Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Asset seizing powers toughened up in Ireland’s gangland crimes

  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EC insists Ireland are unable to abolish water charges

SINN FÉIN DISPUTES INTERPRETATION OF EUROPEAN WATER FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE

      

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The highlights of the results are as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Hard facts data on Irish suicides nationwide reveals sharp differences

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

    

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

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

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

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

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

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

A decline in Leinster

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

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

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

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

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

Classification difficulties

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

     

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

House prices in rest of Ireland rise at fastest rate in the last seven years

 

Latest Property Price Index suggests recovery in property is no longer confined to capital.

House prices outside Dublin are now rising at their fastest rate for seven years, suggesting recovery in the market is no longer confined to the capital.

The latest official figures show residential property prices outside of Dublin rose by 4.9% in 12 months to July, up from a rate of 3% in June and 1.8% in May.

This is the highest rate of house price inflation recorded outside the capital since 2007.

Despite the acceleration, prices outside Dublin are still on average 43% below their 2007 pre-crash peak.

The Residential Property Price Index, compiled by the Central Statistic Office (CSO), suggests residential prices nationally rose by 2% , and were 13.4% higher on an annual basis.

Dublin accounted for the main bulk of the increases with prices in the capital 23.2% higher than a year ago. However, the 2.7% monthly rise in Dublin prices was slowest rate of increase in three months.

Dublin house prices rose by 2.5% in July and were 23.1% higher compared with a year earlier, while apartment prices in the capital were 26.3% higher on an annual basis.

However, the CSO cautioned that its data for apartments were based on low volume of trades and were subject to a high degree of volatility.

Despite the recovery in values witnessed over the past two years, house prices in Dublin remain on average 41.2% lower than their 2007 peak, while apartments are still 48.4% lower than their boom-time high.

Davy analyst David McNamara said property price inflation was still being driven by cash buyers rather than mortgage lending, as evidenced by the fact that the former accounted for 50% of all transactions.

“With little new supply coming on stream, prices have trended upwards, and this could persist until construction ramps up to meet demand,” he added.

Property Industry Ireland, the group which represents businesses in the property and construction sectors, said the latest set of numbers further highlighted the serious supply problems in the market.

Director Peter Stafford said: “The figures show the real impact of a lack of new supply into the housing market. With no new major housing schemes in urban areas reaching the market, and interest amongst buyers improving, it is not surprising that prices continue to rise so fast, especially in Dublin.”

The Government has pledged to announce measures aimed at boosting supply, particularly in Dublin where pressure on prices is at its strongest.

In addition, the National Asset Management Agency said it plans to invest €1.5 billion to develop housing in Dublin.

Standoff between evicted OAP couple and security personnel in their own home

  

‘We were turfed out of that house’ Evicted OAP couple speak outside court in their pyjamas.

The elderly couple evicted from their home in Dublin this morning are being refused access to their home by security personnel inside the house.

The married couple, Martin and Violet Coyne had received permission to remove their possessions from the home in Carpenterstown, west Dublin where they have lived for 15 years as tenants.

However receivers have taken ownership of the house and the couple were removed this morning.

They returned to the house around 7pm this evening but have so far not been granted access to the house by the security personnel inside the house, working on behalf of the receiver.

A large crowd carrying banners and placards in support of the couple has now gathered outside the house.

Pensioners Martin and Violet Coyne left court in tears today after their contempt of court proceedings were adjourned until October.

Earlier, bailiffs acting on an eviction order evicted the pensioners from their rented home in Carpenterstown, Dublin early this morning as they were preparing to appear in court.

Fiachra Daly ‘just tried to dull the pain of a €20k mortgage pressure’  

An inquest reveals.

 

“He was a fantastic partner and dad and that is how we will remember him. Nothing can bring him back. Nothing can replace him.”

These were the words of Priory Hall widow Stephanie Meehan following the inquest of her partner Fiachra Daly who took his own life last year while under mounting pressure from banks over their mortgage.

Speaking after yesterday’s inquest into Fiachra’s death, Stephanie said she is still coming to terms with his loss and will always remember him as a loving partner and dad to their two children Oisin (9) and Cerys (3).

During the hearing Stephanie and Fiachra’s families learned that there were significant amounts of alcohol and contaminated cocaine in the 38 year-old’s system when he took his own life in July last year.

The findings shocked them, but today Stephanie said she did not want to see his good name tarnished by the facts that emerged.

“Fiachra’s track record as a partner and a father is impeccable and we can only assume that his use of drugs and alcohol on the night he died was in an effort to dull the pain of what he was about to do,” Stephanie told the Herald.

She had known that Fiachra had some drinks earlier in the day, and had a glass of wine with her after she had returned home from a barbecue with their children. However, Stephanie said she had not known he had cocaine.

“We are shocked to hear these findings about Fiachra and do not want his legacy as a person to be affected by this,” she explained.

“He was a fantastic partner and dad and that is how we will remember him. Nothing can bring him back. Nothing can replace him,” she added.

Despite all her experience with the seemingly endless hell of the Priory Hall debacle, and having tried to come to terms with the sudden death of Fiachra, Stephanie’s thoughts following the inquest were with anyone who might be thinking of ending their own lives.

“We would urge anybody who is thinking of doing what Fiachra did not to go down that road but turn to their family and talk, to seek help,” she said.

“We have found the services of Pieta House to be incredible, and for anybody thinking of taking their own life they need to know there is professional help out there they can get,” Stephanie added.

FIACHRA DALY DIED LAST JULY. HIS BODY WAS FOUND BY HIS PARTNER STEPHANIE.

“It happened completely out of the blue. Everybody was very surprised. He was a very happy, kind person.

“Everyone was equally shocked and still, to this day, are shocked,” she said at yesterday’s inquest.

On the Sunday evening Fiachra was anxious that she should fill out her part of a financial statement for an extension of their mortgage moratorium.

They had to do this “constantly”, she said, but he “seemed more stressed about it than usual”.

“We had gotten a letter earlier on in the week from the bank stating that we were €20,000 in arrears and they couldn’t extend our moratorium unless we completed the statement of means. It annoyed Fiachra that we had a mortgage for a house we couldn’t live in,” she said.

Fiachra’s death was ultimately the tipping point for action on the Priory Hall apartments built in Donaghmede by former IRA hunger striker Tom McFeely.

Having been evacuated from their fire-trap homes in December 2011, the residents were caught in an endless spiral of red tape and court cases about the apartment block.

Following Fiachra’s death, Stephanie wrote to Taoiseach Enda Kenny pleading for help.

She outlined her ordeal and how Fiachra had been a long-time campaigner for a solution to the ongoing Priory Hall problems that affected nearly 300 residents who were evacuated from their homes in 2011.

The on-going battle was then quickly resolved, with Dublin City Council agreeing to take control of the complex and refurbish it. Residents were then allowed to have their mortgages written off.

Last winter 2013/14 the stormiest in 143 years for Ireland

  

WE IN IRELAND ALONG WITH THE UK WEATHERED THE STORMIEST WINTER IN 143 YEARS LAST YEAR, SCIENTISTS HAVE NOW CONFIRMED.

Climatologists at NUI Maynooth have identified the winter of 2013/2014 as the stormiest in 143 years for Ireland and the UK.

The research by Dr Tom Matthews, Dr Conor Murphy and Shaun Harrigan from NUI Maynooth’s Irish Climate Analysis and Research Units (ICARUS), together with Prof. Rob Wilby of Loughborough University (UK), used long-running atmospheric datasets to characterise winter storminess over the North Atlantic for the last 66 years and as far back as winter 1871-1872 for Ireland and the UK.

“The results indicated that last winter was the stormiest in the 66 year record across the North Atlantic due to the unprecedented strength and number of cyclones over the mid- and high-latitude North Atlantic respectively,” a staement for the college said today.

Frequency and intensity

For Ireland and the UK, although previous winters experienced more storms (e.g. 1914-1915, the first winter of World War 1), and storms that were, on average, more intense during the late 1980s to early 1990s, no year in the 143 year record had a winter as severe as 2013-2014 when both the frequency and intensity of storms are combined.

Dr Tom Matthews said: “Inspired by the severe weather we experienced last winter we decided to assess the extent to which these conditions were unusual in the long-term context.

“This is an important task as such destructive weather events are of tremendous societal significance as we saw last winter in both Ireland and the UK.

“Cyclones typically form over the North Atlantic Ocean and travel east toward Ireland and the UK. The number and intensity of cyclones experienced each year has a significant influence on the amount of rainfall and extreme wind speeds.”

The research is published in the September 2014 issue (Volume 4) of Nature Climate Change Journal.

Fota Wildlife saves three frog species from extinction

  

A frog called the mountain chicken (because it’s hunted as food), a type of salamander and the Morelet’s leaf frog are some of the species to avoid extinction thanks to Fota Wildlife Park in Cork.

The British and Irish Association of Zoos and Aquariums (BIAZA) has published a list of the top 10 reptiles and amphibians to benefit from the aid of its members in Ireland and the UK.

Three residents of Fota Wildlife Park’s Tropical House – the mountain chicken, axolotl and the Morelet’s leaf frog – have all made it on to the list.

The mountain chicken, the world’s biggest frog, got its name as it is commonly hunted for food.

The axolotl is a critically endangered amphibian which retains its tadpole like appearance as an adult and has an extraordinary ability to regenerate limbs.

Meanwhile, the Morelet’s leaf frog has the ability to parachute between trees.

The Komodo dragon, with less than 1,000 left in the wild, also makes the list and one of the most sought after reptiles in the illegal pet trade, the ploughshare tortoise, also makes the list as does a UK species, the sand lizard.

Dr Andrew Marshall, of BIAZA’s field programmes committee, said: “Zoos are part of a global conservation community.

“Last year, BIAZA published a report of the top 10 mammals most reliant on zoos, which highlighted the work being done by zoos to help safeguard their future.

“This year, we have focused on 10 prevailing examples of reptiles and amphibians that zoos are working to save from extinction. The list includes some fantastic species, many of which are facing a dramatic decline and are in a desperate situation in the wild.

TV presenter and naturalist Nick Baker, who is backing this year’s top 10 campaign to raise awareness of the species, said: “Zoos and aquariums have a very important role in this whole thing – at the scariest level they are the Ark.

“They are where the insurance populations of these animals can be looked after and understood and studied.”

He added: “As much as BIAZA are very important in holding the ark population, they are also very important in being that interface between these animals and the public.”

He said zoos helped people appreciate species which might not have an instant appeal to the masses, as they are not furry, and were using money from visitors and applying it “directly to try and give these creatures a happy ending”.

BIAZA’S TOP 10 REPTILES AND AMPHIBIANS MOST RELIANT ON ZOOS ARE:

:: Axolotl – a critically endangered amphibian that looks like a tadpole even as an adult and can regenerate limbs;

:: Golden mantella – a bright yellow frog that attracts a mate by clicking, not croaking, and will try to eat anything it can fit in its mouth;

:: Komodo dragon – the world’s largest living lizard with males growing up to 3 metres and females able to reproduce on their own if necessary;

:: Lemur leaf frog – a small frog which, at 3-4cm could fit on the end of a finger, has seen its range and population fall 80% in recent years;

:: Morelet’s leaf frog – a striking lime-green frog with a pink or orange underbelly and wide webbing between their toes which lets them parachute between trees;

:: Mountain chicken – one of the largest frogs in the world, which gets its name as it is commonly hunted for food;

:: Orange-tailed skink – a beautifully coloured and highly endangered skink which would be extinct without the help of zoos;

:: Ploughshare tortoise – one of the most sought after reptiles in the illegal pet trade and which can live up to 100 years;

:: Round Island boa – one of the few snakes that can change its colour;    

Donie's news Ireland daily BLOG

Public hospital outpatient waiting lists show a 230% increase

  

Public hospital outpatient waiting list numbers are continuing to spiral – the number of patients waiting over a year for an appointment has increased by 230% since the end of 2013.

The latest performance report from the HSE shows that there were 16,295 patients waiting over a year for an outpatient appointment as of the end of March, compared to only 4,937 waiting this period at the end of last year.

There were 13,438 patients waiting over a year for outpatients at the end of February.

The total number of patients on outpatient lists is now 331,281, compared to 300,752 at the end of 2013.

Health Minister Reilly aimed to have no-one waiting over a year for an outpatient consultation by the end of 2013. The numbers were cut by over 50,000 between the end of November and the end of December last.

This was mainly achieved through buying services from private hospitals for a once-off clearance of the lists before the end of 1913, However, the lists after they were cut substantially, almost immediately started rising again.

Latest figures also show that public hospital waiting lists for operations and procedures are continuing an upward spiral that started in January.

Only four adult patients were waiting over nine months for treatment at the end of December last but by the end of March the numbers waiting over eight months (the new maximum wait target) had risen to 4,350.

Total numbers on treatment waiting lists now stand at 50,537, compared to 44,870 at the end of December and 49,147 at the end of February.

The continuing increase in waiting lists, coupled with the growing financial crisis in the HSE, is increasing the pressure on Health Minister James Reilly, especially in the wake of the Government parties’ poor local and European election results.

New Sligo County manager says ‘door now open’ to Lissadell estate owners

 

New Sligo County manager Ciaran Hayes says the council would try to facilitate the owners if seeking to host more concerts at Lissadell House.

The Sligo county manager has said his door is open to the owners of the Lissadell estate, and that he was hopeful the “fantastic facility” would reopen to the public.

At a special meeting today to discuss the fallout from the legal battle over rights of way at the Co Sligo estate, Ciaran Hayes also said the council would do its best to facilitate the owners if, for example, they wanted to have more concerts on the estate.

He told councillors he could not give a guarantee that such a dispute would not happen again. Mr Hayes said the issue had implications for every local authority in the State and implications for legislation. Councillors were told there was a legal onus on the council to defend rights of way.

Building bridges

After a number of councillors urged that the council be more proactive in building bridges, Mr Hayes said he would have no problem in approaching the owners, and a motion urging him to do so was passed.

The meeting was held following the release of a statement from owners Edward Walsh and Constance Cassidy that described a report prepared by officials on the legal background to the case as “a whitewash”.

Last November, the Supreme Court found in favour of the owners and overturned a High Court ruling that rights of way existed on four avenues through the estate, the ancestral home of 1916 leader Constance Markievicz.

Mr Hayes told the meeting the council’s costs in the matter were likely to exceed €2 million and some legal bills had been paid from an overdraft. He said the owners would furnish a legal bill to the council, which is liable for 75 per cent of their costs, estimated at up to €7 million. In the absence of agreement it would be referred to the taxing master and could take up to two years to be finalised.

The estate was regarded as one of the leading tourist attractions in the northwest, but it has been closed since 2009. Today, the couple said no decision had been made about its future.

Labour councillor Jim McGarry said the family deserved an apology from Sligo County Council. They were parents and children who had made Lissadell a home, he said. “They put their heart and soul into creating something for the good of the people of Sligo and were treated appallingly,” he said.

What had happened was heartbreaking, Mr McGarry said. “Lissadell is now closed, and has been for the past five years,” he said, adding that it had been a tourist attraction that brought more than 40,000 visitors a year to Sligo.

In December 2008 the county council had passed a motion to amend its county development plan aimed at protecting public rights of way along four routes at Lissadell.

Heckled

Fine Gael councillor Joe Leonard, who had proposed the motion, was heckled by Mr McGarry as he told colleagues his conscience was clear.

“I did the right thing. I would do exactly the same again,” said Mr Leonard, adding he had acted in the interests of the local community.

“I applaud the strenuous and repeated efforts by Sligo County Council to achieve a negotiated settlement,” he said.

Mr Leonard told the sometimes heated meeting the Supreme Court’s decision to completely reverse the High Court ruling was “in the eyes of the community, and in my own opinion, unbelievable”. He said the ruling on costs was “equally mystifying to any reasonable observer”.

Seán MacManus of Sinn Féin said the council could not wait for an approach from the owners but had to “extend a hand to the Walsh-Cassidy family, even at this late juncture”.

Galway in shock at five suicides in one weekend

   

Families and friends gather at the Walk of Life event in Galway city, after a weekend where at least five suicides were recorded. Walk of Life creates awareness around depression and suicide and remembers loved ones who have been lost to suicide.

Hundreds of people joined a remembrance walk after confirmation by gardai that there were at least five suicides in Galway in the space of just a few days.

Cork hurler Conor Cusack, who has made no secret of his own battle with depression, spoke at the Walk of Life event in Galway city organised by Niall McDonagh and his mother Mary.

Their family is among thousands across the country who have experienced the tragedy of suicide – with the five deaths in Galway coming the previous weekend.

“It is so shocking and tragic for anyone touched by it and after the numbers in Galway – if that is not an epidemic, I don’t know what is,” said Niall.

Ireland has exceptionally high rates of suicide among young people, with 600 deaths of people under the age of 25 recorded in Ireland in 2012.

“We need to change the way society looks at suicide,” said Supt Gerry Roche, one of the founders of suicide prevention and support group Galway East Life Support.

“It is a huge problem. Here in the West it is probably the single biggest issue.”

Stem cell research Products, Opportunities, Tools and Technologies

   

Dominate the Stem Cell Product Market by Making Smarter Decisions Faster

Stem cells are still a relatively new discovery, as the first mouse embryonic stem cells were derived from embryos in 1981, but it was not until 1995 that the first successful culturing of embryonic stem cells from non-human primates occurred and not until 1998 when a technique was developed to isolate and grow embryonic stem cells from human blastocysts.

Soon after, mesenchymal stem cells, neural stem cells, and hematopoietic stem cells became popularized. Groundbreaking experimentation in 2006 then led to the introduction of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs).

To facilitate research resulting from these far-ranging discoveries, a large and rapidly growing stem cells products market has emerged. There are now over one million stem cell researchers in 179 countries worldwide. In addition, there were only 17 stem cell product companies as of 2006 and that number has expanded to include over 100 today (more than a 5-fold increase). Not surprisingly, trend analysis also reveals rapid increases in stem cell research activity over the past five years.

Revealing new 2014 data, the industry report “Stem Cell Research Products: Opportunities, Tools, and Technologies” addresses these trends by strategically positioning research supply companies to expand, profit, and outmaneuver the competition.

A distinctive feature of the report is the findings discovered as a result of surveying researchers that identify as having stem cells as their core focus. This 2014 survey reveals stem cell researcher needs, technical preferences, key factors influencing buying decisions, and more. It can be used to make effective product development decisions, create targeted marketing messages, and produce higher prospect-to-client conversion rates.

To benefit from this lucrative product market, you need to anticipate and serve the needs of your clients, or your competitors will.

Key Findings Include:

•           Charts, Timelines, and Financials for the Stem Cell Product Market

•           Trend Data for Stem Cell Grants, Scientific Publications, and Patents

•           5-Year Market Size Projections (2014-2018)

•           Competitive Environment Analysis, Including Identification of Market Leaders

•           Preferred Species for Stem Cell Research

•           Breakdown of Stem Cell Product Categories

•           Identification of Crucial Trends and Unmet Market Needs

•           Breakdown of the Marketing Methods Used by Industry Participants

•           End-User Survey of Stem Cell Researchers

In summary, this is a must-read industry report for companies to optimally position themselves to sell stem cell products and technologies. To profit from this lucrative and rapidly expanding market, you need to understand your key strengths relative to the competition, intelligently position your products to fill gaps in the marketplace, and take advantage of crucial stem cell trends.

Currently, the following product categories compose the majority of global stem cell product sales:

• Primary antibodies to stem cell antigens

• Bead-based stem cell separation systems

• Fluorescent-based labeling and detection

• Stem cell protein purification and analysis tools

• Tools for DNA and RNA-based characterization of stem cells

• Isolation/characterization services

• Stem cell culture media and reagents

• Stem cell specific growth factors and cytokines

• Tools for stem cell gene regulation

• Stem cell services and mechanisms for in vivo and in vitro stem cell tracking

• Expansion/differentiation services for stem cell media and RNAi

• Stem cell lines

Furthermore, to sell products in the stem cell market, it is critical to understand the research applications for which stem cells are being studied. One area of study is the use of stem cells to understand and treat birth disorders. However, of greater interest to researchers is the potential for use of stem cells in regenerative medicine to treat conditions ranging from diabetes, to cardiovascular disease and neurological disorders.

Pharmaceutical companies have intense interest in the ability to use stem cells to improve drug target validation and toxicology screening. Therefore, it is important for companies interested in stem cell therapy applications to understand underlying market forces, and in particular, to consider progressive areas of stem cell research as opportunistic areas for drug and therapy development.

This report presents a range of topics of interest to these companies as well, including how advances in stem research can reveal potential new drug targets, improve methods of drug delivery, and provide personalized treatment strategies.

The key areas that account for the majority of applied stem cell research include:

• Regenerative Medicine – Reversal of injury or disease

• Drug Target Validation and Drug Delivery – Treatment of disease

• Toxicology Screening – Drug safety and efficacy assessment

• Understanding and Treatment of Birth Disorders – Natal repair

This 2014 report provides detailed information on both basic and applied stem cell research and research applications and includes an updated list of global stem cell research centers by region.

Furthermore, it is crucial for stem cell companies to understand the funding environment that supports stem cell research. Currently, the U.S. federal government is an important, although not dominant, source of funding for stem cell research. The reason is that U.S. states are spending almost as much as the federal government on stem cell research and are actually spending more than the federal government on human embryonic stem cell (hESC) research. Private sources also contribute a huge amount of funding, with analysis of recent large gifts summing to over $1.7 billion.

Growth in stem cell research has exploded in the past decade, and so the market to supply stem cell research products has grown to meet this huge demand. There are now over one million stem cell researchers worldwide. In addition, there were only 17 stem cell product companies as of 2006, and that has expanded to more than 100 today, a 6-fold increase.

NASA spacecraft discovers a new big crater on Mars

   

A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars has found a new gigantic crater on the surface of the Red Planet

A NASA spacecraft orbiting Mars has found a new gigantic crater on the surface of the Red Planet.

The crater is the largest new impact site ever seen on Mars with orbiter photos, according to The Huffington Post.

Photos of the crater were taken after it appeared suddenly in March 2012. They were taken by the space agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

The crater stretches half the length of a football field, The Economic Times reported.

THE LARGEST CRATER SPANS 159 BY 143 FEET.

“The biggest crater is unusual, quite shallow compared to other fresh craters we have observed,” said Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) of the University of Arizona.

NASA officials said a large asteroid impact, similar to the meteor explosion that occurred in Chelyabinsk, Russia last year, could have likely created the crater. The impact in Russia shattered windows, caused damage to hundreds of buildings and injured over 1,000 people, The Huffington Postreported.

The Red Planet’s new crater was found by Bruce Cantor, a scientist with Malin Space Science Systems (MSSS), almost two months ago. While Cantor was looking for dust storms and other weather events, he found a dark spot uncommon on Mars. He took images of the spot with the Mars Color Imager (MARCI), a weather-monitoring camera made by MSSS on board the MRO.

“It wasn’t what I was looking for,” Cantor said. “I was doing my usual weather monitoring and something caught my eye. It looked usual, with rays emanating from a central spot.”

Cantor studied earlier images, skipping back months to find that the spot existed a year ago, The Economic Times reported.

He then checked images from 40 different dates and was able to pinpoint the date the impact took place. The spot was not present through March 27, 2012, but appeared before the imaging on March 28.

McEwen estimated that the crater was likely created from an object that was 10 to 18 feet long, which is less than a third of the asteroid that landed near Chelyabinsk,The Huffington Post reported.

However, the atmosphere of Red Planet is much thinner than Earth’s which makes Mars more vulnerable to strikes from asteroids. A study released last year discovered that Mars likely gets hit with over 200 asteroids every year.