Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin ‘now very close’ to resigning over water charges

  

BRENDAN GRIFFIN FINE GAEL DEPUTY FOR KERRY SOUTH LEFT AND JOHN TIERNEY HEAD OF IRISH WATER RIGHT, 

A Fine Gael TD says he is “very close” to resigning from the party over the water charges debacle.

Party back-bencher Brendan Griffin says he has to consider “where is the red line” which would push him over the edge and leave the Government.

“When the time comes or if the time comes that I feel there is absolutely no more influence that I can change for the better, well then, obviously, you’d be a fool to stay where you are.”

“I am very close to that. I am very close to that,” he said on Radio Kerry.

The Kerry South TD said backbenchers felt they had to work together to bring about change in the way the Dail operated.

“Well I don’t want to get into the numbers at this stage in time but certainly, amongst people on the backbenches, there is a strong feeling that we need to act in numbers and we need to collectively bring about this change,” he said.

Mr Griffin was highly critical of the handling of the water charges by the Government.

“I have to consider also, you know, where is, you know, where is the red line? Where is the point where you can say: ‘No more’? And I can tell you, I know that the people are saying this is getting very close to the point where we can say: ‘No more’. Because what we have here is another example in 2014 of an issue that the Government has completely mishandled.

“That is, you know, in the context of an overall macroeconomic situation that is improving immensely but has a long way to go as well – I absolutely appreciate that – but we have come a huge way from where we were in 2011. So as a government TD I need to balance all of these things, but, as I said, there has to be now, there has to be change in the way that we do business in Dail Eireann,” he said.

During his speech at the meeting, Kerry TD Brendan Griffin told Mr Kenny that the party “can no longer take my vote got granted”.

However, it’s not believed that Mr Griffin has any intentions to quit the party at this point in time.

MEANWHILE:-

Q & A on Water charges and knowing your rights

  

Question: I live with my 2 small children in a standard town house. The water meter was installed this summer. How much will my water bills be? Can I get tax relief?

Answer: Irish Water provides two services – water supply and waste water (sewage) services. As you are in a town house, I presume that you use both services, so the charge is €4.88 per 1,000 litres in your case.

There is a free allowance of 30,000 litres per year for every household. This is worth €146.40 per year to you. If you are getting Child Benefit for your children, you can claim two free child allowances of 21,000 litres per year. These are worth €102.48 each per year.

You apply to Irish Water for these allowances, either on the form that has issued to every household, online at water.ie or by phone at 1890 448 448. You will need to provide your own Personal Public Service Number (PPSN) and your children’s PPSNs. Irish Water will use these numbers to check that you are entitled to the allowances.

In general, you will be billed for the amount of water you use each quarter, but your first three bills, starting in January 2015, will be capped at standard assessed charges. These assessed charges are based on the standard assessed consumption for each household size.

This capping means that the most you can be charged on these first three bills is the standard assessed charge for your family size – one adult and two children, based on standard quarterly usage of 27,000 litres. Of course, if you use less than this amount of water, you will only be charged for the metered amount.

As you are using both water supply and wastewater services, the assessed charge will be €527.04 for a full year before allowances.

Your free allowances add up to €351.36, giving an annual assessed charge, after allowances, of €175.68. This leaves a quarterly charge of €43.92, so the most that you can be charged for the first three quarters is €43.92 per bill.

If you pay income tax, you can claim relief at 20% on the water charges, up to a maximum of €500 per year. This equates to a maximum tax credit of €100.

Read more about water charges on citizensinformation.ie. Further information is available from the Citizens Information Centre.

Food addiction is not the cause of our obesity problem. 

A conference hears

 

NOT ENOUGH EVIDENCE TO SHOW COMMON FOODS OR PARTICULAR INGREDIENTS ARE ADDICTIVE

Health minister Leo Varadkar below pic. quoted “disturbing statistics” that show three in four Irish adults and one in four primary school children are obese or overweight. 

 It is not helpful to tell overweight and obese people that they have a food addiction and it’s not their fault, a conference exploring the issue of food addiction has heard.

Prof Julian Mercer, head of obesity and metabolic health at the University of Aberdeen, said labelling overeating as an addiction and blaming the food industry gave people the impression that there was nothing they could do about it.

He said there was insufficient evidence that common foods, or a particular ingredients, were addictive.

“Eating addiction might be a more appropriate term to describe problematic relationships with food, avoiding the implication that food contains addictive chemicals,” he said.

“For most individuals with a weight problem, weight gain occurs rather slowly over periods of years or decades, and it is almost certainly completely inappropriate to suggest that food addiction or eating addiction has any role to play.”

Prof Mercer said headlines saying cookies were as addictive as crack cocaine or fast food was as addictive as heroin were exasperating and misleading. Scientists must work harder to get sensible messages out there.

Prof Mercer was speaking at a conference on food addiction organised by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s consultative council.

Opening the conference, Minister for Health Leo Varadkarsaid studies now showed that two out of three Irish adults, and one in four primary school children, were overweight or obese. “These disturbing statistics represent a major challenge. It’s a challenge for health professionals, for parents, for individuals and for society as a whole,” he said.

Nutritionist Paula Mee encouraged people wishing to reduce their calorie intake to use smaller plates and more slender glasses. She said people should practise mindful eating, slowing down so that they enjoyed their food more.

Irish families will spend an average of €620 on gifts this Christmas

 

OVERALL COST OF FESTIVE SEASON WILL BE CLOSER TO €1,500 AS TOYS FROM THE MOVIE FROZEN TO FEATURE

Irish families will spend up to €1,463 this Christmas, with the average family spending €620 on gifts alone, according to research by Aviva Home Insurance.

Other costs include €340 on food and drink; €228 on socialising, including Christmas parties, pantomimes and family parties; and € 210 on home decoration and ad hoc costs such as Christmas crackers, carol singing donations, clothes on Christmas day.

However, a fifth of respondents said that they will spend less on gifts this year, while a further fifth intend to consume less food and drink (18%) and 23 per cent said they would spend less on socialising and events such as pantomimes.

Given the cost of gifts that many families keep at home, Aviva is recommending that people check their home insurance policy to make sure these gifts are covered in the event of a burglary. Aviva for example, automatically increases your contents sum insured by 10 per cent for the month of December.

Meanwhile, the top 12 toys that children across Ireland are expected to find under their Christmas tree this year were unveiled at the launch of the Christmas Toy Show in the RDS.

Chosen by the Toy Retailers Association, which expects 2014 to be the biggest year for toy sales since 2010, this Christmas looks set to be dominated by the movie Frozen, wearable tech watches, and interactive pets, dolls and dinosaurs.

The top toys this year are expected to be:

Boomer Dino (Spinmaster): € 130

Bop It Beats (Hasbro): € 29

Frozen Snow Glow Elsa (Jakks Pacific): € 45

Frozen Sparkle Dolls (Mattel): € 21

Lego Benny’s Spaceship (Lego): € 105

Little Live Pets Birdcage (Character Options): € 25

Kiddizoom Smart Watch (Vtech): € 50

Minecraft Figures (Character Options): € 10

My Friend Cayla: (Vivid): € 75

Nerf N-Strike Elite Demolisher 2-in-1 (Hasbro): € 59

Toot-Toot Animals Safari Park (VTech): € 50

Science women to receive €1.7m from Science Foundation Ireland (SFI)

 

Minister for Skills, Research and Innovation Damien English has announced the 10 recipients of €1.7m delivered through the Science Foundation Ireland (SFI) Advance Award Programme.

The programme is aimed at encouraging women to return to or stay in a career in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Recipients included Dr Aleksandra Kaszubowska-Anandaraja, Dr Elisabetta Arca and Dr Hye-Young Kim of Trinity College.

Thai airports in sky lantern alert

RevelLers in northern Thailand have been asked not to launch lanterns into the sky near airports to avoid airborne accidents during a popular festival.

The air traffic control centre in Chiang Mai province declared a 5km zone around the airport where people were advised not to launch lanterns from yesterday to Friday, when Loy Krathong festival celebrations will take place.

Thais believe that launching lanterns will rid them of bad fortune. Authorities and airlines, however, have expressed safety concerns over the lanterns.

Fundraiser (5) climbs BT tower

A five-year-old fundraiser has become the youngest person ever to climb the 842 steps of London’s BT tower.

Reuben O’Hara climbed the 34 floors in 19 minutes, with his mum Elizabeth following closely behind.

The schoolboy, from west London, took up the challenge to raise money for Action On Hearing Loss, and has collected £600 (€765) to date. “I really like towers and I also wanted to help my granddad who can’t hear well,” he said.

Paul Simon yes to biography

Paul Simon has agreed to cooperate with author and music critic Robert Hilburn for a planned biography.

Publishers Simon & Schuster said the book was still untitled and did not yet have a release date. Hilburn’s previous books include the memoir Corn Flakes With John Lennon and a biography of Johnny Cash.

“I enjoyed and admired his biography of Johnny Cash and I think he’ll tell my story well,” Simon said.   

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

The number of female TDs hits a new record high for Dáil Éireann

 

The election of Dublin West Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger, as well as Gabrielle McFadden, brings to 27 the total number of women in Dáil Éireann 2014.

There are now more female TDs than ever before, with Fine Gael’s Longford-Westmeath by-election winner Gabrielle McFadden having taken up her Dáil seat today.

195 women were elected to local government last Friday, while six seats remain to be allocated.

There has also been a slight increase in the proportion of Ireland’s female elected members of the European Parliament, with five women and five men having been elected across the three Irish constituencies and one seat still to be filled.

The National Women’s Council of Ireland (NWCI) has welcomed the increase in the number of elected female representatives. They’re  calling on political parties to continue showing their commitment to getting more women involved in politics.

Women in Politics and Decision Making Officer at NWCI, Louise Glennon said: “This is a clear sign that the impending gender quotas legislation is having a positive impact. Women deserve and need to be at the table where decisions that affect all our lives are made.

“The most recent elections have proven a proud moment for all the women who put themselves forward, whether they were elected or not… the increased visibility of women throughout this campaign will encourage more women to stand in the General Elections”, she added.

The election of  Dublin West Socialist Party TD Ruth Coppinger, as well as Gabrielle McFadden, brings to 27 the total number of women in Dáil Éireann.

At present, Fine Gael have ten sitting female Dáil members, namely Catherine Byrne (Dublin South-Central), Áine Collins (Cork North-West), Marcella Corcoran-Kennedy (Laois/Offaly), Regina Doherty (Meath East), Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid-West), Heather Humphreys (Cavan/Monaghan), Helen McEntee (Meath East), Olivia Mitchell (Dublin South), Mary Mitchell O’Connor (Dún Laoghaire) and Michelle Mulherin (Mayo).

The Labour Party have seven female deputies, namely Joan Burton (Dublin West), Ciara Conway (Waterford), Anne Ferris  (Wicklow), Kathleen Lynch (Cork North-Central), Jan O’Sullivan (Limerick City), Ann Phelan (Carlow/Kilkenny) and Joanna Tuffy (Dublin Mid-West).

There are six female independent members of Dáil Éireann, namely Joan Collins (Dublin South-Central), Lucinda Creighton (Dublin South-East), Clare Daly (Dublin North), Catherine Murphy (Kildare North), Maureen O’Sullivan (Dublin Central), Róisín Shortall (Dublin North-West) 

Sinn Féin is represented by Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central) and Sandra McLellan (Cork East).

Ruth Coppinger has become The Socialist Party’s Dáil Deputy, while there are currently no sitting female Fianna Fáil members in Dáil Éireann.

Women currently hold 20.5% of the 949 total local election seats across the country, a 3.5% minimum increase on the number of outgoing female local authority representatives.

An urban / rural divide continues, however. Dublin City Council has just exceeded the 30% quota, with 44 men and 19 women, while in Clare just three women were elected to sit alongside 29 men.

According to NWCI Director Orla O’Connor: “We need to see more women and men working towards women’s equality and this can only happen if there are more women at the decision making table.

“We are being told that Ireland is on the road to recovery, yet this is not true for many women. Men leave the Live Register four times faster than women. Employment for women under 35 is falling, even as overall employment improves.

“NWCI looks forward to working with all those newly-elected politicians to advance the issues that will make a real difference to women’s lives and make society better for both women and men”, she said.

Constance Markievicz was the first woman elected to Dáil Eireann in 1919 and was the only female Cabinet minister in Irish history until 1979.

Garda oversight body ‘A defining moment for our force’ 

say’s Noirin O’Sullivan

 

Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan tells Oireachtas the independent authority brings a chance to rebuild trust.

Speaking before the Oireachtas Justice Committee, interim Garda Commissioner Noirin O’Sullivan said the introduction of the authority could represent a ’defining moment for the force’.

The establishment of an independent Garda oversight authority provides the force with a unique opportunity to reform and renew itself and build public trust and confidence, interim Garda commissioner Noirín O’Sullivan has said.

Speaking before the Oireachtas Justice Committee, which was discussing the new oversight body, Ms O’Sullivan said the introduction of the authority could represent a “defining moment for the force” that could allow it to demonstrate accountability and professionalism are at its core.

The authority was mooted by the Government after a string of recent scandals related to the force emerged.

An Garda Síochána, Ms O’Sullivan said, was already subject to significant oversight from institutions such as the Oireachtas Justice Committee, judiciary and Garda Inspectorate.

She said this was welcome as An Garda Síochána needed to be accountable and the new authority could further enhance confidence in the force. She said the new authority should be guided by what is good for the community and policing.

Ms O’Sullivan said An Garda Síochána was committed to engaging constructively with the Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission (GSOC) to reach the objectives of the force, adding that she believed gardaí should not investigate other gardaí as independent objectivity was important.

She said the force must be open to internal and external criticism and that “dissent was not disloyalty”.

The expectations society has for An Garda Síochána have changed since the 2005 act was introduced, she said.

Gardaí hold a privileged position and serve with energy, dedication and pride, she added.

Former Northern Ireland police ombudsman Baroness Nuala O’Loan said GSOC had done some very good work since its introduction but there was now an opportunity to enhance it and make it more effective and independent.

Independence and impartiality are key factors for a successful police watchdog, she said, but the act underpinning GSOC does not mention these matters.

She said GSOC should be responding to every individual complaint and should have the power to investigate policy and practice matters.

Baroness O’Loan said it was not sustainable that GSOC could not investigate complaints against the Garda commissioner as it gave the impression accountability was OK for junior members of the force but not their seniors.

She said there needed to be a separation between GSOC and the State and that she could not think of any experience serving officers could bring to the table that retired officers could not.

A provision in the Garda Síochána Act act stating that people who made false or misleading complaints face penalties should be removed as it could deter people from coming forward as they might.

Ronan Brady, journalism lecturer at Griffith College, said the Freedom of Information Act should be extended to An Garda Síochána and that Ireland was unique in the fact it did not cover the police force, which had brought a greater openness in other jurisdictions.

He said it was convenient to believe FOI could inhibit intelligence gathering but this was not the case.

The recently elected ‘Anti-austerity candidates’ could damage the Irish economy’

 

The parties and independent candidates that campaigned on anti-austerity agendas and made gains in the local and European elections could do enormous damage to the economy if they repeated this success at the general election in two years, according to economist Jim Power.

“The thought of its scares the living daylights out of me,” said Mr Power speaking at the Friends First economic outlook presentation in Dublin.

He argued that Ireland is a small open economy that is heavily reliant on attracting foreign investment and skilled labour to work in this country. Mr Power declined to name any parties or individuals in particular.

Rather he cited policies such as defaulting on debt and proposed tax hikes as having the potential to wreak havoc with the economy.

He hoped that last weekend “was a massive protest vote” and that in two years time, before the general election, most Irish people will realise that what these parties and individuals stand for is “totally alien to what we stand for”.

Mr Power, who helped campaign for a local election candidate, found on the doorsteps that the overwhelming source of disaffection among voters were issues relating to the health service and in particular medical cards.

The Government is scheduled to introduce €2bn in budget cuts October 14 agreed with the troika in order to reduce the deficit below 3% in 2015.

Mr Power urged the Government to implement a neutral budget apart from the €500m planned in water charges.

“I would argue that at this stage €2bn could do more harm than good and could cause the Government to miss the budget deficit next year.”

Mr Power has forecast GDP to grow by 2.1% this year and 3.8% next year, with GNP expected to grow by 1.5% in 2014 and 3.2% next year.

He forecasts unemployed to drop to 11.4% by the end of this year and 10% by the end of next year.

Named Irish Hospitals blamed for 75% of HSE overspend

  

Irish hospitals are being blamed for almost three-quarters of the HSE’s budget over-spend in the health authority’s performance report.

The HSE said hospitals had racked up €63m of the €80m deficit at the end of March.

The overall deficit is significantly higher than the €26.7m reported over the same period last year.

Almost 40% of the overspend by hospitals was caused by income shortfalls (€10m) and increased costs of agency staff (€14m).

  The hospitals with the biggest budget overspend are:

1. University Hospital Limerick €5.9m.

2. Waterford Regional Hospital €4m.

3. Mater Hospital, Dublin €3.8m.

4. Galway University Hospital €3.3m

5. St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin. €2.8m.

The health authority said the National Service Plan clearly showed it was facing the most “severe” financial challenge this year.

The report shows spending over the first three months of 2014 at €2.97bn which is lower than the €3.08bn reported over the same period last year.

However, it only had a budget of €2.88bn for the period which was less than what was spent.

The report points out that the HSE’s budget has been cut by 27% — €4bn over the past seven years.

It said the number of new attendances at emergency units had increased by 8,225 over the first three months, a 3% increases and the number admitted as in-patients from emergency departments had risen by 1,583 — a 2% increase.

Admissions through medical assessment units had risen by 1,250 – 16% higher than last year.

However, the number of people on emergency department trolleys while waiting on a ward bed had decreased by 3% compared with the same period last year.

The number of people admitted for planned procedures is 3% (753 people) lower for the first three months of the year compared with the same period last year.

A total of 24,285 people have been admitted for scheduled hospital care up to the end of March. However, the number of people in hospital on a day care basis is 1% (3,077 people) lower than the same period last year. A total of 202,815 people had been treated in hospital on a day care basis up to the end of March.

At the end of March, 46,000 people were waiting for an in-patient or day care hospital procedure, with one in 10 waiting over eight months.

According to the report, 4,532 children are waiting for an in-patient or day care procedure and almost one in five are waiting more than five months.

There were 16,295 people waiting over a year for an out-patient appointment at the end of March — about 5% of all those waiting. Last year, 17% were waiting more than a year for an appointment.

Zebra finch Songbirds can understand non-language aspects of the Human Speech

  

A study has revealed that songbirds can be trained to understand non-language aspects of human speech. The study proved that zebra finches have the capability to show even more sensitiveness to prosodic variations, like changes in the pitch, volume and duration of spoken syllables, than humans.

It is now believed that the evolution of structured language might have been predated by prosodic features of vocal sounds. The study involved birds that were trained to respond to patterns of human speech syllables. Researchers placed a loudspeaker above their cage so that the birds can listen to sounds.

The birds were tasked to peck a specific key or take no action depending upon the sound. The birds were offered a food reward for a correct response, while 15 seconds of darkness was all they got for an incorrect response.

Both a male and a female speaker uttered two different sequences of four naturally spoken syllables. Also, researchers altered pitch, volume or duration to stress the first or last syllable in each group so as to add prosodic patterns typical of human speech.

The finches performed brilliantly as they not only recognized the changing patterns, but they were able to apply their learning to sequences consisting of new syllables as well.

The findings of the study provided strong evidence that zebra finches are sensitive to the same prosodic cues known to affect human speech perception, said the scientists.

Michelle Spierings, from Leiden University in the Netherlands, led the team of scientists and he reported the findings in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

“Our results show that sensitivity to prosodic cues is not linked to the possession of language and might have preceded language evolution, possibly originating from a pre-existing sensitivity to meaningful variation in pre-linguistic communicative sounds”, he added.