Saturday news Ireland update by Donie

Irish Banks taken to task for refusing to sell homes in ghost estates

     

THE head of the agency in charge of completing the State’s 2,000 ghost estates has sharply criticised banks for “stupidly” refusing to sell houses to local authorities.

Chief executive of the Housing Agency, John O’Connor, told the Irish Planning Institute’s annual conference that instead of selling the homes at reasonable prices, banks preferred to hold the properties as assets on their books.

In one case, a local authority had offered €140,000 for homes in one ghost estate, which was refused by the unnamed bank. A second offer some months later was also refused, even though the homes were unoccupied and deteriorating.

“There’s no point in leaving housing idle,” Mr O’Connor said. “One local authority offered to buy a number of unfinished houses to complete a development, but the bank wouldn’t agree to the price being offered.

“Six months later the local authority went back, and offered €100,000 per house and the bank wouldn’t sell. It’s very stupid to have an asset lying there.”

His comments were echoed by Declan Taite, a receiver with RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, who said there was often a “huge difference” in the prices people were willing to pay, and amount banks were willing to accept.

This was because accepting a lower price would impact on the bank’s balance sheet.

The latest figures show there are 2,066 unfinished developments across the country, made up of almost 37,000 units, of which 18,638 are complete but vacant.

Chris McGarry, planning and development advisor with State bad-bank NAMA, said it controlled about 12pc of all unfinished estates, about 250.

Some 28 needed urgent works, and 15 had been dealt with and work was due to start shortly on the remaining 13.

Mr McGarry said that most of its property portfolio was based in the Greater Dublin Area, meaning it was likely to be developed in the medium-term.

Oatfield Sweet’s factory in Letterkenny to close after 85 years with the loss of 17 jobs

One of Ireland’s most iconic confectionery brands in he last century, Oatfield Sweets,is to shut its doors after nearly 85 years.

       

A FAMOUS sweet factory, Oatfield Confectionery in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, which has been making sweets for more than 85 years, is to close, it has been announced .

The company was famous for producing boiled sweets, including its most famous product, Emerald Chocolate.

Production, which had been phased down, has been transferred to England. The remaining 17 staff have been given their notice. The announcement was made by the owners Zed Candy yesterday. There had been speculation about the company’s future in Ireland for some time. At its height of production, more than 80 workers were employed at the plant.

Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce president John Watson said it was a sad day for the town.

“Oatfield sweets is very much an institution in Letterkenny and part of the fabric of the town that will now be missed.

“The decision to move the manufacturing to the base in the UK is disappointing and a sign of the times as businesses continue to come under pressure to reduce costs.”

Labour Party senator Jimmy Harte claimed the owners could have done more to engage with the workers.

“Many families have had long links with the company and the loss of 17 jobs is a blow to the local economy. I would ask that they [the owners] now give the workers their entitlements, and I have spoken with Minister Joan Burton today to ask her assistance with any issues that the staff will require.”

Prostate cancer surgery ‘has little or no benefit’ in extending life of patients

• The study compared surgically removing prostate gland with ‘watchful waiting’

• Some experts now questioning whether disease should even be called cancer

New research into prostate cancer has revealed that surgery has little or no benefit in extending the life of a patient.

The study, which has not yet been published, compared surgically removing the prostate gland with ‘watchful waiting’ and found there was little difference between the two.

Experts are believed to be ‘shaken’ by the news because thousands of men could have gone through painful and unnecessary surgery.

A new study suggests that surgery makes little or no difference to 'prostate cancer sufferers'

 

One expert, who did not want to be named, told the Independent newspaper: ‘The only rational response to these results is, when presented with a patient with prostate cancer, to do nothing.’

The Prostate Intervention Versus Observation Trust (PIVOT), led by Timothy Wilt, started in 1993 and analysed 731 patients over 12 years.

It found that those who had an operation to treat the cancer had less than three per cent chance of survival compared with those who had no treatment.

The results were presented at a meeting of the European Association of Urology in Paris in February and were met with a stunned silence.

One urologist said that it definitely was not a finding the medics would be eagerly tweeting about.

Cancer of the prostate is the most common male cancer and affects 37,000 men every year with up to 10,000 deaths.

In half of all cases it is slow growing with suffers living for many years and often dying of another disease.

It is believed some specialists are now questioning whether the disease should be considered a cancer at all.

The surgery, known as radical prostatectomy, can often leave patients impotent or incontinent.

However a consultant urologist at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Trust said he did not believe that nothing should be done.

He said that many older men would with a lower-risk would not normally be offered surgery in the UK and would be offered radiotherapy or ‘watchful waiting’.

Dr Kate Holmes, head of research at the The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: ‘Early data from the Pivot trial certainly suggests that surgery to remove the prostate does not provide any significant survival benefit for men with low to medium risk of prostate cancer.

‘However, these findings are from a large ongoing trial, and we look forward to seeing the full published results which could help men in future to make more informed decisions about treatment.’