13,826 people of this country voted for Danny Healy-Rae in February. Is he the biggest imbecile in the National Parliament of Ireland? Can it get any worse?
What an imbecile!?
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Category: Society
Just ruin it for everybody! – Nonsensical Compensation Case
Ireland has a serious compensation problem and NOTHING is done about it. But hopefully shocking cases like this one will EVENTUALLY get a government to fix this stupid situation. But what happened?
A 59-year old woman (Teresa Wall from Swords) went for a hill walk on the Wicklow Way in August 2013. Because she wasn’t careful enough, she tripped and fell on her knee. It seemingly was a bad fall that required a few stitches, but nothing was broken and no long-term pain or damage has been reported. Similar situations have happened MANY times before and if you go hillwalking or mountain climbing or do any other rough-ish outdoor sport/exercise, you should know that you can get injured.
The Irish Independent reported here.
In this case, the woman was walking on a “board walk” that is made up of old railway sleepers. The board walk is there to protect the flora and fauna on the mountain, but also to help walkers get over boggy/marshy/wet stretches. The railway sleepers are made of wood and they suffer from the wet and wind and were “badly rotted”. Well, what would normal people do? Be EXTRA careful in the same way as you would be extra careful on bad ground. And if they fall? They get up again and sort out the damage, but they are NOT running to the courts!
Teresa Wall wanted money! She sued the National Parks and Wildlife Service and unfortunately she wasn’t told to get lost, but instead judge Jacqueline Linnane outrageously awarded her EUR 40,000….for a few stitches on the knee! Unbelievable!
The woman claimed that she walked “all around the world” for 40 years, that she ran half-marathons on a weekly basis and that she had climbed in the Himalayas to the base camp on Mount Everest. She also claimed that the injury meant that she now could no longer hill climb or run marathons.
What do you think mountain climbers get who get injured or even killed on Mount Everest? Do they sue Nepal? Or maybe the creator of the mountain? They sure won’t! And if something bad had happened on her climb in the Himalayas she wouldn’t have received a cent.
And what is the ridiculous amount of 40k for that judge Linnane so generously gave away of not-her-own-money?
Now, accidents and compensations happen all the time, but why is this one such a significant case? See, the result of it is that anybody else who gets a little scratch on a walk in the Wicklow Mountains or any other outdoor activity area in Ireland on private or public ground will be able to sue for the most ridiculous reasons. And for that reason we will see more “DO NOT ENTER” signs and wonderful walks like the Wicklow Way might be closed for the public.
The negative follow-on effect thanks to Teresa Wall and Jacqueline Linnane’s actions is not yet comprehensible, but will most likely be HUGE!!
This has to be changed! Crazy claims like this should be thrown out of court and even where compensation is paid, it should be based on a predetermined compensation “price list” as it is done already in many other countries to take this total randomness our of judges decisions.
An example for leg-related injuries from the German claims table is here. If you translate it with Google Translate or something similar or if you are able to read German, you will be able to see that the money paid for a light injury (dog bite with car to thigh fracture) is EUR 450-5900. For a middle severity injury which results in a severe disability and reduction in earning capability of 60% (That’s quite serious!!) is up to EUR 65,000, but that is FAR FAR worse than what happened on Wicklow Way.
Arrive early to avoid disappointment?
Every week, I am checking about 400 events to find the 180-220 free events that then make it into the Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events). Where an organiser sells tickets, they know how many tickets they can sell and they stop when the event is sold out.
For organisers of free events, things are a lot more tricky! You have NO idea how many people will come to your event. It could result in an empty room or you could have so many people that you have to send some away. Neither of the two scenarios is ideal, BUT most event organisers understandably rather have a full room than an empty room. When they expect or hope for a busy/full event, they often write “No booking required, however places are limited, so arrive early to avoid disappointment.” or “Places are limited and early arrival is strongly recommended.” or something similar.
Sure we get that if you are there before everyone else, you will get a seat while late comers might be sent away, but if you suggest to EVERYONE to come early, would that not just create the exactly same situation as if everyone came on time or came late?
So in my opinion it is a silly and nonsensical statement. Yes, it should be stated that places are limited because then you know that you might be sent away if the venue is full, but the “come early to avoid disappointment” is totally unnecessary. By the way, you will have never read this unnecessary statement in the Dublin Event Guide (for Free Events). ;-) I apply a nonsense filter before I include any information. :-P
Butchering the Thee-shock! – Irish words in radio and TV
What is wrong with radio and TV broadcasters in Ireland? Where did they learn the pronunciation of Irish words? I don’t speak Irish, but even I know that Thee-shock is NOT the way Taoiseach should be pronounced. Where is that “TH” coming from? I also know that Doyle is a surname (Mrs. Doyle from Father Ted comes to mind. ;-) ), but it is NOT the correct pronunciation for “Dail” (the Irish Parliament) and finally Fine Guayle is not the correct pronunciation for “Fine Gael”.
If a newsreader or radio or TV broadcaster can’t pronounce these relatively simple three words correctly, they should be sent to elocution classes or should be deported to the Gaeltacht until they are able for the most basic pronunciation.
Some might tell me that what I hear is the Dublin 4 way of speaking Irish and that the same people are even challenged by basic English pronunciation (Ross O’Carroll Kelly comes to mind and “Chorles” for “Charles”.) but the newsreaders I am referring to are from City Centre based radio stations. So this (weak) excuse can not be applied.
You might think that it is odd/funny or even rich that a foreigner, who doesn’t speak Irish at all, complains about the pronunciation of Irish words, but is everybody else just ok with that??
Luas Driver Strike – Outrageous or heroic?
The Luas drivers have decided that the compromise offer negotiated with the help of the Workplace Relations Commission is not acceptable by them and that they will continue with their threatened strike action and will not work on Easter Sunday and Easter Monday, the two main days of 1916 Commemorations.
Because they stand up for their rights, the trade union supporters and left organisations have them declared to be heroes and someone even dared comparing their action with the workers that were involved in the 1913 lockout in Dublin.
The vast majority, however, is outraged about their demands and the fact that the upset the Easter Rising commemorations for 10s of thousands of people.
We all have a certain opinion about the Luas drivers and most would agree that they are not in the slightest oppressed and also are not working under terrible conditions, so a comparison to 193 conditions is laughable. But they do have the right to ask for more money. However, do they have a right to FORCE any arbitrary claim through and at the same time upset all the people that pay their salary? Well, that is where the opinions differ.
Surprisingly the Anti Austerity Alliance – People Before Profit issued a very strong statement in support of the striking Luas drivers. Why is it surprising? Well, Richard Boyd-Barrett, the leader of PBP tells us that he is only taking EUR 29,000 of his TD salary and he seems to imply that a) that is enough and b) all TDs should be happy with that. (Unfortunately, he still keeps the rest of the 92k salary, just not for his personal use, but he gives it to his party. So we (i.e. the State) don’t really benefit from his frugality.)
Now, if 29k should be enough for everyone and considering that the Luas drivers currently get between 32,000 and 42,000 plus bonus for an average of less than 36 hours per week, is the AAA-PBP support for the drivers then not a little surprising?
By the way, I said that the Luas drivers have a right to ask for more money and they also have a right to strike if they are not happy and reject an offer if they think it is not fair. But based on the law of human society “The liberty of one citizen ends where the liberty of another citizen begins.” their strike tactics is highly questionable.
