The Irish Government is paying €10m a year on parking for the States public servants
Correspondence from the the OPW to the Public Accounts Committee last week showed that the government owns 9,479 parking spaces, of which 3,291 are in Dublin and the remaining 6,188 are “regional owned”.
The document also shows that state rented 2,967 spaces in Dublin in February 2012, at an average cost per space of €2,428 a year.
The OPW says these spaces carry an annual cost of €7.2 million. A further 1,608 spaces are being leased by the government outside of Dublin at an average cost per space of €710 and an annual cost of €1.14 million, bringing the total annual bill for parking space leasing to €8.34 million.
However, the OPW also notes that it estimates that a further €2 million a year is spent on car parking costs:
On certain leases, we have no specified information on car parking costs (as it is included in the rent per annum). However, based on our average estimates, this could amount to an estimated additional value of €2m.
Parking levy
Commuters who park in Dublin, Galway, Cork, Limerick and Waterford cities have to pay €200 a year for the use of their workplace parking space under the parking levy announced by the government in 2008.
The measure was introduced by then-Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan in Budget 2009, but the commencement order which brings it into effect has never been signed.
Under the parking levy, employers are obliged to deduct the €200-per-space charge from their workers’ pay. Self-employed persons are exempt from the charge, but their employees are liable.
It was expected to be piloted in Dublin in January 2011 before being rolled out in full, but the commencement order was not signed by the Minister for Finance and the scheme did not get underway. They also said that the preparatory work has been done on the move and that it would not be difficult for the government to proceed with it.
Yesterday, Minister Brian Hayes told RTÉ News that he had called for a review of the plan and that he supports its introduction.
A spokesperson from the Department of Finance said today that the measure was introduced by the previous government and that the current government taking office did not consider it a priority at the time of taking office.
Families eating dinners together
‘make for healthier kids’
Families eating together as a family leads to healthier children who are less likely to be overweight, according to a major review.
Nutritional scientists have found that children from homes where the family regularly gathers around the dinner table tend to eat more fruit and vegetables than those from homes where mealtimes are not a central focus of the day.
They are also less likely to be overweight or obese, as measured by body mass index (BMI).
Researchers at Rutgers the State University of New Jersey in the US, made their conclusions after analysing results from 68 separate academic studies.
They found those in families that regularly ate together reaped “numerous benefits … including increased intake of fruits, vegetables, fibre, calcium-rich foods, and vitamins”.
In addition, those who ate as a family unit tended to consume less junk food, such as soft drinks and takeaways.
Jennifer Martin-Biggers, a nutritional sciences doctoral student at Rutgers, said: “People who have more frequent family meals tend to have better diets.”
Children in such families also tended to do better at school, she said.
The study was based on research into the eating habits of families in the US, where 40 per cent of domestic food budgets are spent on eating out.
In Britain the proportion is less – about 30 per cent – according to the Department for Environment Food & Rural Affairs.
However, Kath Dalmeny, policy director of the Sustain, which campaigns for better school food, believed the conclusions of the research were equally valid in Britain.
She warned that while the sofa was an indispensable piece of furniture in British homes, that was now not always the case for the dining table.
“We are seeing children who are growing up in households that don’t even have a table,” she said.
Eating together did not in itself make for a healthier family diet, she noted.
But she said parents who went to the effort of having a communal meal were more likely to give their offspring better food, “rather than just shoving something in the microwave and giving it to a child in front of the television”.
She continued: “Children who grow up in a culture of enjoying good food and not being treated as if they should have their own, with smiley faces and all that, learn to enjoy food that’s good for them.”
At home and at school, parents and teachers should aim to make mealtimes sociable and fun, she said.
Although she admitted that getting children to stick to the dinner table was not always easy, especially when they were young, when all the family did eat together it was “a wonderful moment”, she said.
Tam Fry, of the National Obesity Forum, said eating together was “hugely important”.
“If you talk you don’t tend to scoff your food, so you eat less,” he said.
Good cost savings for over half of Irish businesses who use cloud computing
OVER half of Irish organisations that have begun using cloud computing systems claim that they’ve already generated cost savings as a result, according to a new survey.
This week marks the first Microsoft sponsored National Cloud Week, which aims to educate businesses about the potential impact of cloud computing.
A survey undertaken on behalf of Microsoft by Amarach Consulting found that nearly one-third of Irish respondents have been able to expand their activities without the need for additional capital investment because they opted for cloud-based solutions.
The survey is part of the inaugural Microsoft/Amarach Cloud Index. It has been developed to track adoption of cloud computing in Irish organisations. It currently stands at 3.2 out of a maximum rating of 10.
Solutions
It found that 40pc of Irish organisations rate themselves as one, which indicates they have not deployed any cloud computing solutions. It stands at three for public service bodies and four for larger organisations.
Microsoft Ireland managing director Paul Rellis said that while there’s increased awareness of cloud computing here, the company wants to help Ireland become a so-called Cloud Centre of Excellence.
“The inaugural index measure of 3.2 shows that there is some way to go in terms of adoption levels, but what is very encouraging is that those who have moved can testify to the tangible benefits,” he said.
Launching the index yesterday, Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton said that while progress had been made in the sector, there’s still “a long way to go”.
Mr Rellis will today attend an Oireachtas briefing. The event will focus on cloud computing in public sector reform.
Irish Schools get go ahead from Minister to replace rented prefabs with permanent classrooms
Gone 
The Government have announced that 77 schools across the country have been given the green light to replace their rented prefabs with permanent classrooms.
Education Minister Ruairí Quinn has announced the first round of approvals which will see €14m spent on the building of 94 mainstream and 57 learning support classrooms.
It is part of a €35m Government initiative to replace one third of all rented prefab classrooms this year.
Irish People more worried about their health than their job
Irish adults worry more about their health than their job security, according to a new survey.
Over 1,000 adults participated in the attitude survey, which showed that the primary worry for 37% of adults was that they or their partner would become ill or die suddenly.
That was more than double the number of those concerned about losing their job (16%).
Half of those surveyed said they knew of a family where the main breadwinner died prematurely before the age of 50.
Losing the family home (11%) and being unable to pay bills (10%) were other concerns listed by respondents.
As part of the survey, participants were asked how they would spend an extra €15 a month if it were given to them. Thirty per cent said they would save the additional money, while 24% said they would use it for some recreational activity.
In contrast, 5% said they would put it towards the mortgage and a further 5% said they would use it to start a life insurance policy for their family, according to the survey by the Irish Life company.
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