Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Fine Gael’s new vote gain plan to lure 70,000 emigrants back with proposals to include tax breaks

   

Some of the proposals being put forward by Fine Gael to attract more than 70,000 emigrants home by 2020 include tax breaks; plans to help parents register children in schools from abroad; and recognising time abroad as time served in public service jobs.

However, doubts have been cast over the ability of the party to deliver the plan given the chronic shortage of suitable housing.

Details of the proposals, obtained by the Irish Examiner, are being drafted by Finance Minister Michael Noonan along with Minister for Jobs, Enterprise, and Innovation Richard Bruton and junior minister Simon Harris. The trio has been asked by Taoiseach Enda Kenny to form the party’s economic team ahead of the election.

Mr Noonan and many within Fine Gael had hoped to announce a wide-ranging package of measures for emigrants to return home in last month’s budget, but they hit a snag and were omitted. Despite the setback, the party remains deeply committed to bringing forward a package of measures to help the move home become much easier.

The party is still examining a range of “practical logistical measures” which could ease the transition home, especially for young families. It is understood the party is seeking to deliver a plan that would enable parents register their children in schools here before they move home, which they cannot do at present.

Another proposal being developed is to allow public servants factor in time served abroad as part of their service should they move back home to work for the State. This would have significant ramifications for public pay and pensions policy, but party sources have said such a move could help fill gaping holes in the skill set.

“Helping bring emigrants home is a big thing for us in Fine Gael and we are examining ways to help the move home, particularly with many practical logistical issues,” said one minister.

“But we all have family members abroad, be they sons, daughters, brothers whatever who we want to see come home,” the minister added.

Mr Kenny said that next year, for the first time since the economic crisis began, Ireland could expect to welcome home more people than will leave.

Earlier this year, the HSE began a campaign aimed at encouraging Irish nurses and midwives to return home. They hope to recruit 500 workers by offering a relocation package of up to €1,500, paying first-time nursing registration fees and funding postgraduate education.

Fintan McNamara of the Residential Landlords Association said there is already a chronic shortage of homes in the rental sector with many landlords leaving the industry. “People returning home will find it difficult [and] they may have to move home for a while. There is just not enough supply there,” he said.

Meanwhile: –

Staff starved Central Bank allowing it’s best staff to transfer to the ECB in Europe?

    

Left the Central Bank headquarters in Dublin and right the ECB in Germany.

The Central Bank is allowing staff to transfer to the European Central Bank, despite claiming it has too few employees in Dublin to supervise the banks, the Irish Independent has learned.

Financial Regulator Cyril Roux said the Bank will lose more of its supervisory staff to the ECB next year, placing further stresses on the strength of banking supervision in Ireland.

Mr Roux said staff are attracted by the move to the new pan-European supervisory unit in Frankfurt in part because of the “much better” terms and conditions.

Add public sector pay restrictions in Ireland into the mix and the challenge of replacing those who have left, and it leaves the Central Bank under pressure, Mr Roux said.

The claims come amid controversy over retention schemes at the Central Bank put in place to ensure key staff do not leave.

“They [staff moving to Frankfurt] have been attracted by the exciting challenge of working abroad, in helping establish the SSM (Single Supervisory Mechanism), and the much better financial terms and employment conditions offered to them,” Mr Roux told the Banking and Payments Federation Ireland Banking Union conference.

“A second wave of supervisors is expected to leave the Central Bank and other national competent authorities next year, as the ECB will be increasing its SSM headcount by 25pc,” he said.

“Combined with the familiar constraint of FEMPI (Financial Emergency Measures in the Public Interest), this will bring further stresses to the bench strength of banking supervision in the Central Bank, and to the challenge of replenishing once more our ranks.”

However, a spokeswoman for the Central Bank confirmed that those who have gone to the SSM are essentially on secondment as they will be able to return to the Central Bank. She said 20 staff overall have left.

“Their positions here are filled on a specified-purpose basis until they return from SSM – none have permanently left as such,” the spokeswoman added.

She confirmed that Dame Street is not obliged to agree to these secondments, but suggested it will not block them, despite the alleged staffing pressures.

“While we’re not obliged to let staff take secondments, the Central Bank values secondment opportunities for staff and views them as an enabler to gaining valuable experience and enhanced skills,” she said.

The claims come as staff at the Central Bank are to vote on a motion of no confidence in the management of the organisation amid the controversy over retention payments for certain staff. The Central Bank has denied it is paying bonuses in breach of Government policy, insisting there are two retention payment schemes.

75% of Ireland’s GPs suffer from high stress,

A new survey reveals

NEW REVIEW SHOWS HIGH LEVEL OF DEMORALISATION AND RISK OF BURNOUT AMONG DOCTORS

   

Three out of four Irish family doctors suffer from high stress, according to a new survey. 

Stressed, depressed and often unable to take a break, even for a short period – a new survey reveals the extent of disillusionment and demoralisation among Irish GPs

Three out of four family doctors said they suffered from high stress and almost half reported poor or very poor morale, according to the survey by the Irish College of General Practitioners (ICGP).

Three-quarters of those responding said morale had worsened over the past five years.

The impact of manpower shortages on general practice is evident in a finding that more than half of GPs who tried to recruit a sessional doctor or assistant in the past year were unable to do so.

Locum recruitment

Only 44 per cent of GPs seeking to recruit a locum were able to do so on more than half the occasions they tried.

Rural GPs were least successful at recruiting cover, the survey found.

The ICGP, which holds its winter meeting in Athlone today, said it had been warning of manpower shortages and risks to the viability of the profession for years as large numbers of trainees and graduates are attracted to better conditions abroad.

After a year of often bruising interactions between the Government and the profession, the survey finds 90 per cent of doctors feel communication between the Government and GPs has failed both doctors and patients.

ICGP medical director Dr Margaret O’Riordan said the survey showed for the first time the extent of falling morale among members caused by worsening underinvestment in general practice.

Professional burnout

“Research shows that factors such as work overload, lack of control over work demands and insufficient reward for work volume and complexity are risks for professional burnout.

“The high prevalence of these risk factors among Irish GPs would suggest that this is a high probability for many,” she said.

Promoting job satisfaction and morale, in addition to addressing issues such as administrative demands, would help to retain the current workforce, she said.

Most of the 815 GPs who responded to the survey felt free GP care to under-sixes and over-70s would impact on waiting times for patients, though one-third said free care for over-70s would result in improved monitoring of patients’ health needs.

Although the Government has placed great emphasis on the development of primary care, only 13 per cent of GPs felt they were working in a well- functioning primary care team, and less than a quarter indicated a preference for co-locating with a primary care team.

PERSONALLY TAILORED DIABETES CARE REDUCES MORTALITY IN WOMEN BUT NOT MEN

    

A follow up study to assess the effects of personally tailored diabetes care in general practice has revealed that such care reduces mortality in women, but not men, according to a report published on The Lancet.

After six years of tailored treatment, no effect was seen on mortality and other anticipated non-fatal effects. However, the observed effect of structured personal care on reducing glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c – a standard method for measuring blood glucose control) measured 6 years after diagnosis was present only in women.

For the latest study, the authors followed the same participants until 2008. Of these, 478 were women and 492 were men. Women given specific recommendations about diet and exercise were 30 per cent less likely to die from diabetes-related causes than those given routine care, Danish scientists found.

The results showed women given personal care plans were 26 per cent less likely to die of any cause and 30 per cent less likely to die of a diabetes-related cause than women given routine care. Women given the personal care intervention were also 41% less likely to suffer a stroke, and 35% less likely to experience any diabetes-related endpoint. According to Dr Marlene Krag from the University of Copenahgen, the structured form of care provides women with much needed attention and support, which helps them adhere to treatment plans. She said:

‘Women accept disease and implement disease management more easily, which might affect long-term outcomes’. But when it comes to men, the daily consideration and lifestyle changes that diabetes demands can challenge masculinity. Essentially, the structured approach of such diabetes care goes against “men’s tendency to trust self-directed learning instead of self-management”.

“We propose that the improved outcomes in woman may be explained by complex social and cultural issues of gender”. And added we need to re-think how care is provided to men and women ‘so that both sexes benefit from intensified treatment efforts’.

Snakes lost their limbs when they started living in Burrows!

    

An ancient skull (Right Pic.) shows the secret as to why snakes lost their legs.

A new study carried out by researchers from the American Museum of Natural History and the University of Edinburgh claims to have solved a long-term puzzle related to evolution of snakes.

Scientists usually have different opinions about why and how snakes went from walking to slithering. Many scientists believe snakes lost their legs after they started living in the sea or water. However, the latest study reveals that the limbs of snakes became redundant when they started living and hunting in burrows.

In this study, researchers analyzed CT scans of a 90-million-years old fossil of Dinilysia Patagonica snake and compared them with scans of modern reptiles. Dinilysia Patagonica was a 2-metre long stem snake closely related to modern snakes. Researchers analyzed scans of the bony inner ear of this snake and found that bony canals and cavities of this snake controlled its balance and hearing. Three-dimensional virtual models were created to compare the inner ears of Dinilysia Patagonica with those of modern snakes and lizards.

A distinctive structure was found within the inner ears of reptiles/animals that live in burrow, and according to scientists, this distinctive structure most likely helped animals in detecting prey and predators. This structure is however not found in modern snakes that live in sea or above ground.

“How snakes lost their legs has long been a mystery to scientists, but it seems that this happened when their ancestors became adept at burrowing.” said Dr Hongyu Yi, the lead author from Edinburgh’s School of GeoSciences.

“The inner ears of fossils can reveal a remarkable amount of information, and are very useful when the exterior of fossils are too damaged or fragile to examine.” he explained.

The findings also confirmed that Dinilysia patagonica is the largest burrowing snake ever known. The results also indicate about a hypothetical ancestral species (of all modern snakes) that was likely a burrower.

“This discovery would not have been possible a decade ago CT scanning has revolutionised how we can study ancient animals.” said Mark Norell, of the American Museum of Natural History, who took part in this study.

“We hope similar studies can shed light on the evolution of more species, including lizards, crocodiles and turtles.”

The results of this study have been published in journal Science Advances.  

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Tuesday

Taoiseach Enda Kenny supports cutting income tax for middle-income families

 Tax cut 

Scope for reduction will not be clear until the budget, says Enda Kenny

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has expressed support for reducing income tax on middle-income families but cautioned that the timing will depend on the state of the Irish economy.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore and Minister for Finance Michael Noonan have already backed the notion of reduced taxes on middle-income earners.

In a Christmas interview, Mr Kenny said the scope for tax cuts would not be known until much closer to the next budget in October 2014.

“There will be no income tax increases in the next budget. That is consistent with the programme for government. The scope for any income tax reductions, which I have seen commented on, will not be known until much closer to the budget and they depend upon growth rates and job opportunities,” Mr Kenny said.

Flexibility
He said that whenever room for the required flexibility emerged, action would follow on income tax as well as jobs.

“The priority will be to reduce the very high tax rates faced by families on middle incomes,” said Mr Kenny.

He said the Government expected to get a report by April from a specially established advisory group on tax and social welfare. “That’s likely to focus on family income supplement, on child income supports and rent supplements, and on barriers faced by part-time workers moving into full-time employment,” he added.

‘Relentless push’
Mr Kenny repeated his view that in 2014 he wanted to see a “real relentless push” by the Government on jobs.

“I’ve told Ministers that. I expect all Ministers to come forward now with their own detailed plans with the structure of the medium-term economic plan. We will do that in the new year. There will be a special Cabinet meeting on jobs by end of January, early February. And I want to drive that on so that we focus on helping Irish business to grow and to export more.”

He said he hoped to open 31 new local enterprise offices around the country next year.

“These are the revamping of the local authority system which will provide, hopefully effectively, the sort of one- stop shop for people who have ideas about business or want to form a company, to find out what assistance may be available to them.”

He also said he hoped to attend at the new Intreo offices being opened by the Department of Social Protection to help people find work.

“I actually think, having seen all of this over the years, that this is an initiative which is going to pay dividend. I have seen some of the impact from the group meetings they hold with people, where they ask what you did, your experience, what you didn’t do, what you’d like to do, how you would want to make a contribution,” said Mr Kenny.

“It is about motivating people who have been in the rut of unemployment for some time to get them out of that, in the knowledge that they are respected for the contribution they can make.”

Marie’s Fleming parting message to her family “I’m not frightened”

 

Partner Tom Curran with Marie’s son Simon and daughter Corrinna at the funeral of Marie Fleming at the Church of the Holy Trinity in Castlemacadam,

Right to-die campaigner Marie Fleming penned a final letter of goodbye that was read out at her emotional funeral.

In the note revealed by her daughter Corrina, Ms Fleming thanked her family and friends and said: “I’m not frightened. There is so much to say, and so little time to say it.”

Marie, who died in the arms of her partner Tom Curran in the early hours of Friday, also thanked her legal team for helping her fight for the right for Mr Curran to help her die.

“It is better to have tried and failed than never to have tried at all,” she wrote in the note read to mourners at the funeral in Co Wicklow.

She also left instructions for her “beautiful” children Simon and Corrina.

SPECIAL: She wanted them to think of their own futures and her young grandchildren, and to “guide these seven beautiful stars through life”.

She furthermore had a special message for Mr Curran, who quit his job to act as her full-time carer when the multiple sclerosis she was diagnosed with in 1986 tightened its grip.

“Thank you for loving me, for carrying me, for caring for me, for making sure my voice was heard,” she wrote.

“And if you waver, know that I’m in your heart and walk about the beautiful garden we made together.”

Ms Fleming had meticulously planned her funeral. As requested, she was laid to rest in a simple wicker coffin, and the mass, which was celebrated by family friend Canon George Butler, was shaped to reflect her 59 years of life.

There were flashes of defiant humour – her coffin was brought into the church to the sound of Come On Eileen by Dexy’s Midnight Runners – Eileen was her middle name – and carried out to I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor.

SONGS: Her friend, Mary Graham, sang a mixture of hymns , Christmas carols and songs including Marie’s favourite, Little Drummer Boy.

And seated in the front pew, her son Simon was wearing a red Christmas jumper – Marie had requested that her family avoid wearing black

Mr Curran painted a picture of his partner’s remarkable courage in her final days.

“She had strength and determination beyond belief,” he said. “She died in my arms – she died a peaceful death in her own home. Unfortunately it was dark so she couldn’t look out on the garden.”

Archbishop Martin says action is needed to halt Ireland’s emigration exodus

 

Diarmuid Martin Archbishop of Dublin has said there needs to be greater action on emigration, as families will have an “empty chair” at the kitchen table this Christmas.

He said Irish society is right to miss its emigrants at this time of year, because they should never have had to leave here  in the first place.

He said companies need to create opportunities for young people.

“Many more big firms should be looking at that and trying to see that there are apprenticeships available to young people,” he told the Herald.

“MOST YOUNG PEOPLE WANT TO WORK.”

The Archbishop also warned that young people who find themselves out of work for a long period of time are “the most vulnerable”.

Referring to the Europe-wide context, he said high youth unemployment wasn’t just a problem for Ireland.

The Archbishop said he felt particularly for those families who would have an “empty chair” at the kitchen table this year.

EDUCATION: Acknowledging that young emigrants might be enjoying their Christmas in places such as Australia and Canada, the Archbishop said: “Their parents will miss them and we should miss them – because they shouldn’t have had to emigrate.”

The Archbishop said other areas needing investment were education, social protection and the health system.

Irish retailers say Christmas spend for this year is down on 2012

  

Cautious consumers believed to be holding on to shop at reduced prices in sales

Spending on Christmas shopping will be down this festive season, according to Retail Excellence Ireland.

Spending on Christmas shopping will be down this festive season, according to retailers.

Retail Excellence Ireland claimed customers are being cautious and keeping their cash for the sales, while adverse weather in recent weeks has also impacted footfall.

The organisation’s chief executive David Fitzsimons said retailers are preparing to reduce prices by upwards of 70 per cent in the sales “in a bid to convert stock to cash”.

 “Having contacted over 300 leading retailers nationwide over the past few days it is disappointing to confirm that retail sales are likely to be down marginally against Christmas 2012,” he said.

“While consumers might have a little more discretionary income than this time last year, even with cash in our wallets we have become habitually frugal and discerning.

“It would seem that six years of cautious spending behaviour has become a hard habit to break.”

Mr Fitzsimons said the retail industry was bullish entering the festive season due to the rescheduling of Budget 14 to October, a return to economic growth and the departure of the troika.

“Unfortunately these positives did not impact on spending in the run up to Christmas 2013,” he continued.

“Instead customers remained cautious and retailers responded with significant discounts.”

He said the residential property tax also damaged consumer sentiment and dampened Christmas spending, along with the weather.

Last week Allied Irish Bank (AIB) customers were unable to withdraw money from some ATMs because they were mistakenly registered as being over their daily limit.

“What this means is that retailers are carrying significant stock levels into the sales period,which can only mean one thing — exceptional value for the Irish consumer,” he added.

“It is likely that the sales period will be one of the best on record.

“Retailers have not sold through on significant lines of stock and this will be priced to sell over the period of the sales.”

Mr Fitzsimons said the Irish customer has never had it this good.

“Retailers are preparing to reduce prices by upwards of 70% in a bid to convert stock to cash,” he added.

What’s in store for Cyber-Security in New Year of 2014

  

As the year draws to a close, there is a lot of discussion about what 2014 holds in store for information security. Will the good guys start winning against the bad guys? Have we learned the lessons of 2013? Will we see happier and brighter security days ahead?

It’s fun to look into the crystal ball and make guesses on what may be coming in the year ahead. We do it for fun, like Gravity edging out 12 Years a Slave for the Best Picture Oscar, and the Broncos winning the Super Bowl. In the world of information security, predictions provide insights into what people are worried about and areas businesses are going to invest in. If done right, predictions can be thought-proving and help make decisions about how best to improve our security.

Vague predictions aren’t useful, especially the ones that are just recycled from year to year. Examples include claims that the volume of mobile malware will increase, that there will be more attacks against critical infrastructure, and the number of state-sponsored attacks and cyber-espionage will grow. Some are unhelpful, such as the ones claiming a trend will continue. Yes, attackers will keep using social engineering to target victims, and we will see a lot of rain in the Northeast in April.

Security Watch received hundreds of predictions from security experts addressing a wide array of topics, from data centers to consumer electronics, advanced persistent threats (APTs) to distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS), cloud computing to mobile payments, and software to social engineering, just to name a few. We sifted out the generic, the ho-hum, and the “things will stay the same, just worse” predictions and identified a few gems in the following areas: attack targets, Internet and regulation, mobile security, online payments, and Internet of Things. Check back over the next few days and see what we think are important for 2014.

New Methods, Targets
New technologies will pose new security risks. For example, the popularity for 3D printing means it will become easier to create physical objects to use in attacks, said TK Keanini, CTO of Lancope. Consider the kind of damage a smooth-talking scammer with an access badge can do. Social engineering and 3D printing can be a dangerous combination in 2014.

This isn’t really a prediction, but rather a certainty: Attackers will step up attacks against unsupported software, such as Java 6 and Windows XP. Security experts warn that cyber-criminals are crafting attacks targeting vulnerabilities in Windows XP and will unleash them after April 8, when Microsoft officially ends support for the 12-year old operating system. Tim Rains, director of Trustworthy Computing at Microsoft doesn’t pull any punches. “More Windows XP-based systems will be compromised,” he said.

Perhaps people will abandon XP in the first few months of 2014? Don’t hold your breath. A little under 7 percent of enterprise users and 22 percent of individuals and small business users will still be running Windows XP come April, according to estimates provided by Wolfgang Kandek, CTO of Qualys.

Data Breaches
Trend Micro anticipates “one major data breach will occur every month next year.” That doesn’t seem like a stretch since “major data breach” is subject to interpretation. It can mean thefts of intellectual property such as source code or sensitive documents, ala Adobe or Edward Snowden. Perhaps we mean a large number of customer records compromised. Or a large service provider will be breached. A high-profile site, such as the Healthcare Exchange, may be compromised. I wonder if Trend Micro is underestimating this number.

Offensive Security Will Gain Acceptance
Even as ethical and legal debates continue, acceptance for “offensive security” and “active defense” will grow, said Michael Callahan, vice-president of security product marketing at Juniper Networks. Organizations will adopt active defense methods such as intrusion deception, where security teams act disrupt and foil cyber-attacks as they are happening. Attribution—identifying who the cyber-perpetrator is—will be important but there will be mistakes where the wrong person is accused of launching attacks.  

American Astronauts make rare Christmas Eve spacewalk

  

Astronauts Make Rare Christmas Eve Spacewalk

Two US space station astronauts ventured out on a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk, hoping to wrap up urgent repairs to a cooling system.

Astronaut Mike Hopkins on the robotic arm moving a spare pump during a spacewalk outside the International Space

Two space station astronauts ventured out on a rare Christmas Eve spacewalk Tuesday, hoping to wrap up urgent repairs to a cooling system.

It was the second spacewalk in four days for U.S. astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Michael Hopkins, and only the second Christmas Eve spacewalk in NASA history.

NASA ordered up the spacewalks to revive a critical cooling loop at the International Space Station. All nonessential equipment had to be turned off when the line conked out Dec. 11, and many science experiments halted.

Messrs. Mastracchio and Hopkins removed a faulty ammonia pump during Saturday’s outing. On Tuesday, they worked to install a new pump 260 miles above the planet.

“It’s like Christmas morning opening up a little present here,” Mr. Mastracchio said as he checked his toolkit. Later, as he worked to remove the spare pump from its storage shelf, he commented: “Now it really feels like I’m unwrapping a present.”

Standing on the end of the station’s main robotic arm, Mr. Hopkins clutched the 780-pound, refrigerator-size pump with both hands as he headed toward its installation spot, and then slid it in. An astronaut working inside, Japan’s Koichi Wakata, gingerly steered the arm and its precious load.

“Mike Hopkins taking a special sleigh ride on this Christmas Eve,” Mission Control commentator Rob Navias said as the space station soared over the Pacific.

Mission Control in Houston was in a festive mood, despite the gravity of the situation. Tabletop Christmas trees, Santa dolls and red Santa caps decorated the desks.

NASA’s only previous Christmas Eve spacewalk occurred in 1999 during a Hubble Space Telescope repair mission.

But NASA’s most memorable Christmas Eve was back on Dec. 24, 1968. Apollo 8 astronauts read from Genesis, the first book of the Bible, as they orbited the moon on mankind’s first lunar flight.

Space station managers considered waiting until January for the repair spacewalks, so an unmanned rocket could blast off with supplies from Virginia. But flight controllers were unable to patch the cooling line by remote control, and the orbiting outpost was considered in too vulnerable a state to put off the spacewalking repairs. The delivery mission was bumped, instead, to January.

A bad valve in the ammonia pump caused the breakdown.

Another team of spacewalking astronauts installed that pump just three years ago, and engineers are perplexed as to why it didn’t last longer. NASA hopes to salvage it in the years ahead.

The 2010 replacement required three spacewalks because of the difficulty in removing pressurized ammonia fluid lines. This time, NASA reduced the pressure and the task was simplified, allowing the astronauts to get ahead Saturday. Although three spacewalks were scheduled this time around, Messrs. Mastracchio and Hopkins’ advance work allowed NASA to squeeze everything into two, barring any problems Tuesday.

The second spacewalk was supposed to take place Monday, but was delayed a day to give Mr. Mastracchio time to switch to another suit. He inadvertently hit a water switch in the air lock at the end of Saturday’s excursion, and a bit of water entered his suit, making it unusable this week.

During the rest of the spacewalk, however, the suits remained dry. Last July, an astronaut almost drowned when water from his suit’s cooling system flooded his helmet. Makeshift snorkels and absorbent pads were added to the suits as a precaution. Midway through Tuesday’s spacewalk, no water leakage had been reported.

A Moscow-led spacewalk, meanwhile, is set for Friday. Two Russian crew members will install new cameras and fresh experiments outside.