Donie's news Ireland today Saturday

Ten changes that Enda Kenny should do to reform Government in Ireland now 

 

The Dáil purports to do a 21st century job but shelters behind 19th century privileges.

The Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, likes to use business metaphors but our Dáil operates on principles that no business could afford and he is fond of using business metaphors. “Ireland is open for business.” It is “the best small country in the world to do business in”.

That declared focus might raise hopes that the Coalition would seek to have parliament adopt some of the efficiencies of business. We have a Dáil that operates on principles that no modern business could tolerate. Its productivity is poor. Its working disciplines are lax. It purports to do a 21st century job while sheltering behind 19th century privileges.

If the Coalition were in earnest about reform of parliament, here are 10 things that they could do to make the Oireachtas more effective, more accountable and better respected by the people it serves.

• 1 They should put up a proposal to modify Article 16.5 of the Constitution which, through the Electoral Acts, prescribes our current system of proportional representation. It was devised almost 90 years ago to address the democratic sensitivities of a new State emerging from civil war. Nowadays, it makes messenger boys and fixers of TDs. It is a breeding box for the worst kinds of clientilism.
• 2 They should put to the people an alternative model of PR that does not pit members of the same party against each other at election time. They are obliged to pledge themselves to deliver more favours to sectional interests. There are list systems that do not subject candidates to the tyranny of tiny pressure groups while preserving the principle of proportionality.
• 3 In a system that does not require candidates of the same party to outpoll each other, it logically follows that fewer legislators would be required. Thus the numbers of TDs in ratio to population could be reduced by amending Article 16.2 of the Constitution. A Dáil of, say, 120 members would arguably function more efficiently and effectively than a House of 166 members. Reducing the Dáil by 46 members would save more in salaries than abolishing the Seanad.
• 4 The parliamentary working year should mirror the real world of work. Last year the Dáil sat for 123 days. In 2012 it sat for just 99 days. Even the House of Commons, no great model of industry, sat for 150 days. A private sector employee working a five-day week, allowing for public holidays and for four weeks leave, would work 226 days in the year. Because the House’s sitting days are so few there is a constant pressure on debating time. The majority of Bills are guillotined. In effect, most legislation is rubber-stamped and goes through on the nod.
• 5 They should abandon the myriad system of members’ allowances which at best generates cynicism and is, at worst, open to abuse. There should be a fixed rate for the job, with inbuilt provision for mileage, accommodation, telephones, office supports, research etc. There is a long and questionable tradition in the Irish public service of viewing allowances and expenses as untaxed income. The Oireachtas should take a lead by consigning it to history. Arguments that deputies living in Dublin would be advantaged over their rural counterparts are marginal but could be addressed.
• 6 Remuneration should be related to registering a minimum number of attendances during the parliamentary term. Due allowance should be made for certified illness, family bereavements and necessary public commitments elsewhere. The same rules for attendance at work should apply for TDs as for other public servants. If a deputy’s pay depended on Dáil attendance, it might be surprising to find how many funerals could take place and how many supermarkets might be opened without their presence.
• 7 Like any business, the Government should put the State’s financial plan before their stakeholders for consideration every year. The budget should be published in full and in advance, allowing adequate time for public discussion and analysis. The farce of supposedly dramatic revelations on a Wednesday afternoon is simply an aping of a Westminster tradition in which the chancellor of the exchequer flourishes a brief case for the cameras. It is an anachronism that places unnecessary stresses on businesses.
• 8 It should be mandatory for each member of a numerically reduced Dáil to participate (without additional financial inducement) in the workings of at least one Oireachtas committee. There is a large cohort of “Wednesday Wonders” who clock in for two days a week, and who rarely contribute to debate.
• 9 All meetings of the cabinet and cabinet subcommittees should be electronically recorded. If it can be done in the Oval Office at the White House it can be done in the Sycamore Room on Merrion Street. Arrangements could be made to have data stored under some form of judicial supervision. As matters stand we will probably never discover what happened in September 2008 when a cabal of ministers took the decision to pledge the people’s resources to support the banking system.
• 10 They should abolish the arcane privilege, enshrined in Article 15.13, of members’ immunity from arrest when going to or returning from either House of the Oireachtas. There has never been an instance in the history of the State in which the gardaí have sought to detain an elected representative in order to prevent them exercising their duty. The only known cases in which immunity was claimed appear to have related to drink-driving.

(For completeness, it should be acknowledged that RM Smyllie, later to be editor of The Irish Times, prevented Sligo TD, Alderman John Jinks from reaching the Dáil. By plying him with alcohol, he reputedly prevented him from attending the House for a crucial vote that could have brought down the Government of WT Cosgrave in 1927.)

None of the foregoing measures should be beyond the capacity of a Government with a strong Dáil majority. But this sort of programme would trench in upon traditional and long-established privileges and comforts. So sauce for the business goose is not going to be sauce for the parliamentary gander.

Turf cut on protected bogs in the west and midlands in defiance of EU

 

Over 30 turf cutters gathered at a bog at Kilteevan near Roscommon town. 

There have been a number of incidents on bogs in the midlands and the west today, with turf cut on protected sites.

Gardaí maintained a presence at Monivea bog in Co Galway all day where around 100 people gathered to cut turf in defiance of the EU Habitats Directive.

Bog owners say more than 70 banks of were cut during the course of the day, but turf-cutting equipment has now been taken away.

Under the 1992 Habitats Directive, the 53 Special Areas of Conservation were designated between 1997 and 2002.

Local bog owners who oppose the ban were joined by supporters from Counties Galway, Clare and Roscommon.

Earlier today, gardaí left a bog at Kilteevan, Co Roscommon where they were denied access to turf cutting on protected sites.

A spokesperson said gardaí had gathered information and their investigation would continue.

Pete Gillooly from the Turf Cutters and Contractors Association told RTÉ the local turf cutters were cutting on the site today because they had been offered no alternative sites to cut turf on despite commitments.

Ireland’s reputation up to 12th in the world after G8 summit

      

G8 countries have voted Ireland as the 12th most reputable country in the world. Ireland improved three places from last year’s 15th and is ranked ahead of the UK, France, Spain and Portugal.

Citizens in the G8 nations were asked about a range of issues, not just economic factors, but also political, social and cultural issues. “This is a positive step for Ireland to continue to attract foreign investment and acquire new opportunities for sustained economic growth,” said Niamh Boyle, managing director of Corporate Reputation.

Irish clinic says it will offer the ‘three-parent’ IVF procedures. 

     

THE NEW PROCEDURE COULD PREVENT GENETIC DISORDERS, BUT CRITICS WARN OF ETHICAL ISSUES.

At least one Irish clinic says it will have the capacity to offer a controversial new procedure that allows doctors create IVF babies using genetic material from three people.

The development – known as mitochondrial transfer – uses a small amount of DNA from a female donor to prevent mothers passing on genetic disorders such as muscular dystrophy and heart conditions.

Mitochondrial diseases are incurable and, up to now, there has been no way to prevent them being inherited. About one in 6,500 people is born with a mitochondrial disorder.

Scientists have hailed the procedure as a breakthrough and as a new way of bringing hope to families affected by life-threatening genetic disease

ETHICAL CONCERNS

HOWEVER, OPPONENTS SAY THE PROCEDURE IS UNETHICAL AND COULD SET DOCTORS ON A “SLIPPERY SLOPE” TOWARDS DESIGNER BABIES.

The British government is planning to push ahead with plans to make mitochondrial transfer available. Draft regulations are due to be published later this year, and the procedure could be offered within two years.

There are no laws in Ireland to govern assisted human reproduction. However, IVF clinics would need authorisation from the Irish Medicines Board in order to comply with EU-wide rules over the use and storage of human tissue.

The technique would give a baby DNA from a father, a mother and a female egg donor to eradicate mitochondrial disorders that are debilitating and fatal.

Children born after the procedures would possess nuclear DNA inherited from their parents plus a relatively small amount of mitochondrial DNA from the female egg donor.

The donor’s genetic material would be very small – just 37 genes. The majority of our DNA – the 23,000 genes that shape our appearance – is held separately inside the cell nucleus.

Dr Simon Fishel of the Beacon Care Fertility clinic in Dublin – linked to Britain’s largest independent provider of fertility treatment – said it had the capacity to deliver the new technique in Ireland. But he said the clinic would provide the service only if there was public support for the move, and if the Irish Medicines Board authorised it to do so.

‘GOOD NEWS STORY’

He said the new technique was a good news story for families and rejected suggestions that children’s DNA would be dramatically altered as a result. “One analogy is that it’s like fixing a car. You recognise the car, it’s got the same brand, heritage and appearance. All you’ve changed is a fuel cell in the engine,” he said.

Dr David Walsh of the Sims Clinic in Dublin said there was likely to be very limited demand for the procedure here given our relatively small population. “This is quite specialised and rare. It’s something that is probably best done in a jurisdiction where there’s a much larger population,” he said.

In the UK, for example, it is estimated that about one in 200 children is born each year with a mitochondrial disorder. Not all suffer serious symptoms and not all the girls among them will pass the condition to their offspring.

The new procedure was pioneered in the UK by researchers at Newcastle University.

Some groups have expressed opposition to the procedure on the basis that it crosses a line in medicine by making genetic modifications to an embryo that will pass down to all future generations.

Dr David King, the director of the London-based Human Genetics Alert, said the techniques were unnecessary and unsafe and could lead society on a “slippery slope” to other forms of genetic modification.

Something strange is going on in Donegal? Dead dolphin body appears inland at Leffin

       

ANIMAL CARCASS BAFFLES LOCALS AFTER IT IS FOUND MILES INSHORE IN CO DONEGAL 

The dead dolphin, or killer whale, has baffled locals at Leffin, Co Donegal,

Mystery surrounds the discovery of what appears to be an unusual species of dolphin almost 3km inland off the Donegal coastline.

The dead creature was discovered at Meenbanad near Burtonport.

The dolphin, which has distinctive black and white markings, has injuries to its head but it is not known how it died.

It had been thought locally it was a young killer whale. The area where the creature was found is known as The Leifin, which has a council waterworks close by.

Local woman Niamh Bonner, who found the dolphin, said people are baffled as to how it ended up in the hills.

She said: “It had to be dragged there because it is about 100 yards off the road. The Leifin is about two miles from any coastline.”

Padraig Whooley of the Irish Whale and Dolphin Group thinks it is part of a group of Atlantic white-sided dolphins which beached at nearby Traigheanna Bay in Dungloe on June 21.

Mr Whooley said sightings of such dolphins are fairly uncommon as they tend to stay much further out to sea.

He added: “It could have been taken to this remote area so it could decompose naturally leaving a skeleton which could have been put on show.”

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

The nine key features of the new “code of conduct on Ireland’s mortgage arrears problems”

  

THE NEW CODE OF CONDUCT MAKES IT INCUMBENT ON BANKS TO WORK WITH DISTRESSED MORTGAGE HOLDERS TO FIND SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS,

Irish banks that are dealing with people in mortgage difficulties are obliged to keep them informed of all their options and the alternatives every step of the way. 

The revised code of conduct published by the Central Bank leaves little wriggle room for lenders who do not work with borrowers and try to arrive at the best long-term solution for them.

However, in case the banks do not keep up their side of the bargain, it is worth keeping in mind some key features of the new code of conduct.

Q. Who does this cover? A. As soon as a borrower does not keep up repayments the code kicks in.

A bank is obliged to write to the customer and establish what has happened and offer support to right the situation.

Throughout the process banks have been told to communicate properly with customers but not excessively. Unnecessary calls to people are not allowed.

Unsolicited visits to a person’s home are not allowed unless all other attempts to make contact have failed and it has been classed as a non-cooperative case. Even in these circumstances the lender must give five days’ notice of their intention to call.

Q. What is the first step? A. People have 31 days to get in line before the process moves on. After a month, the banks have to spell out what can be done for the borrower and what their options are. This should include details on what happens if they co-operate with the banks and what can be done if they do not co-operate.

Q. When is the next pinch point? A. If the situation has not improved within three months, the bank has to start drawing up alternative options. When it gets to this stage, lenders have been told they must assist people to get all additional help available, including support from the State if it is applicable.

If a borrower co-operates, a lender cannot impose surcharges or interest on the arrears.

But if somebody fails to co-operate or rejects all of the offers tabled, legal proceedings can begin to repossess the house.

Q. What options are the bank supposed to offer people willing to co-operate? A. Before taking further action the banks have to explore a range of relief options depending on the circumstances in each case.

This includes: The bank take an equity stake in the property in exchange for a write off; put loans on an interest-only basis for a set period of time; permanently lower the interest rate; allow people to pay interest plus a portion of the principal; defer all or part of the mortgage; and/or split the mortgage to park part of it until a later date.

The banks have also been told to consider writing off a portion of the principal due altogether.

Along the way, banks have to document all of the options considered and give reasons for why the preferred solution tabled was considered the most appropriate in this case.

Q. Will the process be the same for everybody? A. No. The Central Bank has stressed that every case is unique and while it has revised a framework for dealing with customers who get into difficulty, it cannot set out a specific plan for each person.

Q. What if a borrower is on a tracker mortgage? A. A bank cannot force a co-operating mortgage holder to change from a tracker deal to another type of product.

The lender can offer a package that includes removing the tracker rate but only if it is the best option available for the customer because the new deal would leave them better off.

Q. If there is no realistic way of managing a mortgage to allow a person keep their home, what should a bank do? A. If a person has been co-operating but all of the remedies are unsustainable, the bank has to look at solutions.

These include giving people the option of handing over their keys and walking away, trading down to a more affordable home, selling the property themselves, or allowing the person to rent the home directly from the bank.

Q. When can a bank begin repossession proceedings? A. When all other avenues to change the mortgage or make it more manageable have been exhausted.

It can also move against the homeowner if they are classed as uncooperative or are deemed to have defrauded the bank. This can happen three months after the first installment is missed.

Q. If a borrower does not work with the bank, can it still avail of the code? A. The code makes a strict definition between those who deal honestly and openly with the bank and borrowers who do not co-operate.

If you fail to provide important information or do not keep in contact with the bank during a period when the loan is not being serviced, you fall into the latter category.

Banks can begin legal proceedings as soon as they declare a borrower to be non-cooperative.

Eamon Gilmore welcomes the US Senate’s approval of new immigration bill

 

The Tánaiste has welcomed the US Senate’s approval of a new immigration reform bill by 68 votes to 32.

Eamon Gilmore said the bill was another step closer towards addressing the problems faced by the undocumented Irish in the US.

Senator Mark Daly of the Ireland America Association, said it is great news – but the bill still faces the challenge of the House of Representatives.

“The house of representatives is a far more difficult challenge in terms of getting agreement between the republicans and the democrats,” he said.

“But this is really a very positive development and I don’t think 12 months ago we would have believed we would have got this far this fast.”

Irish house prices down in May but slump appears to be bottoming out

 down 1.1% 

Tiny price increases reported in Dublin

Data from the CSO show that house prices fell 1.1 per cent in the year to May.

Property prices across the State fell 1.1 per cent in the year to May, but the general rate of price decline is slowing. The CSO reported a fall of 1.2 per cent in the 12 months to April this year, but this compares to decline of 15.3 per cent recorded between May 2011 and May 2012.

The annual index is calculated as a simple average of the published CSO indices for March, June September and December of each year with a base year of 2005.

Taking the 2005 average as 100, residential property prices rose to a high of 130.5 in September 2007 before slipping downwards for the next 12 months to a figure of 120.1. Price falls accelerated thereafter, hitting a low of 64.1 in March of this year. Price indices generally are now showing small gains.

Overall, residential property prices grew by 0.3 per cent in May and by 0.8 per cent in April of this year. Prices rose by 0.2 per cent in May 2012.

Dublin specifically residential property prices grew by only 0.5 per cent in May and were 1.4 cent higher than a year ago. House prices in the Dublin area grew 0.5 per cent in the month and were 1.3 per cent higher compared to a year earlier. Apartment prices in the capital were 1.2 per cent lower when compared with the same month of 2012. However this figure is calculated on a relatively small sample size and could reflect volatility because of this.

Residential properties in the rest of the State (i.e. excluding Dublin) grew by 0.1 per cent in May, the same as in May last year.

Despite the signs of a modest price recovery, the Dublin market has shown steep declines since the 2007 peak – the most striking price falls anywhere in the Republic. House prices in the city are now on average 55 per cent cheaper whereas apartments are some 61 per cent lower, the CSO reports.

Price falls elsewhere in the State are still pronounced, but not as dramatic. The fall in the average house price outside Dublin is some 48 per cent lower than it was seven years ago, but only 2.8 per cent lower than this time last year.

The trend is also matched in the North.

House prices in Northern Ireland have shown a 2.1 per cent drop – the largest decline anywhere in the UK, figures released by the Nationwide building society show. Average Northern residential property prices have fallen 53 per cent since their 2007 peak.

The average property price now is just £108,116 (€126,000). The average UK price, in contrast, is £168,941 (€197,000). But the average for the London area meanwhile has hit an all-time high of £318,214 (€371,217)

The fall in prices north of the Border is in marked contrast to the overall trend in Britain where an annual increase of 1.9 per cent is the largest year-on-year jump in prices since 2010. The Nationwide reports that the average monthly rise in prices is currently 0.3 per cent, down from 0.4 per cent in May.

Britain plans its first three-parent IVF babies

 

Treatment for families seeking to avoid passing incurable diseases to children

Britain is planning to become the first country in the world to offer controversial ’three-parent’ fertility treatments to families who want to avoid passing on incurable diseases to their children.

Britain is planning to become the first country in the world to offer controversial “three-parent” fertility treatments to families who want to avoid passing on incurable diseases to their children.

The methods, currently only at the research stage in laboratories in Britain and the United States, would for the first time involve implanting genetically modified embryos into women, and raise serious ethical questions.

The techniques involve intervening in the fertilisation process to remove faulty mitochondrial DNA, which can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy.

They are designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases – incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,500 children worldwide. Mitochondria act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells,

The controversial potential treatment is known as three-parent in vitro fertilisation (IVF) because the offspring would have genes from a mother, a father and from a female donor.

After a national public consultation showed Britons broadly favour the idea, the government’s chief physician said today it should be allowed to go ahead under strict regulation.

“Scientists have developed ground-breaking new procedures which could stop these diseases being passed on, bringing hope to many families seeking to prevent their children inheriting them,” Sally Davies, chief medical officer, told reporters.

“It’s only right that we look to introduce this life-saving treatment as soon as we can.”

Ms Davies said the government’s health department is drafting regulations to cover the new treatments, and plans to publish them later this year. The move would make Britain the first country in the world to give patients to option of using so-called mitochondrial DNA transfer to avoid passing the diseases on to their children.

DNA Swap: Scientists are researching several three-parent IVF techniques.

One being developed at Britain’s Newcastle University, known as pronuclear transfer, swaps DNA between two fertilised human eggs. Another, called maternal spindle transfer, swaps material between the mother’s egg and a donor egg before fertilisation.

A British medical ethics panel which reviewed the potential treatments for mitochondrial diseases decided last year they were ethical and should go ahead as long as research shows they are likely to be safe and effective.

Because Britain is in the vanguard of this research, ethical concerns, political decisions and scientific advances here are closely watched around the world – particularly in the United States where scientists are also working on DNA swap techniques.

Some pro-life campaigners have criticised the scientific research, saying that creating embryonic children in a lab abuses them by subjecting them to unnatural processes.

Critics also worry that modifying embryos to avoid disease could be the first step towards the creation of “designer babies”, whose genetic makeup could be modified as embryos to ensure certain traits such as height or hair colour.

Asked whether she was “comfortable” with taking such a major step along the way to allowing human genetic modification, Ms Davies said she had debated and considered the ethical implications with many experts over many years and had come to the conclusion the techniques should be allowed.

Any final decision on putting the regulations in place to allow the new treatments to be offered will be subject to a vote in parliament, but Ms Davies said she hoped the first patients may be able to get the new treatments within the next two years.

The consumption of fish oils can reduce your risk of Breast Cancer

       

 Consuming fish oils can significantly lower a person’s risk of developing breast cancer, according to a new study published in the BMJ.

The researchers reviewed 21 different independent prospective cohort studies, they found that a high intake of fish and marine n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids was associated with a 14 percent reduced risk of breast cancer.

Breast cancer is a form of cancer that develops from breast cells. It is one of the most common cancers, responsible for nearly a quarter of all cancer cases and 14% of cancer deaths in 2008. More than 200,000 women are diagnosed with the disease each year.

Lifestyle and diet play a very important role in preventing the cancer from developing.

For people to actually reduce their risk they should consume at least 1-2 portions of oily fish per week – such as sardines, salmon, tuna.

n-3 PUFAs are all omega 3 essential fatty acids that have to be acquired through diet – as they cannot be produced in the body. n-3 PUFAs include: α-Linolenic acid (ALA), Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), Docosapentaenoic acid (DPA), and Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA).

These acids play a vital role in the brain’s chemical messaging and regulation of blood.

Oily fish provide EPA, DPA and DHA, and nuts and leafy green vegetables provide ALA.

Even though n-3 PUFAs were previously found to have positive effects on cancer risk, results from previous human studies have varied significantly.

A diet rich in oily fish can reduce your risk of breast cancer.

In order to find out whether n-3 PUFAs have anti-cancer properties, a team of Chinese researchers set out to assess the link between fish and n-3 PUFA intake and the risk of breast cancer, by reviewing and analyzing the results of 26 different international studies.

The team analyzed data on approximately 800,000 participants and more than 20,000 cases of breast cancer.

Comparing the lowest and highest category of marine n-3 PUFA intake, the investigators identified that high Marine n-3 PUFA intake was associated with a 14 percent reduced risk of breast cancer.

In addition, for every 0.1 g per day increase in the consumption of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (n-3 PUFA) from fish, the risk of breast cancer decreased by 5 percent.

However, the plant based n-3 PUFA “ALA” seemed to have no anti-cancer properties.

The authors said that their finding “supports a protective role of marine n-3 PUFA on the incidence of breast cancer.”

THEY CONCLUDED:

“Our present study provides solid and robust evidence that marine n-3 PUFA are inversely associated with risk of breast cancer. The protective effect of fish or individual n-3 PUFA warrants further investigation of prospective studies.”

A report in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research, similarly found that fish oil supplements may play a role in preventing breast cancer.

Omega-3 fatty acids, as well as their metabolite products have also been shown to slow the growth of triple-negative breast cancer cells better than cells from luminal types of cancer, according to research presented at the AACR Annual Meeting 2013.

Dublin Zoo introduces two new baby mangabey’s Awiane and Jomoro

 

Mothers Monifa and Malull with ‘dominant male Danzo and their new babies Awiane and Jomoro at the African Plains enclosure

It is monkey mania at Dublin Zoo. The Phoenix Park baby boom continues as two white-crowned mangabey’s are born.

Brother and sister Jomoro and Awiane were born within two weeks of each other in April, to dominant male Danzo and respective mothers Mallul and Monifa, after five-and-a-half month pregnancies.

Speaking to the Herald, African Plains headkeeper Helen Clarke-Bennet couldn’t hide her delight at being able to show the baby monkeys to the world.

“We’re delighted with the arrival, we’ve done really well with these elegant little guys over the last few years,” she said.

“They don’t normally breed well and we’re down to a second generation with them here so it’s just fantastic.”

The last 12 months has seen a bumper baby year for the zoo. A newborn white-faced saki monkey was welcomed in April as well as the arrival of Jabari, a white rhinoceros calf.

In late 2012, the zoo welcomed baby red pandas, meerkat pups and a newborn Brazilian tapir calf.

Russian Urals region meteor shock wave rippled around the Earth twice

  

When a meteor slammed into the atmosphere over the Russian Urals region on Feb. 15, 2013, the huge quantity of energy released was encapsulated in a powerful shock wave that blasted the city of Chelyabinsk, causing property damage and inflicting over 1,500 injuries.

Now, after analysis of data gathered by global detectors used to detect ultra-low frequency acoustic waves, scientists have revealed that the meteor’s shock wave traveled all the way around the globe, twice.

The International Monitoring System (IMS) network operated by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) is used to detect infrasound evidence of nuclear tests, but on that February morning, the network detected the most powerful event it had ever seen. But this signal wasn’t a nuclear weapon, it was a high-speed, 10,000 ton chunk of space rock carrying out a surprise attack on Russia.

“For the first time since the establishment of the IMS infrasound network, multiple arrivals involving waves that traveled twice round the globe have been clearly identified,” writes Alexis Le Pichon, scientist of the Atomic Energy Commission, France, and his team in a paper that has been accepted for publication in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Le Pichon’s team used data from 20 IMS stations around the globe to estimate the energy of the Chelyabinsk event: “A preliminary estimate of the explosive energy using empirical period-yield scaling relations gives a value of 460 kilotons of TNT equivalent,” they add. This means the Russia meteor delivered an equivalent energy of nearly 30 Hiroshima-sized atomic bombs in the skies over Chelyabinsk.

This IMS estimate confirms that this meteor strike is the largest impact since the 1908 Tunguska event that flattened 80 million trees over an area of 2,150 square kilometers (830 square miles). That event, however, is estimated to have delivered 10-15 megatons of TNT equivalent to the atmosphere, generating an immensely powerful shock wave that caused chaos over a wide and, fortunately, sparsely populated area.

The Russian meteor quickly brought attention to the number of small asteroids that are out there, capable of remaining undetected (the Russian meteor was only 17 meters wide) and yet still deliver a shocking punch to a populated region.

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

The price of generic drugs in Ireland same as branded versions

an ESRI REPORT TELLS US

  

Generic drug prices in Ireland are similar to the branded equivalent, according to a report from the Economic and Social Research Institute.

As a result, the increased use of generic medicines has not led to substantial savings to the State or cash-paying patients.

This is despite the fact that the market share of generics for the leading drugs in the medical card scheme has doubled in recent years to 50%.

The ESRI report examined drug prices, use of generics and prescribing practices.

It looked at prices paid by the HSE, not retail prices.

The report revealed that relative to other EU member states, in-patent drug prices are higher in Ireland and off-patent drugs are lower.

Where doctors in Ireland have a choice between different medicines within the same therapeutic group, such as cholesterol-lowering drugs or medicines to counter hypertension, prescribers tend to select the most expensive pharmaceutical product.

In contrast, doctors in the UK tend to prescribe the least expensive product.

ESRI research professor Paul Gorecki has called for more transparency and the release of data on a monthly basis on the volume and cost of various drugs prescribed.

Extensive discounting of generics to pharmacies is also reported to be in operation.

Under legislation, which came into force this month, pharmacists can select a lower-priced drug than that prescribed by the doctor for an interchangeable pharmaceutical product.The report said the lack of clarity and precision as to how prices will be set under the Health (Pricing and Medical Goods) Act 2013 means that it is not possible to predict with any certainty that originator and generic pharmaceutical prices in Ireland will fall vis-à-vis other countries.The ESRI said there is also increasing use of “patient access agreements” in Ireland as an alternative mechanism for setting pharmaceutical prices.

Under this system, prices are negotiated between the State and manufactures but kept confidential.

It said the growing use of this mechanism should prompt a wider discussion about transparency and how the benefits of new drugs should be evaluated.

Ireland promised to conduct this study of drug prices and prescribing as part of a condition of the EU-IMF programme for financial support.

The Irish Pharmaceutical Healthcare Association, which represents the manufacturers of branded medicines, has welcomed the findings.

It said this confirms a study carried out recently on behalf of IPHA.

The IPHA said it has already demonstrated that the new Health (Pricing and Supply of Medical Goods) Act has the potential to make savings in the region of €50 to €70 million a year, which could be used to reinvest in ensuring patients have access to innovative medicines.

The Association of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Ireland, which represents the generic medicines industry, said that generic pricing is determined by the Department of Health and historically has been a percentage of the off-patent original.

Its chairperson Fergal Murphy said there has never been a mandated generic prescribing or dispensing mechanism in Ireland and this led to historically very low generic penetration levels.

He said the introduction of reference pricing later this year will further reduce the prices of generics.

Ireland’s reputation damaged by Anglo tapes. Says An Tanaiste Eamon Gilmore

 

the CENTRAL BANK IS STUDYING TRANSCRIPTS OF CONVERSATIONS BETWEEN SENIOR EXECUTIVES

Ireland’s international reputation has been damaged by the arrogance shown by senior Anglo Irish Bank executives in leaked internal recordings, Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said.

Mr Gilmore yesterday suggested that if the disclosures had been made at a critical stage of the Government’s negotiations with the ECB on the promissory note, the outcome may have been very seriously compromised.

“I think coverage of this kind does do damage to our international reputation, I am very glad that we didn’t have this coverage, for example, in the week or two leading into the conclusion of our negotiations with European authorities on the promissory note.”

The Central Bank yesterday confirmed it is carefully studying the transcripts of the recorded telephone conversations. In a statement it said: “This is something that is viewed very seriously. The Central Bank will be liaising with the gardaí in this regard and is also examining whether or not any breaches of regulatory requirements may have occurred arising from the information contained in the transcripts”.

The bank was not forthcoming on whether it was aware of the content of the recordings before they were disclosed.

Mr Gilmore said he was outraged by what he had heard: “What we have heard and read of those tapes demonstrates an incredible degree of arrogance and presumption within that bank, and really an attitude towards the public and the taxpayer that I find utterly shocking and absolutely unacceptable,” he said.

Speaking at a European Union presidency event in Dublin, Mr Gilmore said that nonetheless the effect of the recordings should not be exaggerated.

“The way I think the tapes show people in this country and internationally what we have had to deal with, and I think we have got a lot of credit as a country for dealing with the crisis and taking action to deal with it,” he said.

He defended the establishment of a parliamentary inquiry over other forms of inquiry, saying they had worked well before.

“What nobody wants is a prolonged tribunal of inquiry . . . nobody wants 14 years of looking into this,” he said.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny used similar sentiments in the Dáil where he accepted an Oireachtas inquiry would not have the power to make adverse findings against third parties, but could still establish exactly what had happened.

Separately, the chairman of Fine Gael, Charlie Flanagan, said he favoured an adequately resourced criminal investigation over an Oireachtas banking inquiry.

“Any Oireachtas inquiry must run parallel and must not interfere with or frustrate the criminal investigation, which is the most important,” Mr Flanagan said.

The type of cutlery you use can influence your taste of food

    

Our perception of how food tastes is influenced by cutlery, research suggests.

Size, weight, shape and colour all have an effect on flavour, says a University of Oxford team.

Cheese tastes saltier when eaten from a knife rather than a fork; while white spoons make yoghurt taste better, experiments show.

The study in the journal Flavour suggests the brain makes judgment’s on food even before it goes in the mouth.

More than 100 students took part in three experiments looking at the influence of weight, colour and shape of cutlery on taste.

The researchers found that when the weight of the cutlery conformed to expectations, this had an impact on how the food tastes.

For example, food tasted sweeter on the small spoons that are traditionally used to serve desserts.

Even before we put food into our mouths our brains have made a judgment about it, which affects our overall experience”

Charles Spence and Vanessa HarrarUniversity of Oxford

Colour contrast was also an important factor – white yoghurt eaten from a white spoon was rated sweeter than white yoghurt tasted on a black spoon.

Similarly, when testers were offered cheese on a knife, spoon, fork or toothpick, they found that the cheese from a knife tasted saltiest.

“How we experience food is a multisensory experience involving taste, feel of the food in our mouths, aroma, and the feasting of our eyes,” said Prof Charles Spence and Dr Vanessa Harrar.

“Even before we put food into our mouths our brains have made a judgment about it, which affects our overall experience.”

Past research has shown that crockery can alter our perception of food and drink.

For example, people generally eat less when food is served on smaller plates.

The new research into how the brain influences food perceptions could help dieters or improve gastronomic experiences at restaurants, said Prof Spence.

He told BBC News: “There’s a lot more to food than what’s on the plate. Many things we thought didn’t matter do. We’re going to see a lot more of neuroscience design around mealtimes.”

Good news: Mobile roaming charges in the EU to decrease from next Monday

     

Mobile roaming charges are set to go down for holidaymakers travelling in the EU.

From Monday – EU roaming regulations will lower the price caps for data downloads by more than a third (36%).

It will be cheaper to use maps, watch videos, check emails and update social networks while travelling.

Roaming downloads will now cost 0.45c per megabyte, phone calls will cost 0.24c a minute and sending a text message will cost 0.08c.

Nine animal park gorillas delivered back to the wild

  

Logistics company DHL has delivered a family of nine Silverback gorillas from Port Lympne Wild Animal Park in Kent to the Batéké Plateau National Park, Gabon in a conservation initiative in partnership with The Aspinall Foundation.

The gorillas were transported 9,000 km, departing from the UK to Brussels, and flown in a specially equipped Boeing 767 to Lagos, Nigeria, and then onto Franceville, Gabon.

For the final leg of the journey they were flown in a helicopter to the national park in collaboration with the Gabonese authorities.

In addition to the animals, which have a combined weight of 620kg, DHL delivered 1,200 kg of food and veterinarian equipment.

Western lowland gorillas are classed as a critically endangered species, and this is the first attempt ever at returning an entire family to its natural habitat.