Martin McGuinness is to meet with the Queen next week
‘He gets the green light from Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle’
The Sinn Féin President Gerry Adams has acknowledged that the planned meeting between the Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness and Queen Elizabeth II will cause difficulties for republicans.
At a press conference announcing the decision of the Sinn Féin Ard Comhairle to effectively give McGuinness the green light to meet the English monarch next Wednesday at a luncheon in Belfast, Adams said that the decision was part of a process of “reconciliation”.
He acknowledged that the decision will “cause difficulty for Republicans and nationalists who have suffered at the hands of British forces in Ireland over many decades” but added that “this is a significant initiative involving major political and symbolic challenges for Irish republicans”.
“As the record of the peace process demonstrates Irish republicans have frequently been prepared to take bold and historic initiatives and risks for peace to break stalemates and find agreements,” he told the media.
The meeting at the Co-Operation Ireland event in the Northern Ireland capital next week will, according to Press Association’s Deric Henderson, be strictly private with no cameras allowed.
It marks the first time that a senior leader of the republican movement and a former member of the IRA has met with a reigning monarch and will by a symbolic first in the peace process set up by the Good Friday Agreement 14 years ago.
Adams said that the decision today reflected his party’s commitment to the peace process and to unite Ireland saying that it was Sinn Féin’s “genuine desire to embrace our unionist neighbours”.
“It reflects the equality and parity of esteem arrangements which are now in place,” he said adding that it was clear that there were “legacy issues” that had to be dealt with by the party.
He added: “I accept that this decision will cause genuine and understandable difficulties for some people, not least some of the victims of the British crown forces in Ireland.”
Irish Government and Politicians castigate the Ulster Bank over customers cash crisis
The Ulster Bank has been castigated by both the Taoiseach and the Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton over its failure to deal with a technology crash which has affected 100,000 Irish customers.
Some 53,000 social welfare payments have been affected by the Ulster Bank’s systems failure, with thousands of customers unable to receive payments over the weekend.
In an attempt to meet customer demands Ulster Bank will open 70 branches today until 3pm, and a further 20 will open tomorrow until 1pm.
Both Enda Kenny and Ms Burton said the debacle would only worsen the already dim view that Irish people have of banks.
Speaking in Scotland after a meeting of the British-Irish Council, Mr Kenny said Ulster Bank’s failure to deal with the three-day IT failure, which has seen customers unable to get cheques lodged to their accounts, “only exacerbates the cynicism” Irish people have for financial institutions.
Ms Burton said she estimated some 30,000 social welfare recipients have been affected by the glitch. Many have been left without money for the weekend. She described herself as being “extremely disappointed” by the delay.
“Given all of the grief that banks have caused to people in Ireland, I really think that the bank needs to address this particular situation with absolute urgency.
“They have to look at the situation of people over the weekend, particularly older people who spend all their social welfare income.
“For some of the people at the top of the banks €100 might not seem a lot, but it is to a pensioner,” she said.
One of those affected, a man named John from Mullingar, said his disability payment “is all I have”. The man, who would not give his surname, said he only found out about the computer glitch from a news report yesterday morning.
“I have been with the bank for years and they have my contact details, but they haven’t even sent out a text.
“I am only one person – how many others are out there like me?”
The breakdown has meant that customers who go into branches cannot access their accounts because the bank officials cannot access them either.
However, some customers have been advanced payments based on their social welfare entitlements or their salaries.
Sean Kearns from Sligo was almost left without a way to get to work and back when he discovered he could not withdraw money from a cash machine.
“It told me I had insufficient funds as my wages were unable to come through.
“It costs me €100 to get to work for a tank of petrol as I work near Dublin, so it would be impossible for me to go home and get to work Monday.”
Some 38,000 HSE employees who are paid through Ulster Bank can get an advance of up to €500.
The bank has blamed its parent, the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS Group), for the difficulties.
RBS said it had fixed the technology problem, but it would be Monday before the backlog of transactions was sufficiently dealt with.
In a statement Ulster Bank apologised “unreservedly” to customers.
“We appreciate that this is having a significant impact on many of our customers and customers of other banks,” it said in a statement.
“Customers who have incurred fees or charges as a result of this issue will be fully refunded in due course.”
New SME loan funding scheme by Irish Government hopes to create 7,700 new jobs
The Irish Banks and small businesses alike have welcomed the Government’s announcement of a new funding scheme for micro-enterprises.
Minister for Enterprise Richard Bruton yesterday unveiled details of the Microenterprise Loan Fund Scheme, which will make over €90 million in extra lending available to 5,500 businesses over the next decade. The Minister predicted the scheme, which is due to become operational this autumn, will create 7,700 jobs.
In the initial stage of the scheme, €40 million will be made available for lending to businesses with no more than 10 employees. This phase will span five years, but provision has also been made for an additional €50 million to be provided over a further five-year period.
The Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation said start-ups, existing microenterprises and sole traders will be eligible to apply for loans. In order to qualify, applicant firms must have already had a request for credit declined by banks.
“The scheme will provide loans for commercially viable proposals that do not meet the conventional risk criteria applied by the banks for various reasons, including the absence of collateral,” it said.
The average loan is expected to be €16,000, but sums of up to €25,000 will be available.
The scheme will be operated by Microfinance Ireland, a subsidiary of Social Finance Foundation.
Patricia Callan of the Small Firms Association said the scheme has real potential to deliver credit to viable businesses that do not fit the “risk-averse criteria” set out by the mainstream banking sector.
The Irish Banking Federation and business lobby group Chambers Ireland also welcomed the announcement.
‘Graphically innovative leaving cert paper’
Shows a modern appeal to Irish students
It was a “graphically innovative” and “modern” end to the Leaving Cert for students of technology yesterday afternoon.
The subject, which was the last to be examined in this year’s Leaving Cert exams, has attracted almost a thousand students since it was first examined two years ago.
Technology is a wide-ranging subject incorporating elements of design, computing, electronics and mechanics. Four times as many boys as girls are currently studying it for the Leaving Cert.
“Students were pleased with both technology papers yesterday,” said Kieran Christie, ASTI member and teacher at St Attracta’s Community School in Sligo.
“The section A paper was of a particularly high standard, with innovative graphics throughout.”
Graphics included a picture of the famous tubular steel and red leather Bibendum chair by Irish furniture designer and architect Eileen Gray, which was inspired by the Michelin Man.
“The higher paper had a very modern feel. Concepts such as upcycling were topical but also well explained for those students who might not be familiar with the term,” said Mr Christie.
Teachers also praised references to current events in the paper, including constructive design in the context of the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake.
There was also a question referencing the 2012 London Olympics. The materials technology section focused on design for disability.
Students were also asked to look at the advantages of a wind energy system for Ireland.
“Technology is still a minority subject but it is very rewarding, and yesterday’s paper reflected its modernity and relevance to Ireland today,” said Mr Christie.
Tickets to the Moon are now available for new passenger service for just $100 million
Excalibur Almaz brings out their refurbished Russian spacecraft
One of Excalibur Almaz’s space stations above at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s European Space Tourism Conference.
Excalibur Almaz has announced that it is selling tickets to lunar orbit. The price is $100 million. Your golden ticket will entitle you to a complete astronaut experience.
You’ll begin with astronaut training, not just a course on how to make it to the escape capsule in the event of an emergency, but also how to pilot the spacecraft back to Earth in the event that something goes wrong with its onboard navigation. The price includes a ticket to a suborbital flight to space aboard the XCOR Lynx suborbital spaceplane, so you’ll have already been to space and experienced weightlessness before you board the Excalibur reusable capsule.
On the big day you’ll ride the Soyuz rocket with your two fellow passengers up from Baikonur to one of the company’s two 90-cubic-meter space stations. Once you’re aboard the station with your two fellow passengers, an electric thruster will slowly spiral the three of you up to an elliptical orbit around the Moon. After several days you’ll spiral back the way you came, re-enter Earth orbit, board a small reusable capsule and re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere, leaving the station behnd you. Home again, home again.
Excalibur Almaz has based its business around a fleet of Soviet spacecraft purchased by its somewhat-legendary founder, Art Dula of Houston, Texas, who has been involved with several other successful space companies. The age of the thirty-year-old spacecraft means very little; most current Russian spacecraft date from the Soviet-era and they are considered to be among the safest and most reliable spacecraft ever built.
Space launches are very public, and Mr. Dula’s fleet was built during a time when any public failure meant dire consequences not only for the cosmonaut but also for anyone connected with the failure (people who make mistakes still die, but from “stress“). Because of their stout engineering, old Soviet launchers and spacecraft have consistently excellent safety records.
Several years ago Dula procured two Almaz space stations, designed for Soviet military reconnaissance, and four very stout reusable return capsules along with their escape systems. The space stations are closely related to the Zvezda and Zarya modules on the Russian side of the International Space Station, and although the reusable return vehicles have never been flown manned, they have been extensively tested. For the last seven years the new company has been quietly working on the equally-expensive tasks of filling out paperwork and engineering.
A myriad of licenses were necessary to bring the equipment out of Russia and on to the Isle of Man, an aerospace hotbed where Excalibur Almaz is based. Eventually the collection of stations and reusable return vehicles arrived at their new home, and EA began their refurbishment with modern off-the-shelf parts from the various space industry catalogs.
The spacecraft received new solar arrays, environmental controls, flight controls and communications equipment. The kitchen, crew quarters, exercise rooms, storage racks, laboratory and telescope are all being brought up to date. On the outside, the craft are receiving electric and hypergolic thrusters. The Excalibur Almaz paint scheme is a glossy white, devoid of Soviet insignia.
The Soviet spacecraft by themselves were not enough to build a complete system. Excalibur Almaz has also contracted with the manufacturers in Russia and the Ukraine for more of the stock pieces. They asked aerospace giant EADS Astrium in Europe to do preliminary designs for an intermediate propulsion stage with new passenger and cargo modules based on the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV).
They struck a Space Act Agreement with NASA in order to learn how to meet U.S. space agency standards for carrying crew to the space station. For marketing studies, EA went to Futron Corporation, a company which specializes in aerospace markets and knows the space tourism industry well.
Futron told them that launch prices were currently too high for profitable operations in Low Earth Orbit. “I stress that we were quite surprised to find that we can’t operate at a profit in Low Earth Orbit right now,” said Mr. Dula at the ISDC 2012 conference last month. “That takes government subsidy. There aren’t enough customers in LEO. There are more customers that are interested in going beyond LEO for a purely commercial system.”
“Beyond LEO” meant the Moon, and as it happens mathematics has made getting to the Moon a little easier than it was during the Apollo era. For low-energy lunar transfer orbits EA went to Dr. Ed Belbruno, a mathematician who specializes in celestial mechanics, and to Jet Propulsion Laboratories in Pasadena. Orbits were found that would allow the station to use electric propulsion to slowly make its way into lunar orbits. EA contracted with U.S.-based United Launch Alliance (ULA) for phasing studies, the adjustment of a spacecraft’s time-position along its orbit. Plans eventually came together for three different lunar missions. One of them is a lunar cycler orbit based on work done by former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin, an old friend of Mr. Dula’s.
The first mission begins in low Earth orbit and involves an elliptical lunar flyby, good for tourists who want to see the Moon up close through a window instead of a telescope. The second requires the station to travel up to a circular lunar orbit on a slow low-energy trajectory, where it waits for a crew on a high-energy spacecraft such as an Orion space capsule riding on a ULA Centaur upper stage. The crew vehicle docks with the station and can stay for a month or two. It then does a high-energy return and re-enters the atmosphere.
The third mission is the lunar cycler orbit, wherein the space station flies to the Moon on a low-energy trajectory and gets a gravity boost out of the plane of the ecliptic, up and over the Earth instead of around it. The Moon rotates around and catches the spacecraft two weeks later on the other side, catching the spacecraft and returning it to where a new crew or supply ship can dock with it. The two-week cycles could last quite a long time before the station would need to be refueled.
For now, the only man-rated vehicle capable of launching the small “taxi” vehicles, with their launch escape systems and reusable return capsules, are Soyuz rockets. The Chinese Long March is also the right size and man-rated, but U.S. technology export rules forbid it. In the near future other vehicles could be or will be man-rated, so there will be more choices. The stations themselves will probably go up aboard Russian Proton rockets, for which they were designed, but they could also go up on many other launchers. Excalibur Almaz also has a six-person vehicle, essentially a scaled up version of their 3-person capsule, approaching its Critical Design Review.
A reusable reentry vehicle was displayed at the Royal Aeronautical Society’s Third European Space Tourism Conference in London, where Mr. Dula made another presentation yesterday. It has now been shipped back to the company headquarters on the Isle of Man, where it will wait for the first three customers.
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