Mayo Sinn Féin councillor Gerry Murray criticised the selling off of national resources to gas and oil exploration companies 20 years ago.

I agree.

He hit out at the Garda for upholding the interests of Shell and the Norwegian government rather than the common good.

I couldn't disagree more.

The gardai must uphold the law, no matter how we feel about the law. Criticise the law not the lawkeepers.

I came across this on the internet. It is a prank played on the two local garda stations by a person with two mobile phones who called Westport Barracks on one phone and Castlebar Barracks on the other and then put the two phones together and recorded the conversation between the two guards on either end.

To:-

The Right Hon.Tony Blair MP
The Foreign Secretary, The Right Hon. Margaret Beckett MP


INHUMAN TREATMENT OF THE CHAGOS ISLANDERS (ILOIS)

We have become aware of the shocking treatment of the Chagos Islanders who were removed by the British Government to make way for a US airbase in Diego Garcia.

Their treatment is a shameful act of colonial bullying, racism, and inhuman and degrading treatment of people who are loyal British subjects. It is obvious that they have been living in conditions of neglect and suffering, severe hardship, high death rates, ill health, malnutrition and inadequate access to all public facilities which British citizens should have.

We are appalled that the British Government has broken all rules of international law in treating its own subjects so harshly. We are aware that the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has been systematically broken year after year by the British Government in Chagos, and we fully endorse the recommendation of the UN Human Rights Subcommittee dated 6th December 2001, when the committee directed the United Kingdom to:-

“… make exercise of the Ilois’ right to return to their territory practicable. It should consider compensation for the denial of this right over an extended period. It should include the territory in its next periodic report”.

We are appalled that, instead of implementing this direction, the Government has chosen to continue the injustice, resorting to the use of Orders in Council to bypass the democratic process and overrule the High Court. We are even more appalled that the Government is using public funds to pursue a lengthy appeal against the High Court’s decision in May to quash these ridiculous orders.

We find it outrageous and offensive to these poor people that the Government is trying to hide behind a pathetic settlement payment in 1982, and feasibility studies which have been met with ridicule in the scientific community.

This outrageous appeal should be dropped immediately, and the committee’s damning judgment should be implemented immediately and in full. Anything less would be a shameful violation of all civilised norms of behaviour and will hasten the destruction of a peaceful rural community of islanders.



Sincerely,

Sign your name here! Click here to sign this petition and lend your voice to the campaign to let the Ilois people of Chagos go home.

I have concerns over the police use of CCTV in small towns like Westport (pop. 5,000) as I feel not only is the population too small to require such an expensive system but that as we are such a small town it is very likely that the those watching you will in fact know you personally thus breaching your privacy.

I am opposed to whole scale CCTV surveillance as I think it breaches my rights as a citizen to go about my business without being subjected to surveillance. I also believe that CCTV is used to justify less Gardai on the streets.

I don't believe that CCTV is either effective as a deterrent to crime or as a useful tool for crime solving. The number of cases it is used in is low and the number of convictions even lower.

I am not on my own on this one. The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) has concerns in this area also. According to the ICCL "a series of studies that seriously questions the effectiveness of CCTV in preventing crime. Certainly, CCTV does not seem to achieve anything that can't be achieved by common sense measures such as better street lighting or more effective police patrols in city-centres.

"In recent years, many politicians have suggested that extensive spending on camera schemes was a panacea to street crime. Now it is clear that this is not the case. What is also disturbing is that the impact of such schemes on the privacy rights of the public at large has been largely ignored."

You can read more about that here.

Accrding to the Office of the Data Protection Commissioner, staff must be made aware that CCTV is in place and what the purpose of the cameras are. If staff are told that the cameras are there to protect staff against violent customers that’s the only thing they can be used for.

CCTV cameras can’t be used for monitoring attendance at work or to see whether staff are sitting at their desk all day long.

For more information on this read this article

There is also an interesting blog in the UK on this subject and the issues involved here.

So the issue is not as black and white as some people claim and I hope that after reading this post you might see my concerns or at least have questions over such systems. CCTV is not benign, it does affect your rights. Think about it before you support it in your town or area.

(I do however accept that it is necessary in areas like O'Connell St and high crime areas but this should be the exception not the norm)

Don't let them give you the" eye in the sky", demand more Gardai on your streets instead.

Note: we don't have CCTV in Westport..........yet!!