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Censorship. Coming Soon to Your Computer, Laptop, Tablet and Smart Phone.
Contact Your Local Politicians to #SaveYourInternet from #Filternet #IIAArticle13
At its inception the goal of the world wide web (www) was to create a platform on which everyone could create and access free information from the right, the left and down the middle. When creating and uploading content, creators were encouraged to link to other publications, articles, videos and authors that influenced their opinions.
This act of linking to third party pages is the beating heart of the Internet. It creates a global web of links – a world wide web of links – that acts as a bibliography to add gravitas to the work of the content creator while simultaneously putting the ability and option to learn more at the fingertips of the content consumer.
This summer Irish MEPs were tasked with voting on behalf of the people of Ireland in favour of or against a change to European copyright and libel law known as Article 13. Despite the volume of information extensively available to them, both online and through direct human contact, many Irish MEPs arrived in Brussels ill-informed. They were completely unaware, or turning a blind eye, to the fact that Article 13 is pro censorship and would signal the Death Knell for the world wide web.
Uncategorized
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MEP | Phone | EU Profile Page | How Voted | ||
Lynn Boylan | (01) 873 6554 | lynn.boylan@ep.europa.eu | EU Page | @NChildersMEP | No Show |
Nessa Childers | (01) 296 2263 | nessa.childers@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@NChildersMEP |
Team
Freedom
|
Brian Hayes | (01) 209 6548 | brian.hayes@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@brianhayesMEP |
Team
Censorship
|
Matt Carthy | (042) 967
4001 |
matt.carthy@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@mattcarthy |
Team
Censorship
|
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan | (094) 962 2710 | lukeming.flanagan@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@lukeming |
Team
Freedom |
Marian Harkin | (071) 914
5890 |
marian.harkin@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@MarianHarkin |
Team
Censorship |
Mairead McGuinness | (041) 685 4633 | mairead.mcguinness@ep.europa.eu | EU Page |
@MaireadMcGMEP |
Team
Censorship |
Pending Legal and Data Governance
Article 13 – Censorship. Coming Soon to Your Computer, Laptop, Tablet and Smart Phone
Censorship. Coming Soon to Your Computer, Laptop, Tablet and Smart Phone.
Contact Your Local Politicians to #SaveYourInternet from #Filternet #IIAArticle13
At its inception the goal of the world wide web (www) was to create a platform on which everyone could create and access free information from the right, the left and down the middle. When creating and uploading content, creators were encouraged to link to other publications, articles, videos and authors that influenced their opinions.
This act of linking to third party pages is the beating heart of the Internet. It creates a global web of links – a world wide web of links – that acts as a bibliography to add gravitas to the work of the content creator while simultaneously putting the ability and option to learn more at the fingertips of the content consumer.
This summer Irish MEPs were tasked with voting on behalf of the people of Ireland in favour of or against a change to European copyright and libel law known as Article 13. Despite the volume of information extensively available to them, both online and through direct human contact, many Irish MEPs arrived in Brussels ill-informed. They were completely unaware, or turning a blind eye, to the fact that Article 13 is pro censorship and would signal the Death Knell for the world wide web.
On July 5th 2018 Irish MEPs voted overwhelmingly in favour of censorship in Ireland and by consequence Europe and the rest of the world.
“Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.”
― T.S. Eliot
Article 13 started out with good intentions and it retains some positive features including the ability of the content creators to now control their own content. A good example is the musician who streams music all over the Internet in the hope of attracting fans, producers and record labels. Spotify is worth an estimated $36B and YouTube an estimated $160B. If the musician is still an unknown artist, he is not earning any real income via the streaming platforms. “According to a 2017 report in Mixmag, for every 1,000 plays, an unsigned artist can earn $US6.40 on Apple Music, $US3.80 on Spotify…$US0.60 from YouTube. Signed artists do better, earning $US7.30 (Apple), $US4.40 (Spotify) and $US0.70 (YouTube)”, TheBigSmoke.Com.Au. In an interview with Digital Music News, DJ Gareth Emery stated that despite millions of online streams each month, he receives a cheque for just a few thousand pounds per month, sometimes paid more than a year later. This amounts to less than 1% of his annual income despite the exposure. In 2015 IMRO reported that there are more than 13,000 people employed in the Irish music industry. That same year Steve Wall received royalty payments of just £0.97 for 300 streams of The Stunning’s 1989 hit “Brewing Up a Storm”. IMRO has called for YouTube and all streaming services to remunerate artists adequately (IrishTimes.com).
Article 13 intended to reinforce ownership of content that would financially reward the creator and encourage innovation. It has not been fully thought through or it has been corrupted during its evolution. Under Article 13, corporate business continue to make money from content creators who will continue to earn nothing from their creations but content creators will now work under the constant threat of litigation as corporations can now exploit the new copyright laws Europe-wide.
To some extent Article 13 was reported on in the media – from a technical and/or legal perspective that would engage a limited audience. Article 13 has not gained mass traction because no media outlets failed to explain the potential total breakdown of how the Internet will function.
Irish Politicians Voted to Kill Innovation and Impose Censorship
The countries in which MEPs took the time to read the fine print and keep abreast of changes to Article 13, voted in favour of free speech including Germany (50% against with a generous no-show percentage), Netherlands (73%), Austria (72.22%), Sweden (90%), Poland (52.94%) and Estonia (66.67%) (SaveYourInternet.eu).
I believe an informed and engaged country will register a vote at 65 – 70% against Article 13.
As Europe’s most peripheral country, Ireland is hugely dependent on exporting goods and services to secure an income. In order to achieve this we need to communicate with existing and prospective customers in all four corners of the globe. The Internet – websites, blogs, vlogs, streaming, photo sharing – is a large part of how this communication occurs.
We’re a country famed for our gift of the gab but Irish MEPs decided that Ireland should zip the lip when they voted 63.64% in favour of and 18.18% against Article 13 while a further 18.18% were absent from Parliament on July 5th 2018 (SaveYourInternet.eu).
Other Team Censorship countries include United Kingdom (52.05%), France (67.57%), Spain (62.96%), Portugal (61%) and Italy (46.58%) to name a few. All Team Censorship countries have something else in common: an unacceptably high no-show/abstention rate on voting day. In the case of Ireland, there were as many ‘not present’ MEPs as ‘Team Freedom’ MEPs on voting day.
You can find a detailed breakdown of how each country’s MEPs voted on Article 13. Click to see which Irish Ministers of European Parliament are members of Team Censorship.
‘Red’ supported Article 13 (Team Censorship)
‘Green’ voted down the Bill (Team Freedom)
‘Purple’ represents those who Abstained
‘Grey’ identifies those who were Not Present
Throughout the summer of 2018 I personally contacted numerous politicians and not one of them returned my emails or calls. They simply had no interest in learning how Article 13 in it current guise would impact on the professional and private people of Ireland. Furthermore, in October 2017 more than 50 NGOs wrote an open letter to the European Parliament in which they asked MEPs to delete Article 13 as it “would violate the freedom of expression set out in (…) the Charter of Fundamental Rights” and “provoke such legal uncertainty that online services will have no option other option than to monitor, filter and block EU citizens’ communications” (SaveYourInternet.eu).
The Face of 21st Century Censorship
In writing this article I have complied with Internet etiquette and my blog is peppered with names and links to third-party websites. When Article 13 soon comes into force I will be required to secure written consent from all third parties before creating links. A time consuming task, this will slow down the speed at which people operate online and by the time content creators have secured permission, the topic could be yesterday’s news.
Under Article 13, if I choose to publish my article, without written permission to feature names and links, I run the legal gauntlet. To illustrate this point, I might link to a news outlet with, for example, an extreme view. There’s a possibility Google and social media platforms will use the browser history of this newspaper’s readers to show those readers a snippet of my article. Those readers may choose to read more. My opinion piece may influence how one, some or all of those readers think and because my article will contain links to other third party websites, the readers may start to engage with those publications and opinions. Under Article 13 the newspaper can sue me for loss of earnings arguing that its ability to generate an income from those readers has been compromised because those readers are now better educated and no longer staunchly loyal to that particular newspaper.
Like millions of ordinary people out there, I want to compete in the world to make my mark and earn an income to support my family. I run an SME and I am therefore unable to take on the financial and personnel stamina of large and mega corporates that can tie me up in litigation for years. My bank account lacks the hundreds of millions of Euro required to defend and secure my right to free speech.
Who Creates Content?
Every child, teenager and adult who posts anything on the Internet is a content creator. This includes when you:
- Share a photo on Instagram
- Publish a blog on a website
- Post an article on LinkedIn
- Share your opinion on Facebook
- Upload a video to YouTube
- Live stream and/or remix music on iTunes
- Discuss a product in a chat room
- Comment on a newspaper article
- Share memes and parodies on WhatsApp
Who Consumes Content?
Again, every child, teenager and adult using a computer, laptop, tablet or smart phone to surf the net, buy apps and information, play video games or download content from any of the above is classified as a content consumer.
The Sting in the Tail
In June of this year, 25 of Europe’s leading Intellectual Property research centres published a Statement entitled ‘The Copyright Directive: Misinformation and Independent Enquiry ‘. They were able to scientifically prove that Article 13 “threaten[s] the user participation benefits of the e-Commerce Directive (2000/31/EC)”.
How so? Well, when you upload a picture to Facebook, you automatically agree to give Facebook ownership rights of the image. Under Article 13, Facebook owns the copyright of that image and it is also legally responsible for the image. Facebook has already invested millions of Euro designing, building and installing very aggressive filters to ensure it is Article 13 compliant.
Google, Yahoo, Firefox to name a few have also already invested heavily in bespoke filtering services.
But more than 70 Internet pioneers believe Article 13 “would mandate Internet platforms to embed an automated infrastructure for monitoring and censorship deep into their networks” (SaveYourInternet.eu). Global celebrities and YouTube stars have reacted to the news that they too will be censored from 2019 onwards while YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki published a blog earlier this month warning that “Article 13 as written threatens to shut down the ability of millions of people – from creators like you to everyday users – to upload content to platforms like YouTube,” before concluding that we must all make an effort to #SaveYourInternet because “…if implemented as proposed, Article 13 threatens hundreds of thousands of jobs, European creators, businesses, artists and everyone they employ”.
A normal business owner with an online presence – an SME with a turnover of around €100M, a sole trader, a blogger – will not be able to afford to design, build and implement the filtering software required to ensure the website, online streaming and social media platforms are Article 13 compliant. A niche market will open up for third party filtering services which will also be very expensive because the scope of what is required is both extensive and unprecedented.
Take for example a farming app that allows farmers to upload relevant pictures. One day a farmer takes and uploads a picture of a sheep with his brand new shearing equipment in the background. In doing so, the farmer has handed over copyright and therefore liability to the app owner. To date, this app has serviced a niche market and earns a tidy sum. Unable to afford the required filtering service, the app owner is forced to close the business and lose an income stream or face litigation from multiple sources, which I will explain in due course.
The farmer in question has his own website on which he sells lambswool. He uploads the same picture to his business website and links the picture to a third party website, without written permission, that has an article describing the breed of sheep in the photo. Under Article 13 he is guilty of stealing content from the third party publication and endangering its ability to earn an income from readers.
In both scenarios, the ultimate content owner must be financially remunerated but who actually owns the content and who therefore wins under Article 13? Is it:
- The person who took the picture?
- The owner of the vista in the picture?
- The owner of the shearing equipment?
- The shearing equipment designer?
- The shearing equipment manufacturer?
- …the list is endless and the person with the biggest wallet will win the fight.
If an established app has to close down due to operational risks and expenses under Article 13, it will be even worse for start-ups. In its mission statement Allied for Startups says that “by building a global network of startups, entrepreneurs, VCs, and advocacy organisations, we will work together to create a worldwide consensus on policies that can positively impact startups and grow digital entrepreneurship and digital economy at large. In doing so, we will decrease the legal barriers hindering innovation and make sure there is a flat field for entrepreneurs to focus on building their dreams and making the world a better place”. In response to Article 13, Allied for Startups explains that “the suggested filtering technology will raise the cost of launching a startup in Europe and drive talent away”.
Unintended Consequences
Article 13 intended to level out the playing field so that the owner of the content could earn an income from that content. In its defence, it is trying to protect the ultimate owner of the content. But, in the modern world, where we are “on” all the time, there are too many inputs into thought to accurately identify the ultimate owner. For example, this is my opinion piece and I believe the content is based on my thoughts which have been influenced by others from the past and present.
Under Article 13, am I really the ultimate owner of those thoughts? If any of my opinions reflect those of someone else, I can be sued by the person(s) who believe they ultimately own those thoughts.
And…
Earlier in this article I quoted T.S. Eliot. The Estate of T.S. Eliot has a website. There is a very tiny chance that sometime in the near or distant future this article will temporarily rank higher on a search engine than the T.S. Eliot website. Under Article 13, the Estate can argue that the website of T.S. Eliot is in a lower ranking position because I have used his words. Under Article 13 the Estate could argue that I have potentially reduced the website’s ability to generate sales because I have used Eliot’s words to out-rank him.
In my opinion, the unintended consequence of Article 13 will be that it hamstrings free speech, stymies innovation and destroys free original thought which will move the European Union closer to an authoritarian state.
How to Achieve Article 13 Without Killing the Internet
A fair and balanced bill called The Music Modernization Act is currently passing through the United States Congress. “The bill creates a blanket mechanical license and a collective for its administration, as well as changing how courts can determine rates of pay. The bill also ensures performance rate hearings between rights organizations BMI and ASCAP, as well as licensees, rotate across all U.S. Southern District Court of New York Judges, rather than the current system where cases are assigned to just two judges.
“The act also eliminates part of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998 that establishes additional considerations for “pre-existing digital services” that are not provided to other digital services when rates are set, such as music streaming services like Apple Music. There is also the establishment of royalties for labels, artists, and musicians to be paid by digital services for any master recordings produced prior to February 15, 1972″, AppleInsider.com. This is one of a number of acts and bills that are working their way through Congress.
By contrast, Europe is taking a one size fits all approach with an imbalanced and non evidence based approach to resolving a problem that does need to be addressed. Uninformed and uncreative, Article 13 could really signal the Death Knell of the Internet as we know it, not just in Ireland and Europe but the whole world!
How Do Your Protect Yourself Against Article 13? Act Fast…
Because Article 13 threatens everything you do on the Internet, it is the responsibility of every child, teenager and adult in Ireland to pressurise every TD and MEP nationwide who can then apply pressure in Brussels to STOP Article 13 in its current format and AMEND it ASAP, before censorship in your local community, in Ireland, in Europe and therefore across the globe becomes a fact of life.
The Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission are currently negotiating the entire final Copyright Directive. In January 2019, the Directive will go back to the European Parliament for a vote on the final wording of Article 13. This is just ahead of elections to the European Parliament from May 23rd – 26th 2019, which means MEPs may start paying attention to vocal constituents as they start to consider the prospect of their re-election.
As the first country in the world to introduce the plastic bag levy, ban smoking in the workplace and vote for equal marriage rights, Ireland has a reputation for creating history-making policy. You still have time to save Ireland from going down in history for all the wrong reasons.
Easy Way to Pressurise Politicians
You have just enough time to stand up for your rights, for the rights of your children and for the rights of your grandchildren. We know the fair and balanced results that the people of Ireland can achieve when they work together toward a common good.
Harness the strength of those numbers by individually reaching out to the TDs and MEPs of Ireland:
Email this article with the demand #SaveYourInternet from #Filternet #IIAArticle13 to every MEP and TD across the island.
Share this article with the demand #SaveYourInternet from #Filternet #IIAArticle13 to the Twitter, Facebook and/or LinkedIn profiles of each MEP and TD in Ireland.
Phone your local TDs and/or MEPs asking them to agree to #SaveYourInternet from #Filternet #IIAArticle13
Ask them in open forums such as social media and radio talk shows, why they chose to vote, on your behalf, in favour of censorship?
At the bottom of this article you will find all the relevant contact details for your TDs and MEPs in Ireland.
A Europe-Wide Problem With Global Consequences
This article is applicable to all residents of the European Union. You too can pressurize your MEPs and government members to stop and amend Article 13 using the format laid out in this piece. Your actions are of particular urgency and importance in Finland, Latvia, Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Hungary, Belgium, France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and England.
Contact Ministers of European Parliament
MEP |
Phone |
EU Profile Page |
How Voted |
||
Lynn Boylan | (01) 873 6554 | EU Page | No Show | ||
Nessa Childers | (01) 296 2263 | EU Page | Team Freedom | ||
Brian Hayes | (01) 209 6548 | EU Page | Team Censorship | ||
Matt Carthy | (042) 967 4001 | EU Page | Team Censorship | ||
Luke ‘Ming’ Flanagan | (094) 962 2710 | EU Page | Team Freedom | ||
Marian Harkin | (071) 914 5890 | EU Page | Team Censorship | ||
Mairead McGuinness | (041) 685 4633 | EU Page | Team Censorship | ||
Deirdre Clune | 1890 989 533 | EU Page | Team Censorship | ||
Brian Crowley | (021) 489 6433 | EU Page | No Show | ||
Seán Kelly | (052) 617 0437 | EU Page | Team Censorship | ||
Liadh Ni Riada | (021) 451 8986 | EU Page | Team Censorship |
Contact TDs Nationwide
NOTE need to dynaically insert links to email twitter to drive comments
Name | Party | Constituency | Website | Telephone | |||
Sean O Fearghail | CC | Kildare South | Party Site | 059-8634805 | |||
Eamon O Cuiv | FF | Galway West | Party Site | 091-562846 | |||
Bobby Aylward | FF | Carlow-Kilkenny | Party Site | 056 7764726 | |||
John Brassil | FF | Kerry | Party Site | 066-712 9565 | |||
Declan Breathnach | FF | Louth | Party Site | 042 93 52446 | |||
James Browne | FF | Wexford | Party Site | 053 9235046 | |||
Mary Butler | FF | Waterford | Party Site | 087 7425020 | |||
Thomas Byrne | FF | Meath East | Party Site | 01 8357075 | |||
Jackie Cahill | FF | Tipperary | Party Site | 0504 24632 | |||
Dara Calleary | FF | Mayo | Party Site | 962077613 | |||
Pat Casey | FF | Wicklow | Party Site | 086 2649483 | |||
Shane Cassells | FF | Meath West | Party Site | 046 948 7599 | |||
Jack Chambers | FF | Dublin West | Party Site | 086 417 7335 | |||
Lisa Chambers | FF | Mayo | Party Site | 094 92 50577 | |||
Niall Collins | FF | Limerick County | Party Site | 061 300149 | |||
Barry Cowen | FF | Offaly | Party Site | 057 9321976 | |||
John Curran | FF | Dublin Mid West | Party Site | 01 618 3792 | |||
Stephen Donnelly | FF | Wicklow | Party Site | 35315510926 | |||
Timmy Dooley | FF | Clare | Party Site | (065) 6891115 | |||
Sean Fleming | FF | Laois | Party Site | 057 873 2692 | |||
Pat Gallagher | FF | Donegal | Party Site | ||||
Sean Haughey | FF | Dublin Bay North | Party Site | 087 3494888 | |||
Billy Kelleher | FF | Cork North Central | Party Site | 021-4502289 | |||
John Lahart | FF | Dublin South West | Party Site | 01 466 2026 | |||
James Lawless | FF | Kildare North | Party Site | 045 898 476 | |||
Marc MacSharry | FF | Sligo-Leitrim | Party Site | 071 91 43616 | |||
Micheal Martin | FF | Cork South Central | Party Site | 021-432 0088 | |||
Charlie McConalogue | FF | Donegal | Party Site | 749373131 | |||
Michael McGrath | FF | Cork South Central | Party Site | 021-4376699 | |||
John McGuinness | FF | Carlow-Kilkenny | Party Site | 056 7770672 | |||
Aindrias Moynihan | FF | Cork North West | Party Site | 021 482 6644 | |||
Michael Moynihan | FF | Cork North West | Party Site | 029-51299 | |||
Eugene Murphy | FF | Roscommon-Galway | Party Site | 071 9633000 | |||
Margaret Murphy O'Mahony | FF | Cork South West | Party Site | 023-8841179 | |||
Darragh O'Brien | FF | Dublin Fingal | Party Site | 01 6183802 | |||
Jim O'Callaghan | FF | Dublin Bay South | Party Site | 01 475 89 43 | |||
Willie O'Dea | FF | Limerick City | Party Site | 061-454488/454 522 | |||
Kevin O'Keeffe | FF | Cork East | Party Site | 022-25320 | |||
Fiona O'Loughlin | FF | Kildare South | Party Site | ||||
Frank O'Rourke | FF | Kildare North | Party Site | 01 6303736 | |||
Anne Rabbitte | FF | Galway East | Party Site | 087 242 4704 | |||
Eamon Scanlon | FF | Sligo-Leitrim | Party Site | 071-9197903 | |||
Brendan Smith | FF | Cavan-Monaghan | Party Site | 049-4362366 | |||
Niamh Smyth | FF | Cavan-Monaghan | Party Site | 429666666 | |||
Robert Troy | FF | Longford-Westmeath | Party Site | +353 44 933 4857 | |||
Maria Bailey | FG | Dun Laoghaire | Party Site | 01 618 3139 | |||
Sean Barrett | FG | Dun Laoghaire | Party Site | 16183895 | |||
Pat Breen | FG | Clare | Party Site | 16312121 | |||
Colm Brophy | FG | Dublin South West | Party Site | 16183196 | |||
Richard Bruton | FG | Dublin Bay North | Party Site | 6789807 | |||
Peter Burke | FG | Longford-Westmeath | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Catherine Byrne | FG | Dublin South Central | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Joe Carey | FG | Clare | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Marcella Corcoran Kennedy | FG | Offaly | Party Site | ||||
Simon Coveney | FG | Cork South Central | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Michael Creed | FG | Cork North West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Michael D'Arcy | FG | Wexford | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Jim Daly | FG | Cork South West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
John Deasy | FG | Waterford | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Pat Deering | FG | Carlow-Kilkenny | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Regina Doherty | FG | Meath East | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Paschal Donohoe | FG | Dublin Central | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Andrew Doyle | FG | Wicklow | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Bernard Durkan | FG | Kildare North | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Damien English | FG | Meath West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Alan Farrell | FG | Dublin Fingal | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Frances Fitzgerald | FG | Dublin Mid West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Charles Flanagan | FG | Laois | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Brendan Griffin | FG | Kerry | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Simon Harris | FG | Wicklow | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Martin Heydon | FG | Kildare South | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Heather Humphreys | FG | Cavan-Monaghan | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Paul Kehoe | FG | Wexford | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Enda Kenny | FG | Mayo | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Josepha Madigan | FG | Dublin Rathdown | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Helen McEntee | FG | Meath East | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Joe McHugh | FG | Donegal | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Tony McLoughlin | FG | Sligo-Leitrim | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Mary Mitchell O'Connor | FG | Dun Laoghaire | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Dara Murphy | FG | Cork North Central | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Eoghan Murphy | FG | Dublin Bay South | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Hildegarde Naughton | FG | Galway West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Tom Neville | FG | Limerick County | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Michael Noonan | FG | Limerick City | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Kate O'Connell | FG | Dublin Bay South | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Patrick O'Donovan | FG | Limerick County | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Fergus O'Dowd | FG | Louth | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
John Paul Phelan | FG | Carlow-Kilkenny | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Michael Ring | FG | Mayo | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Noel Rock | FG | Dublin North West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
David Stanton | FG | Cork East | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
Leo Varadkar | FG | Dublin West | Party Site | 01-6198444 | |||
David Stanton | FG | Cork East | Party Site | ||||
Leo Varadkar | FG | Dublin West | Party Site | ||||
Catherine Martin | GRN | Dublin Rathdown | Party Site | +353(0)16790012 | |||
Eamon Ryan | GRN | Dublin Bay South | Party Site | +353(0)16790012 | |||
Tommy Broughan | IND | Dublin Bay North | Party Site | 01-6183798 | |||
Sean Canney | IND | Galway East | Party Site | +093 26476 | |||
Joan Collins | IND | Dublin South Central | Party Site | ||||
Michael Collins | IND | Cork South West | |||||
Catherine Connolly | IND | Galway West | Party Site | 091 567870 | |||
Clare Daly | IND | Dublin Fingal | Party Site | 01 618 3390 | |||
Michael Fitzmaurice | IND | Roscommon-Galway | Party Site | (086) 191 4565 | |||
Peter Fitzpatrick | IND | Louth | Party Site | ||||
Noel Grealish | IND | Galway West | Party Site | 872238925 | |||
John Halligan | IND | Waterford | Party Site | ||||
Michael Harty | IND | Clare | |||||
Danny Healy-Rae | IND | Kerry | |||||
Michael Healy-Rae | IND | Kerry | |||||
Michael Lowry | IND | Tipperary | Party Site | 0504 22022 | |||
Finian McGrath | IND | Dublin Bay North | Party Site | (01) 851 1530 | |||
Mattie McGrath | IND | Tipperary | Party Site | 052-6129155 | |||
Kevin Moran | IND | Longford-Westmeath | Party Site | 090 64 93604 | |||
Denis Naughten | IND | Roscommon-Galway | Party Site | 090 6627557 | |||
Carol Nolan | IND | Offaly | Party Site | ||||
Maureen O'Sullivan | IND | Dublin Central | Party Site | 01 6183488 | |||
Thomas Pringle | IND | Donegal | Party Site | 074-97-41880 | |||
Shane Ross | IND | Dublin Rathdown | Party Site | +353 1 604 1040 | |||
Mick Wallace | IND | Wexford | Party Site | 01 6183287 | |||
Katherine Zappone | IND | Dublin South West | Party Site | ||||
Joan Burton | LAB | Dublin West | Party Site | 01 6184006 | |||
Brendan Howlin | LAB | Wexford | Party Site | (053) 912 4036 | |||
Alan Kelly | LAB | Tipperary | Party Site | 067 34190 | |||
Jan O'Sullivan | LAB | Limerick City | Party Site | 061 312316 | |||
Willie Penrose | LAB | Longford-Westmeath | Party Site | ||||
Brendan Ryan | LAB | Dublin Fingal | Party Site | +353 1 6183421 | |||
Sean Sherlock | LAB | Cork East | Party Site | 022 53523 | |||
Richard Boyd Barrett | PBP | Dun Laoghaire | Party Site | 35316183449 | |||
Gino Kenny | PBP | Dublin Mid West | Party Site | 01-4030007 | |||
Brid Smith | PBP | Dublin South Central | Party Site | (01) 6161003 | |||
Catherine Murphy | SD | Kildare North | Party Site | 35315510926 | |||
Roisin Shortall | SD | Dublin North West | Party Site | 35315510926 | |||
Eoin O Broin | SF | Dublin Mid West | Party Site | ||||
Caoimhghin O Caolain | SF | Cavan-Monaghan | Party Site | (01) 6183005 | |||
Donnchadh O Laoghaire | SF | Cork South Central | Party Site | ||||
Aengus O Snodaigh | SF | Dublin South Central | Party Site | (01) 6184084 | |||
Gerry Adams | SF | Louth | Party Site | 041 987 3823 | |||
John Brady | SF | Wicklow | Party Site | 01-276 2623 | |||
Pat Buckley | SF | Cork East | Party Site | ||||
Sean Crowe | SF | Dublin South West | Party Site | 01-6183941 | |||
David Cullinane | SF | Waterford | Party Site | 051 856066 | |||
Pearse Doherty | SF | Donegal | Party Site | 074-9532832 | |||
Dessie Ellis | SF | Dublin North West | Party Site | (01) 6183006 | |||
Martin Ferris | SF | Kerry | Party Site | (01) 6184248 | |||
Kathleen Funchion | SF | Carlow-Kilkenny | Party Site | 567764730 | |||
Martin Kenny | SF | Sligo-Leitrim | Party Site | 087 6528318 | |||
Mary Lou McDonald | SF | Dublin Central | Party Site | (01) 727 7102 | |||
Denise Mitchell | SF | Dublin Bay North | Party Site | 01-847 2902 | |||
Imelda Munster | SF | Louth | Party Site | ||||
Jonathan O'Brien | SF | Cork North Central | Party Site | 021-4212233 | |||
Louise O'Reilly | SF | Dublin Fingal | Party Site | 01 840 5081 | |||
Maurice Quinlivan | SF | Limerick City | Party Site | 061 319 681 | |||
Brian Stanley | SF | Laois | Party Site | 05786 62851 | |||
Peadar Toibin | SF | Meath West | Party Site | ||||
Mick Barry | SOL | Cork North Central | |||||
Ruth Coppinger | SOL | Dublin West | Party Site | (01)8227174 | |||
Paul Murphy | SOL | Dublin South West | |||||
Seamus Healy | WUA | Tipperary | Party Site |
Senators
IND | Nominated by the Taoiseach | |
Brian Ó Domhnaill | FF | Agricultural Panel |
Niall Ó Donnghaile | SF | Administrative Panel |
Aodhán Ó Ríordáin | LAB | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Catherine Ardagh | FF | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Ivana Bacik | IND | University of Dublin |
Frances Black | IND | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Victor Boyhan | IND | Agricultural Panel |
Colm Burke | FG | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Paddy Burke | FG | Agricultural Panel |
Ray Butler | FG | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Jerry Buttimer | FG | Labour Panel |
Maria Byrne | FG | Agricultural Panel |
Lorraine Clifford Lee | FF | Cultural and Educational Panel |
Paudie Coffey | FG | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Paul Coghlan | FG | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Martin Conway | FG | Administrative Panel |
Rose Conway Walsh | SF | Agricultural Panel |
Gerard Craughwell | IND | Labour Panel |
Mark Daly | FF | Administrative Panel |
Paul Daly | FF | Agricultural Panel |
Aidan Davitt | FF | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Maire Devine | SF | Labour Panel |
John Dolan | IND | Administrative Panel |
Frank Feighan | FG | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Joan Freeman | IND | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Robbie Gallagher | FF | Labour Panel |
Paul Gavan | SF | Labour Panel |
Alice Mary Higgins | IND | National University of Ireland |
Maura Hopkins | FG | Administrative Panel |
Gerry Horkan | FF | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Kevin Humphreys | LAB | Administrative Panel |
Colette Kelleher | IND | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Billy Lawless | IND | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Anthony Lawlor | FG | Agricultural Panel |
Terry Leyden | FF | Labour Panel |
Tim Lombard | FG | Agricultural Panel |
Pádraig MacLochlainn | SF | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
Ian Marshall | IND | Agricultural Panel |
Michael McDowell | IND | National University of Ireland |
Gabrielle McFadden | FG | Cultural and Educational Panel |
Michelle Mulherin | FG | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Rónán Mullen | IND | National University of Ireland |
Jennifer Murnane O’Connor | FF | Labour Panel |
Gerald Nash | LAB | Labour Panel |
Catherine Noone | FG | Industrial and Commercial Panel |
David Norris | IND | University of Dublin |
Kieran O’Donnell | FG | Cultural and Educational Panel |
Marie Louise O’Donnell | IND | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Denis O’Donovan | FF | Agricultural Panel |
John O’Mahony | FG | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Joe O’Reilly | FG | Labour Panel |
Grace O’Sullivan | GRN | Agricultural Panel |
Ned O’Sullivan | FF | Labour Panel |
James Reilly | FG | Nominated by the Taoiseach |
Neale Richmond | FG | Labour Panel |
Lynn Ruane | IND | University of Dublin |
Keith Swanick | FF | Cultural and Educational Panel |
Fintan Warfield | SF | Cultural and Educational Panel |
Diarmuid Wilson | FF | Administrative Panel |
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Business Guides
How to Launch a Successful eCommerce Business in Ireland in 2018
With growing consumer confidence in online shopping and trading, and legislation to regulate and protect ecommerce businesses, it is becoming more attractive to launch an ecommerce business and carve out success online. The 2018 Irish Online Economy report showed revenue at Irish ecommerce sites grew by 45% – a trend that looks set to continue for some time yet.
With so many ecommerce businesses out there, you will be wondering how to make sure your company stands out – and that you start bringing in revenue as soon as possible. There is a plethora of information available out there, and it can be overwhelming to know where to look. We’ve sourced the best guidance on offer to help you launch your successful ecommerce business in Ireland this year.
Sort out the paperwork first
It’s tempting to leave the so-called ‘boring’ tasks to later in the process, but don’t – get your company name registered, set up your business bank account, register for tax purposes and confirm the legal status of your company. Some recommend you don’t incorporate too early for tax purposes, but it’s always best to seek professional advice tailored to your situation.
Make sure you choose and secure your domain name, and register for barcodes and SKUs for all the products you have. Take this advice from a successful ecommerce business in Ireland and don’t learn the same lessons they did the hard way!
Choose the right CMS software
To ensure your visitors – and, hopefully, future customers – get a great user experience (UX), you need to make sure the website software you choose is right for your business. You will need to consider the scale of your business in the short and long-term, security requirements, data storage and usage, marketing and the kind of experience visitors should have browsing your site.
Ultimately, your website must be light and streamlined to ensure fast site speed. Google estimates that 53% of website visits are abandoned if a page takes longer than 3 seconds to load!
With WordPress usage at an all-time high (and growing) as the choice of 26.6% of the top million websites on earth, it really is the obvious choice for most entry-level businesses, but naturally different business needs require different systems.
Make sure your site works well on mobile
You will also want to ensure your site is mobile-friendly, given how frequently we use our phones and tablets to purchase and browse online. Google is set to release a hugely important update to their algorithm this year – the mobile-first index – meaning Google will crawl and index the mobile version of your site first and foremost, and use that to determine whether you deserve to rank in search results for keywords your prospective customers are searching for when shopping online. Without a mobile-friendly site, it’s likely you will struggle to generate the traffic you are looking for – and without traffic there are no sales!
Image source: Pixabay (Free to use without attribution)
Make your checkout process user-friendly
You don’t want potential customers getting agitated with the checkout process and ultimately abandoning their purchases. Avoid this by limiting the number of steps a customer has to go through to make their purchase – for example, eliminate the need for them to set up an account. Make it as streamlined and simple as possible, with as few screens to click through as is practical. Users will remember having a great experience on your site and come back to shop again if the process is simple and user friendly.
An integrated marketing strategy
A business is almost non-existent without an effective, clear and streamlined marketing strategy. Integration is key to success when it comes to digital marketing. Your SEO should focus on keywords that convert in AdWords and pull ideas for your meta titles and descriptions from ad text that converts well. Your AdWords remarketing should target your email database and social followers as they have a higher likelihood to convert. Your social ads should retarget visitors who have come to your site through organic and paid traffic with dynamically generated images of products they looked at while on your site. The list of ways your marketing efforts can be synergetic is endless and will save you a lot of advertising euro!
It can be overwhelming and daunting to run and market a business from scratch. But with the right skills and qualifications behind you, it can be exciting. It’s a good idea to get an entry level qualification in digital marketing, with some of the very best course options available right here in Ireland from the world-renowned Digital Marketing Institute, headquartered in Dun Loaughaire.
Investing the time and effort into upskilling your digital skills in a fast-paced, comeptitrive eCommerce sector is a guaranteed step in the right direction to help give you the skills and confidence required to develop a well-rounded understanding of what makes a great ecommerce site and UX, how to develop a marketing strategy, and how each marketing channel feeds into the other.
Uncategorized
GDPR – Get Ready
The Data Protection Commissioner has worked closely with industry bodies to produce a practical Guide and resources to help you comply with GDPR. Rather than worry about the implications of these regulations; get informed and make sure you comply – it doesn’t have to be as daunting as you may fear.
Most important though is to get up-to-speed with your obligations; and it may not be as demanding as you think to do this. See two helpful documents below.
Blog
Getting The Most From Your Blog & Content Marketing
You’re a busy director in for a small but thriving business. You’ve seen all buzz around content marketing and you’ve taken the leap and added a blog. Your business now has a licence to publish its thoughts, views and advice online, which is awesome.
The thing is, it’s not exactly setting the world on fire as you’d hoped, nor driving much in the way of traffic and leads.
Perhaps, like many, you’ve signed off a plan for an article or two a month, written by a third party. However, the copy writer probably isn’t the subject-expert that you are, and whilst the content is ok, it’s just a bit generic.
If this feels familiar, don’t worry. You’re not alone.
Firstly, some great news!
You made the right choice in investing in content. There’s a reason why 78% of CMOs cite content as the future of marketing. When done right, it’s very powerful. However, there are countless other businesses in your niche who have all received the same wisdom. They’re all doing the same thing.
There is an abundance of content online and it’s easy enough to appreciate why that is. That has resulted in a crowded market and it’s tough to make an impact. So, to own this channel, you have to be strategic, committed and intentional.
Here’s some ideas to help you get the most from your blog and take your content marketing strategy up a notch or two.
Take Some Ownership
Typically, a content team will do their research online (then jazz it up with their unique flair to make something new). As a result, whatever they produce may feel a little ‘done already’. Because of the widespread nature of the beast, the chances are, they’re recycling content that has been through the mill a few times already.
This can easily be remedied by your business taking a little more ownership of the content being produced, bridging the gap.
Clients have industry knowledge:
- Experience
- Product knowledge
- Customer understanding
- Unique insights
Agencies have marketing knowledge:
- Research
- Optimisation
- Tone of Voice
- Promotion
Rarely the two meet, despite best intentions.
Businesses are usually quite ‘hands off’. After all, they’re paying for an agency to do the marketing and of course, the agency are doing what they do which is to execute as best they can.
However, when the client / agency relationship behaves more like an integrated partnership, with a clear editorial agenda and vision, things most forward at pace. So, get involved, help your agency help you. Bring your expertise to the table, and let them do what they do best, which is advise and execute.
Creating New Information
Online research is fine. It’s good to reference others and expand on their points. However, your content marketing strategy is not going to thrive on bread and butter alone.
By definition, news is “new”, so conducting your own research is a sure-fire way to make an impact. Sign off some consumer research, go data mining, hit the streets with a clipboard, whatever. Just create something original that others can reference, rather than just referencing the work of others.
For example, Glaze recently conducted research into the used cars marketing in Northern Ireland and published a report for car dealers. This was shared widely and even picked up by a leading local digital marketing news portal. It also resulted in a few leads!
Look Beyond The Written Word
There’s a world of content beyond written articles and loads of great ways to integrate simple technologies. Some ideas include:
- Live polls can be used to drive real time data and dynamic charts which update themselves.
- Dynamic infographics can update in front of you, i.e. “since you’ve been here [rising number counter] plastic bottles find their way into the ocean”.
- Even just little visuals and mini-infographics can bring traditional block-content to life.
Stop Writing, Start Cultivating
Any given copywriter will probably have lots of similar briefs to fulfil making yours just one of many on the to-do list. That’s pretty standard. But, if your content reads a bit “churn and burn”, there are some great ways to breathe new life into proceedings.
One of the best ways to inject some much-needed quality and expertise is to crowdsource content. Ask other experts in your network to weigh in on a chosen subject. To do this, pick a topic which enables contributors to lend their wisdom, experience, or creative flair and send out an invite. Easy.
For example, in the run up to Christmas, Ballymount Fireplaces invited local interior designers to offer their festive fireplace decorating tips. Meanwhile, HR solutions provider Forde HR Cloud sought expertise under the topic of “Writing Job Descriptions & Attracting Candidates” gaining contributions from local business owners.
In all cases, the content was powerful, plentiful and of the highest quality. You also stand to benefit from our contributor’s social reach, assuming they are gracious enough to share with their audience. Above all, it’s also nice to provide a platform for others.
Circle Back & Improve
Finally, if you’ve been in the game for a little while now, sustainability can be an issue. Once you’ve exhausted all key topics and obvious places to research, it can sometimes feel like there’s nothing else to write about. So, take a break and start revisiting old pieces.
One of the main purpose of doing this is to try boost the performance of old content and improve click-through rates (CTR) in search engines. It’s an effective exercise because the majority of the work is done, and it might just be a case of finessing to get the piece over the line.
There’s a superb guide to improving CTRs here, but the basic principle is to use data to identify content which is in striking distance of driving traffic. Then make some tweaks. This could be as simple as improving the page title and headers. It might involve a little more of a revamp like providing a 2016 piece with a 2018 update, or adding some crowd-sourced quotes to expand the piece.
It’s really important to go back and improve content rather than continue to publish more of the same. Otherwise, there is a danger of duplication and cannibalisation which Google doesn’t like at all. Improving existing content is a far better use of time.
Pick ‘n’ Mix
None of the ideas and suggestions are silver bullets by themselves. The key is to integrate a variety of solutions where possible and relevant. Try mix and match whatever works for your business and over time, your content marketing will become one of the most valued marketing channels.
About the author: Dave Clough is a Digital PR Consultant for Glaze Digital in Belfast. He has a strong background in digital marketing having previously been the SEO Manager for Argos and worked in senior positions for numerous leading digital agencies in London.