The next President of Ireland could be Bill Clinton
(He reveals he could run for Irish Presidency)
Bill Clinton the former US President has revealed that he would be eligible to run for President of Ireland in 2018 if he wished.
The 66 year old, who served two terms in the White House from 1993-2001, told CNN he would be eligible to run for the Presidency of Ireland and France.
The former President said: “If I move to Ireland and buy a house, I can run for president of Ireland because of my Irish heritage.”
Clinton would also be eligible to fun for President of France: “Any person anywhere in the world that was born in a place that ever was a part of the French empire, if you move to, if you live in France for six months and speak French you can run for president of France.”
He was born in Arkansas which became part of the United States due to the Louisiana Purchase, when the US bought land from France in 1803 to settle a territorial claim.
The popular former President even polled well in a theoretical poll of his chances in a French election, however said his poor French would ruin his chances.
“That’s the best I’d ever do because once they heard my broken French with a southern accent I would drop into single digits within a week and I’d be toast”, he joked.
Roisin Shortall resigns as junior health minister
DUE TO LACK OF SUPPORT WITHIN THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
Roisin Shortall has resigned as junior minister for health, over what she described as a “lack of support for the reforms in the Programme for Government and the values which underpin it”.
Ms Shortall has also resigned the Labour Party whip.
In a statement, Ms Shortall said the public has a right to expect that decisions on health infrastructure and staffing will be made in the public interest based on health need and not driven by other concerns.
She said that the decision comes after repeated and lengthy efforts to reach agreement on the implementation of the Programme for Government, both within the Department of Health and across Government.
Ms Shortall said: “It is with regret that I have today tendered my resignation as Minister of State at the Department of Health to An Taoiseach, Enda Kenny.
“I have also informed the Tánaiste, Eamon Gilmore, that I am resigning the Parliamentary Labour Party whip.”
She said it was “no longer possible for me to fulfil my role as Minister of State for Primary Care”.
Taoiseach and Tánaiste disappointed
The Taoiseach said he regretted Ms Shortall’s decision and thanked her for her work, particularly in the area of dealing with alcohol abuse.
A spokesperson for the Tánaiste said Eamon Gilmore was “very disappointed” at Ms Shortall’s resignation, saying that he very much appreciated her commitment to her role as Minister of State.
Mr Gilmore is in New York for a meeting of the United Nations General Assembly.
Through his spokesperson, he said the Labour Party is very much committed to the reform agenda in health and in the Programme for Government.
Labour’s Chief Whip Emmet Stagg said he regretted the resignation, saying the loss of a junior minister was a “serious matter” for the Government.
Several Labour backbenchers have also expressed regret at Ms Shortall’s resignation on their Twitter accounts.
Dublin South-East’s Kevin Humphreys said he was disappointed she felt she had to resign.
He said he had great respect for her and that she was leading the radical reform of health services needs.
Dominic Hannigan of Meath East said he was “very sad to see Roisin go”.
Brendan Ryan, who shares the Dublin North constituency with James Reilly, said he was “so sorry” that she had resigned.
He added, that there was a lot of support for her within the party grassroots and the general public.
‘Tense and difficult’ meeting
Earlier this evening, Ms Shortall said she still had not received an explanation from Health Minister James Reilly as to what criteria were used to select an extra 15 sites for primary care centres, a spokesperson said.
They said yesterday’s meeting between the two ministers had been “tense and difficult”.
A newly released letter this evening from Minister Reilly to Ms Shortall explained the reasons for expanding the list of 20 sites for proposed primary care centres to 35.
However, it does not explain the reasons for choosing what 15 locations would be added.
Ireland’s capital hotel room revenue up by 10.7% first 8 months 2012
The Dublin hotel market has experienced a 10.7 per cent increase in revenue per room in the first eight months of this year compared to the same period in 2011, according to a new study.
The report by STR Global and hotel property specialist Christie + Co said the growth was driven by “enhanced rate achieveability” on the back of stronger demand. However, the city’s revenue per room was still far off the peak levels witnessed in 2007.
The strong trading throughout 2011 led to a €6 gain per room as a result of both a 4 per cent increase in occupancy to 71.2 per cent and a 5.4 per cent increase in the average room rate to €81.61. For the first eight months of 2012 as occupancy had strengthened, hoteliers achieved a higher rate from both leisure and corporate segments to reach €87.50.
Maureen Doyle of Christie + Co, said the growth could be attributed to a general boost in demand and an increase in the number of visitors to Dublin, enhanced consumer confidence and a slight weakness of the euro against sterling and the dollar. The 9 per cent VAT rate on certain goods and services had also aided the tourism and hospitality industries to regain growth. Initiatives such as “The Gathering” were also likely to have a positive impact on the hotel market.
Data from Fáilte Ireland shows that the city’s registered room stock is over 18,500, a 37 per cent increase on 2005. Most of the new additions are in the four and five- star segments. Since a peak in 2010 supply is down slightly due to the closure of a number of properties, including the Montrose, The Royal Dublin, Ormond Hotel and Chief O’Neill’s which was converted to a hostel. Christie + Co said the pipeline for new hotel development was weak with the exception of a recently sold part-completed docklands hotel due to open next spring as “The Marker” with 187 bedrooms.
Male DNA discovered in women’s brains
Male DNA is commonly found in the brains of women, a study has found. The cause of the phenomenon is most likely being pregnant with a boy, say scientists.
No one yet knows the medical implications of the discovery. But there is a suggestion that male DNA in the female brain might protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Other kinds of “microchimerism”, the harbouring of genetic material and cells swapped between foetus and mother during pregnancy, have been linked to both beneficial and harmful effects.
A study of 59 deceased women aged 32 to 101 found that the brains of those with Alzheimer’s were less likely to contain foetal-derived male DNA. The genetic material was also seen in lower concentrations in regions of the brain most affected by the disease.
But the scientists stressed that the small number of women studied and largely unknown pregnancy history means that no firm conclusions can be drawn from these findings.
Study leader Dr William Chan, from the Fred Hutchinson CancerResearch Centre in Seattle, US, said: “Currently, the biological significance of harbouring male DNA and male cells in the human brain requires further investigation.”
The researchers detected male microchimerism in 63% of the brain specimens. Male DNA was distributed in multiple brain regions and appeared to persist throughout life. The oldest woman whose brain contained male foetal DNA was 94.
The findings, published in the online journal Public Library of Science ONE, suggest that foetal cells frequently cross from the bloodstream to the brain.
Previous studies have shown that in some conditions, such asbreast cancer , cells of male foetal origin may be protective. In others, such as colon cancer, they have been associated with increased risk.
Research has also found a lower risk of rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease, in women who have given birth to a son at least once.
The Pensioner murder victim in Sligo may not have survived even if Gardai had found him earlier, says family cousin
The family of murdered pensioner Eugene Gillespie has said they will never know if he could have been saved if Gardai had called to his home after receiving a 999 call.
The victim’s cousin, Francis Gillespie, said Eugene endured such a severe attack that it was unclear whether he would have survived even if Gardai had found him earlier.
“I don’t know if it would have made a difference, he was very badly beaten,” he said.
Mr Gillespie said the family were still struggling to come to terms with the brutal murder of the popular Sligo man.
He added that they were now anxious to have his remains returned in order to hold a funeral for the vintage car enthusiast.
“We just want to give him a proper funeral; it’s all we can do for him now. But we have to wait until all the forensics are finished,” he explained.
Paying tribute to his cousin, Mr Gillespie added: “Eugene was one of the kindest men you could ever meet.”
He urged anyone with information on the brutal murder to come forward.
Brutal
“If anyone has any information, I would urge them to contact the gardai. The brutal manner of his attack is still hard for us to believe,” he said.
Mr Gillespie was last seen in Sligo on Thursday morning. He was discovered by family members, beaten and tied up in the hall of his home, at 9.20pm on Friday, after they had became concerned when they could not reach him on the telephone.
Eugene died in hospital last Saturday.
However, it has emerged that Gardaí received an anonymous 999 call on Thursday, alerting them to the fact that a man had been tied up in a house with a brown gate in Sligo.
Yesterday, gardai said the call had been specific about the house in question and that it was not Mr Gillespie’s home. An officer called to the house indicated and was satisfied there was nothing suspicious.
The pensioner was not found until the following night, lying unconscious on the floor of his Old Market Street home, with his hands tied behind his back.
His home is less than 100 metres from the Garda station.
Gardai are liaising with phone companies in an effort to establish the identity of the caller. They also hope that footprints from runners and blood samples taken at the house will help track down the killers.
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