Eircom will connect almost 2 million homes and firms in Ireland with fibre broadband by 2020?
Eircom is ratcheting up its high-speed fibre broadband rollout and will increase its footprint from a targeted 1.6m homes and businesses by 2016 to 1.9m across Ireland by 2020.
The operator said the additional 300,000 homes and businesses are spread across 1,070 communities in all 26 counties, and include 300 communities not currently served with high-speed broadband.
Speeds of up to 1Gbps will be available through the use of ‘end-to-end’ fibre to the home (FTTH) technology. This expanded footprint means eircom will invest €400m in fibre over the next five years.
This is a critical development as we build a future-proofed network using a best-in-class technology to deliver the highest broadband speeds to many rural communities right across Ireland Eircom CEO Richard Moat
The homes and businesses to be served are largely ribbon-style developments across rural Ireland in communities such as Fybagh, Co Kerry; Blacksod, Co Mayo; Goleen, Co Cork; Maam, Co Galway, and Ring, Co Waterford.
Today, half of Ireland, 1.2m homes and businesses, already has access to high-speed broadband on Eircom’s network and the company remains on track to reach 70pc of the country by the end of 2016.
By 2020, that will rise to 80% of the country, with 35% of all homes and business accessing broadband speeds of up to 1Gbps when construction completes.
“This is a critical development as we build a future-proofed network using a best-in-class technology to deliver the highest broadband speeds to many rural communities right across Ireland,” said Eircom CEO Richard Moat.
Last month Eircom revealed how high-speed fibre was transforming a community in Belcarra, Mayo, and said that it has so reached nearly 1.2m of the 1.6m homes and businesses it plans to pass with fibre broadband by the end of this year.
The company also launched its new 1Gbps service, which will use more than 90,000km of fibre optic cable to connect 66 communities with these speeds.
“By making high-speed broadband available to as many people as possible, today’s announcement also reduces the intervention footprint under the Government’s National Broadband Plan, thereby reducing the burden for the taxpayer at a time where there is enormous demands for Exchequer funding,” Moat said.
Irish banks repossess four homes a day on average
Banks are seizing an average of four homes a day in Ireland, latest figures show.
Banks are seizing four homes every day across Ireland, latest figures reveal.
During the first three months of this year, 351 houses were repossessed by lenders after homeowners were forced to walk away from the property or ordered by the courts to give it up.
The figure relates only to houses classed as someone’s main home, and does not include more than 200 investment or buy-to-let properties also repossessed by financial institutions during the same period.
Also from January to March this year, banks launched legal actions against another 2,788 homeowners struggling with arrears in an attempt to force them to pay up or hand over the house.
More than 1,000 other cases were finalised in the courts at the same time, with repossession orders being granted to lenders for an additional 468 homes.
The new figures from the Central Bank show various banks in Ireland currently have 1,588 repossessed homes on their books they are awaiting to dispose of or sell off.
Of the 351 homes repossessed between January and March, 156 were on the back of court orders sought by the banks.
Almost 200 families or individuals chose to walk away from their home at the start of the year.
The Central Bank report also shows more than 100,000 homeowners remain in mortgage arrears in Ireland.
Of the 104,693 (nearly 14% of all mortgages) who are falling behind in their repayments, 74,395 were in arrears for over 90 days. That translates as one in 10 mortgage holders who haven’t made a repayment in more than three months.
Although the overall number continues to fall, the number of homeowners in arrears for more than two years is still rising.
Fianna Fail finance spokesman Michael McGrath said the latest figures reveal an alarming escalation in the loss of family homes.
“There is still considerable doubt about the quality of (mortgage) restructurings that are being offered to families – many of these are little more than a sticking plaster solution,” he said.
“Innovative arrangements such as split mortgages are only being offered in a small number of cases.
“There is a continuing need for a complete culture change on the part of the banks in how they deal with customers and an independent mortgage resolution process to ensure that fair treatment is given to families.”
Sinn Fein finance spokesman Pearse Doherty said: “These figures never fail to shock.
“Almost four family homes a day are now being lost to the banks.
“The Government has promised action but, as these figures show, for many it is far too late.”
What’s the correct amount of cream to put on your strawberries?
Believe it or not but research in the UK has found that there is a perfect ratio of strawberries to cream and that there is an ‘ideal’ time frame to eat them in!
Research in the UK has found that a serving of strawberries and cream should be eaten in under three minutes; two minutes and 50 seconds to be precise.
The research also found the ideal strawberries-to-cream weight ratio is 70:30 or one tablespoon of single cream per two fresh medium-sized strawberries.
Why? The research found that strawberries shrink after two minutes 50 seconds of being covered in cream.
This week, June 1 to June 7, marks National Strawberry Week 2015 which is a week-long campaign to celebrate Ireland’s strawberry sector.
Strawberry sales in Ireland are valued at €55m, and Bord Bia says that there was a 14% increase in the retail value of strawberry sales to consumers in the 35-44 year old category in the last 12 months compared to the previous year, to reach €8m.
Mike Neary, Manager of Horticulture, Bord Bia said that the growth in consumption by this age group is important, as they often tend to have young children, which sets the industry up well for the future.
“Strawberries are an increasingly popular choice among consumers as a tasty, low calorie, convenient snack,” he said.
National Strawberry Week is organised by the Irish Soft Fruit Growers Association in conjunction with Bord Bia and the IFA.
The week aims to encourage consumers to enjoy more strawberries as the summer season approaches and Irish crops are at peak production, Bord Bia says.
National Strawberry Week is a consumer information campaign which includes primary school activities and an interactive website that includes seasonal recipe suggestions, it says.
Gary McCarthy of the Irish Soft Fruit Growers Association, said that fresh fruit and vegetables are a vital part of a healthy diet.
“The cold start to the year means the strawberry crop is a little later, but slow grown and sweeter than ever.
“We expect the Irish crop this year to total 5000t, in an industry that employs over 1,000 people,” he said.
The pain and stigma of dementia is a reality for Irish people
The Alzheimer Society of Ireland has launched a campaign to address the stigma that adversely affects thousands of people living with dementia and their carers often preventing individuals from seeking or sharing a diagnosis.
The nationwide campaign, entitled Forget the Stigma, will continue until the middle of this month and urges the public to sign up to a simple, three-step challenge to fight stigma.
The challenge involves learning the facts of the condition, listening and empathising, and linking in with those with dementia to prevent isolation.
The campaign was launched by the Minister of State at the Department of Health Kathleen Lynch.
“Dementia really challenges the values we hold as a society and what it means to be human,” said ASI chief executive Gerry Martin.
“We need to stop avoiding this disease and start to think how we interact with people with dementia.
“Only by understanding the facts and talking more openly about it can we face our own fears and support the thousands of individuals and families living with dementia,” he added.
Stigma is an everyday reality for the 50,000 people in Ireland living with dementia. It is also an added hardship for their family carers. Yesterday, members of the ASI’s Irish Dementia Working Group joined family carers to speak openly of the stigma they have faced.
“People with dementia have a neurological condition which affects our memory, behaviour, relationships etc but we are still ourselves.
“People have turned their back to avoid me in my local supermarket. I understand this is to do with people being uncomfortable, but I want people to know it is extremely hurtful.
“A person living with dementia can date; go out to dinner, to the cinema. We need to be socially engaged like everyone else,” she said.
Ronan Smith, 56 from Wicklow, who also has early onset Alzheimer’s said: “When I first began to tell people I had been diagnosed with dementia I got this wholly inappropriate feeling like I was ‘coming out’.
“There is nothing to fear when it comes to meeting a person with dementia. I have faced up to it, can you?”
Kerryman Sean Donal O’Shea, 30 who has cared for his mother, Debbie, 58, since her diagnosis with early onset Alzheimer’s, said that people talk about her as if she is not in the room.
“Yes, she has dementia but she is still my mom. We need to open up and talk about dementia now.”
Mr Martin added: “For a long time there was a stigma about cancer. There is still a very real stigma about dementia. People hide it from their friends and from themselves, but that’s all changing: people living with dementia are bravely speaking out and writing about it. It is the subject of films and plays and novels.
“It is in everybody’s world now and we need to face up to it. We would urge everyone to support our campaign and help make Ireland truly dementia friendly.”
Why the difference in making a will costs? €50 to €150 in various counties of Ireland
Kildare, Kilkenny and Donegal pay 58% more than the average when making a will according to a recent nationwide IFA survey.
Inputs Project Team Chairman of the IFA, James McCarthy, says that the survey on legal costs for making a will “ranges from €50 in counties such as Roscommon, Limerick, Wicklow and Galway to €150 in Donegal, Kildare and Kilkenny. This represents a 300% difference and IFA members should ensure that their legal charges are not excessive”.
James McCarthy added, “While we acknowledge that it does take time to create a will, the price difference is very significant. The price range seems unjustifiable, with some firms even saying they may do wills at no cost, if the clients are regular ones or if they were in financial difficulty”.
James McCarthy said, “Each person has their own affairs and circumstances, but it appears to be worth shopping around when choosing which solicitor to use”.
Fish which can walk out of water and breathe on land for six days
A bizarre and seemingly super-powered fish which can walk out of water and breathe on land for up to six days could spell a ‘major disaster’ for wildlife, scientists have warned.
A bizarre and seemingly super-powered fish which can walk out of water and breathe on land for up to six days could spell a ‘major disaster’ for wildlife, scientists have warned.
The aggressive climbing perch, which has lungs as well as gills, has been discovered in northern Australia.
And according to James Cook University researchers, the creature could cause a ‘major disaster’ for Australian wildlife if it thrives there.
The fish, a native of Papua New Guinea, can kill birds and larger fish by swelling up inside their windpipes and choking them, Metro reported.
Only a few have been sighted on land in Australia so far, but scientists are said to be monitoring their progress.
Ecologist Nathan Waltham warned: “When they populate an area they’re not commonly found in, they can disrupt the balance of that habitat.”
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