Donie's news Ireland daily BLOG update

100,000 people in Ireland will have their dole cut in an overpayment-clampdown

  

THERE WILL BE A CLAMPDOWN ON DOLE OVERPAYMENT

More than 100,000 welfare recipients had their €188 dole payments cut last year in Ireland because they had been overpaid,

The clampdown was part of a €70m recovery operation undertaken by Minister Joan Burton’s Social Protection department to combat fraud.

New documents from the department, seen by the Irish Independent, show that because of increased enforcement powers introduced last year, there has been a significant increase in the numbers who have had their payments cut.

The new measures, which came into effect in February 2013, allow Ms Burton’s officials to claw back up to €28, or 15pc, of the weekly dole payment of €188. This they say has led to a 30pc spike in “overpayment recoveries”.

Under the new act, the department can also get an attachment to earnings and monies held in bank accounts by those who have been overpaid in a bid to recoup the excess payments. According to the documents, €35m was recouped from 103,000 people by reducing their weekly payments, while another €35m was gathered from other sources such as bank accounts.

This compares to just over 55,000 cases in 2010 which amounted to €35m and 82,000 cases in 2012 which amounted to €53m, the documents show.

The tough new powers are proving to “be a useful tool” in forcing people no longer in need of State support into a repayment scheme.

The documents were sent by Niamh O’Donoghue, secretary general of the Department of Social Protection to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), which had sought clarity on its fraud detection competence.

The shocking figures were revealed as it has emerged that three Social Welfare public servants “colluded” with third parties to defraud the taxpayer of €1.3m. The PAC was told last month that two of the cases are under Garda investigation.

Controversial

One staff member, working in the community welfare division, allegedly colluded with an undisclosed number of outside parties over a six-year period between 2006 and 2012 to scam the taxpayer of between €1m and €1.1m.

The documents also reveal that the controversial €10 cuts to child benefit, announced in budget 2013, affected 1,164,000 children in 609,900 families.

Monthly child benefit rates were cut by €10 to €130, while the rates for the third child was cut from €148 to €130. The rates for the fourth and subsequent children were cut from €160 to €140 a month.

The documents also reveal that of the 78,246 recipients across the country who receive lone parents allowance, 76,783 of those were female and just 1,463 were male, a ratio of 52.5 to one.

Skin cancer survival rate soars in pioneering drugs trial

  

Twenty four skin cancer sufferers in Ireland are on a groundbreaking trial of drugs which shows a near five-fold increase in survival rates.

Researchers pioneering methods of harnessing the body’s own immune system to fight cancer have uncovered further dramatic results in a worldwide clinical trial involving 7,000 people.

The study found cancer survival rates of 94pc and 88pc after one and two years using a combination of treatments of two drugs – up from existing rates of 40pc and 20pc respectively.

Twenty-four Irish people being treated at hospitals in two sites inDublin, and in Galway and Cork, are among those taking part in the latest phase of the trial starting late last year.

Derek Power, consultant medical oncologist at Cork University Hospital and chairman of the Irish Melanoma Forum, said the results of the early stages of the trials show that a skin cancer cure could be within reach. “This really is an amazing breakthrough, albeit it’s early data,” he said.

“Unequivocally, it absolutely marks a sea change. There is the tantalising possibility of a cure with immuno-therapy. It’s not for everyone, that’s an important thing to say, but it does bring about the potential, and that’s an amazing thing to say.”

In Ireland, almost 630 people a year are diagnosed with melanoma and it leads to 110 deaths a year.

Malignant melanoma – when the skin cancer spreads to other parts of the body – is one of the most aggressive forms of the disease, with 75pc of people dying within one year of diagnosis.

The incidence for women in Ireland is one of the highest in Europe – fourth out of 26 countries – while the rate for men is well above average. Scandinavia has the worst rate and south-east Europe the lowest.

The study’s findings were released at the 50th annual meeting of theAmerican Society of Clinical Oncology (Asco) in Chicago.

Global biopharma firm Bristol-Myers Squibb Company is producing the two drugs being used in the trial, nivolumab, and ipilimumab, branded as Yervob on the market, and is funding the study with pharmaceutical firms MSD andRoche.

It is hoped that the combination drug treatment could be available to skin cancer patients in Ireland as soon as next year.

THE COST PER PATIENT COULD START AT €80,000 (£65,000).

Michael Giordano, senior vice-president, head of development, oncology and immunology at the company, said: “The science of immuno-oncology – harnessing the patient’s immune system to treat cancer – is rapidly evolving. These results are the most advanced data set to date evaluating the potential of combining immunotherapies.

“As leaders in the field, they reinforce our aspiration that combining immunotherapies may be foundational and may have the potential to change the standard of care by transforming survival expectations.”

TV advertising blamed for children’s poor diets in Ireland

 

Television advertising could be to blame for unhealthy eating habits as young viewers recognise twice as many unhealthy food brands as healthy ones.

 A new study of children aged three to five found that children recognise more unhealthy brands, even in cases where healthy brands are advertised just as much.

Parents’ own eating habits could also influence children’s knowledge of unhealthy brands, as they choose food for both themselves and their children.

However, a ‘window of opportunity’ was identified in which parents could teach their children about healthier foods during their pre-school years in order to encourage better eating habits in the long term.

The study also suggested that food education takes place in creches and pre-schools – and should include teaching children about which foods are unhealthy.

  The spokeswoman for Safefood, Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, said: “This research reiterates the growing recognition of the need for further restrictions on marketing and advertising of foods high in fat, salt and sugar.”

Boy learner driver (16) found driving tractor in Donegal on main road

  

A 16-YEAR-OLD LEARNER WAS STOPPED WHILE DRIVING A TRACTOR ON A PUBLIC ROAD IN ONE OF THE MORE UNUSUAL TRAFFIC INCIDENTS OVER THE WEEKEND.

He was pulled over by Gardai in Buncrana, Co Donegal, while operating the vehicle on a narrow country road.

A picture of the incident was posted on the official Garda Twitter feed, along with an appeal to farmers to “be responsible” and “work safely”.

It added: “Would you let a 16-year-old drive this (the tractor) on a public road?” A Garda spokesman said

Overall, the weekend saw an improvement on recent years in terms of traffic safety.

The June bank holiday was the worst period of the year for road deaths in 2012 and 2013.

However, there were three fatalities between midnight on Thursday and last night – a reduction on the five deaths last year and six the year before.

In Dublin, a 40-year-old woman pedestrian was killed at 10.30pm on Friday when she was hit by a car.

It happened on Davitt Road in Dublin 12 where the victim, Caroline Watkins, from Lally Road, Ballyfermot, was crossing the road at the Golden Bridge Luas stop.

The mother of one was taken to St James’s Hospital but was later pronounced dead. Witnesses said the car was dark, possibly a Ford Focus. It took off in the direction of the Naas Road.

Garda forensic investigators were called in to examine the scene. Officers arrested a man in his 30s in Drimnagh the following day.

The man, a well-known gangster, was detained under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act.

A spokesman said the individual was released without charge on Sunday and a file is being prepared for the DPP.

In Cork, a man in his 50s died when the van he was driving hit a tree. The accident happened on the N72 at Dromagh at 10am on Friday. The man was pronounced dead at the scene.

A driver died yesterday after a single-vehicle crash in Clondalkin. The man, in his 70s, was the only person in the car. The crash occurred near Liffey Valley Shopping Centre at 3.45pm.

Is the moon the next Wi-Fi hotspot for our Earth?

  

NASA and MIT successfully tested broadband connections between the Earth and the moon. The data rate achieved with lasers beats any Wi-Fi on Earth. This is the ground facility in New Mexico where four telescopes send the signal to the moon.

Looking for the fastest broadband connection around? Then look up, say U.S. scientists who are reporting their successful attempt to set up a broadband connection between the Earth and the moon using lasers.

In October of last year and again early this year, researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and NASA cooperated in tests of the Lunar Laser Communication Demonstration, using potent laser beams to transmit information from the Earth to the moon at exceptionally fast speeds.

In the tests, the findings of which are being presented publicly this week at the Conference on Lasers and Electro-Optics in California, the LLCD broke a number of records, downloading data over the 238,999 miles between the moon and the Earth at 622 megabits per second. That is about 5 times the current rate from lunar distances, NASA says.

Upload speeds were a bit slower, around 19.44 Mbps, but still fast enough to send a high-definition video to our moon to allow high-definition video conferencing via Skype.

Those data rates far exceed anything NASA is seeing with any of its current radio frequency communications devices, and the download speed in particular is thought to be faster than that of any commercial broadband or Wi-Fi service available in North America, which has typical download speeds of between 15 and 25 Mbps.

The ability to use lasers in space to send and receive information will be a boost to future missions, the researchers said.

“It is generally agreed that present-day science and exploration missions to deep space are constrained by the amount of data they can get back to Earth,” explainedDon Boroson, who headed the MIT research team developing the communication system. “It has been known for years that laser communications have the potential to deliver much higher data rates and use smaller space terminals than radio-based systems.”

Wi-Fi signals, converted to laser pulses, were transmitted between four telescopes in White Sands, New Mexico, and a NASA satellite, LADEE, in orbit around the moon.

The researchers said the success of the MIT LLCD tests was a big step on the way to an even more sophisticated system to be known as the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD), set to begin testing in 2017.

“The on-orbit performance [of the LLCD] was excellent and close to what we’d predicted, giving us confidence that we have a good understanding of the underlying physics,” said team member Mark Stevens of MIT’s Lincoln Laboratory.   

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Thursday

Big Irish State crackdown on social welfare fraud saves Government a whopping €632 million

     

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton reveals there were 674 cases taken against fraudsters last year.

The Irish State saved €632million last year following a crackdown on social welfare fraud, a new report revealed.

The Department of Social Protection report for 2013 showed huge success in highlighting fraud and taking cases against scammers.

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton revealed that 674 cases were taken against fraudsters last year following more than 25,000 tip offs from the public.

Initiatives like facial imaging in welfare offices has seen the State claw back a whopping €632million in benefits.

Ms Burton’s department carried out more than one million reviews of welfare payments last year.

The Minister said yesterday that getting people back to work and continuing to crack down on fraud will be the major priorities for her department.

She added: “The best way of reducing welfare expenditure is by getting people back to work – and we are doing exactly that through the Pathways to Work strategy.

“Every 10,000 fall in the Live Register saves approximately €95 million.

“At the end of 2013, 61,000 more people were in work, an employment increase of 3.3% on 2012, while the Live Register continued to fall steadily over the year.

Through Pathways and key reforms such as the new Intreo Centres, where jobseekers can get income and employment supports in the one place for the first time, we will build on that progress this year.”

The report also shows that some 1.5 million people avail of weekly social welfare payments.

The Department of Social Protection forked out more than €20billion last year, but that is expected to drop by €630million this year.

Ms Burton said that her department is committed to protecting the more vulnerable people in society.

She said: “The vast majority of people on the Live Register have an overwhelming financial incentive to work, receiving just €188 or less per week and no additional benefits, and the Department is doing everything it can to help them back to work, not alone assisting jobseekers, but also deepening our engagement with employers to help them with their recruitment needs, as the report demonstrates.

“The annual report also demonstrates that, contrary to some beliefs about how the welfare budget is spent, the largest single block of expenditure is on protecting pensioners – and this will continue to increase in the years ahead because of demographics.

“I have and will continue to protect the State pension because of its crucial importance to older people. We can do this because overall welfare spending is reducing, and the Department is maintaining disciplined control of its budget.”

The new calorie scheme will not work in a busy Irish kitchen

 

Irish Restaurant owners are cooking up a storm over moves by the government to show the calorie count of each dish on their menus.

Health Minister James Reilly TD yesterday launched the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s new online calorie calculator (www.menucal.ie), to help customers make more informed choices about what they eat.

The introduction of the calculator requires chefs to voluntarily input data for each dish – a system that has already been implemented in the US.

However, the Restaurants Association of Ireland said the MenuCAL Calculator will prove to be an unnecessary burden on restaurants, as it would be virtually impossible to monitor and will take each chef on average five hours per week, 20 hours per month, to complete a 40 item monthly menu.

Michelin-starred restaurant owner Oliver Dunne said legislation forcing restaurants to display calorie counts on their menus will not be practical.

Mr Dunne said chefs who make dishes to order will not be able to standardise the amount of calories in each dish.

PORTION

“If we’re in a kitchen and there’s a team of chefs and you’re making a portion of mashed potato for somebody, every chef that goes to make it doesn’t weigh out 10 grams of butter for 200 grams of potatoes and stir it to order, the chefs are just putting it in.

“It’ll be so vague from one chef to another,” Mr Dunne said.

In addition, the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) warned against any attempt down the line to introduce mandatory labelling of calories on menus.

Others welcomed the move.

“American studies show that when calories are listed, people ate an average of 152 fewer calories at hamburger venues, and 73 fewer calories at sandwich bars,” Fine Gael Senator Catherine Noone said.

“Overall, calorie intake fell by 6pc per day and if calorie intake was reduced by this much in Ireland, it would have a positive impact on our obesity levels and our type 2 diabetes problems.

“We are facing remarkable problems when it comes to the health of the nation in the years ahead,” she said, adding any preventative measure should be welcomed.

Ten suicides occur weekly, says Pieta House chief Joan Freeman

 

At the official opening of Pieta House West in Tuam, Co Galway, yesterday were (from left) chairman John Joyce, founder John Concannon and Dublin taxi driver John Quinn, a fundraiser who introduced Mr Concannon to Pieta House.

GOVERNMENT SHOULD GIVE SUICIDE ‘THE SAME ATTENTION IT GIVES TO DEATH ON OUR ROADS

The Government needs to take suicide prevention as seriously as road safety, given that at least 10 people are taking their own lives every week, Pieta House chief executive Joan Freeman has said.

Speaking at the opening of Pieta House’s first centre in the west, Ms Freeman said the organisation was dealing with almost 60 new cases weekly.

The Central Statistics Office figures for suicide “don’t reflect the true numbers”, she said, as they do not account for drownings and single car fatalities which may be related.

“If the Government gave suicide the same attention and resources it gives to death on our roads, imagine the difference this would make to communities around Ireland,”Ms Freeman said yesterday.

“It appears suicide is a warm blanket used by our politicians during the cold days of campaigning, only to be shrugged off when elected,”she said. “Every adult should be made familiar with the signs and symptoms of suicide, and how to respond to same. We know that men don’t talk, and don’t seek help, but there is often a great sense of relief if someone intervenes to get help on their behalf,” she said. Eight of the 10 weekly fatalities are male.

The new west coast centre will open six days a week, and aims to work towards a seven-day service, including bank holidays, with free counselling and no referral from GPs required.

A Tribute

M/s Freeman paid tribute to Tuam-based businessman and philanthropist John Concannon, who inspired the fundraising campaign that supported Pieta House West’s foundation.

Mr Concannon pledged the first €25,000 towards the centre after recalling his experience of the impact of suicide during RTÉ’s The Secret Millionaire series. The non-governmental organisation now has nine centres, with almost €400,000 being raised for the Tuam facility.

“This is enough to refurbish a house and fund the service for 18 months,” Ms Freeman said.

Pieta House will host its fundraising walks event on May 10th (darknessintolight.ie).

Breathing and hydration is fuel for the body during exercise

 

Whether a walker, jogger or runner, you must follow this advice – don’t forget to breathe. Here are some tips on breathing that can be incorporated into training in the lead up to the Flora Women’s Mini Marathon.

Focus on the exhale, as you will always remember to breathe in. Exhaling will empty your lungs and create a vacuum for air to rush back into the lungs. This is an excellent technique to use if you get short of breath while training or find it hard to maintain a steady rhythm.

Take deep breaths (“tummy-breathe”) with the aim being to draw your breath into the lower part of your lungs. Oxygen delivery to the blood is optimal here, meaning improved performance.

Good posture will make breathing easier, as it allows your chest cavity to expand and retract as required. Maintaining an upright posture and avoiding slouching or hunching forward is best. If you struggle to do this on a daily basis, I recommend performing pilates to strengthen core and stabilising muscles. Drop your shoulders back and down, away from your ears, to automatically relax your upper body. Do this several times a day – at work, in the car, at training.

Pains: One of the other essentials to life (and training), is water and we cannot survive without it. Performance can be adversely affected by complaints, such as stomach pains, bloating and diarrhoea, which can be avoided with good hydration. Water is the best fluid choice for events lasting under 90 minutes.

Maintaining a hydrated state allows nutrients to circulate, wastes to be effectively removed and temperature to be regulated.

During exercise, sip on water by carrying a sports bottle when running/walking or bring a water bottle to your place of training. A pinch of sodium (i.e salt) can be added to your drink to assist in replacing electrolytes lost in sweat and improve fluid retention in the body. Slices of citrus fruits or frozen berries can improve taste.

Once you are breathing and your body is hydrated, it is time to turn your attention to fuel. Most importantly, remember you can never out-exercise a bad diet.

Without adequate nutrition, exercise will actually weaken the body and can lead to fatigue and injury. A well balanced diet of carbohydrates, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals will restore the body and allow you to reap the benefits of the hard work done in training.

4,500 year old boat among Viking artifacts hoard discovered in Lough Corrib

 

Battle axes and weapons among raiders hoard, found in Lough Corrib, County Galway, to be part of Battle of Clontarf anniversary exhibition.

Twelve boats, dating from 2,500 BC to the 11th century AD, along with other Viking artifacts have been discovered in Lough Corrib in Connemara, County Galway.

Archaeologists have used radiocarbon dating to establish that one of the boats dates from 2,500 BC. Other items that were found include several battle axes and other weapons.

The ancient items were discovered by Captain Trevor Northage, a marine surveyor mapping the lake to update British admiralty charts. The Underwater Archaeology Unit (UAU) from the National Monuments Service then carried out a series of investigative dives.

The 4,500-year-old log boat settled into the mud when it sank and was covered over time. A mixture of organic sediment and lake water assisted in the preservation process. Even the seats in the boats are preserved.

The three Viking-style battle axes will form a centerpiece for the National Museum of Ireland’s Battle of Clontarf commemoration exhibition, marking the 1,000th anniversary of the battle and the death of King Brian Boru.

The weapons, including bronze spearheads and a rare wooden spear, have been recovered for conservation by the National Museum. As yet, there are no plans to raise the boats.

The oldest of the vessels is the Annaghkeen log boat, which is 4,500 years old, close to the age of the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. Northage pointed out, while speaking to the Irish Times, that it had been at the bottom of the lough for 3,500 years when the Vikings arrived.

The 12-meter boat is very similar to the Lurgan boat found in 1902 and the Carrowneden boat found near Ballyhaunis, in County Mayo, in 1996.

UAU archaeologist Karl Brady said, “The Annaghkeen boat was made from a very big tree, and it took a lot of skill and effort to make it.

“The fact that all three boats were located within 30 miles of each other would suggest that they were made by the one builder, or that there was a vogue for early Bronze Age boats of this type.”

Brady believes that another boat, dating from the 11th or 12th century, found near Carrowmoreknock on the Lough, may have been on a raid when it sank. They believe the warriors were Irish.

Ireland’s Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan, called the find “exceptional” and said all the artifacts are protected on the National Monuments Act.

He also commented on the fact that the artifacts provide “a unique insight into a wide range of prehistoric and medieval activities, including raiding, hunting, wood working, boat building, trade, travel and transport.”

The Pesky fruit fly insect escapes by using fighter jet maneuvers

  

What does a tiny fruit fly have in common with the world’s most advanced fighter jets like the U.S. Air Force’s F-22 Raptor? More than you might think.

Scientists using video cameras to track a fly’s aerial maneuvers found the insect employs astonishingly quick mid-air banked turns to evade predators much like a fighter jet executes to elude an enemy.

Their study, published on Thursday in the journal Science, documents aerial agility in fruit flies such as the capacity to begin to change course in less than one one-hundredth of a second.

The fact that flies are airborne acrobats should not surprise anyone who has ever swung a flyswatter at one, only to watch the little insects easily escape.

The researchers at the University of Washington synchronized three high-speed cameras operating at 7,500 frames a second to learn the secrets of what the flies do to make themselves so elusive.

They tracked the mid-air wing and body motion of the fruit fly species Drosophila hydei, which is about the size of a sesame seed, inside a cylindrical flight chamber after the insects were shown an image that suggested an approaching predator.

The flies produced impressive escape responses, almost instantaneously rolling their bodies like a military jet in a banked turn to steer away. While executing the turn, the flies showed that they could roll on their sides by upwards of 90 degrees, sometimes flying almost upside down.

“They generate a rather precise banked turn, just like an aircraft pilot would, to roll the body and generate a force to take them away from the threat,” said University of Washington biology professor Michael Dickinson, who led the study.

“That happens very quickly. And it’s generated with remarkably subtle changes in wing motion. We were pretty astonished by how little they have to do with their wing motion to generate these very precise maneuvers,” he said.

The fly flaps its wings about 200 times a second, and in almost a single wing beat can reorient its body to maneuver away from the threat and continue to accelerate, Florian Muijres, another of the researchers, said in a statement.

“I suspect that these are very ancient reflexes,” Dickinson added. “Very shortly after insects evolved flight, other insects evolved flight to eat them. Circuits for detecting predators are very, very ancient. But this one is just being implemented in a high-performance flight machine.”

A lot of light was needed to accommodate the cameras’ extraordinarily high shutter speeds, but because a fly would be blinded by the necessary amounts of normal light, the researchers used very bright infrared lights. Like people, fruit flies do not see infrared light.

“I’ve always been fascinated by flies. Everybody thinks that they have a simple nervous system, but I think it’s exactly the opposite. They just have a really tiny one. But it’s incredibly compact. They do so much with just this brain the size of a salt grain,” Dickinson said.   

Donie's Ireland daily news update BLOG

Saturday 15th February 2014

Joan Burton puts pressure on hospitals to prove their compliance on salaries?

  

Social Protection Minister Joan Burton has heaped pressure on the bosses of five under-fire hospitals and agencies to prove that they are compliant with the government’s pay rules.

The Irish Independent revealed today that the hospitals, which include St James’s and St Vincent’s in Dublin, face the prospect of having their funding cut by 20% in one weeks time.

St John Of God, Brothers of Charity Southern Services, and Brothers of Charity Services South East have also been told that their funding will be slashed.

In a statement released last night the HSE said the five agencies are deemed non-compliant as they have not made business cases for their pay levels.

They are also required to submit the necessary detailed business cases.

Speaking at the Labour Partyconference in Enfield, Co Meath, Ms Burton heaped pressure on the agencies to become fully compliant with the government-imposed pay rules.

She also expressed concern that vulnerable patients may feel “frightened” as a result of the potential funding cut.

“I think what is important here is that the five organisations, whom I think have been identified by the HSE, as not being in compliance, not giving in the information -  I think it really is incumbent on them to actually go to the HSE, sit down and actually settle it,” she said.

“At the end of the day, government policy in relation to policy is quite clear. And those organisations will have to be accountable to the HSE. And I do not think the issue should be used to frighten people who are particularly vulnerable in terms of medical needs or in terms of disability,” she added.

The HSE said the reduction in cash funding is not a budget cut and therefore should, under no circumstances, impact on the provision of services to patients or clients.

A total of 10 agencies are compliant with pay policy and further 27 have presented 88 business cases for additional allowances to be paid to senior staff.

An internal review panel of senior staff within the HSE has now been appointed to examine the business cases.

The review comes after a detailed audit of Section 38 agencies and whether or not they were in compliance with pay policy began last December.

As a result, some organisations stopped paying top-ups to senior staff while others are in the process of submitting a “business case” to the HSE outlining why they feel they should be maintained.

The cuts in funding for the five hospitals and agencies is the latest development in the top-up scandal which came to a head last year with revelations surrounding details of payments at the Central Remedial Clinic (CRC).

AIB silent on bonus plan for their top executives

IRISH GOVERNMENT SAYS POLICY HAS NOT CHANGED

 

AIB declined to comment if they held discussions with government about changing compensation policy for top bankers.

The department of Finance Michael Noonan  said that the government “has not changed its policy position” in relation to compensation of Irish bankers in bailed-out banks.

Bloomberg reported today that the Allied Irish Bank (AIB), which needed a €21 billion bailout from the tax-payer, approached the government in relation to setting up an incentive plan to retain top executives.

Awards for senior staff

It is reported that chairman David Hodgkinson had discussions with officials at the Department of Finance on reintroducing long-term awards for senior staff at the bank when it returns to profit.

When asked about the plans for an “incentive plan” for executives and whether representations were made to government in relation to the proposal, AIB said they had “no comment”.

No change

A spokesperson for the Department of Finance said that “no discussions” are underway about AIB’s idea to incentivise executives to stay in the job.

The salaries of those working in the bank were capped and bonuses scrapped after the bank’s rescue by the State.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan said last week that the state may seek to sell a stake in AIB before the next general election in 2016.

Noonan says Irish bank debt deal cannot be actively pursued until 2015

 

The Minister for Finance met with the head of the Eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, Klaus Regling, (pic above right with Michael Noonan) who reiterated his own view that any retrospective deal is not likely at the moment.

Irish Minister Michael Noonan has said that any active pursuit of retroactive re-capitalisation of Ireland’s banking system cannot be done until 2015.

Noonan was speaking after a meeting with the head of the eurozone’s permanent bailout fund, the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), Klaus Regling who repeated his beliefthat he currently cannot foresee unanimous consent to Ireland getting a deal on its bank debt.

The government has been pushing for the use of the ESM to retrospectively recapitalise its pillar banks, AIB and Bank of Ireland, which received billions of euro in State funding at the height of the financial crisis.

Regling has previously indicated that such recapitalisation using the fund that he heads “doesn’t seem very likely” and said today: “There is just a general reluctance in a number of countries to provide financing retroactively, because it’s based then on the past.”

Crucial to any retroactive recapitalisation is the establishment of a Single Supervisory Mechanism for the eurozone which is not likely until November of this year.

“We’ll continue to pursue retroactive recapitalisation of the banks and we will do that actively as soon as the instrument is in place, which means 2015, and at all levels in government we will pursue that as an objective,” Noonan said.

‘Something for the medium or long-term’

The Minister reiterated the commitment made by European leaders on 29 June 2012 to break the link between the banking debt and the sovereign and said this had been reinforced by subsequent statements from the French and German leaders.

He said: “Obviously we will continue to explore the possibilities of delivering on these commitments but until the instrument is put in place, to which Mr Regling referred, it doesn’t arise. So it’s something for the medium or long-term.”

Noonan said that the State is “not going to wait around” for a deal and will continue to bring down its cash buffers as well as purse any possibilities to sell its estimated €11-12 billion worth of shares in the banks.

“We’re not flying on one wing and simply waiting for European assistance. We have an active policy for dealing with our debt as well.” he said.

Regling congratulated Ireland on its recent emergence from the Troika programme but said that this successful exit did not mean that it would be more difficult for Ireland to get a bank debt deal.

He said that although he does not see consensus on giving Ireland debt relief there are “many other developments [that are] moving in the right direction and will help reduce the debt burden for the Irish economy and the Irish budget”.

Pre-conception drinking by fathers can damage their developing foetus

      

Drinking during pregnancy has long been touted as off-limits for mums-to-be but research shows dads who drink pre-conception may jeopardise the health of future offspring.

A study in which male mice were exposed to varying concentrations of alcohol prior to mating showed some of the foetuses they helped conceive suffered abnormal organ development and/or brain development. The male mice in the study not exposed to alcohol sired normal foetuses.

The authors of the study — published in Animal and Cell Systems, the official journal of the Korean Society for Integrative Biology — concluded that alcohol consumption affects genes in sperm which are responsible for normal foetal development.

One group of mice was given normal saline and the mice given alcohol were given a dose twice daily “to minimise the deleterious effects of binge alcohol drinking”.

After seven weeks of alcohol exposure, mice were relaxed for one week and were then mated with non-treated females. Foetal stage analysis was subsequently carried out after the females were euthanised and embryos removed. The number of embryos per mouse was counted and embryo body weights measured. The study’s authors found “severe foetal abnormalities”, including a disorder where the brain is located outside the skull. The researchers said the incidence of developmental abnormalities by alcohol treatment was “statistically significant”.

They concluded that paternal alcohol exposure prior to conception causes developmental defects in the next generation at pre- and post-natal stage.

Also, specific abnormalities such as exencephaly (brain located outside skull) were determined at the foetal stage. Transgenerational toxicity — a health effect that occurs when a pollutant or toxic substance passes from a parent to an offspring — caused by paternal alcohol exposure “is possibly mediated through alcohol-induced changes in sperm at the level of the sperm genome”.

Mums-to-be drinking alcohol during pregnancy is a known risk and cause of foetal alcohol syndrome. These children can suffer retarded intellect, stunted growth and nervous system abnormalities, social problems and isolation.

Until now fathers have not had a causal link to such disabilities. According to this research, it provides the first definitive evidence that fathers’ drinking habits pre-conception can cause significant foetal abnormalities.

Unfair Arm Wrestling Match: Octopus Tries to Grab Diver’s Camera

A pair of scuba divers filming off Carmel, Calif., got a great big surprise when a giant Pacific octopus suddenly put an arm lock on one of their cameras.

NBC affiliate KSBW in Monterey reported that the encounter occurred when Warren Murray and David Malvestuto were diving in Bluefish Cove off of Point Lobos in Carmel. They were in about 80 feet of water when the normally shy cephalopod approached them and took a fancy to Murray’s camera.

As Malvestuto kept his video camera rolling, the octopus wrapped its arms around the camera and tried to pull it away from the diver.

The Octopus Tries to steal the Diver’s Camera

The wrestling match continued for a few tense moments before Murray flashed the camera’s lights, causing the light-sensitive octopus to beat a hasty retreat.

The report did not say when the encounter occurred.

Giant Pacific octopuses, which have powerful suction cups dotting their legs and can grow up to 30 feet in length, are normally extremely shy, but they also are “agile, smart (and) sneaky,” according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

“Octopuses are very intelligent animals that can learn to open jars, play with toys, and interact with their handlers,”the aquarium says on its website. “Giant Pacific octopuses spend most of their lives alone. Scientists long thought that animals were unlikely to evolve intelligence unless they were social, so the octopus’s clever, lonely life is something of a mystery.”

I want to take a Selfie?

As a Octopus tries to grab a Scuba Diver’s camera

  

The Octopus Tries to steal the Diver’s Camera in the above shots.

A pair of scuba divers filming off Carmel, Calif., got a great big surprise when a giant Pacific octopus suddenly put an arm lock on one of their cameras.

NBC affiliate KSBW in Monterey reported that the encounter occurred when Warren Murray and David Malvestuto were diving in Bluefish Cove off of Point Lobos in Carmel. They were in about 80 feet of water when the normally shy cephalopod approached them and took a fancy to Murray’s camera.

As Malvestuto kept his video camera rolling, the octopus wrapped its arms around the camera and tried to pull it away from the diver.

The wrestling match continued for a few tense moments before Murray flashed the camera’s lights, causing the light-sensitive octopus to beat a hasty retreat.

The report did not say when the encounter occurred.

Giant Pacific octopuses, which have powerful suction cups dotting their legs and can grow up to 30 feet in length, are normally extremely shy, but they also are “agile, smart (and) sneaky,” according to the Monterey Bay Aquarium.

“Octopuses are very intelligent animals that can learn to open jars, play with toys, and interact with their handlers,”the aquarium says on its website. “Giant Pacific octopuses spend most of their lives alone. Scientists long thought that animals were unlikely to evolve intelligence unless they were social, so the octopus’s clever, lonely life is something of a mystery.”