Taoiseach Enda Kenny tells the EU to stand by Irish bank debt pledge
The Taoiseach Enda Kenny has demanded EU leaders to “stand by” their decision to ease Ireland banking debt, warning of damage to trust between member states.
EU economics commissioner Olli Rehn said yesterday there were “different interpretations” of what was agreed at the June EU summit in relation to using the euro area’s bailout fund to recapitalise banks.
However, Mr Kenny inisted last night the decision was binding and called on fellow leaders to demonstrate they could follow through on the agreement.
“In meetings of EU leaders one of the problems you find is the missing element is trust that if they make a decision they will stand by it,” he said at the International Bar Association conference’s opening in Dublin.
“There is a need for transparency, for decisiveness, for clarity,” he said, departing from a prepared script.
Finance ministers from Germany, Finland and the Netherlands delivered a surprise blow to Ireland’s campaign for debt relief last week when they argued national bodies should remain liable for most bank losses.
Mr Kenny’s comments last night echoed remarks contained in his speech to Fine Gael’s presidential dinner on Saturday night, when he insisted a binding decision had been taken by heads of state.
“There is no resiling and going back from a formal decision made by the leaders of the 27 countries of the European Union,” he said. “I was happy that at that meeting in June there was a clear and unequivocal decision made not by ministers, not by civil servants, not by commentators but by the heads of government of the 27.”
Mr Kenny said the decision had two parts: “Firstly, to break the link between sovereign and bank debt to allow for recapitalisation directly of banks and secondly, that a review of Ireland’s position would be held to improve our capacity to meet our debts and that equal treatment would be given to the country,” he said. “They’re the decisions that were made. They’re the decisions that stand.” Mr Kenny was warmly applauded for his comments.
Ministers are expected to raise the question of Ireland’s debt sustainability when 11 of them fly to Brussels on Wednesday to meet European Commissioners as part of Ireland’s preparation to take up the presidency next year.
Mr Rehn said he was working to resolve disagreements over how the EU crisis fund could be used to recapitalise struggling banks. “It seems there have been different interpretations about the June decision,” he said. “Already this week the member states have begun to discuss with the help of the European Commission on what exact rules could be implemented in bank recapitalisation. This work proceeds in parallel to the work on the banking supervisor.”
Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty accused the Government of having “over-egged” the June decision and said the statement had not said anything about retrospective debt.
Meanwhile, Mr Kenny said additional savings under the Croke Park Agreement would minimise budgetary cutbacks to frontline services.
“What we need to do is to maximise what we can get out of the Croke Park agreement in the shortest time with greatest impact for people, so as not to have to make decisions where frontline services might potentially suffer as a consequence,” he said.
Mr Kenny said he had met three Ministers on Friday to discuss their proposals for “reinvigorating” the Croke Park agreement and accelerating the level of savings to be generated under the deal.
He also said Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and himself were absolutely focused on implementing the programme for government. He said the level of unemployment was still far too high.
Separately, a spokeswoman for the Department of Social Protection said any decision about taxing maternity benefit would be taken collectively by Cabinet at budget time.
The Ryder Cup 2012:
Memory of Seve Ballesteros’s inspires Europe to greatest comeback in history to beat the USA
Rory McIlroy of Europe celebrates after Martin Kaymer holed the decisive putt on the 18th hole.
Europe pulled off the greatest comeback of the Ryder Cup’s history on a final day which emphatically and thrillingly confirmed the Cup’s propensity for the rawest of drama.
Job done: Martin Kaymer celebrates after his putt which confirmed that Europe would be retaining the Ryder Cup in 2012.
Never give up. That is how Seve played his game. But even he would have found this recovery from four points down to retain his most precious trophy miraculous .
Martin Kaymer was the unlikeliest of heroes, shrugging off his wretched form to hole a six-footer on the 18th green to beat Steve Stricker.
What Bernhard Langer could not do, Kaymer could. In 1991 Langer missed the same length of putt at the same stage and the US grabbed the glory.
Yes, everywhere one looked here ob Sunday night there was symbolism in the European celebrations.
Amazingly, ridiculously, Tiger Woods missed a tiddler on the 18th in the very last game to give Europe the win, by 14½-13½. But then, the Americans don’t like draws, do they?
In truth, the celebrations had begun in earnest and Woods’ match with Francesco Molinari was an afterthought. The cup was heading back over the pond regardless.
The stats say that Europe emulated the staggering fightback in 1999 when the Americans came through from the same 10-6 scoreline going into the singles.
The stats lie. This was way, way beyond Brookline and not just because Europe were 10-4 down at one stage on Saturday and were forced to win 10½ from the next 14 points.
Europe were away from home with the Americans looking invincible and a home support vociferous in the belief that their valiant youngsters were about to win their second match this century.
They failed, thanks to Europe prevailing in the singles by the stunning margin of 8½-3½.
While Kaymer will grab the headlines, it was Ian Poulter who inspired this sporting resurrection with his five finishing birdies on Saturday night to keep the dream alive.
He then won his singles and his 100 per cent record in Chicago means he has won 11 of his last 12 points. He is the finest Ryder Cup player in operation.
In a format as volatile as matchplay his record is totally absurd. Webb Simpson felt the full force of the Englishman’s competitive spirit in the singles when Poulter pulled back a two-hole deficit to prevail on the 18th for his third game in a row.
It took an outrageous shot on the last to see off the American rookie, playing it over a tree on to the green. The great conquistador himself would have been proud of that escape.
When Simpson conceded it meant that Poulter had become the first player to win four out of four in a Ryder Cup in 31 years. A certain Jack Nicklaus achieved the feat at Walton Heath in 1981. Not the worst company to keep.
Poulter rushed back to watch his great friend and Ryder Cup partner, Justin Rose, pull off an astonishing victory over Phil Mickelson.
Rose was on the brink of going two down with two remaining, but he holed a long putt on the 16th to stay at one down.
Then Rose holed a 20-footer on the 17th for a birdie and then a 12-footer for another birdie on the 18th.
As he was fist-pumping, the scoreboard showed the match at 11-11, with Luke Donald having led the team off in textbook fashion with a comfortable 2&1 win over Bubba Watson.
The shock was on. After being a 33-1 shot with Ladbrokes when Donald was on the 14th, the price was now tumbling as quickly as the Americans.
Rory McIlroy had taken down America’s main man for the week, Keegan Bradley. Bizarrely, he only arrived at the course 10 minutes before his tee-off having believed he was off at 11.25am instead of 12.25pm.
He was rushed to the course by a kindly state trooper. He might not have made it without assistance. Somewhere in Chicago a policeman was feeling rather sheepish last night. His kindly gesture may well have won the cup for Europe.
McIlroy duly saw off Bradley 2&1, while Paul Lawrie was immensely impressive in crushing Brant Snedeker by the day’s biggest margin, 5&3. It meant Europe had won the first five games.
Dustin Johnson struck one for the crowd with his 3&2 win over Nicolas Colsaerts and, with Zach Johnson beating Graeme McDowell 2&1, it still looked America’s.
But then Furyk lost the final two holes to Sergio Garcia and everything and anything seemed possible. Furyk needed only to get up and down from the back of the green and they probably, almost certainly would, have still won.
Suddenly the word “Seve” was being mentioned all across Medinah. That and the word “olé” — over and over.
Next up came Jason Dufner beating Peter Hanson on the last and Lee Westwood staging a courageous return to form with his 3&2 win over Matt Kuchar. It was all on the last two games, on the veterans of Stricker and Woods.
Kaymer has been awful for months but grimly stuck in there and when Stricker messed up the par-three 17th the former world No1 holed a brave six-footer to go one up.
It was not anywhere near as gutsy as the one on the 18th, however.
He rammed it in, raised his arms and was soon engulfed by his team-mates. Back on the fairway, Woods looked on bemused; all the Americans were bemused.
They were certain their new generation would finish off all their good work, certain that Europe’s run of five wins from six games would be halted. Make that six from seven and make this just the second away win from the last eight .
On the green Olazabal cried and thought of his old compadre. How Seve would have loved to be here.
But in the chutzpah and the complete audaciousness of the comeback his presence could be felt here. The spirit of Seve lives on and on.
Global climate change ‘may shrink fish’
Fish body size is related to the water’s temperature and oxygen levels, says scientists
Fish species are expected to shrink in size by up to 24% because of global warming, say scientists.
Researchers modelled the impact of rising temperatures on more than 600 species between 2001 and 2050.
Warmer waters could decrease ocean oxygen levels and significantly reduce fish body weight.
The scientists argue that failure to control greenhouse gas emissions will have a greater impact on marine ecosystems than previously thought.
Previous research has suggested that changing ocean temperatures would impact both the distribution and the reproductive abilities of many species of fish. This new work suggests that fish size would also be heavily impacted.
The researchers built a model to see how fish would react to lower levels of oxygen in the water. They used data from one of the higher emissions scenarios developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
Warming the fish
Although this data projects relatively small changes in temperatures at the bottom of the oceans, the resulting impacts on fish body size are “unexpectedly large” according to the paper.
As ocean temperatures increase, so do the body temperatures of fish. But, according to lead author, Dr William Cheung, from the University of British Columbia, the level of oxygen in the water is key.
“Rising temperatures directly increase the metabolic rate of the fish’s body function,” he told BBC News.
“This leads to an increase in oxygen demand for normal body activities. So the fish will run out of oxygen for growth at a smaller body size.”
The research team also used its model to predict fish movements as a result of warming waters. The group believes that most fish populations will move towards the Earth’s poles at a rate of up to 36km per decade.
“So in, say, the North Sea,” says Dr Cheung, “one would expect to see more smaller-body fish from tropical waters in the future.”
Conservative model
Taking both the movements and the physiological impacts of rising temperatures together, the research team concludes that fish body size will shrink between 14% and 24%, with the largest decreases in the Indian and Atlantic oceans.
When compared with actual observations of fish sizes, the model seems to underestimate what’s actually happening in the seas.
The researchers looked at two case studies involving North Atlantic cod and haddock. They found that recorded data on these fish showed greater decreases in body size than the models had predicted.
Other scientists say the impact could be widely felt.
Dr Alan Baudron, from the University of Aberdeen, UK, has studied changes in the growth of haddock in the North Sea. He says this latest research is a “strong result”.
He believes it could have negative implications for the yields of fisheries. And it could also seriously impact the ability of fish to reproduce, he adds.
“Smaller individuals produce fewer and smaller eggs which could affect the reproductive potential of fish stocks and could potentially reduce their resilience to other factors such as fishing pressure and pollution,” he told BBC News.
The authors point out a number of limiting factors in their study, including uncertainties in the predictions for the climate and the oceans. According to Dr Cheung, further research is required.
“Our study shows that climate change can lead to a substantial decrease in the maximum body weight of fish. We need to look more closely at the biological response in the future.”
SME Credit Watch Survey finds
‘payment delays putting massive pressure on Ireland’s SMEs’
The Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association is calling on the Government to put pressure on big companies to pay their bills on time.
The survey revealed that 41% of companies are waiting three months or more for payment.
Mark Fielding, CEO of ISME, said the Government needs to act fast to protect businesses going under and to protect jobs.
Mr Fielding said: “While the main government departments have improved their payment days, the main offenders are the state agencies and big business where delays continue to put massive pressure on SMEs.
“SMEs have to pay their VAT to government long before they themselves are paid, which is placing undue pressure on smaller businesses who are being let down by the bailed-out banks reducing overdrafts left, right and centre.
“The Government refuses to tackle this issue, as businesses go to the wall and jobs are lost because of totally inadequate legislation.”
A new study finds similarities between ovaries and breast cancers
A new study found marked molecular similarities between breast and ovarian cancer which scientists said could help lead to new treatments for hard-to-treat forms of breast cancer.
The research found that the two ailments share genomic features that could aid in finding future treatments breast cancer – the leading cause of cancer deaths among women.
“The molecular similarity of one of the principal subtypes of breast cancer to that found in ovarian cancer gives us additional leverage to compare treatments and outcomes across these two cancers,” said Harold Varmus, director of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) which provided some of the funding for the study.
“This treasure trove of genetic information will need to be examined in great detail to identify how we can use it functionally and clinically,” Varmus said.
The research used data generated as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a comprehensive study that catalogued the cancer information from 825 breast cancer patients.
Researchers said findings that the two cancers are of similar molecular origin could help narrow down potential future therapies for related subtypes of breast and ovarian cancers.
“TCGA’s comprehensive characterization allows researchers an unprecedented look at these breast cancer subgroups,” said Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, which also supported the study.
Another scientific agency which played a part in study was similarly upbeat about the findings.
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