News Ireland daily update BLOG Monday

Transport Minister Varadkar blames high taxes for Ireland’s brain drain

 

Our best and brightest people are paying too much tax and should be given some relief to stop the brain drain, a senior minister has warned.

Highly qualified younger workers are going to Canada, the US and Australia because they are getting “a better lifestyle, higher pay and lower taxes”, Transport Minister Leo Varadkar told the Irish Independent.

He said recent figures showing many highly skilled workers are emigrating highlight the need to keep taxes low.

“Equality and fairness are important, but we must not push our best talent out of Ireland,” he said.

Mr Varadkar’s comments will be seen as a signal of Fine Gael priorities once Ireland exits the bailout, and of putting down a marker to Labour if it tries to push again for tax increases during the lifetime of this Government.

The Dublin West TD said that while it is too early to introduce tax cuts now, it should be on the agenda, particularly for income tax and the Universal Social Charge (USC), once the country exits the bailout.

Mr Varadkar’s comments came after junior finance minister Brian Hayes said the Government cannot continue to “tax the hell” out of people and as preparations for the October 15 Budget intensify.

The Government will get the crucial figures for the September Exchequer returns today, which will allow it to make a final call on the Budget adjustment.

The Coalition is keen that people are given some indication that years of pain are coming to an end, even if austerity will not end just yet.

“We need to show people that we’re on the way out of this situation,” a Labour source said.

Mr Varadkar said: “People calling for more tax hikes for the successful need to consider the effect that would have.”

He added that young people moving up the career ladder are seeing almost half their extra earnings taken in tax.

The Coalition almost came to breaking point before last year’s Budget, when Labour demands for a 3pc increase in the USC failed when Fine Gael countered with a proposal for an across-the-board cut of 3pc in welfare rates.

Negotiations for the upcoming Budget will intensify this week, and the Government is expected to decide on a final figure for the exact number of cuts and taxes. The final figure is expected to be between the originally planned €3.1bn and the €2.5bn Labour is pushing for.

Any leeway is unlikely to be used to cut taxes. Labour wants some let-up in welfare and education cuts while Fine Gael says any extra money will be used to stimulate jobs.

But the new tax concerns have been sparked by a study released last week which found a disproportionate number of highly educated young people are leaving the country, with rural Ireland most affected.

MYTH: It said 62% of recent emigrants have a degree from a third-level course of three years or more.

The UCC study also found half of those emigrating left full-time jobs to go to another country and less than a quarter were unemployed.

Mr Varadkar said the study “debunks the myth that everyone who is emigrating is unemployed”. “In fact, most have jobs and many are highly skilled or qualified,” he said. “I know from my own experience and peers that we are losing really well-qualified people to other countries.”

He also pointed out that not only has the economic crisis reduced salaries, but workers were being moved into the higher rate of tax – at 52pc – when they are earning average wages.

Northern Ireland vote sought for future Irish presidential elections

 

Irish citizens in Northern Ireland should be given the right to vote in Irish presidential elections, the Republic’s constitutional think-tank has recommended.

An overwhelming majority of the 100 members of the Constitutional Convention backed proposals to extend the vote to Irish emigrants around the world, and to people in Northern Ireland.

The recommendations will now go to the Irish government, which will decide within four months whether to hold a referendum on the issue.

Of those polled at the conference, 78% said voting rights for presidential elections should be extended to those living outside the Republic.

A further 73% agreed that residents in Northern Ireland should be allowed to have their say on thenext Irish president.

But Alliance’s man at the Convention urged caution. Stewart Dickson MLA said the Good Friday Agreement did not create joint authority or sovereignty.

Members of the Irish diaspora worldwide contributed to the convention meeting in Malahide, Co Dublin, via video-link.

One in five (20%) of Irish motorists evading fines, A report finds

 

State spending watchdog says Government debt rose by almost 14% in 2012

Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy, the State’s public spending watchdog, has called for the Garda to urgently address ‘significant’ shortcomings in the fixed penalty system.

Up to one in five drivers are evading fines because of weaknesses in the fixed penalty system, an investigation has found.

Offenders are getting away with breaking the law because their cars are registered to a company or because officials cannot track them down.

There is also a high failure rate in serving summons by the Garda, with the C&AG finding that around half the summonses issued were not served.

Redesigned Irish passport unveiled by Tánaiste Gilmore

 

NEW LOWER COST IDENTITY WILL FEATURE IMAGES OF AVIVA STADIUM AND ROCK OF CASHEL

The newly-designed Irish passports have been officially launched by Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore.

The passport features images of iconic Irish landmarks including the Croagh Patrick, Kylemore Abbey and Croke Park. There will also be drawings depicting Irish music and dance and Gaelic games. All Irish passports issued from October 3rd will have this new design.

The new book contains enhanced security to stop forgery with Ogham characters reacting to heat and images only visible with a special lens that border control will have.

Mr. Gilmore said “We have combined the latest security technology with selected imagery in order to produce a passport which represents Ireland – our culture, our history, and our people”.

“Today, Irish passport holders travel more often and to more destinations than at any time in the past. In 2012, we issued over 600,000 passports to Irish citizens around the world. I would urge Irish citizens to check the validity of their current passport and to apply for a new book well in advance of any travel” he added.

The images used range from a perspective of the Cliffs of Moher to the new landscape along the river Liffey, with the Dublin Convention Centre to the foreground and the Custom House and Liberty Hall.

The passport also features poems from three Irish poets: Nuala ní Dhomhnaill, William Butler Yeats, and James Orr.

More than 630,000 passports issued in 2012 – of which about 350,000 issued to adults – and 67% of all passport applications were received through the Passport Express channel.

The Department of Foreign Affairs says almost 53,000 applications were received through the London Passport Office, the highest number outside the State. After London, the highest number was issued in Canberra – 5,600 passports, followed by 5,300 by the Consulate General in New York.

July was the busiest month last year, with 78,000 passports issued – while December was the quietest with just over 20,000.

New drugs could cure skin cancer in the years ahead

  

Skin cancer sufferers could be cured of the disease with new breakthrough drugs, experts claimed, as they hailed the “beginning of a new era”.

Seriously ill patients are said to have seen “spectacular effects” after receiving the medication which could eventually be used to combat other forms of the condition.

It is the first time scientists have come this close to providing a remedy for advanced melanoma.

The development will bring hope to thousands of people who are diagnosed with skin cancer in Britaineach year.

Until now the prognosis for advanced melanoma has been very poor and many patients die within months of diagnosis.

Professor Peter Johnson, chief clinician at Cancer Research UK, said: “We’re just at the beginning of a new era of cancer treatments using the immune system.

“These drugs that can turn the body’s own defences against a tumour are starting to show real promise for melanoma and other types of cancer.

“It’s only through research that we can gain the insights needed to develop new treatments for cancer patients.”

The new cure contains two types of drug – ipilimumab (known as ipi) and anti-PD1s which break down the defences of cancer cells and are still in clinical trials.

Doctors can effectively reboot a patient’s immune system by combining the two.

One in six patients are already being saved by the ground-breaking treatment, the European Cancer Congress has been told.

A new combination of drugs could mean more than half are cured of the deadly condition.

Professor Alexander Eggermont of the Institut Gustave Roussy in France said: “Advanced] melanoma could become a curable disease for perhaps more than 50% of patients within five to 10 years.”

“If I’d made this bizarre prediction five years ago, people would have said I was mad,” he said.

“But it now looks like we are going to have control of advanced melanoma for years, in a substantial proportion of patients.”

Advanced melanoma is diagnosed when the disease has spread and can no longer be surgically removed.

Advice on the Cancer Research UK website currently warns patients that this form of skin cancer “can’t be cured”.

It states: “Treatments are available that can shrink the melanoma or stop it growing. It may be possible to control it for quite a while.”

Cygnus spacecraft docks with International Space Station for first time

 

Orbital Sciences’ Cygnus capsule, delivering food and supplies to astronauts, successfully docks with the International Space Station for the first time.

Nasa’s newest delivery service arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday after a week’s delay, bringing more than half a ton of meals to astronauts onboard.

With the linkup, Orbital Sciences Corporation became only the second company to accomplish such a shipment.

The space station astronauts used their ship’s huge robotic arm to latch on to the Cygnus capsule, as the two vessels zoomed 260 miles above the Indian Ocean.

“Everybody is just so excited,” Nasa’s Mission Control radioed. Ground teams described the achievement as “epic” and “superb.”‘

It was supposed to reach the space station last Sunday, but was held up by inaccurate navigation data, later fixed by a software patch.

Cygnus then had to wait until a Russian spacecraft brought three new astronauts in midweek.

The successful arrival means the Virginia-based company can begin making good on a $1.9 billion contract with Nasa for a series of Cygnus deliveries.

 

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

€100m in concession pay back’ for unions involved in talks

  

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar says it was always the plan to have add backs for unions that looked after members.

Minister for Transport Leo Varadkar has said there would be no concessions for unions who left the public service pay talks process.

It was “always the plan” of the Government that there “would be concessions and there would be add backs for unions that looked after members,” by engaging with talks, he told RTE Radio’s This Week programme.

Such concessions included pension levy alleviations for lower paid workers. Comparing nurses and teachers, Mr Varadkar said by staying in talks the teachers achieved equalisation in new entrant pay rates.

Mr Varadkar hoped the majority would accept the deal and those who did not would accept the vote of the majority.

Mr Varadkar said the Croke Park extension would bring €1bn in savings, within which was over €100m in concessions given to trade unions who stayed within the talks.

Meanwhile Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty said the Government has failed to make the deal fair and tackle pay inequalities in  the public service.

“If adopted, the extension to the Croke Park Agreement will result in a loss of income for almost all public servants, but those only those earning more than €65,000 per annum face a core pay cut,” Mr Varadkar said in a statement.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton yesterday said the Croke Park talks were negotiated fairly, and denied workers whose unions left the negotiations were being punished.

It emerged on Friday that firefighters and prison officers would retain premium payments under the proposed deal, but groups such as gardaí, nurses and doctors continue to face cuts to Sunday premium rates and the abolition of “twilight” payments under the proposed agreement.

Speaking to RTÉ Radio, Mr Bruton said the Government had accepted alternative proposals put forward by representatives who had stayed to negotiate the fairest contribution from their sector.

“There’s no question of punishment. The government offered a certain approach,” he said.

“Always on the table were elements in respect of premium pay, elements in respect of higher paid people, elements in respect of longer working hours and elements in respect of increments. A mix across all those was negotiated.”

Meanwhile, Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said it was “regrettable” that the Garda Representative Association did not participate in the Croke Park talks.

“It is also regrettable that they are misleading people by stating that they had not capacity to participate. The garda representative bodies have in the past participated and talks have taken place,” he said.

“They chose at a very early stage to exit from the talks. As a consequence they weren’t able to present, decided not to present, to those engaged on the other side with the Labour Relations Commission the very special issues members of the garda force are concerned about.”

Irish Junior Health Minister Alex White  ’Says there is a problem with the price of generic drugs here

      

THE JUNIOR HEALTH MINISTER ALEX WHITE HAS ADMITTED THERE IS A PROBLEM WITH THE PRICING OF GENERIC DRUGS IN IRELAND.

The Health Service Executive has faced criticism for some time in relation to the pricing of such drugs in comparison to other European countries.

Despite the fact that a large number of drug manufacturers are based in Ireland, the HSE and the Irish consumer pays up to 24 times more for generic branded medicines than patients in Britain do who buy them under the NHS.

According to a report in The Sunday Business Post, the difference in price between Ireland and the rest of Europe is expanding.

In one example, the HSE is paying €18 for a generic version of the anti-cholestorol medicine Lipitor, a drug the NHS pays just €2 for.

The Health Service is under pressure to reduce the money spent on drugs after the Troika highlighted it as an area of concern.

Alex White denied the Government was afraid to take a tougher stance with the drugs companies.

“I think the setting of prices for drugs should be done on the basis of what’s right in terms of the correct price for drugs, and no other factor,” he said.

“I can see there’s a serious problem (but) we have begun to get a grip on it.“

TWO FRIENDS KILLED AS CAR HITS TREE IN SOOEY SLIGO

   

Two friends were killed and a third left seriously injured when their car crashed into a tree on a Sligo rural road last night Saturday.

Declan McCormack, 22, and 20-year-old Eoin Kelly were pronounced dead at the scene of the tragedy on the Ballyfarnan to Sligo Road at Sooey, Co Sligo, late last night.

A toddler and a teenager were also killed in two separate car accidents over the weekend.

Gardaí in Sligo said Mr McCormack, from Riverstown, and his front seat passenger from nearby Greaghnafarna on the Leitrim/Sligo border died instantly, while a 21-year-old rear seat passenger remains in a stable condition in Sligo General hospital.

Riverstown parish priest Father Ab O’Shea was called to the scene of the crash and said attending any road accident that causes death or serious injury is horrific.

“They were three friends, young fellas in their early 20s who hung around together and enjoyed life together,” he said.

“They had enjoyed their life up to this. They went off the road. It was simply an accident.

“To all the family members who are so distressed at the moment and broken by what they have experienced, myself, my colleagues, the Gardaí and all of the people in the area are devastated for them.

“We are here to support them whatever way possible and to help them through the tragedy over the next few days.”

Elsewhere, a 21-month-old girl died in hospital after she was hit by a car in Ardmore Walk estate in Tallaght, south Dublin, at around 5.30pm yesterday.

The driver of the car was not injured and gardaí are interviewing family members and neighbours about the tragic accident in the cul de sac.

Meanwhile, police in the North named a 17-year-old who died in a two-car collision as Keelan Mullan.

The teenager, from the Drumsurn area of Limavady, suffered fatal injuries when his car, a silver Renault Clio, was in collision with a tractor on Drumsurn Road near the junction with the Cloghan Road at around 10.20am on Saturday.

The PSNI have appealed for anyone who saw the collision or either of the vehicles involved in the minutes prior to the collision to come forward.

2,000 protest over planned Galway fish farm

 

The fish farm would double the State’s production of raw organic salmon

Around 2,000 people have attended a protest against plans for a major fish farm off the Aran Islands in Galway.

The facility would be the largest of its kind in Europe and would double the State’s production of raw organic salmon.

The plans have been met by strong opposition from fishery groups and anglers, citing fears of pollution and threats to tourism in the area.

Bord Iascaigh Mhara said the project would adhere to the strictest environmental standards.

A spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture said the BIM aquaculture licence application is under consideration by the Department in accordance with the provisions of the 1997 Fisheries (Amendment) Act.

“It would not be appropriate for the Department to comment further on an application which is under active consideration as part of a statutory process,” the statement added.

Cargo ship attached to station after smooth rendezvous

  

After a flawless rendezvous, a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule was captured by the International Space Station’s robot arm early Sunday, bringing more than a ton of supplies and equipment to the outpost. The Dragon cargo capsule was attached to the Earth-facing port of the station’s Harmony module about three-and-a-half hours after it was plucked out of open space by the lab’s robot arm.

A commercial cargo ship built by SpaceX successfully attaches to the International Space Station today, two days after thruster problems threatened to derail the resupply mission.  

After recovering from thruster problems and flying a near-perfect rendezvous, a SpaceX cargo ship pulled up to the International Space Station early today and stood by while commander Kevin Ford, wielding the lab’s robot arm, locked onto a grapple fixture to secure the spacecraft for berthing.

Operating the Canadian-built arm from a robotics work station in the multi-window Cupola compartment,

Ford grappled the Dragon cargo ship at 5:31 a.m. EST, an hour earlier than expected, as the two spacecraft passed 253 miles above northern Ukraine.

Flight controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston congratulated the crew for “a brilliant capture.”

“Let me just say congratulations to the SpaceX and Dragon team in Houston and in California,” Ford replied. “As they say, it’s not where you start but where you finish that counts, and you guys really finished this one on the mark. 

You’re aboard, and we’ve got a lot of science to bring aboard and get done.”

Capture came a day later than originally planned because of problems pressurizing rocket thruster propellant tanks shortly after the ship reached orbit Friday.

But SpaceX flight controllers at company headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., were able to coax the system into normal operation. 

While the root cause of the problem is not yet known, the thrusters worked normally throughout the replanned rendezvous and the approach and capture went off without a hitch.  

“Great job this morning, guys,” spacecraft communicator Kathy Bolt radioed from mission control in Houston. 

“Always nice to see something that plays back exactly the way you trained.”

“I remember exactly where I was the very first time I ever heard of this scheme … when I was a young astronaut,

” Ford recalled. “And I said, ‘We’re going to do what?’ That was when it was an idea, and now it’s starting to become routine.  

So great job to everybody who dreamed it up and who made it all work. It’s really something to see.”

Making the company’s third space station visit — the second fully operational flight under a $1.6 billion commercial contract with NASA

The Dragon capsule is loaded with some 2,300 pounds of supplies, spare parts, and science gear.

The manifest includes 178 pounds of crew provisions, including food and clothing; 300 pounds of space station hardware, including replacement components for the lab’s carbon dioxide removal system; and more than 700 pounds of science gear, including a pair of Glacier freezers and experiment components. 

During the first two dockings of Dragon capsules last May and October, the station crew attached the cargo ship to the station, manually operating the arm to maneuver the spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.  

But this time around, ground controllers at the Johnson Space Center took over, sending commands to remotely operate the arm through berthing to demonstrate their ability to carry out complex arm procedures and to give the astronauts a bit of a break during a busy day.  

The process was executed slowly but surely and Ford reported the Dragon was safely locked to its docking port at 8:56 a.m.

The same procedures will be used later in the week when ground controllers use the arm to pull a spacewalk equipment handling fixture from the Dragon’s unpressurized trunk section.   

The fixture will be mounted on the station’s exterior for use during a future spacewalk. 

The Dragon is the only space station cargo craft now in operation that can bring equipment and experiment samples back to Earth, a critical capability that was lost when NASA’s space shuttle fleet was retired in 2011.

As the crew unpacks the capsule’s pressurized compartment, they will re-load the spacecraft with about 1.5 tons of no-longer needed gear, components that need refurbishment or failure analysis and experiment samples that are needed by scientists back on Earth.  

If all goes well, the astronauts will use the robot arm to detach the capsule March 25, setting the stage for a fiery re-entry and splashdown in the Pacific Ocean southwest of Los Angeles.