular I’d like to thank Damien, his hard work beggar’s belief. :eek:

I’ll still be around on boards so feel free to make contact or PM me if needs be.

Regards

John

Bard

I'm both happy and sad to see the end of this committee - and the end of the organisation.

- Happy because I remember the lobby group in the UK ceasing 'operations' as they believed their objectives had been met and always thought that IrelandOFFLine would do the same... which, for the most part, is true - as broadband penetration is vastly improved since the organisation started up, and that is thanks in no small part to IrelandOFFLine.

- Sad because ... well ... *sniff* - it's 'over'! I, myself, was there at the very beginning. I co-chaired, with Howard Brittain, the meeting which led to the formation of the organisation and the first committee, I moderated the forum for quite a while and designed and maintained the IOFFL web site (I even won an award... at an awards ceremony!... for that site!). I even remember the stupid arguments we had over what the organisation was to be called (probably still archived on usenet somewhere!).

Still, let me not take away from the sterling work of the last committee and, in particular, Damien Mulley. Great job lads!

Nice interview, by the way...!

damien

Been wondering what to say about this whole thing for the past while. Thanks to those expressing their thanks.

Since the official announcement I've had some interesting conversations with some of the major players in the telco market. They've all said that without IrelandOffline things would be worse than they are and that 1000s if not 100s of 1000s can get broadband today directly because of the pressure from IrelandOffline. While I'm sure there'll never be official acknowledgement that IrelandOffline twisted their arms there is plenty of whispered commentary that we would not be even near where we are in terms of progress without this group and without this forum.

This shows that a small group of people working hard for a positive cause will get things done. IrelandOffline was destined to close shop some day but I don't think last Friday was the ideal day. More has to be done but unfortunately nobody came forward in time. It was however an "ok" time to close down as a lot of progress is now being made and things could get a lot better in the next while.

There was a an editorial in the business section of the Irish Times today wondering what will happen now with IrelandOffline going but it also said there should never have been a need for an IrelandOffline (in an ideal telco world) and they're right. Had the Government and the regulator and all the other players had a backbone and considered the public interest and not those of powerful vested interests, we could easily have been at the tops of most tables and had cheap phone bills. A few months back at the blog awards someone that works for a telco came up to meand shook my hand and thanked me and IrelandOffline and said IrelandOffline were legendary for sticking it to eircom and ComReg, why aren't ALTO and the operators doing this?

As it says in the Times:

You can't help feeling the big winner from the decision by Ireland Offline to shut up shop is ComReg. The organisation was as much a thorn in its side as it was with Eircom and the other phone companies. When, as expected, ComReg approves the price rise application that Eircom diplomatically put off until after the election, there will be one less voice criticising ComReg as it does its bit to keep inflation over 5 per cent.

Again I agree. ComReg I'm sure broke out the champagne when they heard the news we are going and I notice again their weekly bull**** was front page in the Examiner today and on many radio stations, completely unchallenged.
I can't stress the next bit enough. ComReg will go back to doing worse than they did. They need to be blocked and parryed every week and if necessary every day. They're a complete cancer on Irish telecoms and they are a prime reason why everything is so screwed up in the telecoms industry and they are left do it by too many telcos who are worried about retributions which do actually happen. See that's the thing, a professional group can accept criticism and can take the **** that IrelandOffline throw at them. This is not the ComReg we all know. Until a telco has nothing at all to lose, you will not see any kind of real fight taking place.

IrelandOffline isn't about now to challenge ComReg and their big player apologist stance, so it is up to people here, the few of you that remain these days to contact journalists or group together to combat these messers in a more formal manner. So far since we made the announcement, 3 people have said they want to do something and I will put them in contact with each other but it needs more than that.

Lastly, as JWT mentions, IrelandOffline may be put to bed and a simple footnote in the history of Irish telecoms, but as individuals, we've not gone away you know and I'm guranteeing to the ComReg trolls that sneak around here that they'll know we're not gone.

BarryM

damien.m wrote:

This shows that a small group of people working hard for a positive cause will get things done. IrelandOffline was destined to close shop some day but I don't think last Friday was the ideal day. More has to be done but unfortunately nobody came forward in time. It was however an "ok" time to close down as a lot of progress is now being made and things could get a lot better in the next while.

I don't want to carp, but what efforts were made to recruit a new or even a partly new committee??

IrelandOffline isn't about now to challenge ComReg and their big player apologist stance, so it is up to people here, the few of you that remain these days to contact journalists or group together to combat these messers in a more formal manner. So far since we made the announcement, 3 people have said they want to do something and I will put them in contact with each other but it needs more than that.

Add me to that, and is there a list of journos somewhere with their co-ordinates who can be alerted to things? For ex who wrote the Examiner piece you mention? (didn't see it).

Bye, Barry

cgarvey

BarryM wrote:

I don't want to carp, but what efforts were made to recruit a new or even a partly new committee??

It was announced here on the forums, and emailed to all members. That's all the communication methods ever used by IoffL. You can't beat someone up and make them serve on the committee.

watty

BarryM wrote:

I don't want to carp, but what efforts were made to recruit a new or even a partly new committee??




Add me to that, and is there a list of journos somewhere with their co-ordinates who can be alerted to things? For ex who wrote the Examiner piece you mention? (didn't see it).

Bye, Barry

I'ts been public knowledge some time and the committee had kept putting off the evil moment in case new folks with time would step forward.

RTE radio moring news did a good interview with Damian

Paddy20

As Damien.M stated "They have not gone away, you know" . All I can add is without IrelandOffline I probably would still be being 'Ripped Off' by Eircom.

Grateful thanks lad's for highlighting the problems, educating the media and consequently achieving a reasonable broadband price for most people in the Irish Republic .

P.:cool: