The propaganda machine is in full flow in the media – rightly the government is using all its assets to push the line it believes is correct for Ireland Inc.  The alternatives have not been well served by a blunder by Richard Bruton, the apparent lack of enthusiam from Oppostion benches for the ‘good bank’, the much publicised views of FG‘s elder statesman and acknowledged expert, Garret Fitzgerald, the timing of IMF contributions to the debate.

It’s interesting.  As consultants we are always tempted to say to the client’ trust me’.  Generally we cannot do this until we have worked with the client and proven ourselves over a number of months or years. Here is a government very well known to us – and does ‘trust us’ work?

I think the current debate in the Courts is very welcome – with two sides required to put forward their arguments in a structured and fair way.

Looking forward to seeing how this plays out – while continuing to try to filter the other propaganda from all sides.

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During those 25 years Irish people have been to the fore in international affairs – be it commerce, arts, politics, education, charity. And by Irish people I refer to the 70 million or so who make up the global Irish population – including the 5 million or so on this island.

There must be a temptation within the international community to look at us – on the island of Ireland – as having had the benefit of major inward investment and squandered it. Part of facing our challenge now is to continue to take our place on the world stage. Those of us living and operating within the island of Ireland need to continue to play our part. There is a quid pro quo for looking to the greater diaspora and to Europe for further assistance and investment – we must play our part. We cannot simply get out the begging bowl. We are an established country and we’ve made some major mistakes, much of them rooted in greed. The most recent budget was the first step in convincing the international community that we are going to address our issues. The next budget must show real conviction about getting our cost base sorted.

Dan O’Brien’s article in the Irish Times is pretty hard hitting. He questions the calibre of the people representing Ireland in international affairs. He questions the effort made by the main political parties in the run up to the first referendum and their current effort in the runup to the second referendum. It does not make for pretty reading – but is deserving of reflection.

The next few years are going to witness more largescale emigration of talent from Ireland – without a doubt. Just for now the emigration options look limited – but given the changes we are beginning to see in overseas locations those opportunities will arise again. Many young talented Irish will choose to work and live overseas – not interested in staying to pay high taxes to pay off the sins of the past. A political system which is unwilling to cut overhead to match income will not provide the economic and social opportunites for many of our young talented people. Depressing though this may be, it will happen.

So let us at least recognise that this will happen – and that we need to play our part. Let’s make an effort to make it easier for international companies and individuals to interact with us. I had recent experience of an overseas student (seond generation Irish – US based) relocating here for 1 term of his undergraduate degree. He contacted the university – they advised him to come 4 weeks early and sort out his own accomodation. Given the level of fees we charge overseas students for this privilege I think this is a simple example of what’s wrong with this country at present.

Let’s make sure that the talent that goes abroad wants to continue to be part of Ireland – although they may never actually relocate to live here again. Let’s figure out a way to have them continue to be involved in the development of this country. Some of them may never contribute to our income tax revenues – but some of them may, down the line, bring the next Dell, Intel or Boston Scientific to Ireland. I, for one, would like to have them continue to have a direct role in electing our government.

I would not underestimate the challenges faced by our political leaders at present. (Nor should they underestimate the challenges faced by those of us trying to drive the economy forward). It’s not an easy time to be striding the world stage and advising the rest of the world how to do it. Nevertheless we must have a voice, have a view and play ourt part. The future for Irish business is the world stage – building international and global businesses out of Ireland, building products and delivering services to the global business community. Our innovators and our future business leaders need Irish political leadership which participates and contributes on an international level.

The first step – ensure Lisbon success.

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Text of my advice in the case study:

BlackRun: Online for off piste

This is a typical 2009 scenario in Irish business – someone from the Facebook generation (‘gen f’) bringing ideas about social networking to the owners. The concerns are classic: fad or not, geeky or not? Simone is right – at least half BackRun’s target audience is social network friendly. So it’s a ‘no brainer’ – need to get on board. The good news: with some upfront planning this can be achieved, without swamping the team.

BlackRun needs a basic web site, optimised for search – integrated with a blog (could use software such as WordPress). Ruth & Simone need to set targets for blog posting frequency e.g. 3 times per week. Team members should be profiled in the blog and encouraged to post. Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts should be established – using auto notification of postings on the BlackRun blog. Worthwhile Twitter accounts should be identified and ‘followed’. BlackRun should aim to tweat daily – ask questions, answer queries, use hashtags. Facebook advertising should be considered.

There are great tools available to assist in managing online presence e.g. google webmaster, WordPress utilities, Tweetdeck, Nexus (Facebook). BlackRun needs to avail of these.

Finally, management should commit to measuring the effectivess of these initiatives on a weekly basis.

Barry O’Gorman consults in social networking, collaboration and semantic web.

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I have experimented with a number of steps in my office environment to address the issue – in terms of monitor, mouse, keyboard, height of screen.  And this has made a difference. However I almost need to take my office environment with me!  The benefit of the cloud to me has been that I can keep whatever I am working on somewhere in the cloud.  Therefore I can work from anywhere so long as I have internet access.  This includes using my own laptop, other PCs at home or at client sites, using a mobile device on public transport (to check mail), etc.

Obviously  not practical to bring the perfect ergonomic environment with me.  But what I must do – and try to do – is to think sensibly about the type of activity I am happy to engage in – given the particular ergonomic environment.  It’s a matter of common sense – avoid the heavy duty lifting when you don’t have the right equipment.

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However our Finance Minister has been out doing his stuff – on tour getting the Ireland message across.  Frank Millar assures us in today’s Irish Times that Lenihan has been well received and has demonstrated an indepth understanding of his brief.

I have heard plenty of objections to NAMA recently – developers, press, opposition parties.  In fact the head of the NTMA caused some concern by making it clear he does not have the resources to push forward with NAMA. Nationalisation of the banks has a great deal of logical appeal at this stage – if the State is to put in significant funding then the State should participate (proportionately) in the upside.

However the government cannot sit still – and needs to formulate and execute plans.  This feedback would at least indicate that we have someone in charge who can explain what they are trying to do – in direct confliect with much of what is reported in the dedia and suggested by opposition politicians.  I think all of this supports points previously made in this blog – there is a need for a National Agenda – preferably supported by a National Government.

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Was interested in listening to economist John Fitzgerald today.  Even if we end up putting €20bn into rescuing our banks this number will pale into significance when we look at costs associated with government spending – be that public sector or unemplyment payments.

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Would agree fully that Facebook has changed (and devalued) meaning of friends.   Much of what Fiona says rings true with me – as someone who spends a fair amount of time blogging, twittering and updating facebook.  Her comments would also be well received by many of those who are actually my friends.

Many of us set out  to use FaceBook for the personal stuff, sites such as linkedin for the business networking, with twitter and our blogs potentially reaching across both.  However, even within this, there is inevitable overlap between personal and business.  And Facebook wants the business stuff anyway!

Many people also waster a great deal of time working to update their various sites/ presences – with material which is of very little interest and/ or benefit to themselves or the reader.  There was a an excellent piece recently by Dion Hinchcliffe 12 Rules For Bringing ‘Social’ To Your Business.

I think one of the other interesting areas in all of this is bringing the various islands of social networks together.  Much of this is being pioneered out of DERI in Galway.  Projects such as SIOC spring to mind.
Comments certainly make a lot of sense.  As of now do not have all the answers.

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George Lee has been the anchor commentator for RTE on the economy and the actions taken by the government throughout the current crisis.  He now puts himself forward as a candidate for the main opposition party in the forthcoming by- election.  I think three months off – between the RTE job and being a FG candidate would be entirely appropriate.

The more I look at it the more I believe we need national government.   The government has started to prescribe the tough medicine – with a lot more to come.  We do  not need party politics at this time.  We need choices from the right and left of centre.  Time for FG/FF to be big boys and bury the hatchet.  And there should be a left of centre alternative – to be led by Labour.

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