Lost in the GDPR
The driver, who was a paramedic, took a wrong turn, ending up trapped in a very narrow cul de sac beside my house.
Having helped her to extricate herself from the street I asked her for the address or person she was looking for as I might be able to direct her in the correct direction.
She informed me that she could not tell me either due to 'GDPR' concerns. I think she may still be lost due to 'GDPR' concerns! – Yours, etc
READ MORE
GERARD KERVICK,
Bruff,
Co Limerick
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Irish Times
24-07-2025
- Irish Times
Lost in the GDPR
Sir, – I recently had occasion to help a driver who was lost in my neighbourhood looking for some address. The driver, who was a paramedic, took a wrong turn, ending up trapped in a very narrow cul de sac beside my house. Having helped her to extricate herself from the street I asked her for the address or person she was looking for as I might be able to direct her in the correct direction. She informed me that she could not tell me either due to 'GDPR' concerns. I think she may still be lost due to 'GDPR' concerns! – Yours, etc READ MORE GERARD KERVICK, Bruff, Co Limerick
Irish Examiner
27-06-2025
- Irish Examiner
Kerry council to roll out pilot scheme to detect deer on roads in bid to prevent accidents
Authorities are rolling out new technology in Killarney to tackle collisions with 'marauding deer' whose numbers are out of control. The "deer pilot schemes" are needed in a county which suffers more deer collisions than most, a meeting of Killarney Municipal District was told. A 'detect and alert' scheme, which has been effective in Austria, is to be rolled out on a trial basis. 'It detects deer, it detects vehicles,' Frank Hartnett, director of roads services with Kerry County Council, said. A noise deterring deer is emitted when both vehicles and deer are detected — when there is no car passing the deer could continue to cross the road, he said. The National Parks and Wildlife Service has previously said requests by the council — and by the late south Kerry coroner Terence Casey — to erect fencing in accident prone spots, were unfeasible. A number of fatalities and some serious injuries have been linked to deer in the Killarney area. There is no national strategy to tackle deer on roads and Mr Hartnett had put forward Killarney for the pilot schemes to the Transport Infrastructure Network, on the grounds of road safety. In a second scheme, technology used to deter bird strikes in airports is also being rolled out. The pilot schemes are being operated by Kerry County Council and are in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture and University College Cork, the meeting heard. If successful, the schemes will be adopted in other counties where there is risk from road collisions with deer. The deterrent system used in airports is expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks, subject to GDPR approval on the R569 Kilgarvan Road off the N22 at a point where deer are known to cross. The detection and deterrent scheme will be put in place in Ballydowney on the N70 on the outskirts of Killarney, where deer cross from the national park woodland to farmland. Several collisions, including two fatalities in which two women lost their lives, are suspected to have involved collisions with deer at and near Ballydowney. Cllr John O'Donoghue of Kerry Independent Alliance welcomed the announcement of the technology. He said he was 'sick' of raising accidents involving deer and he had come across how technology had been used elsewhere. 'The problem is not improving. No one is accepting responsibility for the deer," Cllr O'Donoghue said. This article was funded by the Local Democracy Scheme
Irish Examiner
13-05-2025
- Irish Examiner
Julie Jay: My preschooler is a walking, talking, information-gathering machine
There is so much I love about hanging out with my children — the hugs, the kisses, and the barrage of questions which serve as daily reminders that I know very little about this planet, despite living here most of my life. So philosophical are some of these queries, I often find myself verging on an existential crisis before I've ever had my Coco Pops. Given that the baby can't yet string a sentence together, we will cut him some slack, but Number One is basically a walking, talking, information-gathering machine. Forget foreign apps stealing my data: The top threat to my GDPR is sitting two feet away in my ramshackle kitchen. The four-year-old is curious and mad to acquire as much knowledge as possible, especially regarding the natural world. Unfortunately for him, his mother is not exactly a wealth of information about nature, given that I have the reputation of being perhaps the only citizen of the world who never made it through a David Attenborough documentary. The truth is, if I wanted to see males tear strips off one another, I'd just mosey along to Temple Bar on a Saturday night. When Number One asks questions, he is not messing about. His need to know the answer immediately is nothing short of urgent, so he usually can't wait until I'm finished on the loo or done declogging the shower drain (given Daddy's lack of hair, I'm happy to take this one for the team), before bombarding me with queries. I knew parenting came with sleepless nights, but I didn't realise it also came with having to explain why you can't marry your mammy or how we know for sure the world is round. The latter question has been coming with increasing frequency of late, so we are adding 'flat-earther' to Number One's list of interests as he heads in to junior infants. Last week, I woke up to Number One peering over me, asking the big question, 'Mammy, how do fish find their way home when the ocean is so big?' And I just… blinked. Because that is a fair question. And I don't know the answer. Do they go on instinct? Is there a Google Maps for fish? If so, does it also tell them to turn right just a beat too late, resulting in them having to do an emergency U-turn and explain to a concerned guard when stopped that they were just making an impromptu dash for chips? It is amazing how one question leads to a litany. Number One asks questions like it's his full-time job. And not soft ones. Oh, no. He is clearly borrowing from the book of Jeremy Paxman at his peak, and rather than beating around the bush, he just cuts straight to the chase. 'Mammy, why do you have hair on your toes?' Or, 'If I eat too many peas, will I turn green?' Once, he asked me, very solemnly, 'What would happen if Daddy turned in to a toilet?' It was a fair question, pointing to the inordinate amount of time his father spends on the throne. And Number One giggled when I said I would still love Daddy, but he'd probably look a little strange in the family photos. I've Googled more questions in the last year than in all of my time in college. 'Do whales sleep?' 'Are clouds heavier than cows?' Thanks to my inquisitive little guy, I have become the dream team-mate for pub quizzes, including a nature round, though still utterly useless for anything else, unless there is a section on reality television. I love how Number One's constant questioning has made me question the status quo and reconsider stories and narratives I once thought straightforward. AT the end of our re-reading of the Hungry Caterpillar the other night, Number One looked pensive as the baby played with the beautiful butterfly finger puppet at the end. For those of you unfamiliar with this modern classic, it revolves around a caterpillar who — spoiler alert — turns in to a butterfly. 'Mammy,' he ventured after a minute. 'What is so wrong with being a caterpillar?' He accompanied this wonderful question with a hand movement so adorable in its quiet dramatics that I almost burst with love for him. Because what is wrong with being a caterpillar? The answer is nothing, nothing at all, but it took a four-year-old to ask the question. I told him as much, and also how thoughtful and wonderful he was to think of such a beautiful question. Snuggling down, I kissed him goodnight, and he repeated, 'Caterpillars are beautiful, too, mammy,' which will undoubtedly be the origin story should the makers of Marvel films read this column and decide to make Colin the Caterpillar a new type of hero. I love my children's curiosity. I never want them to lose it, because the older I get, the more I understand that we need to ask more questions, not fewer. Except, of course, when it relates to Mammy's hairy toes. That's one where I feel the status quo just needs to be accepted, without challenge.
