Tom Doyle :: TALK

As if we didn’t get enought crap through our letterboxes already, another free newspaper has popped up.

But this time, I’m happy to promote it as we are currently working on the website. www.informer.ie - visit the website now! It’s filled (surprisingly) with some great articles and you can even comment on the article on the website (woohooo!).

So far we’ve finished beta version 1.0 of the site, but there’s still a lot to do. At the moment it’s at least functional. We’ll be doing a lot of changes over the coming months as the paper grows.

So go out and find a copy, or just read it online!

It’s been 4 years since Cadburys decided to discontinue their Wispa bar because of declining sales. I’m old enough to remember it’s introduction and those silly ads (how sad is that…)

Well now they’ve returned to our shelves after an Internet campaign, for a limited period only apparently. The bar was brought in to compete with Nestle’s Aero bar. Although, I was a fan (in those days) and always thought it was much nicer than an Aero.

Anyway, I bought one today to bring back all those memories. Interestingly, my first thought was Christmas. This was obviously because it was probably the only time of the year I would actually eat one. I guess this was because it was most likely part of a selection box and I would never actually buy a Wispa. As I got closer the end of the bar, I couldn;t help but feeling sick. It reminded me of cheap chocolate, again the type you’d only eat at Christmas or Easter.

For the nostalga, I’m glad to see it back - but one thing’s for sure….. I won’t be buying another one!!!

As a mark of respect for the Bray firefighters who lost their lives this week in a tragic against while on duty, Bray Chamber of Commerce has issued a call for all retailers and businesses in Bray Town, to extend their sympathies to the families and friends of the two brave local men.

In a statement from the Bray Chamber & District Chamber, they ask all retailers and businesses, including owners and staff to show their repects in one of four ways:

1. Stand outside their premises to honour the Removal and Funeral processions 
2. Close the doors of their business premises 
3. Dim or switch off the lights of their business premises 
4. or Cease trading

The Funeral Procession for Mark O’Shaughnessy is tomorrow, Saturday 29th September; the Cortege will travel via Castle Street at 4pm, through Bray Main Street and along Novara Avenue, stopping at Sidmonton Road, to arrive at 4.30pm in Our Lady Queen of Peace Church. The Funeral Mass will be on Monday 1st October at 10am, and afterwards to Springfield Cemetery.

The Funeral Procession for Brian Murray is Monday, 1st October; the Cortege will travel via Castle Street at 5.15pm, through Bray Main Street to arrive at 6pm to The Church of the Most Holy Redeemer. The Funeral Mass will be on Tuesday 2nd October at 11.30am, and afterwards to Springfield Cemetery.

Frank Allen, CEO of the Rail Procurement Agency (RPA) announced that the Luas Line B2 will be extended into Bray Town Centre.

The announcement, confirmed in writing by Mr Allen to Wicklow County Manager Mr Eddie Sheehy, follows a period of public consultation into the selection of the Luas route options to the Bray area, connecting to the DART line. The route options for consideration included a spur extension into Bray Town Centre at Bray DART Station, and a spur extension to Woodbrook to the north of Bray between Bray and Shankill.

The extension, which is due to be delivered under Transport 21 by 2015, is subject to the normal planning process for such projects and to securing sufficient funding, including funding from private sources.
 

It was announced today that Dawsons Family Leisure amusements in Bray is closing it’s doors on the 30th of September this year. In operation for the last 50, Dawsons was a huge tourist attraction to Bray seafront. It is expected that their sister business, Star Leisure, will continue to operate.

A sad day for Bray, I’m sure plenty of people have great memories of their days spent there.

Is that what Miss South Carolina is saying???

Funny reponse from Miss SC to a question in Miss Teen USA 2007.

Well it looks like some sad old git has a gripe with me and it’s obvious who it is……..

I’ll let the rest of you make up your own minds, but this person has been quite determined to get their point of view across in some fashion. He won’t give his real name, preferring to go by the name of Frte and he leaves the same ip all the time… http://www.ripe.net/whois?form_type=simple&full_query_string=&searchtext=83.64.118.178

I began receiving abuse through one particular post about a self proclaimed web design company and it even went as far as an abusive email through my company website, which really has nothing to do with this blog.

So what’s their gripe? Not sure right now. The person has been so bad a getting their point across, that the first few posts against the original article, I deleted because I thought it was just spam!! Even when I received the email through the company website, I still didn’t realise it wasn’t spam!

Now they’ve felt that it was well worth their time to create a special blog about how such a bad blogger I am by creating a special blog which is so far dedicated to me http://badpost.blogspot.com/

He starts by stating [edited to make sense]:

“it’s obvious that the poster [didnt] read what “copyleft” is. don’t be mad when reading his posting even in this century, in the new millennium we still can find a human like him. btw, thanks to him, he succeeded making the internet colorful.”

I’m really not sure what he means by this, I know what copyleft is and i don’t think that that makes me a bad human being…. does it???

He then goes on to slag off a post called “Googles recommendations for handling duplicate content“……

Well whoever we know you are - I’m on holiday now, but thanks for the dedicated blog, I’m honoured!
 

Some of you might know that I have an art business aswell as my day job.

TheStreetGallery.com is an online Irish Art Gallery which allows you to buy art online from a wide range of Irish Artists. The site caters for photographers, sculptors and of course painters.

We set a target 2 month ago when we had only 50 odd artists, to have 100 artists signed up by September. Today, (ahead of schedule I might add ) we signed up our 100th artist!!!!

So congratulations to my partner in the business, Stephen O’Driscoll, who has headed up this whole operation since leaving Microsoft in February! WELL DONE MAN!!!

The Bray Chamber of Commerce released a statement today in response to the Minister for Transports, Noel Dempsey, assurance that the Government remains fully commited to Luas Line B2 extension to Bray.

 Their statement reads:

Bray & District Chamber was extremely concerned to learn that the Luas Line B2 Extension to Bray was the only Luas project not included in the Programme for Government, as reported in the Wicklow Times newspaper. The Chamber – which has led the campaign to ensure the delivery of the Luas extension to the Bray environs with a spur into Bray Town Centre – was further extremely concerned and dismayed to read the comments made by a representative of a Government party to the Wicklow Times, in which they were quoted as stating that the Bray project had been “shelved” during negotiations between Fianna Fail and the Green Party.

The concern of Bray Chamber was further increased when comments from reported in the Wicklow Times were repeated by the same representative during a live discussion on the issue on East Coast fm (broadcast Tuesday 10th July 2007).

Over the weeks since the reports emerged, Bray & District Chamber has been vigilant in its ongoing discussions with representatives of the Government. We have continued to seek guarantees from the Government that commitments made under Transport 21 that the Luas would be delivered to Bray would be met by the new Government.

A delegation from Bray & District Chamber met with the Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey TD, at the end of July, along with the Minister of State for European Affairs and local TD, Dick Roche. The meeting with Minister Dempsey was a very positive one, during which the Minister confirmed that the Government is fully committed to delivering an extension of the Luas to Bray in accordance with Transport 21.  The Chamber is pleased to note that the Minister for Transport also clarified the matter in writing to Deputy Roche, which has since been noted by Bray Chamber.

Commenting, President of Bray & District Chamber, Eugene Finnegan stated:
“Bray Chamber is satisfied following our meeting with Minister Dempsey and Minister Roche that the Luas Line B2 extension is on track for delivery under Transport 21. The fact that the project was the only project not included in the Programme for Government, as well as the fact that selected representatives of the Government parties stated not once, but twice, is a matter that remains of grave concern to Bray Chamber. That being said, we are assured by the Minister for Transport that there has been no change in the status of the Luas project for Bray. As a Chamber, we will remain vigilant and will work with all parties to ensure that the project is not only delivered on time, but also ahead of time, for the community of Bray and County Wicklow as a whole. Additionally, Bray Chamber remains committed to campaigning to ensure that the Luas is not only delivered to Fassaroe, outside Bray, but also into the centre of the town at Bray Dart Station.”

As much as I have always thought that Joe O’Reilly was guilty of murdering his wife, Rachel O’Reilly, I can’t help but feel that the conviction was a little strange.

Every shred of evidence was circumstantial and there doesn’t seem to have been any physical evidence at all linking him to the crime. Is this setting a precendent for future cases? All the prosecutors need to do now is create a situation that will look as though the suspect was involved. How the jury found “beyond all resonable doubt” that Joe O’Reilly was guilty, is beyond me. The judge at one stage asked the jury at one stage, ”ask yourself how you would feel if you were found guilty on the evidence put before you”. He too obviously felt the evidence was a little too circumstantial for a conviction.

In saying all that, it seemed obvious to me that this guy was the killer and I’m glad the system was able to put him away.