Two Romanian Men are charged with manslaughter over publican John Kenny death in Galway
A man and a youth have appeared in court charged in connection with the killing of publican John Kenny in Oughterard, Co Galway last year.
John Kenny was found dead at his pub in Oughterard in September last year
Two people appeared before Galway District Court this morning in connection with the killing of publican and teacher John Kenny in Oughterard, Co Galway, last year.
36-year old Marian Lingurar, who is from Romania, was arrested in Cork last night along with a 17-year-old youth who cannot be identified.
The men were also charged with the withholding of information in relation to the killing of Mr Kenny.
Mr Kenny, 56, ran the family-owned pub in Oughterard and also taught at the Presentation College in Athenry.
His body was found by family members on the ground floor of the pub.
A post-mortem examination revealed he died as a result of an assault.
Meanwhile, Romanian national Floran Fitzpatrick is due before Harristown District Court later today.
He was first arrested last September in relation to the witholding of information in relation to the killing of Mr Kenny.
The Pressure is on & increasing for junk food taxes in Ireland
Sugar can be as harmful to health as alcohol or tobacco and should be restricted through additional taxes and other measures, according to doctors in the US.
In Ireland, the current Government last year said it was considering the introduction of extra taxes on fatty foods and sugary drinks. However, as yet no such measures have been introduced.
A consultation process has just begun in Ireland, however, on including calorie counts on menus in restaurants.
Scientists from the University of California say new taxes on foods high in sugar are needed to control excessive consumption.
Some countries have been introducing taxation measures in order to curb excess consumption of unhealthy foods. Denmark and Hungary have imposed a tax on foods high in saturated fat, and France has introduced a tax on soft drinks.
Now, researchers in the US are proposing similar policies for added sugar and sweeteners, due to concerns about the amount of sugar in people’s diets.
Writing in the journal Nature, Prof Robert Lustig, a child obesity specialist, said governments needed to consider major new policies, such as taxes, restricting sales of sweet food and drinks at school, or even preventing children below a certain age from purchasing certain junk foods.
Last November, Health Minister James Reilly said he was holding discussions with the food and drinks industry on the issue of taxing fatty foods and sugary drinks. He said this was ‘absolutely under consideration’.
Dr Reilly also said at the time there had been a positive response from the food industry to his proposals to have calorie counting on fast food restaurant menus, and this may also be implemented in other restaurants.
No specific measures have as yet been implemented aimed at tackling the obesity problem.
However, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland today announced a national consultation to seek opinions on the best way of putting calorie information on menus in Ireland.
This follows Minister Reilly writing late last year to fast food outlets and cafes requesting that they consider including calories on their menus.
The consultation launched today by Dr Reilly is an opportunity for consumers and the food industry to give their views on how calories on menus can be best implemented in Ireland, according to the Authority.
A recent major report on child obesity revealed that 26% of nine-year-olds in Ireland are either overweight or obese.
Good News: A New specialist service is planned for diabetic children in UCHG Galway
Children in need of specialist diabetic treatment will no longer have to travel to Dublin, following news that a new local nursing service is to be established this year.
Fine Gael Senator Fidelma Healy Eames has today welcomed the provision of the specialist diabetic nursing service for children in University College Hospital Galway (UCHG) and Mid-West Hospital in Limerick. The support amounts to 1.2 posts shared between the two hospitals and will mean that children with Type 1 diabetes will no longer have to travel to Dublin for their treatment.
“I welcome the announcement of nursing support for children with Type 1 diabetes, which will be of huge benefit to diabetic children in Galway and Limerick and their families. The nursing support will enable children to get their insulin pump treatment closer to their homes. Up to this point, children had to travel to Dublin for this treatment.
“It is vital that these posts are filled before June 2012. The later in the year we go, the higher the chances are of the posts being lost. Diabetes Ireland has also been in touch with the consultant endocrinologists in the hospitals concerned to ensure that the new posts appear in the individual hospital plans for 2012 and I will be supporting them in this call.”
The VHI increases it’s premiums by a whopping 9% to their customers
Up 9% 
Company says increases are required to ensure it remains sustainable
VHI’s more than 1.3 million subscribers received bad news today after the State’s largest private health insurer announced an average 9 per cent rise in premiums.
Older people will once again bear the brunt of the increases with the HealthPlus Extra policy, formerly known Plan B Options, set to climb 12.5 per cent.
This policy, which is popular amongst the older demographic (particularly those over 60 years-of-age) has increased 59 per cent during a series of price hikes in the last 14 months.
The company claimed today’s price increases were unavoidable and older customers continued to be “significantly loss making”.
It warned “until such time as a comprehensive risk equalisation scheme is introduced which makes it as attractive to insure an older, sicker person as a younger, healthier person” the health insurance market would continue to segment.
“The sole purpose of the price increase is to cover our customers’ healthcare costs in the coming year,” VHI chief executive Declan Moran said.
He said the company was losing money and the price increases were essential to ensure it remained sustainable.
Mr Moran said the company was “acutely aware” of the financial pressures facing people and added the company was not passing on the recently announced increase in the private health insurance levy.
The VHI said the average claims cost per customer had risen 15 per cent since 2009 and now stood at €980 per patient, compared with €851 three years ago.
Medical innovation was contributing to more positive health outcomes for sick people, particularly in cancer and cardiac care and survival rates for people with these conditions had increased significantly over the past 5 years, he added.
“These advances, while welcome by all, do have an impact on the cost of care and are a significant driver for increased private health insurance premiums each year,” the company said.
Mr Moran said the company the company had imposed cost savings of €190 million on its operation since 2009 and that administration costs accounted for less than 7 per cent of premium income.
Joan Burton confirms cuts to Communion money etc. payment’s for this year
The Social Protection Minister has confirmed that payments to families for special occasions, including first communions and confirmations, are to be cut.
Ms Burton said a review by community welfare officers made a number of recommendations, including that the average payment of €200 for holy communions be reduced to €110.
But she said that welfare officers would be allowed discretion when considering requests for exceptional needs payments.
The Government was criticised in the Dáil today for changing the guidelines for exceptional once-off payments to families in need.
Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald told the Dáil that increasingly it was the working poor who were accessing the payments, and said the Government was dressing up a cutback as change.
Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore said the guidelines had not been reviewed since 1995 and were being changed to reflect the current realities.
In relation to one area, 14,000 payments for communion and confirmation were made last year, at a cost of €3.4m.
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