Donie's news Ireland BLOG Tuesday

Over 23,000 people killed on Ireland’s roads since 1959

    

More than 23,000 people have been killed on Irish roads since records began in 1959, new figures have shown.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) released the statistics ahead of World Remembrance Day for Road Traffic Victims on Sunday.

Commemoration services, masses and other events are being planned throughout the country over the weekend to remember those who have been killed or seriously injured in road crashes, as well as their families and friends.

  Transport Minister Leo Varadkar said the scale of the deaths should force people to reflect on their own driving.

“Since 1959, 23,227 people have been killed on our roads, more than the population of the town of Athlone. And for every life lost on our roads, hundreds more are devastated by the loss.

“World Remembrance Day gives us all an opportunity to remember the victims of road crashes, the families grieving for their loss and the communities shattered by these tragedies.”

Among the events planned is a day of special prayers in more than 30 churches of all denominations across Co Carlow and a mass in Cork’s Cathedral of St Mary and St Anne, attended by emergency services and crash survivors.

Dedicated services will also be held in Donegal, Derry, Louth and Mayo while a special candle-lit tree-planting ceremony is planned for Belvedere House and Gardens in Co Westmeath. Visit the RSA’s website at www.rsa.ie for a full list of events.

Gay Byrne, chairman of the RSA, said it was a day to remember those who died, their loved ones left behind and the emergency services.

“We also acknowledge those who have been seriously injured on our roads and those who continue to support and care for them every day,” he said.

If your wife is working late

It could be a sign that your marriage is in trouble

   

• Women who fear marriage breakdown work longer as a ‘form of insurance’ claims new research from the London School of Economics
• However this increase was not matched by husbands taking more responsibility around the home

Married men, is your significant other spending more and more time at work? Watch out because it could be a sign that she thinks your relationship is in trouble.

A study found that women who fear their marriage is breaking down begin working longer hours as a ‘form of insurance’.

Scientists have worked out that for every 1 per cent increase in the risk of marital breakdown, they put in an extra twelve minutes a week.

‘Form of insurance’: Women who feel like their marriage is on the rocks spend longer in the office, a new study from LSE researchers claims

But the study also found that there is no strong evidence to suggest men do the same when a relationship is struggling.

Berkay Ozcan and his colleagues at the London School of Economics used the 1996 legalisation of divorce in Ireland to calculate how subsequent marriage breakdown rates affected women’s participation in the workforce.

‘We see women who are at a higher risk of divorce significantly increase how much they work. And it is not that women working outside the home are more likely to get divorced,’ he said.

‘Rather, faced with a rising probability of divorce, women work more, whether they ultimately separate or not. They are working as a form of insurance in case of divorce or in anticipation of it. Divorce is harder on women.’

In Ireland, following the legalisation of divorce, non-religious married women increased how much they worked by about 18 per cent, compared to their churchgoing counterparts.

Religious women were used as a control group by the researchers because they were not affected by the new divorce law – their rate of separation remained constant and their divorce rate is marginal.
The study using a national survey of almost 3,000 households also found women’s increased work outside the home was not compensated by either a decrease in domestic time spent on childcare or an increase in childrearing by fathers.

Dr Ozcan, whose findings are published in the European Economic Review, said: ‘Our results suggest women’s changing work patterns outside of the home were not accompanied by a decrease in specialisation of tasks within the home.

‘Women who have secured their outside options, in case of divorce, may have done so, at least in the short run, at the expense of their leisure time and potentially their wellbeing.’

After the legislation was introduced non religious women were 34 per cent more likely to divorce, and religious women just 7 per cent more likely.

Dr Ozcan said it is unclear whether legalising divorce may have strengthened or weakened wives’ bargaining position within the marriage.

He said: ‘In the short run, women may be hurt more by the higher likelihood of divorce as they are often the weaker spouse financially and would suffer more from a divorce than men.

‘In the longer run, however, they may actually adjust labour supply and strengthen outside options.

 AIB hires debt restructuring expert to head arrears unit
       

AIB plans to restructure 10,000 mortgages by March.

AIB has hired in a debt restructuring expert from Nationwide Building Society in Britain, the bank confirmed this afternoon.

Garry Stran is to head up the arrears unit in AIB and its EBS subsidiary, said an AIB spokeswoman. The arrears unit is part of the bank’s new Financial Support Group division, which has 2,000 staff who will offer customers unable to meet repayments options that could include adding arrears to existing mortgage debt, splitting mortgages and mortgage-to-rent schemes.

The bank plans to restructure 10,000 mortgages by March, it has been reported.

Minister James Reilly plans 10% sugar tax on soft drinks

  

Irish health Minister James Reilly was today considering a plan for a 10pc excise tax hike on fizzy drinks — just as Denmark decided a “fat tax” doesn’t work.

A confidential reported commissioned by the Health Minister recommends increasing the excise duty on soft drinks, which are already subject to a 23pc VAT rate.

A 10% rise in excise duty could see drink jump by up to 20c a bottle.

The aim is to curb obesity and raise revenue.

The Institute of Public Health In Ireland report, which will be presented to the Department of Health’s obesity committee today, stops short of seeking the introduction of the “fat tax” that has been introduced in some other European countries.

The Department’s special action group on obesity will decide on whether to recommend the price increase, but the report is understood to say that “on balance”, it should go ahead.

If the minister decides to seek the increase, he might take note of Denmark, which introduced a tax in October, 2011 on food containing more than 2.3pc of saturated fat.

Denmark abolish: Now Denmark is to scrap the tax after it said it was costly and failed to change people’s eating habits.

Now it is to abolish the “fat tax” and cancel the planned sugar tax.

If the Health Minister decides he now has the evidence to ask Finance Minister Michael Noonan to impose the increase in next month’s Budget, it will push up the retail price of soft drinks, with consumers paying a third on top of the pre-tax price.

A bottle of lemonade which would cost €2 without tax is already subject to VAT at 23pc, pushing up the price to €2.46.

A further 10pc in sugar tax would add another 20pc to the cost at the till, meaning shoppers would end up paying €2.66 for the same bottle.

The biggest impact of a tax increase would be felt by the young and lower income groups who are the biggest consumers of soft drinks.

Figures show that 60pc of the adult Irish population and almost a quarter of seven-year-olds are either overweight or obese.

France has led the way with a sugar tax.

Sugar tax would have no health benefits says Irish lobby group IBEC

   

On the eve of a day to highlight the scourge of diabetes, November 14, 2012,

A unit of IBEC, the principal Irish business lobby group, says a sugar tax would have no health benefits and it warned “that imposing a discriminatory tax on certain food and drink products would have no health benefits and would further hit already hard-pressed Irish consumers.” Meanwhile, men are more likely to be admitted to hospital as a result of poor management of diabetes than women, even when there are no significant differences in the number of men and women living with diabetes, according to new OECD data.

   Across 25 countries, 8.7% of men and 8.3% of women are currently living with diabetes. The average number of hospital admissions with diabetes was 188 per 100 000 among men, whereas women had a hospital admission rate of 143 per 100 000 – - more than 20% lower.

The greater numbers of men being admitted to hospital for poor management of diabetes ought to raise concerns that men are not managing their diabetes as well or making the most of primary health care services when compared to women.

Across both sexes, countries such as Switzerland, Canada and Portugal have high prevalence of diabetes across their population but low rates of hospital admissions from poor management of diabetes. At the same time, Korea, Mexico and Austria have similarly high prevalence of diabetes but much higher rates of hospital admissions.

Progress in improving diabetes care across OECD countries has been mixed in the last two years for which data is available. Canada, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland, Germany and Austria have reduced the number of hospital diabetes-related hospital admissions. However, Iceland, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Italy, Finland and Korea have all seen increases in hospital admissions for diabetes. Admission rates in Norway and the United States have remained about the same.

Diabetes is a health condition where good health policies and good health care can make a big difference. Modest weight loss and dietary changes can delay and prevent the onset of diabetes and better management of blood glucose can reduce further health care complications.

However, the think-tank says that too many patients across OECD countries today do not receive treatment until more serious complications have set in. As countries reflect on how to improve health care for people living with diabetes, the OECD encourages them to think about their men.