Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Wednesday

The main recommendations of the Garda Inspectorate report

   

A total of 28 suggestions made to cover gaps in the fixed charge processing system. 

One recommendation states a single Garda Síochána unit should undertake regular audits of the fixed charge processing system.

The current fixed charge processing system

The Department of justice immediately convene and chair a criminal justice working group consisting of the department, the courts service, the Department of Transport, the Garda Síochána and the Road Safety Authority to help implement the report’s recommendations.

Analysis and findings of the current system

1. A review the summons serving process to figure out why a significant number of summonses go unserved.
2. The Department of Transport should address the “legislative deficiency” which enables drivers of commercial company vehicles, hire agency vehicles and unregistered vehicles to avoid fines and penalty points.
3. A single Garda Síochána unit should undertake regular audits of the full operation of the fixed charge processing system.
4. The Garda Inspectorate should start a full review of the management and operation of the fixed charge processing system within a year.

Cancellation of fixed charge notices

1. Garda policy on fixed charge cancellations should include a clear definition of “exceptional circumstances” when cancelling a notice.
2. The fixed charge processing office must take a driver or vehicle’s previous cancellations into account when considering subsequent petitions for cancelling a fixed charge notice.
3. Immediately centralise the cancellation authority for fixed charge notices in the fixed charge processing office, Thurles, Co Tipperary.
4. Only consider cancelling a fixed charge notice where the petition is accompanied by factual third party evidence supporting the reason for cancellation. Where a petition is not accompanied by factual third party evidence the petition is to be denied

Proposed new system

1. Upon implementation, these recommendations will recoup any short term start up costs, which will be offset by the additional revenue generated to the exchequer through the increase in the collection of previously lost fines.
2. Develop a bar coded pre-summons notepad for recording and serving a notice of a fixed charge offence.
3. Develop a hand held electronic device that can populate and print a pre-summons for use as part of the fixed charge processing system.

Chief Inspector Olson said: “Over the years, the accumulation of successive incremental ‘fixes’ in response to minor and major technical and management problems in the system’s daily operations has resulted in a technically deficient, managerially uncoordinated, inefficient and excessively resourced support system.”

Over €10m worth of jewellery and cash burgled in the second half of 2013

 

The Gardaí said that jewellery and cash accounted for 75 per cent of the property stolen in burglaries in the last six months of 2013.

Approximately €10.7 million worth of jewellry and cash was burgled from homes in Ireland for the last six months of last year,

Gardaí advised householders today – Anti-Burglary Day – that valuables are out of sight.

Jewellery and cash accounted for 75 per cent of the property stolen in burglaries in the last six months of 2013, accordning to the gardaí.

Keys: There were also over a hundred cases of keys being “fished” through letterboxes by burglars.

The gardaí says “fishing” where burglars place implements such as adapted fishing rods through letterboxes to “fish” car and house keys from hall tables, can result in houses being easily entered or cars being stolen from outside the house.

Over half of burglars don’t sneak around the back of your house – over half come through your front door, said the gardaí, stating that people need to be more vigilant.

The latest report by the Garda Síochána Analysis Service shows that the main entry points by burglars to houses are through a rear window – 28 per cent, the front door – 27 per cent and rear door – 25 per cent.

Burglaries: The time of the year can also influence how and when burglars seek to enter homes. In winter, up to 20 per cent of burglaries occur during twilight hours when homes can look unoccupied. While in summer months, burglaries are more likely to take place through unsecured doors and windows.

Over 30 per cent of burglaries take place between 5pm and 8pm, while 15 per cent occurred overnight during the past six months.

Mental health electric shock therapy treatment in Ireland still given without consent

    

The number of mental health patients in Ireland who received electro-convulsive therapy (ECT) – formerly known as electric shock treatment – fell for the fifth year in a row in 2012, however almost 30 patients were still administered the treatment without their consent, the Mental Health Commission (MHC) has revealed.

ECT is a medical procedure during which an electric current is passed briefly through the brain via electrodes applied to the scalp. The patient is given a general anaesthetic, and muscle relaxants are also given to prevent the body from going into spasm.

The purpose of ECT is to treat specific types of major mental illnesses.

The MHC has just released data on the use of ECT and seclusion among the country’s mental health inpatients in 2012. This revealed that 311 programmes of ECT were administered to 244 patients that year. A programme of ECT refers to no more than 12 treatments prescribed by a consultant psychiatrist.

According to the MHC, this marks a 6.3% reduction in the number of ECT programmes that were reported in 2011.

Patients receiving ECT ranged in age from 24 to 92 and almost two-thirds were women. The treatment was most commonly used to treat people with depressive disorders.

While most of these treatments were administered to patients with their consent, 27 patients did not give their consent, including four who were unwilling to consent. The others were unable to give consent.

In the vast majority of cases, some improvement was reported by the treating consultant psychiatrists. In almost four in 10 cases, full recovery was reported, while at least one in three reported significant improvement. No change or a deterioration was recorded in over 7% of cases.

Meanwhile the data also revealed that over 1,400 episodes of seclusion involving 505 patients were reported at 29 centres nationwide in 2012, a fall of 16% when compared to 2011.

Seclusion is defined by the MCH as the ‘the placing or leaving of a person in any room alone, at any time, day or night, with the exit door locked or fastened or held in such a way as to prevent the person from leaving’.

The majority of seclusion episodes in 2012 lasted less than eight hours, although a small number exceeded 72 hours. Two-thirds of these episodes involved men and over half of those place in seclusion were aged between 18 and 39.

Ten children were also secluded in 2012.

The highest number of seclusion episodes (231) was recorded at St Joseph’s Intellectual Disability Service, followed by the Central Mental Hospital (133).

The data also noted that over 3,000 episodes of physical restraint were reported in 52 centres in 2012. These involved 933 individuals, including 42 children. Most of these episodes lasted five minutes or less.

The highest number of physical restraints (315) occurred in St Vincent’s Hospital in Fairview in Dublin, followed by St Joseph’s Intellectual Disability Service (244).

While the fall in the use of ECT and seclusion was welcomed by MHC chairman, John Saunders, he insisted that ‘further progress’ could still be made.

“For example, while the number of those who do not consent to ECT treatment is in decline, it is still the commission’s view that it should not be possible to administer ECT to a patient who is unwilling to receive it.

“Furthermore while progress has been made on seclusion and restraint we would like to see that number reduced further. These are emergency measures and should only be used in exceptional circumstances and only when in the best interests of the patient,” he commented.

He added that the MHC will ‘continue to advocate for minimising the use of restrictive intervention and for the elimination of ECT provision to those who are unwilling to receive it’.

Atlantic mackerel deal welcomed by Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney

   

€1 billion north-east Atlantic mackerel fishery is worth over €125 million to Ireland

Mr Coveney said that he differed with the EU on “significant aspects of the deal”, which will set some 15.6% of the north-east Atlantic stock aside for Iceland, Greenland and Russia.

Minister for the Marine Simon Coveney has welcomed agreement between the EU, Norway and the Faroe islands on share-out of the north-east Atlantic mackerel stock, which is Ireland’s most lucrative fishery.

Significantly, Iceland is not a party to the five-year agreement, which was secured in London today after a long-running dispute beween coastal states over the valuable migratory stock.

Under the deal, the Faroe islands fleet will be subject to fixed quotas, giving it 12.6 per cent of the stock.

Mr Coveney said that he differed with the EU on “significant aspects of the deal”, which will set some 15.6 per cent of the north-east Atlantic stock aside for Iceland,Greenland and Russia.

However, he said that he welcomed the fact that Norway was given no additional access to fish mackerel in EU waters, and said that the outcome would also increase the amount of mackerel available to the Irish fleet by over 60 per cent, from a current 65,000 tonnes to 105,000 tonnes.

Last year, EU Maritime Affairs Commissioner Maria Damanaki had agreed to imposition of trade sanctions in retaliation for what was termed “Olympic fishing” to unsustainable levels by Iceland and the Faeroese, both of which were anxious to increase their share since the stock changed its migratory route.

However, there was a marked reluctance by a number of EU states to implement sanctions, given the dependence on Iceland for fish imports.

The €1 billion north-east Atlantic mackerel fishery is worth over 600 million in value to the EU, with a value of over €125 million to Ireland as this State’s most lucrative stock.

The stock has always spawned off the south-west Irish coast, and moved up via Scotland and the Shetland Islandsto western Norway and the North Sea, but since 2006, the migration route has swung north-west into Icelandic waters.

Iceland has said that EU states and Norway had not recognised its entitlement to a share of the fishery until 2010.

Long-Term global warming likely to be significant despite recent slowdown

     

A new NASA study shows Earth’s climate likely will continue to warm during this century on track with previous estimates, despite the recent slowdown in the rate of global warming.

This research hinges on a new and more detailed calculation of the sensitivity of Earth’s climate to the factors that cause it to change, such as greenhouse gas emissions. Drew Shindell, a climatologist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, found Earth is likely to experience roughly 20% more warming than estimates that were largely based on surface temperature observations during the past 150 years.

Shindell’s paper on this research was published March 9 in the journal Nature Climate Change.

Global temperatures have increased at a rate of 0.22 Fahrenheit (0.12 Celsius) per decade since 1951. But since 1998, the rate of warming has been only 0.09 F (0.05 C) per decade — even as atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to rise at a rate similar to previous decades. Carbon dioxide is the most significant greenhouse gas generated by humans.

Some recent research, aimed at fine-tuning long-term warming projections by taking this slowdown into account, suggested Earth may be less sensitive to greenhouse gas increases than previously thought. The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), which was issued in 2013 and was the consensus report on the state of climate change science, also reduced the lower range of Earth’s potential for global warming.

To put a number to climate change, researchers calculate what is called Earth’s “transient climate response.” This calculation determines how much global temperatures will change as atmospheric carbon dioxide continues to increase – at about 1% per year — until the total amount of atmospheric carbon dioxide has doubled. The estimates for transient climate response range from near 2.52 F (1.4 C) offered by recent research, to the IPCC’s estimate of 1.8 F (1.0 C). Shindell’s study estimates a transient climate response of 3.06 F (1.7 C), and determined it is unlikely values will be below 2.34 F (1.3 C).

Shindell’s paper further focuses on improving our understanding of how airborne particles, called aerosols, drive climate change in the Northern Hemisphere. Aerosols are produced by both natural sources – such as volcanoes, wildfire, and sea spray – and sources such as manufacturing activities, automobiles, and energy production. Depending on their make-up, some aerosols cause warming, while others create a cooling effect. In order to understand the role played by carbon dioxide emissions in global warming, it is necessary to account for the effects of atmospheric aerosols.

While multiple studies have shown the Northern Hemisphere plays a stronger role than the Southern Hemisphere in transient climate change, this had not been included in calculations of the effect of atmospheric aerosols on climate sensitivity. Prior to Shindell’s work, such calculations had assumed aerosol impacts were uniform around the globe.

This difference means previous studies have underestimated the cooling effect of aerosols. When corrected, the range of likely warming based on surface temperature observations is in line with earlier estimates, despite the recent slowdown.

One reason for the disproportionate influence of the Northern Hemisphere, particularly as it pertains to the impact of aerosols, is that most man-made aerosols are released from the more industrialized regions north of the equator. Also, the vast majority of Earth’s landmasses are in the Northern Hemisphere. This furthers the effect of the Northern Hemisphere because land, snow and ice adjust to atmospheric changes more quickly than the oceans of the world.

“Working on the IPCC, there was a lot of discussion of climate sensitivity since it’s so important for our future,” said Shindell, who was lead author of the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report’s chapter on Anthropogenic and Natural Radiative Forcing. “The conclusion was that the lower end of the expected warming range was smaller than we thought before. That was a big discussion. Yet, I kept thinking, we know the Northern Hemisphere has a disproportionate effect, and some pollutants are unevenly distributed. But we don’t take that into account. I wanted to quantify how much the location mattered.”

Shindell’s climate sensitivity calculation suggests countries around the world need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions at the higher end of proposed emissions reduction ranges to avoid the most damaging consequences of climate change. “I wish it weren’t so,” said Shindell, “but forewarned is forearmed.”