Eamon Ryan bullshits on Newstalk while Karlin turns into DCMNR apologist

Download the mp3 of it here.

What really surprised me is how Karlin Lillington is now the biggest apologist for Eamon Ryan’s Department while Ryan is now using tried and tested DCMNR lies, not excuses but pure lies. Lies such as:

90% coverage.
Cable networks.
Late start.
Catching up.
Geography.
Triple play.
A “settling down regulator”.
Cow-towing and excuse generating for low speeds.

I really can’t believe Karlin Lillington took up the whole “demand issue” crap as well. Stop fucking saying there’s 90% coverage. WE DO NOT HAVE 90%. It is not a demand issue or some god damn “unknown” issue we can’t see. The stats are fine, stop suggesting changing the rules so Eamon can look good. Saying we’re not that expensive for broadband when the only option is to rent a phoneline to get broadband is is expensive when you pay the most expensive line rental on the planet.

This is altogether shocking behaviour from someone I had respect for.

Update: Karlin has responded though does not directly address this post.

13 Responses to “Eamon Ryan bullshits on Newstalk while Karlin turns into DCMNR apologist”

  1. Evert says:

    Damien,

    Mind the blood pressure 😉
    While I haven’t heard the interview I can make a fairly educated guess of what was said.
    The current (and previous) government has no understanding of broadband in general, the applications for it and the economic, social & demographic benefits it can have.
    They look at the figures given to them by the same people that have been compiling these stats for years. As you are well aware statistics can be manipulated to suit any purpose needed. The availability of broadband in this country is far below par, period. The right investment in infra-structure technologies will pay itself back ten-fold. However there is no point in waiting for the public sector to do this. The initiative (if there ever is one) will have to come from the private sector…

    E.

  2. And whatever happenned to Ennis being the most techno-friendly town in Ireland? I read recently that it now has the lowest PC per houshold rating in the country, and no broadband to speak of..

    And I’m on O2 broadband since last week….with download speeds of up to 24Kbps!!! Thank you O2. Thank you so much.

    You bastards. 3.6Mb my hole.

  3. Evert says:

    Did they really call Ennis “the most techno-friendly town”?!
    The only techno in Ennis is played at 1500bpm…

    E.

  4. Mark Waters says:

    I tuned out of the interview when I heard Ryan say something like “we have 90% coverage but within that 90% area there are some places that you can’t get broadband”. Then I knew it was a case of meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

    It seems Ennis was the victim of a cheap marketing campaign by eircom.

  5. Twenty Major says:

    I listened to that actually.

    “We were hoping to have speeds of 5 or 6mb by now!”, he says.

    Good for you. While the rest of the civilised world is offering 20mb packages for sweet fuck all we get bent over and ridden time and time again.

  6. Ennis was a Potemkin Village designed to cover up the pathetic TE/eircom management and non-existent rollout of broadband.

    Instead of whinging about the injustice of it all Damien, why don’t you ask the Minister and Karlin why they said what they said and then write about it in the Sunday Tribune. After all you are a technology journalist too. 🙂

  7. Damien says:

    John, as the self proclaimed only proper technology journalist in the country and someone who achieved worldwide fame for five seconds about a decade ago, I think you would be the better person to do something on this for your publication. Show me and all the other people you claim to be clueless press release recyclers how it should be done. Make us proud John, make us proud.

  8. That’s where you are wrong Damien. I never called myself a technology journalist. And the fame that I apparently achieved was for writing about technology rather than merely having a sequence of hissy fits.

    You are the one with an op-ed column in the Sunday Tribune. You have more knowledge of this particular topic than others and could ask the right questions. So why don’t you act like a journalist, ask them and write about it?

    Has the lack of broadband ceased to be of concern? Or are you just a token blogger given a newspaper column designed purely to bolster falling reader figures?

  9. Evert says:

    Fight, fight!!

    E.

  10. tenner on the Mullenator.

    I;ve never heard of this other chump.

  11. Damien says:

    So you won’t take up my challenge and show us all how to be a proper journalist? Ah go on John, you’ve spent the past ten years skulking around on mailing lists pointing out all the flaws of Irish Journalists, come on, money where your mouth is time, accept your own dare and write that article. C’mon John. Write it. Get on to Ryan and Karlin. You might even win an award that you’d be proud to accept. If you want help getting it into a mainstream publication, give me a shout, though I think your own online publication is just as good.

  12. Damien,
    I don’t generally write for mainstream publications – the only thing I deal with now is the domain name industry. I’ve long since given up technical journalism and I don’t teach tech journalism.

    As for pointing out the flaws of Irish technology journalists, it just came down to two things: they had a lack of indepth technical knowledge and they took the easy route of just recycling press releases. They were just adjuncts of the public relations industry. Some have given up the pretence of being journalists and joined public relations firms.

    You spent the last few years running Ireland Offline. That would have given you an insight into the market and the issues. You seem to know more about it than the Minister and Karlin. So why don’t you write about it? Or are you just the token blogger bought in for credibility?

    So why don’t you want to write about a topic on which you obviously have some expertise? After all, you have your op-ed column in the Sunday Tribune and you have the bones of a good article.

    As for awards, there is only one award for real journalism – readership. That is the only true validation of the craft.

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