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Irish Picks: June 2000

Welcome to Irish Picks for June! If you know of a site we should cover, don't keep it a secret.
Just contact our Editor, Sheila McDonald, and one of our reviewers will check it out.

He may be a puppet, but that hasn't stopped Dustin the turkey from becoming one of Ireland's favourite television personalities. Now, at Dustin is From Leitrim, his fans can discover the true and tragic past of this feathered fellow, including his father's death (a year before Dustin's birth), and Dustin's chequered past in politics and rock and roll - see if you can spot any subtle doctoring to the photos illustrating each escapade. Best of all is the picture of Dustin modelling Leitrim's new, all-weather football jersey, a pea- green contraption that looks suspiciously like a bin bag.
Don't let the confusing design of this helpful health site put you off. If your doctor has recommended that you get a series of blood tests, Irish Phelobotomy Services could save you a heap of time and effort. Get details here on the company's home service, which lets you request that a health professional come to your home to draw blood for any tests your doctor has ordered. The service is only available weekdays in the Dublin area currently, and the site itself can be somewhat slow and difficult to navigate. On the up side, it features useful details that patients want about common tests, including a full blood count and thyroid function tests, so you'll know what becomes of your blood after it leaves your veins.
Do you have all the insurance you need? The handy new site from 123.ie really is as straightforward as it sounds. The uncluttered front page gives visitors instant access to online quotations for policies including mortgage protection and life insurance. Just answer a few key questions from easy drop-down lists, and you'll get an instant quotation for the related monthly premium. The click-and-go design is probably the most refreshingly simple design we've seen on an Irish Web utility: extra information is neatly filed behind clear links, including the full and disturbing list of maladies (chronic liver disease, major head trauma) that a serious illness policy will cover.
Teleworking is finally being taken seriously at a government level in Ireland, and the brand-new E- Work site is a good starting point for anyone wanting to learn about working from home or flexible and remote working. Find tangible examples of Irish firms who let employees work at a distance, or get a directory of teleworking associations, trainers and equipment providers, including dedicated work-at-home information from firms like BT. Arguably the most important area of all, the jobs and recruitment area, is still in the building stages, but when complete it should carry openings for teleworking opportunities in areas like IT, sales and marketing, and accountancy.
Irish soprano Regina Nathan has done herself proud with a stylish and useful site describing her work and offering some tracks for download. In addition to the usual biography information, the soloist has also provided tools to let fans download MP3 songs or to purchase her album immediately online. Ticketing information for upcoming performances is included, and special fans can get details about Nathan's recital club, where she performs themed collections of songs to small audiences in Dublin. Musicians looking to maximise the Web could do worse than emulate this admirable effort.

Sites Featured in Irish Picks:

Dustin is from Leitrim - the truth is out about Ireland's top turkey.
Irish Phlebotomy Services - need blood tests done? These nurses make housecalls.
123.ie - getting an insurance quotation is easier than you'd think.
E-Work.ie - the Irish resource for flexible working and teleworking schools.
Regina Nathan - a class act from this classical soloist.

Previous Irish Picks of the Month:

[ May 00 | April 00 | March 00 | February 00 ]