The case against the state challenging the constitutionality of the amended National monuments act 1930-2004 has been deffered for the third time.
The date for judgement of this important case had been variously given, the last one was Feb 16th, the day of the launch of the Planning and Development Bill 2006,(The Strategic Infrastructure Bill)I am not a lawyer, and have not studied the details of the Carrickmines case too closely, but the locus of the case was based on the signing of the joint consent order to destroy the castle remains at Carrickmines and to remove sections of the revetted fosse. Ministerial consents for destruction of a national monument could occur after 21 days sitting of the Oireachtas, which in real terms gave the minister his unreviewable discretionary powers.The judgement was listed for tomorrow but is now deffered, it will
have a direct repurcussion on the situation at the Tara Complex and other heritage sites in Ireland. No reason has been given for the deferral. The case has been put back for mention for Thursday the 9th of March. read full story / add a comment

The Labour Party will use its private members time in the Seanad this week to facilitate debate on a cross party motion proposing the appointment of a Select Committee of Senators to examine and report back on claims that U.S. aircraft landing at Irish airports have been involved in the so-called extraordinary rendition of prisoners. read full story / add a comment

video in mpeg2, 1:24, 14.1 MB

http://obin.org/video/wawa/02-03-06-RARdeportations.mpg

sorry for the low quality read full story / add a comment

Crime is now seen as undesirable because of the impact on the victim
rather than the financial impact, as such shoplifting should be decriminalised. read full story / add a comment

It is astonisihing that only Susan McKay has raised the question of the bona fides of FAIR in a substantive manner. It is not as though the information is hard to come by.

For instance:

FAIR demonstrated outside Stormont about the early release of Republican prisoners. When asked by David Dunseath of the BBC about the early release of loyalist prisoners Frazer replied “They should never have been locked up in the first place” read full story / add a comment

Friends of the Earth has called for the 15c levy on plastic bags to be doubled. On the the fourth anniversary of its introduction analysis of Department of the Environment figures shows the number of bags being bought is rising steadily. After the plastic bag tax was introduced on 4th March 2002 the number of bags being put into circulation fell dramatically with visible environmental benefits. In the first year after the introduction of the 15c levy just under 90 million bags were bought by the public and this fell to less than 85 million in 2003. But since then the number has been on the up again, to 100 million in 2004 and at least 113 million in 2005, a rise of over a third. read full story / add a comment

In a striking departure from customary practice, the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Friday 3 March attempted to abolish the Danish principle of freedom of information by charging award-winning journalist Bo Elkjær a fee for copying documents requested under the Danish Open Administration Act. In return, Elkjær accuses the ministry of conducting “considerations of matters of principle” and charging fees that have no basis in the legislation, in an attempt to obstruct his access to official documents concerning Denmark’s invasion and occupation of Iraq.

In January, 2004, Elkjær was awarded the prestigious Cavling Prize, Denmark’s most coveted award for journalism, for his work in exposing the misinformation and disinformation with which the Danish government succeeded in gaining support for the ill-fated invasion of Iraq. Denmark has approximately 500 troops in the British-controlled area of southern Iraq.

The foreign ministry has blacklisted Elkjær, rejecting his frequent requests for an interview with Conservative foreign minister Per Stig Møller. In January this year, the ministry nevertheless reassured Elkjær that he was entitled to seek access to documents in accordance with the Danish freedom of information act, or Open Administration Act. But, following a period of “considerations of matters of principle”, the ministry has now demanded that Elkjær sign an undertaking to pay for each document copied.

Elkjær greets this latest attempt to obstruct his access to information with derision: “Have you gone stark raving mad?” he asks chief clerk Thomas Winkler and other staff at the ministry.

Elkjær points out that the Danish Open Administration Act – in stark contrast to the Irish legislation – makes no provision to charge journalists a fee for copying official documents.

Please read the dramatically entertaining exchange between Elkjær and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in translation below. read full story / add a comment

According to the Irish Times two protesters who sued the State and Garda Commissioner for assault following the reclaim the streets protest three years ago have settled out of court. No details were disclosed. read full story / add a comment