Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Ireland’s mortgage holders get a good break with rate reductions

 

The AIB, EBS AND HAVEN irish banks ARE TO REDUCE FIXED AND VARIABLE MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES FOR NEW AND EXISTING CUSTOMERS.

This marks the first time that mortgage lenders have reduced variable rates in a number of years. The move will benefit at least 146,000 existing mortgage account holders in Ireland.

AIB Group said customers with a €200,000 mortgage will save up to €334 per annum, based on a 25 year term, under the revised rates.

The reductions include a 0.25% decline in the standard variable rate for customers and the introduction of new lower Loan to Value (LTV) and fixed rates across AIB, EBS and Haven.

AIB Group is also introducing new fixed mortgage rates across all three brands. These include 3.80% in respect of its three-year fixed rate and 3.90 per cent for its five year fixed-rate mortgages.

AIB and Haven are cutting all LTV mortgage rates by 0.24 per cent, while EBS is reducing all its LTV rates by 0.25%. AIB and Haven customers with an LTV of 50% or less will see their interest rate drop to 3.85%, while EBS customers will see it fall to 3.80%.

“AIB is now in a position to reduce variable mortgage interest rates due to the bank’s underlying positive performance and funding cost reductions. The introduction of the bank’s new fixed rate pricing will provide better value and certainty for customers,” said Bernard Byrne, director of personal, business and corporate banking, AIB Group.

Revised variable rates come in to effect from December 1st with fixed rates to come into effect from 4 November, the group said.

AIB said existing fixed-rate customers will not be impacted until their current fixed-rate term expires. However, they will then have the option to fix again at the new rates once their current term expires.

Ireland signs up to the new global tax agreement

 

Ireland has now signed up to a global tax agreement with dozens of other countries to put an end to banking secrecy and tackle international tax evasion.

The finance ministers of about 50 countries gathered in Berlin yesterday with over 30 of them, including Michael Noonan, signing a pact allowing for the automatic exchange of tax information.

Under the agreement, banks with foreign customers will have to forward details to tax authorities, which in turn will pass the information on to the various national authorities in the countries where the customers are based.

OBSOLETE FORMAT.

“Banking secrecy, in its old form, is obsolete,” German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said.

Mr Schaeuble, who hosted the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes meeting, said banking secrecy was no longer appropriate when people can “transfer their money all over the world at the press of a button via the internet”.

Ministers from Germany, France, the UK, Italy and Spain presented the agreement yesterday afternoon.

More than 40 countries have agreed to adopt the standard starting in 2017, while others including Switzerland and China have committed to start in 2018.

The Revenue Commissioners said yesterday that banks here will have to prepare due diligence by the start of 2016 with the first exchanges of information starting in January 2017.

Under the agreement, information on foreign customers exchanged between a bank and tax authorities will include details of any interest or dividends earned, as well as account balances and the sales proceeds from any financial assets.

Business sentiment in Ireland at the highest level since 2006

 

60% OF IRISH FIRMS REPORTING AN INCREASE IN BUSINESS ACTIVITY OVER THE SUMMER MONTHS

Irish business sentiment has reached its highest level in eight years, with almost 60% of firms reporting an increase in business activity over the summer months.

Irish business sentiment has reached its highest level in eight years, with almost 60% of firms reporting an increase in business activity over the summer months, according to the latest the KBC Bank Ireland/Chartered Accountants Ireland business sentiment index.

The improvement was broadly based, with all sectors reporting an improvement in business conditions and all the components of the index stronger than in the second quarter.

Some 29% of firms cited the health of exports markets as the key factor in improved sentiment, with cost trends signaled by 18% of those surveyed and access to credit by 15%.

Just 9% of firms reported weaker conditions over the last three months.

KBC Bank Ireland chief economist Austin Hughes said the strongest element in the autumn survey was companies’ assessment of their own business volumes in the past three months.

“The recovery seems to be broadening across sectors and firms and a further improvement is expected in the final three months of the year,” he added.

Chartered Accountants Ireland chief executive Pat Costello said the survey results were “very encouraging” in that they show a broadly based pick-up in activity as well as greater business confidence in relation to the outlook for the broader Irish economy.

“Companies’ assessment of Budget 2015 was broadly favourable, with 13% of firms intending to increase their hiring next year as a result”.

INTERNET can make some people very stupid

SAYS JOHN LYDON FORMER SEX PISTOLS FRONT MAN

   

John Lydon thinks the internet is to blame for making a lot of young people “incredibly stupid”.

The former Sex Pistols front man has hit out at the worldwide web for being a hub of “mindless gossip and nonsense” and thinks it is problematic for youngsters nowadays because they spend all their time surfing the internet rather than engaging in physical conversations.

He said: “I think the internet is the road to idiocy and has made a lot of young people incredibly stupid and more involved with mindless gossip and nonsense.

“It’s spineless, faceless, there’s no face-to-face confrontation.

“You’ve lost the power of emotion and dialogue; it’s just flimsy catchphrases. It’s complacency.

“FACEBOOK AND TWITTER ARE MY ARCH ENEMIES.”

Despite disliking the internet, the 58-year-old singer is a big fan of TV advertising, particularly the 2008 Country Life butter advert he starred in and he insists fans of his group Public Image Ltd (PiL) should be too because the band would never have reformed without the sandwich spread.

“I needed to raise some money to get Public Image back together and, having the good sensibility to have eaten a lot of butter in my life, I thought it was appropriate.

“Every penny I earned from that went into reforming Public Image.

“Music lovers should rejoice at that and have some buttered toast on me says John Ludon.”

‘Buggy balls & crisps’ to hit the supermarket shelves soon

  

The traditional shopping list of bread, milk, eggs and cheese is set to change in the Netherlands with a major supermarket chain unveiling its first-ever range of insect-based products this week.

From Friday, customers at Jumbo stores in two northern Dutch cities will be able to add “buggy balls”, “buggy burgers” and “buggy crisps” to their shopping carts in a roll-out plan to put edible insect products on shelves in 400 stores across the country by early next year.

“Edible insects are not only healthy, but sustainable and give the opportunity to do something about replenishing ailing food resources,” Jumbo spokeswoman Laura Valks told AFP.

Although some insect-based foods are already commercially available at Dutch wholesalers, Jumbo is the first national supermarket chain to stock shelves with products made from meal-worms, buffalo worms and moth larvae, Valks said.

Shoppers are to fork out between 5.95 euros ($7.49) and 6.79 euros per portion, she added.

The products come in different flavours. For instance “buggy crisps” made from crispy fried moth larvae will be available flavoured with plain salt or paprika.

Last year the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation said insects could supplement diets around the world as an environmentally-friendly food source, as it urged Western consumers to get over their “disgust” of eating creepy-crawlies.

An estimated two billion people — a third of the world’s population — are already eating insects because they “are delicious and nutritious”, the FAO said.

Insects most commonly consumed by humans are beetles (31%), caterpillars (18%) and bees, wasps and ants (14%), followed by grasshoppers, locusts and crickets (13%), an FAO report said.

World’s top stem cell science experts to gather in NUI Galway

   

World-leading experts from the field of stem cell science have convened at NUI Galway last night and again todayfor the Galway International Stem Cell Conference which will focus on the latest developments in basic science and translational aspects of Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC ) research in Ireland, the UK and worldwide.

A type of adult stem cell, Mesenchymal Stem Cells or MSCs, have shown huge potential for use in many medical therapies.In addition to plenary talks from internationally renowned speakers, the programme is structured to include oral paper presentations selected from submitted abstracts. With Ireland hosting the event this year, there will be a particular focus on some of the ground breaking research taking place here.

The latest plans from researchers at NUI Galway for stem cell trials in Galway, focusing on arterial disease in the lower leg and osteoarthritis in the knee will be discussed.

According to Professor Frank Barry, Scientific Director of REMEDI at NUI Galway: “The impact of this conference will be high because it focuses on those aspects of basic science and clinical evaluation which represent obstacles to translation.

New biological insights have emerged recently about stem cells and their clinical potential has been demonstrated. However, there are still substantial gaps in knowledge in the field, such as how we can standardise the mass production of stem cells in facilities around the world.”

As of 2014, Ireland now boasts its own specialist facility which can ‘grow’ stems cells for use in such clinical trials in humans. Located at NUI Galway, the Centre for Cell Manufacturing Ireland (CCMI ) is a custom-built facility certified to the highest EU manufacturing standards and criteria.

The CCMI at NUI Galway is the first ever facility on the island of Ireland to receive a licence from the Irish Medicines Board, and firmly positions the country as a global player in the regenerative medicine field.      

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Wednesday

Irish retail sales this September 5.9% higher year-on-year

  

EXCLUDING THE SALE OF MOTORS, THERE WAS A 3.1% INCREASE IN THE ANNUAL FIGURE

The volume of retail sales rose by 5.9% in September, when compared to the same month last year, according to the CSO.

The volume of retail sales rose by 5.9% in September, when compared to the same month last year, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office(CSO).

However, on a monthly basis, the volume of retail sales increased just 0.1% between August and September of this year.

If motor trades are excluded, there was a decrease of 0.6% in the volume of retail sales in September 2014 when compared with August 2014 and there was an increase of 3.1% in the annual figure.

Goodbody Stockbrokers said retail spending failed to benefit from renewed optimism in September, a month when consumer confidence hit an almost eight year high.

“Given the improvement in sentiment, the muted nature of sales in September is somewhat of a surprise. However, concerns about water charges or possible changes in the Budget may have played a role,” Goodbody chief economist Dermot O’Leary said.

The sectors with the largest month on month volume increases included hardware, paints and glass (+4.9%) and fuel (+3.3%).

The sectors with the largest monthly decreases were furniture & lighting (-3.7%), books, newspapers and stationery (-2.5%) and bars (-2.3%).

Ex-PD minister Liz O’Donnell to chair Road Safety Authority

 

NOMINATION COMES AS DEATHS ON IRELAND’S ROADS SHOW INCREASE

Liz O Donnell, former deputy leader of the Progressive Democrats, is to be nominated as chair of the Road Safety Authority, replacing Gay Byrne.

Former Progressive Democrat minister Liz O’Donnell has been nominated as the new head of the Road Safety Authority.

In a statement issued after a Cabinet meeting today, Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe he had appointed Ms O’Donnell as Chairperson Designate of the RSA for a period of five years.

M/s O’Donnell will become the chairman designate pending an appearance before the Oireachtas Committee in Transport to confirm the appointment.

She is filling the position relinquished by Gay Byrne, who stepped down at the beginning of September after eight years in the role.

Byrne completed one full five-year term as chairman and was asked to remain in his position by the then minister for transport, Leo Varadkar, and did so for three years until he reached his eightieth birthday.

He was asked to remain in the position for a further two years but declined.

Mr Donohoe said the appointment was being made “in advance of the introduction of new procedures for State Board appointments, in view of the urgent need to fill the vacant post which is crucial to our efforts to combat road deaths.”

Ms O’Donnell’s appointment comes as the number of children killed on Ireland’s roads more than doubled this year. Mr Donohoe recently said the surge was “incredibly worrying” after years of decreases in child road deaths.

She is seen as being a very strong media performer and also, crucially, has no links to either coalition party and therefore the appointment is unlikely to prompt allegations of cronyism.

During his tenure, Mr Byrne repeatedly criticised the impact of the reduction in Garda resources for the Traffic Corps.

Since the RSA was set up in 2006, road fatalities dropped from 368 to a record low of 162 in 2012. However, fatalities rose to 190 last year and are on course to increase again this year.

Ms O’Donnell provides consultancy, lecturing and advisory services for corporate, educational and various other organisations in the field of government relations and public affairs and is an opinion columnist in the Irish Independent newspaper.

She was born in Dublin, studied at Trinity College Law School, and after graduation embarked on a career as a lawyer. She was first elected to Dublin City Council in 1991 for the Rathmines Ward.

She had earlier been vice chair of the Women’s Political Association and worked on the presidential campaign of Mary Robinson.

She was first elected to the Dáil in 1992 and served as a Progressive Democrats TD for Dublin South from 1992 to 2007.

Her career in the Dáil began as PD spokeswoman on health and social welfare, from 1992-93.

Following the June 1997 general election, she was involved in negotiating the programme for the coalition government between Fianna Fáil and the Progressive Democrats, along with her then party colleague, Robert Molloy.

In July 1997, she was appointed Minister of State at the Department of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for Overseas Development Assistance and Human Rights.

In this capacity, she had a role in Anglo-Irish relations. She was a member of the government’s negotiating team in the multi-party talks at Stormont, which culminated in the Good Friday Agreement in 1998.

In 2007, she was promoted to Cabinet as Minister of State to the Government on the retirement of Robert Molloy.

She also served as chief whip and deputy leader of the PDs.

M/s O’Donnell retired from politics following the PD meltdown at the 2007 general election.

Vocal tones with deep voices ‘scare others more’

  

The vocal patterns of President Francois Hollande of France were among those studied by scientists

If you want to scare others into submission, speak with a deep, dynamic voice that varies widely in pitch.

On the other hand, vocal tones that are higher on average with a narrower pitch range are likely to mark you out as sincere and trustworthy.

While leaders throughout history have instinctively known how to manipulate people with their voices, scientists are now learning the secrets of the dark art.

A twist of fate allowed researchers to study the vocal keys to charisma in one man, the right wing Italian politician Umberto Bossi.

In 2004 Mr Bossi, former leader of the Northern League Party, suffered a severe stroke that permanently altered his speech.

Whereas before he had been perceived as dominant and authoritarian, suddenly the Italian firebrand came over as strangely benevolent.

The reason was that after the stroke his voice became “flat”, varying little in pitch.

Dr Rosario Signorello, from the University of California at Los Angeles, said: “I collected speeches of him before and after the stroke, and I discovered that before the accident, he was perceived as an authoritarian leader, because his voice was characterised by low average of fundamental frequency, normal modulation of the pitch contour, a wide pitch range, a lot of perturbation in voice and a lot of creakiness and harshness.

“The stroke caused him to have a very flat pitch contour, so even if he had the harshness, even if he had the creakiness, his pitch contour was very flat.

“I submitted his voice to the listeners and he was perceived as a benevolent and competent leader, which is very different from the authoritarian perception. In that case, the pitch contour played a very important role.”

Dr Signorello’s team conducted further research using a technique called “delexicalisation” which strips out words from a speech while retaining the speaker’s acoustic properties.

The scientists found that one of the most important charismatic influences was fundamental frequency, or “F0″ – the lowest average rate of vocal cord vibration.

Another was the range of frequency variation in a voice.

Comparisons were made between the way the voices of Italian, French and Portuguese politicians – namely Luigi de Magaistris, Francois Hollande and Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva – were perceived by listeners.

Dr Signorello concluded that someone who speaks with a low average F0 and wide pitch range is seen as dominant and threatening. Conversely, a higher F0 and narrow pitch range conveys the idea of “sincere and reassuring” leadership.

However, the way different people responded to leaders’ voices was also affected by cultural factors.

“The Italians seem to need a low-pitched voice, and the French a high-pitched one, because of cultural reasons,” said Dr Signorello, who presented his findings at the annual meeting of the Acoustical Society of America in Indianapolis.

“The Italians seem to want a more dominant leader, and the French a more competent leader.”

He now plans to extend the research to monkeys and apes.

“What we want to do is understand how the use of the F0 helps the non-human primate individuals to emerge and be recognized by the group and understand how these individuals use their voice behaviour to create different patterns and convey leadership,” he said. ” The hypothesis is that the biological function of charismatic voice is also cross-species.”

Laura Whitmore wants her weee Sisters to Misstache for Movember

 

Television presenter Laura Whitmore launches Aussie’s Misstache for Movember, a campaign for women to support and raise awareness of the men’s health charity, in central London.

TV presenter Laura Whitmore is encouraging women around the country to “tache up” and join the Misstache Movement to support Movember.

Whitmore wants Irish ladies to pose for the cameras while sporting a makeshift moustache by wrapping a lock of hair under their nose.

Girls can join in with Movember too – Laura Whitmore shows off her ‘Misstache':00 / 00:33

“Show your support by uploading your picture on social media using the hashtags #Misstache for #Movember,” she said.

“Together with the Mo Bros we can make Movember bigger than ever.”

The campaign is being run in conjunction with Aussie hair products.

Movember, which sees men grow a variety of moustaches over the course of 30 days, was first established in Australia in 2003 to promote men’s health.

Since then, more than four million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas have supported the annual campaign which has raised in excess of €409m since it was first established.

Whether it’s a handlebar, pencil or Fu Manchu, organisers are asking men to ditch the razor for Movember.

Baby birds struggle to survive with noise pollution

  

It turns out that nestlings, baby birds, could be suffering from noisy environments. Because nestlings depend on their parents for both food and protection, vocal communication is key-something that could be drowned out if the surroundings are too loud.

It turns out that nestlings, baby birds, could be suffering from noisy environments. Because nestlings depend on their parents for both food and protection, vocal communication is key-something that could be drowned out if the surroundings are too loud.

In order to see how ambient noise might impact nestlings and their survival, the researchers presented nestling tree swallows with audio recordings of a parent warning of a predator or announcing a food deliver. Then, the scientists compared the responses that the baby birds had to the sounds when played with recorded background noise or in a quiet environment.

Faced with competition from hungry siblings, nestlings instinctively react quickly to any sign that a parent might have food, vigorously begging to attract attention. Yet this same begging puts them at risk of misidentifying predators as parents.

In the end, the researchers found that the background noise reduced the nestlings’ responsiveness to both feeding calls and alarm calls. They often failed to beg after hearing a feeding call and also failed to fall silent when hearing a warning call. Not only that, but they received little assistance from parents, who did not appear to change their calls in noisier situations.

“This idea had been neglected, perhaps because parents and nestlings are so close to each other when they communicate that you think error would not be an issue,” said Andy Horn, one of the researchers, in a news release. “We usually associate declines in animal populations with our physical destruction of habitat, but the noise we make is another threat that we can’t ignore.”

The findings reveal the background noise could be impacting bird populations. This, in turn, highlights the need to reduce noise pollution in certain areas, especially when it comes to conservation efforts. 

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Irish paid too high a price for the banks bailout says Bono and Larry

  

THE U2 SINGER BONO SAYS BOND HOLDERS SHOULD HAVE BEEN BURNT IN ‘GRIM’ TIMES

U2 singer Bono has revealed he saw world famous investor and philanthropist George Soros “go for” Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, over the issue of Ireland being forced to pay off all our bondholders. The singer also says that Ireland should have burnt bondholders when the country went through the troika bailout.

“They are all big boys and they could have afforded a haircut and a new suit and some underwear if that was necessary,” he said in an exclusive interview with the Sunday Independent.

The singer went on to say: “That was a grim, grim moment in our history. Our people paid far too high a price.”

The singer says he saw investor and philanthropist George Soros, “go for Van Rompuy”, over the matter, “and it was embarrassing because George Soros knew more about the details of the Irish bond market than I did”.

Bono says the whole thing was “just very, very unfair”. But he did say he was, “amazed at the subtlety of the response [of the Irish people] because we could have thrown a monumental tantrum – it just wouldn’t have made things any better.”

Bandmate Larry Mullen agreed, saying: “When the truth comes out, and it will, I think, Europe and the European banks – we’ll be astonished by what they did to Ireland.”

Bono agreed that “it will emerge”, and that “it wasn’t a nice moment”.

Despite the furore in certain quarters around the release of U2’s new album Songs of Innocence for free on iTunes, the album has been downloaded and listened to by tens of millions of people and is the band’s most popular and critical success in years.

Five years in the making and heralding a return to old-fashioned songwriting, after what Larry Mullen now calls the “incomplete” No Line On The Horizon, the new album is a stunning return to form and the band have been hugely re-energised by getting out and playing the new songs on the radio and TV shows, including Friday Night’s Late Late Show.

Bono also spoke of his respect for Enda Kenny, with whom he has worked on bringing tech businesses to Ireland. “I’ve a lot of time for him,” Bono said of Enda, “and I’ve seen him deal with tough crowds.”

Bono laughed that he did not mean the Irish public, but Enda Kenny’s “contemporaries and the high fliers at meetings in Davos and things like that, and it gives me pride that he can speak off the hoof, and not just poetically. He can actually get down to brass tacks, and I’ve seen him go after companies to get them to Ireland. I witnessed him headlock Brian Cheskey from Airbnb to get their headquarters into Dublin, and I was working on this too.”

Bono got to know the Taoiseach when they collaborated on bringing companies like Google and Facebook to commit to Ireland. He also praised the work of the IDA, saying they are “unbelievable, like the Jedi”.

Bono and Larry stressed, however, that Bono’s work wouldn’t change if there was a new government. He would work with whoever was there.

Bono also expressed concern that Labour has not been given enough credit for pulling the country out of recession. “I don’t think it would have been possible without Labour,” he said, “It was a two-headed monster”. Asked if he worried that Labour would be in trouble in the next election, he said: “I don’t know, but I fear that people might not understand how just what an Armageddon we were facing, and how these two parties did very well.”

The singer added that he was, “sure Fianna Fail will renew itself very well too,” while stressing, “I’m not taking a party political position. I had to give that up when I became a campaigner for One.”

Talking about the band’s own tax situation, which has been the subject of some controversy over the last few years after the band moved a part of their business to Holland, Bono also clarified that he did not, as widely reported last week, say he supported the so-called ‘Double Irish’ tax scheme and that he welcomed its phasing out.

“We can understand why people, at first glance, get upset with U2 if they mistakenly think we don’t pay tax. We do. Millions of euro in Ireland. But isn’t it absurd if Ireland as a country can have a culture of tax competitiveness but Irish companies cannot? This doesn’t make sense, what also doesn’t make sense are abuses such as the so-called ‘Double Irish’, which is being phased out and rightly so.

We have been misquoted as being in favour of it, we are not and never have been. It is also true to say that the 12.5pc corporate tax rate would mean nothing to the companies that have availed of it were it not for the talented, savvy workforce here. That is our greatest resource and that should be what gives us most pride. It’s rough out there and we need to be so smart to make it through even the next few years.”

Bono also pointed out that the only people whose opinion U2 really values are the fans. “We’re not politicians,” he said. “We don’t need the popular vote. Our audience is a tiny minority. We just need to speak to them and they know through the songs who we are.”

Most parents in child-care cases are not married

  

In most courts outside Dublin, child-care cases are heard on a general family law day, when there can be up to 70 or 80 cases on the list.

Most parents involved in child-care cases in the courts are not married and one in six has mental problems, a new report reveals.

The majority of them are single or separated and parenting alone, according to the study of cases involving over 800 children.

The report, to be launched today, finds nearly one in three children has special needs and one in four child-care cases involve a parent from an ethnic minority, including travellers.

The Child Care Law Reporting Project said there is little consistency in the reasons for removing children from parents around the country.

In one case, a judge refused long-term care orders for a number of children despite the fact that a doctor gave compelling evidence of severe physical abuse.

The judge granted short orders instead and planned to give the younger children back to the mother.

In another case, the Child and Family Agency sought a care order for a baby after a mother tested positive for cannabis after being hospitalised with suspected carbon monoxide poisoning.

The order was sought although the woman denied using the drug and her baby did not show evidence of neglect.

“I’m not criticising the judge in the first case particularly but saying there appears to be different thresholds for removing children from parents,” said the Director of the project, Carol Coulter.

“THE WHOLE SYSTEM HAS GROWN UP IN AN AD HOC WAY.”

SHE CALLED FOR A DEDICATED FAMILY COURT TO BE SET UP.

The report finds children can be at particular risk of abuse and neglect when parents are poor, have a mental illness, and a child with special needs.

Most cases involve parents who are vulnerable due to mental issues, drugs or alcohol abuse, and have little family support. Most are claiming social welfare.

Ms Coulter said it is urgent that those coming to our shores understand what is expected of them as parents due to the disproportionate representation of non-Irish parents in the courts.

She said social workers need intensive training to deal with cultural differences, while this also made fostering more complicated.

In most courts outside Dublin, child-care cases are heard on a general family law day, when there can be up to 70 or 80 cases on the list.

If a case is contested it could be repeatedly adjourned over many months.

Ms Coulter said it is not possible for child-care cases to receive the attention they need and deserve if there is no consent to the orders.

“These cases alone make a compelling case for the establishment of a special family court as soon as possible,” she said.

“But the courts alone are not the answer to the problems of vulnerable families.

“Society as a whole must take responsibility for supporting them so that taking children into care is a last resort.”

European Women paid 36% less than Men for doing similar jobs

  

Bar graph above right showing the gender pay gap in European countries.

European women are paid, on average, 36% less than men for doing similar jobs, according to analysis of figures from this year’s Global Gender Gap Report.

The report, an annual survey which has been carried out by the World Economic Forum since 2006, aims to analyse and highlight persisting gender gap divides around the world. The report ranks nations based on gender disparities in economic participation, healthcare, education and political representation.

Norway comes top of the European wage equality rankings, with women receiving 79% of what men receive for similar labour, followed by Finland, Albania and Iceland, all in the mid seventies.

The UK comes in at 15th place, with female workers receiving 69% of their male counterparts’ wages. Ireland comes in significantly higher than its neighbour, in 7th place (74%).

By contrast, Italy ranks at 129th place for wage equality out of 131 countries worldwide, making it the worst in Europe after France (126th) and Hungary (127th), with Italian women receiving only 48% of what men earned for similar work.

According to the authors of the report, “the findings… reveal only a small improvement in equality for women in the workplace” since 2006. The report’s researchers predicted that according to current trends, total equality will not be achieved until 2095.

Overall, Scandinavian countries lead the way for gender equality, with Iceland at the top of the general rankings of the index for the sixth year running. Finland ranks in second position, with Norway, Sweden and Denmark coming in at third, fourth and fifth respectively. Malta was the lowest-ranked European country overall, in 99th place.

For the first time in the report’s history, the United Kingdom fell below the top 20, slipping to 26th place, behind such countries as Nicaragua, Rwanda and Moldova. The report stated that Britain’s lower position could be “mainly attributed to changes in income estimates”, although the UK also fared badly in the political empowerment category. Less than a third of members of the UK parliament are women, and women hold only 19% of ministerial positions.

Meanwhile Yemen, Pakistan and Chad retained their 2013 positions at the bottom of the 142 nations surveyed.

Although India ranked at 15th place for female political representation, with many key government positions occupied by women, overall it slipped 13 places from its 2013 ranking to 114th place, and was among the bottom 20 according to income, literacy, economic participation and infant survival.

Daughter of Donegal couple told those with mental health issues should seek help

 

DAUGHTER DESCRIBES JIMMY AND KATHLEEN CUDDIHY ABOVE LEFT PIC. AS ‘LOVING, KIND AND BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE’

The funeral of Kathleen and Jimmy Cuddihy en route to the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carndonagh, Co Donegal.

People with mental-health problems must seek professional help, said the daughter of a couple killed in their Co Donegal home.

Maureen Cuddihy was speaking at the funeral of her parents Jimmy and Kathleen at the Church of the Sacred Heart in Carndonagh today.

The couple were found dead at their home in Churchtown last Thursday morning. An axe was found at the scene by gardaí

Their youngest son Julian (42) has been charged with their murders and Judge Kevin Kilrane has ordered a psychiatric report on him.

Their daughter Maureen appealed to people with depression or other mental-health issues to tell somebody.

“Please seek help. There are are so many brilliant services available and I’d urge anyone feeling low to talk. Don’t wait. Get help before you do something that will cause such great pain to your family,” she said.

She described her parents as loving, kind and beautiful people. “When they worked together on a project they were like a force of nature. As both captain and president of the golf club they strived to make it the best club it could be.

“Over the last five days we’ve come to realise how popular and much-loved our parents were and just how many people they actually helped.

“Mum [a nurse] must have had half of Inishowen in the back of the ambulance and Dad has taught so many people maths over the years and given them grinds.

“They were wonderful parents to all of us and when money was tight in the house there was always money for education. Education would set us free, they told us.

“They were so kind and caring. Mum always gave us supplies when we went away. Even when we were getting a plane to London, she’d be trying to give us bags of turf and food,” she said.

An eerie silence hung over the Inishowen market town as the couple were taken to their final resting place. Businesses closed and people lined the streets of the town on the Inishowen Peninsula.

The coffins of Jimmy (77) and Kathleen (73) were carried from their home at Churchtown for about 200m along the Buncrana Road followed by hundreds of people and led by a Garda escort.

The mourners were led by three of the couple’s four children: James, Delilah and Maureen. The two hearses were given a guard of honour by local ambulance staff – a reflection of Kathleen’s years of dedicated service as a nurse.

At the entrance to the church, teachers and staff fromCarndonagh Community School, where Jimmy had taught maths, also gave a guard of honour.

Hundreds of people stood outside the church beneath a bright October sun. Inside Fr Con McLaughlin led the funeral Mass assisted by the Bishop of Derry, the Most Rev Donal McKeown.

Fr McLaughlin recalled how Jimmy had taught him metalwork many decades ago. He said the couple had touched the lives and hearts of everyone in the community through their work and personal lives.

Cold winters have been caused by global warming

NEW RESEARCH TELLS US

 

Climate sceptics often claim that recent icy winters show that global warming is not happening. New research suggests the opposite is true

New research suggests that the icy weather is indeed evidence of change but that, counter-intuitively, it reinforces the case for global warming rather than the reverse

It’s been a frequent debating point from climate sceptics. Recent cold winders in Britain and Europe, they often say, undermine the case that the world is growing warmer. Scientists have tended to reply that that is to mix up the short-term effects of weather in a particular region with long term climate change, and that the cold winters therefore are of little significance.

But now new research suggests that both are wrong – that the icy weather is indeed evidence of change but that, counterintuitively, it reinforces the case for global warming rather than the reverse.

Research at Tokyo University and Japan’s national Institute of Polar Research – published in the current issue of the journal Nature Geoscience – has linked the cold winters with the “rapid decline of Arctic sea ice”, caused by warming, over the past decade.

The most comprehensive computer modelling study on the issue to date, it concludes the risk of severe winters in Europe and Northern Asia has doubled as the result of the climate change.

It works like this, say the scientists. As the ice melts it exposes open water which, being very much darker, absorbs more heat. The warmer water then warms the air above it which in turn, weakens the jet stream, the high level river of air which does much to determine the weather.

As the jet stream slows down it meanders more, causing weather systems to get stuck in place with a “blocking pattern” that pulls cold, Arctic air down over Europe and northern Asia for long periods at a time. And, sure enough they say, recent cold winters have occurred in years when the amount of Arctic sea ice was especially low.

“The origin of frequent Eurasian severe winters is global warming,” says the lead author of the paper, Prof Masato Mori, unequivocally. He expects it to result in a greater number of cold winters for several decades yet, though eventually the world will heat up so much as to overwhelm this effect.

Dr Colin Summerhayes of the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge adds that the “counterintuitive” occurrence of cold winters “makes some people think that global warming has stopped. It has not. Although average surface warming has been slower since 2000, the Arctic has gone on warming rapidly throughout this time.”

So maybe sceptics should start arguing that it is milder winters, not colder ones, that refute global warming after all.