May 092011
 

THE PHOENIX   |   Vol. 29. No 9    |   May 6th – May 19th 2011 |  Page  7

HUSH, HUSH!  : WHO HAS ACCESS TO CENSUS INFO?

In the last post on the census contractors, I mentioned there was some recent media reporting here in Ireland about CACI. I was referring to the latest issue of The Phoenix Magazine, which has a good piece on this story. Needless to say, I am grateful that this news has been picked up and happier still that it was by a publication with a good reputation for investigation. The journalist who wrote the piece was kind enough to pass me on the text of the story which is pasted in below for posterity. Some bits didn’t make the cut but the full piece is included here, as well as a pdf of the article as it appeared in print. (you can also read it by clicking on the image of it to the right). This edition is in your local newsagent for a bit over another week and I recommend you grab a copy. As always it’s a worthwhile read and this issue’s highlights include; a piece on Bob Geldof’s non-response to the IPSC about whether he should accept an award of an honorary doctorate from an Israeli university or stand up for human rights, an article about SDU spies from the USA round the back of the US Ambassador’s residence in the Phoenix Park (included on the pdf below), a primer for the Presidential Elections later this year, the usual round up of cute hoors winning or losing money in the courts, other business of movers and shakers, the state of the arts as well as, the always on the button, Craic & Codology. Grab your copy today.

 

On to the article…

 

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After a brief flurry of interest when Sinn Fein and ULA TDs raised questions on the subject, the Irish media were cheerleaders for the census and consigned objectors to the realm of conspiracist paranoia. But as the old saying goes: just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean there isn’t a multinational military contractor involved in processing your census form.

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Apr 092011
 

Twas the night before the census, when all through the country,
There was hardly an air of aware, about the war contractor.
The land of Ireland had enough on it’s mind to be worrying,
About the unknown knowns.

This is the last story before census day tomorrow. Thank you to everyone for sharing the information here. Please keep it up for this one. By the way, the storified stories here enable you to embed the full stories onto other blogs. Bloggers, I encourage you do to so to help spread the news.

I will be back next week with a summary of the last five weeks.

Here we go again…
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Apr 072011
 

Welcome to the latest story on CACI & the Irish Census. I am finding it somewhat difficult to stay on top of this as my only source of keeping up with what is being said in the Dáil is the Oireachtas website….

read on for the latest storified report..

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Mar 292011
 

Since the last collection of stories there is still a general lack of awareness from the general public about this issue. This is largely due to the silence of politicians and journalists. As a storyteller, I again compile some information for you here..

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Mar 272011
 

2011-03-25

Madam,

I was very surprised to learn about the involvement of war profiteers, CACI, in the upcoming census.

Not only have they secured the contract in this census but they have also engaged in it for the previous two.

What I find most surprising however is that none of the mainstream media here have ever picked up on this. The information filtered through online networks from published news in the Guardian and Observer, regarding the CACI contract in the Scottish census and the Lockheed Martin contract for the rest of the UK. The dots were connected and the discovery was made on the Oireachtas website, that Pat Carey announced in January 2010 that the Irish contract was awarded to CACI, six months previously, in July 2009. The CSO have confirmed this and seem quite displeased at this becoming (somewhat) public knowledge and have criticised concerned peoples’ genuine claims of CACI’s involvement in interrogation services at Abu Gharib prison in Iraq, as “irresponsible” according to online news outlet, The Journal.

I note that only two letters have been published regarding the upcoming census in the paper and I wonder if there is any more concern out there, apart from the apparent waste of the printing of the census ‘as gaelige’ and of not having an online option. Then again, this news of a company heavily involved in the ‘military industrial complex’ is not widely known about and the media has failed to inform the people of this. The CSO failed to inform their staff of this also, as when I mentioned this news to the enumerator he said he was aware and shocked to hear about Lockheed Martin’s involvement in the UK census, but he had no idea that CACI were involved in the questionnaire he was delivering.

I am also concerned about the legal requirement to take part in the census (as we were reminded by Garret Fitzgerald in the paper last week), when we are not even legally obliged to vote. Is it right that we not only give money to a company who’s business is war (online and offline) but that we may potentially, inadvertently, mistakenly, give them our data too?

I further question now, the true involvement of the conveniently ‘neutral’ Irish state in the war machine. Do our elected representatives discard morals and ethics when it comes to attracting US investment? Are we afraid of our reflection?

Yours sincerely,

MARK O’ CÚLAR

Old Kilmainham,

Dublin 8

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