Latest news with #Honan
Irish Times
06-05-2025
- Irish Times
Motorists shell out €4m to replace driving licences in last six years
Drivers in the State spent up to €4 million to replace their driving licences in the last six years after their documents were lost or stolen. The National Driving Licence Service (NDLS) received nearly 114,000 applications for replacement licences between 2019 and 2024 after drivers reported them lost or stolen. Figures released by the Road Safety Authority (RSA) show 5,505 driving licences were reported lost or stolen in the State last year, down from 15,389 in 2023 and 25,895 in 2022. Over the six years from 2019-2024, those aged 17-20 misplaced 30,747 licences, more than a quarter of the total of 113,956. READ MORE A replacement licence can be requested online or in person at an NDLS centre with a stamped Garda declaration form, proof of address and PPS number, ID, a medical report if there has been a change in your details and a fee of €35. Separately, figures compiled by An Garda Síochána show there were just 120 licences 'recovered' by the force last year, with another 1,655 recorded as found. Earlier this year, on social media, gardaí highlighted a case where an American visitor's licence was handed into Killarney Garda station and returned to her after she had lost it on a night out. It was sent to her with a letter encouraging her 'not to drink so much Guinness' on her next visit. Beyond the hassle of securing a new licence, cybersecurity expert Brian Honan said criminals can use the information on the licences as pieces of a 'jigsaw' in identity theft, and 'also to target you for online scams more effectively'. Mr Honan, chairman of Cyber Ireland's advisory board, said: 'If you think about it, when you ring your bank, what questions do they ask you to prove who you are? It's your address, your place of birth, your date of birth which is on your driving licence. You can use that information to try to reset somebody's password or hijack their email accounts and from there you can hijack their complete online identity. 'The more data [criminals] have about an individual, the more money they can sell it for. The last time I looked, I think the prices range for people's identity from $3 per person up to $15 per person, depending on how detailed the information might be.' An RSA spokesman said reporting requirements for lost/stolen licences had not changed over the period and they believed the drop in the numbers may be partly explained by paper licences being replaced by cards, which may not be lost as easily. Following a pilot scheme in 2024, digital driving licences are to be rolled out later this year as part of a 'digital wallet' that people can keep on their smartphone. It will be launched in tandem with a 'life events portal', which is a one-stop shop for engaging with public services for events such as births, deaths, marriages and divorces. Mr Honan said that while digital licences would bring a lot of convenience, it would need to be a 'robust scheme' as the change would create new risks. 'The physical card has a limited use case, if it's in my possession I can't do x, y, z. A digital licence would bring different threats,' he said. 'For example, if I install malicious software on your phone through a scam email or whatever, could I steal a copy of your driver's licence? You still have it on your phone, you're not aware it's gone as it's not a physical thing any more, but I now have a copy of your licence. And now I can imitate you and try to get car insurance out in your name or rent a car or use it as ID to prove who you are when you're applying for bank loans etc.' In Northern Ireland (where two-part licences are still used), 21,755 were reported lost or stolen in the nine months to September last year, while in Britain more than one million were misplaced.
Yahoo
20-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Andrew Cuomo, Zohran Mamdani lead the pack ahead of Dem primary for NYC mayor: poll
The Democratic primary for New York City mayor is increasingly turning into a two-person race — with support growing for both ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and socialist state Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, according to a new poll. Front-runner Cuomo continues to hold a commanding lead in the crowded primary election with the backing of 45% of the Democrats, shows the survey conducted for the five-borough Chambers of Commerce by the Honan Strategy Group. The survey was conducted after incumbent Mayor Eric Adams announced he will not run in the Democratic primary and instead seek re-election on his own independent ballot line. Cuomo's support increased by 4 percentage points — from 41% last month to 45% in April, the poll shows. Pollster Bradley Honan said Cuomo 'appears to have captured most of the votes that Eric Adams had previously won' before dropping out of the primary. Adams polled at 6% in the March survey. His name was removed from the latest poll, which surveyed 823 likely Democratic voters April 16-17. Mamdani's support also jumped by 4 percentage points — an increase from 18% in March to 22% in April — putting him in second place and as the only other candidate aside from Cuomo to reach double digits. 'It's truly a 2-person race — Cuomo and Mamdani and everyone else. The other candidates don't seem to be getting any traction,' Honan told The Post. City Comptroller Brad Lander garnered the backing of 8% of Democrats, followed by City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams with 4%, former Comptroller Scott Stringer with 3% and state Sens. Zellnor Myrie and Jessica Ramos with 2% apiece. Fourteen percent of voters remain undecided, a number that has shrunk since Honan began polling the race in January. The other candidates have fiercely attacked Cuomo over his 10-year record as governor — particularly for the sexual-misconduct allegations that triggered his resignation under the threat of impeachment, as well as his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo denies the harassment accusations and has defended his response to the pandemic. 'The criticisms of Cuomo don't appear to be sticking,' Honan said. Honan's previous surveys show that more Democrats view Cuomo's management of the COVID crisis favorably than negatively. But Cuomo's rivals are expected to pummel him with millions of dollars in TV ads during the final leg of the campaign. Still, the other candidates who are struggling to break through now have a decision to make, Honan said: whether to try to instead tear down the left-wing, Israel-bashing Mamdani, who is drawing support from young, anti-Trump voters and is blocking them from advancing to be the alternative to Cuomo. 'I don't know if Brad Lander and Scott Stringer are going to like being second fiddle to Mamdani,' Honan said. Early voting for the June 24 Democratic primary begins June 14, which means time is running short for an anti-Cuomo candidate to consolidate support to topple the former governor. The Honan survey conducted a rank-choice vote simulation after excluding the undecided voters. Cuomo would capture 53% in the first round and defeat Mamdani 64% to 36% by the seventh round. Lander would be eliminated in the sixth ground, topping out at 14%. The Chambers of Commerce-financed survey queried Democrats who either voted in previous primary races or said they would vote in the primary because of Donald Trump's presence as president. The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.41 percentage points. Cuomo's Democratic support has steadily increased from 35% in January, before he entered the race, to 38% in February, 41% in March to 45% in April. Mamdani's support shot up from 9% in January to 12% in February to 18% in March to 22% in April. Lander received 10% backing January but is now at 8%. Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa is the Republican nominee for City Hall and lawyer Jim Walden is seeking an independent ballot line.
Yahoo
05-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Adams's independent bid injects more uncertainty into NYC race
New York City Mayor Eric Adams's decision to run for reelection as an independent is injecting fresh uncertainty into a race that has been shaping up into a likely comeback for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). Adams announced his decision Thursday after much speculation that he would forgo the Democratic primary amid long odds of winning the nomination, citing the effect that the length of time the criminal case against him dragged on had on his chances. His decision will ensure his political relevancy at least through November. But while his chances of pulling off a successful independent run seem slim, his decision could still have wide-ranging consequences for the other candidates in the race. 'What I think you have is an opportunity for a strong progressive candidate to emerge to counter, to actually be able to go up against [Cuomo's] more moderate policies,' said Democratic strategist Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the state party. Cuomo, the former governor of New York for more than a decade, has been the front-runner for the nomination since he launched his campaign at the start of last month and even before that. His potential return to electoral politics had been long anticipated and was expected to be a juggernaut in the race, particularly with the incumbent mayor under indictment and having almost rock-bottom favorability ratings. Cuomo has held a steady lead in polling, with his initial support in the hypothetical ranked-choice voting system that the city uses in the 30s. The closest any other candidate has come has often been 20 points back or more. But even as Adams struggled, he still had a relatively steady base of supporters who stood by him, allowing him to regularly place somewhere between second and fourth place in polling of the crowded field. Some polling suggested that was fueled by slightly higher support among Black voters and more moderate voters. Analysts said Adams's move now presents an opening for another candidate but were split on who may be the biggest beneficiary. Pollster Bradley Honan, who leads the polling firm Honan Strategy Group, said the firm's polling has shown Cuomo benefits the most when Adams is eliminated in the hypothetical ranked-choice match-up. In ranked-choice voting, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated, and their votes are reallocated according to their supporters' next choice, and the process continues until one candidate wins a majority. 'We already have data that shows what the impact of Adams not being in the race is, and that's ranked-choice voting,' he said. The most recent Honan poll showed almost all of Adams's supporters switch to Cuomo in a hypothetical primary after the incumbent is eliminated. Democrats said politically that would make sense as Cuomo and Adams generally both appeal to more moderate voters and most of the other candidates in the race are running as progressives. Cuomo's strategy has focused on his leadership abilities in a time of supposed chaos in the city, as well as supplanting Adams as the main moderate candidate in the race with the mayor bogged down in controversy. But some said Adams's departure from the primary could present an opportunity for another candidate who hasn't yet been able to break through and seriously challenge Cuomo for the nomination. State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani currently appears to have the best case to become that candidate as he has surged in the polls lately and has already reached the maximum fundraising limit allowed for the primary. In the most recent polls, Mamdani has been the only candidate other than Adams often reaching double digits, and data shows he has been particularly energizing younger and more progressive voters. He has the backing of Democratic Socialists of America. Smikle said Cuomo's win isn't inevitable and a lane could open for a progressive alternative to him. He said Cuomo will be the main target of attacks from his opponents as the leading candidate. 'On the one hand, that might spell some difficulty for [Cuomo], but it may open the door for Mamdani to start landing some shots in ways that he didn't land before,' he said. Danielle Deiseroth, the executive director of the progressive polling firm Data for Progress, said the mayor's decision may be helpful to New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, particularly in the boroughs of Queens, which she represents, and Brooklyn, where the mayor had previously been borough president. She said the other candidates have until now been 'waging war on two fronts' attacking Cuomo and Eric Adams. 'This takes away one of the fronts that they can unite against a common enemy of Andrew Cuomo,' Deiseroth said. Eric Adams, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he expects to win reelection despite the daunting task ahead of him. Smikle said the mayor may have at least somewhat better of a chance making some inroads in the general electorate than with Democratic primary voters. He said the decision gives Adams some time to try to change the narrative and raise money. If Adams were to be successful, a win by an independent as mayor of New York City would be rare but not unprecedented. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially was a Republican when he was first elected, but he left the party and won reelection as an independent in 2009. In his video announcing his decision, Adams referenced former Mayor John Lindsay, who was first elected in 1965 as a Republican before winning reelection on a third-party ticket with the Liberal Party against a Democratic and Republican opponent. Smikle said Lindsay was a moderate Republican and a strong 'retail politician' willing to reach out to communities of color at a time when many politicians, particularly other Republicans, ignored them. He also pointed to Bloomberg's extensive financial resources allowing him to get his message out. 'While moving to an independent candidacy gives [Adams] time to rewrite his narrative, he still needs the resources to communicate that to larger numbers,' he said. Although Adams has for months said he's running, he has not shown much outward appearance of doing so, raising little money and not holding campaign events. Early polling also shows Adams may not be too impactful in a three-way general election. One poll taken before Adams's decision showed him with just 11 percent to Cuomo's 43 percent and 13 percent for Republican Curtis Sliwa, who was the 2021 GOP nominee and is running again. The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Adams's campaign about his vision for his path to victory. Honan said Adams's decision may be about a larger goal than trying to win reelection, calling him 'politically toast.' 'I see this ploy that he's pursuing right now, it's not an electoral play that he's running as an independent,' he said. 'It's a ploy to stay relevant in [President] Trump's world. Trump doesn't like losers.' Adams moved closer to Trump's circle as the president was set to take office, meeting with him, attending his inauguration and refusing to criticize him as most other Democrats have. 'Were he to run in the Democratic primary, he would almost certainly lose, and then his currency goes way, way down. He becomes a lame duck,' Honan said. 'And so, this is an opportunity for him to extend his relevance into November.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
05-04-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Adams's independent bid injects more uncertainty into NYC race
New York City Mayor Eric Adams's decision to run for reelection as an independent is injecting fresh uncertainty into a race that has been shaping up into a likely comeback for former Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D). Adams announced his decision Thursday after much speculation that he would forgo the Democratic primary amid long odds of winning the nomination, citing the effect that the length of time the criminal case against him dragged on had on his chances. His decision will ensure his political relevancy at least through November. But while his chances of pulling off a successful independent run seem slim, his decision could still have wide-ranging consequences for the other candidates in the race. 'What I think you have is an opportunity for a strong progressive candidate to emerge to counter, to actually be able to go up against [Cuomo's] more moderate policies,' said Democratic strategist Basil Smikle, a former executive director of the state party. Cuomo, the former governor of New York for more than a decade, has been the front-runner for the nomination since he launched his campaign at the start of last month and even before that. His potential return to electoral politics had been long anticipated and was expected to be a juggernaut in the race, particularly with the incumbent mayor under indictment and having almost rock-bottom favorability ratings. Cuomo has held a steady lead in polling, with his initial support in the hypothetical ranked-choice voting system that the city uses in the 30s. The closest any other candidate has come has often been 20 points back or more. But even as Adams struggled, he still had a relatively steady base of supporters who stood by him, allowing him to regularly place somewhere between second and fourth place in polling of the crowded field. Some polling suggested that was fueled by slightly higher support among Black voters and more moderate voters. Analysts said Adams's move now presents an opening for another candidate but were split on who may be the biggest beneficiary. Pollster Bradley Honan, who leads the polling firm Honan Strategy Group, said the firm's polling has shown Cuomo benefits the most when Adams is eliminated in the hypothetical ranked-choice match-up. In ranked-choice voting, the candidate with the fewest first-place votes is eliminated, and their votes are reallocated according to their supporters' next choice, and the process continues until one candidate wins a majority. 'We already have data that shows what the impact of Adams not being in the race is, and that's ranked-choice voting,' he said. The most recent Honan poll showed almost all of Adams's supporters switch to Cuomo in a hypothetical primary after the incumbent is eliminated. Democrats said politically that would make sense as Cuomo and Adams generally both appeal to more moderate voters and most of the other candidates in the race are running as progressives. Cuomo's strategy has focused on his leadership abilities in a time of supposed chaos in the city, as well as supplanting Adams as the main moderate candidate in the race with the mayor bogged down in controversy. But some said Adams's departure from the primary could present an opportunity for another candidate who hasn't yet been able to break through and seriously challenge Cuomo for the nomination. State Assembly member Zohran Mamdani currently appears to have the best case to become that candidate as he has surged in the polls lately and has already reached the maximum fundraising limit allowed for the primary. In the most recent polls, Mamdani has been the only candidate other than Adams often reaching double digits, and data shows he has been particularly energizing younger and more progressive voters. He has the backing of Democratic Socialists of America. Smikle said Cuomo's win isn't inevitable and a lane could open for a progressive alternative to him. He said Cuomo will be the main target of attacks from his opponents as the leading candidate. 'On the one hand, that might spell some difficulty for [Cuomo], but it may open the door for Mamdani to start landing some shots in ways that he didn't land before,' he said. Danielle Deiseroth, the executive director of the progressive polling firm Data for Progress, said the mayor's decision may be helpful to New York City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams, particularly in the boroughs of Queens, which she represents, and Brooklyn, where the mayor had previously been borough president. She said the other candidates have until now been 'waging war on two fronts' attacking Cuomo and Eric Adams. 'This takes away one of the fronts that they can unite against a common enemy of Andrew Cuomo,' Deiseroth said. Eric Adams, meanwhile, has repeatedly said he expects to win reelection despite the daunting task ahead of him. Smikle said the mayor may have at least somewhat better of a chance making some inroads in the general electorate than with Democratic primary voters. He said the decision gives Adams some time to try to change the narrative and raise money. If Adams were to be successful, a win by an independent as mayor of New York City would be rare but not unprecedented. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially was a Republican when he was first elected, but he left the party and won reelection as an independent in 2009. In his video announcing his decision, Adams referenced former Mayor John Lindsay, who was first elected in 1965 as a Republican before winning reelection on a third-party ticket with the Liberal Party against a Democratic and Republican opponent. Smikle said Lindsay was a moderate Republican and a strong 'retail politician' willing to reach out to communities of color at a time when many politicians, particularly other Republicans, ignored them. He also pointed to Bloomberg's extensive financial resources allowing him to get his message out. 'While moving to an independent candidacy gives [Adams] time to rewrite his narrative, he still needs the resources to communicate that to larger numbers,' he said. Although Adams has for months said he's running, he has not shown much outward appearance of doing so, raising little money and not holding campaign events. Early polling also shows Adams may not be too impactful in a three-way general election. One poll taken before Adams's decision showed him with just 11 percent to Cuomo's 43 percent and 13 percent for Republican Curtis Sliwa, who was the 2021 GOP nominee and is running again. The Hill has reached out to a spokesperson for Adams's campaign about his vision for his path to victory. Honan said Adams's decision may be about a larger goal than trying to win reelection, calling him 'politically toast.' 'I see this ploy that he's pursuing right now, it's not an electoral play that he's running as an independent,' he said. 'It's a ploy to stay relevant in [President] Trump's world. Trump doesn't like losers.' Adams moved closer to Trump's circle as the president was set to take office, meeting with him, attending his inauguration and refusing to criticize him as most other Democrats have. 'Were he to run in the Democratic primary, he would almost certainly lose, and then his currency goes way, way down. He becomes a lame duck,' Honan said. 'And so, this is an opportunity for him to extend his relevance into November.'
