Queen Elizabeth greets Irish stars at reception for Irish community
(left pic.) British monarch welcomes Van Morrison, Imelda May and Niall Horan to Buckingham Palace.
One Direction’s Niall Horan (2nd right) meets Queen Elizabeth of Britain at a reception for the Irish community at Buckingham Palace, London.
Three years ago, a photograph of a Cork fishmonger, Pat O’Connell and Queen Elizabeth II, both beaming with laughter, became the image of her State visit to Ireland that went around the world.
Tonight in Buckingham Palace, the two again met in laughter when the queen, accompanied by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip, greeted the man from the English Market and 300 other Irish guests.
“Well, she recognised me, anyway. We had a joke back in 2011 where I told her that I was more nervous than I had been since I got married 30 years earlier. “Tonight, I told her I was better dressed than I have been for 30 years,” O’Connell told The Irish Times minutes later at the reception to mark the role played by the Irish in Britain.
“The Duke said to me, “Well, you’re here!”,” he went on.
Pressed to offer more details about his exchanges with the queen, O’Connell said: “Before she left she asked me if I had brought any fish.”
The gathering was the curtain-raiser for President Michael D Higgins’s state visit to Britain early next month – the first time a visit by an Irish head of state has received such status.
The guests included musician Van Morrison, ex-Formula 1 team-owner Eddie Jordan, ex-rugby player Bob Casey, designer Orla Kiely, ex-world boxing champion Barry McGuigan.
“It is a wonderful occasion for the Irish community in Britain,” said Irish Ambassador to Britain Dan Mulhall.
“They have made a huge contribution to Britain over the years – a huge contribution.”
Grand National winner and racehorse trainer Jonjo O’Neill joked: “I was only talking to her about horses, it all I know about. She just had a horse lose by a short-head in Australia.
“Sure, she’ll pick up a few quid anyway. It is lovely to be invited to the palace,” he told The Irish Times, following his extended words with the queen.
Bernie O’Roarke, who works with domestic abuse victims in London, declared: “I’m very proud and my family back in Ireland are very proud, really thrilled.”
The Clones, Co Monaghan-born Barry McGuigan exchanged pleasantries with the queen and Prince Philip.
“The Duke said it was a long time since he had seen me. I haven’t been here since the 1990s,” he said.
Clearly enjoying the occasion, the queen mingled with the guests who had begun to gather in Buckingham Palace before six o’clock for the reception.
Getting into the spirit of things, a spokesman for the palace later said: “It was a really fun evening – great company and extremely relaxed. Her Majesty seemed to enjoy the craic.”
Former Ireland rugby international Bob Casey was one of 10 people to be presented to the queen in the White Drawing Room at the start of the reception.
“I am more nervous than I ever was going out at Twickenham. It’s lovely, I am really, really thrilled to be here. It is amazing,” he said later.
The guests numbered NI Secretary of State Theresa Villiers, chef Rachel Allen, One Direction singer Niall Horan, along with Dr Cecilia McDaid, who leads Conradh na Gaeilge in Glasgow.
“It is an absolute honour to step inside this building and meet the lady herself. Obviously when Irish and English people get together it is always a good occasion,” said Horan.
“I saw an envelope which had the Buckingham Palace royal stamp on top and it was a bit ‘OK what is this about’ and I got a bit of a shock and here we are three weeks later,” he went on.
Band manager Louis Walsh, who is a judge for the X-Factor show, declared: “It is a really good night, a celebration of all things great about Ireland and the Irish.
“The queen was magnificent when she came to Ireland. She has the X Factor, she’s got it, no doubt about that,” he said, as he broke away from chatting to Orla Kiely and Rachel Allen.
Graham Linehan now living in Norwich, the co-creator of the Father Ted series said: “If you are a writer and you turn down a chance to get inside walls like these then you would be drummed out of the business.”
As much as half of Irish lenders decisions appealed by SMEs are overturned
More than half of all lending decisions by Irish Banks appealed to the Credit Review Office by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are overturned.
The office, set up to monitor banks’ lending into the real economy, has warned about the lack of competition among lenders because of the withdrawal of foreign lenders.
But in his 13th report into lending to small business, the head of the Credit Review Office, John Trethowan, said he did not believe that lending targets set for AIB andBank of Ireland needed to be extended.
The two main banks both hit their targets to lend €4bn each to SMEs last year, Mr Trethowan said.
Ongoing monitoring of lending and the continued scrutiny of the lenders meant it was not necessary to extend the formal targets, he said.
The report also weighs into the debate over whether lack of demand for credit, or lack of supply, is affecting the statistics.
The consensus arrived at in meetings between the Credit Review Office, the Department of Finance and business groups was that demand for loans is depressed and likely to remain low while SMEs rebuild their balance sheets.
CREDIT
For companies that are looking to borrow, the report found that 55pc of lending decisions appealed by prospective borrowers end up with the original decision reversed.
As a result, €21.6m in additional credit has been made available to SMEs and farms, according to the report.
SMEs unhappy with a credit decision by AIB (including EBS) or Bank of Ireland can take an appeal to the Credit Review Office, which was set up in the wake of the banking crisis.
Based on the cases appealed, the latest report from the agency found that capital increases and cash for business investment were now the main drivers of business loan applications.
It is seen as a sign business is starting to recover from the crash.
However, the other main driver of demand is from companies looking to refinance debts previously advanced by foreign banks that are now pulling out of Ireland.
The report also warned that it was becoming easier for AIB and Bank of Ireland to maintain levels of lending to small business without taking on riskier clients because of the exit of a number of foreign-owned banks from the market here.
Last year, Rabobank-owned ACC and Denmark’s Danske Bank announced plans to withdraw from the market here, forcing customers to shift their banking arrangements over to the remaining pool of lenders.
IBEC launches priorities for next phase of Ireland's recovery
Employers’ group IBEC is launching its new campaign, “An Ireland that works”, setting out the business priorities for the next phase of the recovery.
The lobby group wants a lower tax burden for individuals – saying consumers here deserve a break.
It’s also calling for the Government to invest in infrastructure projects, skills and education, promotion of entrepreneurship and a push to extend Ireland’s reach in international debates such as those on tax and EU reform.
It wants a reduction of the marginal income tax rate to below 50pc and also recommends that the pension levy to be dropped.
Infrastructure spend should be increased to 4% of GDP while it is also calling for Irish interests to be protected in the international tax debate.
300 Irish driving tests cancelled because of a planned strike
UNION SAYS FURTHER STOPPAGES COULD FOLLOW IF DISPUTE is NOT RESOLVED.
About 300 people who are scheduled to undergo driving tests next week will have them cancelled by a planned strike by driver testers.
Driver testers, who are represented by the trade union Impact, are to stage a half-day strike from 2pm on Wednesday April 2nd in a dispute over outsourcing.
Impact said that further stoppages could follow if the dispute was not resolved.
The Road Safety Authority (RSA)said that anyone who was due to have a driving test next Wednesday afternoon would have it re-scheduled at no cost as quickly as possible.
Impact said the dispute centred on proposals by RSA management to outsource testing in breach of a LabourCourt ruling which recommended the recruitment of a reserve body of qualified testers to avert any possible backlog in test applications.
Impact official Denis Rohan said management had since ignored the Labour Court-recommended process and instead moved to engage subcontractors instead of recruiting reserve staff. He said management had breached its agreement with staff and had since refused to talk to the union about the issue.
The union said that a subsequent Labour Courtrecommendation in January this year was rejected by driver testers.
Mr Rohan said that this was because the recommendation made no provision for talks on outsourcing arrangements.
The RSA said in accordance with numerous recommendations and rulings by the Labour Relations Commission it had established a panel of five reserve driver testers to assist in reducing the impact of short-notice sick leave absences on customers and to continue to deliver a high quality service.
It said this service would only be drawn down if required, in order to minimise any disruption that sick leave or absences causes to customers, and to ensure that waiting times of less than 10 weeks for a driving test continued to be met.
It said that in 2012, a total of 11,880 driving tests were not conducted due to sick leave taken by driver testers. It said 8,200 of these tests were not covered from spare capacity and as a result, the RSA had to reschedule the affected candidates’ tests, free of charge, at a cost of €697,000 to the Authority.
The RSA stressed it was not replacing any substantive post with these reserve testers but supplementing the service to allow for sickness absence and training activities in order to deliver an improved level of service to the public.
“The RSA is extremely disappointed with the stance taken by Impact as the Public Service (Croke Park) agreement 2010-2014 states that the findings of the industrial relations dispute mechanism are binding. It also states that trade unions are precluded from taking industrial action when the employer is acting under the remit of the Public Service Agreement.”
“Furthermore, contrary to the statement issued by Impact, the Road Safety Authority’s actions are fully compliant with Labour Court findings, specifically recommendation LCR 20309 (May 2012); and the Labour Court recommendation LCR20681 (Dec 2013) as subsequently clarified and reinforced in January 2014”, it said.
Mr Rohan said management’s outsourcing proposals could also breach the RSAs own safety standards as it was not insisting that subcontractors hold the HETAC driver-tester qualification, which is a requirement for all RSA testers.
“We regret the inevitable inconvenience that will now follow management’s decision to ignore our concerns on outsourcing and the breach of agreement with staff. We have decided on a relatively short stoppage to limit the inconvenience, but the staff concerned feel they have been forced into this action because management is refusing to deal with the issue,” he said.
Ireland’s older & lonely generation grows as emigration increases
All alone, walking for comfort we are?
Emigration is now tearing families apart and creating a new generation of lonely older people in Ireland, the Alone charity has claimed.
The Irish charity ALONE says it has seen an increase in the number of older people at an all-time low as a direct result of their children and grandchildren emigrating.
The charity’s claims follow news last week that a record number of Irish workers under 35 are set to move to Canada after more than 10,000 Canadian visas were made available this year.
ALONE CEO Sean Moynihan said: “We have even received calls from the emigrants themselves asking us to check on their older relative.
“The children and grandchildren of Ireland’s older people are emigrating in droves, leaving behind a large huge increase in the number of older people requiring our services because their support systems have disappeared.”
EU figures show Ireland now has the highest level of emigration in Europe.
The latest Central Statistics Office figures show almost 250 people leave the country daily – one person every six minutes.
With a son already in London, 70-year-old Dubliner Noeleen was referred to ALONE last year after her daughter’s family left to live in Australia.
She said: “It’s very hard, but that’s the reality I miss my two little granddaughters terribly, but they seem to be settling in well.”
Marian, who also moved to Australia after her husband lost his job, contacted ALONE as she was concerned for her elderly mother.
“My husband had been out of work since 2007 so we had to move, otherwise we would be back in Ireland in a heartbeat,” she said.
“I feel really helpless being so far away. My mam used to be so active but now with age she doesn’t go out as much as she used too.
She added: “I’m so worried about her being isolated and alone in her house. She has a history of depression and the thought of her being lonely, is very difficult.”
ALONE supports older people in Ireland through its volunteer befriending and community response service.
To contact the charity call 00353 1 679 1032 or visithttp://www.alone.ie
Real leadership is when everyone else thinks they are in charge?
says Fortune mag.
Yes we are the top’s
Fortune Magazine has named Bono in their list of businessmen, The Pope and Angela Merkel are the top two.
In their short profile, the magazine says: “Real leadership is when everyone else feels in charge.
“Now, through his ONE and (RED) campaigns, he is enlisting major companies and millions of people to combat AIDS, poverty, and preventable diseases.”
The full top ten in Fortune’s list is:
1 Pope Francis
2 Angela Merkel – Chancellor, Germany
3 Alan Mulally – CEO, Ford Motor Co.
4 Warren Buffett – CEO, Berkshire Hathaway
5 Bill Clinton – Founder, the Clinton Foundation
6 Aung San Suu Kyi – Chairk, National League for Democracy
7 Gen. Joe Dunford – Commander, U.S. Forces, Afghanistan
8 Bono – Irish rock singer
9 The Dalai Lama
10 Jeff Bezos – CEO Amazon
Researchers at Nanyang T.U. develop a new solar Cell that can emit light
Scientists at Nanyang Technological University have made a significant breakthrough that can advance solar technology as well as better integrate it into our lives.
Almost a serendipity, the scientists found a new solar cell material capable of emitting light in addition to the regular role of converting light into electricity.
While developing a new hybrid Perovskite solar cell material, physicist Sym Tze Chien asked his fellow researcher Xing Guichuan to shine a laser on the material. To the researchers’ surprise, when the laser was directed at the new Perovskite solar cell, it lit up.
“What we have discovered is that because it is a high quality material, and very durable under light exposure, it can capture light particles and convert them to electricity, or vice versa,” said Asst Prof Sum, a Singaporean scientist at NTU’s School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences (SPMS). The team of eight scientists and researchers has been working on the Perovskite research project since early 2013.
A press release from the university says Perovskite could hold the key to creating high-efficiency, inexpensive solar cells.
The new material is also versatile, with the applications potentially ranging from being used as tinted windows in cars (it can be made semi-translucent) to making lasers. In addition, the material is five times cheaper than current silicon-based solar cells, making it an option the solar energy industry could look into. The researchers say the significantly lower cost is due to easy solution-based manufacturing process that works by combining two or three chemicals at room temperature.
The scientists picture a future where the facade of buildings such as malls could store energy in the day and light up advertisements at night.
Further, the team says the material can be tuned to make it emit a wide range of colors, a characteristic that makes it suitable for use in gadgets with flat screen displays. Perhaps in the future when your phone runs out of juice while you are out, you can just recharge it under the sun.
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