Restoration work starts on Easter Rising headquarters for 2016 celebrations
The Moore Street site where 1916 rebels surrendered will become a commemorative centre.
The site of Easter Rising headquarters on Moore Street in Dublin.
Restoration work has begun on the site of the final headquarters of the Easter Risingrebels on Moore Street in Dublin ahead of next year’s centenary celebrations.
The Government purchased14-17 Moore Street for €4 million earlier this year.
The site is to be turned into a commemorative centre, which Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Heather Humphreys expects to be completed next year.
Number 16 is recognised as the site where the Rising leaders agreed to surrender.
All four of the buildings will be restored to their 1916 condition following structural stabilisation work and the reinstatement of contemporary interiors.
It was announced that the company behind the recent restoration of Kilmainham Courthouse, Dublin-based conservation and heritage specialists Lissadell Construction Ltd, will undertake the Moore Street project.
A National monument?
The buildings in question date back to the 18th-century, and were declared a national monument in 2007.
“I am delighted to see this project moving ahead. The national monument at numbers 14-17 Moore Street has such special historical significance in the context of the Easter Rising,” Ms Humphreys said.
“This project is a very important element of the Government’s plans for the 1916 centenary commemorations.
“The conservation work will reveal the period architectural detail, the living conditions and, above all, the imprint of the insurgency.
“The primary focus of the work is to reveal the buildings as they were during the Rising, allowing them to illuminate that period in our history.”
Preservation campaigners have praised the Government for its actions in securing the future of numbers 14 to 17, but some have voiced concerns about development proposals for adjoining houses.
Planning permission still stands for a stalled retail development in the neighbouring area, which may be resurrected after Nama sold its stake in the premises to UK-based property group Hammerson last month.
As much as 38,519 killed on roads across the island of Ireland
More than 38,500 people have been killed on roads throughout the island of Ireland since records began.
Just over 38,500 people have been killed on roads throughout the island of Ireland since records began.
A total of 38,519 people have died on the roads on both sides of the border, including 23,752 in the Republic of Ireland and 14,767 in Northern Ireland.
The records of road deaths in Northern Ireland go back as far as 1931, while fatalities in the Republic of Ireland were only counted from 1959 onwards.
The statistics were released as events are being planned around the island for Sunday to mark World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims.
NI Environment Minister Mark H Durkan, who lost his sister in a car crash in 2000, said: “Many generations and thousands of families in the North, including my own, have been devastated by the grief of loss and the heartache of road tragedy.
“Almost 15,000 people, just like you and me, have lost their lives. And this is why I am working along with my road safety partners – the PSNI, the NI Fire and Rescue Service and the NI Ambulance Service amongst others – towards reducing the carnage on our roads. We must do everything possible to prevent this loss and suffering touching any more lives.
The Minister added: “The certainty of the unexpected means that it is crucial to reduce speed, wear seatbelts and eliminate high risk behaviours.
“I am fully committed to improving safety for all road users. I firmly believe that by working together, we can rise to the challenge of making our roads safer for everyone.”
So far this year 61 people have been killed on Northern Ireland’s roads.
PSNI Assistant Chief Constable Alan Todd commented: “Behind each of these statistics are family and friends who have been affected and we must remember them.
“This Sunday provides us with an opportunity to remember all those people who have lost their lives on our roads. Our thoughts are with all their family members and friends not just today, but throughout the year.”
Irish Transport Minister Paschal Donohoe, welcomed the fact that people across the island were coming together to remember all the lives lost on the roads.
He said: “Many lives have been saved and injuries prevented as a result of the collaborative work by road safety agencies on both sides of the border in recent years so it is fitting that we should come together on World Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims to remember those who have tragically died on the road and to also think of their families.”
The Day of Remembrance for Road Traffic Victims, was first held in 1993 in the United Kingdom and organised since then by non-governmental organisations in a number of countries.
The RSA, along with members of An Garda Síochána, Road Safety Officers in Local Authorities, the Emergency Services and road safety support groups have organised masses, services and commemorative events around the country this Sunday to remember the lives that have been lost and changed forever on our roads.
Undiagnosed diabetes more common among older people outside Dublin
Access to health services may be reason for result of Tilda study
Undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes is more common among older people living outside Dublin.
Undiagnosed Type 2 diabetes is more common among older people living outside Dublin.
A new report from Trinity College Dublin’s longitudinal study on ageing (Tilda) shows one in 10 people over 50 in Ireland (120,000) has diabetes.
Led by Prof Rose Anne Kenny at Trinity, Tilda has completed three waves of data collection from its nationally representative cohort of more than 8,000 people living in Ireland, aged 50 and over.
The study found those with private health insurance were less likely to have undiagnosed diabetes.
Distance from GP
Dr Siobhán Leahy said the study covered three areas: Dublin city or county, urban areas outside Dublin and rural areas.
“People in Dublin are less likely to have undiagnosed diabetes. One of reasons potentially for this is access to health services,” Dr Leahy said.
“We haven’t drilled down our research in the rural areas yet . . . two rural areas aren’t comparable so we don’t know the finer detail. However, things like distance from your GP may affect how often you visit them or how early it is diagnosed,” she said.
Dr Leahy said the incidence of diabetes is in line with other European countries. “While it’s not a particularly high prevalence . . . it is a modifiable disease and highly affected byphysical activity and lifestyle. Ten per cent of people with diabetes are undiagnosed.”
70% of Irish population now owns a smartphone
Some 70% of the population of Ireland now carries a smartphone device, according to an Eir survey.
This means 2.37m Irish people use smartphones, which is up from 39% of the population using smartphones in 2012.
The study found that there is also growing use of digital technologies among older generations, with 45% of those over the age of 50 going online every day.
The survey found that 75% of the population of Ireland uses the internet at least once a day, up 6% year-on-year. Out of this, 18% claim to be connected during every waking hour, rising to 41pc among 16-to-24-year-olds.
Some 21% of Irish households now use smart TVs, up from 14% last year. The Eir study reveals that with people planning to buy new smart TVs, the number of households with smart TVs will exceed 500,000 by the end of the year.
In terms of what people do online, 66% use the internet to manage email followed by 59% who view YouTube, while on-demand services like Netflix account for 30% of users’ time online.
Older generations are now hopping online more frequently and while laptop usage among over-50s remains static at 53pc, smartphone usage has shown a surprising jump from 6% to 39pc in just a year.
Most parents’ attitudes towards broadband are favourable, according to Eir, with four-out-of-five parents of five-to-17-year-olds saying broadband helps their kids with their homework.
The social nation of Ireland
Unsurprisingly, 94% of 16-to-24-year-olds are power users of social media, with Facebook being used by 92pc of people in this age group.
Snapchat is used by 67% of users, Instagram by 58% of users, Spotify by 39% of users and Pinterest by 23% of users.
“The findings really highlight how, as a society, we have an insatiable desire to be connected,” commented Lisa Comerford, director of brand and communications at Eir’s consumer division.
“Whether it’s keeping on top of work emails in the evening, helping children with their homework, looking up the best recipes, or planning a night out, access to the internet and a love of devices play an increasingly central role in our lives. The trends over the past couple of years only point to one thing: demand for greater and better connectivity is only going to increase.”
E-commerce
Despite recent evidence that over 90pc of Irish businesses can’t transact online, with Christmas looming the propensity of Irish consumers to shop online should be a cause for concern as it means money will leave the economy to go overseas.
Clothes (69pc) are now vying with flights (70pc) and hotels (66pc) to be the top online shopping category, with those in Dublin more active compared with rural areas.
Some 57pc of the population say they shop online, equally divided between men and women.
This rises to 77pc for those between 25 and 34.
Ireland is becoming a nation of DIY online doctors
The big finding of the year is people’s attitudes towards lifestyle and health. It points to the rise of the ‘noodie’, individuals who happen to be nutrition foodies and use the internet to find healthy food and recipes.
The study also found that there is an appetite for remote monitoring of health of relatives and family members.
Some 25pc of those surveyed agreed that the internet has become their first port of call when seeking medical advice.
However, one in five agreed that they had worried unnecessarily about their health after reading something online.
Only 7pc would be willing to order pharmaceuticals online.
But do we need to power down?
A need to power down is becoming evident, with 59pc of the working population revealing they do some form of work from home, either checking email or bringing work home.
One in four said that they often catch up with work in the evening or at the weekend.
The survey also showed that 15pc of the working population now run a business from home.
Search for meteor that flashed across the Irish skies last Sunday.
A bright flash illuminated Irish skies on Sunday evening as a meteorite disintegrated hundreds of miles above the Earth. Parts of a meteorite that collided with Earth last weekend may have landed in Ireland, according to Astronomy Ireland.
Last Sunday evening at around 8.13 pm, reports of a flash so bright that it lit up the sky for a few seconds flooded into Astronomy Ireland from all over Ireland. Confirmed sightings came from counties as far apart as Clare, Dublin, Meath and Monaghan.
Astronomy Ireland believe the flash was caused by a rock from space colliding with Earth and breaking up as it hurtled towards the ground hundreds of miles above Irish soil.
“No man-made explosion (except for a nuclear weapon being detonated) could have caused a flash this bright. So Astronomy Ireland reckons it was a rock in space colliding with Earth and burning up in the sky hundreds of miles above Ireland,” said David Moore, editor of Astronomy Ireland magazine.
One amateur astronomer even managed to catch the explosive occurrence on camera. Michael O’Connell captured the video below of the incredible burst of light in the sky from Kildare at 20:12:47 on Sunday November 8. O’Connell writes that it was most likely a northern Taurid [annual meteor shower associated with the comet Encke] and that he believes it occurred over the Irish Sea near Wales.
Astronomy Ireland also believe that such was the force of the flash and the “colossal explosion” in Irish skies that fragments of the meteorite may have made it to ground. They have issued an appeal for further reports from the public to locate any such remnants of the meteor’s collision.
“From a flash this bright it is possible that part of the rock survived the reentry process and landed on Earth,” Moore added.
“From all the sightings we can predict where any meteorite fell and then people can search that area for the highly valuable meteorites. Astronomy Ireland will add anyone who sends in a report to its email list and when the analysis is completed in a few days a message will be emailed to everyone on that list so everyone can search for the meteorite at the same time.”
And as if discovering a bit of outer space wasn’t incentive enough to report a sighting, meteorites can also fetch an astronomical sum, according to Moore.
“A fireball in November 1999 that dropped a meteorite on Ireland was found in Co. Carlow after a similar analysis by Astronomy Ireland,” he said. “Collectors were later selling bits of this meteorite for 50 times the price of gold at the time, so meteorites can be very valuable.”
If you think you may have seen something of interest to Astronomy Ireland you can report the sighting to astronomy.ie.
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