IRELAND TOPS EU INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION LEADER BOARD
IRELAND TOPPED THE EU LEADER BOARD FOR INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION POSTING GROWTH OF 13.2% IN THE YEAR TO NOVEMBER.
The country’s growth rate was far ahead of the European growth rate of 3%, with Ireland posting the one of the biggest gains in productivity of 11.7% in a single month between October and November.
Ireland’s growth rate beat emerging eastern European countries who recorded huge growth figures as well.
Slovakia posted a 12.7% gain, the Czech Republic was 8.8%, while Romania saw industrial production grow by 8.7%.
The strong gains recorded by these countries was offset by falls in productivity in countries still reeling from the European debt crisis including Malta and Greece.
Davy stockbroker Conall MacCoille said that Ireland’s figures were largely down to this country’s hugely volatile modern sector which contains the pharmaceutical sector.
Mr MacCoille warned against seizing the figures as signs of a booming Irish recovery.
“There is no good cause for celebration when looking at these figure.
“We were at the bottom of the league table a few months ago. We would have been down 7.3% back in May so don’t get too excited.”
Mr MacCoille said that buried in the data the good news was that the traditional manufacturing sector, which is posted a much more modest growth rate of 0.4%, was more likely to result in a rise in employment.
Taking an overall look at the eurozone’s member states, the production of goods increased 3%.
Consumer goods recorded a 2.2% rise in production, while non-durable consumer goods gained 1.4%.
Turf-cutting ban lifted on Ireland’s most heavily cut bogs
THE CONTROVERSIAL TURF-CUTTING BAN WILL BE LIFTED ON THE COUNTRY’S MOST HEAVILY CUT SITES UNDER NEW PLANS UNVEILED BY THE GOVERNMENT.
Heritage minister Jimmy Deenihan confirmed the lifting of the ban would ensure around 2,500 active turf-cutters were allowed to cut in the affected areas.
“Most of our peatlands have been altered by human activity over the centuries, but there still exist areas of unique, but threatened, habitats,” Mr Deenihan said.
“For all our benefit, we need to protect and preserve a sample of these for ourselves and future generations, whilst also working with communities that are affected by conservation requirements.”
In a review of Ireland’s Natural Heritage Areas (NHAs), which make up the country’s raised bog network where targets for conservation have been imposed, the minister’s department revealed that 45 areas would be affected.
Of those 45, the ban would be completely lifted on 38 sites, while the remaining seven would be split with the sites partially exempt from the ban.
The turf-cutting ban, issued under a European Union directive and enforced from 2010, prohibited 3,000 active turf-cutters from cutting in the country’s 75 NHAs.
These changes now mean that only 500 turf-cutters will be affected by the ban.
Turf-cutting on a remaining 36 NHAs, which include sites that had been split, will be completely banned after 2017.
People will be able to continue cutting on the bogs until then – but only with a permit.
Meanwhile, a further 25 bogs are to be considered for addition to the NHAs with the ban in force.
This, the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht said, was to compensate for the heavily cut bogs where the ban is now completely lifted.
A department spokesman confirmed the Government ensured the EU was fully informed of its planned changes.
He said while aspects of the legislation underpinning the NHAs were related to EU law, the 75 areas had been agreed upon by the Irish Government under the Wildlife Act.
An outright ban on 53 so-called Special Areas of Conservation (SAC), determined by the EU, remains in place.
The European Commission and Ireland have worked together over the last 20 years to help conserve raised bogs, which are protected under EU directives.
The Government has been dogged by protesting turf-cutters since the ban was enforced three years ago.
While compensation has been offered to turf-cutters, many have rejected it, insisting it was their age-old right to harvest the peat.
Some have appeared before court in connection with illegal turf-cutting and faced fines to the tune of thousands of euro.
Today, publishing documents outlining the Government’s long-term strategic plan for the country’s peatlands, Mr Deenihan said a coherent long-term vision had been lacking until now.
“This package of documents now sets out that vision,” he said.
“These documents clearly recognise that turf-cutting is a valued traditional activity that will continue, but that the State must also meet conservation obligations.”
The European Commission is to check the documents published by the Government to ensure its plans “are in line with EU legislation”.
But a spokesman said the commission welcomed Ireland’s strategic approach in tackling the issue – regarding both Special Areas of Conservation and the NHAs.
“It very much welcomes the development by the Irish Government of a national peatlands strategy, which sets out a long term vision for the entire national peatland resource, aimed at ensuring its conservation and sustainable use and identifying the role of different authorities and stakeholders in ensuring that this is achieved,” the spokesman said.
“The Commission takes note of the Irish authorities’ decision to make changes to the nationally designated network of raised bog Natural Heritage Areas, while ensuring that the overall level of area to be conserved is enhanced.”
New Irish pharmacy to match drug’s cost savings by matching prices with the North
CUSTOMERS WILL PAY A SUBSCRIPTION CHARGE OF €25 TO JOIN THE SCHEME.
Under its scheme, the Dundrum pharmacy will charge €4.95 for a 28-day supply of Atorvastatin, a generic cholesterol medication, which generally costs more than €10 in pharmacies in the Republic.
Healthwave will charge €4.95 for a 28-day supply of Atorvastatin, a generic cholesterol medication, which generally costs more than €10 in pharmacies in the Republic. Salbutamol inhalers, which commonly retail for about €10 in pharmacies, will cost €2.95.
“The cost of medication in Ireland has been multiples of those seen in other European countries, most notably across the Border,” said Healthwave pharmacist and chief executive Shane O’Sullivan.
He said the pharmacy is concentrating on generic drugs “because that is where the greatest savings are to be found”.
He said all pharmacies had the right to set their prices for private patients. “There will be a reaction certainly but . . . we are not below-cost selling. We have simply chosen to have a much lower mark-up.”
The scheme is aimed at the private market but could also save the State money. Mr O’Sullivan cited the example of a customer with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who pays €170 monthly for drugs. They have to pay the first €144, with the Government covering the rest. Under the new system the drugs would cost €100 per month, saving the patient €44 per month and the State €26.
Katie Taylor in campaign to promote a healthier lifestyle for Irish people
Olympic champion has described levels of obesity among Irish children as “shocking”
Katie Taylor helps launch Aramark’s Right Track Pledge campaign.
Taylor has been chosen as catering company Aramark’s health and wellness ambassador and the public face of theAramark Right Track Pledge campaign.
The campaign involves members of the public pledging to do something to have a healthier lifestyle in return for a donation from the company.
Taylor has been going around the country promoting healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. “People need to get out and do some more exercise especially children who are stuck inside with computers. That’s a huge factor now,” she said.
Taylor says she has a sweet tooth and has to cut out chocolate to make the weight for fights. She advised those people who wish to live a healthier lifestyle not to be discouraged by lapses, but to keep at it. “It’s important to have a healthy balanced diet but not to get too bogged down about it. It’s important to enjoy your food too.
“Consistency is the key. Just keep going week in, week out and eventually you will see the results. You’ll look and feel so much better. You’ll also think so much better.”
After a relatively quiet year last year, Taylor will be busy in 2014 with the European Championships in May followed by the World Championships in Canada in October.
NOTHING WRONG ABOUT TREATS.
The Olympic champion said she had no view on the issue of companies such as Cadbury and McDonald’s sponsoring sporting organisations but said that you “have to be able to treat yourself now and again. There is nothing wrong about that.”
For each “pledge” received, Aramark will donate 20 cent to the company’s four chosen charities for 2014 and is aiming to raise a total of €7,000.
There are a number of ways to submit a pledge. People can log on to Twitter and tweet their pledge using the hashtag #RightTrackPledge or like the Aramark Ireland Facebookpage and post their pledge. Alternatively, people can log on to Pinterest, follow the Aramark Ireland page and “pin” their pledge to the Right Track Pledge board with a photo or video.
Smallest full moon of 2014 can be seen tonight
HERE’S WHY
The Minimoon rising in the sky on Jan. 15, 2014 is pictured to the left. For comparison, on the right is a depiction of the Supermoon that will rise in Aug. 10, 2014. -4300-smallest-full-moon-2014.
The smallest full moon of 2014 rises in the night sky tonight (Jan. 15), and there’s some interesting science behind the lunar sight.
Two years ago, there was a great flurry in the media about a so-called “Supermoon,” which was to occur on March 19, 2011. Supermoon was a term invented by astrologer Richard Nolle many years earlier to refer to the coincidence between two astronomical events: a full moon and lunar perigee, when the moon is at its closest point to Earth. A “Minimoon,” like the one rising this week, is a full moon at apogee, or its farthest point from the planet.
As the spherical moon moves in its orbit around the earth, the sun lights it from various angles. Four of the moon’s positions are particularly important because they mark exact right angles from the sun’s position. When the moon lies directly between the sun and Earth, it is called “new moon.”
After it moves a quarter of the way around the Earth, it is called “first quarter” and is lit exactly from its right side. Another quarter of the trip and it reaches “full moon” directly opposite the sun in Earth’s sky, fully lit by the sun. Another quarter trip brings it to “last quarter,” lit from the left side. It’s now in the home stretch, heading back to its starting point at “new moon.”
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