Interesting to see Newstalk adopt a Liveblog-esque mish-mash of streaming video from Oireachtas.ie, in-widget Facebook statusing and Twitter updates all collected in one spot. Not sure about the size of the widget but it’s nice to see it. They are even using the hashtag #budget10!

Just hope they change the livestream to the Dáil because the Seanad isn’t due to speak on the Budget until Thursday afternoon!

We’re liveblogging Budget 2010 with Irish Election, Irish Economy, Suzy Byrne and loads of other political animals.

If you’re a Twitterer, you can marked your tweets with the hashtag ‘#budget10′ to join in. If you’d rather interact via the Liveblog – you can comment in the frame below or go to the ScribbleLive page of the Liveblog. Enjoy!

(If you are reading this in a feed reader, do click through and open the blog post in a page to see the liveblog frame.)

Business before the Seanad Chamber included the Foreshoring and Dumping at Sea (Amendment) Bill 2009 and the Criminal Procedure Bill 2009.

Interesting press release from Fianna Fáil Towers this lunchtime on how Senator Cecilia Keaveney drew Vodafone’s attention to their divisive welcome message when crossing the border from Northern Ireland to the Republic.

Currently when people on the Vodafone UK network cross over the border from the North into the Republic they automatically receive a message from Vodafone which reads: ‘Welcome to IRELAND. Calls cost up to…’.
 
“My attention was brought to this message from Vodafone by a number of people because they were offended.  They felt that they had never left Ireland,” Senator Keaveney said.
 
“I spoke with representatives of the company who said that they were obliged to include the country name when roaming was taking place. However, when I enquired with the Department of Communications, the only stipulation I found was that when jurisdictions are changed the roaming cost must be notified to the customer.”
 
“Having returned to Vodafone on the matter I have now been informed that they have: been in discussions with colleagues in Vodafone UK regarding my complaint. They confirmed that it is now possible for them to update their roaming message to begin: ‘You are now roaming and costs are as follows. . . . . “.

First step in to a united Ireland? Or is the future Orange?

Basescu on the election trail

Results from the hotly contested Romanian Presidential election broke last night. The Incumbant Traian Basescu, former Mayor of Bucharest, narrowly defeated his challenge, Social Democrat leader Mircea Geoana by a mere 0.6% of the vote – 50.3% to 49.7%.

Accusations of vote fraud are jumping left, right and centre from Geoana and his party.

The IMF stepped in earlier this year to prop up the ailing Romanian economy to the tune of $30 billion. Interestingly enough, the IMF released a survey last week citing it’s influence in preventing economic meltdown and calling for political reform in Eastern Europe – Latvia and Romania were called out especially. The very narrow election win margin coupled with bitter allegations of unsound electoral practices is the last thing that the IMF wants to hear.

A closer look at the precarious position of the government shows, the dangers run much deeper. Romania’s coalition government collapsed in October under a storm of alleged plans to enact voting fraud on massive scale to influence the outcome of the Presidential election. The junior partner party in government, the Social Democrats, withdrew from government leaving Besescu’s party, the Liberal Democrats, as a minority government with a budget for next year to pass through parliament. The pressure cooker of fingers of fraud being pointed and a minority government trying to draft and agree a budget was enough for the IMF to withhold €1.5 billion out of the €20 billion financial package to the country until a new government is formed and reform is seen to be progressing.

Romania was one of the fastest growing economies in the EU before the recessionary wave. With  a healthy GDP rate of 6.2% in 2007 and an unemployment rate of 3.9% in September of that year it was one of the best positioned economies to benefit the geographic slide of multinational investment from Western European and the US. In stark contrast, the World Economic Forecasts estimates the country’s GDP numbers to be in the region of -8.5% this year and a flat 0.5% in 2010.

Jobless numbers are also on the rise. October’s unemployment numbers stood at 7.1%, a 0.2% rise on the previous month. Eagle-eyed economists believe that those out of work will hit 8% before the year’s end. Unemployment now stands at a five-year high.

Some twenty years on from the bloody Romanian revolution, could the bite of economic woes kindle  memories of Communist entitlement?

It’s interesting to note that Romania was the only member of the Iron Curtain that executed its leader. Will the cut and thrust of the economic collapse backed by swell of public pain and political pressure force Basescu into a corner? Only time will tell.