Grotto Avenue, Booterstown, South Co. Dublin – for €59,000
Daft.ie advertisement sez:
Castle Estate Agents Powered by Keller Williams present this Investment opportunity close to the Booterstown train station. 29 sq meter private garage for sale at Grotto Avenue. Property Reference :1181-371
Ah here.
Grotto Avenue, Booterstown, South Co. Dublin – €59,000 (Daft.ie)
Last night.
Ballsbridge, Dublin 4.
British subjects living in Ireland who oppose Brexit rally outside the British Embassy.
Earlier: A Limerick A Day
‘Here’s How’
Episode 90 (!) of the current affairs podcast presented by William Campbell (top).
William writes:
Two Harrys on this podcast- Harry Todd of the hardline pro-Brexit group Get Britain Out reacts to the potential wiping out of the Northern Ireland dairy industry, and an analysis of of the analysis by Harry McGee (above), of the Irish Times, of the Maria Bailey Swinggat saga…
Listen Here
This afternoon.
Kildare Street, Dublin 2
Manager of Dublin Pride Eddie McGuinness (in tunic) and Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland Colm O’Gorman (red top) join ‘revellers’ at an open air disco opposite the Dail protesting the visit of US VP Mike Pence to Ireland.
Dancing until 3pm.
No ‘jeans shorts’.
Earlier: Welcoming Matt
From top: The PSC card; Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection Regina O’Doherty (left) and Helen Dixon, Data Protection Commissioner
This afternoon.
On RTÉ’s News at One, Pat Leahy, of The Irish Times, spoke to Christopher McEvitt about his article concerning the Government’s decision appeal the Data Protection Commissioner’s report on the Public Services Card.
It comes ahead of a Cabinet meeting this afternoon whereby it’s expected that ministers will be briefed about this decision.
Christopher McEvitt: “Tell us a little bit about the sense of embarrassment felt by the minister in charge of this project, Regina Doherty?”
Pat Leahy: “Yeah, Government have been very quiet about this. Albeit that the report was issued during August – the full report, by the way, hasn’t been published, merely the announcement of the report by the Data Protection Commissioner.
“But there was calls for Regina Doherty, who’s the Minister for Social Protection, who had promoted and defended the use of the card during her period as minister, calls from the Opposition for her to resign, came under a lot of criticism, not just from Opposition politicians, but also from activists in the field.”
“She’s said very little about it since then now and frankly I suppose some of that period was during the traditional political holidays, during August. But we haven’t heard from her in any great detail about the Government’s response to it. But today we find that she is bringing a memo to Cabinet which will inform that Government intends to appeal this, or to challenge the findings of the Commissioner’s report in the High Court.”
McEvitt: “And presumably she has found good reason to appeal the Data Protection Commissioner’s findings on the Public Services Card, we have no idea, have we, as to what the legal argument would be?”
Leahy: “No we don’t have any sight of the detail of the Attorney General’s advice on it, but I’m told what ministers will be briefed on this afternoon, when they meet for the first Cabinet meeting since the August break, is that advice has been taken not just from the Attorney General’s Office but also from an external counsel engaged by the Attorney General’s Office.
“And the advice is that the decision of the, or the findings of the Data Protection Commissioner, in relation to the Public Services Card, were wrong in law, that she exceeded her legal powers and that they are likely to be set aside by a court.
“So I think the next stage that will be taken will be that the Data Protection Commissioner will be informed of this and if her report is not withdrawn that then, which I suppose is unlikely to happen, that High Court proceedings will be issued.”
McEvitt: “Any response thus far to your story on the front page of The Irish Times today from those civil liberties groups, those rights campaigners who were very concerned and who, indeed, welcomed the Data Protection Commissioner’s decision or findings on the Public Services Card, i.e. that it was being used beyond its scope unlawfully, by the Government?”
Leahy: “Well, I suppose campaigners who had been saying these sorts of things about the extension of the use of the Public Services Card for some times felt vindicated by the Data Protection Commissioner’s report and many of them pointing out that this could spawn a series of legal actions against the Government.
“I suppose many of them will not be surprised by the Government’s decision to challenge he findings of the Data Protection Commissioner. I suppose at a basic, political, level, it kicks the issue into touch.
“I think there will likely be criticism by both the Opposition and activists on the Government’s decision but from the point of view of Government Buildings, once that criticism is out of the way and I suppose once this story has died down, then it means it’s not something that has to be immediately addressed by the Government until such time the legal action has resolved itself which, as we know, is not something, that generally happens very quickly.”
Listen back in full here
Earlier: ‘They’ve Been Collecting Data About Voters For A Very Long Time’
Gulp.
The latest Private Eye.
On shelves tomorrow.
Thanks Bernard
This morning/afternoon.
Phoenix Park, Dublin
Vice President of the United States of America, Mike Pence and his wife Karen meets Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and his partner Matthew Barrett (right) at Farmleigh House where they will have lunch.
Earlier: And Add The Halfpence To The Pence
Update:
Pence has effectively confirmed the USA is on ‘Team Boris’ in the #Brexit showdown.
He said Ireland and the EU need to “negotiate in good faith” with Johnson and allow the UK protect its sovereignty. Added: a US-UK trade deal will be done. (Not what Varadkar would want today.) pic.twitter.com/VnJYLADz2r
— Kevin Doyle (@KevDoyle_Indo) September 3, 2019
Ah.
This afternoon.
Farmleigh House, Phoenix Park, Dublin.
David Carroll, of The Great Hack
This morning.
On RTÉ’s Today with Seán O’Rourke.
Mr O’Rourke had a discussion about data protection concerns with David Carroll, professor at Parsons College in New York who sued Cambridge Analytica to access data the group had on him.
Unfortunately, they did not discuss the Irish Government’s intention to appeal the Data Protection Commissioner’s decision on the Public Services Card which found the use of the card, which has been issued to more than three million citizens, for many Government services had no basis in law.
Mr Carroll is one of the main subjects of Netflix documentary The Great Hack and will be in Dublin tomorrow to speak at the Tech For Good conference.
He is attending the conference as a guest of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties which has vowed to fight the Government over its decision to appeal the Data Protection Commissioner’s report…
From their discussion…
Seán O’Rourke: “A lot of concern, obviously, about data being scraped from people who had not consented but I mean advertisers, surely, and politicians indeed, they’ve been collecting data about voters for a very long time, to target them and persuade them.”
David Carroll: “Yes the practice has been going on and it gets sort of, each election cycle, it gets more and more sophisticated, aggressive. The volume of data increases. The pace of technology goes faster than any of us can even understand its roll-out. And so it’s the concern that the trajectory of this is to become increasingly aggressive unless we do something about this.
“The general concerns, related to the democratic process, are the general idea of are candidates choosing voters or are voters choosing candidates?
“And then are advertisements related to elections so precise and targeted to such small audiences that you’re not having a community-wide discussion about the issues that two neighbours or two members of one household are seeing totally different things? So, how could we possibly have a conversation about who we want to elect, or the issues that we are debating in our communities?”
Listen back in full here
Tech For Good conference (Eventbrite)
Earlier: Put It On The Card
Pic: Netflix
