Donie's ireland daily news BLOG

Simon Harris new health Minister urges an end to maternity hospital dispute

MINISTER CALLS ON THOSE INVOLVED IN THE ROW OVER ST VINCENT’S HOSPITAL FACILITY TO ‘PUT EGOS TO ONE SIDE’

    

The new Minister for Health Simon Harris has called on those involved in the dispute over the governance of the National Maternity Hospital after its proposed relocation to “put their egos to one side”.

Mr Harris said on East Coast FM on Saturday morning: “The people of Ireland, the expectant mothers of Ireland, do not care about your bureaucratic row.”

Management at St Vincent’s Hospital and the National Maternity Hospital at Holles Street are at odds over the governance of the new facility.

Mr Harris said he will not allow the possibility of a new maternity hospital to be “jeopardised by rows over governance and fiefdom”.

The Wicklow/East Carlow TD said he was looking forward to taking on “the greatest challenge of my life” and called for a political consensus around health as “you cannot run the health service on a couple of years long policy”.

TRANSFER NOT DEMOTION?

Meanwhile, Mr Harris’s predecessor Leo Varadkar has insisted his transfer from the Health portfolio is not a demotion.

Speaking after Taoiseach Enda Kenny opted on Friday to appoint Mr Harris to the Health portfolio and reassign Mr Varadkar to Social Protection, Mr Varadkar said: “I don’t see it as a demotion, but it may be a sideways move”.

Mr Varadkar, who received his seal of office on Friday night, noted his new department had the largest budget and impacted on the lives of a huge number of people.

It is the first time in almost 30 years a Fine Gael minister has been in charge of Social Protection.

Mr Varadkar did admit that “in some ways I am sorry to be losing health”.

“In the period I was there we were able to increase the government by €1 billion and start delighted. And I was delighted to get the children’s hospital over the line at long last,” he told RTÉ Radio One on Saturday.

THE NEW CABINET IS:

Department of Social Protection: Leo Varadkar

Finance: Michael Noonan

Public Expenditure and Reform: Paschal Donohoe

Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation: Mary Mitchell O’Connor

Agriculture, Food and the Marine: Michael Creed

Justice and Equality: Frances Fitzgerald (Tánaiste)

Children and Youth Affairs: Katherine Zappone

Health: Simon Harris

Foreign Affairs and Trade: Charlie Flanagan

Education and Skills: Richard Bruton

Housing, Planning and Local Government: Simon Coveney

Communications, Climate Change and Natural Resources: Denis Naughten

Transport, Tourism and Sport: Shane Ross

Regional Development, Rural Affairs, Arts and the Gaeltacht:Heather Humphreys

Defence: Enda Kenny

Minister of State at Departments of the Taoiseach and Defence with Special Responsibility for Defence: Paul Kehoe

‘Give us a chance,’ says new Minister of Transport Tourism and Sport Shane Ross?

THIS IS FIRST GOVERNMENT SINCE 1948 WITH INDEPENDENT MEMBERS SAYS NEW MINISTER DENIS NAUGHTEN

    

THE NEW MINISTER FOR TRANSPORT SHANE ROSS HAS SAID “WE BELIEVE THAT IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS WE HAVE AGREED A PROGRAMME THAT WOULD BRING A RADICAL CHANGE TO IRISH POLITICS”.

The economic management council “is gone”, new Minister for Transport Shane Ross has told the Dáil.

In his maiden speech as a Cabinet Minister, Mr Ross said the Taoiseach had given a commitment that the council, a controversial Cabinet sub-committee of the Government’s most senior Ministers Taoiseach, Tánaiste and Ministers for Finance and Public Expenditure and Reform – would no longer exist.

The Dublin Rathdown TD said the Independent Alliance made a decision that they would decide to enter government if they could extract or agree the terms they needed.

“We believe that in the last few weeks we have agreed a programme that would bring a radical change in Irish politics,” he said.

The Alliance had found it difficult to come down this road because they were so disparate to make things work.

He said people were sceptical about the new Government, but he said: “Let’s give it a chance. Let’s talk to each other.”

Mr Ross said he did not know what his powers were but he would try to introduce measures, including those suggested by the Opposition and he welcomed the idea of an anti-corruption agency, suggested by social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy during the Dáil debate on the new Cabinet.

He said the Government had done a U-turn on Seanad reform and there was already agreement within the all-party group on Dáil reform.

Mr Ross said: “There’s a certain amount of bankruptcy, not on this side of the House but on the opposition benches,” as he highlighted the sniping between Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin.

New Minister for Communications and Climate Change Denis Naughten pointed out that this was the first Government with Independents in the Cabinet, since 1948 when a fellow Co-Roscommon man James Dillon was a member.

In his first speech as Minister, he said the Cabinet would have to include all views “right from Eamon Ryan to Danny Healy-Rae and that’s not going to be easy”.

Mr Naughten said he spent more of his 19 years in the Dáil on the opposition benches and he said there were very few Ministers who were prepared to deal with opposition TDs, but this Government would.

He said the new Government’s focus would include bringing life back to small towns. Mr Naughten stressed: “Collectively these towns matter just as much as the cities.”

Mr Naughten said he wanted to thank those who had contributed to the programme for Government. “We have now a partnership agreement across this House. Let’s try and make it work.”

New Minister of State Finian McGrath in a “super junior” role said it was a great personal honour and privilege to be appointed as Minister of State for Disabilities.

He urged the opposition to “open your minds and look at the detail” of the programme for government.

And he repeatedly stressed that the arrangement “was no grubby deal”. He would not be taking any lectures from people who “sat on their hands”.

Government was about using power “to have the kind of change we need in our society”.

He insisted this was a “very diverse Dáil but it is not fragmented”.

Outlining some of the agreements he had reached, he said the medical card would be extended to all children on domiciliary care allowance in budget 2017, a total of 10,000 children. “Do not call that a grubby deal,” he said, adding that a new cystic fibrosis unit for Beaumont Hospital was “no grubby deal”.

Mr McGrath said “the rights of people with disabilities will be at the heart of this government” and he said “we’re going to be radical. We’re going to be progressive. We’re going to be responsible.”

Why is the price of car insurance in Ireland going up?

IS IT DOWN TO MORE CLAIMS AND BIGGER AWARDS? OR A RACE TO GET BACK TO PROFITABILITY?

    

A CRASH COURSE? THE COST OF IRISH CAR INSURANCE ROSE BY 32% IN THE YEAR TO MARCH. 

While motor costs are going down around the world, here at home the cost of insuring your car has spiralled. According to the Central Statistics Office, the cost of car insurance rose by 32% in the year to March.

Insurance companies blame an increase in the number of personal-injury claims brought to court, and a jump in the size of awards given out, but the Injuries Board has quoted CSO figures showing fewer claims going to court and only a small increase in the size of awards.

Insurers have also blamed underpricing by rivals, which they say forced them to cut their prices, in order to compete.

When Quinn Insurance entered the car-insurance marketplace, in 1990, it did so with all engines revving, aggressively driving down premiums. This spurred other insurers to follow Quinn down discount alley, and the result was happy days for male drivers under the age of 25, who until then had been paying very high premiums. But when the global economy crashed, Quinn Insurance ran into the ditch.

The recent rise in prices, say insurers, is simply the industry going back to more realistic rates.

Although the Government and regulators might be buying that line, some say the insurers’ explanation is straight out of a car repairman’s garage.

The real explanation, according to a briefing document prepared for Minister for Transport Paschal Donohoe and obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, is that insurers are racing to get back to profitability after years of being forced by a competitive market to give car owners decent deals.

As safety technology powers forward, leading to fewer crashes and generally safer driving (or self-driving), we have been promised lower premiums – but, like those jet packs we were told about, we may be waiting a while yet.

Boeing 767 has been successfully beached in Enniscrone Co. Sligo.

   

THE UNUSUAL SCENES HAVE BEEN CAPTURED ON THE WATERS OF THE ATLANTIC OCEAN.

A Boeing 767, which is destined for a glamping site in Co Sligo, has been successfully beached at Enniscrone.

The aircraft left Shannon on a barge on Thursday on its way to its new home.

Preparations are being made this evening to lift the plane off the barge and bring it to a nearby site where it will be the accommodation center-piece in a glamping village.

Timber mats have been laid on the sand for a truck and trailer to get across the beach to the barge.

The plane will then be lifted by crane onto the trailer and driven to David McGowan’s Quirky Nights Glamping village in Enniscrone.

Mr McGowan already has a number of old London taxis and a double decker bus ready to be converted into accommodation on the site and is also planning to buy more buses and boats for the venture.

The operation to bring the plane to the site will continue into the night.

Thousands of people travelled to Enniscrone today to watch the plane coming in.

Speaking tonight, Mr McGowan joked: “If I don’t land it, I’ll be known as the biggest eejit in the whole country.”

Entrepreneur McGowan bought the plane, which was previously owned by Russian airline Transaero, last year for €20,000.

Transporting it back to Sligo has been a major logistical exercise after a transfer by road was ruled out.

Water charges should be refunded says?

THE FORMER TÁNAISTE JOAN BURTON SAYS LEO VARADKAR WILL INHERIT A €2 MILLION SURPLUS

      

THE FORMER LABOUR PARTY LEADER JOAN BURTON SAYS I WAS VERY CRITICAL OF SOME OF THE DECISIONS THAT PHIL HOGAN MADE?

Labour leader and former Tánaiste Joan Burton has said people who paid water charges should now be refunded.

Ms Burton said the decision to suspend water charges was a mistake as costs were reduced to a “very affordable” level.

Ms Burton said today on RTÉ Radio 1: “People who paid the water charges…they’re going to have to be credited or refunded in some way.”

She said she was critical of former minister for the environment Phil Hogan and his role in the setting up of Irish Water.

“I think some of the decisions that were made at the beginning when Phil Hogan was minister…. I was very critical of them when I was a member of the Government. In particular I was concerned about people on low incomes.

“I was concerned that the charges could be at a much higher level than a family with say three of four children and particularly teenagers with long showers and playing GAA… that those bills would mount and mount,” she said.

Ms Burton said after having to “ravage social welfare” during her tenure as Minister for Social Protection as it faced a deficit “heading for €3 billion” when she took over.

She said newly appointed Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar will inherit a €2 million surplus for the first three months of 2016.

Ms Burton also said Irish people “should be proud of our social welfare system”.

Ms Burton would not be drawn on her future role in the Labour Party but said she will be active in the Labour party “no matter what”.

She said the Labour Parliamentary party will meet on Tuesday and that the party must decide who the new leader will be by the end of the summer.

Ms Burton was also critical of an RTÉ Late Late Show interview where British psychologist Peter Collett analysed her body language, saying it was “unncecessary and crude”.

“I thought the Late Late psychologist’s comments were odd, I haven’t heard those comments in relation to male politicians,” she said.

The psychologist said her body language could be attributed to rejection in early childhood.

Ms Burton said the comments were hurtful as she was adopted.

Stick insect found in southern China is declared world’s longest insect at 62.4 Cms = 24 Inches

    

A BUG OVER HALF A METER LONG THAT WAS DISCOVERED IN SOUTHERN CHINA HAS BEEN DECLARED THE WORLD’S LONGEST INSECT, THE CHINESE MEDIA SAID LAST THURSDAY.

A stick insect measuring 62.4 centimeters (24 inches) long, found two years ago in the southern province of Guangxi, has broken the record for length among the world’s 807,625 known species of insects, the official Xinhua News Agency said, citing the Insect Museum of West China.

The previous record-holder was a 56.7-cm-long (22.3-inch) Malaysian stick insect, discovered in 2008 and now on display in London’s Natural History Museum.

Tipped off by locals about a huge beast half a meter long but only as thick as a human index finger, scientist Zhao Li had been on the hunt for the bug for six years before he finally glimpsed and captured one.

“I was collecting insects on a 1,200-meter-tall (3,930-foot) mountain in Guangxi’s Liuzhou City on the night of Aug. 16, 2014, when a dark shadow appeared in the distance, which looked like a tree twig,” Zhao said, according to Xinhua. “As I went near, I was shocked to find the huge insect’s legs were as long as its body.”

The bug has been dubbed Phryganistria chinensis zhao in his honor, and a paper about it will soon be published. More than 3,000 varieties of stick insects have been discovered so far, Xinhua said.    

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

A spring statement showing five ways it will affect your pocket

• After Irish Water debacle Government is planning absolutely no nasty surprises.

  

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan speaks delivered the Government’s spring economic statement. He predicts tax reductions and extra Government spending in the Budget.

The spring statement set the goalpost for the budget, but did not give us the detail. We don’t have the budgetary tables of who wins and who loses and by how much and the typical budget day examples such as “Mary”, the single public servant earning €40,000, or “Michael and Siobhán”, the couple earning €85,000. But clear hints have been dropped by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin about how the spoils of economic growth will be divided.

Some €1 billion was distributed in tax cuts and spending hikes in the 2015 package presented last October. For next October the indications are that there will be at least €1.5 billion to spare.

Here are five things that this all means for your pocket:

1 Lower tax and charges on pay packets: The Government cut the USC and income tax modestly in the last budget, with tweaks made to claw back some of the gains from those earning more than €70,000 a year. We can expect more of the same in the next budget, as Noonan confirmed when he launched a strong defence of the Government’s tax strategy. Tax cuts of over €600 million are expected next October, compared to €400 million last October.

If the Government is re-elected, Noonan made clear that we can expect more of the same in the years ahead.

Next October we can expect a further increase in the standard rate tax band – single earners now enter the higher 40% income tax rate at €33,800 and this income limit will likely rise, benefiting anyone earning over that level. As happened last year, USC changes are likely to benefit lower and middle income earners in particular.

Last year’s budget boosted after-tax income by 1 -1.5% for most earners with the biggest gains going to a group of lowest earners excluded from USC and to those on incomes of €35,000 to €75,000 for a single earner.

So if, as expected, the Government goes for a “same but a bit more” approach next October, the gains for many will be about 1.5 – 2.5% in terms of a boost to take home pay.

Tax cuts will benefit people’s pockets, but the return of cash is gradual. Tax hikes during the crisis totaled about €10 billion. There were tax cuts of about €400 million last October and a further €2 billion might be affordable over the next three years. So in rough terms taxpayers might get a quarter of the emergency hikes back by 2018.

2 Rising public sector pay: There is no doubt that rising public sector pay in some form is now on the agenda, with Howlin getting Cabinet clearance to commence talks with the unions. How much this will take of the €600 million – €750 million available for day-to-day spending increases next year is not clear. The public pay bill is about €14 billion so the gross cost of each 1% rise is €140 million, though the net cost is lower as the exchequer gets about 30% of any rise back in higher income tax. Howlin was cautious, but he did say in relation to public pay that “the unwinding of the measures will take time”.

The Government will consider increases – the issue is how quickly and on what basis. One option would be to focus initially on the pension levy, which was introduced in 2009 and takes about 7.5% from an average public sector salary. Overall, however, like tax cuts, it is a long way back after pay cuts of 14-15% for most public servants.

3 Increases in Government payments and subsidies: Howlin mentioned the social protection budget as one area set to get more cash. This means more in payments in some areas. In the last budget, the monthly child benefit payment was increased by €5 and another rise can be expected in October. Last year the living-alone allowance paid to 180,000 older people was also increased and more of this kind of targeted payment rises can be anticipated too.

Howlin also referenced a special group examining childcare issues and more help for younger families looks likely. This could involve either subsidies for childcare costs or some kind of tax relief. A second free preschool year is also being examined, as is subsidised after-school activities.

4 No nasty surprises on the way: After the water charges row, the Government is going to do absolutely nothing to raise any additional taxes or charges, no matter how small. There was nothing in the statement that might cause even a hint of controversy. Noonan did say, however, that the property tax and water charges must remain in place.

5 Banking bonus: It is clear that the main banks are gearing up to cut their standard variable mortgage rates and that the Government will take whatever credit it can. Noonan said he will call in the main lenders and would not be likely to do so unless he felt that reductions were imminent.

Those in mortgage arrears are also promised more options in a new package to be unveiled over the next few weeks.

Men from the construction industry ‘account for half of male suicides in Ireland’

• Report for CIF and Pieta House suggests a high number of deaths among those in production-type jobs

  

Mind our Workers: a new campaign by the Construction Industry Federation and Pieta House aims to raise awareness of suicide and mental health issues in the sector.

Men working in construction and production jobs accounted for nearly half of all male deaths by suicide in the period 2008 to 2012, a new report suggests.

An estimated 1,039 men from a construction or production background died by suicide during that period out of a total of 2,137 male suicides, according to figures published by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).

Mind our Workers, a campaign to raise awareness of suicide and mental health in the sector, was launched on Tuesday by the CIF and suicide prevention charity Pieta House.

A report commissioned by the organisations notes there has generally been little data available on the professional background of people who have died by suicide in Ireland.

But in recent years, the National Office for Suicide Prevention commissioned the National Suicide Research Foundation to undertake a study and to establish a suicide support and information system (SSIS).

In the second phase of that study, some 307 cases of suicide in Cork between September 2008 and June 2012 were examined (275 suicides and 32 open verdicts at inquest).

Of the 307 deaths, 246 (80%) were males. Some 120 of those had been working in the construction/production sector, a total of 49%.

This was more than triple the number of deaths accounted for by next highest sector, which was agriculture.

By extrapolating from the trends identified in the research and applying them to the national data, the researchers said “it could be soundly estimated” that at least 1,000 suicides came from a construction/production professional background between 2008 and 2012.” This rose to 1,039 when directly extrapolated from the second phase of the study.

Men account for 108,300 or 93% of the total 116,700 working in the construction sector, the Mind Our Workers report notes.

Ten people a week in Ireland die by suicide and eight of those are men.

Some 6,520 suicides took place between 2000 and 2012 – 81% or 5,263 were male.

Between 2008 and 2012, there were 2,137 male suicides.

Pieta House chief executive Brian Higgins said the organisation was delighted to initiate the campaign in partnership with the CIF.

“It is extremely encouraging that a national body as influential as the CIF sees the impact of suicide on the construction industry and its employees and is partnering with an organisation such as ourselves to help tackle the issue. Partnerships such as this are a way of building resilience within our society.”

CIF director general Tom Parlon said the suicide figures for the sector were “shocking”.

“The industry can’t ignore this problem – there is a necessity to take steps to try to help those in need. Given the amount of time people spend in the workplace, that is where the Mind Our Workers campaign will focus. By promoting a more open approach amongst construction workers and their colleagues we hope it might reduce the number of people who feel they have no way out.”

CIF president Michael Stone said the organisation wanted to see a working environment where it was acceptable for men to ask their friends and colleagues, “Are you ok?”

The ‘Mind Our Workers’ campaign will run throughout the year. Campaign leaflets will be distributed throughout the industry and briefings and workshops will also be organised for CIF members.

Pieta House representatives will also attend regional branch meetings to discuss suicide and mental health.

A series of ‘toolbox talks’ about mental health and suicide will also be organised at workplaces and construction sites.

Separately, more than 100,000 people are expected to participate in the seventh annual Darkness into Light event for Pieta House in the early hours of Saturday May 9th.

No extension to insurance loading date from Leo Varadkar

• Lifetime Community Rating will begin on May 1

    

The Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, has confirmed that there will be no extension to the starting date of Lifetime Community Rating, which is due to come into effect at the end of this week.

From May 1, members of the public aged 35 and older who do not have private health insurance, but then choose to take it out, will be charged extra.

Known as Lifetime Community Rating, these consumers will see their premiums permanently loaded by 2% per year from the age of 35. For example, if a 54-year-old decides to take out private health insurance for the first time after April 30, they will have a loading of 40% added to their premium every single year that they remain insured.

The maximum loading is 70% and this will apply to people aged 69 and older who take out insurance for the first time after April 30.

According to Minister Varadkar, this system ‘will help to ensure that older and sicker citizens can still afford health insurance because the healthy and young who do not make as many claims still pay into the system’.

“It will also help to stabilise the market by encouraging people to retain health insurance once they have it. This is an essential measure to protect our system of community rating whereby everyone pays the same premium for the same policy regardless of their age or their health status,” he said.

He added that private health insurers are recording a higher volume of calls and internet enquiries this week and phone lines are remaining open late each night to deal with this.

Women who breastfeed ‘can lower the risk of dying from breast cancer’?

   

Women breastfeed their children during a pro-breastfeeding protest in central London in December

Breastfeeding significantly reduces the risk of being killed by breast cancer, a new study has suggested.

Women with the disease who breastfed their babies have a significantly lower risk of the cancer killing them or recurring, according to the paper.

Scientists found a history of breastfeeding lowered the risk of dying by 28 per cent and reduced the chance of the cancer coming back by 30 per cent.

The study, by US health care provider Kaiser Permanente, used data from 1,636 women with breast cancer who completed a questionnaire about breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding had a clear protective effect, especially in relation to particular types of tumour including the most common hormone-sensitive strain.

The protection was strongest for women who had a history of breastfeeding for six months or longer.

Lead researcher Dr Marilyn Kwan said: “This is the first study we’re aware of that examined the role of breastfeeding history in cancer recurrence, and by tumour subtype.

“Women who breastfeed are more likely to get the luminal A subtype of breast cancer, which is less aggressive, and breastfeeding may set up a molecular environment that makes the tumour more responsive to anti-oestrogen therapy.”

Luminal A breast cancer includes oestrogen-positive tumours which are driven by the female hormone and are the most commonly diagnosed form of the disease.

These tumours are less likely to spread to other parts of the body than other types and are treatable with hormonal drugs such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.

Why women who breastfeed their babies develop less aggressive tumours is not entirely clear.

Co-author Dr Bette Caan, also from Kaiser Permanente, said: “Breastfeeding may increase the maturation of ductal cells in the breast, making them less susceptible to carcinogens or facilitate the excretion of carcinogens, and lead to slower growing tumours.”

The research appears in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Irish meteor hunters some tips to find one,

• Here are 5 steps to finding a recent meteorite

   

Irish meteor hunters pay attention, here are 5 steps to finding the recent meteorite

Those on the island of Ireland who may have spotted a giant flare-like streak in the sky were intrigued to discover that it was in fact a rare meteorite, pieces of which could be worth thousands of euro to its finders.

Perhaps even more eyebrow-raising for meteorite hunters is that the very rare event – approximately twice a year – is so unusual that each piece of the meteorite could be worth 10 times the price of gold at its current rate, which could put it as high as €10,000 per piece.

According to David Moore of Astronomy Ireland, the best guessas to where it landed is most likely in the north of the island and he is now calling on every camera that may have recorded the incident sometime around 10.10pm on Sunday, 26 April to bring forth their footage to better locate the smoking piece of space debris.

Despite Ireland’s small size compared with the rest of the planet, it’s understandably difficult to find a small piece of rock, with the last recorded finding not even occurring this millennium, having been discovered in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow back in 1999.

Given its rarity, it might be a little daunting to meteorite hunters as to how to actually find the smoking gun/rock, which is why, in their infinite space wisdom, Space.com has previously detailed the essential five steps to making a big find.

1. Finding a potential spot

Meteor hunting isn’t just a treasure hunt, but a scientific expedition that needs exact detail in order to find where the meteorite may have landed.

While we know that it landed somewhere in the north of the island, with the help of trajectory calculations, the prospector needs to identify the meteorite’s ‘dark flight’, which is the part of its fall when it slows to a speed of between 3-4km per second when its bright tail vanishes from sight.

If this can be located, it can narrow down the potential landing site significantly given that it would likely fall soon after its dark flight.

2. Make sure you have permission before jumping in a field

Given that there’s a lot of farmland across this island, most patches of grass in the countryside are likely to belong to a farmer or group of farmers.

The one thing to be certain of is that if a meteorite falls onto the grounds of someone’s estate, they don’t have the legal right to ownership of a large chunk of space debris, so once permission is sought, legal possession falls to the finder.

It’s probably best not to make them aware of its potential value, however…

  3  Get a good metal detector … and know how to use it

It might seem obvious to run to the nearest store that might sell metal detectors and pick one up to begin a hunt, but it’s much more complicated than that.

Given the complexity of minerals that make up meteorites, it’s simply not possible to just move a metal detector around a field, as would be seen in movies, as a specific type of metal detector is needed to find one.

According to metal detector enthusiasts, it is vital that, when searching for meteorites, the detector’s iron discriminator is switched off to better locate iron-laden meteorites, while gold-prospecting metal detectors are also good at locating the space debris.

4. Get your rock verified by a mineralogist

Given that it’s likely that many people in Ireland are not experts in minerals, it’s probably safe to say that should someone discover what they believe to be a piece of the recent meteorite crash, it’s best to take it to someone who could actually determine whether it is from terra firma or outer space.

For preliminary tests, however, it might be a good idea to bring a magnet to see whether the rock is magnetic given that the typical meteorite contains between 10-30pc iron.

However, magnetism does not mean it’s a meteorite, rather that it’s increased the likelihood of it being from space.

Likewise, if the sample is ground slightly, does it reveal a metallic silver substance inside? This is one of the tell-tale signs as to whether a rock is just a rock, or an ancient meteorite.

  5  Science over personal gain?

So you’ve discovered a meteorite, congratulations! But while your thoughts might be on where you’re going to install your new swimming pool, make sure to alert organisations, such as Astronomy Ireland, of your find so as they can analyse the sample with the hope of maybe finding something that could prove beneficial to our understanding of the wider universe.

Astronomy Ireland is currently looking for as many reports as possible from eyewitnesses and potential discoverers of the meteorite fragments so take this into account if you are lucky enough to stumble across them.