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DOCUMENTS RELEASED UNDER the ’30 year rule’ show the level to which Northern Ireland impacted on decisions which, on the face of it, would appear minor.
This was evidenced by correspondence between the Department of the Taoiseach and the now defunct Department of Posts and Telegraphs.
In a communique titled “Use of the name ‘Ireland’ in addition to ‘Eire’ on Postage Stamps”, Frank Murray, from the Department of the Taoiseach, wished to stress the “constitutional and political repercussions” of this.
The document stated that if the current memorandum could not be withdrawn or postponed, then paragraph six, as it currently existed, would need to be replaced with the following:
With reference to the implications of the proposal in the Northern Ireland context the Department of the Taoiseach is of the view that the existing position is preferable. This is so because, as the draft memorandum points out, unionists regard ’Eire’ as the 26 counties.
This view is of course correct since ‘Eire’ is the name of the State though it is also the name of the country. However, unionists regard ‘Ireland’ as the 32 counties and would resent its use in reference to the 26 counties.
Therefore, a postage stamp bearing the legend ‘Eire – Ireland’ would be viewed by unionists as unjustifiably applying the term ‘Ireland’ to the 26 counties or, alternatively, as purporting to represent the whole island. Whichever view they adopted, the change could be unwelcome.
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(Taken from file 2012/90/996, available from the National Archives)
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More people jobless, more noise pollution, more accidents…
@Dominic Leleu: More people jobless? Are you also against all things automates? I suppose we should go back to spinning thread by hand aswell.
@Dominic Leleu: Saw them a few times over the last weeks. They’re less noisy than the traffic on the roads and why would there would be more accidents?
@Dominic Leleu: Well if it cuts down on the number of these Deliveroo and Just Eat cyclists dressed in black with no lights ignoring the rules of the road, then i would say it will be less accidents.
@Dominic Leleu: are they not flown by a person remotely?
@Dominic Leleu: Stay at home Dom, you have nothing to offer.
@Diarmuid Hunt: oh my goodness, why are you being so dramatic? Where I live, I’m in the Baldonnell flight path, so we have military planes going over constantly, now drones? No, I wouldn’t be happy at all but spinning wheels and other such drama is really not necessary
@Kieran Menon: Their flown by ai with GPS coordinates and a lad supervising
Ultimate in laziness, obesity rates are Sky high and going only one way, and now a company is gearing up to fly people their food, soon people wont need to leave their homes
@Peter Byrne: good. It’s not safe to leave them anyway.
@Peter Byrne: This will be a game-changing service in delivering goods to people, why is it important for people to leave their homes? Get in the car, drive to the place where businesses have to pay rent and rates usually in massively built-up areas, or a ‘driver’ needs to deliver, etc. Ridiculous, also will be a massive benefit to elderly people, particularly in rural and country areas, delivering prescriptions, etc. Delivering argi supplies, keeping trucks off the roads, Don’t fear change Peter, it’s inevitable
@Thesaltyurchin: It won’t keep trucks off the road. But if it cuts down on cars and manic cyclists which seems likely then great.
@John Flanagan: not safe how?
@Steve O’Hara Smith.: Not yet. But I imagine it could (not entirely) still have the same local hubs, depots etc. but delivering fertilisers etc. There isn’t a farm in the country that has suitable road access for lorries.
Maybe a bit of an esoteric question, but where does my property rights extend to?
I own my house, I own the land described under deed.
How far up does my ownership extend to? If I see a drone invading my owned land, I will down it.
@ben ohhhhh get a life Ben. No wonder we are such a backward country
@ben wu: I suppose you do the sane with airplanes do you?
@ben wu: Got the image of a Hill Billy rockin’ on a chair, then pulling out a shotgun on a ‘trespasser’ shouting “get offa ma propertai!”.
@ben wu: Google maps your house, click satellite view, zoom in, and say hello to yourself.
@ben wu: is your property insured?
@John Flanagan: what? having property rights?
@Diarmuid Hunt: except that airplanes generally do no fly at low altitude over your head while have your bbq in your garden. Legit concern.
@ben wu: Your rights to the airspace above your property is unlimited . You could legally demand that an aircraft dies not enter your private airspace.
@ben wu: 10metres
@Patrick MC Dermott: Sure, residents in Swords do all the time I suppose?
@ben wu: Good plan, Ben. Do you have a license for the firearm you’re going to use? Or are you going to use the peg gun you made in the shed with elastic bands?
@calimero242: Yeah, there was one buzzing about last summer when we were having lunch out back. It had a very obvious camera mounted.
Sorry An Post but could they use it for speedy mail and package delivery also. It’s good to see this. Hope it goes nationwide.
@did you every wonder: Whatever about package delivery, it would be a very inefficient way to deliver mail
Sounds like a nuisance once they scale up.
And clearly from their comments they have no interest in listening to anyone who doesn’t want them buzzing about.
Blathering on about being an Irish Company, so as to claim anyone against it is an anti Irish naysayer.
Typical.
@Tom: The Irish public need to be dragged along. It’s unfortunate really
What if the batteries run out during delivery?
@David O Brien: Yeah, Would need to consider flight paths, especially when people start using them to move around, insurance companies probs been researching how to insert themselves in the middle of this for years.
@David O Brien: That would be extremely bad management, it’s really easy to prevent just like most of the obvious risks.
@David O Brien: what if a car runs out of fuel while on a motorway?
@Soundy Sound: Cars don’t fall from the sky
@David O Brien: Im not sure. I think a reasonable guess would be that it makes an emergency landing before the power depletes.
Wonder how often these delivery service drones crash into lines.
@Kieran Menon: we will probably find out fairly soon. One thing is certain, that one or more people are probably going to try to down then for various reasons, including making a video of doing so just to amuse themselves or to get the news coverage for being the first instance of doing so.
@Dvsespaña: Someone’s definitely getting Chow mein all over the roof of the Yaris
@Dvsespaña: Apparently they manage to fly them in Texas without people taking enough pot shots at them to worry about.
Fifty metres up is out of range for most things other than a good rifle.
It’s like flippin star wars lol, and that noise would drive me bonkers, it really would.
Will it deliver coke and cola
If it falls out of the sky …. just saying
It’s so load I can’t hear the traffic on the M50!
This really is an embarrassing time to be alive
How about delivering recipe books instead so the lazy feckers can learn how to cook.
The usual attitude of being against something prevails in the comments section.
Can I order 20Kg of C4 for the Russian embassy?
@A Duffy: there may be a 50kg minimum order for that location.
have your say