A Quiet Night in the Port

Portballintrae and Black Rock Strand

Have the natives and potential visitors given up on Summer 2010? Have they gone in search of sun and shangri-la in foreign climes? Bushmills was dead, Portballintrae much the same and Black Rock Strand was almost empty yet it was a beautiful evening with a marvellous sunset.

No Dogs on Margy Strand, Ballycastle?

[click images to enlarge]

No Dogs. Well, that's what it says on the sign leading to the strand. 

This morning a listener rang the Nolan Show on Radio Ulster. 

He drew attention to the sign and claimed that a dog had urinated on a windbreak which he'd set up on the Margy strand recently. I went for a short stroll early this afternoon and spotted eight dogs: three on the leash, two on and off the leash and three not on the leash. There were also about twenty five people, mostly children.

Two visitors from Co Clare were a little puzzled by the No Swimming/Bathing Only sign.

Northern Ireland Water Fiasco - Some FOI and Other Documents - Right said Fred

The Northern Ireland Water fiasco and the Rathlin Ferry saga pose serious questions about Northern Ireland governance in general and that of the Department for Regional Development in particular.

Scribd link

Picasaweb link - updated August 8 and 20

Slugger O'Toole discussion

Politics NI

Fred Cobain, Chairperson of the Committee for Regional Development, on 10 December 2008, "Although the report indicates that there was no evidence of manifest error in the award of the contract, the Committee has serious concerns that;

• there was no clear and transparent evidence trail to support this procurement; and

• the mistakes made and surrounding circumstances provided scope for misunderstanding and contributed to perceptions of wrongdoing.

The Department told the Committee that it accepts the report recommendations and that appropriate action, including training, is required to begin to repair the damage caused to public confidence in the public procurement process.

The Committee has decided to schedule time in its work programme in early 2009 to more carefully consider the report findings. Undoubtedly there are lessons to be learned. Today’s session is the beginning of the process, and we are looking forward to working with the Department in improving and enhancing its performance in this area, and improving public confidence.

The Committee welcomes the publication of the Department for Regional Development’s independent investigation, and the speed with which the investigation was conducted."

Since then CRD SILENCE and it seems DRD governance problems continue with limited let or hindrance.

Scam Linked to AOL and British Council

http://www.dairylearn.org slash plugins slash user slash dose slash ready slash aol slash billing-center slash bill.html

This hyperlink leads to a webpage soliciting personal information and credit card details whereas http://www.dairylearn.org leads to a webpage under construction. This webpage carries logos for the British Council and the UK government's Department for International Development.

The site is registered to Alexander Kahi, DairyLearn Project, P. O. Box 12227, Nakuru, NA, Kenya