A weak euro helps mask the rise in Irish business costs
“A report says”
A customer carries his purchases in a shopping basket as he browses oriental foods displayed for sale inside a Tesco store in London
The weak euro has masked the fact that the costs of doing business in Ireland are on the up, according to a new major economic report.
The study from the National Competitiveness Council, which advises the Government on economic trends, said that although Ireland has become more competitive since the financial crash costs are again starting to rise.
The organisation found that Ireland “remains an expensive location in which to do business, relative to some of our key competitors” and added that the country is the third most expensive location in the euro area for consumer goods and services.
It added that several upward domestic cost pressures are now emerging, particularly in relation to labour, property and business services, although it added that the weak euro and low interest rates are helping to mask the full effect of these factors.
The report concluded that “there is a need to refocus efforts on minimising domestically controllable costs to the extent possible.”
The National Competitiveness Council chairman Peter Clinch said: “It is vital that we continue to take action to address unnecessarily high costs wherever they arise.
“In this regard, there is a role for both the public and private sectors alike to manage proactively their cost base and drive efficiency, thus creating a virtuous circle between the costs of living, wage expectations, productivity and cost competitiveness.”
AIB had ‘no role in drafting Bank guarantee’ says Dermot Gleeson
The former chairman of AIB has claimed the bank had no role in drafting the bank guarantee and that no bank could have stopped the bubble.
AIB chiefs submitted their thoughts to the government on the night of the guarantee in 2008 on a scrap of paper, which cannot now be found.
Former chairman Dermot Gleeson said the first time he and his officials heard that six institutions were to be guaranteed was from the media the next morning.
Giving evidence at the banking inquiry, Mr Gleeson outlined how he and bank officials were in Government buildings on the night of September 29, 2008. He said at the time that the appetite for risk and lending was “excessive” in the sector. There was a failure to envisage a serious property downturn, he admitted.
Tax incentives were commonplace, he noted, and local authorities had taken in over €3bn in property-related charges over 10 years. Before the bust, a majority of economists favoured a soft landing, he added.
Anglo Irish Bank had been held up as an “exemplar”, he said: “It was the darling of not just Ireland, but European stock.”
A more intrusive regulator or “referee” should have been in place in the highly-competitive sector, he said. “No bank could stop the bubble… only the authorities could do that.”
However, he did admit that AIB had “gone too far” with individual developers.
He said that, in the lead-up to the guarantee, it was known that two lenders — Anglo and Irish Nationwide — were facing collapse.
The bigger banks — AIB and Bank of Ireland — met with the government.
Mr Gleeson said the two big banks said Anglo and Nationwide needed to be “dealt with decisively” and a guarantee put in place for the remaining banks. It was agreed €10bn would be made available to get them to the weekend.
However, Mr Gleeson said the guarantee was never discussed with AIB and its representatives were not in the room. It was an independent government decision and only their advice was sought.
AIB’s formula had been put on a “slip of paper or a turn of a notebook”, as suggested from the bank’s treasury, the committee heard.
It mentioned guaranteeing deposits and bonds, Mr Gleeson agreed, and contained maybe less than 20 words. This was handed to government but has not been found since. It also included covering senior bond holders, said Mr Gleeson.
He also admitted that, just three days before the guarantee, €260m in dividends was paid to shareholders, including himself. This was a “mistake”, he said. It was done to reassure investors, despite the fact the bank went on days later to be guaranteed.
Mr Gleeson said AIB did not want Anglo or Irish Nationwide incorporated into the guarantee and this had damaged the bank
People in Ireland without medical cards are avoiding doctors like the plague
President of the IPU Kathy Maher above centre says that the survey’s results indicate the ‘effectiveness’ of the Irish health care system is open to question.
Irish people without medical cards are far less likely than those who do have them to visit a doctor.
23% of medical card holders visited their GP in the last week it seems, compared with 4% of people with both no medical card and no medical insurance.
Similarly 78% of medical card holders are routinely prescribed medication compared with 65% of those who hold both no card and no insurance.
The information is contained in a survey undertaken by the Irish Pharmacy Union (IPU) ahead of their national conference in Killarney this weekend and saw 1,000 people aged 16 and above quizzed as to their medical behaviour.
“There’s big differences between (medical card) holders and non-holders when it comes to visiting a GP,” said M/S Maher.
Medical Card holders are much more likely to consider the healthcare system as ‘fit for purpose’.
People who pay for their medical treatment feel let down and this needs to change.
Maher suggests that if medicines used to treat common complaints were available without prescription it would allow people ‘to avoid the hassle and expense’ of most GP visits.
Although, with the Irish insurance D-Day of 30 April fast approaching it seems that those without medical cards will shortly have to pay more for their medical well-being whether they like it or not.
WHAT’S CLOGGING UP THE SEWERS OF THE WORLD? BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU FLUSH DOWN
Workers in London recently removed a ‘fatberg’ that is a 10-tonne chunk of wet wipes and fat
A quiet moment of respect is surely due to the workers in London who removed a 10-tonne lump of wet wipes and fat from a sewer in Chelsea, London. It was so heavy that it broke the sewer – and it’s set to cost hundreds of thousands of pounds and two months of work to repair it.
Craig Rance of Thames Water will talk to Shane Coleman on today’s Right Hook about the unpleasant operation. Listen live at newstalk.com from 5pm.
These lumps of fat and household waste have been referred to as ‘fatbergs’. They have become a relatively common phenomenon in London and other cities. In 2013, a remote camera captured some of the fatberg in all its ‘glory’, when it was blocking a sewer in the Kingston upon Thames region of south-west London. Suffice to say, it’s not the most pleasant sight, and this apparently isn’t even the main body of the fatberg in question:
Workers eventually cleared the blockage with high-pressure hoses.
Speaking about the latest operation in Chelsea, Stephen Hunt of Thames Water told The Guardian “the original sewer has been so badly abused by fat being chucked down the plughole we’ve had to opt for the time-consuming and disruptive option of replacing many metres of pipe.”
On their website, Thames Water warns that fat, oil, and food leftover from cooking contribute to these fat build ups when washed down the sink. The big problems are caused when that fatty waste combines with wipes, nappies, condoms and sanitary products that do not break down in sewers. Sewers are designed for water, toilet paper and human waste – everything else should be binned instead of flushed down the toilet or washed down the sink.
As you might expect, some bizarre things have however been found in sewers over the years. Mobile phones, false teeth, wedding rings – these, perhaps, are to be expected, as there have been plenty of tales of expensive items accidentally ending up flushed over the years. Dead goldfish, toys, razor blades and other household items are more common again.
But then there’s the really peculiar cases. It was reported a few years ago, for example, that Thames Water recovered half a Mini car from the sewers. BBC, meanwhile, reported in 2010 that a live snake and badger were recovered from Scottish sewers, along with a dead cow and sheep. A working iron was another discovery, while a stolen credit card belonging to the wife of one of the workers was also found. That’s probably not the sort of stolen item you’d be particularly keen to have returned…
Suffice to say, all manner of weird and wonderful things have turned up in the sewers over the years – although significantly weirder and less wonderful after their time in the system, no doubt. So the best advice to everybody is clearly to stick to flushing what’s meant to be flushed – otherwise your area could be affected by an unwelcome fatberg of its own..
World Ocean’s contributes $2.5 trillion to economy annually
A new study attempts to place a value of goods and services afforded by the ocean, estimating that if the planet’s seas were classified as a country, it would rank as the world’s seventh largest economy.
Reviving the Ocean Economy, commissioned by environmental group World Wildlife Fund (WWF), “conservatively” places the value of the ocean at $24 trillion based on an estimate $2.5 trillion in products and services generated annually. These include fisheries, coastal storm protection, tourism, and carbon sequestration, among others.
The report uses financial terms to describe the value of the ocean, calling the products and services it provides “assets” and comparing it as a whole to a “global savings account”.
“Our oceans are the planet’s natural capital, a ‘factory’ producing an incredible array of goods and services that we all want and need,” said Brad Ack, senior vice president for oceans at WWF. “But every day we are degrading, over-consuming, and polluting this productive asset to a point of ever diminishing returns.”
“The oceans are our global savings account from which we keep making only withdrawals. To continue this pattern leads to only one place – bankruptcy. It is time for significant reinvestment and protection of this global commons.”
The report details a litany of activities that are degrading ocean ecosystems, including overfishing and rising greenhouse gas emissions that are raising temperatures and causing acidification. But it also lays out a recovery plan that could restore ocean resources via policy measures, market-based mechanisms, climate change mitigation, and protected areas networks. Success will hinge on “concerted action” between a wide variety of stakeholders who benefit directly and indirectly from the ocean’s bounty, according to the University of Queensland’s Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, the lead author of the report.
GP Dr Sarah Brewer, whose book Overcoming Gallstones has just been published, points out that 70% of gallstones are made from cholesterol, and a diet high in saturated fat and pre-formed cholesterol increases the amount of the substance being pumped by the liver into bile, making it more likely gallstones will form.
