Reddy Communications Based in Dublin | Experts in Public Relations & Public Affairs

The Liffey will be populated with a brilliant art installation “Liffeytown” from September 12 to the 26th as part of the absolute Fringe festival.

Made of Perspex with aluminium frames, buoyed up with polystyrene  and lit with LED lights the installation will be a collection of Monopoloy style green houses and red hotels.

The red and green buildings will float between the Ha’penny Bridge and O’Connell Bridge.

The installation by Fergal McCarthy was inspired, he says from: “the craziness of the development and lack of planning at the height of the boom, when apartment blocks were being built all over the city, particularly in the Liberties, where I was living at the time.  It was a time of disposable architecture with no vision or longevity.”

The Monopoly style green and red buildings are approximately the size of garden sheds and will light up at night.

While the installation was inspired by the property bubble and translated into effect through the game of Monopoly, my questions is:  Who should go directly to jail – do not pass go and do not collect €200?  Answers please.

"Garda undercover units have been spotted staking out corner shops, primary schools and even churches in abid to track down four wheel fibbers.

Farmers, tradesmen, contractors are in the sights of the authorities as they pick up a pint of milk, drop off the kids to school or go to church to confess their sins."

You couldn't make it up - but those are the headlines that Environment Minister john Gormley was attracting with is "crackdown" on people who own 4x4 cars.

They should only use the "Chelsea Tractors" for business purposes - or else pay higher road tax. 

Today he moved to say Gardai had discretion under the law to enforce or not enforce the provision.

The Gardai have generally always been great providers of common sense in the prosecution of our nation's laws. 

But why should they be put in an invidious position?  If the law is unfair repeal it - if the proposal is unfair don't implement it.

The Minister fo the Environment has moved to scare peopel and today's interview has done little to remove the appalling PR disaster that the Greens seem intent on inflicting on themselves. 

How? By annoying a huge swathe of the population, lots of them in small businesses who are already struggling to survive who were they to implement the letter of the law would have to purchase another vehicle to pick up the daily newspaper rather than stop as they drove to their place of work.  Another vehicle would increase national carbon emissions etc; fly in the face of Green party policy aims and surely inflame Green party members ?

The Greens are clearly fudging this issue. (Surely an oxymoron?  Comments please?)

And here's the question to Minister for the Environment John Gormley.  are you happy to swear a statement in your local Garda station that your official car (supplied by the State and with around the clock highly skilled Garda protection officers and drivers) is only ever used for official purposes?

Fine Gael is publishing a new Bill to sentence unlicensed clampers to jail for up to five years and/or fine them.

The FG Transport spokesman Simon Coveney TD is to pioneer the action. 

It’s a funny thing but I seem to remember RTE newsman George Lee championing car owners in Churchtown who had a problem with clamping when he was a local TD.

That was well over six months ago – what a pity George didn’t stay on and continue to tend the parish pump. 

Perhaps this proposed legislation would have been his political legacy – what do you think?

The Senate investigations into Ivor Callely’s expenses continues to rumble on. 

Perhaps drag on might be a better phrase, because embarrassingly for the body politic it is the only political story during the silly season – thus attracting larger headlines than it might otherwise.

Whatever the outcome, public opinion has been inflamed. 

To appease that anger, it is now clear that – particularly in these straitened times – politicians should no longer be allowed to claim unvouched expenses from the public purse.

There is no logic to allowing any politicians thousands of Euros of unvouched expenses – it is a PR disaster waiting to happen – again.  If the expenses are legitimate they should be vouched and then paid.

I don’t believe politicians should have their activities hobbled due to lack of funding – but by allowing an unvouched system to continue they leave themselves wide open to criticism and ongoing public scrutiny and public discussion of every cent they claim for. 

There is a danger that abuse of the system and a continuing system of unvouched expenses will besmirch the reputation of all politicians and allow public opinion to fixate on their expenses rather than the job they should be held accountable to do.

I also believe that people  who go into public life, go in with the best intentions – they do not seek to enrich themselves.  They should be fairly recompensed for their work efforts and for necessary expenditure. 

A mature and reasonable approach to legitimate expenses is of course to simply provide receipts and cap the total amount that can be paid.

There is also a fair argument that they should fund their own transport to work, after all, no one in private business is given money to ensure they just turn up to work.

It might also see an increase in the number of politicians using public transport and their appreciation/comprehension of the needs of those relying on it for future debates and policy inputs.

It will be fascinating to hear Brian Lenihan’s oration to the Beal na mBlath commemoration tomorrow.

Will he map out a new fiscal policy direction, speak solely of the civil war rift in politics that still needs to be bridged or alternatively set out a new political career?

Whatever, and he has been tight lipped about his intentions, it is discouraging to hear that Young fine Gael are to boycott the event and also to have heard earlier in the week the comments of Fine Gael Senator Liam Twomey who criticised the invitation to the Minister for Finance.

Congratulations then to  the former Justice Minister Nora Owens, a grand niece of Michael Collins, who had no difficulty to the invitation being extended to Brian Lenihan.  Equally to FG TD for Cork West Jim O’Keeffe who extended the invitation.

Whatever the content of tomorrow’s speech, those in fine Gael who object to the Minister’s attendance fail to understand the internationalism and generosity of spirit of Michael Collins whose spirit  would- doubtless 88 years on – have welcomed the attendance of a Minister grappling with similar momentous decisions and problems and whose grandfather served the pro-Treaty argument in the civil war.

Tony Blair’s decision to donate all the proceeds from his impending published memoirs to charity has brought out all the usual drum thumpers and their agendas.

Blair promised to give his astounding £4.6 million advance and any profits from his book to the Royal British Legion to fund a state of the art sports centre for wounded ex-servicemen.

The announcement re-ignited the debate about Britain’s role in the Iraq war and Blair’s decision to prosecute that war.

Damned if he did make such an undeniably generous gesture – and then damned anyway.

The donation will not change anyone’s views about Blair and Iraq, but it has reignited the debate about how “guilty” Blair is in the whole affair.  The Daily Mail (UK) used the headline : “Guilty” Blair gives £5million book cash to troops.”

The London Times ran the headline announcing the news : “Balir tries to turn page with a £5million donation”.

The fact is that Blair is independently wealthy, he continues to stride the international stage as a statesman and while the donation will not beggar the former Premier, it is a significant donation, and one that he need not have made. 

Blair will not be running in any future UK election, he has no need to court British public opinion or the favour of the media.

So, why not take it at face value?  I’m looking forward to the book and will be at the top of the queue to buy it.

Check out both sides of the story from PR Week, the UK public relations trade magazine: 
http://www.prweek.com/uk/News/MostRead/1022490/Tony-Blairs-46m-charity-donation-branded-classic-PR-idea-gone-bad/

Today’s RED C poll in the Irish Sun makes fascinating reading.

This latest snapshot in time tells us a number of things – none of them good for Fianna Fail and Brian Cowen.

There’s not much good news for Enda Kenny either – and despite slipping a couple of points in his popularity rating Eamon Gilmore remains the market leader.

The one factor that is more worrying for the body politic is the increasing number of voters who are undecided or alternatively don’t want either of the three as the next Taoiseach.

A total of 7 per cent don’t know, 15 per cent rejected all three party leaders, as Brian Cowen remains stuck on 18 per cent, Enda Kenny is on 27 per cent a slip of one point in the last month and Eamon Gilmore has slipped seven points to 33 per cent. (This slippage may be partly due to the fact that Gilmore’s crafted soundbites delivered in the Dail which give him profile in the media have ceased since the Dail went on holidays.)

Based on these figures, the one emerging trend over the last few polls is that Labour will hold the balance of power in the next Government.  While Gilmore is putting himself forward as the next Taoiseach that will depend on the final votes cast by the electorate.  Because if they are to coalesce , if Gilmore can get his numbers up to as close to Fine Gael as possible, he will hold the whip hand in negotiations for roles and portfolios.

The Fine Gael rebel rump may well rear their head again as the possibility of being the second party in a new Government strikes fear into their electoral hearts. 

For Brian Cowen the summer will be a dismal time. 

This poll has shown no change in his personal popularity.  In his home constituency he wins his highest approval of 24 per cent, but in Dublin which is critical to the strength of any of the parties he scores a lowly 13 per cent.

When the House returns on the 29th September the debate about the next budget and the necessity to find €3billion will resume with vigour.  Labour will have to provide answers on crucial budget measures – and both Fine Gael and Fianna Fail could reap that harvest.

However, Brian Cowen has a window of opportunity between then and now – to be seen to be active, to give visible leadership and instil confidence that the country is being run confidently and competently over the coming months.

The Sunday Business Post who normally publish a Red C poll as a monthly tracker during the time the House sits did not run this month.  The decision by the Irish Sun to run a poll instead was clever marketing and pr for the paper – but bad news at a bad time for the Taoiseach.

The traditional holiday period when politics goes on holidays – is not an option.  Another opinion poll like this may prompt more than a debate at the Lemass group’s next meeting.

The Government’s new social media strategy looks like it will be a big hit – but, how many "hits" remains to be seen.

Merrionstreet.ie  is a new website for the Government Information Services.  It  provides a comprehensive and well presented communications channel that transforms Government communications from the present website and press release format to a dynamic web presence to include photos, photography, videos, Facebook status updates, twitter feds and webchat.

Apparently 20 similar Government websites were studied as part of the process, including the UK, France  and the US.

The GIS says that the site will not be used by any political party for propaganda purposes and will reflect Government action and achievement.

It’s a great resource and a good looking site, well worth a visit and a bookmark.

Obviously, this site hosts the positive news that Taoiseach Brian Cowen complains the media are negative about!

It’s going to be a summer of simmering discontent within Fine Gael, as rebel backbencher Lucinda Creighton reignited the debate about Enda Kenny’s ability to lead Fine Gael.

The Dublin South East TD who is under pressure to retain her seat commented at the  Glenties summer school followed a savage attack by Brian Hayes on Cowen at the weekend, who recently saw his ambition to oust Kenny narrowly defeated.

“I have no time for cute hoors who sit on the fence waiting to see which way the wind blows, “he told the Mail on Sunday about his aborted coup.

As the media continued to report on deep divisions within Fine Gael after the heave, it was interesting to hear Lucinda use the same phrase “cute hoors” in her Glenties diatribe – which she then repeated on today’s RTE’s one o’clock news.

The sharing of vocabulary, and obviously sentiments, suggests that the rebels may be defeated but are from cowed.

The public washing of this dirty linen by Fine Gael follows a very shaky start to Kenny’s newly (just about) endorsed leadership.

First the new FG Finance spokesman rubbished their jobs policy saying it couldn’t create 100,000 plus jobs – then he rowed back on that.

Then Enda led a bunch of golf club swingers at the K club ( playground of the rich and famous) to raise funds for the party – prompting calls from Lucinda to return the money paid over at the event by property developers who were now in NAMA land.

One gaffe after another – it’s time for a holiday break – but to borrow a phrase from Gerry Adams, Enda will know that even thought it’s the summer, they’ve not gone away, you know!

Politicans are not held in a revered position in this country.  But, here's an interesting story from London, where a Tory MP apologised after getting too drunk to vote in a crucial Budget debate.

The hapless Mark Reckless got so legless in a Commons bar during the late-night debate he fell over.

The newly-elected Mr Reckless, who had to be helped into a cab home by colleagues, said: "I feel very embarrassed. It's a mistake I will not be repeating. "

He admitted to the Sun newspaper - "I don't remember falling over."

Mr Reckless, MP for Rochester and Strood in Kent, said because of his unsteady state it would have been "inappropriate" for him to have voted.

The vote on Labour attempts to block the planned VAT hike was defeated by the Government. Commons bars took a record £5,000 as MPs killed time waiting for the vote.

Another new Tory MP denied being rude to a Commons doorkeeper after "a couple of glasses of wine".

Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3049594/MP-I-was-too-drunk-to-vote-in-Commons.html#ixzz0tTLkFLFN