Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Irish economy outpaces euro zone countries with a 5.2% growth for 2016

QUARTERLY NATIONAL ACCOUNTS FROM CSO SUGGEST OUTPUT GREW IN ALL SECTORS OF ECONOMY

  

The latest figures show industrial output in 2016 increased by 2.4% in volume terms.

Ireland’s economy grew 5.2% last year, outstripping all other euro zone countries and most official forecasts for the third successive year.

While the rate of growth is a fraction of the 26% recorded for 2015, that was largely seen as an aberration.

The latest quarterly national accounts from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) suggest output increased in all sectors of the economy.

The figures show gross domestic product (GDP) accelerated 5.2% in 2016, while gross national product (GNP) rose 9%. The bigger GNP number reflects the profits associated with so-called redomiciled plcs, which have relocated their headquarters here for tax purposes.

On a quarterly basis, GDP advanced 2.4% in the final quarter of 2016, down from the 4% recorded for the three months to September.

Investment, meanwhile, jumped 45.5% to €76 billion, driven by the import of intellectual property assets to Ireland. This was linked to once-off tax planning by multinationals amid a global clampdown on corporate tax avoidance.

Personal consumption, which accounts for almost half of domestic demand and ranks as the best indicator of local economic activity, rose 3%. This tallies with the rise in employment and tax revenue evidenced in other indicators.

Vigilant view?

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan welcomed the latest figures, saying the Government was committed to remaining vigilant in the face of an increasingly uncertain external environment.

“Domestic demand is now the main driver of growth, with private consumption up 3% in 2016 supported by favourable labour market dynamics, continued increases in disposable income and solid consumer confidence.”

While his department expects growth to stay above 3% over the next three years, it has estimated that a “hard Brexit”  involving Britain exiting the EU’s single market entirely – could knock about 3.5% off GDP over the next decade.

Merrion analyst Alan McQuaid said the latest figures show personal spending and construction were holding up well, but he warned of a possible Brexit-related slowdown in headline growth. “We expect that ‘Brexit’ worries will intensify in 2017, leading to lower overall GDP growth this year.”

 Latest industrial output?

The latest figures show industrial output last year increased 2.4% in volume terms. Within the industry sector, building and construction grew 11.4%, reflecting the recovery in property.

The distribution, transport, software and communications sector grew 7.8%; while the other services and agricultural sectors grew 6% and 6.2% respectively.

Separate CSO figures on the State’s balance of payments pointed to a current account surplus of €12.5 billion in 2016, which was €26 billion lower than the surplus recorded in 2015.

Over half in favour of an empty homes tax according to Peter McVerry Trust

     

PAT DOYLE SAYS TAX COULD YIELD AN EXTRA €20 MILLION PER ANNUM TO THE STATE.

The latest CSO figures show there are 198,000 empty homes, excluding holiday homes in Ireland.

New research by homeless charity the Peter McVerry Trust has found that 62% of people are in favour of a tax on empty homes.

The latest CSO figures show there are 198,000 empty homes, excluding holiday homes in Ireland.

CEO of the Peter McVerry Trust, Pat Doyle said that putting a tax on empty homes, collected through the existing property tax would yield an extra €20 million per annum to the State.

“The Government is launching at the end of the month an empty homes strategy and what we are saying is that there will be grants to encourage landlords and those who are not using their properties to bring them back. But if they won’t or they are not interested in supporting the State tackle what is a crisis in housing right now we are saying there should be a tax.

“If you turn down the grant and you don’t have a legitimate reason to bring it in and are just sitting on it waiting for property prices to go up then that’s not good enough.

“That (the tax) could bring in about €19 or € 20 million a year and would support the Government’s campaign around granting aid to landlords to bring the properties back.”

Mr Doyle told Newstalk Breakfast that the trust believes there are 13 homes for every homeless person in urban areas.

“If you do the normal, there is around two of them will be in probate, three of them in legal dispute, two of them used for the fair deal scheme where people are using the property because someone is in hospital, that still leaves half of them at moment lying idle while we have a housing crisis.”

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Renewal Damian English said the Government was not be considering a tax on vacant homes at the moment and was more focused on projects like the repair and lease initiative and the national vacant housing reuse strategy to reduce homelessness.

He said a vacant tax levy had been scheduled for 2019 but that it was not a short term solution to the housing crisis.

“We’re very clear that there would be a long lead in time if you went down that road and we actually believe that we can get a better result by putting in place new initiatives to encourage people to bring their houses forward and to make them available.”

Mr English told RTÉ Morning Ireland that the Government had “reactivated 7,000 houses over the last 3-4 years” and had spent over €100 million on bringing vacant properties back into use.

He added that Minister for Housing Simon Coveney had committed to ensuring that the 720 families currently living in commercial hotels would be moved into housing by July. This move from hotels into housing would be made possible through the use of existing housing, refurbishing vacant properties through the repair and lease initiative and the “rapid construction” of new homes.

Asked by Morning Ireland to elaborate on the target of building 1,500 homes through rapid construction, Mr English said 150 were already under construction while 350 more “are in play”.

“We know and our targets, we have the sites secured to achieve about a 1000 additional housing under the rapid construction scheme before the end of this year,” said Mr English. “The increase of supply of housing is the solution here.”

The number of homeless people in Ireland reached a new high of 7,167 in January.

Some 4,760 adults and 2,407 children were homeless in January, a marginal increase of the previous record high of 7,148 reached in December, but a rise of a quarter on the same month last year (5,715).

The situation remains worst in Dublin where 3,247 adults and 2,046 children are homeless.

The number of homeless families in the State declined by 33 in January 2017, but it was still up by a third on that time last year.

Sister of ‘Sarah’ talks of ‘horrific sex abuse’ of those who lived in the Grace Foster Home.

‘THEIR LIVES WERE ROBBED’

    

THE SISTER OF A CHILD WHO SPENT TIME IN THE ‘GRACE’ FOSTER HOME HAS CLAIMED HER SISTER ‘SARAH’, ALSO SUFFERED HORRIFIC SEXUAL ABUSE AT THE HOME.

In an interview with David McCullagh on RTÉ’s Prime Time, the woman spoke out about her family’s experience at the foster home.

Sarah had intellectual disabilities and the family decided that the best learning option for her would be in a home that was far away from the family.

“There was a private arrangement where Sarah could go just kind of respite during the week just to give her a break from all the travelling but this wasn’t approved by the Health Board at that stage and they were keen for Sarah to go and stay in a registered foster placement.

“It was a comforting thing to our mother because she felt well if this was under the Health Board, the HSE, then all the checks were in place and that would be the best place for Sarah because she would be safe.”

Sarah’s sister said the family began to have concerns about the home?

“As a parent this is your worst nightmare. Sarah was home on a Sunday afternoon with Mom playing in the sitting room and just being in the space and Sarah was a beautiful young child and Mom said a very innocent turn of phrase and to her absolute horror Sarah got into a position, took down her pants, and kind of got into a sexual position and as you can imagine for any Mum, my mum was shocked and she just was you know immobilised.”

The family raised their concerns with the Health Board as they believed it needed to be addressed immediately.

“It was led by our mother who just looked at other options to get her out of there and to see what would offer her the best and safest environment again to learn and grow into her young teens and into adulthood and that meant that she left the jurisdiction and had to go to the North.

“We knew that Sarah had to go and leave that place but again the options were limited and again mom had to look for places outside of Ireland up to Northern Ireland.”

According to RTÉ, Sarah’s mum was one of the first whistle-blowers in the home, and a recommendation was made that another child named ‘Grace’ would be removed from the foster home but no action was taken.

“Our mother would have been the first whistle-blower and again you’re living in a different time and different context altogether and it would have taken a lot of strength and courage to go forward really start speaking out about what her concerns were and not only was she met with a brick wall, they came down really hard on our mother, there was reports written up, they were quite aggressive towards the family, they just totally bullied us in to thinking that it was all just in Mam’s head.

“On the other hand, they were doing all of these checks themselves and reaching a decision well actually there is something going wrong and Sarah was there the same time as Grace, you know their lives have been robbed in so many ways.

“Both beautiful, innocent children. Some of the most vulnerable children in our state.”

Sarah’s sister said that she is not only a victim but a survivor.

“Sarah is a victim of this but she’s also a survivor and she is one of the most incredible human beings I know. I have no idea of the pain, the physical pain and the mental torture. Sarah doesn’t have words to express what happened to her how she suffered and yet Sarah greets every day fighting.

“Some days she struggles to get out of bed, there’s so much damage done to her bowel and yet she still has the ability to laugh, she’s one of the most forgiving people you’ll meet and she fights for her life and she fights to have meaningful role within our community and be part of our family and that’s why we’ll continue to fight for her right to be heard and her to have a voice and have justice and some truth around what she’s faced and what she’s gone through.”

The family are hoping that the Commission of Investigation will give them answers into why this happened.

“I just wonder why Finian Mc Grath in his role as the Minister, particularly in his role as Minister for Disability has chosen this path. We have looked under the Freedom of Information for Sarah’s files to know who has had access to her file and yet we still haven’t got that.

“I think we’re very fortunate that we have some really strong individuals who have gone forward as whistle blowers and we know that whistle-blowers are not treated very well in this country but I think without them and without the support of lots of champions in the area this story would be very easily forgotten about and the absolute horrors that have been inflicted on young vulnerable children would be just laid to rest.”

Brain activity can continue for 10 minutes after death?

A NEW STUDY REVEALS

    

SCIENTISTS CANNOT EXPLAIN THE SINGLE DELTA WAVE.

The human brain can continue functioning for more than 10 minutes after the body has died, scientists have discovered.

Intensive care doctors reported observing the same kind of brain waves in a patient whose pulse had stopped and whose pupils were unreactive as occurs during deep sleep in healthy people.

Researchers had previously thought that brain activity ends before or shortly after the heart stops beating, although two studies last year demonstrated that genes continue to function, in some cases more energetically, in the days after people die.

The authors of the new study, published in the Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences, say the fresh discovery raises ethical problems as to when it is appropriate to remove donor organs in patients who appear to have died.

The Canadian doctors reported observing seeing “single delta wave bursts” in the brain of a patient after the cessation of cardiac rhythm and arterial blood pressure.

Only one of the four people studied exhibited the long-lasting and mysterious brain activity, they pointed out, with activity in most patients dying off before their heart stopped beating.

However, all of their brains behaved slightly differently in the minutes after they died.

The study authors say they have no idea why one of the brains might have continued partially functioning so long after clinical death.

Probiotic found in yogurt can reverse depression symptoms,  A study finds

    

Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine have reversed depression symptoms in mice by feeding them Lactobacillus, a probiotic bacteria found in live-cultures yogurt. Further, they have discovered a specific mechanism for how the bacteria affect mood, providing a direct link between the health of the gut microbiome and mental health.

Based on their findings, the researchers are optimistic that their discovery will hold true in people and are planning to confirm their findings in patients with depression.

“The big hope for this kind of research is that we won’t need to bother with complex drugs and side effects when we can just play with the microbiome,” explained lead researcher Alban Gaultier, Ph.D. “It would be magical just to change your diet, to change the bacteria you take, and fix your health – and your mood.”

Treating depression

Depression is one of the most common mental health conditions in the United States, with up to 7 percent of people experiencing a major depressive episode, Gaultier noted. “It’s a huge problem and the treatments are not very good, because they come with huge side effects,” he said.

The role of the gut microbiome – the bacteria that live inside us – has been of tremendous interest to researchers studying depression and other health conditions, both mental and physical. Gaultier, of the UVA Department of Neuroscience and its Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, set out to see if he could find a concrete link between depression and gut health. “When you’re stressed, you increase your chance of being depressed, and that’s been known for a long, long time,” he said. “So the question that we wanted to ask is, does the microbiome participate in depression?”

The answer appears to be yes. Looking at the composition of the gut microbiome before and after mice were subjected to stress, Gaultier’s team found that the major change was the loss of Lactobacillus. With the loss of Lactobacillus came the onset of depression symptoms. Feeding the mice Lactobacillus with their food returned them to almost normal. “A single strain of Lactobacillus,” Gaultier observed, “is able to influence mood.”

He and his team then went on to determine the mechanism by which Lactobacillus influences depression. They found that the amount of Lactobacillus in the gut affects the level of a metabolite in the blood called kynurenine, which has been shown to drive depression. When Lactobacillus was diminished in the gut, the levels of kynurenine went up – and depression symptoms set in.

“This is the most consistent change we’ve seen across different experiments and different settings we call microbiome profiles,” explained researcher Ioana Marin, a graduate student who is finishing up her Ph.D. work. “This is a consistent change. We see Lactobacillus levels correlate directly with the behavior of these mice.”

Testing in humans ASAP.

Gaultier was careful to call the symptoms seen in mice as “depressive-like behavior” or “despair behavior,” as mice have no way to communicate that they are feeling depressed. But those symptoms are widely accepted as the best available model for looking at depression in creatures other than humans.

Based on the new findings, Gaultier plans to begin studying the effect in people as soon as possible. He intends to examine the effects of Lactobacillus on depression in patients with multiple sclerosis, a group in which the disorder is common. Promisingly, the same biological substances and mechanisms Lactobacillus uses to affect mood in mice are also seen in humans, suggesting the effect may be the same.

In addition to looking at the effects in people, the researchers are continuing to explore the important role of kynurenine. “There has been some work in humans and quite a bit in animal models talking about how this metabolite, kynurenine, can influence behavior,” Marin said. “It’s something produced with inflammation that we know is connected with depression. But the question still remains: How? How does this molecule affect the brain? What are the processes? This is the road we want to take.”

While there is no harm in people with depression eating yogurt, people receiving treatment for depression should not stop taking their medications without consulting their physicians. More studies, the researchers noted, are needed.

Low gluten diets linked to higher risk of type 2 diabetes

    

Diets higher in gluten were associated with a lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Study participants who ate less gluten tended to eat less cereal fiber, a known protective factor for developing type 2 diabetes.

Gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, gives bread and other baked goods elasticity during the baking process and a chewy texture in finished products.

Eating more gluten may be associated with a lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes, according to research presented at the American Heart Association’s Epidemiology and Prevention / Lifestyle and Cardiometabolic Health 2017 Scientific Sessions.

Gluten, a protein found in wheat, rye and barley, gives bread and other baked goods elasticity during the baking process and a chewy texture in finished products. A small percentage of the population cannot tolerate gluten due to Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity, but gluten-free diets have become popular for people without these conditions, even though there is lack of evidence that reducing gluten consumption provides long-term health benefits.

“We wanted to determine if gluten consumption will affect health in people with no apparent medical reasons to avoid gluten,” said Geng Zong, Ph.D., a research fellow in the Department of Nutrition at Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston, Massachusetts. “Gluten-free foods often have less dietary fibre and other micronutrients, making them less nutritious and they also tend to cost more. People without Celiac disease may reconsider limiting their gluten intake for chronic disease prevention, especially for diabetes.”

Micronutrients are dietary components such as vitamins and minerals.

In this long-term observational study, researchers found that most participants had gluten intake below 12 grams/day, and within this range, those who ate the most gluten had lower Type 2 diabetes risk during thirty years of follow-up. Study participants who ate less gluten also tended to eat less cereal fiber, a known protective factor for Type 2 diabetes development.

After further accounting for the potential effect of cereal fiber, individuals in the highest 20 percent of gluten consumption had a 13 percent lower risk of developing Type 2 diabetes in comparison to those with the lowest daily gluten consumption (approximately fewer than 4 grams).

The researchers estimated daily gluten intake for 199,794 participants in three long-term health studies — 69,276 from the Nurses’ Health Study (NHS), 88,610 from the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHSII) and 41,908 from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (HPFS) — from food-frequency questionnaires completed by participants every two to four years.

The average daily gluten intake in grams was 5.8 g/d for NHS, 6.8 g/d for NHSII, and 7.1 g/d for HPFS, and major dietary sources were pastas, cereals, pizza, muffins, pretzels, and bread.

Over the course of the study, which included 4.24 million person-years of follow-up from 1984-1990 to 2010-2013, 15,947 cases of Type 2 diabetes were confirmed.

Study participants reported their gluten consumption and the study was observational, therefore findings warrant confirmation by other investigations. Also, most of the participants took part in the study before gluten-free diets became popular, so there is no data from gluten abstainers.   

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Ireland’s residential property prices go up 7.1% in year to October

   

DUBLIN REMAINS THE MOST EXPENSIVE PLACE IN THE COUNTRY TO BUY A PROPERTY, WHILE CO LONGFORD HAS THE CHEAPEST PRICES.

Residential property prices nationwide rose by 7.1% in the year to October, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

The CSO said this compares to growth of 4.4% the same time last year.

Dublin property prices increased by 5.5% in the year to October, with house prices up 6.1% and apartment prices rising by 4.1%. Dublin prices remain the country’s most expensive.

Within the Dublin area, the CSO noted the highest price increases were in Dublin City (at 7.5%), while the lowest growth rate was seen in Fingal with prices up 3.4% there.

Meanwhile, residential property prices in the rest of the country jumped by 10.2% in the year to October.

Houses prices rose by 10.3% with the Midland regions showing the fastest growth rate of 16.6%, while the Mid-East region saw the slowest growth rate of 6.1%.

Apartment prices in the rest of the country outside of Dublin rose by 9.3% in the year to October.

In October, the average market price paid for a new residence was €250,147. The CSO said that the average market price paid by households over 12 months – a more stable measure of price – was €235,750.

In the year to October, the average price paid for a home was higher in Dublin than in other region or county, with the average price amounting to €386,657.

After Dublin, the next most expensive region was the Mid-East, where the average market price was €238,492.

Within this area, Co Wicklow was most expensive, with an average price of €314,690.

The least expensive region for household purchases over the last 12 months was the Border region, with an average price of €112,586.

But the cheapest price for houses was seen in Co Longford, with an average price of €83,420

Today’s CSO figures show that from the lows reached in early 2013, property prices nationally have increased by 48.4%.

During this time, Dublin residential property prices have increased 64.7% while residential property prices in the rest of the country are 44.7% higher.

They also show that when measured by value, the housing market has increased by 6.8% from €762.9m to €815m in the 12 months to October.

Commenting on today’s CSO figures, Davy economist Conall Mac Coille said the latest monthly rise has softened slightly from the exceptionally strong gains through the summer – 2.4% in July, 1.4% in August and 1.5% in September.

But the economist said that the October increases were stronger than had been expected.

Mr Mac Coille said that house price inflation in 2017 will be stimulated by the relaxation of the Central Bank’s mortgage lending rules and the Government’s “Help-to-Buy” scheme.

This provides a 5% tax rebate, worth up to €20,000, for first-time buyers of newly built homes.

Why we have occupied Apollo House

WE HAVE 193,000 HOMES WITHOUT PEOPLE AND 6,500 PEOPLE WITHOUT HOMES

   

JIM SHERIDAN AND BRENDAN OGLE OF ‘HOME SWEET HOME’ AT APOLLO HOUSE AT POOLBEG STREET, DUBLIN.

It’s been just over two years since Jonathan Corrie, a homeless man, was found dead yards from Dáil Éireann as our elected parliamentarians went to work.

Jonathan’s 16-year-old son Nathan said today after the death of his father who had left Carlow because he did not want his family to see him in difficulty. Jonathan was 43 years old. Young yes, but the life expectancy for a homeless man is 44, and for a woman just 38.

Sixteen people died on our streets between 2011 and 2014 and the graph has been rising since. You might remember Jonathan’s name but will you remember the names of the other 15? The people dying now hardly merit a footnote on the national daily news stories about ‘recovery’ ‘growth’; so much bombast and bluster, and alongside it the reality of so much unnecessary death and suffering.

It is to our national shame that neither Jonathan’s death, nor that of any of the others before or since, has shocked us into addressing the root causes of homelessness. The situation has gotten exponentially worse: homelessness has risen 40 per cent in the last year alone. We are a nation that, in 2016, cherishes none of its children equally.

Artists row in.

I got a phone call from a friend in the music industry recently who is also a Trojan community activist in his native Ballymun. Dean Scurry, who I first met through the Right2Water campaign, told me how many of Ireland’s artists and poets, actors and film directors wanted to do something to address this human crisis. I knew one or two of them a little. Glen Hansard had done me the honour of launching a book I wrote recently about the water campaign and our dreadful, policy driven, inequality. Damien Dempsey has performed at Right2Water events and people like John Connors and Terry McMahon feel the pain of our broken nation deeply.

Others too were on board: ‘Christy’, Jim Sheridan, Kodaline, Saoirse Ronan, the list went on. Dean had an idea. Could a citizen-led intervention take homeless people off the streets until the Government got around to housing them? The artists would be open to supporting such a move if it had as its objective the creation of a home for people forced to live on our streets. It was the lads from Kodaline who stated “we have homes without people, and people without homes” when confronted with the startling statistic that while we have 6,500 people officially homeless including 2,400 children, that the census shows we have a whopping 193,000 empty homes in Ireland, excluding holiday homes.

Socialising private debt.

And then there’s Nama. The bad bank that was used to socialise private debt and bequeath to us buildings all over our landscape that lie fallow while people get soaked, freeze, go hungry and even die below. Did I think we could get access to a Nama property? ‘We’ owned it after all. It took about a week to find a property we could access with some assistance and eventually Apollo House, a former social welfare office now closed down, came into our possession.

This has been tried before. The wonderful Irish Housing Network and many other groups have been trying to provide support for our homeless people for a long time. But never in a Nama property and never with such support. So a loose coalition was formed. We all had different tasks, but the same motivation. Could we arrive at a situation where nobody, at least in Dublin, is forced to be without a roof and ‘home’ for this Christmas and beyond?

There are wonderful videos involving Jim Sheridan, Glen and many others and I hope, we all hope, that these efforts may force us all to look inwards and stop this madness. And it is madness that can be easily stopped. In recent years governments have given more than €2.7 billion in tax cuts disproportionately benefiting the wealthiest and corporations. Did you get any of that? Did it change your life? No, me neither. But it could have built over 10,000 homes each year. It could have changed the life of every homeless person, of every homeless child, and ultimately cleared social housing waiting lists.

A human decency?

Homelessness is a result of poor, or cruel, political policy decisions. I prefer to think of them as just poor. Otherwise, what have we become as a society?

Ultimately homelessness and its causes will only be resolved by a movement in policy towards housing that is based on citizenship as much as profit, that puts human decency above uncaring ideology.

I do not know how ‘Home Sweet Home’ will work out, but whatever differences we all have, can we please resolve to end this cruelty? The gardaí who came to Apollo House last night praised the volunteers and confirmed the event as peaceful and well organised. They toured the building checking the welfare of the homeless people who were sleeping in private rooms on new mattresses for the first time in a long time. We told them that Apollo House was a ‘dry house’ for genuinely homeless people, well-resourced and taken care of. So please help in any way you can.

Tonight there are people sleeping in a safe and secure building with heating and electricity, and if it wasn’t for this intervention of artists and citizens they would be in doorways and alleyways. I have no doubt this intervention, with your support, can save lives. To find out more about how you can help please go to homesweethome.irish

Emergency 65 bed hostel in Dublin can open until legal row resolved

  

Independent TD Katherine Zappone children’s Minister (left pic.).

THE 65-BED CARMAN’S HALL FACILITY WAS ONE OF FOUR IN THE CITY BEING SET UP TO HELP ADDRESS HOMELESSNESS

A judge has ruled that an emergency hostel for the homeless in the Liberties in Dublin can be open until the legal row over the use of the facility has been determined.

The opening of the temporary hostel in the converted Carman’s Hall, which had been used as community centre until it shut in 2013, in Francis Street has been halted due to a legal challenge by the Carman’s Hall Interest Group, the Michael Mallin House Residents and a youth and community worker, Elizabeth O’Connor.

The residents want the facility reopened as a community centre and have secured permission for judicial review of the Council’s decision allowing the centre be used as a hostel to deal with the homeless emergency.

The court’s permission for judicial review proceedings also acted as a stay on the hostel opening.

Because of the current homeless situation Dublin City Council, which opposes the resident’s challenge, asked the court for the stay to be lifted pending the outcome of the full hearing.

Lawyers for the residents argued the stay should remain in place.

In his ruling Mr Justice Seamus Noonan said he was satisfied the balance of justice lay in lifting the stay preventing the facility from being used as an emergency hostel until the full dispute has been determined.

The judge said when considering the application he had to take factors into account such as the residents inconvenience and the needs of one of “a very vulnerable section of society” particular during the winter months.

The judge said he noted the residents concerns.

However evidence was given to the court about the homeless crisis that the number deemed homeless in Dublin city, has increased from 3,700 to 5,000 in the period between September 2015 and September 2016.

While the number of rough sleepers in the city fluctuates evidence had been given that emergency hostel facilities are currently at capacity, the judge said.

The Carman’s Hall facility the judge said is to be run by groups that considerable expertise in working with the homeless.

In the circumstances the court was satisfied to lift the stay.

The judge, noting the urgency of the matter, had previously listed the full hearing of the case for 18 January.

The residents he said have challenged council’s decision of 24 October allowing for a change of use of Carman’s Hall to a hostel.

As part of their challenge the residents, and their expert, say that going ahead with the hostel without going through the public consultation process amounted to a material contravention of the city development plan, the judge said.

He said the council, and their expert, disputes that claim and maintains it was entitled under the planning laws to allow the centre be converted into a hostel for the homeless.

This argument clearly was a “complex question of law,” the judge said.

However the judge said that at this stage the court was not deciding on the merits of either sides arguments which would be matters to be determined at the full hearing of the case.

Declan McGrath SC, with Niall Handy BL, for the residents, said their concern is about an “undue concentration” of homeless and social support services in the south inner city.

There are 12 homeless and social support services within 500m of Carman’s Hall and more than 660 people deemed homeless are being accommodated in Dublin 8, compared to 78 in Dublin 4 and “none whatsoever” in Dublin 6W, he said.

James Connolly SC, with Stephen Dodd BL, for the Council, argued the stay should be lifted due to the number of vulnerable rough sleepers on the streets at this time of year.

The Council has already spent about €930,000 converting the building into a hostel after acquiring it under a five-year lease from its owners the Dublin Catholic Archdiocese, he said.

Dublin City Council had not committed to using the premises as a hostel beyond the 2017-18 winter period.

The 65-bed Carman’s Hall facility was one of four in the city being set up to help address homelessness and was offered by the local parish priest to help with the homeless emergency, counsel said.

A survey carried out on 22-23 November found 142 rough sleepers in Dublin but that situation was fluid and facilities for the homeless are currently full up with people being turned away, the court heard.

Bank of Ireland admits to over-charging thousands of its Irish mortgage customers

   

THE BANK OF IRELAND HAS ADMITTED OVER-CHARGING THOUSANDS OF ITS MORTGAGE CUSTOMERS AND IT IS THE LATEST TWIST IN THE TRACKER MORTGAGE SCANDAL.

The bank had already restored 2,100 customers to good value tracker rates in 2010.

Now it says it has found another 600 cases where homeowners were wrongfully denied a low-cost tracker rate.

And the bank said another 4,000 mortgage customers do have trackers, but they were paying too much interest, the bank said.

It is understood that most of the mortgage holders either denied a tracker or charged the wrong tracker margin were bank staff.

However, the bank would not say how many of the latest cases relate to staff..

In a statement, it said: “The Bank of Ireland Group would like to sincerely apologise to each of these customers for these failures. The correct rate should have been applied to these accounts and we sincerely apologise for not applying the correct rate in these cases.”

Almost all lenders are being forced to probe their mortgage books and identify customers denied a tracker, or put on the wrong tracker interest rate, over the last eight years.

Banks had denied people trackers when interest rates rose in 2009, as these people opted to fix their mortgage rate, but then could not get back their tracker.

AIB has around 3,000 tracker-denial cases, with 2,000 at Ulster Bank.

Permanent TSB has had to compensate 1,400 customers over the tracker scandal. Its subsidiary, Springboard, was fined earlier this month over the issue.

Ageing can now be reversed, according to a new study

RESEARCHERS HAVE NOW MANAGED TO TURN BACK THE CELLULAR CLOCK USING STEM CELL TECHNIQUES.

    

AGEING CAN BE REVERSED BY ADOPTING AN APPROACH USED BY STEM CELL SCIENTISTS TO TURN BACK THE CELLULAR CLOCK, NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS.

In laboratory experiments, researchers rejuvenated human skin, increased the lifespan of mice with a premature ageing disease by 30 per cent and accelerated healing.

Although the work is at a very early stage, they believe it could open the door to “fountain of youth” anti-ageing treatments that would help us live longer and look younger.

The research developed from techniques used to create stem cells with embryonic properties from reprogrammed adult cells.

A key part of the process of producing such “induced pluripotent” stem (iPS) cells involves the re-activation of four dormant genes known as “Yamanaka factors”, named after Japanese stem cell pioneer Shinya Yamanaka.

In the new study, scientists activated the genes intermittently and found they were able to turn back the ageing clock without cells losing their adult identity.

Dr Pradeep Reddy, from the Salk Institute in California, said: “In other studies, scientists have completely reprogrammed cells all the way back to a stem cell-like state.

“But we show, for the first time, that by expressing these factors for a short duration, you can maintain the cell’s identity while reversing age-associated hallmarks.”

The genes have to be handled with care because the rapid cell division seen in embryos could be a hallmark of cancer in adults.

Having large numbers of cells revert to an embryonic state in an adult also raises the risk of organ failure and death.

But mice with the premature ageing disease progeria did not develop cancer and appeared to thrive after receiving the treatment.

Compared with untreated mice, they looked younger, the performance of their hearts and other organs improved, and they lived 30 per cent longer.

In normal ageing mice, the intermittent activation of Yamanaka factors led to improvements in the regenerative capacity of pancreatic tissue and muscle.

Injured pancreas organs and muscle also healed faster in otherwise healthy ageing mice that were reprogrammed.

Rejuvenation of a person?

Prof Juan Carlos Izpisua Belmonte, who led the Salk team, said: “Obviously, mice are not humans and we know it will be much more complex to rejuvenate a person.

“But this study shows that ageing is a very dynamic and plastic process, and therefore will be more amenable to therapeutic interventions than what we previously thought.”

In the experiments, the mice were treated by spiking their drinking water with a chemical, doxycycline, that activated the four genes.

Continuous activation of the genes resulted in significant weight loss and death after four days, said the researchers, writing in the journal Cell.

This was avoided by switching to a cyclic regime consisting of two days of doxycycline treatment, followed by five days of withdrawal.

Hairy chested new crab species found near ocean floor hot springs

“WE CAN BE CERTAIN THAT THE NEW SPECIES WE’VE FOUND ALSO LIVE ELSEWHERE IN THE SOUTHWEST INDIAN OCEAN,” SAID RESEARCHER JON COPLEY.

  

THE HAIRY-CHESTED HOFF CRAB (ABOVE LEFT & RIGHT) WAS ONE OF SIX NEW SPECIES FOUND LIVING NEAR HYDROTHERMAL VENTS AT THE BOTTOM OF THE INDIAN OCEAN. 

Researchers have discovered six new species living near hydrothermal vents on the sea floor.

The collection of hot springs, called Longqi, which translates as “Dragon’s Breath,” are situated 1,240 miles southeast of Madagascar, 1.7 miles beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean.

Unique communities of deep sea creatures are drawn to warmth emanating from Longqi’s vent chimneys, mineral spires rising two stories in height.

In 2011, a team of scientists the University of Southampton, Newcastle University and London’s Natural History Museum began exploring the vents with a deep-diving, remote-controlled submersible — the first survey of its kind in the region.

During their exploratory missions, scientists found six new species unique to the Longqi vents. First, scientists found a hairy-chested crab similar to the “Hoff crab” found near vents in Antarctica. Hoff crabs are a species of deep-sea squat lobster yet to be described in the scientific literature.

Researchers also discovered two species of snail, as well as a new species of limpet, scaleworm and deep-sea worm.

“We can be certain that the new species we’ve found also live elsewhere in the southwest Indian Ocean, as they will have migrated here from other sites, but at the moment no one really knows where, or how well-connected their populations are with those at Longqi,” lead researcher Jon Copley, a scientist at Southampton, said in a news release. “Our results highlight the need to explore other hydrothermal vents in the southwest Indian Ocean and investigate the connectivity of their populations, before any impacts from mineral exploration activities and future deep-sea mining can be assessed.”