Lobbying Politicians

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 2:46pm #1

With the ever decreasing lifespan of the current government, perhaps it would be time to cook up a letter explaining our gripes which can be fired off to all our local candidates in the next general election.

I know here in Galway, the Labour candidates would love a cause celébre like this and possibly one or two of our more colourful independents (Ming The Merciless for example

)

Rob.

"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. Some kind of high powered mutant never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die".

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 3:03pm

On a related note, has anyone considered writing to Europe? The name of the MEP who successfully got LLU passed in the first place eludes me, but he managed to get the bill through in something like 6 weeks; a new record. I think he'd be sympathethic to our cause, assuming he's still there.
Apparently there were only 3 representitives who voted against it in the end, 2 of which were from Ireland.
Not sure if I'm just rehashing stuff that's already been posted, but AFAIK there was a 9 or 10 week deadline on unbundling and Ireland got some sort of extension. Anyone recall anything about this or should I refer to some previous thread that was discussed before I started reading this forum?

You cannot defeat what you do not understand
DarkSide

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 5:05pm

Not sure if I'm just rehashing stuff that's already been posted, but AFAIK there was a 9 or 10 week deadline on unbundling and Ireland got some sort of extension.

This is not correct. The point about a regulation is that it has immediate effect all over Europe - ie from 1/1/01

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dahamsta · 06-09-2001 5:14pm

Robbo, I'm in the middle of composing an email to Simon Coveney (in the middle means I've been playing with it for about a fortnight), and if he's receptive, I may ask him to help me compose an effective letter. (I'll finish it tomorrow actually, I've been putting it off for ages.) I think a campaign like this would be quite successful, especially considering - as you say - the general election, which can't be that far off at this stage.

DarkSide, after an article in The Register quoting him as saying he had only received one complaint, I sent Erkii Liikanen, the European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Technology, a letter about the state of telecommunications in Ireland, and he responded to me. I don't know if Commissioner Liikanen is responsible for passing the legislation, but he and his department are responsible for enforcing it.

His staff opened a complaint for me a few weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything back since (must follow that up). The EU has opened an investigation into the LLU process in Ireland in the meantime. (I'd like to think my input had just a weeny teeny part in that, but I reckon it's more likely one or two of the OLO's put in something on the quiet).

If you do a search on this board for "liikanen", you should find my posts about it, and links to the correspondence on my website.

adam

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 5:21pm

are these the same TDs and MEPs who tried to stop the LLU Regulation being passed - there are a lot of eircom union workers out there with a lot of votes.

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 8:22pm

Originally posted by dahamsta:
DarkSide, after an article in The Register quoting him as saying he had only received one complaint, I sent Erkii Liikanen, the European Commissioner for Enterprise and Information Technology, a letter about the state of telecommunications in Ireland, and he responded to me. I don't know if Commissioner Liikanen is responsible for passing the legislation, but he and his department are responsible for enforcing it.

His staff opened a complaint for me a few weeks ago, but I haven't heard anything back since (must follow that up). The EU has opened an investigation into the LLU process in Ireland in the meantime. (I'd like to think my input had just a weeny teeny part in that, but I reckon it's more likely one or two of the OLO's put in something on the quiet).

Sounds interesting. Reckon it would do any good if several of us wrote to this department?

If you do a search on this board for "liikanen", you should find my posts about it, and links to the correspondence on my website.

adam

I'll do that. Thanks.

You cannot defeat what you do not understand
DarkSide

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 8:28pm

Originally posted by qwerty:

Not sure if I'm just rehashing stuff that's already been posted, but AFAIK there was a 9 or 10 week deadline on unbundling and Ireland got some sort of extension.

This is not correct. The point about a regulation is that it has immediate effect all over Europe - ie from 1/1/01

I thought I heard something about Ireland successfully stalling its rollout in Ireland due to us being a poor little country where realworld business models were doomed, or something. Perhaps they didn't, but why has there been no noise from Europe about this issue?

You cannot defeat what you do not understand
DarkSide

sceptre · 06-09-2001 8:36pm

Almost all the Oireachtas members use the same email name format (firstname.lastname@oireachtas.irlgov.ie).

The exceptions are David Staunton, Noel O Flynn, Dan Wallace, Sean Ardagh, Mary Upton, John Gormley, Chris Flood, Austin Currie, Ulick Burke, Eamon O Cuiv, Jimmy Deenihan, John O Donohue, Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, Jackie Healy-Rae (slightly different), John Moloney, Des O'Malley (again, slightly different), Louis Belton (middle initial), Dermot Ahern and Brian O’Shea.

Not going to post a list here (some people would go nuts) but if anyone wants their local TDs mail addresses, mail me and I'll see.

dahamsta · 06-09-2001 9:27pm

I thought I heard something about Ireland successfully stalling its rollout in Ireland due to us being a poor little country where realworld business models were doomed, or something. Perhaps they didn't, but why has there been no noise from Europe about this issue?

[Must add this to the Wiki.]

Well, I suppose it could be construed that way, but in actual fact the local loop has been unbundled, at least from a regulatory standpoint.

Eircom "got around it" by publishing unrealistic - crazy in fact - pricing for local loops in their Reference Interconnection Offer (RIO), which the Regulator could not possibly accept. The Regulator hit back with pricing that was calculated using a European average, and now Eircom are trying to step around that, not by saying that the pricing is unacceptable, but that the way she calculated it was unacceptable.

The end result of this ridiculous - I would go so far as to say scandalous and embarrassing - situation is that in reality not one local loop has thus far been unbundled in Ireland, nine months after the directive was issued by the EU.

I know I'm always laying the blame here there and everywhere - and I feel justified in that, it doesn't bother me in the least - but ultimately it was a c0ck-up from start to finish, with every party due a share of the blame, including the EU for drafting such shoddy legislation in the first place. I will never, ever feel any sympathy towards Eircom on this matter though. They were and still are driven purely by greed.

adam

(Can't even say "c0ck-up" now!

[This message has been edited by dahamsta (edited 06-09-2001).]

yellum · 06-09-2001 9:50pm

If IrelandOffline would create a template type letter than can be sent by us members to our local TDs I will pass it on to a TD I know, once he comes back from his hols.

I think it might be better to have the same standard letter to send which contains all the objectives of IrelandOffline in a well phrased way. Me no good important letter writing.

DM

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 10:11pm

I don't know what the committee think of the ideas brooded above ?? I think its an excellent form of action. We should lobby all MEP's. I know McKenna for one would take it up. (She is the Wicklow MEP I think)
Can the Committee give their views on this front ??

LegacyUser · 06-09-2001 11:05pm

Originally posted by sceptre:
Almost all the Oireachtas members use the same email name format (firstname.lastname@oireachtas.irlgov.ie).

The exceptions are David Staunton, Noel O Flynn, Dan Wallace, Sean Ardagh, Mary Upton, John Gormley, Chris Flood, Austin Currie, Ulick Burke, Eamon O Cuiv, Jimmy Deenihan, John O Donohue, Breeda Moynihan-Cronin, Jackie Healy-Rae (slightly different), John Moloney, Des O'Malley (again, slightly different), Louis Belton (middle initial), Dermot Ahern and Brian O’Shea.

Not going to post a list here (some people would go nuts) but if anyone wants their local TDs mail addresses, mail me and I'll see.

Thats great but most TDs don't even use them. A survey a few months showed that MOST ministers and TDs don't even read their emails...

Written letters on paper with signatures do a lot more than an Email ever will

"Get writing folks"

Just imagine what effect it would have on a TD if they recieved over 50 letters in one week(better yet, 1 day) on broadband and how crap the situation is...!!

Think about it

"Information is Ammunition"
Choas Engine
Email: choas@netshop.ie
ICQ: 34896460

[This message has been edited by Chaos-Engine (edited 07-09-2001).]

[This message has been edited by Chaos-Engine (edited 07-09-2001).]

dahamsta · 06-09-2001 11:21pm

Written letters on paper with signatures do a lot more than an Email ever will

Very true. Also business letters professionally composed on headed notepaper and signed with ink.

adam

sceptre · 07-09-2001 12:51am

Written letters on paper with signatures do a lot more than an Email ever will

Agree with that one - firmly. (no harm to send the emails too though - I'd imagine that the short list of TDs I have with eircom addresses actually do use their mail)

LegacyUser · 07-09-2001 1:04am

Originally posted by sceptre:
Written letters on paper with signatures do a lot more than an Email ever will

Agree with that one - firmly. (no harm to send the emails too though - I'd imagine that the short list of TDs I have with eircom addresses actually do use their mail)

Probably... That survey i mentioned was based on Dáil/gov.ie email addresses...

"Information is Ammunition"
Choas Engine
Email: choasengine@dol.ie
ICQ: 34896460

[This message has been edited by Chaos-Engine (edited 07-09-2001).]

Lobbying Politicians

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