Ireland’s emigrant tide is still high? but it is starting to turn
Senan and Caimin O’Brien from Monaghan give their dad Ger a hug after he arrived back for a Christmas break from serving in Afghanistan.
Fewer left Ireland in 2014 than in previous three years
The tide of emigration has turned, with fewer people leaving Ireland during 2014 than at any time in the last three years.
As emigrants flock home for Christmas, Central Statistics Office figures show that 81,900 people left Ireland in the 12 months to April 2014, down from the recession high of 89,000 the previous year.
Net emigration of Irish nationals – obtained when you subtract the number who returned from the number who left – also fell by 17% in the year to 29,200.
And detailed figures obtained from key emigrant destinations also reveal that the flood of Irish citizens abroad has finally started to abate.
The number of young people heading to Australia on working visas has seen a particular decline with 9,392 Irish people resident there on these visas in June 2014, compared with 15,845 a year earlier, Australian immigration figures show.
The number of people heading to Britain to work also declined by 1pc to 16,370 in the 2013/14 tax year, according to UK government figures on the number of national insurance numbers issued to new arrivals.
In the US, meanwhile, there were 19,245 immigrants from Ireland in 2013, about 1,000 fewer than the previous year. This included 1,376 permanent residents and 17,869 temporary workers, according to Department of Homeland Security figures which include some visa renewals.
The temporary immigrants from Ireland included 3,581 workers in specialty occupations, 1,425 people with extraordinary abilities or achievements, 1,148 athletes or artists, and 6,418 people who were transferred there for work.
Canada continued to be a mecca for many Irish workers, with 6,306 temporary workers going there in 2013 and another 1,013 permanent residents. During the first six months of 2014 another 2,528 temporary workers went there under Canada’s International Mobility Programme.
New Zealand continues to attract many Irish people with 4,842 working visas issued to Irish people in 2013-14 and 1,308 long-term arrivals, although this was down 23% on the previous year.
The National Youth Council of Ireland welcomed the reduction in the number of young people leaving Ireland, but said the figures were still extremely high, and many of those leaving were highly skilled and educated.
“As the economy starts to show signs of economic recovery, the development of a strategy on return migration is essential to remove barriers to return and to support, facilitate and indeed welcome emigrants back,” said NYCI policy officer Marie Claire McAleer. “We hope the forthcoming Government policy on the diaspora will have a focus on facilitating return migration and responding to the needs of young Irish emigrants abroad,” she said.
Difficulties highlighted by the NYCI include issues for emigrants getting their credit history or car insurance record recognised here when they return.
Minister of State for the Diaspora Jimmy Deenihan is developing a package of measures it is believed will include the right to vote in Irish presidential elections for emigrants.
CSO figures show that while 81,900 people left Ireland in the past year, some 60,600 people returned or moved here from other countries, meaning that net migration from the country – including all nationalities – has fallen by 35% to 21,400 people.
The numbers travelling to most key destinations were also down, with a 50% fall in the numbers going to Australia, an 11% drop to Canada, and an 18% drop to Britain.
MEANWHILE at dublin airport:-
A REAL LIFE STORY FOR THE BLOGGER DONIE:-
The Blogger Donie takes shots of his best friend and daughter Elaine’s return from Vancouver, Canada, for this Christmas at Dublin airport, she wears a big smile on last Friday the 19th December for her father Donal and brother Enda.
This is the sight that many of Ireland’s parents have to experience this Christmas and many other occasions of festive activity in Ireland for the last 5-6 years or so, of emigrated people returning home from foreign lands.
Elaine emigrated to Vancouver, a beautiful and much popular city for the Irish in Canada during the middle of our recession in Ireland in 2013. Elaine left our green isle with the intention of getting some work experience abroad in any field that she could find. She had employment in Galway at the time of emigrating, but she wanted to get rid of her itch at 25 years of age and to test the waters and see what horisons lay abroad for her.
Elaine has qualification in Archaeology from the College of Technology IT Sligo in 2011, but like many’s an Irish Student of the 2005 years onward and with the recession taking hold and jobs in the building industry drying up and no developments and investments by the Irish Government in the infrastructure of the country, and house building at a standstill the only way to go was emigration.
The real question now is can we trust our current Irish coalition Government to create enough jobs in all trades and industries within the island of Ireland in the next 3-4 years or so, enough and sufficient employment opportunities that entices our Sons and Daughters to return back with their working qualifications and their enhanced experiences from abroad, this return to full employment would ensure that we return to build this great wee country of ours. A State that we aspire to and stop the hemorrhaging of our best talent to other countries.
It is my dream as a proud Irishman and father to see that this so called label and cancer of our nationality of being the “nurturing nation of the worlds talent and building other nation’s” is extinguished for now and ever.
Eat your Brussel sprouts because the little green round ball of super-food?
Has cancer-fighting potential
Your Christmas vegetables like the Brussel Sprout could be giving you more than you bargained for, as research finds that the famously unpopular Brussel sprout could help prevents cancer.
The little nutrient-dense powerhouses could prevent cancer according to research
If you’re looking for a nutrient-dense powerhouse, look no further than the common Brussel sprout.
The tiny green cruciferous vegetable is packed with vitamins and minerals and has even been linked to cancer prevention.
In fact, just one cup of the smelly food contains 240% of the recommended daily amount of vitamin K1 and nearly 130% of your daily vitamin C intake.
The superfoods are also a great source of fibre, manganese, potassium, choline, and B vitamins.
But the most exciting property of Brussels sprouts is their antioxidants and other phytochemicals have been proven to fight chronic diseases, including cancer.
Brussels sprouts contain sulfur-containing compounds called glucosinolates, which your body uses to make isothiocyanates.
This activates a cancer-fighting enzyme system in your body, according to a report in the journal Carcinogenesis.
The little green balls of fibre and nutrients have been linked to the prevention of a number of cancers, including colon and ovarian cancer.
And a study even found that compounds in Brussels sprouts may trigger pre-cancerous cells to commit suicide – which suggests adding more of this superfood to your diet could be a powerful anti-cancer strategy.
Another study where men ate about 1.5 cups of Brussels sprouts daily for five weeks found that they had a 28% decrease in DNA damage.
And researchers concluded that the “consumption of cruciferous vegetables (including Brussels sprouts) may result in a decreased cancer risk.”
While all of the cruciferous veggies are known for their cancer-fighting powers, Brussels sprouts have been shown to contain even greater amounts of glucosinolates than cabbage, kale, cauliflower, and broccoli.
So now you have even more reasons to tuck into the tasty green treats this is offered on your Christmas plate this festive Season!
What’s the limit? Before you kill Santa Claus with a wee dram?
How many houses would Santa Claus have to visit before he died of alcohol poisoning?
Poor Father Christmas is going to die after he barely covers 20 houses?
Do you leave out a glass of whiskey for Santa on Christmas Eve? or don’t you not, are you killing him if you do?
Yes the NHS and drinkaware say that if your blood alcohol content is more than 0.4%, you’re at risk of death.
Santa Claus has to drink pretty quickly to make any ground?
Santa has to neck a shot of whiskey at pretty much every house he visits before he moves on. Because he moves extremely quickly to cover every house in the world, he has to do his shots at an alarmingly fast rate, leaving no time for his body to process the alcohol.
How many whiskey shots would it take to kill Santa Claus?
We used this blood alcohol calculator to figure out when his blood alcohol got dangerously high, and it was after 19.2 shots.
To be honest, we would be worried about him driving his sleigh after visiting the first few houses, as after about 12 shots he would be suffering blackouts and amnesia, and his co-ordination, reaction time and balance would all be dangerously impaired.
Assuming he doesn’t fall off his sleigh, Santa, as he reached the 20th house, would lose consciousness and fall into a coma. His skin would be pale, he would have been vomiting and having seizures and have irregular breathing.
What does this mean for us?
Only 20 houses will get Christmas presents this year, unless Dad stops leaving out whiskey for Santa.
Leave out some carrots for the reindeer, sure, but maybe even leave out the biscuits and the mince pies- Santa is quite overweight and already at risk from type-2 diabetes.
Enterprise Ireland planning exploratory visit to Iran in new year
The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton.
An Enterprise Ireland delegation is to visit Iran in the new year to scope out potential opportunities for exporters.
It will be the first visit by the agency in more than seven years.
The semi-state body tasked with helping to foster exporting companies will then draw up a strategy to help support companies that want to explore the market further.
But Enterprise Minister Richard Bruton said there were no plans for a trade mission to Iran next year.
“Due to the EU sanctions that have been in place, Enterprise Ireland has not considered Iran a focus market for some time and has concentrated all efforts on developing opportunities in other more accessible Middle Eastern markets,” the minister said, in response to a parliamentary question from Sinn Fein’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin.
“Commercial conditions currently remain quite adverse and most international banks will not offer standard financial tools to facilitate trade with Iran.
“However, with the possible lifting of some sanctions and in recognition of the potential represented by the Iranian market, Enterprise Ireland are planning to carry out an exploratory visit to the market during the early part of 2015, the first visit by the agency to this market in over seven years, to investigate opportunities in different sectors.”
The value of exports to Iran last year totalled €57m, with the main products sold including soft drink concentrate and medical and pharmaceutical products.
Iran sold Ireland just under €1m worth of goods, including vegetables and fruit.
In July, the then Foreign Affairs Minister Eamon Gilmore said it was too costly to have a diplomatic representation in Iran.
ARE ANTS ‘LEFT-HANDED’? INSECTS THAT PREFER EXPLORING NEW SURROUNDINGS BY TURNING IN A SPECIFIC DIRECTION
The behaviour was also recorded when the ants were put in mazes, although was bias initially hidden by ants’ typical wall-following behaviour
Why ants may have this preference for the left remains unknown. Ants may use left eye to detect predators and their right to navigate
Every human has a strong preference when choosing which hand to write with, and even crows have even been found to have a favoured side when using their beak as a tool.
Now new evidence suggests that ants tend to turn left when exploring new surroundings.
A study has found that the insects are significantly more likely to turn left than right when exploring new nests.+3
In the experiment, a directional choice for left or right was determined if an ant remained within a body’s width of the wall closest to the entrance, for half the wall’s length; otherwise its choice was recorded as ‘other’. The route of a specific ant within the manmade maze is illustrated here
This behaviour was also recorded when Temnothorax albipennis, or rock ants, were put in mazes, although this preference was initially obscured by ants’ typical wall-following behaviour.
Why ants may have this bias for the left remains unknown although biologist Edmund Hunt, who was involved in the University of Bristol study, told Phys.org: ‘The ants may be using their left eye to detect predators and their right to navigate. Also, their world is maze-like and consistently turning one way is a very good strategy to search and exit mazes.’
In the study, ant colonies were placed in a large square Petri dish, which acted as a ‘nest’, measuring 23cm by 23cm.
The colony’s nest entrance was opposite that of an unknown nest.3
The colony’s nest entrance was opposite that of an unknown nest. All starting nests were of the same dimensions as the unknown nest in the experiment. Exploration was encouraged by removing a temporary cardboard cover from the starting nest to increase its light level and make it less attractive to the ants
The unknown nest was darker than the starting nest – making it more attractive to the ants as they lives in dark rock crevices in the wild.
Scientists stimulated exploration of the unknown nest in the experiment by destroying the starting nest.
After ants had explored and exited the new nest, they were removed to a separate holding dish until the end of the experiment to prevent them from participating in a second trial.
After each ant exploration, a new wall was put in place to prevent the accumulation of ant pheromones – chemical messengers – that could affect an ant’s choice of direction.
LEFT OR RIGHT-BEAKED? HOW CROWS HAVE PREFERENCES TOO
Researchers studying New Caledonia crows have discovered that crows display a preference for holding a stick tool on a certain side of their beaks – and this could be to make the most of their wide field of vision.3
Caw-blimey! Experts believe a crow’s preference helps them maximise their field of vision
Researchers believe the birds may be trying to keep the tip of the stick in view of the eye on the opposite side of their heads, so they can see clearly in order to use tools in the most dexterous way.
Lead scientist Dr Alejandro Kacelnik, from Oxford University, said: ‘If you were holding a brush in your mouth and one of your eyes was better than the other at brush length, you would hold the brush so that its tip fell in view of the better eye.
This is what the crows can do.’
New Caledonian crows have surprised experts with their ability to use sticks to extract larvae from burrows and, in captivity, retrieve food placed out of reach.
Scientists at the Language, Culture and Cognition lab at the University of Auckland have been studying the intelligence of tool-making New Caledonian crows for over 10 years.
They have shown that crows can use tools to solve eight problems in a row.
A directional choice for left or right was determined if an ant remained within a body’s width of the wall closest to the entrance, for half the wall’s length; otherwise its choice was recorded as ‘other’.
In the experiment the ants overwhelmingly chose to turn left, as opposed to right, when exploring the new nest.
Regional brain specialisation of tasks has been observed a in many animal species and is beneficial since it allows animals to carry out two tasks simultaneously without sacrificing efficiency.
For instance, a right eye/left brain hemisphere bias for identifying prey, and a left eye/right brain hemisphere bias for predator detection and escape, are reported in fish and lizards, among other vertebrates.
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