Reinstate48 and the €30,000 worth of Posters and Social media

Reinstate48

Reinstate 48’s sole objective is to restore to the people of Ireland the democratic rights given to them under Article 48 of the 1922 Constitution of the Irish Free State to make, mould, amend and repeal their own laws.

Reinstate 48 seeks postering rights Aodhan O Faolain, Irish Times Feb 19, 2016.

As part of its campaign, the group spent €30,000 putting up six different posters at various locations and on a social media campaign.

Campaigners fight council to keep up posters Aodhan O’Faolain, The Times February 19 2016

A group which wants the Constitution amended to allow referendums to be triggered by signatures of 50,000 voters is seeking High Court orders preventing Dublin City Council from removing posters endorsing its campaign.

The group spent about €30,000 on putting up six types of posters at various locations and on social media encouraging voters to support candidates that have endorsed the campaign.

Was this supposed to say €3,000?

Campaigners lose fight to keep up posters Aodhan O’Faolain
February 20 2016 The Times Ireland. Doesn't mention amount of money spent on posters.


Does Reinstate 48 accept financial donations? Reinstate48 FAQ

We are currently running our first crowdfunding appeal. The purpose of the appeal is to raise €2,500 to cover the costs of designing and printing 300 large (A0 size) R48 Election posters. The objective of the posters is to try and raise awareness of the R48 initiative amongst voters during the 2016 General Election campaign. The posters will be erected in high profile public locations by volunteers. If you support the R48 initiative then please consider making a small donation to this crowdfunding appeal.

Reinstate 48 initiative on ICrowdfund 1st April 2016

101%funded
€2,530.00

PLEDGED OF €2,500.00 GOAL

59 BACKERS
All funds will be collected on March 12, 2016

report on Direct Demoracy in Ireland for Democracy-international.org by Donal O'Brolcháin.

"Figure 2 Reinsate48 posters outside major newspaper offices Feb 2016"

How many posters did they really put up? Just enough to get the notice of newspapers? Did the papers republished their claim check it?

I asked Donal Brolchain how much was spent on the posters on the political reform blog He claims he does not know. How does a person on the organising committee not know how much reinstate48 spent on posters?

The Reinstate Article 48 "Direct Democracy" Initiative by Finbar10 on politics.ie Feb 2016.
R48 election posters on the streets of Dublin Reinstate 48. 20 Feb 2016

Statements of Strategy

Statements of Strategy
Public Service Management Act, 1997
Responsibility and accountability within Departments and Offices.

4.—(1) Except as otherwise directed by the Government or provided by or under any other Act, the Secretary General of a Department or Head of a Scheduled Office, as the case may be, shall, subject to the determination of matters of policy by the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office or by the Government, have the authority, responsibility and accountability for carrying out the following duties in respect of the Department or Scheduled Office:
(b) at the following times, or at an earlier time if the Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office so requires, preparing and submitting to the Minister of the Government a strategy statement in respect of the Department or Scheduled Office—


(i) within 6 months after the coming into operation of this Act,


(ii) within 6 months after the appointment of a new Minister of the Government having charge of the Department or Scheduled Office, and


(iii) at the expiration of the 3 year period since the last such statement was prepared and submitted,


and providing progress reports to the Minister of the Government on the implementation of the strategy statement annually or at such intervals as the Government may by order from time to time direct;

Strategy statement.

5.—(1) A statement referred to in this Act as a “strategy statement” shall—


(a) comprise the key objectives, outputs and related strategies (including use of resources) of the Department of State or Scheduled Office concerned,


(b) be prepared in a form and manner in accordance with any directions issued from time to time by the Government, and


(c) be submitted to and approved by the relevant Minister of the Government with or without amendment.


(2) The Minister of the Government shall, not later than 60 days after the strategy statement has been approved, cause a copy thereof to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.

I read that as requiring a minister to submit for approval to government a Statement of Strategy within 6 months of being appointed and publish the document within 60 days of its approval by government. 6 months plus 60 days is 245 days.

Department for Transport, Tourism and Sport Statements of Strategy

Minister	Appointed	Strategy	Published	Days
Leo Varadkar	9 March 2011	Statement of Strategy 2011-2014	23 April 2012	411
Pascal Donohoe	11 July 2014	Statement of Strategy 2015-2017	25 February 2015	229
Shane Ross	6 May 2016	Statement of Strategy 2016-2019	23 December 2016	231

Minister and Department for Transport, Tourism and Sport Priorities

Minister	Appointed	Priorities	Published	Days
Leo Varadkar	9 March 2011	Minister and Department Priorities	Apr 7, 2011	29
Pascal Donohoe	11 July 2014	Minister and Department Priorities,2	15 October, 2014,?	96
Shane Ross	6 May 2016	Minister and Department Priorities	Nov 28, 2016	206

Each Departments Statement of Strategy



Links

Leo Varadkar Dail speches on Statement of Strategy 01/2011 - 03/2012
Transport Minister Varadkar's Strategy and Priorities Internet Archive

Transport Minister Donohoe's Strategy and Priorities Internet Archive

Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport Wikipedia

TDs and Senator claim cluster bombs going through Shannon. True or a misreading.

Update In January 2017 reporter Ken Foxe picked up this query and checked the DTTAS files and checked with Mick Wallace TD and Senator Paul Gavan and while Wallace wouldn't reply, Senator Gavan admitted he misread the documents. This was reported in the Sunday Times and the Irish Sunday Mail on the 29th of January 2017. Mick Wallace claimed cluster bombs transited through Shannon Airport – yet the documents he relied on said the exact opposite.

US cluster bombs twice denied Shannon route Ken Foxe January 29 2017, The Sunday Times. I don't think it was cluster bombs that were refused, but whatever they were, they were refused.

Senator Paul Gavan, Mick Wallace TD and Clare Daly TD needs to retract the claim in the Oireachtas and wherever else they made it.

Mick Wallace TD claims Deaprtment of Transport documents show cluster bombs going through Shannon. Is this true or misreading of the FOI'd documents.

Mick Wallace said in the Dail on the 1st October 2015

Deputy Mick Wallace: Shannonwatch, through freedom of information requests, got the statistics on the planes coming through Shannon Airport last year. There are planes going through the airport from America to Saudi Arabia with all kinds of arms and most likely cluster bombs, which are being used in Yemen.

and Dail on the 20th October 2016

Deputy Mick Wallace: The US has delivered cluster bombs to Saudi Arabia, some of them through Shannon Airport, to be used in Yemen.

and Dail on the 2nd of November 2016

Deputy Mick Wallace: On 15 and 16 November 2014, cluster bombs - a brutal instrument of war that Ireland helped to get banned years ago - were given permission to go to our trade partners, Saudi Arabia. The Saudis, supported by the US, have been committing war crimes in Yemen for 19 months, directly targeting civilians using cluster bombs sold to them by the US, some of which passed through Shannon.

and on 4 November 2015 in the Dail,

Deputy Mick Wallace: In November last year we gave permission for two overflights for planes travelling from Dover, Delaware to Saudi Arabia. We found out under a freedom of information request that those planes were carrying class 1 explosives, rockets, liquid fuel and rockets with bursting charges, possibly for the making of cluster bombs which are regarded as illegal. For all we know, because we do not search the planes, there are cluster bombs coming through Shannon. We do not know what is on the military planes coming through Shannon, because we are not allowed ask what is on them because there is supposed to be nothing on them.

How can Ireland continue with this position? How can we say we have a human rights position when we will not even search planes passing through Shannon to check whether they are taking cluster bombs to places like Saudi Arabia?

and 11 November 2015

Deputy Mick Wallace: Under freedom of information, Shannonwatch got details of flights that have come through Shannon and overflights during the past year. On 15 November 2014 and 16 November 2014, explosives and rockets with bursting charges, which are probably cluster bombs, went to Saudi Arabia.

and 24 November 2016

Deputy Mick Wallace: On 20 May 2014, we allowed missile parts to be flown through Ireland on the way to the United Arab Emirates. On 15 and 16 November 2014, cluster bombs, a brutal instrument of war that Ireland helped to get banned years ago, were given permission to go to our trade partner Saudi Arabia.

and Dail on 13th of December 2016,

Deputy Mick Wallace: In November 2014, two planes passed through Shannon Airport coming from Delaware. They were carrying class 1 liquid fuel explosives and rockets and class 1 explosives and rockets with bursting charges. I have heard Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael condemn the Russian use of cluster bombs in Aleppo. I condemn their use as well. Why in God's name are we allowing cluster bombs to go through our airspace to Saudi Arabia? The US is backing the Saudi mission in Yemen, a country in which there is an absolute humanitarian disaster. Cluster bombs going through Ireland are killing innocent people in Yemen on a daily basis. A UNICEF report last week showed that 2.2 million children in Yemen are suffering from malnutrition. There is a child dying every ten minutes as a result of malnutrition, not to mention those being killed by cluster bombs or bombs of another nature. How can we say we are neutral if we are allowing this to happen? I do not understand it.

Shannonwatch
I presume he was referring to the documents obtained under Freedom of Information by Shannonwatch Freedom of Information Request Reveals Details of Munitions Through Ireland in 2014

Details of all requests for exemption under the Air Navigation (Carriage of Munitions of War, Weapons and Dangerous Goods) Order, 1973, as amended, for the
carriage of weapons and munitions through Irish airports and airspace in 2014

Munitions Permits 2014 shannonwatch.org FOI 23/09/2015.

and these entries,

213 Atlas Air Inc 5Y5239 John F. Kennedy International Airport USA Al Dhafra Air Base, Abu Dhabi UAE 20/05/2014 Guided missile parts Exemption Issued? NO

539 Atlas Air Inc 5Y8272 Dover AFB, Delaware USA Ta'if Saudi Arabia 15/11/2014 Class 1 Explosives, Rockets, Liquid Fueled Exemption Issued? NO
540 Atlas Air Inc 5Y8270 Dover AFB, Delaware USA Ta'if Saudi Arabia 16/11/2014 Class 1 Explosives, Rockets with Bursting Charges Exemption Issued? NO

does that not mean they were refused passage!

Is Mick Wallace misreading the docs or am I?

I emailed him on November the 9th 2016 but I can't get reply from him.

I contacted Shannonwatch to check the agreed with my interpreation of the FOIs documents which they did and I asked them to ask Mick Wallace about it, but Mick Wallace continued to use the mistaken claims in the Dail.

ps Senator Paul Gavan has also been repeating these claims in the Seanad,

Senator Paul Gavan: We helped to bring cluster bombs - imagine that - through Shannon Airport to Saudi Arabia in November 2014. It is on the record. The Government's information confirmed this under a freedom of information request.

Seanad 13 December 2016

Clare Daly made similar claims on the Vincent Brown Show ‘Facilitating The Very Circumstances That Made These People Refugees’ March 24, 2016 BroadSheet/ Vincent Browne TV3

Daly: “Now we have a situation where aircraft are landing at Shannon almost twice daily. Some of the information sought and received by Shannonwatch last year, under Freedom of Information, shows the amount of permits sought for munitions to be transported, including materials that could go to form cluster bombs which we believe are being used in Yemen,

and in the Dail on 16 December 2015 Clare Daly: I am aware, on foot of freedom of information requests, that munitions and explosives that could have been the components of cluster bombs went from the United States to Saudi Arabia."

Links

Extent of Shannon and Ireland’s Complicity in War Revealed Shannonwatch 23/09/2015

Out of context reference to the requests on LookLeft facebook page October 13th 2016

Mick Wallace and clusterbombs in Dail search Kildarestreet.com