Ivan Stojanovic

Winners:
Proinsias De Rossa
Joe Higgins
Gay Mitchell

Losers:
Eibhlin Byrne
Déirdre De Búrca
Mary Lou Mc Donald
Patricia McKenna
Eoin Ryan
Caroline Simons

The Good:
I guess the ‘n/a’ would be the best description of Carolines campaign online. There simply is none of it.

The Bad:

Well there is nothing really online…
The lack of it.

Conclusion: This is the only candidate in Dublin in the EU Election 2009 with not even a web site.

About Caroline Simons?
Well there is nothing really online…

The Good:
Twitter – 699 Following, 551 Followers
Blog – 25ish blog posts (all in last 20 days)
Home Page – available in English and Polish
Facebook 221 supporters
The Bad:
Home Page – available in English and Polish… How about Irish?
Conclusion:
Good Twitter, and average Facebook. Good effort with the blog, but all only in the last 30 days. The social media should be used during all the year – every year, not just 30 days before the election. It would have far more reach and effect if the activity would have been spread, as opposed the splash in the last month before the election. Perhaps the lesson here should be – start your online marketing on the day you get into the office, not a month before you (potentially) are leaving it.

About Eoin from his own site:

Eoin Ryan MEP has been serving the people of Dublin in various capacities for the last twenty years. First elected to Dublin City Council in 1985, he was appointed to the Seanad in 1989 and was first elected to the Dail in 1992. He served as Minister of State with responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy from 2000 to 2002. He was elected MEP for Dublin in the European elections in June 2004.

Eoin comes from a long tradition of public service. His late father, also Eoin Ryan, was a Senator for over thirty years and a senior figure in Fianna Fáil. His grandfather, Dr Jim Ryan, was one of the founding fathers of the State and represented the people of Wexford in the Dáil until 1968. Over a long and distinguished career, he served in various ministries including Minister for Agricultural Affairs and as Minister for Finance.

Over the last twenty years, Eoin has built upon that family record of public service:

As a member of Dublin Corporation, he promoted housing improvement schemes, particularly in the inner city. As a member of the Oireachtas, he focused on issues that matter to Dubliners, especially jobs and crime.
As Minister of State, he designed and implemented the largest investment plan in our history to combat the scourge of drugs in the most marginalized areas of the city and country as a whole.

Now, he serves his city in the European Parliament where he is a Member of the Economic and Monetary Affairs Committee (ECON), the Development Committee and the Petitions Committee. He is also a Member of the Delegation for relations with India.

The Good:
A good looking WorPress web site. YouTube vide used on the site as well.
The Bad:
One way communication from Gay from his web site. No comments, no forum. It gives a strong impression of Gay distancing himself from his voters, and not really interested in hearing anything back at all.
Conclusion:

About Gay from his own web site:

Gay Mitchell was elected as a Member of the European Parliament for the Dublin constituency on 11 June 2004.

Gay is a full member of both the Development Committee, and the Committee on Economic and Monetary Affairs. He is also Vice-Chairman of the EU delegation to the ACP (African Caribbean Pacific) – EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly. He is a substitute member of the delegation for relations with the People’s Republic of China.

First elected to the Dáil in 1981, Gay was Minister of State at the Department of the Taoiseach and the Department of Foreign Affairs with special responsibility for European Affairs (and preparation for the IGC in 1996), Local Development and the International Financial Services Centre from 1994 – 1997. He was the Irish Representative on the Reflection Group which prepared the Amsterdam Treaty.

He served for the second time as Fine Gael Front Bench Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs, June 2002 to October 2004. He was Chairman of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on European Affairs from July 2002 to October 2004 and was also Chairman of its sub-committee on EU Legislative Scrutiny. President-in-office COSAC (Committee of European Affairs of all EU Member States and the European Parliament) January – July 2004.
He was previously the Fine Gael spokesperson on Health 2000 – 2002, Foreign Affairs 1997 to June 2000, Justice 1993-1994, Public Service and Constitutional Reform 1991-1992, Tourism and Transport 1989-1991, European Integration 1988-1989, Urban Renewal 1987-1988 and Health Board Reform 1981-1982.

Gay was Chairman of the Dáil Committee of Public Accounts from 1987-1993, Vice-Chairman of the Select Committee on Crime, Lawlessness and Vandalism, 1982-1987 and Chairman of the Finance Committee of Dublin City Council 1979-1984. He was a Dublin City Councillor for 20 years (1979 -1995 and 1999 – 2003) and was Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1992/1993. He was founder and President Dublin International Sports Council (1992-1994), and also founder of the Dublin International IMPAC Literary Award.

Gay was Fine Gael’s National Campaign Director in 1987 for the Single European Act Referendum, in 1992 for the Maastricht Treaty Referendum, and in 1998 for the Amterdam Treaty Referendum.

He was a member of the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee 1979-1985, Chairman College of Commerce, Rathmines 1979-1984. He is a former member of the board of Our Lady’s Hospital for Sick Children, Crumlin.

The Good:
Facebook
Email and mobile published on the web site.

The Bad:
THe web site reads – ‘Contact Us’. It should be more personal. I don’t really want to contact ‘Them’ but a ‘person’.

Conclusion: Online presence is actaulally just one quite ‘static’ and non-interactive web site. And a Facebook Profile that is an hours worth of effort.

A Personal Message from Patricia

If elected to the European Parliament, I pledge to continue my campaign and the campaign of so many grass roots movements in Ireland and in other EU member states for a more democratic, open and transparent EU. I will work with all those citizen groups who, in the face of huge political, media and establishment machines, are campaigning with little or no resources to achieve a better EU. An EU where social justice, sustainable development, human rights, peace and disarmament take centre stage. An EU where people have a say in the decision-making process and where those politicians and bureaucrats who are making decisions on our behalf will be held accountable. The future direction of the EU must have the consent of the majority of the citizens of the member states and must be based on the principle of democracy and accountability.

The strain put on governments by the current economic crisis is being used to introduce policies that will have devastating consequences for the majority of people. The super-rich will be the least affected, despite being the ones to benefit from the economic boom. The economic policies pursued until now have been unsustainable and have been responsible not only for our global environmental problems but also for our social problems. We need a new approach that puts people and the environment first.

If the European Union is to have the support and confidence of ordinary people, then it must be made more democratic. For years we have heard the phrase “tackling the Democratic Deficit” – EU speak for the fact that the EU is not democratic – but we have yet to see any clear evidence that democracy is being introduced. The recent referenda on the EU Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty are testament to this fact. Political leaders openly admitted that they would not let their people vote on this, because they could not be guaranteed to get the answer they wanted. Those lucky enough to have a say were ignored when the did cast their vote. The Lisbon Treaty decides the future direction of the EU and all citizens should have a say in this.

People need a voice independent of the Government and political parties to push on their behalf for the things that really matter to them. If elected I pledge to do exactly that. I have the experience and the track record to prove it. Summaries of some of the main issues I will highlight during this campaign can be found here.

The Good:
… Picture?
The Bad:
Zero Online Activity
Conclusion:
Mary Lou McDonald is not using online media in her campaign. In fact there is only one page about her really, and this is the text from it:

Mary Lou McDonald is a member of the Sinn Féin Ard Chomhairle and MEP for Dublin.

She is married to Martin Lanigan and they have a baby daughter. Educated in Trinity College, Dublin, the University of Limerick and Dublin City University Mary Lou has studied English Literature, European Integration Studies and Human Resource Management.

She previously worked as a consultant for the Irish Productivity Centre, a researcher for the Institute of European Affairs and a trainer in the trade union sponsored Partnership Unit of the Educational and Training Services Trust. She previously worked for the party in co-ordinating the work of Sinn Féin elected representatives across the island.

From: http://www.sinnfein.ie/euteam/candidate/mcdonald

The Good: Personal Web site joehiggins.eu
Twitter statistics: Following 244, Followers 163
Blog- With posts since January 2009!
Facebook
YouTube
Flickr
Bebo
MySpace

The Bad:
No LinkedIN Profile.

Conclusion:
The Blog might not be nice, but it’s certainly a work of a professional blogger. The sheer amount of social networks accounts is again a sign of a professional on duty here. The Social Bookmarking plugin for WordPress is a clear give away! Well done! But it could be nice in the same time, couldn’t it?

From Joes web site about himself:

Joe Higgins is a long time activist in the labour and trade union movement. Elected to Dublin County Council in 1991, he was a leading fighter against corrupt land rezoning in Dublin and for planning in the interests of communities rather than for speculators and major developers.

Joe Higgins was the Chair of the Federation of Dublin Anti Water Charges Campaign which won massive support and forced the Fine Gael/Labour Government to abolish water charges in December 1996. Minister for Social Welfare, Mary Hanafin, said last year that had abolition not happened, each household in Dublin would be currently paying €700 per year in water charges.

Joe Higgins was elected to the Dail in 1997 and for the next ten years was a leading opponent of the right wing policies of the Fianna Fail/Progressive Democrat Government. He frequently challenged the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, on a wide range of issues including land speculation and profiteering in the housing market, Government support for the invasion and occupation of Iraq and in defence of workers’ rights.

In 2003 Joe Higgins was sent to Mountjoy Jail for a month over his opposition to Bin Tax, a new stealth tax on Dublin householders.

In 2005, with the Socialist Party, he exposed the horrific abuse of migrant workers by Gama Construction and struck a major blow against the ‘race to the bottom’ when that company was forced to pay unpaid wages of around €30million to its workers. (See Documentary “The GAMA Strike” here)

Joe Higgins was a key Leader of the opposition to the Lisbon Treaty last year because it would facilitate further privatisation of crucial services like Health, push the militarisation of the EU, increase arms spending and institutionalise the right of bad employers to attack agreed wages and conditions for entire industries.

The Good: Personal Web site derossa.com
Twitter statistics: Following 18, Followers 58
Blog exists
Facebook

The Bad:
No LinkedIN Profile
Flickr – just links to Labour Party Flickr account.
The blog is actaully just a page called a ‘Blog’. It is not a reall blog actaully at all.

Conclusion:
Some elements of an online campaign exist. Like Facebook account and Twitter. Even something called a ‘Blog’ is there. But all of those elements are kind of ‘half hearted’ attempts. The Blog is not really a blog. Twitter account has minimal visibility and is just made of tweets like: ‘read my statement on …’, as opposed to the real twitter discussions. There is a feeling that the online pre election marketing campaign is done on a minimal budget, without any input from an expert in any of the relevant online marketing fields.

From Proinsias De Rossa on his web site:

Europe’s task is to provide solutions for ordinary people. It must offer answers for those
• Young and old whose wages and jobs and homes are under pressure

• Whose savings and pensions are exposed to the market meltdown

• Whose essential services from healthcare to childcare are the first to be cut

• Who are deeply worried about their future and that of their children

As we face into this recession, I believe Europe – a revitalised Union of Member States, committed to cooperating to solve problems – is more important than ever.

It is clearer now than it has been for a long time that Labour, and our Socialist colleagues in Europe, is correct when we say we must have an economy that serves society, a social market economy. For 15 years politics at European level has been dominated by doctrinaire conservative economics and politics. But it does not have to be like that. We can re-launch the European project to achieve fairness at home and in the world at large. In Ireland that means voting for the Labour party – at Council level, for the Dail and for the European Parliament.

The last time there was a global economic crisis of this magnitude was in the 1930s. Then, like now, it was ordinary people who suffered – whose homes, livelihoods and futures were on the line, even though it was not of their doing. That experience, followed by a world war, taught millions of Europeans that we can only prevent these problems by working together at the European level. And that realisation, in turn, gave rise to the European Union. The doctrinaire conservatives, Thatcher, Reagan, Bush etc, fought back and we have had in more recent years a return to a dog eat dog economics, and we all can see where this has led.

We can turn this crisis around providing that Ireland and the other European states co-ordinate our policy responses, ensuring that as many people as possible can hold onto their jobs, homes, decent incomes and pensions, while providing adequate support for those who are thrown out of work or lose pensions. This is also the occasion to put in place sufficient regulation so that citizens are never again left to the greed of the bankers and speculators.

Our task now is not only to rebuild our economy. We must also rebuild our community based on fairness and solidarity. In Ireland that requires investing in social and in physical infrastructure. It requires investing in people, and above all investing in our children, their care and their education, guaranteeing their future, not destroying it.

This is the approach I have taken in the European parliament up to now and which I hope to continue in the next parliament with your support.

Proinsias De rossa MEP
Labour party/Socialist group

The Good: Personal Web site eibhlinbyrne.eu
Twitter account existsBlog – 11 updates allready (all in latest 30 days).
Facebook

The Bad: Twitter statistics: Following 10, Followers 0
No LinkedIN Profile.

Conclusion: Eibhlin Byrne communicates online to you (not with you). There is no email or contact form to ask or say anything. There is a list of questions not responded to on . Eibhlin Byrne does not engage in communication with you. She just ‘talks down at you’. The Blog does not adhere to the standards of the social media. It is set up as a one way communication channel, and as such will have ‘0 Effectiveness’ online.

A Message from Eibhlin Byrne (from her own web site): Hi there and thanks for visiting this website. As you know I am Eibhlin Byrne, the current Lord Mayor of Dublin. I’m married to Ken and we have three daughters, Clare, Lisa and Aisling. We’re all living in the Mansion House, complete with Sam our three-year-old bulldog. I’ve been a Dublin City Councillor for the past seven years representing the Clontarf Ward which includes Dollymount, Marino, Fairview, Donnycarney, Beaumont and of course Clontarf itself. On the City Council I’ve been a member of the Special Committee on Housing and Community Affairs. I have a special passion for challenging the problem of homelessness in Dublin.I’ve also been a member of the Dublin Regional Authority, the Lord Mayor’s Commission on Crime and the Special Committee on Dublin Bay. My full time job, prior to becoming Lord Mayor, was as senior manager for the Daughters of Charity Child and Family Services. I have responsibility for ten family centres around the city. Previously I have worked in homeless services, on international student programmes and as a teacher. I am chairperson of the Visiting Committee for Dochas and a board member of Console, a charity working with families bereaved through suicide. I have a special interest in older people’s issues having chaired the national council on ageing and older people and Dublin City Council’s Policy Group on Older people.

MY PIORITIES FOR EUROPE  BELIEVE:  Self-belief and confidence are the bedrock not alone of economic growth, but of healthy communities. And it is our own belief in ourselves that will get us through the hard times ahead. Right now, the Dublin city-region and all of Ireland, stands at a cross-roads. We need collectively to decide whether we are all about to disappear into an abyss of poverty, handouts and economic meltdown or whether, working together, we can negotiate our way through the most turbulent and challenging period in living history. Whilst jobs and the economy are rightly uppermost in many people’s minds, we need and can build, better healthier communities, where we deploy people’s time and energies in helping the needy, be they children, homeless, unemployed, people with addictions or the elderly. The Celtic Tiger for many was a time of plenty, but now we face the challenge of adjusting to a better, more balanced distribution of wealth. This very week we can see the contrasting effects on our collective psyche of; ·        sporting success, be it in a young little-known amateur golfer beating the cream of European professionals and winning the Irish Open or in Leinster being crowned as the kings of European rugby, or ·        communal shame that we allowed so many innocent children to suffer in cruel institutions that harbored criminals Just like charity begins at home, so the first step on the road to recovery begins with each and every one of us. We need to trust that collectively, we can overcome the challenges that everyone is facing. We need political leaders whose values are grounded in the community, who can counter the unending and destructive onslaught of negativity. To get Dublin back to work, we need to work back to back, both at home and in Europe.  We need to believe in ourselves.  

CHANGE:  If we always do what we’ve always done, we will always get what we’ve always got. So it is up to each and every one of us to adapt and to make the changes that will inevitably impact on our lives.  In these times of crisis, the opportunities to achieve change – be it in attitudes, in political structures, in harnessing people’s willingness to contribute to a better balanced society- are actually enhanced. Having worked as a community activist for many years, labored in local politics for six years and having been privileged to serve as Lord Mayor of Dublin, I can see clearly the need for change at local, national and European level. We need to address the obvious disillusionment, apathy and hostility that now pervades in many parts of Ireland towards politics and politicians. People are understandably fearful and angry. We need to accept that anger and turn it into positive energy to facilitate change. We need to listen to people and to address their fears, for their livelihoods, for their families and for their future welfare. My interest in representing you in Europe is based on my belief that we, as committed Europeans, can learn from and contribute to a better, evolving and exciting European Union, where Ireland is a proactive leader and is perceived as a positive force to achieve real, sustainable change. We need to change what’s wrong.

DELIVER: People are justifiably tired of hollow aspirations and broken promises. Politicians and those in the sheltered public sector have to accept responsibility and accountability for their actions – or lack of actions. At European level, people need to believe that a stronger unified Europe will work and will deliver a better future to the 500 million individuals who make up an enlarged Union. In the Dublin city region we have to deliver the infrastructure that will allow us to compete with the other great cities in attracting mobile investment. We have to capitalize on the assets we have in our five third-level institutions, our young educated workforce, the high-level management skills we have gained with multinationals and fifty years of experience at the forefront of delivering what global investors require. We have to work hard to build a world beating, smart economy, enabling Irish entrepreneurs to thrive alongside leading global players  We need to deliver a brighter future, built on optimism and hope.

European Elections are in 10 days. Lets see how are the Candidates for Dublin Constituency dooing online?