Irish campaigners call for new tobacco industry regulator
The Irish Government needs to appoint a regulator to limit the profits of the tobacco industry and generate around €150m a year for the Exchequer.
The call was made today by the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society when they outlined their pre-Budget submissions to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.
The regulator would limit the amount of profit tobacco companies can make and any additional surplus made would have to go to the State.
Chris Macey, the Irish Heart Foundation’s head of advocacy, said this system has “worked effectively for other industries”.
He added: “It would mean the tobacco manufacturers had less money to invest in smooth marketing techniques, public relations agencies and other initiatives aimed at undermining the Government’s efforts to reduce the smoking rate.”
He said the tobacco industry is earning higher profits in Ireland than in other European countries, even though the price of packet of cigarettes is cheaper here than in the UK.
He estimated that €150m would cover the wages of 4,167 extra nurses, 4,853 new primary school teachers, 5,480 newGarda recruits, 7,188 new special needs assistants; 165,000 extra hospital bed days, or 100 new MRI scanners.
In Ireland, the Government has been taking about 79pc of the price of a packet of cigarettes in tax and the rest of the price goes to the tobacco industry.
“In the UK, the Government has taken about 90pc of the price of a packet of cigarettes, leaving the tobacco industry with a much smaller profit margin. In monetary terms, the tobacco industry has been earning roughly €1 more per packet of cigarettes in Ireland than it does in the UK.”
John McCormack, chief executive of the Irish Cancer Society said over the last 10 years, major brand cigarettes are now more expensive than in Ireland – more than €9.30 at current exchange rates, compared to €9.20 here.
“In this time the UK smuggling rate has fallen from 21pc to 9pc – less than half the rate here.”
He said:”High smuggling rates must be tackled to cut off the supply of cheap tobacco that is increasing numbers of young smokers. We must give Customs, which has lost hundreds of staff in recent years, and the similarly hard-pressed Garda, the manpower and equipment, along with the tough justice in the courts, required to deal with smuggling.”
Children’s referendum to go ahead despite critical Supreme Court ruling
The children’s referendum will go ahead tomorrow despite the decision by the Supreme Court that the Government’s information booklet and website was “not fair, equal or impartial”.
In a decision that was portrayed by the Opposition and No campaigners as an acute political embarrassment for the Government, the five-judge division of the court ruled it had “acted wrongfully” in spending €1.1 million of public money on a booklet that breached the McKenna judgment, which held public money should not be spent to espouse a particular side in a referendum campaign.
The judgment, which was unexpected, was seen as a significant setback to the Yes campaign, coming only 48 hours ahead of polling. Voting on a number of islands off the west coast had already commenced ahead of the decision.
In its 500-word ruling (it will deliver its full reasoned ruling on December 11th) the Supreme Court said “extensive passages in the booklet and on the website” did not conform to the McKenna principles.
The court also pointed to the Department of Children’s own admission there was an error or “mis-statement” in the booklet and website.
Yesterday, the solicitor for Mark McCrystal, the Dublin engineer who took the challenge, said the ruling was unanimous and criticised the Department of Children for its delay in correcting the error on its website.
Colm MacGeehin said the department was aware of the error on October 31st but did not correct its website until November 7th, on the second day of the Supreme Court hearing.
The department acknowledged the delay yesterday. A spokeswoman also confirmed that the booklet and website had been thoroughly examined for compliance with the McKenna judgment since August by its internal legal advisers and also by the office of Attorney General Máire Whelan.
Call for delay
Five Independent TDs called for the referendum to be deferred after the ruling. One, Shane Ross, said it was too late to correct the imbalance and called for emergency legislation to pass through the Dáil today. “Put it off for three months and have a fair referendum in fair circumstances,” he said.
However, Government sources said that under the Referendum Act 1994, the only way in which the poll could be deferred was if a general election was called.
Polling stations for those entitled to vote in the referendum will be open across the State from 9am to 10pm tomorrow. Counting of ballots will begin at 9am on Sunday.
Minister for Children Frances Fitgerald defended the Government’s decision to run a separate information campaign to that of the Referendum Commission, saying that people in the past had criticised the Government for not supplying enough information.
Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on children Robert Troy said the Government’s “failure to ensure fairness and impartiality” was “frustrating and disappointing” but this should not distract from the “core issues”.
Prominent No campaigner, columnist John Waters, accused the Government of “effectively misappropriating” public funds to produce “propaganda” on the referendum.
The number of new Irish mortgages rises for first time in six years
A majority of the loans were issued to first-time buyers, who are in a scramble to close property deals before the end of the year to benefit from generous tax reliefs.
The number of new mortgages issued has risen for the first time in six years.
Experts said it was the latest sign that the property market was stabilising.
The figures came as the European Central Bank yesterday left interest rates unchanged, although economists now expect a cut in the new year.
More than 400,000 tracker mortgage holders will benefit if the ECB drops rates from the current record low of 0.75pc.
KBC Bank economist Austin Hughes said there was a “decent chance” of a rate cut early in 2013.
A Reuters poll had shown that a majority of European analysts anticipate that the central bank rate will be cut to a new record low of 0.5pc within the next few months. And figures from the Irish Banking Federation show that close to 4,000 new home loans were granted by banks in the July, August and September period.
This is a rise of more than 10pc in mortgages issued in the same three-month period last year, and a rise of 23pc on the numbers issued in the second quarter of this year.
A majority of the loans were issued to first-time buyers, who are in a scramble to close property deals before the end of the year to benefit from generous tax reliefs.
Analysts said that although the numbers were encouraging, the level of mortgage activity was still very low.
In the first nine months of the year almost 10,000 mortgages were issued, with most of these going to new buyers and existing homeowners who are moving to a new property.
Improvement
Economists said the latest mortgage statistics were another sign that the property market was over the worst.
Goodbody Stockbrokers economist Juliet Tennent said: “This improvement in activity echoes the increase in the number of property transactions reported by the new property register and supports the stabilisation in house prices seen recently.
“However, mortgage relief for first-time buyers is likely to be encouraging this segment of the market and it remains to be seen if these positive trends continue after the end of 2012 when the relief is due to expire.”
A stabilisation of the property market would allow banks and households to recover and generate the growth needed to pay off their debts.
Figures last week from the Central Statistics Office showed that house prices rose by 0.9pc in September, the fastest monthly growth recorded in five years. The Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA) said the biggest impediment to people taking out mortgages was a lack of willingness to lend by banks.
Rachel Doyle, of PIBA, said seven out of 10 brokers responded in a survey that banks were not lending.
And she warned of the negative consequences arising from the end of the Government’s bank guarantee.
“It will mean that whatever about now, once the banks are free of the guarantee, they will rush to increase interest rates. That will have a dampening effect on the market.
“While in a normal market interest rates do rise and fall, the likelihood is that the banks will rush to recover profitability regardless of the consequences on consumers — unless severe pressure is applied by Government and the Central Bank.”
Irish households’ disposable income up €480m in 2nd quarter
The gross disposable income of Irish households grew by €480m or 2.2% to €22.4bn in the second quarter of the year.
This year-on-year figure, published yesterday by the CSO, was driven by an annualised €473m increase in profits earned by self-employed homeowners and a fall of €181m in income payments.
The figures show that household expenditure fell by €206m from the start of April to the end of June, when compared to the same period last year — declining from €18.92bn to just under €18.72bn.
“Taking this decline together with the increase in gross household disposable income, gross household savings increased from €3.65bn in the second quarter of 2011 to €4.34bn in the second quarter of 2012,” the CSO said.
“The derived gross savings ratio — which expresses savings as a percentage of gross disposable income — increased from 16.2% in the second quarter of 2011 to 18.8% in the second quarter of this year.”
While the data painted an improved picture of household affordability — albeit measuring the first half of the year — the latest quarterly EBS/DKM Affordability Index, taking in the third quarter and mainly looking at the mortgage and housing markets, said further challenges lie ahead for disposable income levels.
“It is expected that further austerity measures will impact the disposable income of Irish households, while homeowners are also preparing for the introduction of a property tax,” said the EBS head of mortgages, Owen Purcell.
Seven-year-old Paul playing doctor puts his diabetes in the shade
Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common life-threatening disorders in childhood around the world.
An estimated 65,000 children in the Middle East and North Africa region have insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes. Support groups offer help in coping with this challenging condition, discovers Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary
Seven-year-old Paul* loves playing doctor. On a Friday morning he and his friend Dev are out playing in the garden of his villa in Springs, Dubai. Paul holds a toy stethoscope close to his teddy bear’s chest. A few seconds later, he presses a little strip of paper on Teddy’s paw, and pretends to take a reading. “The numbers don’t look good,’’ he says earnestly. After pretending to calculate some figures, he says: “Looks like Teddy might need an injection.’’ Paul then fishes out a toy syringe and injects Teddy in his stomach. “You’ll be fine now,’’ he says, propping Teddy on a little chair and running off to play on the swings.
A few metres away Myrna*, Paul’s mother, who observes the scene and smiles. Her little boy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes three years ago and is now play-acting something he does at least four times a day – checking his blood-sugar levels and then injecting himself with the right dose of insulin. Paul is not alone. Areej, a six-year-old student from Sharjah, was diagnosed with type 1 at the age of two. His family has no history of the condition, and it was only detected during a routine check-up at the paediatric clinic. He now checks his blood-sugar levels regularly with the help of an adult and is learning to calculate and inject himself with the required dosage of insulin.
“My mother, Safa, ensures I follow a healthy lifestyle,’’ he says, explaining how he’s had to give up his favourite pizzas and burgers to help control his condition.
According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) there are an estimated 65,000 children with type 1 diabetes (see box overleaf) in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Super-Earth practically next door could be habitable
You may think this planet is overpopulated or you may just be sick of the partisan politics. In either case, HD 40307g is an attractive getaway.
Forty-two light years away, the new super-Earth could have fantastic beachfront properties.
It’s only 42 light years away, it could have liquid water, and it’s more than seven times bigger than our planet (in mass). So once we destroy this one, we’re all set.
This latest super-Earth is called HD 40307g. It may sound like a tax form, but it’s almost guaranteed to be paradise. It’s right in a sweet spot orbit around HD 40307, a smaller star than the sun in the constellation of Pictor, where liquid water is possible. And the IRS can’t reach you.
Three exoplanets were already known to orbit the star from observations up to 2008 but they are likely too close for liquid water. A new study of the data by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire in Britain revealed an additional three planets, with the farthest about as far from the star as Venus is to our sun.
“The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life,” study co-author Hugh Jones said in a statement.
“Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet or indeed any moons that it has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable.”
The data come from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), which is run by the European Southern Observatory and has discovered dozens of other exoplanets. Further studies are needed to confirm the planet’s status, and telescopes of the future may be able to image it directly.
And of course we’ll need warp drive to get there. Meanwhile, check out this video about your next getaway planet.
