Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Unhappy Irish doctors planning a protest march on Dail

   

Family doctors are planning to down their stethoscopes and march on the Dail for the first time in their history in protest at funding cuts which they say are putting patients at risk.

The GPs are proposing to hand in a petition to Health Minister Leo Varadkar calling for more investment in general practice in the wake of cuts to fees for treating medical card holders and other services in recent years.

The doctors are to be asked to give free GP visits to children under six and everyone over 70 from the beginning of next year – but the fees they will be paid have yet to be agreed.

Up to now doctors have tended to confine their protests to representation through their membership bodies and public statements, rather than taking to the streets.

It is unclear how large the turnout will be, but the hope is that several hundred will leave their surgeries and take to the streets for the public display of discontent on September 24.

The National Association of General Practitioners said it cannot call on any GP to join the march due to competition law, but it is expected to help in organising the demonstration and transport.

GPs have become increasingly vocal in the last year, with rising numbers with established practices opting to uproot and go abroad to earn a better living.

Meanwhile, the Labour Relations Commission has proposed a committee, chaired by heart surgeon Eilis McGovern, be set up to assess which newly-recruited consultants get higher starting salaries.

The group will also include two Irish Medical Organisation representatives.

Under new proposals recruits are entitled to starting pay of between €120,000 and €155,000. Doctors with experience could get up to €155,000.

The Labour Relations Commission said the committee could assess each doctor’s claim and decide how much they should get on top of the basic €120,000.

If the doctor wants to challenge the salary they are offered they can appeal to the chief executive of the Labour Relations Commission, Kieran Mulvey.

The HSE is to begin a recruitment campaign to secure more new consultants for hospitals in a bid to reduce waiting lists.

Dr Gerard Crotty, president of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association, said the HSE’s decision to begin advertising jobs, without agreement from doctors’ bodies, had the potential to worsen the recruitment crisis.

US economy expands by 4.2% following contraction

BUSINESS INVESTMENT INCREASED 8.1%, THE MOST SINCE EARLY 2012

  

A surge in demand for airplanes helped push orders for durable goods up at a record pace in July, boosting prospects for sustained growth in US manufacturing,

The US economy expanded more than previously forecast in the second quarter, propelled by the biggest gain in business investment in more than two years that bodes well for the rest of 2014.

Gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced, rose at a 4.2 per cent annualised rate, up from an initial estimate of 4 per cent and following a first-quarter contraction, according to the latest figures.

Corporate profits climbed by the most in almost four years. The improvement has carried over into the second half with companies such as General Electric seeing more orders for equipment and a strengthening job market underpinning consumer spending, which accounts for about 70 per cent of the economy.

Better prospects for growth signal Federal Reserve officials will continue to wind down monthly asset purchases. “The economy is clearly doing better,” Jim O’Sullivan, chief US economist at High Frequency Economics in Valhalla, New York, said before the report.

“Business spending is picking up. We’ll see stronger consumer spending in coming months.”

Another report today showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits were little changed last week as employers held on to staff in an improving economy. Claims decreased by 1,000 to 298,000 in the week ended August 23rd from 299,000 in the prior period, the Department of Labor reported.

Business investment increased at an 8.1 percent annualised rate, the most since the first three months of 2012. Companies are buying more equipment as earnings improve. Today’s report also offered a first look at corporate profits. Before-tax earnings rose 8 per cent last quarter, the most since the third quarter of 2010, after a 9.4 per cent drop in the prior period. They were still down 0.3 per cent from the same time last year.

Corporate investment data are indicating a pickup. A surge in demand for airplanes helped push orders for durable goods up at a record pace in July, boosting prospects for sustained growth in manufacturing,

Walking a mile each day ‘cuts cancer death risk by 50%

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY DESCRIBED AS ‘WONDER DRUG’ FOR BREAST AND PROSTATE PATIENTS

 

• Patients can cut risk of dying by half by walking one mile a day, study finds
• Those with breast cancer can reduce risk by up to 40% via physical activity
• For bowel cancer patients, doubling walking distance ‘halves risk of dying’
• Research carried out by Walking for Health, run by Macmillan and Ramblers
• Calculations were based on walking one mile at a moderate pace of 3mph

Cancer patients can cut their risk of dying by up to half – simply by walking just one mile a day, according to experts.

A study revealed physical activity as a ‘wonder drug’, with those diagnosed with breast and prostate cancers able to cut their risk of death by up to 40 per cent.

And for bowel cancer patients, doubling the walking distance was found to halve the risk of dying.

The calculations are based on walking one mile at a moderate pace of 3mph, which would take just 20 minutes a day.

The research by Walking for Health, a network of walking groups run by Macmillan Cancer Support and the Ramblers, found physical activity can also reduce the impact of some debilitating side effects of cancer treatment, such as swelling around the arm, anxiety, depression, fatigue, impaired mobility and weight changes.

The charity estimates that 1.6million of the two million people living with cancer in the UK are not active at recommended levels.

Ciarán Devane, chief executive of Macmillan Cancer Support, said: ‘Today’s research highlights the very simple reality – walking can save lives.

‘We cannot continue to turn a blind eye to what is a very simple and obvious solution. Physical activity is a wonder drug and health care professionals must prescribe physical activity, such as walking, as a standard part of cancer recovery.’

Sandra Sayce, 51, who is married and lives in Middlesex, joined her local Walking for Health group in 2011 following years of treatment for melanoma.

She said ‘I had been ill with cancer for several years, which at its worst had left me unable to walk more than 50 metres.

‘When I joined my local Walking for Health group it gave me the push I needed to make those vital first steps back into physical activity; despite the cold January weather, I was able to take part in the simple, easy-going walk which was crucial to beginning my recovery.

‘Since then I’ve gone from strength, and I’ve started to feel more happy and less tired. I really do think that making the decision to go on that first walk was crucial to getting myself to the position I’m in now.’

It is unclear how activity helps, but the effect goes further than simply weight control, which cuts down on the amount of cancer-promoting hormones produced by body fat.

The latest thinking is exercise may break down oestrogen to produce ‘good’ metabolites that lower the risk of some cancers.

The reduction in risk of death from cancer is based on research review evidence in Macmillan Cancer Support’s Move More report.

It says breast cancer patients cut the risk by 40 per cent if they do recommended levels of activity, compared with those doing less than an hour a week.

The risk is reduced by 30 per cent for men with prostate cancer.

Bowel cancer sufferers who walk 18 miles a week – 2.5 miles or around 50 minutes a day – can cut their risk of dying by 50 per cent.

Walking for 150 minutes a week at 3mph results in total walking of 7.5 miles in a week – just over a mile, or 20 minutes a day.

Government guidelines advise all adults to do 150 minutes of moderate activity such as gardening, dancing or brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous exercise including playing sport, running or aerobics every week.

Just 36 per cent of British women meet the moderate activity target.

Benedict Southworth, chief executive of the Ramblers, said: ‘The benefits of walking are numerous. It is increasingly clear that walking even short distances regularly can make the world of difference for those recovering from and managing cancer or other serious health conditions.

‘Walking for Health offers free, short group walks across England, which are the perfect way to build confidence and fitness in a friendly, supportive space.

‘All walks are led by friendly, knowledgeable people, specially trained for the job. Many of our walkers have long term conditions such as cancer themselves and find the companionship and fresh air a wonderful therapy.

‘We want to put walking at the centre of efforts to tackle physical inactivity and echo Macmillan’s call for health professionals to prescribe walking to those who are recovering from cancer or other health conditions.’

Iceland lowers volcano eruption alert for aviation

  

Iceland reduced its aviation warning level to orange on Friday after concluding that a small eruption in the Bardarbunga volcano system that triggered a hours-long red alert actually posed no threat to aircraft.

No sign of ash like that from the Eyjafjallajokull eruption that shut much of Europe’s air space in 2010 has been detected this time. But the Icelandic Metrological Office said a no-fly zone in a radius of 3 nautical miles just above the Bardarbunga volcano in central Iceland would remain in effect.

“The small eruption is not a threat to aviation and the published aviation warning area has been cancelled,” the Met Office said in a statement.

Iceland’s largest volcanic system, which cuts a 190-km-long and up to 25-km-wide swathe across the North Atlantic island, has been hit by thousands of earthquakes over the last two weeks and scientists have been on high alert in case of an eruption.

Reykjavik’s Met Office said that just after midnight an estimated 1-km-long fissure eruption began in a lava field north of the Vatnajokull glacier, which covers part of the Bardarbunga system.

While the risk of an ash cloud is highest in case of a sub-glacial eruption, Icelandic authorities for a few hours raised the aviation warning level to red, the highest on a five-color scale and indicating that an eruption is imminent or under way, with a risk of spewing ash.

The latest eruption was at the tip of a magma dyke 40 km from the main Bardarbunga crater and activity subsided to relatively low levels after peaking between 0020 and 0200 GMT, Met Office seismologist Martin Hensch said earlier.

He said that it was impossible to say how the eruption would develop.

“One of the concerns is that the fissure opens into the glacier but presently there is no sign of that happening,” he said, adding that the eruption was 6-8 km from the glacier.

Nick Petford, a vulcanology expert at the University of Northampton in Britain, said fissure eruptions were often spectacular, but relatively low key and often died out in a couple of days. But there could be a sting in the tail, he said.

“Exactly the same thing happened in 2010 with the Eyjafjallajokull volcano,” Petford said. “The main eruption was in April, but in March there was a fissure eruption which was a precursor to the much larger eruption.”

The Eyjafjallajokull event was particularly disruptive because it pushed ash up to precisely the elevation used by transatlantic aircraft, while prevailing winds propelled the cloud into European air space. The ash was also particularly sticky due to its chemical composition.

Petford said that if the current eruption subsided, scientists would be looking for signs of more quakes deeper under the volcano, which would suggest more magma was welling up, and for any swelling of the volcano that could be measured using GPS.

“Those are pretty clear evidence that large amounts of magma are being stored within the volcano and that’s a good indication it will explode.”

Whiskey sent into space is coming back to Earth

  

There’s a lot of research happening on the International Space Station that can help us make advancements in science, technology and what we know about our universe. However, they usually don’t seem as fun as this recent research program about to make its way back to Earth.

A Scottish whiskey distillery set up an experiment several years ago to have astronauts develop whiskey particles in space. Now, the whiskey is making its way back home.

Ardbeg, a Scotch whisky distillery in Islay, Scotland, partnered with the Texas-based space research company NanoRacks to get the experiment off the ground. They sent 20 vials of whiskey particles, along with pieces of charred oak that they were treated with, into space in 2011. The vials didn’t contain actual whiskey liquor but microbes that could be later used to brew whiskey.

The particles landed at the International Space Station where they have been orbiting the planet 15 times a day at 17,227 miles per hour. The point of the experiment is to see how the compounds in the vials, technically known as “terpenes,” interact with the charred oak in Earth’s gravity and then in micro-gravity in space. Terpenes can be found inflavorings and paints, in addition to whiskey.

“NASA approved the project since terpenes have never been grown in zero-gravity conditions,” NanoRacks CEO Jeffrey Manber told ABC News.

Manber also told ABC News that the findings of the research won’t just impact future production of alcoholic beverages. The results of the experiment can also impact consumer products in general and help us better understand materials and biologicals.

The vials will be back on Earth on Sept. 12 where they will land in Kazakhstan. There’s a nifty countdown clock featuring a bottle of Ardbeg whiskey soaring through space in case you need to quell your anticipation. Once the specimens are back on Earth, they will be shipped to NanoRack in Texas where the results of the maturation process will be examined. The findings will be revealed in a paper at a later date.

Whiskey particles aren’t even the weirdest objects to have been sent into space. LEGO figurines were launched into space as part of a partnership between NASA and the LEGO Group to encourage children to study science and technology. The original lightsaber Luke Skywalkerused in “Star Wars Episode IV: Return of the Jedi” went out of this world with the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2007. There’s even a company devoted to launching people’s cremated remains into space called Celestis. One of its most famous participants is Gene Roddenberry, the creator of “Star Trek,” whose remains are expected to be launched into space, along with his wife Majel, in 2016.   

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Now only one point between Sinn Féin 24% and Fine Gael 25% in latest poll

 

An Irish voter survey shows a four point fall in support for Enda Kenny’s party to 25%.

Support for Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s Fine Gael is down four percentage points while support for Sinn Fein was up four points.

A new opinion poll has put voter support for Sinn Féin just one point behind Fine Gael.

Sinn Féin is at 24% while Fine Gael is at 25%, when ‘don’t knows’ are excluded, according to the Sunday Independent/Millward Brown poll which was published today.

Support for Fine Gael is down four percentage points while support for Sinn Féin is up four points since the last poll was taken in April , before the local and European elections. Taoiseach Enda Kenny’s satisfaction rating remains unchanged at 27% while support for Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams is down one point to 25%.

Support for Labour was up by one point to seven per cent. The party has changed leader since the last poll was taken. However the polls shows the party’s new leader Tanaiste Joan Burton is far more popular than her predecessor Eamon Gilmore. Ms Burton’s satisfaction rating is at 27%, 11 points higher than Eamon Gilmore in a previous poll (16%).

Despite this boost for Ms Burton dissatisfaction with the Government is up by three points to 69 per cent while half of voters believe the Government will run its full term.

Fianna Fáil has also seen a rise in support, up by two points to 20%. Its leader Micheál Martin has seen a one percent rise in his satisfaction rating to 27% while The poll shows support for the Greens is down one point to one per cent while Independents and others are up two points to 23%.

Some 2,000 march in Dublin to call for an end to Gaza violence

 

Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign calls on people to ‘boycott Israel’

A march protesting the Israeli treatment of Gaza, organised by the Ireland Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) today, which started at the Garden of Remembrance and finished at the Dept of Foreign Affairs on St Stephen’s Green.

At least 2000 people marched from the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin city centre today, to call for an end to the violence in Gaza.

Marchers chanted, “free Palestine, free Gaza,” while protestors carried signs which read ‘Stop the slaughter, end the siege’, ‘boycott Israel’, ‘Obama could stop this with one phone call’, ‘boycott and Israel goods stop the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.’

Sinn Fein Cllr Chris Andrews and Sinn Fein MEP Lynn Boylan were among those who led the march, carrying a banner which read ‘end the siege of Gaza.’

Fliers were handed out calling on people to boycott Israeli goods.

Thousands of people are taking to the streets across Ireland today, to call for an end to the violence in Gaza.

This is the fourth Saturday in a row that the protests have been held.

It is organised by the Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign (IPSC) and supported by the Irish Congress of Trade Unions, SIPTU, Trade Union Friends of Palestine, Gaza Action Ireland, TEEU (The Power Union), Academics for Palestine, Irish Anti-War Movement, Sadaka – The Ireland Palestine Alliance and the Peace and Neutrality Alliance.

Protests will also be held in other towns and cities including Cork, Derry, Limerick, Galway, Armagh, Killarney, Clomel, Nenagh, Bundoran, Ennis and Sligo.

IPSC national coordinator Kevin Squires said: “The Minister for Foreign Affairs has made it clear that Ireland will not support any meaningful concrete action aimed at ending either the Israeli onslaught on Gaza or Israeli impunity in general.

“We find this very disappointing, as Ireland has supported sanctions on other countries in the past, so why not Israel? Therefore we are asking people to join us in bringing our anger to the government and demand they take action that will help end Israel’s occupation and serial violations of international law.”

Mr Squires said the IPSC wants the Government to call for the suspension of Israel from the Euro-Med Agreement, for an international and EU arms embargo on Israel, to enact legislation to ban the importation of Israeli goods, and to expel the Israeli Ambassador to Ireland.

Mr Squires also urged people to join the growing Boycott Israel movement,

“Many businesses, notably The Exchequer bar in Dublin, and the whole town of Kinvara have pledged to boycott Israeli products. The trade union of retail workers, Mandate, has called on shops not to sell Israeli goods and last night Irish rugby legend Gordon D’Arcy tweeted his support for the boycott campaign.”

Since fighting began on July 8th, more than 1,650 Palestinians — mostly civilians – have been killed and more than 8,000 wounded, according to al-Kidra. Israel has lost 63 soldiers and three civilians, its highest death toll since the 2006 Lebanon war.

A march for suicide prevention & mental health held in Dublin

  

Young people call on Government to re-instate enough funding for mental health services. 

Dozens marched in Dublin this afternoon to call for increased funding for mental health services.

More than 40 young people joined a march in Dublin City Centre today calling for increased funding for mental health services.

One of the march organisers, Jamie Harrington (16), said he had been prompted to get involved after two of his friends died by suicide. He volunteers with TeenLine Ireland, a part-time phone service which had its funding cut earlier this year.

“This country has a huge problem with suicide and people taking their own lives unneccessarily. We’re here today to say you’re not alone,” he said.

Luke Clerkin (22) co organiser of the march said Action For Suicide Prevention Dublin will continue to hold protests against cuts to mental health services.

Both Mr Harrington and Mr Clerkin said they have battled with depression in the past but have managed to overcome it.

“We want to make sure the Government know that so many people are suffering with mental health problems and that Teenline is a vital service. Most people will have to deal with mental health issue at some stage in their life so we need to ensure that the funding for mental health services isn’t cut,” Mr Clerkin said.

Linda Arnold, a parent who had come up from Mullingar, said the Governmentis ignoring a “whole generation of young people”.

“Our President Michael Higgins is a patron of Console Ireland and I find it offensive that the adults in our Government are not taking care of our teenagers,” she said.

“All behaviour is learned and if the young people here today have to learn that walking the streets is the only way they can get funding while the Government lines the pockets of bondholders overseas, then there’s something seriously wrong.”

Irish Helplines: Samaritans (samaritans.org), 1850 609090

Pieta House (pieta.ie), centre for prevention of self-harm or suicide, 01- 601 0000

Console (console.ie), national suicide prevention and bereavement charity, 1800 201890

Aware (aware.ie), helping people with depression and concerned family members and friends, 1890 303302 and Teenline (teenline.ie), 1800 833 634

CONNACHT’S FIRST DISTILLERY TO OPEN IN OVER 100 YEARS

 

Mayo will open it’s  first whiskey distillery in over 100 years in Lahardane which will become the home of the Nephin Irish Whiskey brand which was created by Paul and Jude Davis a husband and wife team whose aim is to have the distillery up and running in the next year . The Whiskey is described as a distilled Peated Single Malt Whiskey.

Paul explains the reasons for choosing the Lahardane area  as the prefect location to make whiskey and what make this whiskey different to other whiskey’s produced in Ireland ,“The location is one of the best in Mayo and probably in Ireland because it is situated between Nephin and Lough Conn and that is a perfect situation. To me this is the best location, you could not ask for better. What we do differently is that we will produce peated whiskey where in Ireland you would not normally use peat to dry the barley. They would not have used coal or gas 150 years ago but we are going back to that traditional side.

Paul went on to explain that he was been working closely with ex-distillers from alcohol giant Diageo who will advise them on putting in a ‘state of the art distillery’ as paul hasn’t a background in the alcohol industry, their expertise are a vital component to the company success.  The distillery will be located in the heart of the village near Barrett’s shop and as well as distilling whiskey Paul envisages the plant being part of the north Mayo tourist trail which he believes can attract up to 40,000 visitors per year to the area.

He hopes to create 18 full time jobs and believes the business has a huge growth potential. Planning for the distillery has not been approved but Paul explained that investment in the region of €3 to €4 million has been lined up by international investors with links to the county. The project involves the renovation of several vacant buildings in the village, including a stone granary from the 1800s.

Paul says, will be targeted at the international market with an emphasis on the United States and will be a long term venture. “We will be targeting the premium and super premium side of the market but we will look to use the Mayo links abroad with the States being the premium market place. We will be using different flavours such as heather and gorse because we feel that flavour is more important now than before.

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny will officially launch Nephin Irish Whiskey  in Murphy’s Bar in Lahardane next Monday at 3pm.

Testosterone levels fell with the emergence of modern-man traits.

  

A new research has found that the emergence of modern society caused the fall in the levels of male reproductive hormone testosterone.

According to scientists, the first Homo sapiens appeared 200,000 years ago but they picked up traits such as language, cave painting, economic trade and hunting after 500 centuries.

For the study, about 1,400 ancient skulls were examined by the researchers. A total of 13 skulls were more than 80,000 years old, 41 were between the age of 10,000 and 38,000 and 1,367 skulls from various modern groups of people.

The researchers claimed that the reduction of testosterone however proved a blessing a disguise for humans as it allowed them to cooperate more and became less aggressive. This helped the people in developing new tools and arts.

Robert Cieri of the University of Utah says that the cooperation helped in cultural exchange and technological innovation.

The shape and size of the skulls were used by the researchers to estimate the relative levels of testosterone. Human heads get rounder as the eyebrow ridges receded. The researchers, however, failed to explain r whether it was the testosterone levels that decreased or whether the humans had less testosterone receptors as they started to develop.

The researchers observed the levels of the hormone to affect social interactions in primates, our closest cousins. The study showed that testosterone surges in male chimpanzees during puberty while it remained low in bonobos.

Under stress, a chimp releases more testosterone while a bonobo releases the stress hormone cortisol. In chimpanzees, social interaction are estimated to be violent than in bonobos the brow ridges are larger in chimps than in bonobos. The findings of the study are published in the journal Current Anthropology.

Umami ‘could help people to lose weight’

  

UMAMI IS THE CHEMICAL GLUTAMATE, A PROTEIN FOUND IN MEAT AND OTHER SAVOURY FOODS SUCH AS MARMITE, WHICH GIVES FOOD ITS TASTINESS

Scientists claim the flavour that gives food its “deliciousness” could help with weight loss and regulating appetite.

Umami, which means delicious in Japanese, is recognised as the fifth sense of taste – the others being sweet, salty, sour and bitter – and helps people to fill full, according to new research from the University of Sussex.

It is the chemical glutamate, a protein found in meat and other savoury foods such as Marmite, parmesan and shiitake mushrooms, which gives food its tastiness, a spokeswoman said.

Professor Martin Yeomans, who was involved in the study based on the psychology research of Dr Una Masic, said: “We know from past research, including previous work at Sussex, that foods with a high protein content tend to satisfy your appetite better than carbohydrate and fat-rich foods.

“So if protein is satisfying, and umami signals the presence of protein; in this study we asked whether the presence of the umami taste itself reduced subsequent appetite.”

The research, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, looked at the effects of two common food additives on levels of hunger: monosodium glutamate (MSG) and inosine monophosphate (IMP), which are known to produce the flavour of umami.

They were added to both a low-energy version of a spiced carrot soup and the same soup with energy added covertly as a mixture of protein and carbohydrate.

Dr Masic then tested how hungry 26 healthy volunteers felt and how much they consumed at a later meal.

The soups enhanced with the umami-taste were found to reduce the amount subsequently eaten by participants when compared to the same soup without added umami, tests suggested.

Those who ate the umami soup also did not feel hungrier as a consequence of eating less, the university spokeswoman said.

The effects of umami proved stronger when consumed in the higher-energy soup which suggested that umami-enriched foods may help people with weight concerns to regulate their appetite.  

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Saturday

There were some 50,000 pro-life supporters in Dublin for protest march

  

Up to 50,000 pro-life supporters marched on Leinster House today in the first public protest since the expulsion of four Fine Gael deputies who failed to support the Government’s abortion legislation.

The rally heard repeated calls for the Government to once again put the issue of abortion to the people in  another referendum. A large force of Gardai were deployed on Dublin’s O’Connell Street as the pro life march ran  the gauntlet of  some 400 pro-choice supporters who lined  both sides of the street near the Spire monument. 

Though both groups exchanged slogans and some insults there were no real clashes and no arrests. Today’s rally was the third major gathering in recent months  and probably the largest. 

The ‘All-Ireland Rally for Life‘ was  addressed by a number of speakers including the founder of the Libertas movement Declan Ganley and Niamh Ui Bhriain of the Life Institute as well as representatives of Youth Defence. 

Pro-life groups  from all over the country  were represented at the march with an initial gathering stretching across two sides of Parnell Square but that number swelled at the rally in Kildare Street – outside the Dail.

Recent poll suggests Fianna Fáil and Sinn Féin support is up

BUT FALL IN BACKING FOR FINE GAEL, LABOUR AND THE SEANAD ABOLITION

   

A Sunday Independent/Millward Brown opinion poll suggests that Fianna Fáil has opened up a three-point lead over Fine Gael.

Fine Gael has dropped one point to 26%, compared to 29% support for Fianna Fáil, a rise of two points. Labour’s support has fallen three points to 8% – while Sinn Féin has risen two points to 19% since the last poll in May. 

Support for independents and others has risen by one point to 19%. A high level of those polled are undecided, accounting for 34%. Dissatisfaction with the Government is running at 75% according to the poll, with only 17% happy with the Coalition, broadly similar to earlier polls this year for the newspaper. 

Asked about the future of the Seanad, 43% of those polled want abolition with 30% seeking reform and 5% wanting it to stay the same as it is. The number favouring abolition is 10 points down on the last Seanad poll taken in December. The large rise in undecided voters – up 11 points to 22% almost mirroring the drift away from those wanting abolition – points to a more open campaign facing the government when it gets underway in the autumn than may previously have been expected.

Dissatisfaction with Enda Kenny’s leadership is 64% according to the Sunday Independent poll with 25% happy with his performance.72% are unhappy with Eamon Gilmore’s leadership of the Labour Party, with only 16% of those polled saying he should remain as party leader. 

Support for Fianna Fáil leader Micheal Martin has dropped further, with 56% dissatisfied with his party leadership, compared to 47% in early May. His satisfaction rating of 30% is the highest of the four main party leaders. Dissatisfaction with Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams has risen by one point to 57% – with 24% of those polled happy with his leadership.

One in every 19 Irish patients will pick up infection in our hospitals

 

ONE IN EVERY 19 PATIENTS IN IRISH HOSPITALS HAS A HEALTHCARE INFECTION SUCH AS MRSA, WHICH WAS ACQUIRED IN THE COURSE OF THEIR TREATMENT.

The figure is lower than the European average of one in 18, according to a new survey by the European disease watchdog. It means that in any given day, around 494 patients in Irish hospitals have an infection acquired during a stay in hospital or other healthcare setting. 

More than 1,000 hospitals in 30 European countries took part in the first survey of its kind from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control.

PNEUMONIA

The main infections affecting Irish patients are pneumonia and lower respiratory tract infections, which accounted for one in five of the patients. Surgical site infections suffered by those who had an operation were also a serious problem, as were urinary tract infections. Bloodstream infections, such as MRSA, accounted for 14pc of those affected. 

The report pointed out that although some of these infections can be treated easily, others may more seriously affect a patient’s health, increasing their stay in the hospital, requiring further surgical intervention or prolonged treatment with antibiotics and “causing considerable distress to these patients”. 

The prevalence of healthcare-associated infections was highest amongst patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). Marc Sprenger, the watchdog’s director, said: “The survey confirms that healthcare-associated infections pose a major public health problem and a threat to European patients.” Overall, the figures involved amount to an estimated total of 3.2 million patients each year.

Written bids invited by Allsop after abandoned auction in the Shelbourne Hotel Dublin

  

Sale of more than 100 properties abandoned after Allsop auction protest in the Shelbourne Hotel, Dublin.

Allsop Space has said it will proceed with the sale of more than 100 properties next week after it was forced to abandon an auction at the Shelbourne Hotel in Dublin on Thursday following a protest. 

The company is inviting people to submit written bids by 5pm on Tuesday. Once the highest bidder has exceeded the reserve price on a property, a deposit will be required and legal paperwork must be signed by close of business on Wednesday. 

Director of auctions at the company Robert Hoban said the firm had lined up hundreds of people to bid on more than 120 properties, many of whom had already paid for legal advice and surveys. He again expressed concern at the nature of the protest, which he described as aggressive. 

Mr Hoban said he understood the anger over the economy and its collapse and was aware of the financial difficulties many people were in. However, he pointed out that Allsop Space had a policy of not accepting forcibly repossessed family homes. 

“I understand and fully respect people’s right to protest, but they were protesting at something we do not do. We are mainly dealing with commercial investments . . . of people who are [in] receivership.”

News Ireland daily BLOG by Donie

Record numbers of Irish people in poverty, CSO figures show

  

Fr Sean Healy challenged the government in failing to tackle the ‘working poor’

Over 700,000 people are in poverty across the State according to figures published by the Central Statistic Office (CSO) today.

The latest analysis of the poverty statistics published by the CSO shows that the number of people in poverty has now reached a record level of 733,000.

Social Justice Ireland has challenged the Government in failing to tackle what they describe as the “working poor” and those depending on social welfare payments.

“The increase in the proportion of Ireland’s population at risk of poverty, from 14.7 per cent to 16 per cent in one year, clearly identifies a major policy failure by Government which has imposed a disproportionate part of the ‘hit’ for current budgetary adjustments on Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people.

The Government should give priority to ensuring that everyone in Ireland has the income and services to live life with basic dignity, which is not currently the case,” said director of Social Justice Ireland Fr Seán Healy,

The CSO figures show that more than 232,000 children are at risk of poverty, representing18.8 per cent of all children, compared to 18.4 per cent a year earlier.

One in seven (14.2 per cent) of all those at risk of poverty has a job, the figures show. Without social welfare payments, over half (50.7 per cent) of the population would be at risk of poverty.

(GRA) Gardai consider an uniformed protest march

   

The attendance of gardai at an anti-Government rally in their uniforms would represent a challenge to the authority of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has suggested that gardaí break regulations and attend a rally next week against pay cuts dressed in their uniforms.

The move would be a major embarrassment for the Government and would put the association, which represents 11,300 rank and file gardaí in a force of 13,400, on a major collision course with Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.

He would be forced to intervene to block the move or to penalise those involve if it went ahead. However, Mr Shatter would find it very difficult to identify, and have a disciplinary process begun against, a large number of gardaí.

It would also leave him open to the charge that he had lost control of the force.

The attendance of gardaí at an anti-Government rally in their uniforms would also represent a challenge to the authority of Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan. Part of the oath sworn by gardaí when they assume their full Garda powers after training is to remain apolitical.

The idea to rally in uniform at a protest next Monday was mooted yesterday at a behind-closed-doors meeting of the national executives of unions and representative bodies of those frontline and emergency workers aligned to the 24/7 Frontline Services Alliance.

They include Garda members, nurses, psychiatric nurses, fire fighters and prison officers. There are two Garda bodies in the alliance, namely the GRA and the Association of Garda Sergeants and Inspectors (Agsi).

The GRA put forward the idea that gardai in uniform would attend the rally at the Basket Arena, Tallaght, Dublin, next Monday night. It is being organised by the 24/7 alliance as a form of protest against proposed pay cuts, specifically against cuts to premium pay.

Informed sources said the level of militancy within the ranks of the Garda over reduced remuneration and resources was at an all time high and that the GRA leadership is being put under pressure by its membership to take a harder line.

Other sources said while the suggestion by the organisation that its members would attend in uniforms represented the GRA taking such a hardened approach, they doubted if the proposal would come to fruition.

The same sources said all frontline workers may wear 24/7 Alliance caps rather than rally dressed in different uniforms.

A spokesman for the GRA said he did not believe gardai would rally in their uniforms. When asked if senior people in the association wanted those in attendance to wear their Garda uniforms he said he could not comment.

The Association’s national executive this morning began its two-day monthly meeting in Dublin. It is gathering against a backdrop in the past fortnight of a number of local meetings at which members passed votes of no confidence in Mr Shatter and Commissioner Callinan.

Members also voted at local meetings in favour of industrial action, which they are banned from undertaking, and in favour of work-to-rule protests.

While gardaí are permitted to attend events when they are off duty and in their civilian clothes, they are strictly forbidden from attending any event in their uniforms even when off duty.

Members of the force are banned from joining political parties and last year a request was declined to let a small number of gay and lesbian gardaí take part in the Pride march in Dublin dressed in their uniforms.

Garda management believed such participation could be regarded as political and they also felt it would be confusing to have gardaí in uniform taking part in a parade that would be policed by other members in uniform.

The only event gardaí have attended dressed in uniforms has been St. Patrick’s Day parades in the US, when the regulations have been relaxed because those events have been outside the State.

The last time the GRA became involved in a similar plan was in 2006 when it threatened to campaign against Government TDs in marginal seats in the general election.

In a row over the introduction of the Garda reserve, it said it would be “waiting in the long grass” during the election and would encourage others to vote against five Fianna Fail-PD government TDs with slim majorities at previous elections.

However, then minister for justice Michael McDowell and then garda commissioner Noel Conroy reacted furiously to the plan and the association effectively backed down with 24 hours.

Mr McDowell warned gardaí to stay out of politics. Garda Commissioner Noel Conroy said all members had taken an oath to be apolitical and he said he would sanction any garda who broke this oath.

How second-hand smoke affects people and you

    

There is need for a law to regulate usage of tobacco, especially to protect both smokers and non smokers from the adverse effects of smoking such as cancer and heart disease. 

If you are like many people who do not like the smell of tobacco, you will most likely hold your breath while passing by a person who is smoking.

Unlike this priviledge you have and might take for granted, Mr Sean Carroll could not afford to do such a thing. A website tobaccoinaustralia.org.au tells a story of the bus driver in Australia, who did not have a choice. Every day of his life for the 36 years he had the job, he had to drive a bus that had no restrictions on smoking. As a result, Carroll, a non-smoker developed lung cancer from years of passive exposure to tobacco smoke. He sued his employer, the Melbourne Metropolitan Transit Authority. The case was settled out of court, he was compensated $65,000 (Shs173.2m). But we all know this could not be compared to the life he was going to live with lung cancer.

Mr Carroll’s condition was one of the side effects of second hand smoking. Uganda’s law on smoking in public places defines second hand smoke as the smoke exhaled from a person smoking a tobacco product, and includes side-stream smoke which the law defines as the smoke of other emissions released from a tobacco product or the smoke exhaled by a person smoking a tobacco product.

Because little attention has been given to the damage tobacco poses, especially on the passive smoker who does not use it, in Uganda, there is limited documentation of such cases.

Mr Andrew Kwizeera, a member of Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, says since the fight for the control of tobacco usage in Uganda is new, “There is limited documentation and most of what we have is just recent. But global statistics show that 600,000 people globally are exposed to second hand smoke and in adults, it causes serious cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, including coronary heart disease and lung cancer. In infants, it causes sudden death while in pregnant women, it causes low birth weight.”

Ms Christine Namulindwa, the public relations officer of the Uganda Cancer Institute, says, “The ratio of patients who present with lung cancer at the institute as a result of secondhand smoking is one out of 10.”

The law on public smoking in Uganda
Lung cancer and other side effects of smoking on the non-smokers were raised by the Ugandan public in the early 2000s and this saw the government formulating the National Environment (Control of Smoking in Public Places) Regulations 2004. This is the law being “observed” in Uganda as regards public smoking.

Besides the pressure from the public, this law was formulated as a follow-up on Uganda’s signing of the World Health Organisation’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. Formulated by the National Environment Management Authority (Nema), the 11-paged legislation highlights certain issues.

Article 4 states, “No person shall smoke a tobacco product or hold a lighted tobacco product in an enclosed, indoor area of a public place.”

Article 6(1) indicates that, “No person shall smoke in any public service vehicle or in any aircraft, train or other public transport.”

Article 7( 1) says. “The owner of a public place or any public service vehicle or other public transport where smoking is prohibited shall post clearly legible signs, prominently, stating that smoking is not permitted.”

However, the results of this law are yet to be felt as it is not a rare occurrence to pass by someone either smoking in a public place or in an enclosed bar or restaurant.

In an informal survey that was done by this newspaper, in 10 popular bars, and nightclubs around Kampala, most had a No Smoking sign somewhere, and fortunately, people were not allowed to smoke from inside. Those who wanted to smoke would get out to do so.

However, in 25 middle and low class bars we visited, people would smoke freely, inside, without being stopped. Some of these bars even had a No Smoking sign but, people just turned a blind eye and the operators of such places also gave them leeway to smoke since they had ash trays on the tables.

A waitress in one of the nightclubs along Kampala Road who preferred anonymity said they let the patrons smoke from wherever they want to because some of them are popular customers and they give the bar a lot of money. As such, it is hard for the bosses to say anything about what they do.

Disposable income fell 3% between 2010 and 2011 in Ireland

  

The Central Statistics Office research reveals a significant rise in the share of the population at risk of poverty

Average disposable income in Irish households fell by just over 3% between 2010 and 2011, according to the latest official figures.The Survey of Income and Living Conditions found that it slipped from €22,138 in 2010 to €21,440 in 2011.

The Central Statistics Office research also reveals a significant rise in the share of the population at risk of poverty, from 14.7% in 2010 to 16.0% in 2011.

Commenting on the findings, Social Justice Ireland said the number of people in poverty has now reached a record level of 733,000.

Fr Sean Healy blamed the deterioration on decreases in Child Benefit, reductions in social welfare rates, over-taxation of the working poor and the failure to invest enough in creating jobs.

The children’s charity Barnardos particularly highlighted what it called “the stark increase in deprivation rates for one-parent families to 56% in 2011″.

Its Head of Advocacy, Catherine Joyce, said that some one-parent families have seen a €60 decrease in their weekly income since 2009.The charity also underlined the increase in the rate of children in consistent poverty, from 8.8% in 2010 to 9.3% in 2011.

Sea turtle recovers from Shark attack with prosthetic fins

   

A sea turtle that lost its front fins in an apparent shark attack is getting an artificial upgrade.

Hu, a 25-year-old female loggerhead, was discovered by fishermen in mid-2008 when they accidentally pulled her up in their fishing nets. After noticing the creature was missing large portions of its two front fins, presumably from an assailment, the fishermen turned it into the Suma Aqualife Park in Kobe, Japan.

Since Hu’s arrival, the aquarium’s researchers have experimented with 27 pairs of artificial limbs in an attempt to aid the injured animal. Finally, they say, they’ve found the right fit.

The most recent development is comprised of two rubber fins, held together by a slip-over vest to prevent Hu from breaking free. The aquarium’s staff say the fins have helped Hu swim just as easily as before the accident — a pretty remarkable feat, considering the turtle’s 32-inch long shell and 220-pound body.

In 2004, a dolphin at an Okinawa, Japan, aquarium was also treated with a replacement rubber tail fin after it lost its own due to illness.