Catholic Church calls on Irish people to lobby their politicians over abortion
Leaders of the Catholic Church in Ireland have called on people to lobby politicians with their objections to the proposed new law on abortion.
Up to 5,000 people took part in a pro-life vigil at the Knock Shrine in Co Mayo.
The procession took place as part of a national prayer vigil for mothers and the unborn.
The event came after the Catholic hierarchy’s strong criticism of the Government plans to allow abortion in limited circumstances here.
Former Taoiseach John Bruton attended the event and said he hopes that the Fine Gael party does not make a mistake and promote legislation that is fundamentally “not in accordance with its values”.
Mr Bruton said any examination of the party’s policy would show it to be strongly pro-life.
He said legislation now being considered by the Government would deny the weakest human beings of all the right to live.
He said his concerns were solely confined to the “mere threat of suicide” to permit a termination of pregnancy.
Mr Bruton said he felt that what was being considered was not viable legislation.
He said it was not consistent with the Constitution, which he said gave an equal right to the unborn child and its mother.
He repeated a call for voters to lobby their elected representatives to oppose any change to the law.
A blessing of expectant mothers was performed during the service.
Pilgrims attending the vigil expressed their concern about proposed legislation that would allow for termination of pregnancy in limited circumstances.
Many of those who have travelled to take part in today’s event said they fear any liberalisation of the abortion laws here could lead to terminations on demand in future.
The homily was given by the recently installed Bishop of Limerick Brendan Leahy.
Bishop Leahy said that Ireland was at a crossroads and it was now possible that an abortion regime would be introduced into the country for the first time.
The event is being supported by the Irish Bishops’ Conference.
It comes after they said the proposed Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill represented a dramatic and unacceptable change to Irish law.
IRISH ECONOMY WILL GROW BUT‘EU WILL REMAIN IN RECESSION’
THE EU WILL REMAIN IN A RECESSION FOR A SECOND YEAR, BUT THE IRISH ECONOMY WILL CONTINUE TO GROW, ACCORDING TO EUROPEAN COMMISSION FORECASTS.
Ireland will have the third highest GDP growth in the eurozone this year and next.
However, this is relative given that France, Spain, and the Netherlands will miss deficit targets.
The commission left its growth forecasts unchanged at 1.1% this year and 2.2% for next. This is 0.2% lower than the recent government expectation.
The deficit for this year is higher by 0.2% of GDP than that predicted a few months ago, reflecting the increasing cost of servicing debt and higher one-off costs linked to the IBRC liquidation.
Eurostat is examining the statistical treatment of the liquidation of IBRC and the restructuring of the promissory notes and their impact on deficit and debt.
The payment of AIB dividends on preference shares held by the Government via the issuance of ordinary shares may be reclassified as deficit-increasing transfers, as was the case last year when it accounted for 0.2% of GDP, the commission noted.
The outlook for next year looks better, with the deficit expected to reduce to 4.3% of GDP of which 1.4% would come from fiscal adjustment measures from the budget and the ongoing expenditure freeze.
The report said the full positive effect of the promissory note exchange will be realised once the IBRC-liquidation-related transaction costs are settled later this year. Poor domestic demand and decreasing demand for exports will reduce the external surplus.
Public debt will peak at 123% this year and with a primary surplus and a pick up in economic growth, will fall to 119% next year.
Unemployment will be lower than in earlier forecasts at 14.2%, but this will be because of emigration.
The Department of Finance said the commission “continues to see Ireland achieving its fiscal targets through the forecast horizon”, and said the forecast underlined the return of market confidence.
Meanwhile, growth will be negative in France, Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands and only Italy will achievement its government budget deficit target.
The outlook for Italy was problematic also.
While they were expected to come close to balancing the government budget, economic commissioner Olli Rehn warned that in view of the country’s ever increasing high debt level, they must keep the deficit below 3% this year “and beyond”.
US FIRMS FAIL TO PAY FULL 12.5 % IRISH CORP TAX
US firms in Ireland have reportedly been paying less than the recommended 12.5% rate of corporation tax for overseas firms.
RTÉ reported yesterday that US companies paid an average tax rate of 8% on the profits generated by their Irish divisions in 2008, the most recent date for which such figures are available. The information was made available to RTÉ under the Freedom of Information Act and was based on an analysis of 304 company tax returns published in a recent US Congressional Budget Office report.
The report suggests that companies can end up paying below the 12.5% tax rate by claiming tax credits for a range of purposes, including R&D activity. According to RTÉ’s account, 2008 saw US companies with interests in Ireland pay the Revenue Commissioners a combined €1.29 billion, but repatriate some €16.1bn to the US.
Firms repatriating money to the US still have to pay tax in their homeland, but that final bill is adjusted to account for payments already made to the Revenue here.
The report seen by RTÉ also suggests that 5% of the total income of US firms who repatriate funds from here comes from their Irish operations.
The report doesn’t just look at US firms in Ireland, but those with divisions in 34 developed countries.
However, it found that Ireland has the lowest corporation tax rate and that the country was the fourth- largest source of repatriated income to the US in 2008.
While the document looks at a number of methods to ensure companies pay more tax — noting that US firms paying tax abroad have managed to reduce their income tax liability by around 40% — it stops short of classing Ireland as a tax haven, something which the OECD has already indirectly stated was not the case.
However, the RTÉ report suggests that the document refers to another report, by the US Government Accountability Office, which does rate Ireland as a tax haven.
The Congressional Budget Office report suggests US firms should either treat their overseas subsidiaries differently to their domestic divisions or stop deferring liabilities.
Judge challenges Minister Fitzgerald to explain the lack of youth detention places
A judge at Ireland’s busiest juvenile court has challenged Minister for Children and Youth Affairs Frances Fitzgerald to explain the lack of spaces available in detention centres.
Judge Ann Ryan was presiding at the Dublin Children’s Court today where for the second day in a row a teenager facing a litany of allegations – including heroin dealing – was granted bail because the States’ juvenile detention centres could not hold him.
Referring to Oberstown Boys School or Trinity House School, detention centres in north Dublin, she said that there were problems for juvenile courts around the country when they needed to detain a young person.
She said she had learned that there was an eight-bed unit in one of the centres available but it is not being used “due to staffing problems”.
She said the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs had earlier assured her that “matters would be dealt with and nothing has been dealt with, this has been going on for over two months”.
The judge said that she wanted the Minister to provide an explanation and for either her or someone from her office to attend the court next week.
Over recent months, the boy, who is in his mid-teens has been building up a string of charges involving several allegations of motor theft in Dublin. He is also accused of possessing stolen car keys, criminal damage to a restaurant door and window, possession of heroin for sale or supply and damaging a car window.
However, the out-of-school boy has not yet entered pleas to the charges and during his pre-trial hearings he had been ordered to obey several bail terms.
Gardaí were seeking to have his bail revoked on the grounds that he broke conditions set down earlier. The juvenile court has already heard that gardaí are aware that a threat has been made against the teenager’s life.
He had been ordered to obey a 8pm to 8am curfew but broke that condition. The boy has not yet entered pleas to the charges and was accompanied to court today by his mother as he was released again and ordered to appear next week.
The defence have conceded that he had an “appalling” history of warrants and “habitually broke bail condition and habitually did not turn up to court”.
Bad habits can affect heart disease risk and brain function
Smoking could be storing up problems for the brain
Unhealthy habits which increase heart disease risk could also be affecting brain function in people as young as 35, a study suggests.
Dutch researchers examined almost 3,800 people aged 35 to 82, testing memory, planning and reasoning.
High cholesterol and heavy smoking were linked to poorer performance in the tests across all ages.
The Alzheimer’s Society said it showed what was bad for the heart was also “bad for the head”.
Writing in the journal Stroke, the researchers from the University Medical Centre in Groningen said there was already evidence that decline in brain function could be seen by the age of 45.
Risk factors
To check if signs could be detected even earlier, the team assessed participants’ mental abilities – cognitive function – using a comprehensive test.
They also looked at risk factors for heart problems – including smoking, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and being overweight.
This enabled them to compile a “risk profile” for each participant.
Those with the most serious risk for heart problems fared around 50% worse on the cognitive tests than those with the lowest-risk profile – across the age range.
And those who smoked one to 15 cigarettes per day had a cognitive score that was on average two-point-four points lower than non-smokers, while those who smoked more than 16 cigarettes a day had on average a three-point-four point lower score.
Dr Hanneke Joosten, who led the study, said: “Young adults may think the consequences of smoking or being overweight are years down the road, but they aren’t.
“Most people know the negative effects of heart risk factors such as heart attack, stroke and renal impairment, but they do not realise it affects cognitive health.
“What’s bad for the heart is also bad for the brain.”
Doug Brown, director of research at the Alzheimer’s Society, said: “We all know that smoking, high blood pressure and high cholesterol levels are bad for our heart.
“This study adds to the wealth of evidence that also suggests they can be bad for our head too.
“As the study shows it is important that people think about their lifestyle habits and their effects a lot earlier than they may have thought they needed to.
“Telling ourselves we’ll quit smoking tomorrow, or eat healthily next week could be causing more damage than people realise.”
3 Irish Rowers’ attempt through Arctic’s Northwest Passage to highlight climate change
Rowers’ attempt through Arctic’s Northwest Passage to highlight climate change
Three Irishmen and one Canadian will attempt to row across the Northwest Passage in a single season for the first time ever this July. Their goal is to become the first people to cross the 3,000km passage by human power alone, a feat that is only made possible as a result of melting ice in the passage.
Until recently, it was not possible to row across the Northwest Passage but melting sea ice has changed all of that, so the adventurers will also use their expedition as a platform to highlight the impact of climate change.
The Northwest Passage is a sea route that connects the Arctic and Pacific Oceans. It is a series of waterways through the Arctic Ocean, along the northern coast of North America and through the Canadian Arctic archipelago.
Irish natives Paul Gleeson, Denis Barnett and Kevin Vallely, and Canadian Frank Wolf, will set off from Inuvik in the Northwest Territories in Canada on 1 July in their 25-foot long customised rowing boat called The Arctic Joule.
They will row in continuous shifts for 24 hours a day, seven days a week during their adventure, which is expected to take two to three months, ending at Pond Inlet in Nunavut, Canada.
Gleeson said it wasn’t long ago that the Northwest Passage was the sole domain of steel-hulled ice-breakers.
“We hope by making this traverse completely under human power in a row boat, without sail or motor, in a single season we will be able to demonstrate first-hand the profound affects climate change is having on our world,” he said.
Irish renewable energy company Mainstream Renewable Power is sponsoring the expedition, which will go by the name Mainstream Last First.
Mainstream’s chief executive Eddie O’Connor said the company was sponsoring the rowing attempt, as it will draw attention to global warming.
“The melting of the permafrost and the release of methane hydrate is perhaps the biggest single calamity that mankind faces and it’s all down to human-induced global warming,” said O’Connor.
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