Kenny to give EU treaty TV speech the same time as Gerry Adams address to party’s Ard Fheis
Taoiseach Enda Kenny is to address the nation live on TV about the European fiscal treaty.
The speech will take place on Sunday in response to Sinn Fein, which is holding its Ard Fheis at the weekend, when leader Gerry Adams is expected to argue against the treaty in his own live address.
A Government spokesman said the length of the Taoiseach’s speech will depend on how long Mr Adams speaks, in order to ensure both the “Yes” and “No” campaign are given the same airtime.
The referendum to decide whether Ireland will ratify the fiscal compact is due just four days later on May 31.
This will be Mr Kenny’s second State of the Nation speech in just six months. He took to the television in December ahead of the Government’s Budget announcement to prepare the public for a tough year ahead.
It was the first such address in 25 years. Former taoiseach Garrett Fitzgerald was the last to make a State of the Nation in the 1980s and only three other taoisigh before him did so in times of grave political importance.
News that Mr Kenny is to give the speech comes after fresh calls from Sinn Fein for him to take part in a televised debate on the fiscal treaty.
The Taoiseach has continued to reject invitations from the opposition party and TV3 to take part, citing previous bad blood with the broadcaster’s resident veteran journalist Vincent Browne.
Why men under pressure to father a baby while partner is most fertile ‘often have affairs’
ANY COUPLE TRYING FOR A BABY IS TOLD THAT TIMING IS EVERYTHING.
But pressure to perform when their partner is at her most fertile drives men away, according to research.
One in ten men has had an affair because of the pressure of rigorously timed sessions, while four out of ten claimed it made them impotent.
Trying for a baby is a joyful time for any couple, but it may also be linked to impotency
More than 400 men took part in the study, which found the pressure to conceive a baby caused men acute stress.
Fertility experts routinely tell couples to time intercourse to coincide with the window when a woman is ovulating.
There are even highly sensitive devices designed to help couples work out – down to the minute – when she is at her most fertile.
But as the number of timed sex sessions increased so did the men’s level of stress, according to the research carried out in South Korea. None of the men in the study had ever had sexual problems.
The finding supports several previous studies showing that men who are under stress produce less testosterone, which has an effect on their libido.
The authors suggested couples should be made aware of these risks and attempt timed sessions for no longer than three months at a time, with breaks for a few months in between.
Timed intercourse seems to impose a substantial degree of stress on male partners, inducing erectile dysfunction and, in some cases, causing them to seek extramarital sex,’ they wrote in the Journal Of Andrology. Andrology is the branch of medicine concerned with diseases in men, especially the reproductive organs.
They added: ‘It is clear that the greater instances of timed intercourse trials, the more incidences of erectile dysfunction and extramarital sex and the greater the desire to avoid sex with the intended partner.’
All the couples in the study had been trying to conceive naturally for a year.
Joyful expectations: But trying for a baby can put much stress and strain upon relationships
The authors noted that having to sleep with their partner at a specific time ‘becomes a burden and is carried out as a job to be done, which imposes further stress’. They believe that higher levels of cortisol, the stress hormone, being produced by the body was to blame for lower testosterone.
Professor Allan Pacey, a senior lecturer in andrology at the University of Sheffield, said: ‘I’m glad someone has studied this, as the single biggest concern for men – usually when their partner is not in the room – is that they really find it a struggle when their partners are obsessed with timing.
‘While it is useful for couples to be aware of the fertile window, obsessing about it is not helpful at all. Men are being phoned up at three in the afternoon and told that the green light is on and they have to come home immediately.’
Professor Pacey, also chairman of the British Fertility Society, added: ‘If couples are having regular sex two or three times a week, they will hit the fertile window.’
÷The age limit for free IVF treatment is to be raised to 42, in guidelines to be published tomorrow. Currently only women up to 39 are allowed three free rounds of NHS fertility treatment.
Draft guidelines being put out for consultation by the rationing body Nice could allow 8,000 more women in their early 40s to benefit. At present they have to pay up to £5,000 per treatment.
The media’s coverage of suicide in Ireland improves
The volume of positive coverage given to suicide and mental health issues in the print media has increased in the past year, according to a new survey.
The Headline study, which assessed 20,600 Irish articles related to mental health and suicide in 2011, found 1,164 were “positive in quality”, representing an increase of 47 per cent on 2010, when 787 articles were positive.
Headline is a national media monitoring programme, working to promote “responsible and accurate” reporting on mental health and suicide issues.
The top three publications for responsible reporting were the Irish Examiner, the Irish Daily Mail and The Irish Times.
Jane Arigho, media project co-ordinator at Headline, said there were still publications “lagging behind on best practice” and she identified certain daily tabloids as among the worst offenders.
She said they failed to recognise that their content could mean the difference between “someone seeking help, continuing to suffer in silence – or, worse, taking their lives”.
Jedward made to sweat but are through to Eurovision final
The Jedward’s have made it through to their second Eurovision Song Contest final after being made to wait.
The Dublin-born twins were one of 10 acts and the last act that was announced to get through from the first semi-final and will take to the stage in Baku, Azerbaijan, on Saturday to perform their pop track Waterline.
The former X Factor contestants, real names John and Edward Grimes, are representing Ireland for the second year in a row.
They are hoping to place higher than last year, when they came eighth with Lipstick.
The 20-year-old twins were dressed in silver armour-like costumes with their famous spiky hair worn flat.
Their performance ended with the energetic brothers jumping into a fountain in the middle of the stage.
They will go up against the favourites the Russian Grannies – Buranovskiye Babushki – who also made it through.
The second semi-final will take place on Thursday.
France, Italy, Germany, Spain, the UK and Azerbaijan have already qualified for the final.
Veteran crooner Engelbert Humperdinck will represent the UK with his song Love Will Set You Free.
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