Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG upodate

Inflation remains flat across OECD countries membership

New figures show annual rate of inflation unchanged

    

Excluding food and energy, the annual inflation rate across the OECD stood at 1.6% for the third consecutive month

Global inflation rates remained flat during the year to June, according to new figures compiled by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

The group said the annual rate of inflation across its 34 members was unchanged at 0.6%. Excluding food and energy, the annual rate stood at 1.6% for the third consecutive month.

Energy prices continued to fall in the year by minute 9.3%, slightly lower than the 9.8% decline recorded in May. Food price inflation slowed to 1.5% in June as against 1.6% for the preceding month.

In the year to June, inflation was broadly stable in most major OECD economies. In France, inflation was up 0.3% while it expanded from 0.9% to 1% in Canada and from 0.1% to 0.2% in Italy. Inflation decreased slightly in Japan, falling to 0.4% from 0.5%. It also declined in the UK.

Denis O’Brien’s legal action against the Dáil is ‘foolish’ says Lucinda Creighton

   

Renua leader Lucinda Creighton says she thinks that a legal action by Denis O’Brien against a Dáil Committee is very”foolish”.

Mr O’Brien is taking a case against all 10 members of the Committee on Procedures and Privileges.

It’s after the CPP rejected his complaint that Deputy Catherine Murphy abused parliamentary privilege when making claims about his banking arrangements with IBRC.

Deputy Creighton says it’s essential to defend the integrity of the Houses of the Oireachtas.

“I think this is very unwise and foolish, it’s ill-judged and it’s very misfortunate that Mr O’Brien has chosen to go down this road,” said Deputy Creighton.

“I totally support and fully stand by the members of the committee and indeed by the right of Deputy Murphy to speak on the record in the Dáil on issues that are of huge public concern, and we will continue to maintain that position, and to support the right of members of the Oireachtas to speak without fear on the floor of the Dáil.”

Vehicles and licences to be linked in a points clampdown in Ireland

New central register for Gardaí, courts and RSA

  

New plans would see car owners being required to provide licence details when they purchase a car and each time they transfer ownership – so that a vehicle would always be linked with its driver or driver

Every vehicle on the road will be linked directly to the driver’s licence for the first time, in a radical overhaul designed to ensure that penalty points effectively punish those who have committed motoring offences.

A new central register will be accessible to the Courts Service, the gardaí and the Road Safety Authority (RSA), which is responsible for the allocation of penalty points.

It would see car owners being required to provide licence details when they purchase a car and each time they transfer ownership – so that a vehicle would always be linked with its driver or drivers.

The move is a solution to problems which have dogged the enforcement of the penalty points system.

These include the failure by seven motorists out of every 10 convicted of penalty point offences to produce their licence in court, thus avoiding having the points applied to their licence.

It would also help authorities keep a better track of motorists who have been disqualified from driving.

Sources said the proposal had been discussed extensively by a working group comprising the Department of Justice, Department of Transport, An Garda Síochána, the Courts Service and the Road Safety Authority (RSA).

It is not yet clear what sort of financial investment would be needed in order to implement a system of matching driving licences to vehicles.

However, if the costings can be agreed upon, the initiative could be officially announced by the end of the year.

Details of the proposal come just weeks after the Irish Independent revealed how more than 20,000 motorists had taken advantage of a loophole to avoid getting penalty points on their licences. These were drivers who failed to produce their licences in court over the course of a 15-month period.

Some 72% of motorists convicted of penalty point offences between January 2014 and March of this year managed to avoid the imposition of penalty points in this way.

Significant efforts have been made by the Courts Service to ensure that licences are presented, including the prominent signage and announcements at the beginning of sittings informing motorists of the requirement.

However, in many cases these warnings are still simply being ignored.

It is thought that the new scheme linking licences with cars would get rid of the need to record licence numbers in courts.

Instead, there would be a central register where the details are stored and these would be accessible to the relevant authorities.

Under the current system, when licence numbers are not provided in court, the RSA has to do a time- and resource-consuming matching exercise to ensure that points are applied to the licence of the offender.

Although it is an offence not to produce your licence in court, punishable by a fine of up to €2,000, the law is regularly flouted and until recently was not being enforced by Gardaí.

The force initiated a crackdown last month, with Gardaí prosecuting people for not producing their licences when requested to do so by the judge or the registrar.

Gardaí are due to announce figures on such prosecutions later in the week, but it is understood that at least 30 arrests were made within days.

Meanwhile, the Department of Transport has said it is confident that a separate loophole, which threatened to void penalty points that were issued between August and December of last year, has now been fully closed.

Loopholes

One driver, an Athlone woman Kim Nugent, successfully challenged the imposition of six penalty points, which would have given her a total of 12 and therefore an automatic disqualification.

Her legal team argued that a technical loophole, relating to the failure to properly commence certain relevant legislation from 2010, had the effect of rendering the endorsement and penalty points null and void.

The case was settled and Ms Nugent had her points cancelled.

However, a department spokesman said it was confident that it could successfully fight off any other challenges.

Ms Nugent succeeded as her case had been lodged before the loophole was closed.

A recent survey indicates that cars with dangerous defects are on the road in Ireland

 

A survey by the Society of the Irish Motor Industry has found that half of their members see cars presenting with dangerous defects around once or twice a month.

93% of garages have seen cars come in with dangerous tyres in the past three months.

SIMI is calling on car owners to keep up their car maintenance as a priority.

Director General Alan Nolan said that it could be a matter of life and death.

“If you don’t get your car serviced and looked after and checked to make sure that it doesn’t have anything dangerous arising, it’s not just about your investment into the car, and that’s important, but it’s about your family in the car, yourself in the car, and other people on the road,” said Mr Nolan.

“And I think the increase in fatalities on the road indicate that there isn’t the same degree of care about servicing cars as there was pre-recession.”

Early diagnosis of lung cancer is critical when dealing with it

 

Lung cancer is the fourth commonest cause of cancer in Ireland. About 2,000 Irish people are diagnosed with lung cancer every year. Around 8 in 10 cases develop in people over the age of 60, usually in smokers. If lung cancer is diagnosed at an early stage, there is a chance of a cure. In general, the more advanced the cancer (the more it has grown and spread), the less chance that treatment will be curative.

TYPES OF LUNG CANCER

Primary lung cancers arise from cells within the lung. The two most common types are called small-cell lung carcinoma (SCLC) and non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). NSCLCs include squamous cell cancers (the most common type of lung cancer), adenocarcinoma and large-cell carcinoma. About 1 in 5 cases of lung cancer are SCLC; the remainder are NSCLC. All these types of lung cancers arise from various cells which line the airways (bronchi). There are some other, rarer types of primary lung cancer which arise from other types of cells within the lung.

Secondary lung cancers (or lung metastases) are tumours which have spread to the lung from another cancer somewhere else in the body. The lung is a common site for metastases from other cancers. This is because all blood flows through the lungs and may contain tumour cells from any other part of the body.

WHAT CAUSES LUNG CANCER?

Smoking is a major risk factor and is the main cause of lung cancer. Compared with non-smokers, those who smoke between 1-14 cigarettes a day have eight times the risk of dying from lung cancer. Those who smoke 25 or more cigarettes a day have 25 times the risk.

Non-smokers have a low risk of developing lung cancer. However, people who are regularly exposed to other people’s smoke (passive smokers) have a small increased risk. People who work with certain substances have an increased risk, especially if they also smoke. These substances include radioactive materials, asbestos, nickel and chromium. People who live in areas where there is a high level of background radiation from radon have a small increased risk. Air pollution may be a small risk too.

A family history of lung cancer in a first-degree relative (mother, father, brother, sister) slightly increases the risk of lung cancer. But note: most cases of lung cancer do not run in families.

THE SYMPTOMS OF LUNG CANCER

The symptoms of lung cancer can vary between different people. Many people do not have symptoms in the early stages and lung cancer may be diagnosed when a chest X-ray is performed for a different reason. Initial symptoms of lung cancer may include one or more of the following:

• Persistent cough.
• Coughing up blood or bloodstained phlegm (sputum).
• Chest and/or shoulder pains.
• Tiredness and loss of energy.
• Weight loss.
• Shortness of breath or wheezing – especially if a tumour is growing in a main airway and is partially blocking the airflow.
• Hoarse voice.
• A change in shape at the end of your fingers (clubbing).

If the cancer spreads to other parts of the body, various other symptoms can develop such as bone pain or swelling of the neck or above the collarbone.

THE DIAGNOSIS

If a doctor suspects that you may have lung cancer, the common initial test is a chest X-ray. This is a simple and quick test and may show changes such as abnormal shadowing. However, a chest X-ray cannot confirm cancer, as there are various other causes of shadowing on a chest X-ray. Other tests are therefore needed.

You may be offered a computerised tomography (CT) scan and other investigations which will help to confirm the diagnosis of lung cancer. You may need other tests which not only provide more information about the cancer but also help to detect whether or not it has spread.

THE TREATMENT OPTIONS

Treatment options which may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy. The treatment advised for each case depends on various factors, such as:

• The site of the primary tumour in the lung.
• The type of cancer.
• The stage of the cancer (how large the cancer is and whether it has spread).

The types of treatment regimes for SCLC and NSCLC can be very different.

You should have a full discussion with a specialist who knows your case. They will be able to give the pros and cons, likely success rate, possible side-effects and details about the possible treatment options for your type of cancer.

Bonobos can talk like human babies

   

Infants have a limited range of communication options — but they make it work. Moms and dads know that a certain squeal can mean both “I’m happy” and “Change me.” Long before they start speaking, children as young as three months old are able to use sounds to express both positive and negative emotions.

For a long time scientists thought that “functional flexibility,” the ability to produce vocalizations in a range of emotional states and situations before language develops, was unique to human infants. But it turns out that may not be the case after all.

New research shows that wild bonobos, our closest living relative in the primate world, can vocalize in a similar manner by using a squeaking sound, termed “the peep,” that requires context to be understood. Peeps are high-pitched sounds which are short in duration and produced with a closed mouth.

Researchers at the University of Birmingham, UK and the University of Neuchatel, Switzerland conducted research on bonobos in their native setting in the Congo. They found that bonobos utilized “the peep” in a wide range of situations across positive, negative and neutral situations without variation in acoustic structure, which means that the listener must take into account the context into order to discern what the bonobo is communicating.

“I was struck by how frequent their peeps were, and how many different contexts they produce them in,” lead researcher Dr. Zanna Clay from the University of Birmingham’s School of Psychology said in a press release. “It became apparent that because we couldn’t always differentiate between peeps, we needed to understand the context to get to the root of their communication.”

The researchers found that peeps made during negative contexts were acoustically distinct, however, which they believe is a result of higher subglottal air pressure during call production. Negative situations are charged, tense and urgent and can produce physiological consequences that could alter vocal tones.

The findings challenge the belief that animal vocalizations are tied to specific contexts or emotional state, which suggests that “functional flexibility” has evolutionary roots that predate the evolution of human speech.

“We felt that it was premature to conclude that this ability is uniquely human, especially as no one had really looked for it in the great apes,” Dr. Clay said. “It appears that the more we look, the more similarity we find between animals and humans.”   

Donie's news Ireland daily BLOG update

Child protection review severely critical of Divine Word missionary congregation

  

It's not acceptable that Church waited until 2012 to implement child protection policies. 

It said it was ‘not acceptable that any Church authority in Ireland would have waited until 2012 to begin the process of implementing accepted and agreed Church child safeguarding policies’, the review said.

The fact that no child safeguarding case management files existed in the Divine Word (SVD) missionary congregation prior to 2013 “is of great concern and indicates a lack of any focus on child protection within the society over the last 20 years,” the National Board for Safeguarding Children in the Catholic Church in Ireland (NBSCCCI) review has found.”Case files were constructed by the society in advance of the review taking place,” it said.

The existence of child safeguarding case management files within the congregation “can only be traced back to the beginning of 2013,” it said. “A lot of documentation was either never generated, or was removed or destroyed by parties unknown, or was kept in some file or files the existence of which has not yet been discovered.” it said.

It said it was “not acceptable that any Church authority in Ireland would have waited until 2012 to begin the process of implementing accepted and agreed Church child safeguarding policies, procedures and practices and while there may be explanations offered for this state of affairs, there are no excuses for it.”

It also described as “ truly unfortunate and a great injustice that it is almost impossible to identify the victims of historical child sexual abuse who live in developing countries and whose abuse took place many years ago.

“The behaviour of the few SVD members who perpetrated this abuse has severely undermined the integrity of a Christian brotherhood that aspires to bring the Good News to people who have not yet heard it,” it said.

The congregation fully met none of the four criteria for complaince with training and education as “child safeguarding has only really been actively taken up by the SVD IBP within the past year and much remains to be done.”

Nor did the congregation “place a notice on its website announcing this NBSCCCI review and inviting anyone who had a child safeguarding concern to make contact,” as is required.

What was missing in the congregation’s approach “is a clear and systematic consideration of the potential to identify victims of member.” The reviewers found evidence “on the files of some attempts to assess the risks posed by members about whom there were child safeguarding concerns. However, this approach was hit and miss,” it said.

A total of eight abuse allegations were made against six Divine Word missionaries since January 1st 1975, with one convicted in the courts, according to today’s review. The reviewers read case files on seven accused men, however.

“One of these men had spent some of his formation period in an SVD seminary, but he transferred to a diocesan seminary, from which he was ordained. He was subsequently found to have abused children as a diocesan priest, but no information suggesting that he had abused while an SVD seminarian was found.”

Double expense claim allegation made against a Donegal Co councillor

  

The standards in Public Office Commission is to make a decision about Pádraig Doherty expences claim within weeks.

SIPO heard that Cllr Pádraig Doherty attended a meeting of Údarás na Gaeltachta in Furbo, Co Galway for which he claimed mileage expenses and overnight expenses despite spending that night in Donegal.

A Donegal County Councillor has appeared before the Standards in Public Office Commission over allegations around travel and subsistence expenses, including an allegation that he claimed expenses for the same conference from two different bodies.

A total of nine alleged contraventions are made against Cllr Pádraig Doherty, an independent representative for the Glenties electoral area, following a complaint by Donegal County Council.

Cllr Doherty, who is standing in the upcoming local elections, admitted to the contraventions and, through his legal representative, apologised to the commission, but said the the contraventions were “unintentional” and “inadvertent”.

Three of the allegations relate to Cllr Doherty’s attendance of the Association of County and City Councils’ Annual conference in Dungarvan, Co Waterford between March 8th and March 10th 2007.

The commission heard that Cllr Doherty claimed travel and subsistence expenses totalling € 1,021.08 from Donegal County Council in December 2007 but had, three months earlier, claimed expenses from Údarás na Gaeltachta for the same conference for a total of € 1,032.75.

However, Cllr Doherty later wrote to Donegal County Council in August 2011, a year prior to a complaint being made in relation to the matter, saying he had discovered the duplication during a review of his expense claims and repaid the full € 1,021.08 to the council.

Further allegations against Cllr Doherty relate to two separate conferences which took place in Waterford and Galway on two consecutive days in November 2008.

Cllr Doherty attended the first of the two conferences, the Irish Central Border Area Network Conference in Dundalk, Co Louth, on November 20th 2008 and returned home that night. He later made a claim for mileage and subsistence of € 295.39.

The commission heard that, the following day Cllr Doherty attended a meeting of Údarás na Gaeltachta in Furbo, Co Galway for which he claimed mileage expenses and overnight expenses despite spending that night in Donegal.

However, Cllr Doherty’s legal representative, senior council Richard Lyons, read correspondence from Údarás na Gaeltachta stating that Cllr Doherty had later written to it amending his claim to state he left Donegal at 4am on November 21st 2008 and not 4pm on November 20th which it had accepted .

Mr Lyons said Cllr Doherty, who had been an Údarás na Gaeltachta member for 26 years and a council member for 15 years, had admitted to the breaches a “very early stage”, had cooperated fully with the inquiry. He also noted that there had been no financial loss to either body.

Chair of the commission, Mr Justice Daniel O’Keeffe said it would deliver its decision within a matter of weeks.

More drugs will be made available over the counter in Irish Pharmacies

 

More medicines are to be made available without a prescription saving patients an expensive trip to the doctor.

The drugs regulator has identified a range of around 20 products that will be made available over the counter in pharmacies and may include migraine medicines and commonplace anti-fungal drugs.

Pat O’Mahony, chief executive of the Irish Medicines Board (IMB), said preparations are at an advanced stage to take around 12 of these medicines off prescription shortly and patients are likely to be given easier and cheaper access to the remainder next year.

Speaking at the Irish Pharmacy Union annual conference in Cavan over the weekend, he declined to disclose the medicines on the list.

However, they are likely to include some products which are already available over the counter in the UK.

Drugs which may be included in the list include the medicine fluconazole – used to treat fungal infections such as thrush – which is available only on prescription here but can be purchased over the counter in Northern Ireland.

Pharmacists also recently called for the migraine medication Sumatriptan, to be available here without prescription, as it is in the UK. They argued it would allow migraine sufferers to access appropriate and effective treatment from their pharmacist without delay.

“We have long argued that too many medicines are prescription only and that pharmacists should be empowered to have greater discretion in deciding whether to dispense medicines to patients,” said Kathy Maher, the new President of the IPU, as she welcomed the move.

“This is key to improving public access to medicines in a safe environment. Today’s news is very welcome and we will engage with the IMB to ensure that this progresses as quickly as possible.”

She said the public will benefit through having easier access to the medicines which can be obtained over the counter in consultation with a pharmacist. For private patients it will cut out the need to pay the doctor a fee of around €50 in order to get a prescription.

Ms Maher, who is a pharmacist in Co Meath, also revealed the findings of an IPU survey showing that 38pc of medical card patients “think twice” about filling prescriptions because they will have to pay a levy of €2.50 for each medicine.

She warned this was leading patients to “ration” their use of medicines with potentially harmful consequences.

She said while the charge will not be scrapped it is time to exempt some vulnerable groups including people who are receiving palliative care, the homeless and residents of nursing homes.

Stop being so lazy about your fitness ladies

 

Over the last decade or so, the number of female acquaintances who continue to smoke has dwindled into single figures.

We realised that if we did not want to succumb to heart disease or lung cancer at an early age, the fags would have to go.

We’re also starting to get the message about stuffing ourselves with too much junk food and preservative-laden quickie meals – yes, Jamie Oliver, we have been listening.

And not a minute too soon, as the latest research says that if we don’t cut down on our calories Irish people are set to become the fattest in Europe by 2030.

So, increasingly I’m seeing women in the supermarket peering at labels and cutting down on the amount of “treat” foods in their baskets.

But where we’re falling behind is with exercise. If you see two women, for instance, one quite slim and the other, as we put it, “pleasantly plump” who would you think is the least fit and healthy and in more danger of contracting heart disease?

If you immediately assume it’s the overweight woman, you may be wrong. This week scientists from Queensland University revealed the results from a 20-year study which tracked the long-term health of women born in the 1920s, 1940s and 1970s.

What they found was that, after the age of 30, the biggest threat of getting heart disease for women over the age of 30 was not from smoking, obesity or high blood pressure, but from lack of exercise.

Ergo, if you are a 30-plus female, you can munch broccoli and spinach all you like, but if you lead a sedentary lifestyle you are at more risk of keeling over from heart disease than a woman who has the odd fag and glass of wine but exercises regularly.

To increase our fitness levels we need to raise our heart rates and break a sweat – that means covering a mile in less than 20 minutes or so.

And a leisurely stroll of even a few miles every other day isn’t going to cut the mustard. We need at least two-and-a-half hours of good physical activity weekly. And most of us are not getting it.

Last month, the UK government warned that the British people were more physically inactive than they have been at any other time in “all human history”.

I would bet that the Irish are even worse because promoting physical fitness has never been a priority in this country. It never needed to be when we had to plough fields, milk cows or cycle miles to the next village.

When Ruairi Quinn suggested that some of the numerous hours spent teaching catechism in Irish schools could be given over to maths instead, there was uproar.

But no one has yet to complain about the lip service we give to physical fitness and the impact that has on increasingly serious health issues in Ireland.

Peoples best friend and the power & benefits of a pet

  

FIND OUT WHAT PHYSICAL AND MENTAL BENEFITS YOU COULD RECEIVE FROM HAVING A PET.

It’s a well known saying that dogs are a human’s best friend. They’re loyal, always there for you and are great listeners. So animal fans will be pleased to hear that having a pet improves both your mental and physical health, even having something as small as a guinea pig.

“Pets often provide unconditional acceptance and love and they’re always there for you,” Gary A. Christenson, MD, chief medical officer at Boynton Health Service at the University of Minnesota, explained. “There is a bond and companionship that makes a big difference in mental health.”

If you want to know more about the benefits of having a pooch or moggy, or maybe even a hamster, keep reading.

EASES DEPRESSION

A study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology documents how pet owners have a more positive outlook in general and better wellbeing overall. It’s the feeling an animal offers, taking away any traces of loneliness and boosting self-esteem, which makes them the perfect company.

“The calming presence and the social bond that pets bring can be very powerful,” Dr. Christenson explained. “Animals give something to focus on instead of the negative thoughts a depressed person is prone to have. When a pet pays attention to you, they’re giving you unconditional love and acceptance.”

STRESS RELIEF

After a hard day’s work it’s a relief to come home to unconditional love. You may be in a foul mood or look a mess but your pet couldn’t care less. The body’s reaction to being in the same room as an animal shows the effects they have.

“A powerful neurochemical, oxytocin, is released when we look at our companion animal, which brings feelings of joy. It’s also accompanied by a decrease in cortisol, a stress hormone,” Rebecca A. Johnson, PhD, director of the Research Center for Human-Animal Interaction at the University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, revealed. She carried out a study on post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans and the prescience of an animal was extremely powerful. “One veteran couldn’t leave his home without his wife until we placed a dog with him and in less than a week he was able to go around his town,” she recalled.

REDUCE ALLERGIES IN YOUNG CHILDREN

If you’re thinking of starting a family in the future, having a pet during the first few months of having your baby could strengthen their immune system for the future. Research in the Clinical & Experimental Allergy journal found that kids who had pets before they were six months old were less likely to develop hay fever, eczema and allergies as they got older.

“In the first year of life, babies who are exposed to dogs in the household are more likely not to have allergies, asthma, and fewer upper respiratory infections,” says Rebecca said. “If exposed at an early age to dander and allergens, we may be less reactive to them over time.”

Loss of ice is moving Earth 400 km downwards!

   

Earth’s mantle under Antarctica is moving rapidly, changing the shape of the land at a rate that can be recorded by GPS, scientists say. 

Antarctica may seem a motionless, yet hundreds of miles down the Earth is moving at a rapid rate, says a new research.

Antarctica may seem a motionless and frozen landscape, yet hundreds of miles down the Earth is moving at a rapid rate, according to a new research.

An international research team led by Newcastle University, UK, has explained for the first time why the upward motion of Earth’s crust in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula is currently taking place so quickly.

Previous studies have shown the Earth is ‘rebounding’ due to the overlying ice sheet shrinking in response to climate change.

This movement of the land was understood to be due to an instantaneous, elastic response followed by a very slow uplift over thousands of years.

But Global Positioning System (GPS) data collected has shown that the land in this region is actually rising at a phenomenal rate of 15mm a year – much greater than can be accounted for by the present-day elastic response alone.

And researchers have shown for the first time how the mantle below the Earth’s crust in the Antarctic Peninsula is flowing much faster than expected, probably due to subtle changes in temperature or chemical composition.

This means it can flow more easily and so responds much more quickly to the lightening load hundreds of miles above it, changing the shape of the land.

“You would expect this rebound to happen over thousands of years and instead we have been able to measure it in just over a decade. You can almost see it happening which is just incredible,” lead researcher, Grace Nield, from School of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Newcastle, said.

“Because the mantle is ‘runnier’ below the Northern Antarctic Peninsula it responds much more quickly to what’s happening on the surface. So as the glaciers thin and the load in that localised area reduces, the mantle pushes up the crust,” said Nield.

Since 1995, several ice shelves in the Northern Antarctic Peninsula have collapsed and triggered ice-mass unloading, causing the solid Earth to ‘bounce back’.

“The ice is pressing down on the Earth and as this weight reduces the crust bounces back. But what we found when we compared the ice loss to the uplift was that they didn’t tally – something else had to be happening to be pushing the solid Earth up at such a phenomenal rate.