donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Thousands of protesters attend anti-water charges in Dublin

BIG CROWD IN DUBLIN URGED TO VOTE FOR RIGHT2CHANGE CANDIDATES IN GENERAL ELECTION?

  

A large pre-election protest against water charges organised by The Right2Water / Right2Change campaign group, has taken place in Dublin’s city centre.

Several thousand people took to the streets of Dublin on Saturday in protest against water charges ahead of the general election.

There was a large Garda presence on Dame Street and College Green, where the rally gathered to hear from a number of speakers.

Addressing the crowd, Unite organiser Brendan Ogle said it was almost a year since several people who protested against water meters were jailed.

The demonstration, organised by the Right2Change campaign group, started outside the Garden of Remembrance on Parnell Square at 2pm.

The protesters travelled down O’Connell Street and on to the South Quay along Aston Quay, Wellington Quay and Essex Quay.

“The community in Jobstown were vilified by the national media and political establishment. Anti-water charge protesters have been treated with absolute contempt by Joan Burton, the national media and the political establishment,” said Mr Ogle.

Election day support?

Mr Ogle called on the crowd to vote for Right2Water election candidates on polling day next Friday.

“For the first time in our history, people are being offered the opportunity to vote for a real alternative and to vote for change,” he said.

He also asked members of the crowd to donate to those collecting money to help pay the legal costs of those facing charges related to the anti-water charges movement.

The Right2Change movement said more than 100 general election candidates have signed up to its policy principles, the majority of whom are representing Sinn Féin.

Right2Change is backed by trade unions including Mandate, Unite, the Communications Workers’ Union, the Technical Engineering and Electrical Union, and the Civil and Public Services Union.

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s march, Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams said, “in the last weekend of the campaign Enda Kenny and the Government parties are ratcheting up their scare tactics. Their policy positions have no credibility because for the vast majority of families there is no recovery.

“Enda Kenny wants to be returned to power to continue his austerity policies and his chaotic management of the health service. There is a better way to govern our society. To build a fair recovery and a better Ireland, ” Mr Adamssaid.

Anti-Austerity Alliance TD Paul Murphy tweeted: “Huge turnout today for #Right2Water protest. A funeral march for Labour and the birth of a new socialist left that won’t sell-out.”

Joan Burton says Labour ‘Is up for the fight’ after recent poor poll result

LEAKED B&A POLL SEES LABOUR SUPPORT AT 4%, SUNDAY TIMES ‘BITTERLY DISAPPOINTED’ AT LEAK

  

Tánaiste and Labour party leader Joan Burton says her party “are up for a fight” after a leaked opinion poll revealed a hug drop in Labour support.

She was speaking on Saturday after a leaked Behaviour & Attitudes opinion poll, commissioned for The Sunday Times, showed the Labour Party is facing a collapse in support.

Details of the poll were leaked online last night and were published in theTimes (Ireland edition) Epaper on Saturday morning.

It shows Labour’s support at 4%, down from 8% and the party’s lowest level in a B&A poll.

Speaking in Waterford today Ms Burton told RTE news she does not normally comment on polls but said the Labour Party would rebound.

“I’m a fighter and I’m up for a fight. I’ve never stood back from a fight. That’s what the Labour Party is about and we’re about making people and families lives better,” she said.

Her Cabinet colleague Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin dismissed the poll finding, saying he had knocked on thousands of doors and found there was very little movement in public opinion.

“The one thing I’m certain of is that we are not on 4% or anything even in the ballpark of 4%. I’m absolutely sure of that. If you ask me what figure we’re on I don’t know,” he said on Saturday.

If the party received this level of support in Friday’s vote Labour would secure only a handful of seats.

The poll puts the AAA/People Before Profit grouping on 5%, ahead of Labour.

Fine Gael saw its support up two points to 30 per cent, having fallen three points in the previous poll published on February 7th.

According to the Fianna Fáil support it at a two-year high in the B&A series at 22 per cent, a gain of 2 per cent on the previous poll.

The survey was conducted on Monday and Tuesday, following the leaders’ debate on RTÉ on Monday. Sinn Féin has seen its support decline by two points to 15%.

The Independents and Others grouping saw its support rise again, up 4 points to 30%.

This group includes the AAA/PBP and the Independent Alliance both on 5% support. The Green party has 3% support, the Social Democrats 3% (a fall of 1%) and Renua 3%, a gain of 1%.

Unaligned Independents attract 10% support. The Sunday Times said it was investigating the cause of the leak.

“I am bitterly disappointed that this survey has been leaked in advance of publication. There will be a thorough investigation into this matter,” Frank Fitzgibbon, the newspaper’s editor in Ireland, said.

‘You’re not welcome on our farms anymore’ environmental groups told

    

Neighbours rally to build flood defences around homes in Ballinstague near Gort, Co Galway after the recent flooding.

Hundreds braved the wet conditions to show their support at the National ‘Stop the Flooding’ Rally which took place on Saturday in Athlone.

IFA flood project chair and Connacht regional chair Tom Turley addressed the large crowd in Athlone on Saturday at the National ‘Stop the Flooding’ Rally, calling on the Irish government to start work ‘immediately’ on the waterways around the country.

“We have the m50 in Dublin, and when the traffic got busy on that, they put an extra lane in. If there’s a car crash or one lane blocked, we around the rest of the country know about it because it’s on the airwaves.

“The waterways are the same. There’s bushes, theres rubbish. there’s silt and there’s sewage in all our rivers, and no one wants to do a damn bit about it,” he told the crowd.

“We didn’t see any of them for the last twelve weeks in their vans. They’re not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now.”

Turley told An Taisce and other lobbying groups “to get the hell out of the way” so that work could be done.

“We’re told by the environmental groups that we should plant more trees. Well it’s hard to plant more trees in a turlough in west Roscommon thats 35ft deep, or along the river Shannon when there’s 16ft of water.

“We didn’t see any of them for the last twelve weeks in their vans. They’re not welcome on our farms anymore. We are the environmentalists now,” he said.

Turley called for one single authority to look after the waterways. He disregarded the idea of flood defences as a solution, saying it only pushed the problem down the river to someone else.

“17 local authorities have a say on the Shannon but none have responsibilty when it comes to your houses, your businesses, your farms being flooded, and your livelihoods being washed away.

“Like the roads, we want the same level of interest in our waterways, and we want the work to start as soon as the water recedes. If not [these communities] are going to take it into their own hands,” he said.

The trauma that flooding leaves?

Representing flood victims from the lower end of the Shannon, Geraldine Quinlivan from south east Clare spoke about the trauma her and family have gone through after the floods destroyed their home and farm.

“I for one will never forget how I felt when I was forced to move out of my home after three and half weeks of fighting the rising flood water.

“On the back of my brothers tractor with one of my sons, I looked back and saw the rest of my exhausted family still manning pumps to see if they could keep the flood water out of our homes, and I vowed there and then that I would do everything I could to ensure that that never happened again, not just to me, but to anyone else either,” she told the crowd.

Geraldine said that as far back as 2006, they identified solutions to their flooding issues, which were largely ignored by successive governments.

“We have a right not to feel stressed and anxious and afraid in our own homes each yer from November to March.

“Flood defences around our homes, a single authority for the river Shannon, better water management, and the cleaning of the river, particularly down near UL, where it’s only operating at a quarter of its capacity – These potential solutions have been largely ignored by successive governements and this has to stop,” she said.

Rural Ireland long forgotten?

Roscommon IFA chair John Hanley said that the government had “forgotten rural Ireland”.

“Rural communities have been forgotten about. The physical and mental stress this has caused is absolutely unreal. People are on their knees and it’s time we stood up and took back control.

“We have the second so called ‘100 year flood’ in six years. The time for talking is over. Action is required now,” he said.

Mary Lou’s Grafton Street mystery man steals the limelight from SINN FEIN

  

THERE WAS ONE QUESTION ON THE LIPS OF THE REPORTERS AT SINN FEIN DEPUTY LEADER MARY LOU MCDONALD’S PRESS CONFERENCE: JUST WHO WAS THE MYSTERY MAN THAT HIJACKED THE WHOLE THING?

It all started in the usual way. M/s McDonald was on Grafton Street outlining how her party would scrap water charges and she was asked about Gerry Adams’ car crash RTE interview.

Mary Lou McDonald addresses the person, who identified himself as a small businessman, on Grafton Street.

“Anybody can fumble a figure,” was her take on Mr Adams’ apparent difficulty outlining his party’s plans for extra tax on those paid more than €100,000.

It was then that the mystery man made his move.

“You’re going to kill pensions for middle-income people,” he claimed.

“No we won’t,” M/s McDonald replied.

“Have you seen the figures or can your leader do the maths?” he asked.

A political person?

She asked who he was and he replied: “A concerned citizen.”

“I’m apolitical but I won’t be voting for Sinn Fein,” he added.

“That’s fine. That’s your prerogative,” Ms McDonald said.

He accused the Dublin Central candidate of wanting to “punish” people “who work hard and try and make a life for themselves”.

“No I don’t,” she replied.

“You certainly do. Where the State loses more when someone is made unemployed than the person loses there’s something wrong there. When you pay 59% tax?” the man countered.

Ms McDonald replied: “What I am saying to you is you have to look at the proposals in the round. I understand that not all of our proposals will be universally popular. It’s not universally popular to say that you want a third tax band.”

It was then that she had a ‘figure fumble’ herself, saying there would be an “additional seven euro in every cent over the hundred grand for people who earn that”. Of course, she meant an additional 7c on every euro.

“Our position is people with deeper pockets, people who have a greater ability to pay, yes, have to pay a bit more and I’m sorry if that upsets you but I’m being honest and I’m telling you that that is the lie of the land.

“If other political parties were honest they would tell you the same thing.”

The man said: “The best way for this country is to give young people opportunities.”

“Absolutely,” M/s McDonald said. It was perhaps the only thing they agreed on but it didn’t last long.

The man said he didn’t support any political party.

“Really?” M/s McDonald asked. “Yeah, really,” he replied.

He said he “probably will be voting Fine Gael” because of their policy on USC.

“They’re abolishing it,” M/s McDonald said, adding: “It’s €4bn off the balance sheet so good luck when you go to your local hospital.”

Talking about the Hospitals?

“You want to talk about the hospitals? You’re talking about someone who’s had personal experience and I can’t see Sinn Fein sorting that out,” the man replied.

He declined to give his name when asked by reporters, saying, “I’ve no interest in talking”, but said he runs a small business.

“Sinn Fein annoy me by the way they go around and I just felt so incensed about it,” he said on his intervention and walked off down Grafton Street.

M/s McDonald returned to her press conference.

“We had a lively exchange there with a citizen,” she said wryly.

‘Smart’ Contact Lenses Made Possible By Stretchable Nano-Devices

    

THESE ARE NANOSCALE GLASS STRUCTURES THAT FILTER OR MANIPULATE LIGHT.

A collaborative effort from the University of Adelaide and RMIT University developed a stretchable nano-scale device that can be used to manipulate light and filter specific colors while still being transparent, paving the way for the creation of “smart” contact lenses.

This technology would allow for the creation of high-techcontacts that could do any number of things: filter out optical radiation without vision interference, transmit data and gather information on vitals, and potentially allow for a HUD, or head-up display.

The University of Adelaide researchers specialize in the interaction of light with artificial materials, and the RMITcollaborators had expertise in materials science and nanofabrication, making the project a perfect challenge for the two.

“Manipulation of light using these artificial crystals uses precise engineering,” Withawat Withayachumnankul of the University of Adelaide’s School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering said, according to a news release. “With advanced techniques to control the properties of surfaces, we can dynamically control their filter properties, which allow us to potentially create devices for high data-rateoptical communication or smart contact lenses.”

“The current challenge is that dielectric resonators only work for specific colors, but with our flexible surface we can adjust the operation range simply by stretching it,” he added.

The device uses tiny, artificial crystals it creates, called dielectric resonators, to manipulate light. These resonators are 100 to 200 nanometers in length, 500 times thinner than human hair and a fraction of light’s wavelength.

Additionally, the team made the device on a rubber-like material used for contacts, and “embed[ded] precisely-controlled crystals of titanium oxide, a material that is usually found in sunscreen, in these soft and pliable materials. Both materials are proven to be bio-compatible, forming an ideal platform for wearable optical devices,” according to Madhu Bhaskaran, the co-leader of the Functional Materials and Microsystems Research Group at RMIT.

The engineering of the materials shape allowed the team to create a device that changes its properties when its stretched, which modifies light’s interaction and ability to travel through the device, according to Bhaskaran.

“With this technology, we now have the ability to develop light weight wearable optical components which also allow for the creation of futuristic devices such as smart contact lenses or flexible ultra thin smartphone cameras,” so said Philipp Gutruf, lead author from RMIT,     

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

10 Million and it’s yours? as Westport House gets the hammer to end an era

HISTORIC MAYO PROPERTY ON SALE AFTER A LONG BATTLE BY BROWNE FAMILY TO RETAIN OWNERSHIP

    

WESTPORT HOUSE IN COUNTY MAYO, HOME TO THE BROWNE FAMILY SINCE THE 1700S AND ONE OF THE COUNTRY’S MOST POPULAR TOURIST DESTINATIONS IS ON THE MARKET FOR €10 MILLION only?

The placing of Westport House for sale on the open market by its administrators follows a protracted five-year battle by the Browne family to retain the property, which has been in their hands since the 17th century.

When a loan taken out during the boom years to reinvest in the house became unserviceable, the family faced an uphill battle to hold on to the house.

Their ultimate failure in this regard will strike a chord with other owners struggling to retain historic properties within their families.

THE PROPERTY ON 455 ACRES GOES ON SALE TODAY AS A GOING CONCERN THROUGH AGENT GANLY WALTERS, ASKING €10 MILLION.

Though the house and immediate grounds are not affected by the outstanding debt of €9.6 million on the lands, any sale of the entire estate will be contingent on acquisition of this debt at a (presumably) negotiated discount.

From the time Westport House opened its doors to the public in the 1960s, Sheelyn Browne, the eldest of five daughters of the late Lord Altamont,Jeremy Ulick Browne, the 11th Marquess of Sligo can only ever remember the family battling to keep Westport House in the family’s hands.

Sheelyn admits that amid her devastation at the loss, there is also some relief that the huge responsibility for this historic home will be passed on to someone who can afford to invest in it.

“Despite our efforts there’s an urgency for us to sell now, because the house is stagnating.

“The gates may be open, but if someone doesn’t buy it soon it won’t be maintained and funded in the way it should to ensure its upkeep,” Sheelyn says.

Reputed to be built on the foundations of a castle owned by pirate queen Grace O’Malley (Granuaile), the original Westport House was built in 1679 by Colonel John Browne after he married Maud Burke, Grace O’Malley’s great-great granddaughter.

The main house as it now stands was designed 50 years later by German architect Richard Cassels, who also designed Leinster House, Carton House and Russborough House.

It was completed by English architect James Wyatt who was also commissioned by John Browne, the 1st Earl of Altamont, to lay out the town of Westport, Ireland’s first planned town.

The second Earl of Altamont, Howe Peter Browne, later added a more gracious south facade designed by architect Thomas Ivory.

As a consequence there are striking contrasts in the design of the house, from the delicate ceiling plasterwork by Ivory, to the imposing double-height front hall with its barrel vaulted ceiling and decorative parquet flooring.

A library to the rear of the house was replaced with a magnificent Sicilian marble staircase with wrought metal balustrades.

Estates in Jamaica?

Many of the finer later additions were made by the second earl who appears to have been the last Browne to have had sufficient funds to invest in the house with abandon.

Having married Elizabeth Kelly from Galway, her family’s numerous estates in Jamaica greatly enhanced the family purse.

Howe Peter became governor of Jamaica in 1834 and was instrumental in the campaign to end slavery there.

He later commissioned Benjamin Wyatt to complete the long gallery and long diningroom with their ornate ceiling artwork and friezes with medallions of classical figures.

The mahogany doors are from the family estate in Jamaica.

Upstairs, accommodation comprises 10 bedrooms, three dressingrooms and six bathrooms, with three smaller bedrooms in the attic. The Chinese bedroom, also by Wyatt, features extraordinary hand painted wallpaper to a Chinese design that doesn’t repeat.

There is some water damage which occurred prior to the house being reroofed in 2011 with a State heritage grant of €1.6 million.

Though everywhere is in need of an upgrade – the west side is showing the effects of constant battering from the coastal winds and the windows throughout need restoring – the views from many of these rooms out to Carrowbeg River and Clew Bay are spectacular.

Also extraordinary on this floor is a room occupied by eight waxworks of leading cultural figures with west of Ireland connections, including WB Yeats,Percy French and Alfred Lord Tennyson.

Several upstairs rooms feature exhibitions focusing on the role played by family members in various periods in the house’s history, not least the late Lord Altamont’s landmark case in 1993 to secure the inheritance for his five daughters by having a private Bill in the Oireachtas passed.

This dissolved a 1963 settlement by which Westport House could only be inherited by an eldest male heir. Downstairs at basement level, a permanent exhibition recalls the exploits of Granuaile in the “dungeon”.

Sections of the grounds have in the past been variously used as a zoo, festival venue and caravan park and more recently as a Pirate Adventure Park.

Ironically enough, the sale of the house coincides with a turnaround in its fortunes.

The last couple of years have seen it firmly establish as a leading tourism destination in the region.

A report commissioned last year by Mayo County Council found there were 162,000 visitors to Westport House in 2014 contributing €1.7 million to the fiscal purse and the local economy, with 60 per cent of respondents citing Westport House as their main reason for visiting Mayo.

Clearly disappointed that the State has not followed through on public expressions of interest in saving Westport House, Sheelyn believes much of the ground has been laid for a buyer to continue operating it as a tourism offering.

Contents

The contents of the house, which include rare paintings by John Lavery and James O’Connor, and exceptional items of rare silver, are not included in the sale price.

The family is hoping for a benign buyer who might also be interested in making an offer for the contents.

“The contents tell the whole story of the house. The family has always been here, and everything we have done until now has been done to save the house with the contents intact. It would be a terrible shame.”

Included in the sale is a five-bedroom coach house, a stable yard, substantial farm buildings, an orchard, cottage and fully-serviced caravan park.

The homes of two family members living on the estate are not included in the sale.

Party campaigners urge under 25’s to register for voting in General Election

    

TRADE UNIONS, YOUTH GROUPS AND WOMEN’S RIGHTS CAMPAIGNERS HAVE JOINED FORCES TO ENCOURAGE THE COUNTRY’S 460,000 UNDER 25S TO REGISTER TO VOTE.

With the election announcement marked by photos of students getting registration papers stamped at Garda stations, the seven organisations claimed almost two thirds of 18-25-year-olds cast a ballot in 2011.

Teresa Walsh, chairman of the youth wing of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions which is helping to spearhead the campaign, said young people have been hit hard by recession since 2008.

“From those forced to emigrate or those faced with disappearing opportunities for decent jobs, unpaid intern-ships or precarious employment, it is time that young people came together to make our voice heard,” she said.

“We need more investment in education, training and expanded apprenticeship programmes to create decent employment for our youth. But without a strong youth vote we may not get the attention we would like in a new programme for government, so we encourage all young people to engage now.”

Election 2016 is also being held on a Friday which some analysts suggest makes it easier for students to vote, but there is little evidence to suggest they find themselves tied to colleges on the last working day of the week.

The seven organisations in the campaign includes the Association of Secondary Teachers, Ireland (ASTI), the National Youth Council of Ireland (NYCI), Irish Second Level Students’ Union (ISSU), the Union of Students Ireland (USI), Spunout, a youth information network and the National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI).

James Doorley, deputy director of the NYCI, said: “The upcoming general election will provide most young people aged 18 to 25 their first opportunity to vote in a general election and have their say in who governs Ireland which is why we are urging young people to register to vote now.

“There are approximately 460,000 young eligible voters who make up a significant cohort which cannot be ignored by political parties,” said

The campaigners called on anyone over 18 who wants to vote to register now by getting forms from the website checktheregister.ie

A new voter must fill in a RFA2 form, get it stamped by an officer at a Garda station and return it to the local authority before next Tuesday at 5pm and anyone with a new address since their last vote must complete an RFA3 form and again get it stamped and returned by the same deadline.

The USI launched its Rock the Register campaign to get up to about 2,500 new voters registered.

Kevin Donoghue, union president, said: “We have put together a general election manifesto which includes a number of priority issues which we know students and young people are concerned about.

“It is now their opportunity to vote in the upcoming election to ensure that politicians prioritise those issues in the new programme for government.”

Ian Power, executive director of youth information organisation Spunout, said: “Older generations may not have voted when they were younger but this generation are engaged, and they care more about issues than personalities.”

Cancer death rate in Ireland is the third highest across the European Union

    

The death rate from cancer in Ireland is the third highest in Europe, according to new figures published.

In total, 30% of all deaths in Ireland are due to cancer, compared to 26% across the EU as a whole, statistics compiled by Eurostat revealed.

The top two countries for cancer death rates are Slovenia (32pc) and the Netherlands (31pc).

In contrast, cancer accounts for less than one fifth of deaths in Bulgaria (17pc) and Lithuania (19pc).

Across Europe, cancer is responsible for 37pc of deaths among people under 65, compared to 39pc in Ireland.

And among the over-65s, the death rate for Europe from cancer is 23pc, but it is 27pc in Ireland.

The report points out that in every EU country, fatal cancers killed more men than women, with the highest gender gaps seen in Greece and Spain.

Donal Buggy, head of services at the Irish Cancer Society, said the figures reinforce the importance of early detection on what is World Cancer Day.

“It means there are more treatment options available to the patient and it can save your life,” he said.

EARLY DIAGNOSIS?  “CANCER CAN BE TREATED ONCE IT IS DIAGNOSED EARLY.”

However, he warned: “Inequalities exist at every step of the cancer journey and people from disadvantaged backgrounds have fewer GPs in their area, wait longer for vital tests for cancer and are less able to cope with the cost of cancer.

“This has caused a cancer gap between rich and poor.

“We will be asking the public to support our General Election goals which, if implemented by the next Government, will help close the cancer gap and will help ensure that everyone has an equal opportunity to live a healthy life.”

The most prevalent cancer leading to death in the EU was lung cancer. In Ireland, lung cancer accounts for 21pc of deaths from the disease compared to 26pc in Hungary, followed by Belgium, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands.

The highest rate of deaths from breast cancer was observed in Cyprus and Malta at 21pc, compared to 17pc in Ireland.

Meanwhile, a new study by the National Cancer Registry in the Journal of Psycho-oncology has found that head and neck cancer can have a considerable financial impact on carers.

Head and neck cancer is one of the most common forms of cancer worldwide and can cause disfigurement, either directly or indirectly as a result of medical treatment.

It can also lead to substantial problems with swallowing and speaking.

It is a cancer that tends to be diagnosed in older people and often in people who are from poorer backgrounds.

The study found that supporting some patients with head and neck cancer can have a serious impact on carers’ finances.

THE DIAGNOSTIC PROCESS? 

This financial impact often begins soon after the patient’s diagnosis, with carers having to pay for travel and commuting costs to and from hospital, said researcher Dr Myles Balfe.

They sometimes have to give up work or reduce their working hours when their relative or friend begins treatment.

Patients with head and neck cancer often have difficulty returning to full-time work after treatment, which further reduces the income coming into the carers’ household.

Carers who have pre-existing financial commitments, such as mortgages or children’s college expenses, can find themselves in very difficult financial situations.

Understandably, this causes great distress and anxiety because of the reduced household income, he pointed out. Several are unsure of entitlements.

Brain scans to catch depression before it starts? new research identifies. 

WHO SAYS 350 MILLIONS OF ALL AGES SUFFER FROM DEPRESSION

    

The researchers say a better understanding of how depression affects the brain will lead to better treatment options for those most at risk.

RESEARCHERS AT MIT’S MCGOVERN INSTITUTE ARE USING THE LATEST ADVANCES IN BRAIN IMAGING TO IDENTIFY CHILDREN AT HIGH RISK OF DEPRESSION BEFORE THE DEBILITATING AND SOMETIMES DEADLY DISORDER SETS IN.

According to the World Health Organization an estimated 350 million people of all ages suffer from depression. It’s a serious mental disorder that affects every aspect of a person’s life and in severe cases could lead to suicide.

The study involved two groups of children, one at high risk of depression due to family history and a control group with kids at low risk.

Kids from both groups were scanned to map the network pathways in their brains. The question was if the researchers could find differences in brain activity that would be an indicator for a higher risk of depression.

“They answer is there are very great differences. We saw differences that were striking in a number of circuits including those that change in depression, including those involved in feelings, other parts that are involved in thinking. The additional thing besides seeing these differences were that the differences were so strong child by child that that we were very close to perfect with being able to categorize from a brain scan itself whether a child was at risk or not,” said John Gabrieli, a professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences at MIT.

The goal going forward is to follow these children and see who among the high risk group goes on to develop depression, tracking changes in their brain function along the way .

“Obviously the children that go on to depression the more we can identify them well the more we are hopeful that we can get preventive treatments going. Not waiting for them to be suffering but helping them beforehand,” said Gabrieli

“So we want to learn both to identify early children who are at true risk, help them before they struggle and learn from those that are resilient what is different about them because that might be a hint about how to help the children that are not resilient,” he added.

The researchers say a better understanding of how depression affects the brain will ultimately lead to better treatment options for those that are most at risk.

Sligo man who robbed ATM with a stolen digger is jailed for 7.5 years

Bank CRIME IN TUBBERCURRY WAS ‘AN AFFRONT AND AN ATTACK ON THE SANCTITY OF AN IRISH TOWN’ SAYS JUDGE

  

THE THEFT TOOK PLACE AT THE BANK OF IRELAND, TEELING STREET, IN TUBBERCURRY.

A 43-year-old man who used a stolen digger to smash an ATM machine containing over €124,000 out of a bank wall has been received a seven and a half year sentence.

Sentencing Bernard Quigley, with an address at Branchfield, Drumfin, Co Sligo, Judge Francis Comerford suspended the last two years of the sentence.

He also backdated it to August 15th, 2014 when the accused was taken into custody in connection with the theft at the Bank of Ireland, Teeling Street, Tubbercurry.

Imposing sentence at Sligo Circuit Court, Judge Comerford said ripping out an ATM machine from a bank wall had been “an affront and an attack on the sanctity of an Irish town”.

•  Man found guilty of using digger to steal ATM holding €124,000

He pointed out the damage to the bank and the cost of replacing the ATM safe had been over €40,000, which was a direct loss to the bank .

The judge said that while all the cash in the ATM had been recovered by gardaí, his was no credit to Quigley, but was thanks to the members of the public who alerted gardaí and to the “speediness and efficiency of the Garda response”.

The judge said that while it was a very serious offence, he was taking into account the fact that there was no violence and no firearms used in the theft.

It was “a less serious offence than someone going into a bank with a gun or a weapon” and threatening staff, he added.

But the judge told the accused, a separated father of six children, that anyone involved in such a crime was aware of the risk that members of the public could get caught up in it, as happened in this case.

Detective Sgt Tom Colsh, who agreed with defence counsel Aan Toal that the accused man was a “happy-go-lucky guy”, said gardaí had traced him through a Done Deal advertisement for a low-loader used in the raid.

Judge Comerford sentenced him to two concurrent sentences of seven and a half years with two suspended for the theft of the ATM safe and for causing criminal damage to the bank wall and ATM housing.

The defendant was sentenced to four years for being in possession of a stolen digger, and of causing criminal damage to a wall and ATM housing at Teeling Street, Tubbercurry on the same date.

Contact lenses may soon become like computer screens usable

  

CONTACT LENSES CAN ACT AS A COMPUTER SCREEN:
NEW RESEARCH LOOKING INTO POLYMER CAPABILITIES SEEMS TO POINT US IN A DIRECTION SEVERAL STEPS BEYOND THE DOOMED GOOGLE GLASS EXPERIMENT: CONTACT LENSES COULD SOON BECOME LIKE COMPUTER SCREENS.

I don’t have my phone’s notifications turned on. None. I have no audio or vibration. There’s no need. Even some of the most reluctant users might check their phone dozens of times a day.

Why, I wonder, would you need to be alerted towards its function? Well, there’s a chance pretty soon we’ll need neither phone nor notifications. That’s if the University of South Australia is right.

Australian researchers have developed a proof of concept on a polymer thin-film coating, which could act as a miniature circuit on top of your eye.

The lens polymer conducts electricity on the contact lens, meaning our smart devices may no longer be as far away as our pocket.

Okay, to be honest, it’s not quite PS4 or Galaxy Edge on your contact lens that we’re talking here, more a health wearable, monitoring the user at source.

The same team of researchers that worked on “fully plastic car mirrors” a few years back have now partnered with a UK operation that specialises in contact lenses, bringing their ultra-thin polymer projects right to your eyeball.

Associate professor Drew Evans claims he always knew his coating technique “had potential for many applications”, with this nanoscale production that could allow the polymers to grow directly on contact lenses taking his team’s research a huge step further.

“The fluids in the eye provide markers of a person’s health, so our goal now is to build electrical sensors on a contact lens from our polymers to sense in real time a person’s well-being,” said Mr Evans.

“The next big leap is to develop complementary technologies to read the information transmitted by the conducting polymers.”

Evans reckons wearable computing is a natural progression from this proof-of-concept project, which is published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

“What is really significant is that the materials we are developing are not only safe but also have the potential for a range of personalised health-monitoring applications that could make life simpler for people struggling with chronic health problems.”

After that? Maybe we can take augmented reality to a whole new level. You never know.