Stubbs Gazette’ Irish Minister Reilly says he
‘acted properly at all times'
Minister for Health James Reilly addressing the Dail this evening
The Minister for Health James Reilly addressed the Dáil this evening explaining how his name appeared in the debt-defaulter’s list in Stubbs’ Gazette over a €1.9m debt linked to the Green Hills nursing home in Tipperary.
He outlined complex ownership arrangements since the investment was first made in 2000 and a series of legal disputes since 2004 in the Circuit Court, High Court and Commercial Court.
Dr Reilly said he holds a 9 per cent share in the investment and that he was one of five recourse co-owners. He is in effect a minority shareholder.
There were another eight investors, regarded as non-recourse owners, who were involved in the deal 12 years ago to buy land in Tipperary, build a nursing home and lease it.
Insisting he had “at all times acted with propriety,” Dr Reilly said that he has never had any role in the on-the-ground operations at Green Hills.
“In March 2011 after being appointed to government I granted power of attorney to my solicitor to dispose of my interests in the nursing home,” he added.
Dr Reilly said he sought the advice of the Standards in Public Office Commission in October 2011 after his solicitor had failed to dispose of his interests in the home on a number of occasions.
He said he was advised that it would be acceptable to “proceed on a power of attorney basis.”
“This advice was received early in January 2012 and power of attorney was granted to a third party solicitor. I hope it is clear to deputies that I sought at all times to comply with the code of conduct for office holders,” he said.
“I do not have a conflict of interest. I have a single interest and that is the interest of older people and patients in our health service,” he said.
He very much regretted “that it has not proved possible to reach agreement in advance of being named in Stubbs Gazette”. But he said: “I am assured by my attorney that very significant efforts are underway to agree a methodology by which the non-recourse co-owners can be paid”.
“I entered politics late in life. I did so in pursuit of no business interests whatsoever.
“I did so because I passionately believe that we can provide better services to citizens. I passionately believe that we must put patients at the heart of our health service.”
About 60 TDs were present in the chamber for Dr Reilly’s ten minute personal statement. Dr Reilly was flanked by a number of Cabinet colleagues including Minister for Finance Michael Noonan, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter, Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney and Minister for Communications Pat Rabbitte and Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald.
Earlier Taoiseach Enda Kenny has said it was “preposterous” to suggest that Dr Reilly was deliberately closing public beds to drive people into nursing homes he had an interest in.
During leaders’ questions in the Dáil this morning Mr Kenny told Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams “before he was ever appointed as Minister for Health he declared his interest in a number of businesses including in a nursing home of which he is a part-shareholder as an investor in Carrick-on-Suir”.
The Taoiseach said Dr Reilly had declared publicly his interest in this business and “as a Minister of Government he sets out policy of Government in respect of changing the nature of the structure of health”.
Mr Adams, who claimed Fine Gael’s policy was to privatise the health services, asked the Taoiseach if it was a conflict of interest that the Minister was closing 600 community nursing home beds while having an interest in the private nursing home sector.
The Taoiseach said to Mr Adams: “You seem to be deliberately implying that the Minister is deliberately closing public beds to drive people into nursing homes in which he has an interest. This is a preposterous assumption.”
He criticised Mr Adams’ assertion “when the Minister first of all makes declares as a matter of public interest, his interests in businesses and has divested himself through the power of attorney and legal advisors to deal with that unfettered and at arm’s length”.
Mr Kenny also rejected Mr Adams’ claim that investments in nursing homes was “part of a tax scam” and said they were tax breaks.
Defending the Minister’s plans on community nursing homes, Mr Kenny said “Government policy is to change the structure and the nature of the delivery of health services in the interests of patients in an efficient and cost-effective manner”.
He added that a number of changes were being made “to the structures of the bed situation” in both public and private nursing homes.
This morning the Fianna Fáil leader Michael Martin said Dr Reilly must explain to the House why he has not honoured a High Court judgement.
“It is a serious issue in terms of the public interest that a Government minister would not be in compliance with a High Court order.
“I find it difficult to accept a person’s financial affairs are ‘completely in order’ when they are in breach of a High Court order,” Mr Martin added.
Some 58% of Irish adults support a minimum price for alcohol
Over half of Irish men are against a ban on alcohol industry sponsorship of sports events as promised by the Government, a new survey has found.
However most adults (58 per cent) support a minimum unit price for alcohol, according to the survey by the Health Research Board released yesterday.
The survey examined public attitudes to recommendations in February’s report to the Government by the National Substance Misuse Steering Group. The group recommended a ban on all alcohol sponsorship of sporting and large outdoor events, higher excise duties on some alcohol products and the introduction of minimum pricing.
Almost half of adults (46 per cent) are against a ban on alcohol sports sponsorship, 42 per cent are in favour of a ban, with the rest undecided, the research found.
The issue of sports sponsorship by alcohol companies highlighted a gender divide, with more than one-third of women (39 per cent) against a ban compared with 54 per cent of men. The lack of support for an alcohol sponsorship ban at sporting events would be the “one disappointing finding” for the Government, Dr Jean Long of the board said yesterday.
The survey of 1,020 adults was conducted in May by Ipsos/MRBI and was weighted to reflect the adult population. Most adults (51 per cent) were in favour of retaining alcohol industry sponsorship of music events and festivals, with particular support among men and those aged under 44.
One-third (37 per cent) supported a ban at music events, with the rest undecided. However most people supported restricting certain alcohol advertising; ranging from 57 per cent support for restrictions on billboards and bus stops to 80 per cent supporting restrictions for cinema marketing at under-18 films.
A lack of responsiveness to price changes in alcohol was found. It would take a price increase of 25 per cent to get two-thirds of people to purchase less alcohol in supermarkets, the survey found. If supermarket drink prices increased by 50 per cent, a quarter of adults would not reduce alcohol purchasing, it found.
“It is possible that we would be prepared to pay more for alcohol than in the UK because we are heavier drinkers,” Dr Long said.
The report shows that younger people are more price-sensitive than the rest of the population.
Forty per cent of the 18-24 age group supported minimum pricing compared with two-thirds of adults aged 35-64.
The survey showed younger people “wish to have a very liberal approach to alcohol and to have very cheap alcohol”, Dr Long said.
Ireland has fourth highest proportion of foreign EU citizens
Ireland’s population has the fourth highest proportion of foreign EU citizens in the EU at 6.5% or 292,400 in 2011, it was revealed today.
According to figures just released by Eurostat, Luxembourg recorded the highest proportion at 37% of the total population, followed by Cyprus (13%), Belgium (6.8%), Ireland (6.5%), Spain (5%) and Austria (4%). The EU average is 2.5%.
A total of 8.1% (361,600) of the total population of Ireland in 2011 was composed of foreign citizens (EU and non-EU foreign citizens), compared to an EU average of 6.6%.
The highest proportion of foreign citizens in the population was observed in Luxembourg (43% of the total population), followed by Cyprus (20%), Latvia (17%) and Estonia (16%).
The percentage of foreign citizens was less than 2% in Poland, Bulgaria, Lithuania and Slovakia.
In 2011, 33.3 million foreign citizens lived in the EU27 Member States, accounting for 6.6% of the EU27 population.
This foreign population comprised 12.8 million EU citizens living in another Member State, i.e. 2.5% of the EU27 population, and 20.5 million non EU citizens, i.e. 4.1% of the EU27 population.
The number of foreign-born people exceeded the number of foreign citizens in almost all Member States.
The number of suicides in Ireland
Rose 7% last year, CSO figures reveal
Candles lit in memory of those lost to suicide for World Suicide Prevention Day: “The recession has had a huge impact on people’s wellbeing
THE NUMBER of suicides registered in Ireland rose to 525 in 2011, an increase of 7 per cent on the previous year, according to data from the Central Statistics Office.
A total of 439 men and 86 women were recorded as having taken their own lives, the majority of whom were aged 15-44.
The figures are contained in the CSO Vital Statistics report for 2011 published yesterday, which collates the numbers of births, deaths and marriages registered in Ireland last year.
President of the Irish Association of Suicidology (IAS) Dan Neville TD said the figures were “frightening but not surprising” given the impact the economy was having on mental health, especially among young men.
“The recession has had a huge impact on people’s wellbeing. Those who lose their jobs, experience a drastic reduction in their income or are in danger of losing their home experience a lot of anxiety, despair and depression. Relationship difficulties and marriage breakdown can follow on from that. We should be identifying and responding to these problems in the community as quickly as possible.” Mr Neville said the true figure for suicides would be closer to 600 when “undetermined” deaths were taken into account.
The IAS is calling for the urgent appointment of a director of mental health services and a new director of the National Suicide Prevention Office to ensure the €35 million allocated to mental health services is spent responsibly.
Joan Freeman, chief executive and founder of Pieta House, which deals with suicide and self-harm , said the figures showed how big a problem suicide was in Ireland.
“There is no doubt that the demand for our services have increased in the last year. We’re seeing a lot more children, those under 18 and also the 26-44 age group,” she said.
The CSO figures also revealed that 74,650 births were registered in Ireland in 2011, a decrease of 326 on the previous year. The average age for women giving birth in Ireland is now 31.8 years, an increase of 0.3 years since 2010 and 1.4 years higher than in 2002.
Two in five births were to first-time mothers, whose average age was 29.8 years. Of the 25,190 women who gave birth for the first time outside marriage, the average age was 27 years.
The highest percentage of births outside marriage was in Limerick city, at 49 per cent, while Galway county and Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown had the lowest at 25 per cent. A total of 1,720 teenagers had babies, 40 of whom were under 16.
There were 28,995 deaths registered in 2011, 78 per cent of which were over 65. Circulatory disease was responsible for 33 per cent of deaths, followed by cancer at 30 per cent and lung disease at 12 per cent. There were 1,695 deaths due to accidents, suicides or other external causes, 73 per cent of which were among males.
A total of 19,879 marriages were registered, and divorce was granted to 2,819 couples.
CONTACTS:
Samaritans ( samaritans.org), at 1850-609090 (Republic of Ireland) or 08457-909090 (UK, including the North); Pieta House ( pieta.ie), the centre for prevention of self-harm or suicide, at 01-6010000; Console ( console.ie), a charity for the bereaved, free helpline at 1800-201890; and Aware ( aware.ie), helping people with depression, at 1890-303302.
Shopping around can save you €400 in home insurance
Consumers can save almost €400 a year by shopping around for home insurance, according to the latest cost comparison from the National Consumer Agency.
The Home Insurance Cost Comparison survey reviewed a range of property types throughout the State and found that across all the profiles surveyed, consumers could make average savings of €382 by shopping around.
The survey also reviewed the level of “excess” attached to policies and the restrictions on contents insurance.
It found that the excess on policies ranged from €125 to €500 and that a lower quote did not mean higher excesses.
In six of the seven profiles, the lowest quotes were for policies that did not have the highest excesses in the survey.
Seven profiles for homes in Cork, Monaghan, Galway, Dublin and Longford were surveyed across nine insurance providers – Aviva, Allianz, Axa, Chartis, FBD, Getcover, Liberty, Royal Sun Alliance and Zurich.
The biggest difference in quotes was for a three-bedroom house in Co Cork with a rebuild value of €130,000 and contents valued at €40,000.
The highest quote (€1,147 from Chartisdirect) was €864 or over four times more expensive than the lowest quote (€283 from FBD).
Ann Fitzgerald, chief executive of the NCA, urged consumers to take advantage of competition in the market and savings available by getting quotes online, by phone or through a broker. She also advised consumers to compare excesses and restrictions on contents cover as well as price when shopping around.
“Ensure that the value provided for contents is enough to replace contents with new items of the same quality and type.
“In addition, consumers need to examine the amount of cover given for specific items or categories of contents under the contents cover.”
The hubble telescope spots a fifth moon near Pluto
US Astronomers have found a fifth moon orbiting far-away Pluto, NASA said today.
The irregular-shaped moon, nicknamed S/2012 for now, is about 10 to 24 kilometers across, the US space agency said.
Last year, astronomers reported finding the fourth moon around the icy dwarf planet some three billion miles away.
“The moons form a series of neatly nested orbits, a bit like Russian dolls,” said Mark Showalter of the SETI Institute in Mountain View, California.
Pluto’s largest moon, Charon, is 648 miles across. The other two, Nix and Hydra, are between 20 and 70 miles in diameter, NASA said.
Hubble – a potent space telescope that has transformed the field of astronomy since it was first launched in 1990 – discovered Nix and Hydra in 2005. Astronomers at the US Naval Observatory glimpsed Charon in 1978.
Pluto, once known as the ninth planet from the Sun, was declassified as a full-fledged planet in August 2006 and joined the new category, dwarf planet.
At about 1,430 miles wide, it is about two-thirds the size of the moon and has a mass less than one percent of the Earth’s.
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