Taoiseach Kenny says the new Cabinet's focus will be on jobs & the economy
PASCAL DONOHOE, ALAN KELLY, JAN O’SULLIVAN, ALEX WHITE AND HEATHER HUMPHREYS HAVE JOINED THE CABINET
Taoiseach Enda Kenny has announced a Cabinet reshuffle, and promised an unrelenting focus on the domestic economy and on job creation.
Today’s announcement saw the promotion of Paschal Donohoe, Alan Kelly, Jan O’Sullivan, Alex White and Heather Humphreys into the Cabinet.
Phil Hogan will be appointed EU Commissioner.
Mr Donohoe has become Minister for Transport, with Simon Coveney taking on the Defence portfolio while remaining as Minister for Agriculture.
Jan O’Sullivan becomes Minister for Education, Alex White is new Minister for Communications, Energy and and Natural Resources, Charlie Flanagan takes over at the Department of Foreign Affairs.
Alan Kelly becomes Minister for the Environment.
James Reilly moves to Children and Youth Affairs, while Leo Varadkar replaces him as Minister for Health.
Heather Humphreys replaces Jimmy Deenihan at the Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht.
It also understood that Kathleen Lynch will remain as a junior Minister in Health.
The appointments were formalised by President Michael D Higgins at Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon.
Pat Rabbitte has been dropped from Cabinet.
Speaking this evening at a joint media conference with the Tánaiste Joan Burton to outline the Coalition’s priorities for the remainder of its term in office, Mr Kenny promised an unrelenting focus on the domestic economy and on job creation.
He said the Government would publish new planning legislation as well as a bill to establish a strategic banking corporation which by 2018 is expected to make up €4bn in low cost funding for small and medium sized businesses.
He said the creation of 25,000 extra jobs would also be targeted in the Agri-Food sector.
Mr Kenny said the Government wanted to make work pay for families by rolling out four elements of a programme on pay and childcare.
GOVERNMENT PUBLISHES PRIORITY DOCUMENT
The Government is pledging to reduce the 52% tax rate for low and middle income earners as part of its new priority statement, saying that this will be accomplished over a number of budgets.
The Taoiseach and Tánaiste also said they would increase the household benefits package by €100 to compensate for the introduction of water charges.
The system of child and income supports is also to be revised to reduce disincentives when people return to work, with access to subsidised childcare to be extended.
The document also lists strengthening the domestic economy, prioritising job creation, delivering better living and working standards and improving housing availability and affordability as priorities for the remainder of the Government’s term.
Tánaiste Joan Burton said housing would be made a priority for the remainder of the life of the Government.
She said the coalition would set in train a construction programme to triple the number of houses built to 25,000 a year by 2020.
Ms Burton said: “we will also explore creative ways of funding social housing provision, and task NAMA to maximise its potential to deliver homes for families.”
Speaking this evening, Mr. Rabbitte said age and chemistry had played a part in his removal from the Cabinet and he wished the Government well.
He said he was disappointed but not surprised.
He added that the country would have been worse off if Labour had not entered politics during the economic crash.
The number of Irish mortgage accounts in arrears has now fallen
SPLIT MORTGAGES CONTINUE TO RISE, ACCORDING TO DEPARTMENT OF FINANCE
The total number of mortgage accounts in arrears declined by 5,108 when compared to the first quarter
The number of mortgage accounts in arrears for more than 90 days declined by 4,516 at the end of May, according to new Department of Finance figures published on Thursday.
The data show the number of accounts in arrears fell from 78,435 in the first quarter to 73,719 at the end of June.
The department said engagement between consumers and lenders has led to 69,306 mortgage restructures, up 7,241 on the first quarter and 18,118 on the final quarter of 2013.
According to the figures, the total number of mortgage accounts in arrears declined by 5,108 when compared to the first quarter and by 8,963 since the start of the year.
The number of split mortgages continues to increase however, with 12,857 split mortgages in place at the end of May.
Organic food sales in Ireland on track to hit €100m sales this year
THE FACT ORGANIC FOOD IS FREE FROM CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES IS THE BIG DRAW FOR MOST OF THOSE BUYERS
The sales of organic foods are expected to hit the €100m mark this year for the first time.
New research by Bord Bia shows that health concerns – like restrictive detox diets – and special occasions – like romantic dinners – are the main reasons for going organic.
Sales of organic food have risen by 2pc in the last year to €99.1m, with 60pc of shoppers putting some in their basket in the past six months and a quarter buying more than they did.
Urban women are the biggest fans of organic food, with health concerns the number one reason for purchasing it.
The fact it’s free from chemicals and pesticides is the big draw for most of those buyers, with a belief it’s healthier.
A POPULAR GIFT.
Organic food is also popular as a gift, for dinner parties, Christmas dinner and evening meals and two-thirds of those who buy it do so for romantic meals at home.
The Bord Bia survey of 850 consumers found sales of organic food have risen by 50pc in the last decade, although they’re down from their peak of €106m back in 2010.
One in every nine hectares of land is now devoted to growing organic food, around 52,000 hectares, and there are 1,721 organic producers registered in Ireland.
However, many people find it hard to locate organic food in shops and two-thirds of those who do buy it said they’d like to see it stocked in the one place instead of having to seek it out in different aisles.
Lower prices, a bigger range of products and a wider selection of Irish organic food were all factors that consumers said would encourage them to buy more organic.
SHORTAGES
However, one in five shoppers has no interest in buying it even if the price fell, the report found. Research body Teagasc said there were shortages in the domestic market for homegrown Irish grain, milk, fruit and vegetables.
Farmer Oliver Dixon, from Claremorris, Co Mayo, said organic beef fetches higher prices of between 15pc and 20pc more than conventional beef, which had made it worth his while to undergo the two-year conversion process to get organic certification.
He added: “I went into organic mainly for financial reasons, but also because I had an interest in it.
“Now I am making higher margins, mainly because of my lower costs and higher prices which I now get for my cattle.”
Free GP care for over-70s will ‘require new legislation’ says John Crown
Senator John Crown proposes that non-smokers could be given a discount on health insurance.
John Crown said he feared the Department of Health after the Government reshuffle would now be run as ‘a branch office of the Fine Gael election campaign’.
Legislation will be required to give effect to the Government’s decision to extend free GP care to all over-70s, the Oireachtas health committee has heard. The measure, which will apply to those over-70s who do not already have a medical card or GP visit card, will not be retrospectively applied, according to Minister of State for Primary Care Alex White.
He said over-70s were a “key cohort” for the extension of free GP care, and promised simple legislation to provide for this would be implemented in the autumn.
Minister for Health James Reilly said over-70s and under-threes were the heaviest users of the health system so the extension of free GP care to both these groups, and to people with chronic illnesses, would ensure that the sickest and most vulnerable were being looked after.
The announcement will apply to the 10 per cent of the over-70s population who do not have access to a GP service without fees, via either a medical card or a GP visit card, according to information provided to the committee.
ELIGIBILITY LIMITS
Under medical card eligibility income limits revised in January this year, people over 70 were entitled to a medical card so long as their gross income did not exceed €500 a week for a single person or €900 for a couple.They were entitled to a free GP visit card if their income was over €500 but less than €700 for a single person and €1,400 for a couple.
Savings and investments below €36,000 for a single person and €72,000 for a couple are disregarded for eligibility.
Independent Senator John Crown suggested at the committee meanwhile that health insurance subscribers should get a discount for avoiding “avoidable behaviours”.
Dr Reilly said he was well disposed towards a suggestion that non-smokers be given a discount on health insurance. However, there could be difficulties where subscribers were “economical with the truth” about smoking as their policies could be voided if this was discovered later.
FG ‘BRANCH OFFICE’
Prof Crown said he feared the Department of Health after the Government reshuffle would now be run as “a branch office of the Fine Gael election campaign”, presided over by “rappers and spin doctors”.
He also warned that the absence of a single centre for trauma treatment could be costing patients’ lives. With services such as neurology and burns treatment located in different hospitals in Dublin, staff working on the frontline were aware of significant barriers to moving patients between hospitals that could involve life-threatening delays.
Buzz Aldrin said he ‘saw a UFO’ during his 1969 Apollo 11 Moon flight
SECOND MAN TO WALK ON MOON CONVINCED LIFE EXISTS ELSEWHERE IN SPACE BUT DENIES HIS SIGHTING WAS EXTRATERRESTRIAL.
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to set foot on the moon, said he glimpsed an unidentified flying object during the Apollo 11 flight.
The astronaut also said the first humans to set foot on Mars should never return to earth during a Reddit “ask me anything” question and answer session.
Mr Aldrin, 84, however was reluctant to described the sighting as an extraterrestrial craft, even though he does believe there are other life forms in space.
“I observed a light out the window that appeared to be moving alongside us,” he said.
“There were many explanations of what that could be, other than another spacecraft from another country or another world – it was either the rocket we had separated from, or the four panels that moved away when we extracted the lander from the rocket and we were nose to nose with the two spacecraft.
“So in the close vicinity, moving away, were four panels. And I feel absolutely convinced that we were looking at the sun reflected off of one of these panels.
“Which one? I don’t know. So technically, the definition could be ‘unidentified’,’’ he said.
When Mr Aldrin first disclosed the sighting, his remarks triggered accusations of a cover-up from those who believed in UFO’s.
But he remained unapologetic about his caution. “Extraordinary observations require extraordinary evidence,” he added.
“There may be aliens in our Milky Way galaxy, and there are billions of other galaxies. The probability is almost certain that there is life somewhere in space.
“It was not that remarkable, that special, that unusual, that life here on earth evolved gradually, slowly, to where we are today.”
With Mars One, a private sector company, pressing ahead with its plans to send people to the Red Planet, Mr Aldrin said those who go should plan staying there for the rest of their lives.
“I have considered whether a landing on Mars could be done by the private sector,” he continued.
“It conflicts with my very strong idea, concept, conviction, that the first human beings to land on Mars should not come back to Earth.”
A SCANSORIOPTERYX STUDY:-
Challenges hypothesis that Birds evolved from Dinosaurs
The re-examination of Scansoriopteryx – a sparrow-sized, pre-Archaeopteryx, bird-like creature that lived in what is today China during the Jurassic period, about 154 million years ago – challenges the widely accepted hypothesis that birds are derived from land-dwelling dinosaurs that gained the ability to fly.
Unearthed in Inner Mongolia in 2002, Scansoriopteryx was previously classified as a theropod dinosaur, from which many paleontologists believe flying dinosaurs and later birds evolved.
However, according to a new study published in the Journal of Ornithology, Scansoriopteryx was a tree-climbing animal that could glide.
The study’s authors, Dr Alan Feduccia from the University of North Carolina and Dr Stephen Czerkas of the Dinosaur Museum in Blanding, Utah, used advanced techniques to reveal structures in the Scansoriopteryx fossil not clearly visible before.
The techniques made it possible to interpret the natural contours of the bones. Many aspects of the fossil’s pelvis, forelimbs, hind limbs, and tail were confirmed, while it was discovered that it had elongated tendons along its tail vertebrae similar to Velociraptor.
“Scansoriopteryx lacks the fundamental structural skeletal features to classify it as a dinosaur,” the paleontologists said.
“Dinosaurs are not the primitive ancestors of birds. The Scansoriopteryx should rather be seen as an early bird whose ancestors are to be found among tree-climbing archosaurs that lived in a time well before dinosaurs.”
This is a photo of the main and counter slabs of the Scansoriopteryx fossil. The inset shows a skeletal reconstruction of the bird-like creature. Scale bars 1 cm. Image credit: Stephen A. Czerkas et al.
Scansoriopteryx has numerous bird-like features such as elongated forelimbs, wing and hind limb feathers, wing membranes in front of its elbow, half-moon shaped wrist-like bones, bird-like perching feet, a tail with short anterior vertebrae, and claws that make tree climbing possible.
The paleontologists identified the primitive elongated feathers on its forelimbs and hind limbs.
This suggests that Scansoriopteryx is a basal or ancestral form of early birds that had mastered the basic aerodynamic maneuvers of parachuting or gliding from trees.
The findings validate predictions that the ancestors of birds were small, tree-dwelling archosaurs which enhanced their incipient ability to fly with feathers that enabled them to at least glide.
