Twofer Post
This one will be of interest both to the Sheridan boys and to Digital Rights Ireland, as it neatly encapsulates the gombeen-man aura around many of our national politicians and also the 'lobbying' efforts of the recording and technology industries.
The latest edition of The Phoenix magazine (Vol. 24 No. 4.) covers the current planning tribunal woes of Fianna Fáil TD and Government Chief Whip Tom Kitt. This is a familiar scenario for many FF, FG and Labour politicians these days and relatively unremarkable. An addendum to the piece, however, caught our eye:
The latest edition of The Phoenix magazine (Vol. 24 No. 4.) covers the current planning tribunal woes of Fianna Fáil TD and Government Chief Whip Tom Kitt. This is a familiar scenario for many FF, FG and Labour politicians these days and relatively unremarkable. An addendum to the piece, however, caught our eye:
"Kitt has a charmed life and he escaped public opprobrium before when it emerged that in 2000 he had given a demo tape of his son, singer David Kitt, to Dennis Woods, head of Warner Studios and chairman of Phonographic Performance Ireland. This would have been an exchange hardly worth mentioning were it not for the fact that Kitt was then piloting the Copyright and Related rights Bill 2000 through the Dáil; that this legislation benefited PPI members and that the PPI, one of the organisations most affected beneficially by the act, lobbied the Government strongly."Other examples of politicians interacting with lobbyists in an untoward manner will no doubt occur to people reading this post (and Irish Corruption provides further coverage on this topic). This little anecdote provides a neat illustration of the odds that Digital Rights Ireland finds itself up against in terms of lobbying. As we mentioned earlier, please consider donating to DRi what you can.
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