Donie's Ireland news BLOG Tuesday

Ireland’s Pensioners protest over cruel Budget cuts in Dublin

   

Up to 12,000 mostly older people descended on Leinster House to mount a noisy demonstration against multimillion-euro government cuts targeting the elderly.

Many who had travelled from throughout the country carried placards attacking the Fine Gael/Labour coalition and joined in chants of “shame, shame, shame” directed at the Dail.

At least three older people collapsed during the lunch-time rally in central Dublin, which had to be interrupted at one stage to secure medical help for one sick protestor.

Several speakers from the Irish Senior Citizens Parliament as well as from political and trade union backgrounds took to a makeshift stage to denounce austerity measures hitting medical care, telephone allowances and bereavement grants.

Cheered on by the huge crowd, Paddy Moran, of trade union Siptu, mocked Taoiseach Enda Kenny‘s pre-election promises to make Ireland a great country in which to grow old.

“One of the main boasts of this government is that the core State pension has been left untouched by this Budget,” he said.

“And, of course , they are right. That is, if you don’t suffer from any illnesses that require a visit to the doctor, that would require hospitalisation, or any kind of prescribed medicines.

“It was also a great budget as long as you or and your spouse or partner manage to stay alive forever – so you would not be in need of the bereavement grant.”

The veteran activist said the abolition of the telephone allowance  had condemned older people to a life of isolation.

Former junior health minister and Labour party rebel Roisin Shortall was briefly heckled by a small number of people in the crowd when she took to the podium.

But after a steward called for order, she urged the gathering to step up the fight against the Budget cuts.

“It’s a disgrace that you have to take to the streets again because of what this government is doing to older people,” she said.

Ms Shortall called on people to get on the airwaves, on the streets and on to government TDs to stop the “unfair” Budget.

“Once upon a time we had a country that stood by the older generation, where older people were listened to, looked after, loved and where older people were treated with respect and not treated like some kind of unwanted burden,” she added.

Robin Webster, chief executive of Age Action, said the Budget has hit the sickest, the most vulnerable and the poorest of older people.

A small number of protesters broke away after the demonstration to march on the GPO on O’Connell Street.

Gardai said there were no major incidents and put the turnout at the main rally at around 12,000 people.

Revenue to contact Irish homeowners over 2014 property tax

 

One million Irish people are to be asked how they intend to pay local property tax next year

Revenue said in a statement that those who paid in one lump sum – whether by credit or debit card, cheque, postal order or cash – as well as those who maderegular payments in cash, will receive a letter outlining options for the coming year.

  The Revenue Commissioners are to write to nearly one million individuals seeking details on how they intend to pay their local property tax next  year.

Thousands who paid through various deduction options as well as those who received exemptions will not be contacted.

However, Revenue said in a statement that those who paid in one lump sum – whether by credit or debit card, cheque, postal order or cash – as well as those who made regular payments in cash, will receive a letter outlining options for the coming year.

“All you need to do is decide how you want to pay for 2014,fill in  the payment instruction either online or in paper and send it to Revenue by the deadline. You don’t need to value your property,”it said in a statement.

“Revenue will not be writing to you if you paid your 2013 LPT by phased payment method (direct debit or deduction at source from your salary, occupational pension or certain Government payments). Your phased payment method will continue to apply  in 2014 and you don’t need to contactRevenue.

“Similarly, Revenue  will not be writing to you if you claimed a full deferral or were exempt as the deferral or exemption carries forward to 2014.”

Further details for the forthcoming year and details on how to change payment methods can be found at revenue.ie.

Minimum price for alcohol to be introduced in Ireland

 

Cabinet decides to proceed with range of measures but proposed sports sponsorship ban kicked to touch

The Irish Government has shelved plans to ban the sponsorship of sporting events by drinks companies but it will proceed with the introduction of a minimum price regime for alcohol.

The cabinet  today decided to proceed with a range of measures to try and control the abuse of alcohol but the proposed sports sponsorship ban which was due to come into force in 2020 has been kicked to touch.

Instead, a working group under the Department of the Taoiseach will report back in 12 months on the implications of the ending of sports sponsorship.

An outright ban will only be considered if and when other means of funding sport have been identified and secured.

The cabinet decided to press ahead with a range of other measures designed to curb the abuse of alcohol, particularly by under-age drinkers.

The main element of the plan is the introduction of minimum prices for alcohol. The new pricing  structure will be calculated on the sale price per gram of alcohol.

The system will be introduced after consultation with theNorthern Ireland authorities to ensure that there are no major differences  in the price structure on both sides of the border.

The is a question mark over whether a minimum price arrangement will be legal under EU competition law but the Government has decided to press ahead.

Another element of the plan  will be a ban of drinks advertising on television during the day and early evening and it is expected that a watershed time limit of 9 pm will be introduced.

There will also be a ban on drinks advertising in cinemas during films that are screened for people aged under 18.

New regulations for the display of alcohol in supermarkets and other retail outlets will also be introduced. A strict code for separating alcohol from other products will be policed by environmental inspectors.

A new labeling regime for alcohol products with health warnings and a clear statement of the alcohol strength andcalorie count  also features in the plan.

How you can inherit dangerously high cholesterol

AND NOT KNOW ABOUT IT UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE

     

Getting ready for a night out with friends, Kate Kear (above pictured with her son & daughter) was carefully applying her make-up when she spotted a strange yellowish white mark under her right eye. 

• High levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol can build up in artery walls
• This triggers inflammation and the formation of plaque, restricting blood flow
• If a blood clot forms, this can cause a heart attack or stroke
• Risks factors are smoking and an unhealthy diet, but it can be a genetic fault
• For these people, cholesterol levels rise sharply as they age
• But only 15% of those with the defect have been diagnosed

‘It was like a small squashy spot, around 2-3 mm across. I’d never noticed it before,’ says Kate, 34. Rushing to get ready, she covered it up with concealer. But the lump then began to grow. 

‘It was just getting bigger all the time. After two weeks, it was about half a centimetre across.’

Kate went to her GP, who sent her for a series of blood tests. These revealed she had alarmingly high cholesterol: 9.8 millimoles per litre of blood, almost double the normal level of five millimoles per litre.

‘I’d barely heard of cholesterol before,’ says the mother-of-four from Castleford in Yorkshire, ‘but when the GP explained that it can clog the arteries and lead to heart disease, I started to worry. There is a lot of heart disease in my family – in fact, we used to say we’ve all got bad hearts.’

Kate’s mother, Alison, had been diagnosed with high cholesterol in her early 30s, and needed bypass surgery to replace blocked arteries at 54. She died aged 60 in April 2005 after a blood vessel in her brain burst.

And her father, Kate’s grandfather, died of a heart attack aged 44.

Kate’s GP explained that the strange lump beneath her eye was a deposit  of cholesterol, and can often be a warning sign of high cholesterol. These lumps appear around the eyes for reasons doctors don’t fully understand. Lumps can also grow on tendons in the body and form on the knuckles, elbows and the back of ankles, on the Achilles tendon. In some people, they can also appear for no reason.

Kate’s high cholesterol was caused by a genetic fault, passed down through her family. Cholesterol is a waxy substance produced naturally in the liver, though it can also be found in some foods, and is vital for cells to function.

Doctors distinguish between two types of cholesterol: low-density lipoprotein (LDL) or ‘bad’ cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or ‘good’ cholesterol.

High levels of bad cholesterol can build up in the walls of the arteries, triggering inflammation and the formation of plaque. This narrows the blood vessel, restricting blood flow to the heart, brain and body, which can cause symptoms such as chest pain – it can also cause leg pain if the arteries supplying the limbs become blocked. If plaque breaks off, it can create a clot and cause a heart attack or stroke.

The good and the bad: LDL, or ‘bad’ cholesterol (as opposed to HDL, or ‘good’ cholesterol) can build up in artery walls, triggering inflammation and the formation of plaque

The usual risk factors for high cholesterol are an unhealthy diet , smoking, diabetes and high blood pressure, but doctors recognise that some people, like Kate, are unlucky enough to be born with a genetic fault that places them at risk of high cholesterol from a very young age.

These people have slightly elevated levels of cholesterol even from birth. As they age, their levels rise sharply, irrespective of diet , smoking and lifestyle. The condition, known as familial hypercholesterolemia, affects as many as 120,000 Britons, but is often undiagnosed, and experts warn that many of those affected are walking around at high risk of a sudden heart attack or stroke without any inkling of the dangers (the condition doubles the risk of a sudden heart attack from the age of 20).

‘Having this genetic defect makes an enormous difference,’ says Mark Signy, consultant cardiologist at Western Sussex Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

‘This faulty gene means that people have high cholesterol from a young age and are exposed to the harmful effects of high cholesterol for much longer. This brings forward the onset of heart disease by several decades, and people can have heart attacks in their 20s and 30s.’

And yet, worryingly, only 15 per cent of those with the condition have been diagnosed, explains Alan Rees, consultant physician at University Hospital Wales in Cardiff and a trustee of the charity Heart UK. ‘That means that 85 per cent of those with the condition are oblivious to the fact that they have it, and are not receiving appropriate treatment, which means a healthy lifestyle, taking exercise, not smoking, and taking cholesterol-lowering statins.’

Many people are only diagnosed when they have already developed heart disease, says Mark Signy. ‘Although some people have lumps around the eyes or tendons, many are only diagnosed when they develop heart disease or have a relative who died young from heart disease.

‘I would like to see routine screening for cholesterol perhaps as early as when people are in their 20s and 30s, and even earlier in those with a family history of familial hypercholesterolemia or very early heart disease.’

  ‘This faulty gene means that people have high cholesterol from a young age and are exposed to the harmful effects of high cholesterol for much longer. This brings forward the onset of heart disease by several decades.’

Identifying and treating the 100,000 Britons undiagnosed with the condition could prevent more than 2,500 heart attacks every year, says Heart UK. When Kate was diagnosed in 2004 she was immediately put on statins, the cholesterol-lowering drugs, and was recommended to eat a healthy diet and take more exercise.

Two more lumps appeared beside her eyes, and the first lump was by now 1 cm across. They were unsightly, but the GP warned that removing them could leave scarring. Kate’s doctor didn’t explain the seriousness of the condition, or offer to test her children for high cholesterol, so she put it out of her mind.

But three years ago, Kate’s sister, Laura, sent her a story that highlighted the severity of familial hypercholesterolemia, and explained how cholesterol can start to build up in youngsters.

‘I was terrified for my children,’ recalls Kate. ‘I started reading stories of people who’d died young because they had never been diagnosed. It was horrible to think my children could already have high cholesterol, and risk heart attacks in their 20s or 30s.’

Horrified, she changed GPs – her new doctor immediately doubled her dose of statins (from 20mg to 40mg) to get her cholesterol as low as safely possible, and tested her children. These tests, which were performed two years ago, showed that her son Jack, now 15, has normal cholesterol of around 5.5 – but Lewis, 13, and Isabel, nine, had abnormally high levels, with readings above nine.

Isabel takes a daily 10mg dose of statins, and Lewis takes 20mg – a full adult dose (Dr Rees explains studies have shown statins are safe from the age of nine or ten). They now have normal cholesterol levels – three-year-old Caleb will be tested before he turns ten.

Kate and her children were lucky to be diagnosed early, says Dr Rees: ‘Not everyone with high cholesterol has symptoms such as fatty deposits around the eyes. But anyone with these signs, or a family history of heart disease, should have their cholesterol tested by their GP and if necessary be offered family screening.’

Life-changer: Kate is campaigning for genetic screening to be made more easily available on the NHS

Kate is campaigning for genetic screening to be made more easily available on the NHS.

‘Having that diagnosis changed our lives. Knowing that a genetic defect runs in the family means we have to be extra careful – we now have a gym in our basement, including a running machine, and the children do a lot of sports.

‘We eat a diet rich in fruit, vegetables and pulses, which is fantastic for reducing cholesterol, and have homemade soups, too.’

But Kate still worries. ‘Watching what the children eat when they’re at a friend’s house is not easy, though their school is great and offers salads and baked potatoes.

‘And when they’re older and thinking of a family, their partner will need testing too so their children don’t risk inheriting two copies of a faulty gene, which can make people very ill and shorten their lives.’

Meanwhile, she still has the distinctive lumps under her eyes. Kate, who two years ago married Jonathan, 28, who runs his own property maintenance business, considered having laser treatment to remove them, but decided against it. ‘That little yellowish white lump could have saved my life, and saved my children from a high risk of an early heart attack or stroke. It’s terrifying to know there are often no signs – this really is a silent killer.

‘Now if I see people in the street with those same lumps I want to warn them to get their cholesterol checked. It’s a life saver.’

Jellyfish kill up to 20,000 Clare Island salmon

  

Jellyfish have more than sting in their tails for Clare Island salmon

Weeks after a Clare Island man ended  up in hospital due to jellyfish stings, it has emerged that up to 20,000 farmed salmon, situated in cages off the north-east coast of Clew bay outpost were lost because of the same marine species.
Marine Harvest, the aquaculture company that runs Clare Island Sea Farms Ltd, has confirmed the massive losses occurred in recent days and were due to warmer sea temperatures, which have led to similar incidents in fish-farms across Europe.
There have already been reports of strandings of jellyfish ‘blooms’ (groups) along the coast with thousands of Pelagia Noctiluca or Mauve Stinger occurring off Ballyferriter, Dingle, in late August and off Donegal early in September.   This species inflicted losses of over €1 million at a fish farm in Glenarm Bay, County Antrim, back in 2007 when a reported 120,000 fish died.
Speaking to The Mayo News yesterday, Dr Peter Gill, a retired Professor of Education in the University of Gavle in Sweden and a longtime resident of Clare Island, revealed that he ended up in a Swedish hospital after a recent encounter with jellyfish while swimming at The Cove on Clare Island.
“It’s funny  now but it was a shock to dive into The Cove about three weeks ago, thinking that the ‘brown stuff’ I thought I could see in the ripples was seaweed that had been blown in by the easterly wind.  Little did I know, that  from the top of my head  to my big toes,  I was inundated with jellyfish stings.  I was stung and scratching when I got out of the water and got into a warm bath when I got home.  It itched here and there but I thought no more of it,” Peter Gill said.
“A week later, I was in Sweden, and had to go to A&E.  I was beginning to scar and swell. Purple lines kept popping up along my arms, eyelids, earlobe, backside, legs and feet..  An intensive course  of antihistamines and I was okay after 24 hours,” he continued.
Adding: “Now I know how the poor salmon feel.  I am still scratching scabs a month later.”

Saturn from above is a pretty awesome sight

  

This view of the planet Saturn from above, including its surrounding rings, is pretty unique.

In fact, it’s one that could not possibly have been taken from Earth.

The picture, a composite ‘image mosaic’, is made up of shots earlier this month by the robotic Cassini spacecraft now orbiting Saturn, and shows the right side of the planet and the corresponding shadow cast across Saturn’s rings.

It was made by amateur image processor and Cassini fan Gordan Ugarkovic, and shows a side of the planet never before seen, as no Earth-based camera could possibly view the right side of Saturn.

“Since Earth is much closer to the Sun than Saturn, only the day side of the ringed planet is visible from the Earth,” according to NASA.

“The beautiful rings of Saturn are seen in full expanse, while cloud details are visible including the polar hexagon surrounding the north pole, and an extended light-colored storm system.”

It’s not the first time the Cassini spacecraft has offered us incredible images from its Saturn mission. The below shots taken in July capture not only the rings of Saturn but also the Earth, some 898 million miles (1.44bn kilometres) in the distance.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

The HSE extracts 30% pay cut on new entry hospital consultants

  

New incoming hospital consultants will earn 30pc less than existing colleagues after the HSE forced a pay cut on the top doctors today.

The reduced salary, which will range from €116,000 to €121,000, is part of a package of measures which the HSE claims will save around €200m.

The announcement followed marathon talks between the HSE and hospital consultants’ organisation at the Labour Relations Commission which ended at 8am today.

The lower entry pay was not agreed to by the Irish Medical Organisation or the Irish Hospital Consultants Association but the government can introduce it because it is outside the Croke Park agreement

The talks between the HSE and hospital consultants’ organisation at the Labour Relations Commission succeeded in progress being made on other key areas of work practice changes in hospitals.

The consultants will now work flexible rosters which will see them do on-site hospital shifts in the evening and weekends rather than being on- call duty at home.

This will result in savings on the bill for on-call allowances as well as overtime, while making senior specialists more available.

Agreement was also reached on new terms which will see hospital consultants more accountable to hospital clinical directors who are themselves working doctors but have a team leader and managerial role.

The negotiations did not find agreement on moves by the HSE to halve the entitlement of a year’s leave with pay before retirement to around 450 consultants.

This will now go to the Labour Court along with other outstanding issues including demands to end a special top-up payment for psychiatrists who give a second opinion.

Michael Martin tell media its wrong to target Ireland’s pensioners

    

Party leader Micheal Martin addresses the media at the Fianna Fail parliamentary party meeting at the Marine Hotel, Sutton, Dublin.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin has said people of all ages on higher incomes must take more budgetary pain, but insisted it would be wrong to “target” pensioners.

Mr Martin, speaking at the start of his party’s think-in in Sutton, Dublin, accused Minister of State for Finance Brian Hayes of using language that was “careless” in an interview with The Irish Times on Saturday.

“Fairness will demand those on higher incomes irrespective of what category of society they belong to or what age demographic they belong to will pay proportionately a bit more than those who are on the breadline,” Mr Martin said.

“But we do not believe we should target a group of people such as the elderly or pensioners and say that they’re rolling in it and we should ‘have a go’, which in essence is what Brian Hayes was saying in The Irish Times.”

Mr Hayes said pensioners were the one group of people in the country who had come through the economic crash and still had their incomes intact. While he stressed that he was not talking about people who depended solely on the State pension, Mr Hayes said the Irish political system needed to overcome its inability to countenance budgetary cutbacks affecting older people because many of them told him they were “well off”.

Mr Martin said he had been “taken aback” by Mr Hayes’s comments and noted Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton “came in quickly to rebuke” the junior minister. He said there was a sense of Government “casting around almost desperately” to find groups to target in the upcoming budget.

He said Fianna Fáil would fight any moves to restrict free travel for the elderly. “It’s something dear to our hearts. A Fianna Fáil government brought it in. It has spoken volumes about the respect and esteem that we hold older people in in this country,” he said.

Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore today warned Ministers about needlessly worrying older people as the Government starts to weigh up budget options. “We will have our budget in December and we won’t be making budget decisions until close to then,” the Tánaiste said in Belfast.  “I think that speculation about what may or may not be in the budget between now and then is unhelpful. I think that we need to be careful that we are giving undue cause for worry to people who are worried about speculation that they are seeing.”

Separately, Mr Martin also said the time is not right to introduce a property tax along the lines proposed by the Government.

He expressed concern about the introduction of a “value-based” property tax which he said would “discriminate” against urban-dwellers in Dublin, Cork and other cities.

“It’s very clear that the squeezed middle are finding it extremely difficult to cope now and that the ability to pay a tax of this scale envisaged by the Government has to be questioned at this particular time.”

Mortgage arrears and stamp duty payments should be taken into account, he said. He said he could see the importance of introducing a property tax under normal economic circumstances, but he did not think it would be possible to raise €500 million in the present circumstances.

The Fianna Fáil leader said people had already faced a lot of extra charges and it was legitimate to raise the issue of people’s capacity to pay. “Our sense is that the timing is not right now to introduce a tax on that particular scale.”

He said it was difficult to discern what the Government was proposing and called on the coalition to publish the Thornhill report on property tax. An interdepartmental group chaired by chairman of the National Competitiveness Council and former senior civil servant Don Thornhill has presented its report to the Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan.

Mr Martin also expressed concern about the proposed Personal Insolvency Bill. He said the planned law did “not go far enough” and that Fianna Fáil would continue to table amendments. The Bill proposes to let debtors to emerge from bankruptcy after three years instead of 12.

On the health front, Mr Martin said Government Ministers do not have confidence in Minister for Health James Reilly.

The party has tabled a motion of no confidence in Dr Reilly to be discussed in the Dáil tomorrow.

“It was clear to us at the end of August that his own colleagues in Government certainly have not confidence in him. Those in the Fine Gael chose to leak anonymously…but the Labour Party Ministers have been quite clear. They have actually refused point blank to articulate confidence in the Minister for Health.”

Mr Martin said Minister of State at the Department of Health Róisín Shortall had been asked on a number of occasions and she had avoided expressing confidence.

“With the lack of confidence that Minister Reilly’s own colleagues have in him, how does one expect the Opposition to have confidence in his performance to date.”

He said Fianna Fáil would continue putting pressure on Dr Reilly and the rest of the Government “for avoidable decisions which are undermining health services”.

Mr Martin said the health services were being subject to a round of “mean-spirited emergency cuts” which he claimed Dr Reilly was denying while implementing.

“Soon after the government was formed Minister Reilly announced that he was abolishing the current management structures of the health services and taking personal charge,” Mr Martin said.

“He announced that waiting lists would come down, prescriptions would be cheaper and free-GP care for all was on the way. Eighteen months later waiting lists are up, prescriptions are just as expensive and free-GP care is nowhere to be seen.”

French court to rule on Kate Middleton topless pictures

    

The row over topless photographs of the Duchess of Cambridge has escalated as the editor of the Irish Daily Star was suspended for using them and a French court announced it will decide on Tuesday whether to halt further publication.

Michael O’Kane now faces an investigation after the newspaper re-ran the images – originally published by France’s Closer magazine – its Ireland-based co-owners Independent News and Media (INM) said.

Earlier, the Tribunal de Grande Instance in Paris said it expected to rule at noon on Tuesday on an injunction to prevent further use of the photographs showing the Duchess of Cambridge sunbathing topless on holiday in France.

The civil case is seeking 5,000 euro (£4,034) in damages and a ban on French Closer re-publishing the images. Representing the royal couple, lawyer Aurelien Hamelle also asked the court to fine Closer 10,000 euro (£8,070) a day for each day the injunction is not respected, and 100,000 (£80,720) if the photos are sold.

Delphine Pando, representing Italian publishing group Mondadori, which owns France’s Closer, told the court that the photos are not theirs to sell. “The photos are out there. If a TV show wants to show an image of this (magazine) edition, it’s got nothing to do with us,” she said.

Lawyers for William and Kate have also asked France’s criminal prosecutors to consider charging the photographer who took the pictures.

INM’s move to suspend Mr O’Kane this evening comes just hours after Alan Shatter, the Irish Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence said the Republic will introduce privacy laws on the back of the scandal. “It is clear that some sections of the print media are either unable or unwilling in their reportage to distinguish between prurient interest and the public interest,” he said.

Jointly owned by Richard Desmond’s Northern and Shell and INM, the Irish Daily Star’s decision to use the pictures on Saturday infuriated the media mogul.

Mr Desmond has said he wants it shut down with insiders at his corporation warning “he says what he means, and means what he says”.

In a statement, the company behind the Dublin operation, Independent Star, said of the decision to suspend Mr O’Kane: “Independent Star Limited has suspended editor Michael O’Kane with immediate effect, pending an investigation into the circumstances that led to the Irish Daily Star re-publishing pages from the French magazine ‘Closer’, which contained images of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge. Independent Star Limited has no further comment pending conclusion of the joint investigation by the newspaper’s shareholders.”

Ireland needs to follow Iceland’s example and punish our bankers

 

Iceland’s former prime minister Geir Haarde above left is facing charges over the global financial crisis.

In solidarity Iceland removed the political parties associated with the boom times.

Ireland and Iceland have experienced boom times caused by inflows of cheap credit, and both had experienced societal upheaval as a result of the inevitable crash. Iceland differed sharply from Ireland in its approach to resolving the crisis. Where we are currently floundering, praying for a deal on our banking debt from Brussels, Iceland is moving on, with a set of relatively clean bank balance sheets, a falling unemployment rate, an increase in economic output, and a national sense that the economy and the society is healing.

What can we learn from the Icelandic experience? Should we even compare ourselves to them? I think there are many lessons to learn, but you have to look beyond the numbers.

Iceland is a tiny Island nation, with about 320,000 people in the country. Iceland has plentiful geothermal energy, an export base of aluminum and fish–especially mackerel–and a thriving tourism industry. More than 700,000 people visit Iceland each year. It is one of the most beautiful countries I have ever visited. Crucially for the story I’m about to tell you, Iceland has its own currency.

Like Ireland, Iceland was caught in a wave of speculation brought on by low interest rates following 9/11. A wave of privatisations and opening up of previously protected markets exposed Iceland to the vagaries of the international market. Iceland took full advantage.

Unlike Ireland, there actually wasn’t much of a speculative boom in housing. Icelanders speculated on their stock market and other financial assets.

Dodgy practices, helped along by weak regulation, contributed to the boom. For example, the banks’ directors were using their banks in exactly the same way as Anglo Irish and Irish Nationwide were used: for personal gain and political patronage.

Things were out of control.

The nearly 2,000-page post-mortem report on the crisis noted sharply that: “When it so happens that the biggest owners of a bank, who appoint members to the board of that same bank and exert for that reason strong influence within the bank, are, at the same time, among the bank’s biggest borrowers, questions arise as to whether the lending is done on a commercial basis or whether the borrower possibly benefits from being an owner and has easier access to more advantageous loan facilities than others.”

The Icelanders were warned. In 2001, Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz wrote a report for the Icelandic government describing exactly what would happen if the increases in private sector lending facilitated by the banks was allowed to continue. Mr Stiglitz wrote: “The pace of expansion of credit for a credit institution is related to the likelihood that it will face problems in the future. Given these beliefs, very large changes in interest rates may be required to dampen the demand for credit; and these changes in interest rates themselves impose enormous stresses on the economy.”

Then he told them exactly how small open economies should respond to surges of capital in or out of their country by regulating banks heavily, restricting capital inflows and outflows and managing interest rates accordingly.

No one wants to hear from naysaying economists during the good times. The boom continued with cheap credit fuelling a consumption bust that has left roads built to nowhere, ‘summer houses’ dotting the landscape, and large vanity project buildings upsetting the skyline of the tiny capital, Reykjavik.

The boom ended for Iceland because of the withdrawal of credit worldwide after the collapse of Lehman Brothers. Like Ireland, the weaknesses of the banking system were exposed almost immediately.

There the similarity ends. The Icelandic government could not guarantee the assets and liabilities of the banking system as we had — the banking system was just too large relative to the economy. The ratio of bank assets to national income was over 7. The banks and their assets had to be let go. This did not go down well. The economy imploded.

Well over 70pc of the private businesses in Iceland became insolvent immediately, a wave of bankruptcies followed, the unemployment rate rose, the IMF was called in in November 2008 for a loan, capital controls were instituted, stopping many foreign creditors from getting their money back.

Icelanders voted twice not to repay its foreign creditors in the Icesave controversy.

I think this is the key lesson Ireland can take from Iceland: in solidarity they removed the political parties associated with the boom and the bust, and in solidarity they prosecuted those responsible. This, combined with an increase in regulation of large banks, is what allows many Icelanders to hope that things will get better. The worst is behind them.

Ireland has no such luck. We guaranteed the assets and liabilities of some of the worst banks in the history of modern banking in the name of EU banking stability, and received the largesse of the Troika as a result.

We must see those responsible for Ireland’s collapse pay for the damage they caused. We must see bankers and politicians held to account and punished. We didn’t all party.

We must balance our Government’s spending and its taxation revenue. The Government cannot square this popular sense of injustice with the behaviour of Ireland’s elite. There is no closure, as it were, to the crisis. Ours rumbles on while Iceland can move forward. We can learn at least this much from Iceland.

Famous old Dublin Clerys store put into receivership

    

One of Ireland’s most famous department stores has been put into receivership.

Clerys on O’Connell Street, Dublin – one of the first businesses of its kind in the world – will operate business as usual with the 147 staff unaffected by the move.

Receivers Paul McCann and Michael McAteer of Grant Thornton said they were in advanced talks to secure the store’s future with a potential buyer with strong retail credentials.

It was reported at the weekend that Clerys would be taken over in days, with Gordon Brothers, an American restructuring specialist, poised to take control.

In a statement Grant Thornton said: “The joint receivers hope to be in a position to make an announcement regarding new ownership shortly.”

The owners and operators of the landmark department store were Clery & Co (1941) plc, Denis Guiney Limited and Yterrbium Limited.

“The store will open on a business-as-usual basis in the morning,” Grant Thornton said.

Two stores in the group, Guiney of Talbot Street and Denis Guiney Furnishings, which operates two Clerys Home Furnishing stores in Leopardstown and Naas, are to be liquidated.

“The directors have determined that these stores are no longer economically viable and they have been closed,” Grant Thornton said.

The Talbot Street store employed 10 people while there were 19 staff in the furnishing outlets.

Speculation that the O’Connell Street store would be sold has been circulating in business circles for months.

Clerys opened in 1853 as one of the world’s first purpose-built department stores.

It was taken over by the Guiney family in 1941 but has been struggling in recent years with severely depressed consumer spending in Ireland and the need to restructure debts.

NASA’s Curiosity Rover Captures Martian sky Eclipse

    

NASA’s Curiosity rover snapped an elegant sequence of images showing Mars’ moon, Phobos, left & centre photos passing in front of the sun on Sept. 13. Because the tiny moon moves so fast through the Martian sky, the alien eclipse lasted only a few seconds. Right photo Mars rocky planet surface through the eyes of curiosity.

The images were taken with Curiosity’s MastCams, which were positioned to watch Phobos zoom in front of the sun.

In contrast to its blazing glory in Earth’s daytime skies, the sun is a tiny dime-sized circle as seen from Mars. Phobos is even smaller and can never completely engulf the sun, merely taking a nibble in this animation. Our moon, on the other hand, happens to be just the right size and distance away from Earth that when it passes in front of the sun, it completely blocks out its light.

Phobos is really more of an asteroid than a moon — the small potato-shaped object is only 16 miles across at its widest. Because it travels around Mars in a speedy 7.6 hours, it has a high probability of aligning with the sun, and eclipses like this happen somewhere on Mars almost any day of the year. Most landers on Mars have captured at least one Phobos transit. From space, satellites have captured images of Phobos’ shadow racing across the Martian surface.

Mars’ other moon, Deimos, is farther from the planet and obscures even less of the sun when it eclipses.