All political Parties should show their accounts, says the Chairman of S.I.P.O
388 complaints made about Michael Lowry in 2012
The commission, chaired by Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, states in the report it is “anxious that some form of guidelines for political party accounts be put in place as soon as possible.
All political parties would have to subject their accounts to public scrutiny under proposals from the Standards in Public Office Commission.
In its annual report for 2013, the commission emphasises that it would like to see guidelines for political party accounts that would give the public an indication of the amount of funds they raise each year and the nature of those funds.
It comes after earlier draft guidelines submitted by the commission were rejected by former minister for the environment Phil Hogan. They proposed that local branches of political parties, including youth wings, provide accounts. Mr Hogan rejected it on the basis that it would place too onerous a burden of reporting and accountability on local party branches which were voluntarily run. Sipo later published information showing almost €1 million was put in accounts for Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil and Labour.
GUIDELINES SOUGHT
The commission, chaired by Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe, states in the report it is “anxious that some form of guidelines for political party accounts be put in place as soon as possible. If ministerial consent is forthcoming, the earliest period for which political party accounts will be required will be the year 2015 and this information will be made available during 2016.”
The new Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly will make the decision on that issue.
In all, there were some 29 complaints made against politicians in 2013, some 16 of which were deemed to be valid.
The report notes that the number of complaints had returned to more normal levels following an unprecedented number received by Sipo in 2012. There were some 427 complaints in that year, 388 of which related to Michael Lowry, principally about land interests he had in Wigan.
The report detailed the inquiries conducted by Sipo into complaints against Mr Lowry and others. In Mr Lowry’s case the conclusion was there was not sufficient evidence to sustain the complaints. In relation to the land in Wigan it was pointed out that its value fell below the threshold of €13,000 above which land must be registered by a TD as an interest.
The commission found there was no requirement on TDs and Senators who went to the US on a trip organised by Family and Life to register the costs as a donation as the Ethics in Public Office Act provided that a member can avail of such funding “in the course of, and for the purpose of, the performance of a function as a member [of the Oireachtas]”. The parliamentarians submitted a report to the Oireachtas after the visit.
HSE Emergency Dept. overcrowding gets worse over this summer
Emergency department overcrowding has worsened this summer compared to last summer, according to the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO).
The INMO’s latest trolley and ward watch figures have confirmed an 8% increase in overcrowding in July of this year compared to July 2013.
The nurses’ union says the latest figures also confirm that many wards, in addition to ED departments, are now regularly overcrowded.
The figures show that during July, 5,535 patients admitted for inpatient care found themselves either on a trolley in an emergency department, or placed on an additional bed/trolley on an inpatient ward.
The INMO says the figures suggest that the health service continues to face ever-increasing demand with greatly reduced bed capacity.
The Organisation says the figures also show that five hospitals recorded huge increases in the number of patients on trolleys this summer compared to the previous summer.
Sligo Regional Hospital recorded a 187% increase in July 2014 compared to July 2013, while the Mater and St James’s in Dublin had a 154% increase.
INMO General Secretary Liam Doran said these significant increases represented a major challenge for the health service which it cannot ignore.
“The levels of overcrowding recorded in a number of hospitals during Julyare totally unacceptable, leave patients without dignity and privacy and causes excessive workloads on already overstretched frontline staff,” he said.
MEANWHILE:-
“Patients on trolleys are a real problem” says new Minister Varadkar
FIGURES FOR JULY SHOW AN 8% INCREASE IN NUMBERS SINCE LAST YEAR
The number of patients on trolleys at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda has doubled in the past year, figures for July show.
The number of patients on trolleys in some hospital emergency departments is “a real problem”, Minister for Health Leo Varadkar has admitted.
Responding to figures which show an 8% yearly increase in the number of patients on trolleys last month, Mr Varadkar said the HSE had responded by releasing €5 million for packages to speed up the discharge of patients and have them transferred home or to long-term care facilities.
“Most patients now in emergency departments will be in a bed or at home within nine hours. I am monitoring the trolley count on a daily basis and in some hospitals it is a real problem,” he said.
The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation, which compiles the figures, said that five hospital emergency departments suffered big increases in the number of patients on trolleys between July 2013 and July 2014.
At Sligo Regional Hospital, the number of trolleys grew from 45 to 129, a rise of 187%. Dublin’s Mater hospital and St James’s Hospital saw trolley numbers grow by 154 per cent, while there was a doubling of numbers at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.
Almost half (44%) of Irish workers admit to having been drunk while working
That means there’s probably someone drunk in your job right now.
Nearly half of Irish people have shown up to work drunk, a new survey has suggested.
Dublin-based law consultancy Peninsula Ireland questioned 1,353 Irish employees by telephone and found that 44% had been under the influence while at work and 77% of employees have had to discipline staff for being under the influence.
Alan Price, managing director of Peninsula Ireland said that there is a big difference between going out the night before and showing up to work still drunk.
“Employees who attend work under the influence of alcohol are not just putting themselves at risk but also the safety of others. It is fine heading to the pub at lunch for a quick drink or enjoying a few beers with your friends the night before, however when does it impede your job?”
Price says that some companies might consider random testing for employees to determine if they’re under the influence.
“It puts the safety and reputation of your business on the line. Employers may well wish to introduce random drug and alcohol testing into polices and if this is the case then they can implement at their discretion.”
The World Health Organisation says that one person dies from alcohol-related illness in Ireland every day and, while rates of binge drinking are falling, 75% of all alcohol consumed in Ireland is done as part of a binge drinking session.
Are you happy with your broadband speed?
A SUBSIDISED SCHEME TO GUARANTEE MINIMUM SPEEDS IN BROADBAND BLACKSPOTS IS BEING WOUND DOWN.
RURAL BROADBAND USERS could be facing higher charges as the National Broadband Scheme is wound down.
A Government decision to end the scheme will affect users in some of the country’s worst broadband blackspots. They had been able to benefit from a subsidised service from 3 Ireland under the scheme. However, minimum speeds are no longer guaranteed.
Earlier this year it was announced that over €450 million will be invested in a new fibre broadband network that could bring broadband speeds of between 200 to 1000 Mbps to an initial 50 towns, with the Government committing to faster speeds across the country.
We want to know about your experience: Are you happy with your broadband speed?
Scientists closer to understanding the birth of the Sun
Researchers have investigated the solar system’s prehistoric phase to better understand the events that led to the birth of the Sun.
Researchers have investigated the solar system’s prehistoric phase to better understand the events that led to the birth of the Sun.
The team led by Dr Maria Lugaro and Professor Alexander Heger, from Monash University, used radioactivity to date the last time that heavy elements such as gold, silver, platinum, lead and rare-earth elements were added to the solar system matter by the stars that produced them.
“Using heavy radioactive nuclei found in meteorites to time these final additions, we have got a clearer understanding of the prehistory of the solar system,” Lugaro said.
“We can now tell with confidence the final one per cent of gold, silver and platinum, were added to the solar system matter roughly 100 million years before the birth of the Sun.
“The final one per cent of lead and rare-earth elements, such as those that make your smart phone, was added much later – at most, 30 million years before the birth of the Sun,” Lugaro added.
Lugaro said the detailed timing opened up new opportunities to understand the series of events that led to the formation of the Sun.
Some time after the last addition of heavy elements the solar system matter went into an ‘incubation’ period, during which time the stellar nursery formed – where the Sun was born together with a number of other stars.
“We now know this incubation period could not have lasted more than 30 million years. This offers us the chance to determine the lifespan of the nursery where the Sun was born, how massive it was and how many stars were born there together,” Lugaro said.
“Ultimately, we want to have a clear understanding of the circumstances of the birth of our star and the prehistory of the solar system.
“Understanding the timescales and processes leading to the formation of our solar system is key to relate its birth environment with that of other planetary systems in the galaxy,” Lugaro said.
UCD scientists find volcanic seabed off Donegal coast that could cause an Irish tsunami
The scientific breakthrough came on the Rockall Bank, a marine bed the size of Ireland which lies more than 500kms out to sea.
A team of scientists has found a previously undiscovered volcanic seabed fault off our west coast which could one day cause a tsunami.
The scientific breakthrough came on the Rockall Bank, a marine bed the size of Ireland which lies more than 500kms out to sea.
Thirteen scientists, led by UCD’s School of Geological Sciences, used a remotely operated vehicle at depths of up to one kilometre to find a new slope facing the west coast which could affect Ireland if it were to fracture again.
Among their discoveries was an abundance of a rare protected fish called the Orange Roughy, which can live for up to 150 years.
But it’s the discovery of the volcanic structure – or fault – which has stunned the scientific team aboard the Marine Institute’s RV Celtic Explorer.
“The faulting or fracturing of the earth’s surface under the sea is not as rare as people might think, but because it is not visible it is often not considered,” said Dr Aggeliki Georgiopoulou from UCD.
“The research of the scarps in this area will provide us with key information on the possibility of future land-slides in this region. As this particular slope is facing Ireland, if there were a new landslide to occur, we need to estimate if it would impact the Irish west coast.”
The scientists representing eight nationalities and led by Dr Aggeliki Georgiopoulou and Dr Veerle Huvenne from the National Oceanography Centre in the UK spent two weeks using a remotely-operated vehicle to study the Rockall Bank’s ocean floor.
They will now review 50 hours of seabed footage to see if a new landslide 520kms away could cause a tsunami.
The deep-sea escarpments they found were formed around 15,000 years ago.
“During the expedition we discovered that the scarps in this area are actually very different from one another both geologically and biologically, which we hadn’t anticipated as they are in such close proximity to one another,” said Dr Georgiopoulou.
With 50 rock samples and over 20 gravity cores retrieved, the team hopes to be able to explain this diversity.
LANDSLIDE
“We now need to further review the samples and data to help answer questions such as: do these differences in the terrain mean that this wasn’t one single landslide? Could these escarpments have formed in different episodes and that’s why they look so different?” said the UCD scientist.
“This is the first time we took such a close look at a submarine landslide so it will take us some time to analyse the video – this is completely new information for us. The video footage has also revealed that sea-floor pinnacles evident on the Irish National Seabed Survey map are in fact volcanic edifices, so far not documented or included in the geological maps of the Irish offshore,” she said.
The group say their research may help them to understand the geologic behaviour of sediments and rock on slopes under the sea and establish a better understanding of the stability of our continental slope.
“The use of the new gravity corer provided scientists with an opportunity to retrieve three metre core sediments from areas under the seabed that haven’t been reached before,” said Dr Veerle Huvenne.
“Also capturing footage and taking samples using the Holland I gave us an unprecedented look at the terrain. It was as if we were in the field itself, walking around and selecting exactly the samples we needed, instead of taking a blind hit in 1000m water depth.
“Now we know exactly where each of our rock samples, short cores and biological samples came from,” she said.
Both scientists said the research was also about protecting marine life in the event of mineral exploration, and it may also lead to the discovery of some new medicines.
No comments:
Post a Comment