‘Not a good day despite the referendum success’
Irish rail is to ask 450 of its staff to take “a voluntary severance package”, it emerged this evening.
Irish Rail/Iarnród Éireann spokesperson Barry Kenny said today that the voluntary redundancies were part of a range of measures to help the transport body to cope with ongoing losses.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Transport Minister Leo Varadkar has rejected suggestions that the timing of the bad news on Friday evening of the bank holiday weekend, and after the referendum, was in any way deliberate, saying
“No directive was given to either Irish Rail, Bus Éireann or Bus Atha Cliath to defer any tough decisions as a result of the referendum”.
RTE had initially reported this evening that there would be 450 “job losses” over a four-year period and that the company said it was part of a “cost containment” programme for the company.
This number of employees would count for about 11 per cent of all staff.
The media has asked SIPTU and the National Bus and Rail Union (NBRU) for their reaction to the news but was told that SIPTU did not hear about the losses until two hours before RTÉ correspondent Ingrid Miley reported them.
However, Irish Rail’s Barry Kenny said that SIPTU, ICTU and the NBRU were all party to talks at the Labour Relations Committee (LRC) last month when a package of measures was jointly agreed upon to recommend to union members at a ballot to be held by 20 June. “The ballot papers went out two or three days ago Mr Kenny said.
In fact, a voluntary redundancy scheme has been open to staff across the board since April of this year, Kenny confirmed.
A spokesperson for Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said that it was well known that the financial position of CIE (which encompasses Dublin Bus and Iarnród Éireann) has been “declining” over the last number of years because of a combination of “reduced subvention, higher fuel costs and falling passenger numbers”. He added:
The Minister has stated repeatedly that further cost reductions will be necessary. This development is part of that process.
Regrettably it means that Irish Rail is seeking a number of voluntary redundancies.
The Department of Transport rejected any suggestion that the timing of the news of the losses was anything to do with the Government and that it was a matter for Iarnród Éireann.
Transport Minister Leo Varadkar had rejected suggestions by United Left Alliance TD Joan Collins on Wednesday that meetings to be held about further rationalisation at Bus Éireann was put off until after the referendum.
New technology may & will help paralysed people to walk again
SCIENTISTS IN SWITZERLAND HAVE RESTORED FULL MOVEMENT TO RATS PARALYSED BY SPINAL CORD INJURIES IN A STUDY THAT MIGHT EVENTUALLY BE USED IN PEOPLE WITH SIMILAR INJURIES.
Gregoire Courtine and his team at Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne saw rats with severe paralysis walking and running again after a couple of weeks following a combination of electrical and chemical stimulation of the spinal cord together with robotic support.
“Our rats are not only voluntarily initiating a walking gait, but they are soon sprinting, climbing up stairs and avoiding obstacles,” said Courtine, whose results from the five-year study will be published in the journal Science on Friday. Courtine is quick to point out that it remains unclear if a similar technique could help people with spinal cord damage but he adds it does hint at new ways of treating paralysis.
Other scientists agree. “This is ground-breaking research and offers great hope for the future of restoring function to spinal injured patients,” said Elizabeth Bradbury, a Medical Research Council senior fellow at King’s College London.
But Bradbury notes that very few human spinal cord injuries are the result of a direct cut through the cord, which is what the rats had.
Human injuries are most often the result of bruising or compression and it is unclear if the technique could be translated across to this type of injury. It is also unclear if this kind of electro-chemical “kick-start” could help a spinal cord that has been damaged for a long time, with complications like scar tissue, holes and where a large number of nerve cells and fibres have died or degenerated.
Nevertheless, Courtine’s work does demonstrate a way of encouraging and increasing the innate ability of the spinal cord to repair itself, a quality known as neuroplasticity. Other attempts to repair spinal cords have focused on stem cell therapy, although Geron, the world’s leading embryonic stem cell company, last year closed its pioneering work in the field.
The brain and spinal cord can adapt and recover from small injuries but until now that ability was far too limited to overcome severe damage. This new study proves that recovery from severe injury is possible if the dormant spinal column is “woken up”. Norman Saunders, a neuroscientist at University of Melbourne said, “it looks more promising than previously proposed treatments for spine injury”.
Kenny must push for a debt deal now after Ireland’s support for the EU fiscal treaty
The Irish Government is to push European leaders to slash the cost of its crippling bank bailout after it secured resounding support for the fiscal treaty.
Taoiseach Enda Kenny said he raised the issue of the multibillion rescue in several phone calls with EU chiefs, including Germany’s Angela Merkel, once the referendum result was confirmed.
After securing a confident 60% majority in the popular vote Mr Kenny said the bailout for bust banks – more than 46 billion euro (£37 billion) – must now be included in wider efforts to kick start the European economy.
“Ireland’s banking debt must form part of that solution,” he said.
One of his junior ministers, Brian Hayes, insisted the focus was on the 34 billion euro plus (£27 billion) burden left behind by rogue lender Anglo-Irish Bank.
Five of Ireland’s 43 constituencies rejected the treaty plan for tighter budgetary control from Brussels including both electoral regions of Donegal and three others in Dublin, one of which is home to two senior government figures, Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte and Mr Hayes.
Sinn Fein claimed some credit for forcing a strong No vote but failed to secure a success in party president Gerry Adams’ backyard of Co Louth.
And the splits in support around the country were widely seen as highlighting a growing class divide with many of the more affluent areas showing strong backing for the treaty while traditionally working class areas of Dublin and Cork came out against the pact.
Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore, Ireland’s deputy prime minister and Labour leader who has seen support for the party diminish in opinion polls this year, also backed the Taoiseach’s call for a debt deal.
“This was not just an exercise – asking people to vote Yes – it was also an occasion where we listened to what people where saying,” he said.
The Tanaiste, whose Dun Laoghaire constituency south of Dublin saw the second highest support for the treaty, added: “We do need to have a deal in relation to our bank debt. We do need to see progress upon it.”
The first opportunity for the treaty success and the potential for a growth pact to be discussed will be later this month at an informal European summit.
European Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso praised the successful passage of the treaty referendum.
“Ireland has established a strong track record in implementing its EU/IMF financial programme. Today’s vote represents a significant step towards Ireland’s economic recovery and its place at the heart of the EU,” he said.
Declan Ganley, founder of the Libertas group which successfully campaigned against the Lisbon treaty in 2008, claimed many Yes voters did so through gritted teeth.
“It’s going to be a long hot summer in European markets, and a lot is going to happen,” said Mr Ganley.
His assessment was also supported by the director of elections for the Fine Gael party, Simon Coveney.
Mr Kenny said he raised the banking crisis directly with the German Chancellor and he also discussed it with French president Francois Hollande, Spanish prime minister Mariano Rajoy, Mr Barroso and president of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy.
He said the Yes vote gives the Government the power to negotiate more strongly on the issue of bank debt.
“This is an issue which I regard as Ireland having sent a message that we understand is a problem,” he said.
“Ireland will participate very strongly in this debate as this is the only country that has actually had a direct result through the ballot box.”
The final figures from the referendum count showed a total of 955,091 votes in favour of the referendum compared with 629,088 against the agreement.
It was the fifth time since 2000 that Irish voters have been asked to accept European reforms in a popular vote – twice they rejected the plans forcing a referendum re-run.
Ireland was the only country in Europe holding a referendum as it is obliged to put major EU reforms to the public test, according to the Constitution.
The treaty will come into effect with the support of 12 states, which now looks certain, with ratification already complete in three countries and under way in another six.
Twenty five of the 27 European Union states have accepted the text of the treaty, with the exception of the UK and Czech Republic.
The objective of the treaty is also to keep a control on deficits and ensure greater checks and balances are in place for money in and out of each country.
The ESB increase profits for 2011 by as much as 38%
The ESB has reported operating profits of €469m for 2011 – an increase of 38% on 2010 – despite the difficult market conditions.
It said that electricity demand is slow to recover to its previous high levels amid continuing high commodity prices.
The ESB is recommending a dividend of €72.5m for 2011, which bring total dividends paid to the Exchequer over the last ten years to near €1 billion.
In 2011, the ESB raised €1.3 billion to fund its investment programme and much of this will be invested in ”critical energy infrastructure” in Ireland.
ESB chief executive Pat O’Doherty said that the economic downturn has resulted in significant challenges in terms of customer arrears management. He said that over 300,000 customers has availed of its easier payment arrangements and new pricing plans.
The company is also installing pay-as-you-go meters for those in most difficulty and are continuing to promote energy efficiency programmes.
The company made a further €70m in cost reductions under its Performance Improvement Programme through a combination of pay cuts and a reduction in staff numbers. This brings the total savings so far under this programme to €165m.
2011 also marked the first year of ESB’s ownership of NIE, Northern Ireland’s transmission and distribution
network. The company said the investment is well set to deliver enhanced efficiency and service for all of ESB’s and NIE’s customers.
Zinc aids the treatment of newborn baby infections
Zinc can aid antibiotic treatment for serious infantile infections.
Zinc supplementation may increase the effectiveness of antibiotics in the treatment of serious newborn infections in developing countries.
The finding was resulted from a study of more than 300 infants younger than 120 days or 4 months that were hospitalized in New Delhi, India due to serious and deadly infections including meningitis, pneumonia and sepsis or blood poisoning.
The results showed that adding a 10-milligram daily oral dose of zinc to standard antibiotics reduced the risk of treatment failure by 40 percent compared with administrating standard antibiotics alone.
Several investigations have identified widespread zinc deficiency in low- and middle-income countries and also its association with higher infections rates.
However, the new three-year study demonstrated that oral zinc may even be helpful for infected newborns that are not suffering from a sever zinc deficiency, the scientists wrote in journal The Lancet.
“It does not need to be serious zinc deficiency. Even mild deficiency can compromise a child’s immunity,” said the senior author Shinjini Bhatnagar of the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute and All India Institute of Medical Sciences.
“Zinc is an accessible, low-cost intervention that could add to the effect of antibiotic treatment,” Dr. Bhatnagar added.
If further researches confirm the study’s results, “the use of zinc as an adjunct to antibiotic treatment might lead to substantial reductions in infant mortality, particularly in resource-constrained settings where second-line antibiotics and appropriate intensive care might be unavailable,” the researchers suggested.
Reportedly, in 2010, infections like pneumonia and meningitis accounted for 47 percent of all deaths in children aged under 5 worldwide, and almost a quarter died during the first 28 days of life.
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