Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Irish household debt decreases by €1.1bn in first quarter of 2016

IRISH HOUSEHOLDS FALL TO FOURTH MOST INDEBTED IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

   

NEW FIGURES FROM THE CENTRAL BANK SHOW IRISH HOUSEHOLD DEBT STOOD AT €31,216 PER CAPITA IN THE FIRST THREE MONTHS OF THE YEAR, THE LOWEST LEVEL SINCE THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2006.

Irish households fell from being the third most indebted in the European Union to the fourth during the first quarter of this year, according to new figures from the Central Bank.

The figures show Irish household debt fell by €1.1 billion to €148.5 billion in the first three months of the year.

This represented a household debt per capita of €31,216, which is the lowest level since the first quarter of 2006.

Household net lending fell to a level of €2.4 billion during the first quarter.

The net worth of households increased by 0.3% to €628.7 billion, mainly driven by a rise in house values, and a decline in household liabilities.

Household net worth has regained two-thirds of the drop that followed the Celtic Tiger’s high-water mark of €718 billion in the second quarter of 2007.

The Central Bank said household debt as a proportion of disposable income now stands at 149.4%, its lowest level since the end of 2004.

Investec said the stock of household liabilities now stands at €148.5 billion, 27% below the all-time high of €203.7 billion reached in the third quarter of 2008. It noted household net worth has increased for 12 successive quarters.

“Notwithstanding external pressures, we expect the Irish economy to continue to turn in some of the strongest growth in the EU both this year and the next, facilitating further improvements in the aggregate balance sheet of Irish households,” said Investec chief economist Philip O’Sullivan.

Irish Parents spend some €450 a month ‘supporting’ students

IRISH LEAGUE OF CREDIT UNIONS DATA SHOWS 87% WILL BACK CHILDREN FINANCIALLY WHILE IN COLLEGE

   

JUST OVER TWO-THIRDS OF STUDENTS WORK THROUGHOUT THE ACADEMIC YEAR TO FUND THIRD-LEVEL EDUCATION, WORKING ON AVERAGE 17 HOURS WEEKLY FOR €12 AN HOUR.

The vast majority of students attending third level institutions will be financially supported by their parents over the next year with the average parent spending €447 each month, a survey has found.

According to a piece of research published by the Irish League of Credit Unions this morning 87 per cent of parents will financially support their children through the academic year with 60 per cent getting into debt to do so.

The research asked both parents and students about how they meet the costs of third level education and the financial challenges facing families. The results highlight the impact of sending children to college (in financial terms) has on spending and budgets as well as the challenges and concerns parents have in relation to finance, debt, accommodation, course choice and job prospects.

All told just under three quarters of parents polled said they would struggle to cover the cost of their child’s third level education. The average amount of debt parents will accrue is put at €4,300 down from €4,670 in 2015.

The piece of research also found that parents save for an average of eight years to cover third level costs for their children and manage to accumulate on average €8,150 over that period.

A WORRY?

The survey also asked parents what they worried about as their children headed off to college. Employment prospects after graduation was the biggest concern for parents with 32 per cent saying it was the thing which worried them the most. Passing exams was in second place with 17 per cent highlight that while concerns over the misuse of drink and drugs has jumped sharply to 17 per cent up from 10 per cent last year.

It is not only parents who have worries ahead of the new term. The poll suggests that just over two thirds of students who need to live away from their family home are “extremely worried” about finding suitable accommodation for the academic year.

Concerns about the availability and affordability of accommodation could be behind a slight increase in the number of students who say they will live at home over the course of the next academic year. The survey says that 65 per cent of students will be living at home compared to 62 per cent in 2015.

The cost of living away from home is laid bare in the study with students living outside the home saying they will spend €1,048 euro per month while those living at home will spend €530 per month

Just over two thirds of students work throughout the academic year to fund third level education working an average of 17 hours per week getting paid an average of €12 per hour.

The survey by iReach was carried out in July using 1,000 responses from over-18s across Ireland.

Nutrition business progress drives Glanbia earnings growth

   

EXCEPTIONALLY STRONG GROWTH IN GLANBIA’S PERFORMANCE NUTRITION BUSINESS HELPED THE IRISH COMPANY TO EARNINGS OF €176.5M IN THE OPENING HALF OF THE YEAR.

Glanbia’s H1 earnings increased by close to 11% compared with the same period last year in what company chief executive Siobhán Talbot described as a “strong set of results”.

That firm’s earnings growth was driven primarily by its performance nutrition (GPN) business which accounted for almost half the company’s earnings.

The performance nutrition business segment’s earnings before interest tax and amortisation (EBITA) totalled €81.7m a 35% increase on H1 2015 on a constant currency basis.

Ms Talbot said she was pleased with the progress of GPN which develops products aimed at the sport and fitness markets, including protein shakes.

Growth would moderate to more modest and sustainable levels over time, she accepted.

“Sales of performance nutrition brands and value-added nutritional ingredients showed good growth in the first half of 2016 delivering on our vision to be a leading nutrition business.

“Our overarching strategy is to continue to get growth across the group. Various dynamics in various periods of the year and indeed full years can accelerate that and we’re very pleased with the 35% that we had in the first half [of 2016].

“We very much look to that long-term sustainable growth rate and we’re obviously not saying that that level of growth will be sustainable but if you take our overall guidance for the year that we’ve reiterated of 8%-10%, growing performance nutrition is an important factor within that,” Ms Talbot said.

GPN’s growth will be increasingly driven by new product innovations rather than breaking into new markets.

Ms Talbot said she expected continued “pull” on pricing in its Irish dairy division after a 4.9% decline in prices in the first half of the year.

Glanbia described Dairy Ireland’s performance as “satisfactory” despite a 3.3% decline in revenue to €356.9m which reflected the continued price drop as well as a 1.1% increase in volumes.

Ms Talbot said conditions for “anybody in the dairy space are a bit challenging” but noted that Dairy Ireland delivered a modest profit increase in the first six months of the year.

The company is dealing with currency headwinds arising from both the relative strength of the dollar and the uncertainty created by the UK’s decision to leave the European Union.

Ms Talbot said the UK is not a particularly big market for Glanbia but like all other corporates, the Irish firm doesn’t like uncertainty and currency volatility caused by the Brexit vote would need to be monitored.

Similarly, Glanbia is “always watching” the dollar-euro exchange rate and is used to managing the associated risk.

The relative strength of the dollar against other currencies can have a marked effect on demand in other markets, such as Brazil, however.

Ms Talbot said the dollar’s strength was actually more of an issue last year than it has been in the opening half of 2016 though.

The company remains on the lookout for potential acquisitions and has a good pipeline of deals.

Ms Talbot said, however, that it is difficult to be prescriptive about how many deals would be completed or when.

Viruses are more dangerous in the morning and so maybe we should all sleep in

   

EARLY MORNING COMMUTERS ON PACKED TRAINS CAN FINALLY FEEL JUSTIFIED IN THEIR AVERSION TO THEIR FELLOW PASSENGERS, AFTER A NEW STUDY FOUND VIRUSES ARE MORE DANGEROUS IN THE MORNING.

A science paper (rivetingly) entitled “Cell autonomous regulation of herpes and influenza virus infection by the circadian clock” found viruses were 10 times more successful at breaking down their host if the infection began in the morning.

The study, by the University of Cambridge, involved infecting mice with either the influenza (the cause of flu) or the herpes virus. Tests showed mice infected in the morning had a viral level 10 times higher than those infected in the evening.

Professor Akhilesh Reddy told the BBC: “It’s a big difference. The virus needs all the apparatus available at the right time, otherwise it might not ever get off the ground, but a tiny infection in the morning might perpetuate faster and take over the body.”

Viruses hijack living cells in order to replicate and proliferate around the body. It is thought the body clock, or circadian clock as per the paper title, is what makes cells more susceptible to viruses at different times.

Bmal1 is the body clock gene scientists in this study identified as the key to this susceptibility and it peaks in the afternoon, increasing resistance to infection. Bmal1 activity is low in the morning however, so we have increased vulnerability.

So should we all be locking ourselves in quarantine in the mornings for fear of microscopic germ warfare? Well no, but the findings could be helpful in preventing the spread of disease during a viral pandemic.

“In a pandemic, staying in during the daytime could be quite important and save people’s lives – it could have a big impact if trials bear it out,” said Professor Reddy.

One thing is clear – we’ve all been given one more reason to hit that snooze button tomorrow…

Zebra finches sing to eggs to prepare babies for global warming ahead

THIS COULD BE ONE WAY BIRDS LEARN TO SURVIVE THE HEAT

    

Zebra finches program their offspring to prepare for global warming by singing to eggs before they hatch. In especially hot areas, finch parents make a special call to incubating eggs, basically telling them it’s really hot outside and they better not grow too big. The hatchlings listen and this mechanism might explain how birds learn to adapt, and survive climate change.

Many bird species sing to their eggs. These calls have been shown to do everything from improving learning to synchronizing hatching times. When it comes to the Australian zebra finch, we already know that they make a specific call when it’s unusually hot outside, which in this case means over 79 degrees Fahrenheit no matter what season it is.

Finch parents start making these calls about five days before the eggs are supposed to hatch and the calls become more frequent the closer it gets to hatch time. This suggests the calls are a way to tell the soon-to-be-born finches about the world outside, and not just the parents complaining about the heat.

But how do we know if it’s just a coincidence? Mylene Mariette and Katherine Buchanan at Australia’s Deakin University figured out a way to test this. For a study published today in Science, they put a bunch of zebra finch eggs in an incubator that created a temperature around 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Mariette and Buchanan then played the “global warming” call for some of the eggs and not others.

Next, the scientists waited to see if there were significant differences between the two groups. If there were, it was probably because of the difference in the calls they heard.

After the eggs hatched, the baby finches were raised in an environment where the temperature varied naturally. By day 13 after hatching, nestlings that heard the “heat” calls were smaller than the ones who didn’t. This seems to confirm that the embryos in the eggs really do listen to the calls and then change how they grow.

All this makes sense because other research tells us that animals end up smaller when it gets hotter because the smaller size makes it easier to cope with high temperatures. Mariette and Buchanan also found that birds who were smaller in hot conditions produced more fledglings during their first breeding season, showing that this is a good evolutionary strategy after all.     

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Asset seizing powers toughened up in Ireland’s gangland crimes

  

JUSTICE MINISTER FRANCES FITZGERALD SAID ‘WHATEVER RESOURCES ARE NECESSARY, WE WILL FACE DOWN THE ACTIVITIES OF THESE RUTHLESS GANGS’

New spy laws are being created and drug dealers and gangsters face having assets worth as little as 5,000 euros seized in a renewed blitz on gangland crime.

Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has arranged summits next week with her counterparts in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium as security chiefs look to break an unprecedented cycle of underworld feuding that has left seven men dead.

And as the Government ratchets up pressure on organised crime, security chiefs have been asked to devise ways of toughening surveillance laws to monitor gangland bosses and their associates.

The first step is to extend the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau.

In future officers will be able to freeze assets worth just 5,000 euros rather than 13,500 euros and seize sums of cash of 1,000 euros or less if detectives suspect they were the proceeds of crime.

“We have seen unprecedented gangland violence in the last few weeks. However long it takes, whatever resources are necessary, we will face down the activities of these ruthless gangs,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

“I want to acknowledge the great work of An Garda Siochana in dealing with this situation. My proposals are aimed squarely at helping them in this work.

“I intend to introduce legislative measures to strengthen the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau to make it easier to seize assets and money from criminals.”

The proposed new covert surveillance powers will be published “in the near future”, Ms Fitzgerald said, and they will focus on intercepting phones and other communications as well as other electronic spying.

Another initiative is the creation of a special crime task force which will work alongside the Revenue Commissioners and Department of Social Protection, and their job will be to “focus relentlessly on persons involved in gangland activities”.

Ms Fitzgerald said: “The message we are sending to these criminal gangs is that there will be no let-up in the pressure upon them. Communities have been put in fear by the cycle of mindless killings we have witnessed.

“These measures are aimed at breaking that cycle and to bring home to these people that no-one is above the law.”

Justice chiefs and Garda management have been asked for their ideas on other law reforms which are needed to crackdown on gangland crime.

Ms Fitzgerald said her talks with ministers in Spain, the Netherlands and Belgium will focus on the transnational dimensions of organised crime.

EC insists Ireland are unable to abolish water charges

SINN FÉIN DISPUTES INTERPRETATION OF EUROPEAN WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE

      

THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION HAS INSISTED IRELAND CANNOT BREACH THE EUROPEAN WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE AND ABOLISH WATER CHARGES.

Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan had asked the commission whether charges can be abandoned in Ireland and in response, the commission said all member states must adhere to the directive.

However, M/s Boylan insisted this does not mean water charges could not be abolished and she said the response was vague and did not mean the levies must remain in place.

The answer from the commission states: “Article 9(4) of the Water Framework Directive[1] provides that Member States shall not be in breach of the Directive if they decide in accordance with established practices not to apply the provisions of Article 9(1), second sentence, and for that purpose the relevant provisions of paragraph (2), for a given water-use activity, where this does not compromise the purposes and the achievement of the objectives of this Directive.

“If the established practice is to have a system in place implementing the recovery of the costs of water services, in accordance with the polluter pays principle, the Commission considers that the flexibility afforded to Member States as outlined in Article 9 paragraph 4 would not apply.”

Ms Boylan said the use of the phrase ‘established practices’ was key.

“Irish Water and water charges are not established practice. The established practice is to pay for water charges through general taxation,” she said.

“The interpretation of this as a refusal to abolish water charges is wrong and bizarre.”

As much as 86% of Irish people in Britain want the UK to remain a part of Europe

     

ENDA KENNY PLEADS WITH THE IRISH IN GREAT BRITAIN TO VOTE TO STAY IN JUNE’S BREXIT REFERENDUM.

A survey commissioned by European Movement Ireland shows that 86% of people in the Republic of Ireland believe that the United Kingdom should stay in the European Union. On June 23, 2016 British voters will decide whether the UK will leave the EU in what the British media refers to as the “Brexit” referendum.

The results of the survey, carried out by Red C poll, show that while 86% of Irish people think the UK should remain in the EU, this rises to 92% among young people. The same poll also indicates that 81% of people in the Irish Republic believe the country should remain in the EU regardless of the United Kingdom’s position.

Of the Irish adults polled, 87% believe that the Republic of Ireland has benefited from being a member of the EU. These figures represent a slight rise in pro-EU sentiment as compared with 2013, when 83% believed Ireland had benefited from EU membership, and 2015, when that figure was 84%.

The recent survey found the Connacht-Ulster region, which borders Northern Ireland, is the largest supporter of the EU membership at 96%.

European Movement Ireland Executive Director Noelle O’Connell welcomed the high levels of support for the EU saying, “There is unprecedented support for Ireland’s EU membership, at 90%, since we began tracking sentiment in 2013. Perhaps the forthcoming UK referendum on its EU membership has focused minds here in Ireland? It is very noteworthy that in the last two years, a growing number of Irish people believe that even if our nearest neighbors leave, that Ireland should remain in the EU, notwithstanding that we both joined on the same day in 1973.

“The results also indicate that young Irish people in particular overwhelmingly believe that Ireland has benefited from EU membership, with 91 percent agreeing with this statement in the poll.”

The highlights of the results are as follows:

Some 90% of Irish people want Ireland to remain in the EU; for young people this is 94%, up from 85% in 2015. Support for EU membership is highest in Connacht-Ulster at 96%

Some 87% of people believe Ireland has, on balance, benefited from membership of the EU. This increases to 91 percent for those aged 24 and under and was again highest in Connacht Ulster at 91%

And 81% want Ireland to remain in the EU, even if the UK leaves; this rose to 84% in Dublin

As much as 86% of Irish people think the UK should remain in the EU, rising to 92% for young people

When asked if they are aware that the EU will abolish mobile ‘phone roaming charges by June 15, 2017, 92% are aware, with the lowest levels of awareness among young people, at 82% and farmers at 79%. Those living in Munster are most aware of this as 94%.

The poll was conducted among a representative sample of over 1,015 people aged 18 and over from across the country. The full results are available from the European Movement’s site here.

This weekend Taoiseach (Ireland’s Prime Minister) Enda Kenny asked the Irish in Britain to vote to remain in the EU. Speaking in London he commented on the fact that customs controls would have to be established at the border between the Republic and Northern Ireland if Britain left the EU.

Kenny urged the Irish in the UK, who make up a “substantial” part of the electorate, to use their vote. The campaign group Irish 4 Europe estimates that there are half a million first generation Irish people living in Great Britain (England, Scotland and Wales). This figure rises to the millions when second and third generation Irish are considered.

Speaking in London, the Taoiseach said, “We would say, with particular reference to the Irish people living in Britain, this is a really important decision. Its outcome would affect people in the North, it would affect Ireland itself and obviously will have an impact upon the European Union for many years to come.”

He said that in the event of the UK leaving the EU there would have to be “significant, complex and difficult negotiations.”

Kenny continued, “Ireland in Europe would still stand by Britain being a member of the Union and of its importance, but I have no idea what other European countries, how they would look at Britain whether they decide to leave, given the fact that we’ve come a long way since the 1970s.

“So whether there would be border controls or custom controls, these things are a possibility, but obviously they would require some very serious negotiations and my preference for the Irish electorate who have a significant part in this referendum is to vote to stay, for Britain to stay as a strong and central member of the European Union for the future.”

Hard facts data on Irish suicides nationwide reveals sharp differences

SOME 375 MEN TOOK THEIR OWN LIVES ACROSS THE REPUBLIC IN 2015, IN ADDITION TO 76 WOMEN?

    

WATERFORD CITY WAS THE ONLY PLACE WHERE NO SUICIDES WERE RECORDED WHATSOEVER.

New figures show sharp differences in the number of suicides around the country, according to provisional statistics from the Central Statistics Office(CSO).

The data shows 451 recorded suicides across Ireland in 2015 – a fall from the 459 recorded in 2014, leaving the suicide rate per 100,00 of population down from 10 to 9.7.

However, the suicide rate actually increased across all regions apart from Leinster, which is Ireland’s most populous.

In particular, the provisional figures, which remain subject to change, show a large disparity in suicide rates between some cities and the surrounding county area. Whereas there were no recorded suicides in Waterford city in 2015, the suicide rate in Co Waterford more than doubled from 8.8 in 2014 to 19 last year.

A similar difference was evident in Co Galway, where the rate jumped from 10.2 to 17.4 compared to a more modest increase in the city, where it rose from 11.1 in 2014 to 12.7 last year. The suicide rate in Limerick city dipped to 16 from 23 in 2014, while there was more than a twofold increase in the rate in county Limerick, up to 12.7 from 5.2 in 2014.

A decline in Leinster

Of the 451 recorded suicides in 2015, 202 occurred in Leinster, which includes Dublin, but the suicide rate dropped across the province to 7.9 from the previous level of 8.9.

Munster (at 12), Connacht (at 12.5) and Ulster figures for Cavan, Donegal andMonaghan (at 11.3) all demonstrated varying degrees of increases compared with rates in 2014.

There were also large fluctuations across individual counties. Suicide rates fell by more than half in areas such as Carlow, Dún Laoghaire and Sligo, but there was a near doubling of the rate in Kilkenny as well as Wicklow.

Waterford city was the only place where no suicides were recorded whatsoever. Some 375 men took their own lives across the State in 2015, along with 76 women.

The CSO’s provisional figures refer only to deaths registered in 2015 even though some may have occurred in the preceding years, whereas the more comprehensive final data for suicides expected in either 2017 or 2018 will only include deaths which happened during 2015 itself.

Classification difficulties

The process of categorising deaths is an added complication, and the outcome of a full coroner’s report is needed before a death can formally be classified as suicide.

On top of this, statistics generally tend to underestimate the overall number of suicides, as it is not possible to definitively determine a cause of death in some cases.

Dr Ella Arensman of the National Suicide Research Foundation said regionalised figures in the provisional data may change by up to 50 per cent in the full report, and she questioned the wisdom of releasing incomplete data.

“On the one hand, you could say it’s very good that we have figures for 2015, but they are not reliable . . . There is a big question as to what is the use of this data when it is not reliable,” she said.

She advised that the best course of action would be for the CSO to avoid releasing provisional figures, and to instead await the completion of a more comprehensive analysis.

Bees find flowers as static electricity zaps small hairs on their body, a study finds

RESEARCHERS KNEW THAT BEES USE ELECTRICITY FROM FLOWERS TO NAVIGATE – BUT NOW HOW THAT WORKED

     

A POLLEN COVERED BUMBLEBEE SITS ON A FLOWER IN NORTHERN FRANCE AS BEES HAVE TINY VIBRATING HAIRS THAT LET THEM FIND FLOWERS, A NEW STUDY NOW SHOWS.

The small hairs are used to sense electric fields coming out of flowers and then use them to find sources of pollen, according to the new research.

Even more animals might use the same static electricity-finding hairs to navigate around, according to the University of Bristol researchers behind the study.

Researchers already knew that bumblebees were able to sense and act on electrical signals from flowers. But they haven’t known how that process works – until now.

The new study shows that the hairs are able to pick up static electricity and then send messages through the nervous system.

Lead researcher Dr Gregory Sutton, from the University of Bristol’s School of Biological Sciences, said: “We were excited to discover that bees’ tiny hairs dance in response to electric fields, like when humans hold a balloon to their hair.

“A lot of insects have similar body hairs, which leads to the possibility that many members of the insect world may be equally sensitive to small electric fields.”

Many of the most beautiful and attractive parts of flowers are mechanisms for attracting pollinators like bees. Their bright colours and smells help them catch the attention of insects.

But the research shows the ways that flowers also are able to use static electricity to tap straight into the bees’ nervous systems.

Since the flowers are negatively charged, and the bees are positively charged, the two interact with one another and cause a spark that comes through the bees’ hairs.

In the research, the scientist used a laser to measure the vibrations that spark caused. They published their work in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.      

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Hundreds of survivors from capsized fishing boat taken by Irish navy vesselLÉ Naimh to Italy

  

Hundreds of people who survived the capsizing of a smugglers’ fishing boat have been brought to Italy.

Among those rescued was a Palestinian man who saved his wife by giving her his life jacket, then diving below the surface to grab their toddler daughter as she disappeared.

Military vessels and aircraft from a multi-nation operation were searching waters off Libya, a day after the 20-metre (66-foot) boat overturned as rescuers were approaching.

With seas warm and calm, rescuers expressed hopes others might be alive.

In the first hours after the accident on Wednesday, 367 survivors were rescued and 25 bodies recovered.

Military officials from the Republic of Ireland, whose navy vessel the LÉ Niamh was among those at the scene, said they were given an initial estimate of 600 migrants aboard the smugglers’ boat.

If that estimate holds, as many as 200 migrants might have drowned.

At least 367 survivors were taken aboard the LÉ Naimh, which was approaching the dock at Palermo, Sicily, by late afternoon.

The Italian Navy, which had two ships in the rescue operation, said three survivors were flown by helicopter for medical treatment aboard the Doctors Without Borders ship Dignity1.

One was a man with a fractured leg. The other was a mother, with one-year-old son, who needed dialysis.

Three other injured survivors were flown out by another navy helicopter to a hospital on the tiny Italian island, Lampedusa, south of Sicily.

When the Dignity1 arrived at the capsizing site, it was hard to tell how many were in the water, Juan Matias Gil, a Doctors Without Borders search and rescue operations field co-ordinator, said.

“All in all, there were no more than 50 people” in the water, Mr Gil said.

“There were some bodies floating, so it was quite a shocking scene.”

During the rescue, crew of Dignity1 tossed life vests and life preservers as survivors swam frantically to boats.

Video made aboard Dignity1 and released by Doctors Without Borders showed the Palestinian family.

The mother caressed the hand of her daughter Azeel, a little more than one year old, as the father, Mohammed, sat next to them.

“They all went into the water, with only one life jacket,” Mr Gil said.

“So this life jacket was with the father, who gave the life jacket to his wife, because she didn’t know how to swim. “After that he saw that the baby was getting deep in the water” and in danger of drowning.

“After he came out with the baby, they were seen, they were rescued and they were brought aboard” Dignity1, Mr Gil said.

Several Syrians were among those rescued, including a pregnant woman who at first appeared in danger of miscarriage.

Ireland set to record a good year in tourism this year

    

But industry warned not to blow boom by overcharging holidaymakers like in the past

Ireland is on target for a record year in terms of tourist numbers, according to latest figures

Ireland is on target for a record year in terms of tourist numbers but the industry has been warned by Government not to “make the mistakes of the past” by overcharging.

CSO figures for the first half of 2015 show almost 12% growth in overseas visitors North and South – an additional 407,100 when compared with January to June 2014.

Minister for Tourism Paschal Donohoe said the figures showed Ireland was on track for earnings of €5 billion per year in 10 years’ time.

But in a strongly worded message to the industry he said the special nine per cent rate of Vat was dependent on the industry offering value for money. He warned the Government would keep this in mind, when deciding whether to renew the special rate.

“We must be mindful of the mistakes that were made in the past and ensure they are not repeated. Our value for money rating has improved dramatically in recent years” he said, noting that the latest figures represented “out best half year performance ever”.

According to tourism Ireland, growth this year has come from all key markets especially Britain, North America and Mainland Europe. Key factors that aided the boom were value for money – especially for sterling and dollar holidaymakers – the attraction of the Wild Atlantic Way, air access and the abolition of travel tax in the South.

Mr Donohoe said he would like to see another US city added to the list of destinations flying to Ireland, but he did not specify which one.

Niall Gibbons CEO of Tourism Ireland, which is a North/South body set up to promote the whole island, said the nine% vat rate and zero rated air travel tax were not available in Northern Ireland. This was because taxes in the North were a function of the Westminster Parliament, but he said there was considerable enthusiasm for the adoption of such measures within the legislative assembly in Northern Ireland.

Mr Gibbons said Tourism Ireland was determined to maximise the number of new year-round and winter air routes into Ireland which included new CityJet flights from London to Cork and Aer Lingus from Dusseldorf to Cork.

Additional capacity is to be installed this winter on Aer Lingus routes from Paris, Amsterdam, Brussels, Zurich and Geneva . Lufthansa is increasing capacity on its Munich–Dublin route; Ryanair on its routes from Copenhagen and Venice, Barcelona, Berlin and Madrid. In addition Aer Lingus will increase capacity on transatlantic routes while Delta is increasing capacity from JFK New York to Dublin.

Mr Donohoe said the tourism sector was on track to meet Government targets for 2025 which included €5 billion in overseas tourism revenue, an extra 50,000 jobs in the sector and 10 million overseas visits to Ireland, compared to 7.6 million in 2014.

The increased traffic into Ireland in the first six months of 2015 came from Germany (+12%); France (+13%; Spain (+15%); Italy (+32%); Benelux (+11%) and the Nordic region (+ 5%).

The increase from Britain was 9.4%, while from North America it was 15%.

Seán FitzPatrick’s vain attempt to adjourn his trial is denied

Former Anglo chairman had sought the adjournment due to recent publicity

  

An application to adjourn the trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick has been denied.

The trial of former Anglo Irish Bank chairman Seán FitzPatrick is to proceed in October after an application for adjournment by his defence was denied.

Lawyers for Mr FitzPatrick (66) – who has pleaded not guilty to 27 charges under the 1990 Companies Act – made the application due to concerns over the publicity surrounding a recent, separate trial of three Anglo officials.

Bernard Condon SC, defending, had told the Dublin CircuitCriminal Court “a cascade of sludge” was visited on the head of his client during those proceedings.

However, in his ruling on Thursday, Judge Martin Nolan declined the application pointing out that the defendant had been the subject of attention for years.

“Anybody living in this country has to be aware of the huge amount of adverse publicity that has been directed toward Sean FitzPatrick since 2008,” he said.

He believes a jury can deal with the case impartially, he said, and that Mr Fitzpatrick’s acquittal at a separate recent criminal trial underscored his confidence in this regard, in that the jury arrived at a verdict based on the facts of the case.

“Mr Fitzpatrick’s reputation is negative at this stage,” he said. “It seems to me the trial should go on.”

In a brief outline of his decision, Judge Nolan said it was his job to ensure the defendant had a fair trial and an impartial jury.

He said his decision must also take into account whether an adjournment would allow the “odium and ridicule” heaped upon Mr Fitzpatrick to fade over a period of time from the public memory.

Prosecuting counsel Paul O’Higgins, he said, had previously argued that two months would suffice in this regard.

In the meantime, “villains and heroes” will be produced in the media alongside other distractions like the forthcomingRugby World Cup, All-Irelands and the pending general election.

The recently-concluded case regarding former Anglo officials, which formed the basis of the defence’s application, had taken its own course and heard comments from counsel, witnesses and the judge.

“I have no doubt these comments were proper,” in relation to the case being tried, Judge Nolan said.

Mr FitzPatrick’s charges include 21 of making a misleading, false or deceptive statement to auditors and six of furnishing false information from 2002 to 2007. The trial will begin on October 5th.

The use of Irish language in Northern Ireland differs from the Republic

    

Linda Irvine, wife of former PUP leader Brian Ervine, pictured in east Belfast as she helps bring the Irish Language to the community

People in the Republic learn Irish “to pass exams” but in Northern Ireland they are motivated by the love of it, an official study has found.

The Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) said the stark cross border differences also showed that people who are passionate about their native tongue for reasons of identity are more likely to use it.

The state think-tank warned Irish will not flourish unless ways are found to encourage people to learn it and use it in everyday life.

Using data from a number of studies the ESRI reported that in the Republic 30% of people who learned the language for “its own sake” used it every week, compared to 19% who learned it for another reason.

ESRI author Dr Merike Darmody said research suggested that activists need to be encouraged in order to bring Irish into everyday mainstream use.

“People in the Republic seem to have a much more pragmatic attitude. They say we need it to pass exams,” she said.

“Many people who are positive about the language don’t actively speak it – that’s similar to the experience seen in Wales.

“Particularly in Northern Ireland, considering that it was much more prevalent – you learn the language for it’s own sake so it shows that issues around identity and national identity are more prevalent.”

The ESRI said about half of those who learned Irish in school in the Republic did so to pass exams while almost nine out of 10 people surveyed in Northern Ireland said they wanted to know and have Irish and were drawn to it for reasons of identity.

It said that while school children in the Republic often have a bad attitude towards the language their parents feel more positive about it but it does not translate into significant use.

Vodafone ordered to tell Irish customers how to cancel their contracts

  

Mobile giant Vodafone has been ordered to tell Irish customers how they can cancel their contracts.

A state watchdog said the telecoms company was not complying with consumer protection legislation.

In an enforcement order, Vodafone was told to change its website to make sure customers are fully advised on their legal rights to drop their subscription before they make a purchase.

The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission said Vodafone “was not complying with consumer law” over the information that should be provided to customers.

Anyone who bought goods or services from the company online over the last year can get details on how to cancel.

Isolde Goggin, chairwoman of the commission, said: “Customers of Vodafone will in the future be given the correct information as required by law.

“In addition, customers who bought goods or services online from Vodafone in the past 12 months and who now wish to cancel their contract can find details of how to do so in the customer notices section of the Vodafone website.”

Earlier this year, compliance notices were issued to eircom, eMobile, Meteor, Three and UPC over consumer protection laws.

UPDATE 3.55pm: Vodafone Ireland have released the following statement on the matter:

Vodafone acknowledges the findings of the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) in relation to customers purchasing products and services through its online sales channel.

The CCPC asked Vodafone to clarify a customer’s rights to cancel a contract pursuant to the European Union (Consumer Information, Cancellation and Other Rights) Regulations 2013 (the ‘Consumer Information Regulations’) and specifically to clarify their rights to a fourteen day “cooling off period” and the cancellation procedure to be used in doing so.

Vodafone has now clarified this information on its website for customers who have purchased a product/service online through their e-shop, to ensure that the customer’s cancellation rights are clearly outlined and easy to understand.

Vodafone apologises to its online customers in relation to this matter. It has worked with the CCPC in relation to this issue and is confident that these matters have been fully dealt with and that the company’s e-shop is now compliant with these requirements set out by the CCPC.

Flesh-eating ‘piranhas’ found in south west coast of Irish waters

 

Piranha have been discovered prowling off the south-west coast

The tiny sea crustaceans – which are the same size as just three grains of salt – have been discovered prowling off the south-west coast

The world’s smallest flesh-eating piranha-like creature is lurking in the sea off the Irish coast.

And don’t be fooled by its tiny 3mm length – the deep-sea creature can take on whales and Great White sharks and strip the flesh from dead pigs and other livestock within hours.

The tiny sea crustaceans – which are the same size as just three grains of salt – have been discovered prowling off the south-west coast.

Called amphipods and incredibly tiny, they are like mini-piranha because they have teeth sharp enough to tear through the carcasses of dead whales and sharks which sink to the ocean bed.

A team of scientists from Southampton’s National Oceanography Centre also revealed the miniature sea beasties have been known to devour pig corpses within a few hours.

Billions of the terrifying crustaceans live in depths of down to 4,500m in the North Atlantic and hunt in huge shoals to eat the remains of dead marine animals, from whales to seabirds.

NOC scientists set out to catch them using a trap filled with mackerel bait, and were shocked to discover they snared 40,000 of the creatures, which have since been named after late biologist Roger Bamber.

Lead author Dr Tammy Horton revealed: “Amphipods are incredibly diverse and adaptable – there are currently around 10,000 known species.

“They live in all marine environments, from shallow waters to the oceans deepest trenches, on land and in fresh water.

“I gave the species name ‘lemarete’ to one of the amphipods because it translates from Greek to ‘bold and excellent’, which is the motto on Roger Bamber’s coat of arms.

“Roger always put a lot of thought into the names he gave species, such as the tanaid species he named after a creature in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld.”

The research forms part of the NOCs ongoing deep-sea study, linking with the oil and gas industry on how their work affects the environment.