Contact.ie - Contact Irish TDs, Irish MEPs, Irish Senators

An Open Letter to All Politicians on how to Respond to Email Campaigns

Tue, 21/02/2012 - 10:15 | Contact.ie

Hello to all of you,

Contact.ie here, we are asking you to please take the time to read this e-mail as we believe it will help you to understand what we are trying to do with Contact.ie and also give you all some tips on how to more easily cope with mass e-mail campaigns from Irish voters.

What is Contact.ie:

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Campaign Skills-Building Workshops

Mon, 20/02/2012 - 14:44 | Contact.ie

Date:

Saturday, February 25, 2012 - 10:00 - Sunday, February 26, 2012 - 18:00

SKILLS BUILDING WORKSHOPS 25th & 26th February

In order to support our actions for debt justice, the pubic meeting will be followed by a skills-building weekend, featuring workshops on a variety of themes, including:

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Stop the Anglo Payments - a talk by Tom McDonnell

Mon, 20/02/2012 - 14:41 | Contact.ie

Date:

Tuesday, February 21, 2012 - 19:00

Public meeting and community responses discussion forum

Tuesday 21st February 7pm - 9.30pm Harbour Hotel, Galway by 2031 people in Ireland will have repaid at least €47 billion on a debt for which we no have responsibility. That is over €2.6 billion from the people of Galway alone

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Don't Filter our Emails

Mon, 13/02/2012 - 12:29 | Contact.ie

According to an artilce in today's Irish Examiner, some TDs are seeking to filter emails coming to them from the public. This would set a very dangerous precedent for people who wish to contact politicians.

We at Contact.ie believe that EVERY person has the right to contact ANY poliltician on a matter of national importance.

Message Subject (you can edit this): *

Text of Email (you can edit this): *

Please DO NOT FORGET to put your name (and address if you wish) to the end of the email.

Your Email Address: *

Your Name: *

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Austerity Treaty?! Fiscal Compact?! Demand a referendum!

Mon, 06/02/2012 - 14:04 | Sarah C

For the last few weeks you will have heard various discussions in the media on whether or not Ireland will need to have a referendum on a new agreement that is taking place at EU level.

At contact.ie, we believe that the Irish people should have a say in something that is going to have such far-reaching effects for us - ones that will outlive the lifetime of the government of the day. indeed, we believe that ALL Europeans should have a say on it.

If you agree with us, send the email below to all TDs and Senators NOW!

If you want a "layman's guide to the treaty", click here.

Message Subject (you can edit this): *

Text of Email (you can edit this): *

Dear TDs, Senators, and President Higgins,

We, Irish citizens, are very concerned about our democracy.

We believe that whatever decision is made regarding the Fiscal Compact treaty will have long-term and far-reaching effects on our society - on our children, our elderly, ourselves, and our social structures - effects that will far outlive the life of this government.

For this reason, we insist that, as citizens of this state, we have a right to partake in deciding whether or not Ireland should sign up to this treaty.

We are currently suffering the effects of decisions made on our behalf that many of us given the choice would not have made, (such as the bank guarantee scheme and others) and for that reason we are demanding that  from now on we must be consulted and have our will taken into account.

We demand to be asked about this new agreement by referendum before our government puts it into Irish law.

(The point of this email is not to advocate for a YES or a NO vote - simply for us to be given the choice of voting YES or NO.)

Regards,

Please DO NOT FORGET to put your name (and address if you wish) to the end of the email.

Your Name: *

Your Email Address: *

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A Layman's Guide to the Fiscal Compact

Mon, 06/02/2012 - 13:01 | Sarah C

For the last few weeks you will have heard various discussions in the media on whether or not Ireland will need to have a referendum on a new agreement that is taking place at EU level.

With the speed things have been happening during this financial crisis we know many people are lost or confused amidst the minefield of initials (IMF, EMU, ESF, WTF???) that are flying around and so we have compiled this short guide that explains what on earth these discussions are all about.

TO SEND AN EMAIL TO ALL TDS AND SENATORS ABOUT THIS, CLICK HERE.

We hope this guide will help any of you that are confused to understand what the issues are and that it will help you to make sense of the various media discussions you hear.

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Stop SOPA and ACTA in Ireland #SOPAireland

Wed, 25/01/2012 - 09:00 | Contact.ie

You may have heard of the recent announcement by Labour's Sean Sherlock TD to amend the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 without Dail debate, by means of statutory instrument. It will give away a lot of the freedoms we currently enjoy on the internet by giving a small number of unaccountable people the power to censor your internet, restrict vast amounts of content and decide who is infringing a copyright without due process.

Subject (you can edit this): *

Your Message (you can edit this): *

Dear Sean,

I feel compelled to contact you regarding your Department's proposed amendment to the Copyright and Related Rights Act 2000 in which you feel it is necessary to give private individuals and corporations the ability to censor public users of internet services by allowing these private individuals/corporations to decide what is copyright infringement and what is not, without due process.

This is wrong for many reason. The benefits of your "SOPA type" legislation are few and only for the big recording and movie production companies who already enjoy monopolistic type protection from copyright. These same corporations have consolidated and merged over the last 20 years giving them double digit growth for many of those years by utilising existing copyright laws. They don't need more protection. The industry shills would have us believe enacting these laws will afford them protection against piracy, but in reality it does nothing to combat the real world piracy of physical movie DVD's, music CD's, software and other patent and IP infringements. Their assertions are demonstrably untrue if you care to look.

The drawbacks of giving private companies and individuals the powers to silence are too numerous to mention but the main issues at stake are freedom of expression, net neutrality, privacy, safe harbour, commerce and wider cultural and artistic endeavours. The internet IS copying. To be on the internet is to copy. Culture doesn't respond well to being walled in.

You can't have failed to notice the recent mass protests  from major worldwide tech players and content providers during the last week against the SOPA bill in the United States. This reaction will be universal in any territory that attempts to overtly or otherwise control the internet by prohibition. Censorship is an affront to our already challenged democracy.

Furthermore, and probably more importantly, there are technical issues here which will no doubt negate your attempts at censorship. The public will learn how to use IP proxies and other technology to bypass weak and unworkable law. There is a conceit in law that says any piece of legislation that is unenforceable is abhorrent to the nature and function of law. And internet censorship IS unenforceable.

There is an argument that online "piracy" is more akin to shoplifting, in the sense that it is part of the price of being in business. Not only that, but the aggregation of protected works actually benefits content creators given the right conditions, e.g. Creative Commons assignment. The current situation in the creative arts means that the tiny minority of content creators and artists benefit from the monopoly of big movie production and recording corporations - but it is self evident who benefits the most. HINT: It's NOT the little guy, the independent artist, "cottage industry" record companies, independent film makers, or the wider public who DO NOT WANT TO BE EXCLUDED FROM THE CREATIVITY PROCESS!

Please reassess your stance, consult with the wider industry and find consensus by listening to some of the brilliant minds out there who have many answers to the copyright conundrum. The major protagonists will find their own commercial solution to the changing paradigm, or die as is wont in this supposedly laissez faire economy. Can't say fairer than that I think.

Yours in hope,

You can edit the above content. DON'T FORGET TO PUT YOUR NAME (AND IF YOU WISH ADDRESS) AT THE BOTTOM.

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Enda Kenny = Eamon Gilmore = Fine Gael = Labour = Animal Farm

Tue, 24/01/2012 - 13:22 | Contact.ie

No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

- George Orwell, Animal Farm

Enda Kenny Eamon Gilmore Labour Fine Gael

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#NotOurDebt Promotional Video

Sun, 22/01/2012 - 16:39 | Contact.ie

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#NotOurDebt Interview with myeurop.info

Wed, 18/01/2012 - 22:50 | Contact.ie

I was emailed some questions today by a journalist with myeurop.info about the #NotOurDebt campaign against paying unsecured and unguaranteed Anglo bondholders. Here are some of my responses.

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