Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Irish mortgage rates still nearly double the euro area average?

VARIABLE RATE HOLDERS CONTINUE TO PAY PRICE FOR PROFLIGATE BANK LENDING DURING BOOM YEARS

   

IRISH MORTGAGE INTEREST RATES REMAIN NEARLY DOUBLE THE EURO AREA AVERAGE, ACCORDING TO DATA PUBLISHED BY THE CENTRAL BANK LAST FRIDAY.

The weighted average interest rate on new mortgages, excluding renegotiation’s, was 3.38% in November, down 28 basis points year-on-year. The equivalent euro area rate was 1.72%.

Mortgage interest rates in Ireland used to reflect the main European Central Bank (ECB) lending rate, primarily because of the high proportion of tracker mortgages issued during the boom years.

The more recent divergence reflects the premium Irish banks have attached to variable rate mortgages issued since the start of the financial crisis.

Lenders here have resisted political pressure to lower their rates, insisting that lending into to Irish market represents a riskier proposition.

They also argue that Irish costs remain higher because of the higher funding costs they face as a result of the crisis.

Variable rates can rise or fall depending on wholesale interest rates, which are set by the ECB, though banks are not obliged to pass these changes on to customers.

Fianna Fáil is pushing for legislation that would give the Central Bank powers to cap variable mortgage rates, a move that is being resisted by the Central Bank and the Government.

The latest Central Bank data also show the volume of new mortgage agreements amounted to €548 million in November, bringing new agreements to €4.9 billion over the past 12 months.

Oxfam World report reveals ‘an obscene gap’ between the rich and poor.

Eight men’s wealth same as world’s poorest 50%, indicates study ahead of Davos forum

    

THE GAP BETWEEN RICH AND POOR IS BECOMING INCREASINGLY LARGE, WITH JUST EIGHT INDIVIDUALS OWNING THE SAME WEALTH AS 3.6 BILLION OF THE WORLD’S POOREST PEOPLE, ACCORDING TO NEW RESEARCH.

A report from Oxfam, launched on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos, found that the poorest half of the world has less wealth than previously thought, due to new data emanating from China and India. This means that the eight richest men in the world are worth the same as the poorest half of the world’s population, according to wealth distribution data provided by Credit Suisse.

“It is obscene for so much wealth to be held in the hands of just eight men . . . particularly when one in nine people in the world go to bed hungry every night,” said Oxfam Ireland chief executive Jim Clarke. “A fundamental change in the way we manage our economies is required so they benefit everyone, not just a fortunate few. We need a global economy for the 99%, not just the 1%.”

More than 3,000 participants, including Taoiseach Enda Kenny, will descend on the snowy peaks of Davos, Switzerland, this week for the 47th World Economic Forum.

While the annual gathering has long been seen as a playground for the rich and powerful, the event this year is taking place against a background of resurgent populism and increasing public opposition to globalisation. This mood has been manifested in the election success of Donald Trump and the British vote to leave the European Union.

Although the US president-elect will not be attending the event, his inauguration as president of the US on Friday is expected to overshadow the summit. A number of sessions during the week are devoted to globalisation and the challenges posed by growing inequality and the question of wealth distribution. The theme of this year’s forum is “Responsive and Responsible Leadership”, a barely veiled acknowledgement of anxieties about the incoming regime in Washington and the series of elections scheduled to take place across Europe in 2017.

Xi Jinping Keynote address.

Among the most high-profile participants this year is Chinese premier Xi Jinping, who will deliver a keynote address on Tuesday. His presence marks the first visit to Davos by a Chinese leader.

British prime minister Theresa May will deliver a special address on Thursday morning, two days after she is expected to unveil details of her government’s vision for Brexit in a major speech.

British chancellor of the exchequer Philip Hammond will be in Davos on Friday, when he is expected to do a series of interviews and participate in a session titled “Britain and the EU: The Way Forward” with the former Italian prime minister and EU commissioner Mario Monti and others.

While more than 50 heads of state and government will travel to the exclusive Swiss ski resort, some of the world’s most senior banking and corporate executives will also attend the five-day event.

Among the economic heavy-hitters in attendance will be Jim Yong Kim, president of the World Bank, and IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, as well as senior executives from the world’s biggest banks, such as UBS, Goldman Sachs and Deutschebank.

One familiar face on the Davos circuit, the Goldman Sachs chief operating officer Gary Cohn, won’t be present this time. He’s likely to be busy preparing to become Donald Trump’s new chairman of the National Economic Council.

Senior officials from Trump’s transition team will attend the event, however, and are expected to hold a series of bilateral meetings with senior political leaders, including possibly Xi Jinping, on the fringes of the event.

Outgoing US vice-president Joe Biden will address the summit on Wednesday, while US Secretary of State John Kerry will also attend the forum, undoubtedly one of his final official engagements of the Obama presidency.

Gaybo (Gay Byrne) hopes for best in battle against prostate cancer?

‘HE IS DOING WELL. THE TREATMENT IS ONGOING’

    

Left Pic. Broadcaster Gay Byrne, with wife Kathleen, right pic. the old, the middle & the new L.L.S. hosts. Gay remains positive despite being diagnosed with prostate cancer

IRELAND’S MOST-LOVED BROADCASTER GAY BYRNE IS UPBEAT AND POSITIVE AS HE COMES TO TERMS WITH HIS CANCER DIAGNOSIS, TELLING THE SUNDAY INDEPENDENT: “THE TREATMENT CONTINUES AND WE HOPE FOR THE BEST.”

Gay was his usual sanguine self as he talked about his illness – echoing the thoughts of millions of well-wishers up and down the country who hope for his return to the airwaves in full health.

Last November, with typical understatement, Gay revealed to shocked listeners on RTE’s Lyric FM the disheartening news that he was suffering from cancer.

“I shall not be with our listeners on this day next week. Have to go to hospital… They think they may have discovered a bit of cancer in the prostate and they think it may have moved up into my back.

“I’ve had the most wonderful, fantastic, robust, good health all my broadcasting life,” he said in usual breezy style during his enormously popular show on the classical radio station.

“It’s my turn now… many, many people much worse off. Thank you for your good wishes,” he signed off.

Now, nearly three months on, Gay is in the throes of cancer treatment, but he is tough and resilient and well aware that he is undergoing the same difficulties endured by so many who are touched by the disease in this country.

And he is aware that prostate cancer is very treatable and the chances of a favourable outcome are quite high.

In short, Gay is not feeling sorry for himself but ongoing medical treatment obviously interrupted the usual Christmas and New Year celebrations – a favourite time of year for the couple who were married in 1964.

“Everything is on hold while we do our best to look after Gay,” his wife Kathleen Watkins told the Sunday Independent yesterday.

“He is doing well. The treatment is ongoing. Do thank the many people all over the country who have been in touch,” Kathleen requested.

“We got all the notes and letters and cards. We read all of them. Thank you. Thank you to all those kind people.It’s so much appreciated.”

The broadcasting legend is being looked after by his devoted wife at their home in Ballsbridge and there is lots of help and encouragement from the family – as well as the good wishes of an entire nation.

Local Property Tax in Sligo has highest compliance rate of almost 97% in Ireland

    

THERE WAS A COMPLIANCE RATE OF 96.8% WITH THE LOCAL PROPERTY TAX IN SLIGO IN 2016 ACCORDING TO THE FIGURES JUST RELEASED BY REVENUE.

The national compliance rate is is estimated at 97% which is in line with previous years.

Revenue, which oversees its collection, say some €5.3 million was collected through the tax in county Sligo last year from almost 30,000 properties. Laois and South Dublin had the highest compliance rate in the country at 99.8%.

The vast majority of householders in County Sligo (43.8%) valued their homes in the lowest bracket of up to €100,000 with 32.1% valuing their houses up to €150,000 and 16.4 falling into the €150,001 to €200,000 category. Just 1.5% valued their homes at over €300,000 and a further 1.5% were in the €250,001 to €300,000 bracket. Approximately 42% of property owners self-assessed the same valuation band as the Revenue estimate and 58% of property owners self-assessed a different LPT valuation band compared to Revenue.

LPT Exchequer receipts in 2016 (at end December) are €463m. This includes approximately €50m in pre-payments for 2017 LPT as well as €70m in payments for 2015 LPT and earlier years. Exchequer receipts also include Household Charge (HHC) arrears. Revenue assumed responsibility for the collection of arrears of HHC from July 2013. By end 2016 in excess of €64m was collected (including nearly €8m in 2016) and over 360,000 additional properties are now HHC compliant.

For 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2016 Revenue issued 212,000, 148,000 and 324,000 and 300,000 compliance letters respectively. In the vast majority of these cases property owners fully complied with their LPT payment obligations, either on a phased basis or by way of a single payment. However, in each year there were a relatively small number of cases that chose to remain non-compliant,

Revenue say it left them with no alternative but to deploy debt collection/enforcement measures or other sanctions to ensure payment. Some 864 cases were referred to the Sheriff in 2016 and 40 cases to external solicitors for collection. Over 20,300 tax clearance requests were refused on foot of LPT non-compliance, of which almost 97% were subsequently granted clearance following mutually acceptable payment solutions.

Revenue deducted LPT from the salaries or pensions of almost 89,000 property owners last year of which over 49,000 ‘rolled over’ from mandatory deductions applied in 2015. Over 11,000 valuations were also increased in 2016 following Revenue compliance interventions.

The BT Young Scientist exhibition category winners

ALL THE WINNERS IN EACH SECTION OF 2016 BT YOUNG SCIENTIST AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION

    

Right picture the overall BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year 2017 Shane Curran from Terenure College.

And above left picture:- Shay Walsh, managing director BT Ireland (left) and Minister for Education Richard Bruton (right), with Matthew Blakeney and Mark McDermott of the Jesus & Mary Secondary School, Sligo, runners-up at the BT Young Scientist & Technologist of the Year 2017 with their project Flint on the Moy?

The winners in each category of the 2016 BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition have been announced.

1st place Junior group Kinsale Community School, Impact of sound pitch on the biological gustatory perception mechanism, a quantitative comparative study between adults and children.

Biological and Ecological Junior Group Caoimhe Lynch , Sylvie Plant

2nd place Junior group Loreto College – Foxrock, Does Simulating a Lack of Binocular Vision Have An Impact on performance?

Biological and Ecological Junior Group, Jessica Oakley O’Kelly, Margot Moore, Jennifer Leavy

3rd place Junior group St Mary’s Diocesan School, 40 Licks ( trying to determine if being weaned onto certain foods as a baby can effect your development into a super-taster) Biological and Ecological Junior Group Seb Lennon Calum Agnew

1st place Junior individual Christ King Girls Secondary School, An investigation on whether cereal is a healthy breakfast option for Children Biological and Ecological Junior Individual Romy Kolich

2nd place Junior individual Bandon Grammar School, A novel approach to growing Nannochloropsis in a controlled environment and it’s subsequent ability to produce oil Biological and Ecological Junior Individual Gregory Tarr

3rd place Junior individual Sandford Park School Ltd, Time as a variable in bread production Biological and Ecological Junior Individual Oscar Despard

1st place intermediate group Loreto Secondary School – Balbriggan, Does consuming certain varieties of potatoes as a staple food in a diet, increase blood glucose levels & chance of high blood pressure and diabetes in a sample of Rush residents Biological and Ecological Intermediate Group Sophie Weldon Laura Weldon Emma Kleiser Byrne

2nd place intermediate group Tullamore College , Investigating The Difference In Bacterial Contamination When Handling and Using a Device to Insert Contact Lenses Biological and Ecological Intermediate Group Lucy Leonard Michele Mann

3rd place intermediate Group Avondale Community College, Biodegradable plastic pots to minimise the effects of transplant shock. Biological and Ecological Intermediate Group Ayyub Azmat Niall Gaffeny Christopher Makin.

1st place intermediate individual Ardscoil Ris ‘To Bee or not to Bee’: Investigating solutions to falling bee populations using a multifaceted problem solving approach. Biological and Ecological Intermediate Individual David Hamilton

2nd place intermediate individual Colaiste Choilm, Investigating the use of natural plants oils and extracts as an antiproliferative cancer agents. Biological and Ecological Intermediate Individual Aivan Jose

3rd place intermediate individual Bandon Grammar School, A comparison of foot biomechanics in sport playing and non-sport playing teens Biological and Ecological Intermediate Individual Alex O’ Connor

1st place Senior group Midleton College , Foal sickness containment and prevention Biological and Ecological Senior Group Cathal Mariga George Hennessy

2nd place Senior group Loreto Secondary School – Balbriggan, To investigate whether contrast sensitivity can be improved from regular exposure to action video games and the impact on everyday tasks on a teenager with myopia Biological and Ecological Senior Group Chloe Tap Dagmara Dobkowska

3rd place Senior group St Joseph’s Secondary School, Stimulating plant growth using electricity Biological and Ecological Senior Group Niamh McHugh Vitalija Janusonyte

1st place Senior individual Our Ladys College – Drogheda, The Antimicrobial Potential of Tree Bark Extracts Biological and Ecological Senior Individual Niamh Ann Kelly

2nd place Senior individual Coláiste Choilm, An Investigation into the Application of Symsagittera roscoffensis & it’s symbiont Tetraselmis convolutae in Neurobiology and Biotechnology. Biological and Ecological Senior Individual Con Moran

3rd place Senior individual Scoil Mhuire Strokestown , An investigation into the quality of effluent discharging domestic waste water treatment systems (septic tanks) and an apparatus to improve this. Biological and Ecological Senior Individual Abbie Moloney

1st place Junior group Synge Street CBS, Generalisations of Feynman’s Triangle Theorem Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences Junior Group Carl Jones Keiron O’Neill

2nd place Junior group Synge Street CBS, New Conjectures Concerning the Partition Function Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences Junior Group Talha Moktar Abdulrhman Abouryana

3rd place Junior group Sutton Park School, The design and testing of a safe drinking water system for developing countries Chemical, Physical & Mathematical Sciences Junior Group Xiangyu Carbon Mallol Méabh Scahill

A huge glacier crack in the Antarctic ice shelf widens dramatically

 

A HUGE CHUNK OF ANTARCTIC ICE IS HANGING ON BY A VIRTUAL THREAD. AT THE EDGE OF THE WEST ANTARCTIC ICE SHEET, A GLACIER IS CRACKING FROM THE INSIDE OUT AT AN ALARMING SPEED. THAT’S SCARY BECAUSE THIS GLACIER, AND OTHERS LIKE IT, KEEP THE ICE FROM FLOWING INTO THE SEA, WHERE IT WOULD RAISE SEA LEVELS BY SEVERAL FEET.

The ice shelf in danger is known as Larsen C. British researchers who are monitoring the crack in this ice shelf believe that only about 12 miles now connect the chunk of ice to the rest of the continent. You can see more images of this ice crack here.

“After a few months of steady, incremental advance since the last event, the rift grew suddenly by a further 18 km [11 miles] during the second half of December 2016,” wrote Adrian Luckman in a statement from the MIDAS Project, which is monitoring changes in the area.

Luckman, a professor at Swansea University in Wales, and head of the MIDAS Project, is referring to a crack that has been growing for years and is now a total of roughly 70 miles long. When that fissure finally reaches the far side of the shelf, British scientists believe that an iceberg the size of Delaware will float off. The ice shelf itself is almost the size of Scotland, and the fourth largest of its kind in Antarctic. The piece that it is getting ready to break off is nearly 2,000 square miles in size.

It’s true that icebergs break off from ice sheets in the Antarctic on a fairly regular basis, but this one is especially significant because of its size, and because it shows that the ice retreat is happening farther inland than scientists had previously observed.

What Could Happen After This Break?

What will happen next? Scientists are uncertain. But the consequences of the break could be dramatic.

“When it calves, the Larsen C Ice Shelf will lose more than 10 percent of its area to leave the ice front at its most retreated position ever recorded; this event will fundamentally change the landscape of the Antarctic Peninsula,” said the MIDAS researchers in a statement about the rift.

The First Time In Over 12,000 Years and this could be part of a broader pattern for ice shelves.

It’s the latest sign of major ice loss in the fast warming Antarctic Peninsula, which has already seen the breakup of two other shelves in the same region, events that have been widely attributed to climate change. Larsen A collapsed in 1995, and much of Larsen B collapsed dramatically in 2002. Scientists have revealed that this is probably not something that has happened in the past 12,000 years or possibly, even more alarmingly, in more than 100,000 years.

So, Antarctica has lost ice shelves before, but none so huge as this one.

The iceberg resulting from this crack will not in itself raise sea levels, but if this ice shelf breaks up even more, that would have an impact on sea levels. Experts believe that if all the ice that the Larsen C shelf currently holds back entered the sea, global waters would rise by around four inches.

Antarctica is geographically a long way from most of us, but what happens there could be an indication of what’s happening with our planet Earth.

Is Climate Change To Blame?

The Project MIDAS group has not made any statement attributing the development at Larsen C to climate change, but has stated that the shelf would be “at its most retreated position ever recorded,” which suggests the possibility of climate change being the cause for this crack.

Previous research has also noted that the Larsen C ice shelf is becoming less thick, making it float lower in the water, which appears linked to the warming of the Antarctic Peninsula in recent decades.

Meanwhile, scientists wait for the anticipated break. Luckman told the BBC that “If it doesn’t go in the next few months, I’ll be amazed.”

But there are few certainties right now apart from an imminent change to the outline of Antarctica’s icy coast. “The eventual consequences might be the ice shelf collapsing in years to decades,” said Luckman.        

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Paris attacks fugitive’s print found in‘bomb-making hideout’ in Brussels

     

People stand next to a banner reading Je suis Paris.

A BRUSSELS APARTMENT WAS PROBABLY USED TO MAKE BOMBS FOR THE PARIS ATTACKS AND ONE OF THE PLOTTERS ALSO HID OUT THERE AFTER ESCAPING A POLICE DRAGNET, BELGIAN PROSECUTORS HAVE SAID.

The prosecutors said they found Salah Abdeslam’s fingerprint in a search of the apartment on December 10, but would not say why they waited a month to announce it.

The search also turned up three suspected suicide belts, traces of the same explosive used in the November 13 attacks that killed 130 people and other material that could be used to manufacture bombs, according to the Belgian Federal Prosecutor’s Office.

The third-floor apartment was probably used as a hideout after Abdeslam fled the attacks, federal prosecutor Eric Van der Sypt said.

Abdeslam, who is still at large, called for two friends to pick him up amid the bloodshed and chaos that night that left 130 people dead and hundreds injured.

“We found material to make explosives, we found traces of explosives and we found three belts. So you don’t have to be Sherlock Holmes to make the right deduction,” Mr Van der Sypt told the Associated Press.

Abdeslam is believed to have played a key logistical role in the Paris attacks. A French gendarme stopped him and his two friends in their car near the border but released them. The friends are among 10 people arrested in Belgium in connection with the attacks.

Authorities now believe Abdeslam returned to the apartment, was eventually picked up by someone else “and we lost trace”, Mr Van der Sypt said.

The apartment in the Schaerbeek neighbourhood of Brussels had been rented under a false identity that may have been used by one of those who are now under arrest.

The three handmade belts discovered in the search at Rue Berge in Schaerbeek “could have been intended for the transport of explosives”, the prosecutor’s office said. Traces of the highly volatile TATP, which was packed into the suicide vests in November, as well as other material that could be used to manufacture explosives were also detected.

The November 13 attacks marked the height of a violent year for France that began with a January 7 assault on the offices of the Charlie Hebdo newspaper.

Paris was again jolted on Thursday when a man wearing a fake explosives vest and wielding a butcher’s knife ran up to a police station and was shot dead by officers standing guard.

Paris prosecutor Francois Molins said investigators are unsure of the man’s true identity.

Mr Molins told France-Inter radio that the assailant carried a paper marked with the Muslim declaration of faith, an emblem of the Islamic State group and his name, and gave his nationality as Tunisian. Mr Molins said he also had a phone with a German SIM card.

Stopped for a minor theft in 2013 in France’s south, the man had identified himself as Ali Sallah and gave his nationality as Moroccan.

IS extremists have claimed responsibility for the January 2015 and November 13 attacks in Paris.

A free vote on abortion for Fine Gael ministers, A promise by Kenny

STANCE CONTRADICTS DIRECTOR OF ELECTIONS WHO SAID MINISTERS SHOULD RESIGN IF DISAGREEING ON POLICY

  

TAOISEACH ENDA KENNY SAID FINE GAEL MINISTERS WOULD BE ALLOWED TO VOTE WITH THEIR CONSCIENCE ON THE EIGHTH AMENDMENT, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER THE PARTY WAS IN GOVERNMENT AFTER THE ELECTION.

Government ministers will be allowed to vote for or against a repeal of the eighth amendment to the Constitution without fear of repercussion, Taoiseach Enda Kenny has indicated.

Mr Kenny said members of Fine Gael would be allowed to vote with their conscience on the issue regardless of whether they were in government or not. “If it comes to a point where there is an issue to be decided by vote I’ve already said that the members of my party would have a free vote and that applies whether they are in government or not in government as ministers,” he said.

The Taoiseach’s statement contradicts the party’s director of elections, Brian Hayes, who insisted ministers should resign if they disagreed with future government policy on abortion.

Speaking in Germany, while on a trade mission, Mr Kenny said this was a sensitive and personal decision for everybody and it required a rational and comprehensive discussion. He said he had committed to allowing a free vote to Fine Gael TDs and he wanted to see a citizen-led forum examine the issue.

• Ministers opposing abortion policy should resign – Hayes
• Abortion legislation should be repealed, says professor
• Diarmuid Martin welcomes FG free vote on abortion amendment

Asked if ministers would be allowed to campaign in favour of or against a possible referendum, the Taoiseach said: “If you get to a point, and I can’t predict the outcome of any of the conclusions of the process, if we get to the point where there is a vote they will be voting in respect of what their conscience tells them.”

A Government spokesman later said it was premature to discuss campaigning when the process had not been determined.

Mr Kenny has committed to a constitutional review of the eighth amendment, which bans abortion, within six months of the general election if Fine Gael is returned to government. The Taoiseach has said a citizens’ forum to debate changes to the eighth amendment, which gives an equal right to life to the mother and the unborn, would be established to examine the issue. The Taoiseach had committed to a free Dáil vote for his TDs on whatever the outcome of the forum is.

However Fine Gael’s director of elections had said the next government would adopt whatever position was recommended by the forum and cabinet and junior ministers who went against that policy should be fired.

Mr Hayes said: “Now whether it should apply to members of the government is another matter. That is not the same as backbenchers. I have always held the view that if the government, per se, including all ministers of State, are arguing for something in terms of a legislative proposal, then it is incumbent on you as a member of the government to support or leave the government. This would be post the people’s convention that the Taoiseach is proposing.”

Fine Gael said the forum would be “a process of consideration by citizens, expert groups and politicians” of the issue but added that its proposed structure had not been finalised.

Labour and Sinn Féin have committed to a repeal of the amendment, whileFianna Fáil will allow a vote of conscience on the issue.

IFA whistle-blower claims he was blocked from entering election race

DEREK DEANE SAYS POTENTIAL BACKERS WERE PREVAILED UPON TO WITHHOLD THEIR SUPPORT

   

The IFA’s Carlow chairman, Derek Deane, failed to get the required backing of at least six county executives ahead of Wednesday’s deadline for nominations, ruling him out of the race.

The Irish Farmers’ Association officer who exposed the pay issues which led to the resignation of its president and general secretary claims he has been “deliberately” blocked from contesting its presidential election.

The IFA’s Carlow chairman, Derek Deane, failed to get the required backing of at least six county executives ahead of Wednesday’s deadline for nominations, ruling him out of the race.

However, Mr Deane claimed potential backers were prevailed upon to withhold their support for him.

“A lot of the nominations were deliberately held up so I wouldn’t get to run on the day. They were deliberately held and distributed at the very end,” he told RTE Radio’s News at One programme.

Mr Deane also claimed the IFA’s deputy president Tim O’Leary, who also failed to get the required number of nominations, had blocked him.

“The critical question then for Tim O’Leary is this: did he deliberately shaft me by just sitting on the fence and not informing people he had withdrawn from the race,” he said.

Mr O’Leary, however, later told The Irish Times he never withdrew from the race and was canvasssing for support “right up until the deadline”.

He also said he had asked Mr Deane on Wednesday afternoon to step aside and support his campaign. “There was logic to this because two years ago he had nominated me for deputy president,” Mr O’Leary said.

Mr Deane has appealed to the IFA to be allowed to enter the race on foot of receiving the verbal backing of Monaghan chairman Brian Treanor late on Wednesday evening.

“Brian Treanor had stated on one of my voicemails that he was prepared to support me in the interests of democracy if Tim O’Leary was out of the race.”

Mr Deane claimed an email from Mr Treanor advising the IFA of his support for the Carlow chairman failed to get through because of a technology failure.

As a result, he is seeking a special meeting of the organisation’s executive council to consider the matter. “I am asking on the basis of democracy to be allowed to run,” he said.

The IFA again declined to comment on Mr Deane’s last-ditch efforts to contest the election but is understood to be adamant only three candidates secured the required nominations.

They were: Henry Burns from Laois, who is currently the IFA’s livestock chairman; Flor McCarthy from Kerry, the organisation’s rural development chief; and Joe Healy from Galway, an IFA farm business representative.

Asked if he had made a decision on possible legal action if he fails in his bid to be allowed to contest the election, Mr Deane said: “Absolutely not”.

The association’s returning officer Jer Bergin, meanwhile, announced nominations are now being sought for the positions of IFA deputy president and its four regional chairpersons.

He said the nominations were subject to the executive council adopting a rule change in February to allow the elections, scheduled for April, to go ahead.

‘Binge drinking left me in a coma’, says Nevada student who wants to warn others

   

A STUDENT FROM RENO, NEVADA, WANTS TO WARN OTHER PEOPLE ABOUT BINGE DRINKING AFTER SHE FELL INTO A COMA FOLLOWING A HEAVY NIGHT OUT.

One student, Hanna Lottritz, didn’t celebrate her 21st birthday this week with copious amounts of booze. She’s avoided bars and parties since she ended up in a critical condition in hospital, with respiratory failure and in a 24 hour coma.

“I didn’t realize the importance of drinking responsibly until I was waking up from a coma,” she wrote on her blog. Now she’s sharing the shocking photo in hospital and the story of how she ended up there.

On July 25 last year Hanna went to a gig with friends.

“I woke up, had breakfast and started what would end up being the worst 48 hours of my life,” she wrote. “At the concert I had two beers. Many of the people I was with had been drinking throughout the day and were already feeling good. I hadn’t started drinking until a little after dinner and I felt a little behind.”

After the concert she was began to feel “a bit of a buzz” and ended up at a campsite and began to play competitive drinking games with friends.

“Around 11:30pm, one of my guy friends and I were seeing who could take the longest chug from a bottle of Black Velvet whisky … Everything that happened from midnight on is information I gathered from friends because I have zero memory,” she wrote.

After she chugged from the bottle she downed her own cup full of the whisky. She told her friends she felt fine but five minutes later Hanna collapsed and wasn’t breathing. She was taken to a hospital in a critical condition, suffering from acute respiratory failure and acute alcohol intoxication. Her blood alcohol level was five times over the legal limit.

“Doctors thought I was brain dead because I was completely unresponsive. My pupils were sluggishly reactive, I had no corneal reflux and wasn’t responding to verbal or painful stimuli,” she wrote.

Hanna woke up 24 hours later with a tube down her throat and her hands restrained so she couldn’t pull it out. She had to pass a respiratory test to prove she could breathe on her own before they removed it, the first of which she failed.

“The doctors and nurses told me how lucky I was to be alive. They told me that they didn’t think I’d make it through the night. They asked me if I was trying to kill myself by drinking so much. This question hit me the hardest.

“From my hospital bed in the Intensive Care Unit, my eyes were opened to the seriousness of being irresponsible with alcohol. The next day when I was discharged from the hospital, I realised that the way I looked at alcohol would be changed forever.”

Hanna said that rumours were flying around about what happened to her, including that she’d overdosed on drugs, even died.

“The situation could have been so much worse. Fortunately for me, I had good people around when all of this took place,” she wrote. “I could have easily been taken advantage of when I passed out. I could’ve been left alone to ‘sleep it off’. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard the phrase, ‘Let them sleep it off, they’ll be fine in the morning’ but I’m alive today because my friends got me help. Don’t take a chance if you see a friend passed out from drinking too much.

“I’m very lucky to have made a full recovery, but I know there are others who won’t be as lucky. So please drink responsibly and make sure your friends do too.”

Balbriggan pair named Young Scientists of the Year

MARIA LOUISE FUFEZAN AND DIANA BURA CLAIM FIRST PLACE FOR RESEARCH INTO SOIL FERTILITY

   

MARIA LOUISE FUFEZAN AND DIANA BURA OF LORETO SECONDARY SCHOOL HAVE WON THE TOP PRIZE AT THE BT YOUNG SCIENTIST AND TECHNOLOGY EXHIBITION FOR THEIR PROJECT LOOKING AT THE DAMAGE BEING DONE TO SOIL FERTILITY BY ANIMAL FEEDS.

Two students from Balbriggan have captured the top prize in the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition at the RDS.

Maria Louise Fufezan and Diana Bura of Loreto Secondary School have been declared the BT Young Scientists 2016 for their project looking at the damage being done to soil fertility by animal feeds.

The best individual award went to Shane Curran of Terenure College for his development of a computer programme that controls a courier service.

The runner-up group prize went to Gabriel Barat and Adrian Wolniak of Synge Street CBS, Dublin, for their computer model that tracks a coffee plant disease.

Renuka Chintapalli also of Loreto Secondary School in Balbriggan claimed the runner-up individual prize for her discovery of a possible early warning of when an oesophageal cancer is about to spread.

This may be the first time that all four top prizes at the young scientist went to students attending schools in greater Dublin. It is also a rare thing for a single school to claim two of the top four prizes.

Maria Louise (16) and Diana (15) are transition-year students and both were entering the exhibition for the first time.

Diana’s Grandmother’s farm

The idea for the project arose when Diana visited her grandmother’s farm and noticed the chickens there were much smaller than commercial birds so the two girls decided to find out why.

They discovered the cause was a food additive included in commercial feed that enhances animal growth, but they also learned that the enzyme included as a growth additive had the capacity to damage tiny worms or nematodes that live in and help fertilise soils.

They embarked on a highly detailed and thorough examination of the impact of the food additive on the nematodes. They found the enzyme had a range of effects including taking away its escape response to noxious substances and reducing the worm’s ability to search for and find food.

These nematodes are tiny, with more than five million found in a cubic metre of soil, the girls explain. This makes them an important contributor to soil fertility and they suggest that feed producers should stop using the enzyme to avoid the risk of long-term damage to soils.