Ivan Stojanovic

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: 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.

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