I was delighted to learn that I was shortlisted for Best Blog of a Politician in the recent Irish Blog Awards along with my Labour Party colleagues Joanna Tuffy TD and Senator Dominic Hannigan.  When I began this Blog in 2006 political blogging was in its infancy in this country.   Labour Party politicians have always been to the fore in this area and indeed have led the way in political blogging in this country. In fact politicians are usually adept at using social networking sites such as Twitter, Facebook or Blogging for getting their message across.  My Waterford City Council colleagues Cllr Mary Roche and Cllr David Cullinane have also been blogging for some time and I am sure more will follow. Congratulations to Cllr... Similar posts

Wheee! Today when I checked my blog I was delighted to see Edie had become my 50th follower - she came on board from the new Bloggers' Book Club that Lily started recently - my last post was the response to that initiative - A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Our next book is to be Brooklyn by Colm Tóibín, an acclaimed Irish writer who won the Man-Booker prize a few years ago for The Master. The Bloggers' Book Club is open to all those who are interested in reading and commenting on the selected book - just check over with Lily and put yourself on her list - so far there are about 16 members, which gives a nice assortment of opinion on the book.I hope those of you who take the time to read my blog enjoy it - I really like to get your comments and feedback as it makes the... Similar posts

Just for pig iron. Big version here (4.something MB JPG). Any articles/blog posts/photos/stuff of interest I could blog about here ? Send the link direct to my iPhone now... Similar posts

We won the coveted Best Blog In Ireland 2010 award last Saturday! Take a look at Lynnie above sweetly smiling as she accepts it. Always graceful us you see. Oh we love the smell of success in the morning. StrawberryNet sent out an email that annoyed the crap out of everyone, especially me as I had to do sums to prove the point – and you know I don’t like that. I only like to do airheaded things. In the heel of the hunt we said goodbye to them. It was nice while it lasted But we found a great new site to recommend instead! In other Beaut.ie-as-consumer-champion news: The Irish Times interviewed Kirstie to highlight the shocking mark ups on cosmetics in Ireland. Blixz me baby one more time indeed. We think this may be the gold standard of home manis Tom Ford Private Blend... Similar posts

The Irish Blog Awards passed (away) in a flash this year. This may have been because being local this time I wasn’t a resident and up all night. Or it might have been the rum. Or it might have been all the stairs. Anyway, it was fantastic craic, squinting in the dark in the hope of recognising the person you were talking to by a half remembered Twitter avatar until they see that vacant look in your eyes and introduce themselves. Culch.ie won Best Pop Culture Blog, and as a contributor I was entitled to hold the trophy for 15 seconds. I met Manuel The Waiter finally, and went on a wild goose chase looking for Alan Maloney for Sweary, which was actually fun because it was an excuse to chat to almost everyone there (about 350). Anyway, Alan wasn’t even there so next year... Similar posts

It's not the winning, it's the taking... Similar posts

Exactly what it says on the... Similar posts

 Many thanks to snapper du soir Rymus for the pic.A whole lot of Irish blogs have been celebrating, dissecting, bitching about and bitching about the Irish Blog Awards, held on Saturday last in Galway. Very nearly didn't happen, as the CPSU had staged a drunken sit-in in the spartan Marxist surroundings of the Radisson Blu the night before, but once the funeral march for The Death of Irish Blogging™ began there was no stopping the bloggernaut.Every year the event gets bigger and more commercially relevant, as a glance at the sponsor list will confirm. Heads like WHPR, Microsoft Ireland, Bord Bia, Lastminute.com and twice as many more get involved just to rub shoulders with a bunch of bedroom-dwelling dweebs, of course. Not for the fact that the world of Irish bloggers is just... Similar posts

The Irish Blog Awards were held last Saturday in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Galway. The overall winner of the evening was “Beaut.ie” which won the best Irish blog 2010 award and also scooped the best beauty/fashion blog prize. Other winners on the night included Mick Fealty, who was awarded the best political blog prize for “Slugger O Toole” and Suzie Bryne, who won the best news/current affairs award for the second year running for her well regarded blog “Maman Poulet”. No stranger to the Irish Blog Awards, Niall Byrne won the best music blog for the fourth consecutive year for “Nialler 9” while Tommy Collison a 15-year-old schoolboy from Limerick was awarded the best youth blog after winner the best newcomer award in 2009. Other winners on the night included Irish Times... Similar posts

Irish Blog Awards 2010 What a pile of bullshit! Who do they think they are? It’s a total fucking joke. I bet it’s cos he knows yer man and she is from the same county as that other guy. Who the fuck is Nialler9 anyway? How can a blog be about fashion and stuff? Galway is corrupt. It’s the end of the world as we know it. Sorry, just wanted to belatedly join in all the bitching. As you’d expect in this silly little country of ours, there are plenty of people whinging and moaning about the results of Saturday’s awards. There’s always a few who will find something to complain about. I think that’s all a bit embarrassingly petty though when everyone enjoyed a great night in Galway where we were treated to a fun and lively awards ceremony that was put... Similar posts

Image via Wikipedia I’m coming late to the Annual Irish Blog Awards Post Mortem Car Crash, but there are a number of basic points. (1) there is a process but no one knows what it is, it’s the Coke secret formula and KFC magic recipe. (2) any criticism of the process or awards winners draws the wrath of the clique down upon you. The questions that anyone would ask about a winner is what ‘Besty’ quality did they have that made it the best? How might a blog seek to be ‘best’ next year or is that trying too hard disqualifies? What made it best? If it is simply to be taken on trust that some judges, somewhere, somehow made this decision then I think that’s a worthless process no better than the one used to select popes. “We thought he was... Similar posts

While Aphrodite was busy being kneaded and pummelled (in a good way, like) at the G Hotel’s spa on Saturday afternoon, I took myself off to Galway city centre for some Blog Awards prep of a different sort. For the night that was in it, I thought I  might as well go all out and get the slap applied by a pro. So it was off to Blush Make-Up Boutique where I put myself in the hands of owner and make-up artist Elaine Flaherty. As a bit of a control freak and a virgin where letting having a professional put on my make-up was concerned, I was actually pretty nervous about the whole operation. I calmed down a bit when I told Elaine what I’d be wearing (stripy dress, red heels) and she didn’t suggest scarlet lipstick. Instead, she recommended playing up the eyes with a retro... Similar posts

So back from Galway after having a great weekend at the Irish Blog Awards for 2010. My camera did not get much use at all unlike previous years, this year I decided to talk to people rather then intimidate them with a camera. Many thanks as always to Damien Mulley and his team of volunteers for putting the event together and hope to see you all again next year and finally congratulations to all the winners.... Similar posts

I was quite literally speechless on Saturday night when I heard I was a joint winner for Best Technology Blog at the Irish Blog Awards. I grabbed the fantastic Made In Hollywood “winner” tombstone (celebrating the death of blogging of course) as I was happier to prance away with that and let 3 time nominee, first time winner, Pat Phelan take the trophy home - a really well deserved winner. Though admittedly I’m looking forward to my own trophy making it’s way home. In the past year my blog has transitioned from being considered a personal blog to a technology blog, but honestly I don’t think I could ever really separate the two. Since a really young age technology has been an integral part of my daily life and this blog has been my outlet for my passion for... Similar posts

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I am going to be on The Afternoon Show today on RTE 1 @ 4.00pm.  I'm going to be cooking two dessert recipes which are suitable for people with diabeties.  Tune in, may award may make an appearance! :)... Similar posts

SATURDAY took myself and a few hundred bloggers on a journey across the country to Galway or the fifth annual Irish Blog Awards. We had the motorway up, the scenic route home and in between had a fantastic evening / night / morning in the Radisson Blu in the centre of Galway, the shindig organised by some mighty fine people, assisted by other allstars, and attended by bloggers from all walks of life (more on that below). I’ve made it to the awards the last four years, enjoyed two great years of it in Dublin, last year in Cork and this year in Galway. Shows like this take a hell of a lot of ingredients, time, money, the patience of saints, sponsors, promotors, advertisers, volunteers and more. Behind the scenes there’s an army of people making contributions from writing up the... Similar posts

It is before noon, a bright Saturday morning in March. A man who should have known better to embark on a long drive without making a final slash the last thing he did before he left the house pulls off the motorway and into Kinnegad. He parks the car in front of a pub on the main street, expecting to walk into a quiet place, perhaps having to buy a coffee or a coke to be able to use the toilets. He pushes open the door and is greeted by raucous noise, a table of about 12-15 men are skulling pints and are not so much drunk as beyond drunk. They have that aura of booze surrounding them. The man goes to the bathroom and finds another man in there. He is staggering back from the urinal trying to complete the ever-tricky task of putting his cock back in his pants. “Howya”, says... Similar posts

The Irish Blog Awards took place last Saturday in Galway. HRinI was a finalist for the best news/current affairs blog sponsored by Dediserve. The prize in that category rightly went to Maman Poulet, run by the irrepressible Suzy Byrne. We were ably represented by Liam Thornton on the night. The IBAs were started by Damien Mulley fadó fadó (in internet time at least) and have grown from a relatively small gathering to a large and very fun annual event with numerous side events and the inevitable morning-after brunches. It is, as an event, a real example of how online activity can translate into meaningful off-life interactions and events. It is also an enormous undertaking organisationally for which Damien and the whole team deserve a great deal of gratitude. I was pleased this year to... Similar posts