Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Ireland most expensive EU country due to taxes and retail, says academic

NEW DATA SHOWS IRELAND MOST EXPENSIVE COUNTRY IN EUROPE IN WHICH TO BUY ALCOHOL

   

IRELAND IS THE MOST EXPENSIVE COUNTRY IN THE EU IN WHICH TO BUY ALCOHOL, ACCORDING TO RECENT DATA.

An Irish academic says higher taxes, a different retail structure and market factors are the reason why Ireland is one of the most expensive countries in Europe.

Damien O’Reilly, a lecturer in retail management in DIT, told Morning Ireland that market factors tend to drive up the cost of food. He was responding to new data from Eurostat which show that Ireland is the most expensive country in Europe in which to buy alcohol with prices at 175% of the EU average.

On average the cost of food and non-alcoholic drinks in Ireland is 119% of the EU average, the fourth highest in the EU.

The EU’s statistics agency also said Ireland is the second most expensive for tobacco at 189% of the EU average, with only the United Kingdom higher at 218%.

Only Denmark (145%), Sweden (124%), Austria (120%) are more expensive.

In Ireland, bread and cereals (111% of EU average), meat (106%) and milk, cheese and eggs (128%) all cost above the EU average.

The data is based on a 2015 price survey covering 440 products across Europe.

Donall O’Keefe of the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (DIGI) said the high price of alcohol in Ireland is directly related to the unfair excise rate and that this is a direct tax on jobs, tourism and consumers.

“Excise is a tax on jobs, it is a tax on tourism and it is a tax on Irish consumers,” he said.

The Eurostat figures also show Ireland had the second highest per capita GDP in the EU in 2015 at 145% of the EU average.

Luxembourg had the highest per capita GDP in the EU at 271% of the average, while Bulgaria (46%) had the lowest.

However, when it comes to Actual Individual Consumption (AIC) – which measures the material welfare of households – Ireland was at 95% of the EU average.

Mr O’Reilly said that the reason Ireland’s dairy products cost so much even though there is a large dairy industry here is because 90 per cent of the milk produced in Ireland is for export.

“A lot of it is then re-imported as finished product which drives up the cost,” he said.

He also said supermarkets in Ireland have higher margins than elsewhere in Europe and that Irish shoppers are attracted to brands when they could buy cheaper own brands.

He said Irish shoppers tend to go for “higher quality foods”

EU may rule on Apple tax case next month

EU FOUND AGAINST IRELAND IN INITIAL FINDINGS ON APPLE IN 2014

   

MINISTER FOR FINANCE MICHAEL NOONAN SAYS THERE IS SPECULATION THAT THE EUROPEAN COMMISSION IS TO DECIDE NEXT MONTH ON WHETHER APPLE’S TAX DEALINGS IN THIS COUNTRY BREACHED STATE-AID RULES.

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan says there is speculation that the European Commission is to decide next month on whether Apple’s tax dealings in this country breached state-aid rules.

“The speculation now is that the Commission may make a decision sometime in July,” Mr Noonan said in an interview with Bloomberg in Luxembourg. “But we don’t know that with certainty. It’s the general feel around Brussels that they’re walking toward a July decision.”

Initial findings by the commission in 2014 said that Apple’s Irish tax arrangements were improperly designed to give the iPhone and iPad maker a financial advantage in exchange for jobs in the country. In a worst-case scenario, JP Morgan analysts estimate Apple could end up having to pay a $19 billion (€16.7 billion) in back taxes, though the expectation is that any negative ruling would end up with a much smaller bill.

The Government has repeatedly said that it will appeal any negative finding to the EU Court of Justice.

In the past, Apple has said it doesn’t use “tax gimmicks”, while the Government has repeatedly said that no State-aid rules were breached in this case.

Jobs lost shock as receivers shut McCormack Stores in the North West

     

SOME 208 JOBS HAVE BEEN LOST AND 15 BUSINESS LOCATIONS CLOSED ACROSS THE NORTH WEST FOLLOWING A RECEIVERSHIP ORDER BY BANK OF IRELAND AGAINST MCCORMACK OILS.

The news that the stores at Leitrim Village, Drumshanbo and Manorhamilton had been closed down with immediate effect was met with shock and astonishment by staff and members of the public.

The receivers arrived at the 15 premises located across Leitrim, Cavan, Sligo and Meath on Monday morning after 10am.

It is understood the three stores in Leitrim were open as per normal when the receivers entered the premises and told staff to close the doors and proceeded to put up the closure notice and seize assets.

In the ensuing hours other staff members arrived at the doors to be informed they no longer had jobs and were handed letters of redundancy from the receivers.

A statement from Receivers to the Leitrim Observer said, “Grant Thornton can confirm that Aengus Burns and Michael McAteer have been appointed as receivers to Excol Oil Limited which operates ten filling stations across the North West, two oil distribution facilities (McCormack Fuels Limited, Sligo and Breffni Oil Distribution, Cavan) and McCormack’s car sales and garage businesses in Sligo.”

They told the paper, “Our first priority is to brief employees at all 15 locations and process their entitlements for redundancy. The receivers are making every effort to sell the various businesses.” It is understood they do not intend to re-open the businesses and are hoping to sell them as soon as possible.

The umbrella company operated filling stations in Drumshanbo, Leitrim Village and Manorhamilton as well as in Killeshandra, Belturbet and Virginia, Co Cavan, Athboy, Co Meath and more in Castlebaldwin, Carraroe and the Mail Coach Road, Sligo.

Staff who were not at work on Monday were called to the businesses and handed letters of redundancy. It is understood the offer is the statutory redundancy of two weeks pay for every year worked. The letter explained that Bank of Ireland has appointed receivers to the business and also outlined entitlements for social welfare payments.

The businesses employed many local people, including a number of couples and workers from the same family.

Staff told the Leitrim Observer they are “devastated” and that the news came as a “huge shock” as they felt local stores were performing well.

A spokesperson for Grant Thornton told the paper he was unaware if the owners had knowledge of the order for receivership before Monday morning, as sometimes they are not notified beforehand.

The McCormack Family were contacted for a comment but they declined to speak at this time. Security remains outside all stores this week.

Local people were shocked and annoyed at the closures with many calling it “sad news” on Monday.

On Facebook, locals poured out their sadness and disbelief. Kelly Hewitt Kelly said, “It’s bloody awful. My husband worked in Manor and they were just handed stupid letters and told they have no job at all – out, that was it terrible way to be treated – we have 4 young kids to think about.”

Noeleen Moffatt commented, “Terrible News for Leitrim Village and surrounding areas. Travel to Drumshanbo, Carrick-on-Shannon or Pauline Skeffington’s Shop in Drumboylan for essential items.”

Mar Kelly sympathised saying, “Terrible for the McCormack family and their loyal staff.”

About 15 minutes of exercise may lower death risk in elderly people

NEW STUDY FINDS

   

EXERCISING IS AS IMPORTANT FOR THE ELDERLY AS IT IS FOR THE YOUTH. A STUDY HAS FOUND THAT EVEN AS LITTLE AS A 15-MINUTE WORKOUT COULD DO WONDERS FOR THE ELDERLY AND DECREASE DEATH RISK.

The study, in fact, goes on to say that it may help them cheat death, by linking it to lower death risk among the elderly, which showed how exercising lesser than the recommended number of hours might help them.

The Tech Times, French researchers analyzed a group of 1,011 French individuals aged 65 in 2001 and were followed for 12 years. They also looked at a huge group of more than 122,000 people from an international cohort who were about 60 years old and were followed for about 10 years.

The team measured physical activity via Metabolic Equivalent of Task (MET) minutes every week, meaning calories spent per minute of physical activity. A MET minute every week equates to the amount of energy expended by sitting; recommended levels of exercise, for instance, are from 500 to 1,000 MET minutes a week.

It was observed that, during the study, as people exercised more, their potential death risk dropped considerably. Furthermore, those with low activity levels, recorded approximately 22% decreased death risk, while those with medium and high levels had 28% and 35% lower risks.

Tech Times interviewed study author and University Hospital of Saint-Etienne physician, Dr. David Hupin, who said that, “Age is not an excuse to do no exercise. It is well established that regular physical activity has a better overall effect on health than any medical treatment.”

Top professionals are twice as likely to marry as unskilled workers

A RECENT SURVEY REVEALS ‘MARRIAGE CHANCES’ BY CLASS WHICH DIMINISH RIGHT DOWN THE ECONOMIC SCALE?

     

THIS IS THE FIRST TIME SUCH DATA LOOKING AT THE GAP IN “MARRIAGE CHANCES” BY CLASS HAS BEEN BROUGHT TOGETHER IN IRELAND.

Highly paid processionals are almost twice as likely to be married as unskilled workers, a report published this morning finds.

Some 65.7% of adults, aged 18-49 in the best off groups, were married at the end of last year, while 31.8% of the same age in the least well off group were married, notes the study, Mind the Gap, published by the Iona Institute Christian think tank.

The report also shows the likelihood of marrying diminishes right down the economic social scale, apart from in the second least well off group, which are described as “process, plant and machine operatives”.

Some 53.6% of adults in this class were married, according to the report which draws on data contained in the Central Statistics Office’s Quarterly National Household Survey from the end of 2015.

This is the first time such data looking at the gap in “marriage chances” by class has been brought together in Ireland. The findings reveal a phenomenon replicated in other western societies. It is an issue which receives much discussion and scrutiny in the United States.

This study maps likelihood of marriage by area, in Dublin, Cork and Galway cities, showing huge variations aligning by levels of prosperity or disadvantage.

In Dublin marriage rates range from highs of up to 59 per cent in Clontarf and Rathgar/Terenure to as low as 19% in north and south inner city.

WORST CHANCES

In Cork, they range from 60% in Ballinlough, to 17% in Shandon, Gilabbey and South Gate, while Galway adults with the best prospects of marriage are those in Rockbarton, Knockacarragh and Taylor’s Hill where rates are up to 53%. Galwegians with the worst chances are in Nun’s Island and St Nicholas, with rates as low as 19%.

Prof Patricia Casey of the Iona Institute said the inequality in access to marriage were “deeply concerning”. She said those entering marriages had better social and economic prospects, while children in lone parents households were at the greatest risk of poverty.

The Institute said it was publishing the report in the hope of sparking a debate on why some groups were not marrying.

Marriage, she said, was one of the greatest bulwarks against poverty and yet those in poverty had far less access to it.

“Why is it that the better off a person is the more likely they are to be married? Social disadvantage clearly diminishes a person’s chances of marrying and not marrying in turn increases the odds of remaining socially disadvantaged, It’s a vicious circle and one which obviously affects children.”

Irish society had shown it believed the gay and lesbian community should have access to marriage. So too should the poor, said Prof Casey.

The increasing proliferation of low-paid, insecure jobs at the lower end of the economic scale undoubtedly had an impact on people’s sense of their financial ability to enter into marriage, she added.

“There are also disincentives to marry built into the social welfare system . . . It can be more financially advantageous for two people on social welfare to remain single than to marry.”

Gravitational waves detected for the second time

Scientists spot ripples in space-time caused by two colliding and merging black holes

   

AN ARTIST’S RENDITION SHOWS TWO BLACK HOLES 14 AND 8 TIMES THE MASS OF THE SUN JUST MOMENTS BEFORE THEY COLLIDED AND MERGED TO FORM A NEW BLACK HOLE 21 TIMES THE MASS OF THE SUN.

Gravitational waves, ripples in space-time predicted by Albert Einstein a century ago, have been detected for the second time, scientists have announced.

An international team spotted the phenomenon on St Stephen’s Day but has only now made the news public.

As with the earlier detection in September 2015, the source was found to be two colliding and merging black holes unleashing titanic forces.

The event, some 1.4 billion light years away, caused a quantity of energy roughly equivalent to the mass of the Sun to be converted into gravitational waves.

After travelling an unimaginable distance across space, the waves were “captured” by the twin Ligo (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) detectors located in Livingston, Louisiana, and Hanford, Washington, US.

Team member Dr Stephen Fairhurst, from Cardiff University, said: “This event heralds the true beginning of gravitational wave astronomy and the opening of a new window on the universe.

“The different masses and observable spins that we witnessed in the Boxing Day event show that we’re starting to collect vital information about the population of black holes that exist in the universe.

“Future gravitational wave observations will allow us to understand how black holes form from the death of massive stars, and test whether they are really as predicted by Einstein’s theory.”

THE THEORY OF GENERAL RELATIVITY?

Gravitational waves are predicted in Einstein’s Theory Of General Relativity, which shows how gravity arises from mass curving space and time.

They are ripples in space-time that propagate as waves. Anything in their path, from humans to whole planets, is made to stretch and compress slightly as the fabric of space-time is distorted.

Each of the Ligo detectors, consisting of an incredibly sensitive system of mirrors and lasers, is also made to “wobble”. But the effect is really tiny.

The amount of movement is thousands of times smaller than the width of the nucleus of an atom.

Scientists hope gravitational waves will offer a completely different view of the universe, allowing them to study events that might be hidden from traditional optical and radio telescopes.

An illustration of this was seen in results from the December 26th detection, presented at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society in San Diego, US.

By analysing the signal, the scientists were able to tell that the colliding black holes were 14 and eight times more massive than the Sun.

They orbited each other at least 27 times before merging into a more massive spinning black hole 21 times the Sun’s mass.

Using two detectors spotting the waves 1.1 milliseconds apart made it possible to determine the source’s rough position in the sky.

‘KEY QUESTIONS’

Prof Sheila Rowan, director of the University of Glasgow’s Institute for Gravitational Research, who took part in the discovery, said: “We know from this second detection that the properties being measured by Ligo will allow us to start to answer some key questions with gravitational astronomy.

“In future we will be able to study this and better understand cosmic history, aiming to fill in the ‘missing links’ in our knowledge.”

The findings have been accepted for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Dr Chad Hanna, from Pennsylvania State University in the US, who co-led the detection team, said: “We now have far more confidence that mergers of two black holes are common in the nearby universe.

“Now that we are able to detect gravitational waves, they are going to be a phenomenal source of new information about our galaxy and an entirely new channel for discoveries about the universe.”

The Ligo Scientific Collaboration consists of more than 1,000 scientists from 17 countries.

Each Ligo site has two tubes, both 4km long, arranged in an L shape.

A laser is beamed down each tube to monitor very precisely the distance between mirrors at each end.

If a gravitational wave is present, it will alter the distance between the mirrors by a minute amount.     

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

New corporation tax plan could yield a bigger take for Ireland

OECD director says double-Irish is over but that does not mean Ireland will lose business

    

Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

The new global template for taxing multinationals could lead to more corporation tax being collected by Ireland, according to the head of the team behind the new plan.

Pascal Saint-Amans, director of the Centre for Tax Policy and Administration at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, was speaking as the OECD said that up to $240 billion (€213 billion) is being lost annually to exchequers around the world because of aggressive tax planning by multinationals.

The final report of the OECD’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (Beps) project has been published in Paris and looks set to be approved by the G20 heads of state later this year.

“This document sends out an extremely strong message to tax planners,” Mr Saint Amans toldThe Irish Times. “The process is now moving on to the implementation phase.”

He described the report as the “soft law” for global business taxation for the coming decades. The plan is the biggest development in global tax rules in a century.

From the point of view of Ireland’s interests, Mr Saint Amans said, the fact that the Beps plan seeks to create stronger links between where a multinational has its business substance, and where its profits are taxed, means that it should not be seen as a threat to Ireland’s crucial foreign direct investment sector.

A number of major multinationals, such as Microsoft, Facebook and Google, have substantial operations here that book their turnover from across Europe and further afield. However much of the related profits are booked in offshore locations such as Bermuda and the Cayman Islands. The Government has said it is to close down this structure, the so-called “double Irish”, by 2020, in part in response to the global controversy about restoring fairness to global tax planning.

The double-Irish is over, Mr Saint Amans said. “But that does not mean Ireland will lose business. In fact I think quite the opposite. This should increase the taxation [collected in Ireland].”

The Beps project was commissioned by the G20 and is a response to concern at the way multinationals have been able to use mismatches between national laws and other aspects of the global tax system, to create aggressive tax planning structures.

“The stakes are high,” the final report says, with the amounts involved estimated as being “between 4 per cent and ten per cent of global corporation tax revenues, ie $100 billion to $240 billion, annually.”

The research indicates that multinational subsidiaries in low tax countries report almost twice the profits, relative to assets, of their global group, and the report is an effort to counter this.

The final report covers such areas as so-called hybrid financial products that facilitate aggressive tax strategies, treaty measures aimed at preventing double taxation that have led to double non-taxation, and the introduction of confidential country-by-country reports that will see revenue authorities get a clearer picture of how multinationals are structured.

The report is an agreed one at a technical level but some measures are more accepted than others, with the position to be taken by the Republican Party in the US among the major issues complicating the drive towards a new global regime.

While the Beps document says there is an urgent need to restore the trust of ordinary people in the tax system, many organisations campaigning for developing countries say the Beps plan does not go far enough in helping poorer countries get their fair share of tax from multinationals.

Among the forces driving the Beps process are fears that governments, in response to public concern about how little tax huge and profitable multinationals are paying, will introduce unilateral measures that will complicate the global market. Also, multinationals are becoming more and more concerned about the reputational damage they suffer by way of controversy over the amount of tax they pay.

On the other hand, the world’s largest economies want to ensure that the redrawing of the global rules on the taxation of multinationals, does not run contrary to their interests.

Peter Reilly, the Beps Policy Leader with PwC in Ireland, said the report has been produced within a tight timeframe and while it did not achieve all it set out to achieve, “it is still the biggest change in one hundred years in the area of international taxation.”

On balance, he said, he believed the report was positive from the perspective of “Ireland Inc”.

However, he said Ireland will need to ensure the Beps plan does not create disadvantages for smaller economies, especially by way of changes to the international tax treaty network.

Squeezed middle to pay less than 50% tax for first time in six years

  

This week, a series of key meetings will take place between Mr Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin and their Cabinet colleagues

Middle-income earners will pay less than 50pc tax on their salaries for the first time in six years, the Irish Independent can reveal.

With just over a week to go to the last Budget before the General Election, the Government will lower the effective higher rate of tax to at least 49.5%, several senior sources confirmed last night.

Those sources also said there was a “strong desire” to reduce the tax burden on middle-income earners to as low as 49%, if this proves achievable.

“The desire is there, it is now just seeing what is achievable in the final shake-up of the numbers,” one senior source said last night.

Finance officials have concluded the bulk of their work on the Budget, with the discussions now “firmly in the political realm”. The deeply unpopular Universal Social Charge is set to be the focus.

While the Budget is not yet finalised, there is a strong desire within both Fine Gael and Labour to deliver a 2% tax cut, should the numbers allow it.

“We would love to do it, but certainly at this stage we are looking at a 1.5% cut,” said one well-informed Government source.

Were the Government to achieve a 2pc reduction through cuts in the USC, those earning €70,000 would be more than €1,000 better off, those on €50,000 would be €650 better off and those on €35,000 would be €350 better off.

This week, a series of key meetings will take place between Mr Noonan and Public Expenditure Minister Brendan Howlin and their Cabinet colleagues.

Once those face-to-face meetings are concluded, Mr Noonan and Mr Howlin will bring a draft Budget document to the Economic Management Council, on which they sit with Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Joan Burton.

The overwhelming focus of the tax cuts is on the penal burden of the USC, particularly for those earning €70,000 or less.

Mr Noonan is looking at a cut to the 7pc rate and examining raising the entry point at which people start paying the USC.

“The net effect when both measures are combined will be 2pc,” said a senior Government source.

Coalition sources have confirmed that the USC cut will be used as their ‘big bang’ give-away to workers.

It is understood that the entry point at which people begin paying the current 7% rate will be raised to bring more than 500,000 people out of the USC net. But it is also known that the 7% rate will be reduced by up to 1.5%.

Pensions?

Mr Noonan is also believed to be looking at reducing the gap between self-employed people and PAYE workers on incomes above €100,000.

Meanwhile, Lucinda Creighton’s Renua is proposing to introduce a levy on all public-sector pensions over €60,000 to claw back some of the pensions paid to former Taoisigh Brian Cowen and Bertie Ahern and former top officials, some of whom have pensions in excess of €100,000.

“When they imposed a levy on private pensions during the financial crisis, they defined the limit as being €60,000 per annum,” the party said.

“Renua Ireland believes that no public servant should be in receipt of a gross pension exceeding this sum.”

Noonan says customers need to ‘shop around’ for good mortgage rate deals

     

Finance Minister Michael Noonan says homeowners on variable-rate mortgages need to ‘shop around’ to get the best deals on offer.

Finance Minister Michael Noonan says homeowners on variable-rate mortgages need to “shop around” to get the best deals on offer.

The minister is ruling out direct intervention to force banks to cut their rates on the basis that it would damage the choice available to homeowners.

Last week, Belgian-owned bank KBC announced it would cut its variable mortgage rate for new and existing customers.

In an interview with the Irish Independent, Mr Noonan insisted that there was better value to be obtained.

“People should shop around. I don’t understand the reluctance of people to change lenders or to go for fixed rate for a year or two because there are real gains to be made now and yet there’s a reluctance to change.”

Mr Noonan said there were dangers attached to him directly forcing banks to cut their variable interest rates.

“If you force them, what will happen is – the risk you’ll be taking – is that mortgages for new borrowers would dry up and no new mortgagees, no new financial institutions offering mortgages, would come into the market.”

The minister said his efforts to date had delivered results.

“We’ve done a lot of work on that. We’ve got them down. AIB are down. They have three movements downwards. You can get money now from AIB at 3.65pc.

“Every bank that I spoke to has made a positive offer to their lenders, which reduces the cost of their mortgage.

“The Central Bank wouldn’t agree ever that the margin was as big as is being recited by the Opposition. They are of the view that the excessive margin was somewhere around 1pc – maybe a little less. But there’s movement now.”

KBC’s reduction is the first since six banks had meetings with Mr Noonan about high mortgage charges.

AIB and its subsidiary EBS responded to previous calls for lower variable rates.

Others, such as Bank of Ireland, have reduced their fixed rates but left variable rates unchanged. Some customers of Permanent TSB, and Ulster Bank can also benefit from lower interest rates.

Credit-card size passport for European travel available today

      

Who can apply, how to apply, where can the card be used?

A new credit-card style passport card that can fit in wallets and purses, and which is valid for travelling to 30 European countries, is available from today.

Applications for the new passport card can be processed online or through a smartphone and tablet app, and are open to adults who already have a valid passport book.

It can be used for travelling within the European Union member states, as well as countries within the European Economic Area – Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway.

The card costs €35 and those applying from outside Ireland will have to pay an additional €5.

“It is, in effect, a passport and it carries all the attributes and entitlements of a passport and should be treated with great care, as you would a passport,” Minister for Foreign Affairs Charlie Flanagan said at an event to launch the card this morning.

However, Department of Foreign Affairs officials said the passport card does not have to be cancelled if someone loses their passport book, and vice versa.

Mr Flanagan also said he is concerned about the current strike affecting postal services but said it is “not clear” that many passports are currently stuck in the postal system.

Passport applications can made in person in the passport offices in Dublin and Cork, as well the Irish Aid office in Limerick. Passports can be collected from the offices in Dublin and Cork.

A list of frequently asked questions has been compiled by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Who can apply for the Irish passport card?

The Irish passport card is available only to Irish Citizens who are in possession of a valid passport book (with a minimum of 30 days validity remaining) and who are aged 18 or over.

Where can I travel on the passport card?

The card is valid for travel within the EU/EEA (European Economic Area).

Do I need a passport book before I apply for a passport card?

Yes, you must be in possession of your valid passport book in order to apply for a passport card. (Note: if your passport book is lost or stolen you must apply for a new passport book before you can apply for a passport card).

How much will the passport card cost?

The fee for a passport card is €35. There will be an additional €5 postal fee if you reside outside Ireland.

How do I pay for my passport card?

Payment can be made using a credit card or a debit card. (currently Visa, MasterCard and American Express cards are accepted).

How long is the passport card valid for?

The passport card has a maximum validity of 5 years or the remaining validity of your current passport book i.e. the passport card expiry date cannot exceed that of your passport book.

What if I lose my passport card or it is stolen?

The details of all lost or stolen passports are reported by the Passport Service to Interpol which means they are no longer valid for travel. When reapplying for your new card you should indicate the lost, theft or damage of your passport card on the relevant section of the online application form. If you are not applying for a new card you should notify the passport service by completing the contact form.

When travelling on my passport card what number do I use to check in online?

When checking in online use the card number located at the upper right hand corner on the face of the card (for example C12345678).

I have a passport photo at home, can I use it for my passport card application?

Yes, if the photo has been taken in the last six months. You can use this photo by scanning it at a high resolution (minimum 300dpi) at full size.

Sligo-based company "Orreco" partners with IBM for Watson sports appliance

 

The elite sports firm will develop ‘Coach Watson’ app to help teams and players avoid sports injuries.

Irish elite sports firm Orreco is to partner with IBM on its billion-dollar super computer Watson to build an app that will help sports teams to make decisions on training and treatment for their star athlete to avoid injury and maximise performance.

The Sligo-based firm, which is backed by golfers Padraig Harrington and Graeme McDowell, will use data covering 15 years of sport and more than 1,700 elite athletes in the app, called Coach Watson. The company has developed methods to analyse blood, identifying biomarkers that can help monitor performance.

Using the data from Coach Watson, coaches and teams will be able to find detailed information on medical research, and quickly answer questions on games schedules, player sleep, nutrition data, recovery, injury and fatigue.

IBM Watson has been dubbed a computer with a human brain. It can process large amounts of data quickly, can understand questions in natural language and provide evidence-based answers.

“Orreco is committed to providing holistic solutions to athletes as quickly as possible in order to help them excel while protecting them from potential illness and injury,” said Orreco CEO Dr Brian Moore.

“Through IBM Watson’s ability to put real-time sports science in the hands of performance teams, this partnership greatly enhances the speed at which our insights can be delivered to our clients, thereby improving the power, potential and competitive edge of the whole athlete.”

Orreco was founded in 2010 by Dr Moore and Dr Andrew Hodgson, and works with sports stars from Harrington and McDowell to Premier League football team Newcastle United. It also works with Formula One teams, and NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball teams in the US.

Among its early backers are Enterprise Ireland, Harrington and McDowell, former VP of Technology at Amazon.com Tom Killalea, Pa Nolan of Fexco and former group MD of Glanbia,John Moloney, who is chairman of the board.

“In professional sport there is absolutely no shortage of data. It’s everywhere. The challenge always is in making the data collected actionable,” said Harrington. “Combining Orreco’s insights and IBM cognitive computing will make for a very powerful tool and I can see Coach Watson becoming an invaluable resource for coaches and athletes alike. “

US-based Nike Oregon Track Club Elite will be the first club to work with Orreco and Coach Watson, using the app to help devise individual training and plan for competitions and recovery.

Ancient Tsunami was nearly as tall asThe Eiffel Tower,

Scientists Say.

The sudden collapse of a volcano likely triggered the monstrous tsunami more than 70,000 years ago.

    

Scientists think that the volcano Fogo’s eastern slope crashed into the sea, leaving behind the giant scar pictured here and triggering a mega-tsunami.

When surfers have taken on nearly 100-foot-tall waves, they’ve faced the challenge of a lifetime. But those waves are pipsqueaks compared to an ancient mega-tsunami that scientists say was almost as tall as the Eiffel Tower.

An international team of scientists has found evidence that an approximately 800-foot-tall tsunami was generated when the eastern slope of the Cape Verde islands’ Fogo volcano, off the coast of West Africa, collapsed into the sea some 73,000 years ago.

The colossal wave traveled more than 30 miles from Fogo to the nearby island of Santiago, where it pushed around huge boulders like pebbles, according to research published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

And, theoretically, such an event could happen again.

“This is something that may happen in any volcano that is tall, steep, unstable and active enough to be prone to a collapse,” Dr. Ricardo Ramalho, an adjunct scientist at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, New York, and lead author of the research, told The Huffington Post in an email.

“Volcanic flank collapses and their ensuing mega-tsunamis — like the one of Fogo — are what we scientists call ‘very low frequency, very high impact events,'” he said. “Due to their very low frequency, we estimate that the probability for them to happen again is very small, but they may and will happen nevertheless.”

The wave generated by Fogo’s collapse may have swept boulders like this one up from the shoreline into Santiago Island’s highlands. Here, a researcher chisels out a sample of rock to establish the date of the tsunami wave.

The researchers found evidence for the ancient mega-tsunami when they noticed delivery truck-sized boulders of basalt and limestone sitting in Santiago Island’s highlands. The boulders were as much as 2,000 feet inland but showed signs of having originated from cliff faces below where they were discovered, suggesting they had been moved by a tsunami.

The researchers calculated the energy it would take to move the boulders in order to estimate the size of the tsunami, and they examined the surface of the boulders to determine when the bizarre boulders were deposited on Santiago Island.

“First, they all came out about the same age, indicating that they all were deposited as part of the same event and secondly, the date (when they got stranded) matches the timing of the flank collapse,” Dr. Gisela Winckler, a geochemist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory and co-author of the research, wrote in an email. “When we got the dates, it became clear that we can link volcano collapse to the mega-tsunamis deposits. I was intrigued by that match.”

The researchers concluded that a mega-tsunami must have ripped the rocks from the cliff faces and pushed them up to their present location.

RICARDO RAMALHOWhen the 800-foot-tall tsunami reached Santiago Island, boulders and other debris likely were ripped from the shoreline and hurled upward hundreds of feet.

Scientists have long known that landslides coming off of volcanoes can generate tsunamis in nearby waters. But some argue that such landslides occur in stages, which would create several smaller tsunamis, rather than all at once, which would result in one gargantuan mega-tsunami as the study suggests.

“This research is important because it confirms that volcanic flank collapses may happen catastrophically and trigger massive tsunamis with devastating near-source effects,” Ramalho said. “This study reinforces the idea that we need to take this into account when we assess the hazard potential of oceanic volcanoes.”

Some scientists think more research is needed to determine the behavior of giant waves that may be generated by a volcanic collapse, as well as how to adequately monitor the chances that such a tsunami-causing collapse might happen.

“Since we’ve never seen such an event happen on an ocean island, we don’t have practical experience with how the collapse will manifest itself,” Dr. Michael Poland, a geophysicist at the U.S. Geological Survey in Vancouver, Washington, who was not involved in the study, told Nature.

Winckler agrees there is more work to be done.

“More generally, better understanding events such as the Fogo mega-tsunami is a step towards understanding how the Earth works and potential risks,” she wrote. “There is still many things we don’t understand well, for example, the mechanics and physics of the flank collapse itself.”