Irish paid too high a price for the banks bailout says Bono and Larry
THE U2 SINGER BONO SAYS BOND HOLDERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BURNT IN ‘GRIM’ TIMES
U2 singer Bono has revealed he saw world famous investor and philanthropist George Soros “go for” Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, over the issue of Ireland being forced to pay off all our bondholders. The singer also says that Ireland should have burnt bondholders when the country went through the troika bailout.
“They are all big boys and they could have afforded a haircut and a new suit and some underwear if that was necessary,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Independent.
The singer went on to say: “That was a grim, grim moment in our history. Our people paid far too high a price.”
The singer says he saw investor and philanthropist George Soros, “go for Van Rompuy”, over the matter, “and it was embarrassing because George Soros knew more about the details of the Irish bond market than I did”.
Bono says the whole thing was “just very, very unfair”. But he did say he was, “amazed at the subtlety of the response [of the Irish people] because we could have thrown a monumental tantrum – it just wouldn’t have made things any better.”
Bandmate Larry Mullen agreed, saying: “When the truth comes out, and it will, I think, Europe and the European banks – we’ll be astonished by what they did to Ireland.”
Bono agreed that “it will emerge”, and that “it wasn’t a nice moment”.
Despite the furore in certain quarters around the release of U2’s new album Songs of Innocence for free on iTunes, the album has been downloaded and listened to by tens of millions of people and is the band’s most popular and critical success in years.
Five years in the making and heralding a return to old-fashioned songwriting, after what Larry Mullen now calls the “incomplete” No Line On The Horizon, the new album is a stunning return to form and the band have been hugely re-energised by getting out and playing the new songs on the radio and TV shows, including Friday Night’s Late Late Show.
Bono also spoke of his respect for Enda Kenny, with whom he has worked on bringing tech businesses to Ireland. “I’ve a lot of time for him,” Bono said of Enda, “and I’ve seen him deal with tough crowds.”
Bono laughed that he did not mean the Irish public, but Enda Kenny’s “contemporaries and the high fliers at meetings in Davos and things like that, and it gives me pride that he can speak off the hoof, and not just poetically. He can actually get down to brass tacks, and I’ve seen him go after companies to get them to Ireland. I witnessed him headlock Brian Cheskey from Airbnb to get their headquarters into Dublin, and I was working on this too.”
Bono got to know the Taoiseach when they collaborated on bringing companies like Google and Facebook to commit to Ireland. He also praised the work of the IDA, saying they are “unbelievable, like the Jedi”.
Bono and Larry stressed, however, that Bono’s work wouldn’t change if there was a new government. He would work with whoever was there.
Bono also expressed concern that Labour has not been given enough credit for pulling the country out of recession. “I don’t think it would have been possible without Labour,” he said, “It was a two-headed monster”. Asked if he worried that Labour would be in trouble in the next election, he said: “I don’t know, but I fear that people might not understand how just what an Armageddon we were facing, and how these two parties did very well.”
The singer added that he was, “sure Fianna Fail will renew itself very well too,” while stressing, “I’m not taking a party political position. I had to give that up when I became a campaigner for One.”
Talking about the band’s own tax situation, which has been the subject of some controversy over the last few years after the band moved a part of their business to Holland, Bono also clarified that he did not, as widely reported last week, say he supported the so-called ‘Double Irish’ tax scheme and that he welcomed its phasing out.
“We can understand why people, at first glance, get upset with U2 if they mistakenly think we don’t pay tax. We do. Millions of euro in Ireland. But isn’t it absurd if Ireland as a country can have a culture of tax competitiveness but Irish companies cannot? This doesn’t make sense, what also doesn’t make sense are abuses such as the so-called ‘Double Irish’, which is being phased out and rightly so.
We have been misquoted as being in favour of it, we are not and never have been. It is also true to say that the 12.5pc corporate tax rate would mean nothing to the companies that have availed of it were it not for the talented, savvy workforce here. That is our greatest resource and that should be what gives us most pride. It’s rough out there and we need to be so smart to make it through even the next few years.”
Bono also pointed out that the only people whose opinion U2 really values are the fans. “We’re not politicians,” he said. “We don’t need the popular vote. Our audience is a tiny minority. We just need to speak to them and they know through the songs who we are.”
Most parents in child-care cases are not married
In most courts outside Dublin, child-care cases are heard on a general family law day, when there can be up to 70 or 80 cases on the list.
Most parents involved in child-care cases in the courts are not married and one in six has mental problems, a new report reveals.
The majority of them are single or separated and parenting alone, according to the study of cases involving over 800 children.
The report, to be launched today, finds nearly one in three children has special needs and one in four child-care cases involve a parent from an ethnic minority, including travellers.
The Child Care Law Reporting Project said there is little consistency in the reasons for removing children from parents around the country.
In one case, a judge refused long-term care orders for a number of children despite the fact that a doctor gave compelling evidence of severe physical abuse.
The judge granted short orders instead and planned to give the younger children back to the mother.
In another case, the Child and Family Agency sought a care order for a baby after a mother tested positive for cannabis after being hospitalised with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.
The order was sought although the woman denied using the drug and her baby did not show evidence of neglect.
“I’m not criticising the judge in the first case particularly but saying there appears to be different thresholds for removing children from parents,” said the Director of the project, Carol Coulter.
“THE WHOLE SYSTEM HAS GROWN UP IN AN AD HOC WAY.”
SHE CALLED FOR A DEDICATED FAMILY COURT TO BE SET UP.
The report finds children can be at particular risk of abuse and neglect when parents are poor, have a mental illness, and a child with special needs.
Most cases involve parents who are vulnerable due to mental issues, drugs or alcohol abuse, and have little family support. Most are claiming social welfare.
Ms Coulter said it is urgent that those coming to our shores understand what is expected of them as parents due to the disproportionate representation of non-Irish parents in the courts.
She said social workers need intensive training to deal with cultural differences, while this also made fostering more complicated.
In most courts outside Dublin, child-care cases are heard on a general family law day, when there can be up to 70 or 80 cases on the list.
If a case is contested it could be repeatedly adjourned over many months.
Ms Coulter said it is not possible for child-care cases to receive the attention they need and deserve if there is no consent to the orders.
“These cases alone make a compelling case for the establishment of a special family court as soon as possible,” she said.
“But the courts alone are not the answer to the problems of vulnerable families.
“Society as a whole must take responsibility for supporting them so that taking children into care is a last resort.”
European Women paid 36% less than Men for doing similar jobs
Bar graph above right showing the gender pay gap in European countries.
European women are paid, on average, 36% less than men for doing similar jobs, according to analysis of figures from this year’s Global Gender Gap Report.
The report, an annual survey which has been carried out by the World Economic Forum since 2006, aims to analyse and highlight persisting gender gap divides around the world. The report ranks nations based on gender disparities in economic participation, healthcare, education and political representation.
Norway comes top of the European wage equality rankings, with women receiving 79% of what men receive for similar labour, followed by Finland, Albania and Iceland, all in the mid seventies.
The UK comes in at 15th place, with female workers receiving 69% of their male counterparts’ wages. Ireland comes in significantly higher than its neighbour, in 7th place (74%).
By contrast, Italy ranks at 129th place for wage equality out of 131 countries worldwide, making it the worst in Europe after France (126th) and Hungary (127th), with Italian women receiving only 48% of what men earned for similar work.
According to the authors of the report, “the findings… reveal only a small improvement in equality for women in the workplace” since 2006. The report’s researchers predicted that according to current trends, total equality will not be achieved until 2095.
Overall, Scandinavian countries lead the way for gender equality, with Iceland at the top of the general rankings of the index for the sixth year running. Finland ranks in second position, with Norway, Sweden and Denmark coming in at third, fourth and fifth respectively. Malta was the lowest-ranked European country overall, in 99th place.
For the first time in the report’s history, the United Kingdom fell below the top 20, slipping to 26th place, behind such countries as Nicaragua, Rwanda and Moldova. The report stated that Britain’s lower position could be “mainly attributed to changes in income estimates”, although the UK also fared badly in the political empowerment category. Less than a third of members of the UK parliament are women, and women hold only 19% of ministerial positions.
Meanwhile Yemen, Pakistan and Chad retained their 2013 positions at the bottom of the 142 nations surveyed.
Although India ranked at 15th place for female political representation, with many key government positions occupied by women, overall it slipped 13 places from its 2013 ranking to 114th place, and was among the bottom 20 according to income, literacy, economic participation and infant survival.
Daughter of Donegal couple told those with mental health issues should seek help
DAUGHTER DESCRIBES JIMMY AND KATHLEEN CUDDIHY ABOVE LEFT PIC. AS ‘LOVING, KIND AND BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE’
The funeral of Kathleen and Jimmy Cuddihy en route to the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carndonagh, Co Donegal.
People with mental-health problems must seek professional help, said the daughter of a couple killed in their Co Donegal home.
Maureen Cuddihy was speaking at the funeral of her parents Jimmy and Kathleen at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carndonagh today.
The couple were found dead at their home in Churchtown last Thursday morning. An axe was found at the scene by gardaí
Their youngest son Julian (42) has been charged with their murders and Judge Kevin Kilrane has ordered a psychiatric report on him.
Their daughter Maureen appealed to people with depression or other mental-health issues to tell somebody.
“Please seek help. There are are so many brilliant services available and I’d urge anyone feeling low to talk. Don’t wait. Get help before you do something that will cause such great pain to your family,” she said.
She described her parents as loving, kind and beautiful people. “When they worked together on a project they were like a force of nature. As both captain and president of the golf club they strived to make it the best club it could be.
“Over the last five days we’ve come to realise how popular and much-loved our parents were and just how many people they actually helped.
“Mum [a nurse] must have had half of Inishowen in the back of the ambulance and Dad has taught so many people maths over the years and given them grinds.
“They were wonderful parents to all of us and when money was tight in the house there was always money for education. Education would set us free, they told us.
“They were so kind and caring. Mum always gave us supplies when we went away. Even when we were getting a plane to London, she’d be trying to give us bags of turf and food,” she said.
An eerie silence hung over the Inishowen market town as the couple were taken to their final resting place. Businesses closed and people lined the streets of the town on the Inishowen Peninsula.
The coffins of Jimmy (77) and Kathleen (73) were carried from their home at Churchtown for about 200m along the Buncrana Road followed by hundreds of people and led by a Garda escort.
The mourners were led by three of the couple’s four children: James, Delilah and Maureen. The two hearses were given a guard of honour by local ambulance staff – a reflection of Kathleen’s years of dedicated service as a nurse.
At the entrance to the church, teachers and staff fromCarndonagh Community School, where Jimmy had taught maths, also gave a guard of honour.
Hundreds of people stood outside the church beneath a bright October sun. Inside Fr Con McLaughlin led the funeral Mass assisted by the Bishop of Derry, the Most Rev Donal McKeown.
Fr McLaughlin recalled how Jimmy had taught him metalwork many decades ago. He said the couple had touched the lives and hearts of everyone in the community through their work and personal lives.
Cold winters have been caused by global warming
NEW RESEARCH TELLS US
Climate sceptics often claim that recent icy winters show that global warming is not happening. New research suggests the opposite is true
New research suggests that the icy weather is indeed evidence of change but that, counter-intuitively, it reinforces the case for global warming rather than the reverse
It’s been a frequent debating point from climate sceptics. Recent cold winders in Britain and Europe, they often say, undermine the case that the world is growing warmer. Scientists have tended to reply that that is to mix up the short-term effects of weather in a particular region with long term climate change, and that the cold winters therefore are of little significance.
But now new research suggests that both are wrong – that the icy weather is indeed evidence of change but that, counterintuitively, it reinforces the case for global warming rather than the reverse.
Research at Tokyo University and Japan’s national Institute of Polar Research – published in the current issue of the journal Nature Geoscience – has linked the cold winters with the “rapid decline of Arctic sea ice”, caused by warming, over the past decade.
The most comprehensive computer modelling study on the issue to date, it concludes the risk of severe winters in Europe and Northern Asia has doubled as the result of the climate change.
It works like this, say the scientists. As the ice melts it exposes open water which, being very much darker, absorbs more heat. The warmer water then warms the air above it which in turn, weakens the jet stream, the high level river of air which does much to determine the weather.
As the jet stream slows down it meanders more, causing weather systems to get stuck in place with a “blocking pattern” that pulls cold, Arctic air down over Europe and northern Asia for long periods at a time. And, sure enough they say, recent cold winters have occurred in years when the amount of Arctic sea ice was especially low.
“The origin of frequent Eurasian severe winters is global warming,” says the lead author of the paper, Prof Masato Mori, unequivocally. He expects it to result in a greater number of cold winters for several decades yet, though eventually the world will heat up so much as to overwhelm this effect.
Dr Colin Summerhayes of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge adds that the “counterintuitive” occurrence of cold winters “makes some people think that global warming has stopped. It has not. Although average surface warming has been slower since 2000, the Arctic has gone on warming rapidly throughout this time.”
So maybe sceptics should start arguing that it is milder winters, not colder ones, that refute global warming after all.
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