26 October 2002

Irish Immigration Policy Needs Work DUBLIN -- Immigration has lurked below the surface of Irish political debate for years but now politicians have to take charge of the issues if they want to stay in control of the situation. Before coming to Ireland, I knew the country as one of emigrants. I count my great-grandparents among the millions of Irish who emigrated to the United States. Today, the issue has inverted to where Irish fear immigrants. Public concern focuses on the long-term effect of immigration on urban communities and jobs. Getting a work permit is no longer a straight-forward event. I consumed more than five months with the paper chase. A consultative process undertaken by the Department of Justice last April reported "Immigration policy and practise are significant aspects of the exercise by a country of sovereignty. In general terms, a state has the right to choose which non-nationals to admit and which not to admit to its territory and to decide what they may do while in the territory and when they should leave." I have experienced Irish immigration policy first-hand and believe the government's approach is anyting but sensitive and coherent. The status quo needs revisiting because it is not a system in which the public can have confidence. Bernie Goldbach: Refused Leave to Land in Ireland x: 26121

Facts About Irish ICT Sector ICT IRELAND -- The Irish ICT sector remains resilient but much quieter than in the Y2K days. The sector employes almost 100,000 people in 980 companies, which is up from 47,000 in 1993 Seven of the world's largest software companies have a base in Ireland. One-third of all PCs sold in Europe are manufactured in Ireland. Total exports of ICT products and services amounted to €31bn in 2001, representing 33 percent of all exports. ICT exports grew by 23 percent a year over the period 1993-2001, 1.5 times that of non-ICT exports. Output of ICT products and services was equivalent to almost 16 percent of Ireland's GDP in 2001. This increased by 18 percent a year over the period 1993-2001, twice the rate of overall GDP growth. The indigenous software sector currently employs 18,000 people, compared with 3,000 people in 1992. Exports by the indigenous software sector grew by 28 percent in 2001 and amounted to €1.4 billion.

Accelerating Entrepreneurial Development Paul O'Dea -- According to the MD of International Ventures, ICT Ireland has identified several key areas which have a major impact on the ability for an economy to promote ICT start-ups and help turn them into global players. research and development market access for ICT start-ups access to funding and finance people skills required for ICT start-ups government policy. In order to sustain Ireland's position as a high tech economy, the viability and strength of the indigenous sector is crucial.

Restricting Advertisements by Solicitors Will Cost Golden Pages DUBLIN -- New solicitors' regulations due to come into force in November could cost the Irish Golden Pages more than one million euro in lost revenue. The Solicitors' Advertising Regulations 2002 will severely limit the contents of advertisements and will effectively ban personal injuries advertising. The Irish Golden Pages features dozens of pages of classified ads from solicitors, most of which will be outlawed by the new regulations. The Dublin area Golden Pages carries more than 63 pages of large display ads for which solicitors would have paid in excess of €1,087,000. The Bar Council estimates that 40% of earnings by its members are from personal injuries. Barristers earn a massive chunk of their money through negotiations privately with each other on behalf of their respective clients before the issue ever gets to court.

Irish Employers Cannot Legally Monitor Employee e-mail Ciaran O'Mara -- If you monitor the external phone calls and Internet e-mail of employees, you may be violating an EU regulation that outlaws surveillance of workers' communications. Surveillance of employees in the workplace is controlled by the 1995 Data Protection Directive and the 1997 Telephone Privacy Directive. Article 5 of the Data Directive says member states must "ensure via national regulations the confidentiality of communications. In particular, they shall prohibit listening, tapping, storage or other kinds of interception or surveillance of communicaitons, by other than users, without the consent of the users concerned." Ireland has not legislated for any exceptions or restrictions to Article 5 since May 2002. O'Mara, managing partner of O'Mara Geraghy McCourt, cannot see how any solicitor could safely advise an employer that he can monitor employee communications.

World Class Needed for World Stage Barry Maloney -- "The boom days are gone now. Technology leverage in a world market, with world-class management, is what is going to make the difference."

What Is Enterprise Ireland Doing to Spur Start-ups? TORNADER INSIDER -- Listening to the chatter at an investment conference in Media Lab Europe, it's easily to discern that Enterprise Ireland has allocated €95m for Irish companies and expects this to leverage €400m in further cash. You can get money easier if you're running a company in the border, midlands and western region. Ernst & Young's European survey says VC investment in Ireland increased from €15m in 1Q02 to €88m in the second quarter.

Irish VC Depression DUBLIN -- Venture capitalists invested EUR 208m in Irish companies in 2001 but just EUR 124m in 2002. This is a depression. It has led to the Sunday Business Post rewarming CNET stories in its technology section because there aren't Irish success stories at the moment. Since 2000, venture capitalist investment has dropped spectacularly. About EUR 2.4bn in venture capital was invested in Erope in the first half of 2002. That is down 46% on the amount for the second half of last year, according to a survey by Ernst & Young and VentureOne. This is a killer for start-ups. A venture capitalist usually looks for at least 25% return on investment and needs to see results within a year. Irish technology no longer performs at this level.

Resource: Weblog about Education Sebastian Fielder -- Good stuff on weblogs in education including nice group weblog using RSS to incorporate guest columnists.

Mac Converging on *NIX Glenn Fleishman -- I wrote my weekly technology column in The Irish Examiner on the same topic of powerbook convergence that Glenn Flieshman filed for The Seattle Times. In Ireland, there are several PowerBooks with single or multiple boots into flavors of Linux and (mostly) BSD Unix. [GlennLog, Mac Net Journal and dws.]

Locals in Lanesborough LANESBOROUGH, County Longford -- Justine McCarthy visited this quintessential Irish town and reported on the trip for readers in The Irish Independent. Some readers want to know how 50 new arrivals from Turkey have influenced the local landscape. Tractors trundle down the main street, past the smattering of pubs and over the Shannon into Connaught. It is especially pretty in the summer when cruiser ply the Shannon but, in winter, it is a quiet place. In the Lough Ree Area Development C-op, the chairman Ciaran Mulloly, is cogitating on the number and variety of non-Irish born people who have recently moved to the town. In addition to the Turkish men, there are Finns, Latvians, Chinese, Filipinos, English and French. "It's the sort of multi-cultural mix this community has never experienced before and will find it difficult to deal with," he says. Diversity is always a difficult challenge for a homogenous society.