UK and Ireland team up for first time in joint Singapore trade mission
Ireland and the UK will undertake their first ever joint trade mission at the Singapore Airshow – Asia’s largest airshow and one of the most important in the world due to the Asia Pacific region’s position as the world’s biggest air travel market.
The trade mission is part of a programme of cooperation to strengthen relations over the next decade led by UK prime minister David Cameron and Irish taoiseach Enda Kenny.
It is being led by Ireland’s jobs minister Richard Bruton, UK transport minister Stephen Hammond and Northern Ireland enterprise minister Arlene Foster with support from UK Trade & Investment (UKTI),Enterprise Ireland and Invest Northern Ireland.
Enterprise Ireland and UKTI’s shared exhibition stand is jointly branded and set up as a working lounge and business-to-business meeting space for use by delegates on the joint mission.
Talking ahead of the mission, Hammond said: “The UK and Ireland both have open and globalised economies and we share a commitment to boosting growth as the cornerstone of economic recovery and job creation.
“The UK aerospace sector is a global success story. Half of the world’s commercial aircraft fly on wings made in the UK, and every 2.5 seconds an aircraft powered by Rolls-Royce engines takes off or lands somewhere in the world. This week’s trade mission will encourage greater collaboration and partnership between UK and Irish aerospace companies strengthening our offer to international buyers.”
Bruton said the mission was an important part of a “wider programme of cooperation between Ireland and the UK”.
“The aerospace industry is one of Ireland’s most valuable and technically advanced industries. Today, Ireland is recognised as a leading location for aviation, MRO, technology, engineering and aviation finance.
“This first joint mission has attracted an impressive list of companies from Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK that will demonstrate our considerable combined strengths in the aerospace sector at Asia’s largest air show.”
Foster added: “In Northern Ireland, aerospace generates revenues in excess of £1bn and employs over 8,000 highly qualified staff.
“There are approximately 50 companies active in the sector with core strengths in precision engineering; supplying critical components and services to all of the major aerospace programmes in the world. This contributes to ensuring the UK remains Europe’s number one aerospace manufacturer and second only to the US globally.”
Other business in Singapore
During his time in Singapore, Hammond will also attend an international aviation summit, where he will be meeting with counterparts from the region to continue discussions on an aviation agreement that would cut the cost of flying and improve connectivity between the EU and South East Asia.
Hammond will seek to maintain the UK’s status as a leading global maritime hub by strengthening ties with the government of Singapore, who are expanding the world’s second-largest port. He will also meet representatives from business and industry to discuss opportunities for transport which include rail, metro and bus operations.
Irish workers could be forced to pay 15% of their wages into a private pension
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Every worker in Ireland could be forced to contribute up to 15% of their gross income into a mandatory pension scheme, according to a proposal by the Society of Actuaries in Ireland.
Only half of the working population has a private pension scheme, which will put huge pressure on the State pension in the future, according to the SAI’s Cathal Fleming.
In a major review of pensions in the country, the SAI recommends that a system of mandatory pensions for public and private sector workers, as well as the self-employed, should be introduced from 2019 onwards. It recommends that initially employees contribute roughly 2%-3% of their gross salary to the pension scheme, but that this would grow to an average of between 10%-15% over a 15-20 year period.
The Government would also make contributions to each pension either in the form of tax relief or a direct cash contribution similar to the SSIA savings scheme, although this may not be politically palatable over the near term because of the state of the national coffers, said Mr Fleming.
“It is important that every pension scheme is in the form of an individual account so that each person can see how much they have built up at the end of every year and it is not seen just as another form of taxation,” he added.
It is envisaged that the pensions would be managed by a combination of a government body and three or four private fund management firms.
The report found that auto-enrolment pensions would be less effective because international experience shows that there is a high level of exemptions and opt-outs with these schemes.
Ireland and New Zealand are the only two OECD countries that do not have mandatory pension schemes. The Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton announced last year that a mandatory or quasi-mandatory pension scheme could be introduced once the economy picks up.
The SAI said that it is releasing this paper to assist policymakers and contribute to the debate.
Irish college fee increases back on the menu in funds row
The area of higher Irish college fees is looming again as universities prepare to put pressure on the Government to tackle the issue of who will foot the growing bill for third-level education.
Universities are to launch a new campaign warning the Education Minister that he faces a stark choice: give more Exchequer money to third-level colleges or raise fees substantially from 2016.
Under Ruairi Quinn, the charge for students has been rising by €250 a year, to a maximum of €3,000 in September 2015. At the same time, Exchequer funding for third-level institutions has been falling.
A new Government will be in place by September 2016, and Mr Quinn has shown no appetite to pursue the debate over funding of third-level beyond 2015.
If full fees are introduced, students could end up paying at least €6,000-€7,000 a year – and more, depending on the course. A loan system would involve students paying back some or all of the cost after they graduate.
The State currently contributes about €1.1bn a year to third-level, but it is estimated that much more is needed – almost half as much again, €500m, by 2020.
The focus of a new campaign by the country’s seven universities is the academic year starting September 2016, when the current Transition Year orJunior Cert students start college.
It’s a debate that will not be welcomed either by Government or parents/students – one or both of which will end up paying more.
If ongoing constraints on national finances limit how much more the State can pay, the result is likely to be higher fees, a student loan system or a mixture of both.
But the Irish Universities Association (IUA) believes that, difficult though the choices may be, the debate cannot be put off any longer.
IUA chair and Trinity College Provost, Dr Paddy Prendergast, told the Irish Independent that a lack of public investment in higher education was endangering social and economic development.
The IUA has finalised plans for a campaign aimed at putting the funding issue centre-stage on the political agenda.
As part of the campaign, they are gathering information on the situation in other countries, and will host a symposium in September to debate options.
Dr Prendergast said that the development of Irish higher education would be “resource intensive”.
He warned that “the serial scaling back of public investment in higher education is damaging our competitiveness and imperilling our social and economic development in the medium to longer term”.
“It is important that Government works with the universities to develop an agreed funding model that is sustainable into the future, and gives the higher educator sector greater financial certainty so it can plan,” he added.
Millions of euro have been cut from the university budgets in recent years, at the very time that student numbers are on the rise.
Applications for college entry this year have, to date, topped 73,000 – almost 10,000 more than they were in February 2008.
Those figures will continue to increase as a result of the baby boom that started in the late 1990s and the need for a third-level qualification in order to get a job in the so-called smart economy.
FUNDING CUTS
Universities are increasingly concerned about their ability to maintain quality and to compete in the global market in which they now operate.
The funding cuts, and their effect for instance, on staffing levels, are among the factors blamed for the slip by Irish universities in international rankings of third-level colleges.
Such global rankings are increasingly dominated by high spending universities in Asia and the US – putting them in a better position to catch the eye of research investors and the lucrative international student market.
The dramatic fall in Exchequer support means that the State is now contributing less than half the total income that universities generate.
Much of the rest comes from research grants and endowment, which raises another thorny issue for the universities – public sector employment controls inhibit their freedom to recruit staff and pay the market rate to attract necessary talent.
25% of Irish people at risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
DOCTORS URGE PEOPLE TO AVAIL OF FREE NATIONAL SCREENING PROGRAMME
One in 25 Irish people are at risk of developing chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) due to a combination of inherited genes and exposure to cigarette smoke, a new study has found.
The study, by researchers from the Alpha One Foundation, the Royal College of Surgeons (RCSI) and Harvard University, is published this month in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
The debilitating lung condition is linked to alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (alpha-1), an inherited condition affecting almost 250,000 people in this country.
Alpha-1 antitrypsin is a protein which protects the lungs and people with lower than normal amounts of this protein are at an increased risk of developing COPD.
The research proves for the first time that the estimated one in 25 people in Ireland who have inherited a combination of one normal (M) and one abnormal (Z) alpha-1 antitrypsin gene have an increased risk of developing the condition.
Prior to this study, the increased risk of developing COPD as a result of alpha-1 deficiency was only definitively known to affect people who inherit two abnormal (ZZ) alpha-1 genes.
Cigarette smoke is the most influential factor in determining whether people who carry this combination of genes (MZ) are at a greater risk of COPD compared to those who have two normal alpha-1 genes (MM).
Doctors leading the research are urging people diagnosed with COPD – an estimated 440,000 people – to get tested for alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency through a free national screening programme.
Professor Gerry McElvaney, Professor of Medicine at RCSI, principal investigator and chairman of the Alpha One Foundation Ireland said the research was a major breakthrough in understanding the heightened risk of COPD for people with have the combination of one normal and one abnormal alpha-1 antitrypsin gene.
“If people know that they have a genetic predisposition to developing COPD, it allows intervention at an earlier age, encourages smoking cessation and prevents a further decline in lung function in a disease that is otherwise preventable. It also provides an opportunity for other family members to get tested for alpha-1.”
Dr. Kevin Molloy, Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, the lead author of the study said Alpha-1 deficiency is massively underdiagnosed both in Ireland and internationally.
“As this research has an impact on a large number of people who have the MZ gene combination, the research will greatly increase awareness and diagnosis of alpha-1. Knowing that you have a genetic predisposition to developing COPDshould e ncourage people to avoid exposure to cigarette smoke if they definitively know they have a higher risk of developing this debilitating lung condition.”
The alpha-1 screening programme is funded by theDepartment of Health and Children and run by the Alpha One Foundation. It can be diagnosed by a simple blood test.
For more information on how to be tested contact the National Centre for Alpha-1 at Beaumont Hospital or visit http://www.alpha1.ie
The charity Irish Guide Dogs today announced that a record number of people were trained in its services during the course of last year.
The services include the charity’s guide dog programme, assistance dog programme for children with autism, its mobility programme, including long-cane training and independent living skills for people who are vision impaired, and its child mobility training.
Some 197 people were trained last year and the charity said it is planning to increase this number to 240 this year.
The charity also said it had raised more money through fundraising in 2013 compared with 2012.
Irish Guide Dogs chief executive Pádraig Mallon said the figures would “change lives for the better”.
“This is a great achievement in challenging times and it is reassuring that the public continue to value our work and trust us to deliver much needed services for people who are vision impaired and for families of children with autism,” he said.
Record number’s of Irish people trained in guide dog services last year
Roy Keane right picture who has promoted Guide Dogs for the blind for a good number of years now.
IRISH GUIDE DOGS RAISED MORE MONEY IN FUNDRAISING IN 2013 THAN 2012.
The charity Irish Guide Dogs today announced that a record number of people were trained in its services during the course of last year.
The services include the charity’s guide dog programme, assistance dog programme for children with autism, its mobility programme, including long-cane training and independent living skills for people who are vision impaired, and its child mobility training.
Some 197 people were trained last year and the charity said it is planning to increase this number to 240 this year.
The charity also said it had raised more money through fundraising in 2013 compared with 2012.
Irish Guide Dogs chief executive Pádraig Mallon said the figures would “change lives for the better”.
“This is a great achievement in challenging times and it is reassuring that the public continue to value our work and trust us to deliver much needed services for people who are vision impaired and for families of children with autism,” he said.
Is the Loch Ness Monster now dead?
NO SIGHTINGS HAVE BEEN REPORTED THIS YEAR so far?
Is Nessie dead? Reports suggest the iconic Loch Ness Monster has not been spotted in over a year.
This is the first time in about 90 years that there has been such a long absence of sightings, BBC News has reported.
Gary Campbell, who keeps records of sea monster sightings, said nobody has claimed to have spotted Nessie in 18 months.
“It’s very upsetting news and we don’t know where she’s gone,” Campbell told the BBC. “The number of sightings has been reducing since the turn of the century but this is the first time in almost 90 years that Nessie wasn’t seen at all.”
Loch Ness Monster sighting only really began less than a century ago. The monster gained its fame in 1933, when a local newspaper published a story on the rumored creature lurking in the dark body of water, LiveScience reported. Some believe Nessie was first spotted back in A.D. 565; a Catholic Church-based legend claims St. Columba scared off a monster that was threatening a man in the loch.
Some believe Nessie is a long-necked aquatic dinosaur, while others don’t think the creature exists at all. Past photos taken of the beast have been deemed hoaxes, depicting thins such as ducks splashing in the water or waves. One picture was believed to have not been taken on Loch Ness at all.
The creature has been allegedly spotted on numerous occasions throughout the past several decades.
The loch is 20 miles long and about a mile wide in most areas. If monsters did exist in the loch they would be trapped as no waterways lead from the body of water to the ocean.
“So far 1,036 reported sightings have been recorded and there were some in 2012,” Campbell told the BBC. “I’m convinced that Nessie has just taken some time out and will be back with a vengeance this year.”
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