Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Happy 15th birthday to the euro but where will you be at 30?

THE EUROPEAN SINGLE CURRENCY NOW 15 YEARS OLD ON JANUARY THE 1ST.

   

As the chimes of midnight struck on January 1st, 2002, almost 20,000 people gathered in the freezing cold close to the European Union institutions in Brussels to watch a spectacular fireworks display. They were celebrating the introduction of euro notes and coins in 12 European countries, an event many saw as a momentous step on the path towards Europe’s political integration.

“The euro is a victory for Europe. After a century of being torn apart, of wars and tribulations, our continent is finally affirming its identity and power in peace, unity and stability,” French president Jacques Chirac declared.

Fifteen years later, the EU has witnessed its first act of disintegration, with Britain’s vote in June to leave the organisation. And the euro, once heralded as a powerful binding agent for Europe’s nations, is now increasingly derided as corrosive to the principle of solidarity which underlies the European project.

The single currency remains popular in the countries that use it, according to the latest Euro-barometer report, although it is viewed negatively outside the euro area. The euro is especially popular in Ireland, with support for the single currency at 85%, second only to Luxembourg.

Support for the EU itself is in decline among Europeans, however, as is the number of EU citizens who say they are optimistic about the union’s future, down from 70% a decade ago to just half today.

This lack of confidence is reflected in the withering of ambition within the European institutions, where few now expect significant further political integration. In Brussels, power has shifted from the European Commission to the European Council, where national leaders pursue an intergovernmental agenda.

A loss of confidence.

Much of this loss of confidence is the result of the multiple crises that have shaken the euro zone in recent years, with the erosion of solidarity in one policy area seeping into others, making a common approach to issues such as the migration crisis more difficult to achieve.

There is a cruel irony here, as the euro was conceived by the previous generation of European leaders as a great political project as much as an economic one. When they started the process of economic and monetary union at Maastricht in 1991, it was partly in response to German unification the previous year.

France was determined that a bigger Germany should lose its dominant economic position in Europe and that the Bundesbank should no longer be in a position to determine the monetary policy of the entire continent. The historian Emmanuel Todd, who advised both Chirac and his predecessor, François Mitterand, summed up the French attitude to the euro succinctly: “Behind the euro euphoria lay a wish to make Germany disappear as a financial big power, to resolve the German question once and for all.”

Like the Schengen Agreement, which abolished border controls between most EU states, the euro was seen as a practical manifestation of the usefulness of European integration. It was hoped that it could serve as an antidote to the remoteness of European institutions, while reassuring European citizens that they could take an important step towards sharing responsibility without losing their national identities.

‘The euro must speak German’

France’s masterplan went awry from the start, with Theo Waigel, Germany’s finance minister throughout most of the 1990s, summing up his country’s determination to put its stamp on the new currency with the words “Der Euro muss Deutsch sprechen” (“the euro must speak German”).

The European Central Bank (ECB) was designed in the image of the Bundesbank, independent of political influence and with a narrow mandate focused on price stability. Other major central banks, such as the Federal Reserve in the US, must also take unemployment and economic growth into account when they make monetary policy decisions.

The impression that the currency served the interests of the EU’s more powerful members was reinforced when the euro zone’s two biggest countries, Germany and France, became the first to flout its fiscal rules, and received only the gentlest reprimand from Brussels.

But the low interest rates Germany needed to boost its economy in the early years of this century helped to fuel a massive construction boom in southern European countries and in Ireland, helping to overheat their economies.

With few political tools to influence national policies, Brussels and Frankfurt could do little more than sit back and watch the gathering storm, issuing regular warnings which were universally ignored.

Austerity doctrine

But if the ECB’s monetary policy helped fuel the spending boom and the debt crisis which succeeded it, the one-size-fits-all austerity doctrine imposed by euro-zone governments in response to the crisis helped to alienate citizens from Brussels and from their own governments.

Wielding the whip hand of the creditor, the Eurogroup of finance ministers has forced one government after another to bend the knee, obliging many to break the promises they had made to voters. The consequences of this approach can be seen in the erosion of the political centre throughout Europe, as a growing number of voters conclude that electing a new government will change little unless the entire system is upended.

As the euro enters 2017, the currency has survived its various crises and confounded predictions that it would collapse or disintegrate. ECB president Mario Draghi’s creative approach to the rules has helped to keep the euro zone together and fewer than one in three euro-zone citizens would like to return to national currencies.

But if the euro is likely to survive, its design flaws and the reckless policies pursued by the politicians charged with defending it continue to have serious repercussions for the EU itself and for public confidence in its institutions.

Policing Authority takes responsibility for senior Garda appointments

MINISTER SAYS SELECTION OF CANDIDATES TO SENIOR GARDA ROLES ‘AN ONEROUS RESPONSIBILITY’

  

Josaphine Feehily, chairperson of the Policing Authority.

THE POLICING AUTHORITY WILL ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE APPOINTMENT OF SENIOR GARDAÍ FROM TOMORROW, TAKING OVER THIS FUNCTION FROM THE GOVERNMENT.

All appointments to the rank of assistant Garda commissioner, chief superintendent and superintendent will be managed by the authority.

Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald said with the assumption of this responsibility on January 1st, the authority had, within 12 months of its formation, assumed all of its intended functions.

The Policing Authority is an independent body which has been set up to provide oversight of the provision of policing in Ireland by the Garda Síochána.

Ms Fitzgerald said the selection and appointment of candidates to senior Garda roles was “an onerous responsibility and I want to wish the authority every success with this very important work”.

Also from tomorrow, inspectors and superintendents in both An Garda Síochána and the Police Service of Northern Ireland are eligible to apply for appointment to the assistant commissioner and chief superintendent ranks.

Before Christmas the Cabinet filled senior Garda vacancies shortly after Garda commissioner Nóirín O’Sullivan warned “critical” roles within the force needed to be filled.

Ms O’Sullivan had said eight of the 17 senior Garda officers currently listed for promotion must be appointed immediately to fill “critical” roles.

As well as making the eight promotions requested by Ms O’Sullivan, Ms Fitzgerald said an additional three appointments were also approved by Cabinet.

The appointments included one to the position of assistant commissioner, three chief superintendents, and seven superintendents. They will be made at national, divisional and district level.

“The Government is determined that there is no undue delay filling critical Garda vacancies and is determined to ensure that An Garda Síochána has a leadership team that can address the serious challenges it faces every day in maintaining law and order,” Ms Fitzgerald said.

Burglary conviction rate may be just 7% so CSO figures suggest

     

GARDAI SAY THAT AS WELL AS BURGLARY, THEFT, PARTICULARLY OF MOBILE PHONES, IS ALSO VASTLY UNDER-REPORTED.

Just over 2,000 convictions resulted from the investigation of 27,653 ‘recorded’ burglaries in 2014, according to new data from the Central Statistics Office.

The CSO has, for the first time, included court proceedings and outcomes with figures alongside the ‘recorded’ cases of burglary.

The figures appear to uphold the long-held view of both gardai and victims of crime that there has been systematic manipulation of figures for years to suggest a higher ‘detection’ rate of crime such as burglary and theft.

Gardai say that as well as burglary, theft, particularly of mobile phones, is also vastly under-reported. Most mobile phone thefts are still recorded as ‘lost property’ even though thousands of phones are stolen annually by organised crime gangs, often from outside the State.

The change in the way the CSO records crime statistics came about in 2014 after an investigation by the independent watchdog body, the Garda Inspectorate, uncovered widespread manipulation of crime figures caused by the ‘recategorising’ of offences such as burglary to less serious offences or none at all.

For decades, Ministers for Justice have annually congratulated the Garda for falls in crime figures and this year was no different. Just before Christmas, the Tanaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality, Frances Fitzgerald, congratulated the Garda for their “impressive results in their sustained drive against burglars”. She was referring to a drop of “31pc in the level of burglary crime, continuing the positive trend shown in CSO figures for the first half of 2016”.

The Tanaiste said: “An Garda Siochana continue to achieve impressive results in their sustained drive against burglars under Operation Thor, which is powered by increased resources provided by the Government and supported by new legislation which I introduced this time last year, targeting repeat burglary offenders. The Government remains absolutely committed to supporting Garda efforts to combat crime including Operation Thor. It is encouraging that the regional breakdown of the CSO figures shows that Operation Thor is benefiting communities right across the country.

“Burglary is a terrible and invasive crime and we will continue this crackdown to ensure the safety and security of people in their homes all over Ireland.”

However, the CSO has warned that figures supplied to it by the Garda after years of inaction over an agreed system for accurately recording crime alongside court outcomes may not be accurate. For the first time, the CSO has compiled figures from the Garda and the Courts Service.

This resulted in the first record of the “number of crime incidents recorded, detected with relevant proceedings and court outcomes’ for 2014”, published in early December.

This table shows 27,653 ‘recorded’ burglaries with another Garda figure of 4,883 burglaries detected and 3,369 in which ‘proceedings were commenced’.

However, when the Garda figures are placed alongside the Courts Service records, it shows there were only 2,002 convictions, 672 acquittals and 620 appeals against conviction. This would suggest a conviction rate – rather than the ambiguous ‘detection’ rate – of 7pc or less.

The CSO states on its website that it is incumbent upon all agencies, including the Garda and private industry, to accurately supply it with data. It is an offence to provide the CSO with false data.

Commenting on the efforts made over a decade to try and establish an accurate classification system for crime, the CSO said: “It is possible to speculate that the task of providing these foundations fell between many stools and did not become the responsibility of any agency/department in particular

“There is a clear need to improve the coherence between sources of information in the criminal justice area and the introduction of a robust classification system is a fundamental step in this direction

“Ireland has one police force with one set of laws and therefore uniformity is more easily attainable.”

The figures cited by the minister show a ’31pc drop’ over 2015. This would mark the biggest annual decline in almost any crime category in the history of the force. Normally statistics supplied by the Garda show only small percentage changes.

Homeless activists take over a disused (Nama?) office building in Sligo town

  

ACTIVISTS IN SLIGO TOWN HAVE OCCUPIED AN EMPTY OFFICE BUILDING THERE.

The building, which is believed to be owned by Nama, has been taken over by homeless activists in a similar way to the occupation of Apollo House in Dublin by Home Sweet Home activists recently.

A local source has described the occupation as “along the same lines” as Apollo House, saying: “It’s just an old, disused Nama building, although the people involved could leave or they could stay, it’s hard to tell.”

The building’s location is being kept secret for the time being, but there is said to be fewer than 10 homeless people present in the disused offices which have no water or electricity.

However, the occupants do have mattresses and food and the conditions have been described as warm.

It is being reported by the Journal.ie that the owners of the building have not taken any action yet to take it back from the occupiers.

Breakingnews.ie have contacted the Gardaí and are awaiting confirmation from them about the occupation.

The Peter McVerry Trust says there needs to be a focus on long-term solutions for homelessness.

Staff from the homeless charity will visit Apollo House in Dublin today where occupants have until January 11 to vacate the building.

The Trust is opening up a further 25 beds in Ellis Quay tonight, where 70 people will be able to stay over Christmas, and into the summer.

CEO Pat Doyle says the Home Sweet Home campaign is doing a great job at highlighting the issue, but he fears for the residents of Apollo House.

Mr Doyle said: “I know our population of homeless people, I’ve worked with them all my life and we’ve worked with around 4,500 of them this year.

“Some people who are homeless just need a house, but some people have other issues, complex issues, and so obviously, I would have concerns for their wellbeing.

“That’s not to put any judgement on those who are running Apollo House.”

New IT Sligo research aims to help transform Stroke recovery

RESEARCHERS LOOKING FOR STROKE PATIENTS TO PARTICIPATE IN CLINICAL TRIALS

  

IT Sligo Stroke Research Group member & PhD student Daniel Simpson receives his research bursary from Ed Blake of the North West Stroke Group. Back Row L-R: Dr Kenneth Monaghan (Stroke Research Group. 

An established Stroke Research Group within the Clinical Health and Nutrition Centre (CHANCE) at IT Sligo is working on new ways to help patients recover from Stroke.

Daniel Simpson from the Stroke Research Group, which is headquartered in IT Sligo’s School of Science, is currently carrying out clinical trials into new and exciting rehabilitation treatments for home-based stroke patients.

The PhD student, who is originally from Wales, has received a bursary worth €6000 from the North West Stroke Group Ltd towards continuing research into innovative rehabilitation techniques.

The treatments will use simple mirrors and innovative strength training techniques, to allow stroke patients to carry out therapy with minimal assistance at home or in a therapy setting. The therapy is already showing huge potential.

The stroke research group, is also carrying out home based clinical trials using a simple treadmill with mirrors, and has established a strong network with the Health Service Executive and the Stroke Unit in Sligo University Hospital, and their Consultant Geriatrician Dr Paula Hickey.

‘We know that there are over 30,000 people living in Ireland with disability due to stroke,” explains Dr Hickey.

“Through our collaboration with this research group, we are seeing substantial benefits in a group of patients that traditionally might have been viewed as having ‘finished’ their treatment and even felt to be beyond help. Not only does this help the stroke victims themselves but it has a broader benefit to their families and healthcare workers and students.”

The stroke group also works closely with both University College Dublin (UCD), and Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI).

With stroke patients allowed to carry out four-week innovative exercise programmes in their own home, in a tailored fashion, the clinical trials have been attracting increased interest in the North West stroke community.

Laurence Cassells, Secretary for the North West Stroke Group describes the potential benefits of this research as exciting. “We are donating this money because we genuinely believe that there is huge potential to improve the lives of our members,” he says.

“It is amazing to see improvements in people who had their stroke many years ago and felt that they had no chance of further recovery.”

It is expected that these new innovative rehabilitation treatments will be used within rehabilitation settings, and also within the patient’s own home in the future.

The Stroke Research Group, was founded by Dr Kenneth Monaghan, Mr Patrick Broderick, Mr Daniel Simpson, and Ms Monika Ehrensberger, in 2014. This Group is supported by IT Sligo and is currently looking for more stroke patients to participate in clinical trials in their own home.

For more information or to volunteer for clinical trials, please contact  Daniel Simpson on 087-0531507 or email Daniel.simpson@mail.itsligo.ie .

The Sun is not the key driver of climate change new studies show

    

CLIMATE CHANGE HAS NOT BEEN STRONGLY INFLUENCED BY VARIATIONS IN HEAT FROM THE SUN, A NEW SCIENTIFIC STUDY SHOWS.

The findings overturn a widely held scientific view that lengthy periods of warm and cold weather in the past might have been caused by periodic fluctuations in solar activity.

Research examining the causes of climate change in the northern hemisphere over the past 1,000 years has shown that until the year 1800, the key driver of periodic changes in climate was volcanic eruptions.

These tend to prevent sunlight reaching the Earth, causing cool, drier weather. Since 1900, greenhouse gases have been the primary cause of climate change.

The findings show that periods of low sun activity should not be expected to have a large impact on temperatures on Earth, and are expected to improve scientists’ understanding and help climate forecasting.

Historical data
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh carried out the study using records of past temperatures constructed with data from tree rings and other historical sources.

They compared this data record with computer-based models of past climate, featuring both significant and minor changes in the sun.

They found that their model of weak changes in the sun gave the best correlation with temperature records, indicating that solar activity has had a minimal impact on temperature in the past millennium.

The study, published in Nature GeoScience, was supported by the Natural Environment Research Council.

“Until now, the influence of the sun on past climate has been poorly understood,” says Dr Andrew SchurerSchool of GeoSciences.

“We hope that our new discoveries will help improve our understanding of how temperatures have changed over the past few centuries, and improve predictions for how they might develop in future. Links between the sun and anomalously cold winters in the UK are still being explored.   

Donie's daily BLOG on Ireland news

Evidence suggests that Irish growth & the economy is slowly recovering

 

GROWTH WILL BE PRIMARILY DUE TO EXPORTS AS DOMESTIC DEMAND SLUGGISH

“Unemployment (both short- and long-term) began to fall towards the end of last year. If our forecasts prove to be correct, then this means an annual average below 300,000 unemployed in 2014.” Photograph: Frank Miller

In the ESRI’s latest outlook for the Irish economy, we forecast that growth will improve in 2013 and 2014. If we are right, growth, as measured by GNP, will amount to 1 per cent this year and 1.5 per cent in 2014. The corresponding growth rates for GDP are 1.8 and 2.7 per cent. As has been the case over the past number of years, this growth will be primarily due to increasing exports and we expect that this export growth will continue to be driven predominantly by the service sector. We are currently forecasting that domestic demand will grow by around 0.7 per cent in 2013 and 2014.

If the growth rates we forecast are realised, what will they mean for the Irish economy? One of the main impacts of the crisis has been a sharp increase in the numbers unemployed. We would expect to see some reduction in the unemployment rate to an annual average just below 14 per cent in 2014. Indeed, unemployment (both short and long term) began to fall towards the end of last year. If our forecasts prove to be correct, then this means an annual average below 300,000 unemployed in 2014.

While this is a positive development, it is not all due to job creation. Unfortunately some of the reduction will reflect continuing high emigration. It is hoped that as we move into 2014 an increasing amount of the fall in unemployment will be due to job creation and that emigration levels will be lower.

If there is, as we anticipate, some recovery in the labour market over the next two years then we expect that there will be some moderate increases in average annual earnings. Because of high unemployment and continuing uncertainty in the economic outlook, we would expect that households will continue to save for precautionary reasons, so the saving rate will remain high. In addition, since households are continuing to pay down accumulated debt, it is likely that any growth in household consumption will be moderate.

The public finances look set to benefit from a combination of economic recovery and the deals on promissory notes and extending the maturity of EU/IMF programme loans. Taking account of these it looks likely that the deficit targets set as part of the bailout programme will continue to be met and probably exceeded.

However, we argue again in this commentary that the remaining consolidation measures should be introduced as planned. This is because uncertainty remains for domestic and international growth. Even at the end of the consolidation process the government will still be running a deficit. In addition there is a continued need to reduce government debt. At the end of 2013 it is estimated the debt will be €207 billion, equivalent to 123 per cent of GDP. Such a high debt means interest costs of approximately €8 billion this year.

Our forecasts of growth in the Irish economy are based on forecasts showing the European economy returning to growth in 2014. This is a crucial assumption.

In recent years forecasts for economic growth in Ireland’s main trading partners have been consistently revised downwards. For example, over the past two years, forecasts for world economic growth have been revised from approximately 4 per cent in 2013 to around 3.3 per cent. The expectation at present is that growth in the world economy will pick up in 2014.

If the anticipated international upturn does not occur, then the outlook for the Irish economy is less positive than we have forecast. However, what the current forecasts do suggest is that the Irish economy is slowly recovering.

Dr David Duffy, research officer with the Economic and Social Research Institute, co-authored the latest ESRI Quarterly Economic Commentary with research assistant Kevin Timoney.

30,000 Irish people a day are now sending in property tax returns

 

With less than two weeks to go until the final deadline for paying the property tax,

The revenue service says that more than 30,000 homeowners a day are returning their property tax forms as the deadline for the charge draws close.

More than 845,000 property owners have so far paid the charge, exactly two-thirds of whom have used the internet to make the payment. The remaining third have paid the charge by letter.

Revenue said the rate of payment has increased in recent days as the deadline of Tuesday 28 May draws closer, and has urged homeowners planning to pay to register on the website.

Anyone who received a property tax form despite not being the owner of a property has been asked to contact Revenue with the contact details of the person who is liable for the charge. Revenue has repeatedly said that the onus is on people who receive the form to correct mistakes or else face being pursed for the charge.

Revenue Commissioners say they have received more than 330,000 phone calls to the property tax helpline as homeowners attempt to ascertain the value of their homes and the correct band the property falls into in order to determine how much tax to pay.

Health warning for people to avoid retiring early

  

Research shows there is a small boost in health immediately after retirement but that, over the longer term, there is a significant deterioration.

Research found that both mental and physical health can suffer.

It suggests retirement increases the likelihood of suffering from clinical depression by 40pc and the chance of having at least one diagnosed physical condition by about 60pc. The probability of taking medication for such a condition rises by about 60pc as well, according to the findings.

People who are retired are 40pc less likely than others to describe themselves as being in very good or excellent health.

Benefits

The length of time spent in retirement can also cause further disadvantages.

The study was carried out by Britain’s Institute of Economic Affairs and the Age Endeavour Fellowship. It concluded that, for men and women alike, “there seem to exist longer-term health benefits of employment among older people”.

Its authors said: “This, in turn, indicates that politicians do not face a trade-off between improving the health of the older population, increasing economic growth, decreasing health spending among the elderly and producing solvent pension systems.

“The policy implication is that impediments to continuing paid work in old age should be decreased. This does not necessarily mean that people should be expected to work full-time until they die, but rather that public policy should remove the strong financial incentives to retire at earlier ages.”

Philip Booth, of the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: “Over several decades, governments have failed to deal with the ‘demographic time bomb’.

“There is now general agreement that pension ages should be raised. Working longer will not only be an economic necessity, it also helps people to live healthier lives.”

Edward Datnow, of the Age Endeavour Fellowship, said: “Those seeking to retire should think very hard about whether it is their best option.”

Clinical trials the best method we have for assessing medicines and treatments

 

CLINICAL TRIALS ARE THE BEST METHOD WE HAVE FOR ASSESSING MEDICINES AND TREATMENTS. SO WHY IS CLINICAL-TRIAL ACTIVITY IN IRELAND AND EUROPE IN DECLINE?

What have cider, elixir of vitriol, vinegar, seawater, citrus fruits and spicy barley water got in common? They were the “treatments” given to six pairs of sailors suffering from scurvy aboard HMS Salisbury in 1747 by Royal Navy physician, James Lind.

Scurvy is a condition characterised by bleeding gums, stiff joints and slow wound-healing. The sailors given the citrus fruits recovered demonstrably more than any other pair, a result we now know was attributable to Vitamin C.

This experiment, carried out almost 300 years ago, is commonly viewed as the first “clinical trial”. May 20th is World Clinical Trials Day, a celebration of this experimental tool, arguably one of the most important means to improving health.

In simple terms, the purpose of a clinical trial is to prove a medicine works and is safe for humans. Prior to the advent of proper clinical trials, many drugs were introduced to the market that did not meet these requirements.

The thousands of children born with limb defects due to thalidomide, which was prescribed to pregnant women with morning sickness, dramatically attest to this. More recently, poorly interpreted clinical-trials data contributed to the MMR scare in the late 1990s, led by Andrew Wakefield. The spike in measles cases observed recently in the UK, arising from reduced immunisation rates, illustrates clearly the consequence of this.

It’s regrettable that certain forms of “medicines” escape the rigour of proper scientific and clinical validation. The so-called cures of many homeopathic remedies are most likely attributable to the placebo effect, a phenomenon observed in a patient following a particular treatment that arises from the patient’s expectations concerning the treatment, rather than from the treatment itself. A properly designed clinical trial can eliminate such biases when testing the claims of a particular therapy and accurately gauge whether it is effective or not.

Positive outcomes
On the plus side, and thankfully the clinical-trials story is mostly a positive one, many medicines have been approved by the relevant regulatory bodies. These have been assessed and proven safe and effective by this most pivotal of scientific tools.

Pause a moment and look at this list, which samples just a few medicines that have been vetted by the clinical trial: the contraceptive pill, vaccines, cholesterol-lowering drugs. It is probable that the life of someone close to you, perhaps even your life, has been improved or saved by a treatment approved for use following clinical trial.

The randomised, controlled trial, the most modern form of clinical trial, was recently voted in a top 20 of great British innovations, along with illustrious companions such as the world wide web and Turing’s virtual machine.

Unfortunately, clinical trials activity in Ireland, as in much of Europe, is declining. There is much debate on this topic but in my view the cause is essentially this: the burden of proof to demonstrate a medicine’s safety and effectiveness has, rightly, become very high but the systems to support meeting that burden are struggling to cope. Such systems include legislation, regulation, research-led clinical care and patient participation.

There are considerable developments afoot in many of these areas including imminent changes to our clinical trials legislation. Driven from Brussels, it will effectively create a common market for approval of treatments, operating to a single, high standard across Europe.

Other changes in our clinical research infrastructure, such as the networking of our clinical-research centres, should complement the legislative changes to help meet the requirements to prove a medicine’s safety and effectiveness in an efficient manner.

However, these alone will not deliver a well-functioning clinical-trials system in Ireland. Patient participation is required at levels substantially above where they are today. Whilst legislation, research infrastructure and so on are matters of resource allocation and commitment to implementation, patient participation is a more challenging, cultural matter.

At the individual level, there are significant advantages to participating in clinical trials, such as early access to new medicines. However, the real benefit is not at the level of the individual but at the level of society. The cumulative effect of patients participating in clinical studies and trials is to generate new medical knowledge that can be put into practice in preventing, diagnosing and treating disease.

In many ways, participating in a clinical trial is much like donating blood. Both are matters of civic responsibility and a high donor/participation rate is an indicator of a society investing in itself.

For those of us responsible for the clinical-trials system, it is critical we build it and deliver it with the patient at the centre, on a firm foundation of trust. On Monday, when we celebrate World Clinical Trials Day, let us recognise that we have come far but we have some way to go.

New hospital re-grouping to improve patient safety in Galway Hospital’s

  

Patient safety at Galway’s three public hospitals will improve under the new hospital grouping unveiled this week, according to Galway Senator Fidelma Healy Eames.

Patient safety at Galway’s three public hospitals will improve under the new hospital grouping unveiled this week by Health Minister James Reilly.

That’s according to Galway Senator Fidelma Healy Eames, who has welcomed the announcement that University Hospital Galway, Merlin Park Hospital and Portiuncula are to form the West/North West Hospital Group with hospitals in Roscommon, Sligo, Letterkenny and Mayo General Hospital.

“I believe that this new configuration will give a greater level of autonomy to UCHG/Merlin Park and will result in better service provision, the retention of well trained staff and the development of specialties in smaller hospitals,” said Senator Healy Eames.

She added that each hospital in the group will play a significant role in the provision of services. “This benefits all hospitals in the group. The grouping of these hospitals will enable each hospital to specialise in certain procedures and should result in reductions in waiting lists and the number of people on trolleys,” she said.

Senator Healy Eames added that, since the establishment of the pilot Galway/Roscommon grouping last year, there has been a notable improvement for patients.

“Waiting lists over nine months for inpatient and day case procedures were eliminated in each of the hospitals by the end of 2012. Across the group, the number of patients counted on trolleys fell by 37 per cent last year. This is substantially larger than the national reduction of 23 per cent.

“In future, staff will be recruited to the West/North West Hospital Group rather than to an individual hospital. This ensures that patients in Galway will have access to world class medical staff. The increased flexibility of staff will enable a reduction in the hours for junior doctors, which will improve patient safety at Galway hospitals.”

Human race are to blame for our climate change

 

A review of 12,000 scientific papers has found the consensus among scientists that humans are to blame for climate change is “overwhelming” and the dissenting view was held by less than two per cent of scientists.

A review of 12,000 scientific papers has found the consensus among scientists that humans are to blame for climate change is “overwhelming”

The survey – the largest peer-reviewed study of its kind – found that a third of papers expressed a view on the causes of global warming – and 97.1 per cent of these said it was mainly man-made. It found a growing consensus among scientists that human activity, led by the use of fossil fuels, was the main cause of rising temperatures.

The lead author, John Cook, a fellow at the University of Queensland and founder of the website skepticalscience.com, said the findings debunked widely-held perceptions of a scientific debate about global warming.

“There is a gaping chasm between the actual consensus and the public perception,” he said.

“There is a strong scientific agreement about the cause of climate change, despite public perceptions to the contrary When people understand that scientists agree on global warming, they’re more likely to support policies that take action on it.”

The survey, published in Environmental Research Letters, examined 11,944 scientific abstracts published between 1991 to 2011.

Mr Cook said the number of papers rejecting the consensus was “vanishingly small”. Increasingly, he said, scientists did not see the need to express a position on the causes of climate change in journal abstracts “just as geographers find no reason to remind readers that the earth is round”.

“When people think scientists agree, they are more likely to support a carbon tax or general climate action,” he told The Age.

“But if they think scientists are still arguing about it, they don’t want to do anything about it.”

A survey in the United States last October found 43 per cent of Americans thought scientists were divided on man-made global warming while 45 per cent thought there was a consensus. Global average surface temperatures have risen by 1.4F (0.8C) since the industrial revolution.

A co-author of the new study, Mark Richardson, from the University of Reading, said: “If people disagree with what we’ve found we want to know.”