Donie's Ireland news BLOG Sunday

Children’s referendum Yes vote passed by 55.4% to 42.6% amid a low turnout of 33.5%

     

Taoiseach Enda Kenny has welcomed the passing of the children’s referendum by 57.4 per cent to 42.6 per cent.

“The passing of this amendment will help make childhood a good, secure and loving space for all our children,” Mr Kenny said in a statement. “It will also give hope, reassurance and confidence to parents, foster parents and vulnerable children.”

The proposed constitutional amendment looks at a number of areas of children’s rights including adoption, protection, State intervention in neglect cases and giving children a say in their own protection proceedings.

More than 3.1 million people were eligible to vote, but the low-key campaign failed to capture the public imagination. The turnout was just 33.5 per cent.

Despite the low turnout, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said it was a “historic day” for children’s rights in Ireland.

Asked about the Supreme Court decision last Thursday that found the Government’s information booklet and website “not fair, equal or impartial” or whether Attorney General Máire Whelan had advised against using some of the material, Ms Fitzgerald said it had been the Government’s intention “at all times” to comply with the McKenna judgment.

“All of the normal processes were followed by my own Department and by the Office of the Attorney General in relation to that.”

She said the issue of Saturday voting “needed to be examined.”

Minister for Justice Alan Shatter said the Supreme Court decision would be addressed when the detailed judgment is delivered on December 11th.

“I think there’s been a lot of issues discussed in the lead up to the referendum and I’ve no doubt there’s going to be a lot of discussion later on. But the central and most important thing that we have achieved is a sea change in our constitution in the manner in which we treat children, recognise that they have rights and the obligation given to our courts and social services to truly listen to the voice of the child,” he said.

Leo Varadkar, Fine Gael’s director of elections for the referendum, said he would have liked if the turnout had been higher.

“We did expect the margin to be a little bit wider but we’ve had plenty of low turnouts before in referenda and we’ve had a lot of referenda that were a lot tighter and in the fullness of time people forget those details,” he said.

“What history will record is that the Irish people voted today to enshrine children’s rights in our constitution and that makes it a historic day and a day for celebration.”

Sinn Féin Children’s spokesman Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said the vote was a clear endorsement of the amendment to strengthen the rights of children but said the Government now needed to “match words with actions”

Fianna Fáil Spokesperson on Children Robert Troy welcomed the result but said questions remained over the Government’s handling of the campaign.

Three of the 43 constituencies in the State voted No: Donegal North East, Donegal South West and Dublin North West.

Total votes:  1,066, 239

Invalid:  4,645

Valid:  1,061,594

Yes votes:  615,731 (57.4%)

No votes:  445,863 (42.6%)

Turnout:  33.5%

Why Does Scotland Have So Many Redheads?

 

Having red hair is a rather rare quality among humans – no more than 2 percent of the global population are carrot-topped. However, in Scotland, redheads are numerous – and local scientists would like to find out why.

The Scotish DNA project has launched a program to count all the country’s redheads – and to learn why the ‘red head’ gene is so prevalent among native Scots

BBC reported that researchers estimate about that 650,000 people in Scotland are ginger-haired – about one-in-eight of the total population. But researchers at Scotlands DNA think that as many as 1.6-million Scots may carry the ‘red hair gene’ (many of whom are not red-haired themselves).

The BBC noted that red hair is the result of two versions of a recessive gene on chromosome-16 which produces a mutation in the MC1R protein and which can often skip generations.

People with red hair also tend to have very pale skin, often with freckles, and exhibit great sensitivity to sunlight.

“It’s not necessarily the people who have red hair that interest us at ScotlandsDNA, what we want to do is discover who carries the red hair gene variant,” the managing director of ScotlandsDNA, Alastair Moffat, told BBC Scotland.

“I think that’s a much larger number. For example, in my own family, I have three kids and two of them have red hair – and while I haven’t got much hair, it’s certainly not red, and neither has my wife.”

Moffat added: “In either side of our families, there was no red hair – and I thought, where has this come from? That was what got me interested. We’re looking at people who have already had their DNA tested by Scotland’s DNA, which is simple for us to do. But they have to be tested first, and then we can tell them if they’re carriers of the red-head variant.”

Moffat believes Scotland’s gloomy, rainy weather may be partially responsible for the proliferation of redheads.

“I think it’s to do with sunshine — we all need vitamin D from sunshine, but Scotland is cloudy, we have an Atlantic climate and we need light skin to get as much vitamin D from the Sun as possible,” he explained.

Red hair is also relatively common in England, Ireland and northwestern Europe.

“In Ireland about 10 per cent have red hair, but it appears that a staggering 46 per cent are carriers of the red head variants,” Moffat told the Daily Telegraph,

“For England, the estimate is 6 per cent, but this is highly provisional and there are no current figures available for the number of carriers.”

Interestingly, red hair is less prevalent in Scandinavia than in the British Isles – likely owing to the fact that Norwegians and Swedes enjoy more daily sunshine than Britons and the Irish.

Winston Churchill, Napoleon Bonaparte, Maureen O’Hara and Thomas Jefferson are among the most famous redheads in history.

Irish actor Gabriel Byrne slams the Gathering’

  

The Irish actor Gabriel Byrne has dismissed the Gathering 2013 initiative as “a scam”.

Byrne, who previously served as the cultural ambassador for Ireland in the US, said many who left Ireland for the US felt abandoned by the Government – and that the bridge between Ireland and its diaspora was broken.

He also said Irish Americans were not receptive to being “shaken down” for money.

Speaking on The Last Word on Today FM today, which was broadcast from New York, Byrne said the Taoiseach’s speech launching the Gathering was “slightly offensive”.

“Most people don’t give a shit about the diaspora [in Ireland] except to shake them down for a few quid.

“The other day I was talking to a group of people. One of them was an illegal immigrant. His father died, he couldn’t get home. He feels abandoned by the Irish Government. He feels an alien. He can’t go back.

“Then I talked to two kids, a girl and a boy who were forced to emigrate because there are no jobs. And they blame the incompetence and the gangsterism of the Government for being forced to emigrate.”

Later in the week, we published a story (above) revealing that the Gathering had part-funded the visit to New York by Today FM’s Last Word programme, on which Byrne made his comments

The Gathering in a nutshell

The Gathering is a Government-backed, year-long festival in which members of the Irish diaspora and anyone with an interest in Ireland are encouraged to visit the country during 2013.

Instead of holding new events the Gathering will sponsor hundreds of pre-existing festivals and events throughout the year. From an initial core budget of €5 million the Government hopes to attract an extra 325,000 visitors and generate €200 million in tourism revenue.

Organisers have also pushed the idea of small scale gatherings which, according to the official website, “can be as little as you inviting back an old school friend to visit Ireland in 2013, or your local GAA club asking Toronto GAA to come over for a match.”

Mental health distress rampant in Ireland, says Minister Reilly

   

Mental health distress is rampant in Ireland, Minister for Health James Reilly said yesterday, when speaking for the first time about the suicide of a medical colleague in north Dublin.

Dr Reilly told an Oireachtas committee he had attended two funerals in the past fortnight – of a GP and a pharmacist who had taken their own lives.

“I’m aware of others. And I’ve also had the sad experience of attending a friend’s funeral four years ago who took his own life and his son who did the same thing only a few months ago,” he told fellow TDs.

Dr Reilly told the health committee that mental health required huge attention and resources “but we have to make sure that the resources give the outcome needed”.

“It is terribly important that people are referred to people who are suitably qualified, because people who are not properly qualified can do terrible damage.”

Dr Reilly was responding to a call by his party colleague, Dan Neville, for counsellors and psychotherapists to be included within the scope of the Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill.

Mr Neville said there was extreme concern about the activities of under-qualified counsellors advising people with mental health problems. Some people were calling themselves counsellors after doing a weekend course, whereas others had studied to master’s level for four years.

The Minister has declined to include counsellors in the Bill as the educational standards governing courses are still being drawn up. However, he said the legislation allowed him to add the profession to the list of those subject to new rules by way of regulation at a later date.

Mr Neville claimed this could take up to 30 years to happen. “How many people will die by suicide in this time? How many people will have serious health problems because of wrong advice given by these people?” he asked.

Fianna Fáil health spokesman Billy Kelleher claimed “so-called, self-appointed counsellors are preying on communities”.

Dr Reilly said there were legal impediments to accepting the amendment proposed by Mr Neville, but he hoped to have the matter “done and dusted” by 2014. The Minister said he would talk to the Minister for Justice on the matter.

How many people die by suicide? 

  

1. Around one million people complete suicide each year worldwide. This figure is higher than the combined numbers of people who die by homicide and war. It is also higher than the number of people who die in road traffic accidents in most European countries.
2. Suicide rates in Ireland doubled between 1987 and 1998 and appear to have levelled off since that time. Between 2000 and 2002 it was estimated about 500 people per year completed suicide. This figure is average when compared with other European Union (EU) countries.
3. There were 486 deaths by suicide registered in 2010 (386 were male, 100 were female). Men between 35-44 were the most vulverable to suicide, with 109 men in this age group taking their own lives.
4. Suicide is a leading cause of death among young people. The rate of youth suicide in Ireland is the fifth highest in the EU at 15.7 per 100,000 for 15-24 year olds.
5. In Ireland, rates for completed suicide are notably high among young men aged 16–34 years, who accounted for almost 40% of deaths by suicide in 2003.
6. A study of young Irish men aged 18-34 years revealed that 78% knew someone who had died by suicide, 42% knew more than one person, and 17% had a close friend who completed suicide.
7. For each person who dies by suicide it has been estimated that at least 6 other people are affected.

What makes people more likely to attempt suicide?

1. A history of attempted suicide is said to be the strongest predictor of eventual suicide.
2. People who have engaged in Deliberate Self Harm are said to be 100 times more likely to complete suicide than the general population⁸
3. People who are socially isolated in cities and those living in rural regions, particularly in farming communities, have higher completed suicide rates than in the general population.
4. People diagnosed with a psychiatric illnesses, such as affective disorders, personality disorders and psychosis, are around 7-10 times more likely to complete suicide than the general population.
5. Up to 50% of suicides are associated with the presence of alcohol. Irish records suggest that alcohol use was involved in almost half of male deliberate self-harm episodes, and in 39% of female deliberate self-harm episodes in 2003.
6. Other factors which make people more likely to die by suicide include social instability, limited education, poor employment, low self-esteem and family history of mental illness.
7. In Ireland the increase in suicide rates has been associated with contextual change over the past two decades such as economic boom and downfall, growth in multiculturalism, emigration return, and lessening of church influence.
8. Researchers have proposed that there is a distinct group of people who have 2 or more genuine suicide attempts that are characteristically different from people who attempt suicide once, in that they are more likely to have a diagnosis or co-morbidity of disorders. The PISA intervention was designed for this population.

Why are young people more likely to attempt suicide?

1. Youth suicide has been associated with an increase in the prevalence of depressive disorders and substance abuse, increased life pressures, changes in attitudes towards suicidal behaviour making it a more acceptable response to stress, and an increase in the availability of suicide methods.
2. Youth suicide has also been associated with increased exposure to media violence.
3. Other factors which have been associated with youth suicide include family disruption, poor conflict resolution, unhealthy communication patterns and family break-up.
4. Young Irish people identified relationship problems, concern with sexual orientation, educational stress, abusive experiences, and family disharmony as significant contributory factors in suicidality and DSH

Donie's Ireland news BLOG Friday

Irish campaigners call for new tobacco industry regulator

         

The Irish Government needs to appoint a regulator to limit the profits of the tobacco industry and generate around €150m a year for the Exchequer.

The call was made today by the Irish Heart Foundation and the Irish Cancer Society when they outlined their pre-Budget submissions to the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children.

The regulator would limit the amount of profit tobacco companies can make and any additional surplus made would have to go to the State.

Chris Macey, the Irish Heart Foundation’s head of advocacy, said this system has “worked effectively for other industries”.

He added: “It would mean the tobacco manufacturers had less money to invest in smooth marketing techniques, public relations agencies and other initiatives aimed at undermining the Government’s efforts to reduce the smoking rate.”

He said the tobacco industry is earning higher profits in Ireland than in other European countries, even though the price of packet of cigarettes is cheaper here than in the UK.

He estimated that €150m would cover the wages of 4,167 extra nurses, 4,853 new primary school teachers, 5,480 newGarda recruits, 7,188 new special needs assistants; 165,000 extra hospital bed days, or 100 new MRI scanners.

In Ireland, the Government has been taking about 79pc of the price of a packet of cigarettes in tax and the rest of the price goes to the tobacco industry.

“In the UK, the Government has taken about 90pc of the price of a packet of cigarettes, leaving the tobacco industry with a much smaller profit margin. In monetary terms, the tobacco industry has been earning roughly €1 more per packet of cigarettes in Ireland than it does in the UK.”

John McCormack, chief executive of the Irish Cancer Society said over the last 10 years, major brand cigarettes are now more expensive than in Ireland – more than €9.30 at current exchange rates, compared to €9.20 here.

“In this time the UK smuggling rate has fallen from 21pc to 9pc – less than half the rate here.”

He said:”High smuggling rates must be tackled to cut off the supply of cheap tobacco that is increasing numbers of young smokers. We must give Customs, which has lost hundreds of staff in recent years, and the similarly hard-pressed Garda, the manpower and equipment, along with the tough justice in the courts, required to deal with smuggling.”

Children’s referendum to go ahead despite critical Supreme Court ruling 

         

The children’s referendum will go ahead tomorrow despite the decision by the Supreme Court that the Government’s information booklet and website was “not fair, equal or impartial”.

In a decision that was portrayed by the Opposition and No campaigners as an acute political embarrassment for the Government, the five-judge division of the court ruled it had “acted wrongfully” in spending €1.1 million of public money on a booklet that breached the McKenna judgment, which held public money should not be spent to espouse a particular side in a referendum campaign.

The judgment, which was unexpected, was seen as a significant setback to the Yes campaign, coming only 48 hours ahead of polling. Voting on a number of islands off the west coast had already commenced ahead of the decision.

In its 500-word ruling (it will deliver its full reasoned ruling on December 11th) the Supreme Court said “extensive passages in the booklet and on the website” did not conform to the McKenna principles.

The court also pointed to the Department of Children’s own admission there was an error or “mis-statement” in the booklet and website.

Yesterday, the solicitor for Mark McCrystal, the Dublin engineer who took the challenge, said the ruling was unanimous and criticised the Department of Children for its delay in correcting the error on its website.

Colm MacGeehin said the department was aware of the error on October 31st but did not correct its website until November 7th, on the second day of the Supreme Court hearing.

The department acknowledged the delay yesterday. A spokeswoman also confirmed that the booklet and website had been thoroughly examined for compliance with the McKenna judgment since August by its internal legal advisers and also by the office of Attorney General Máire Whelan.

Call for delay

Five Independent TDs called for the referendum to be deferred after the ruling. One, Shane Ross, said it was too late to correct the imbalance and called for emergency legislation to pass through the Dáil today. “Put it off for three months and have a fair referendum in fair circumstances,” he said.

However, Government sources said that under the Referendum Act 1994, the only way in which the poll could be deferred was if a general election was called.

Polling stations for those entitled to vote in the referendum will be open across the State from 9am to 10pm tomorrow. Counting of ballots will begin at 9am on Sunday.

Minister for Children Frances Fitgerald defended the Government’s decision to run a separate information campaign to that of the Referendum Commission, saying that people in the past had criticised the Government for not supplying enough information.

Fianna Fáil’s spokesman on children Robert Troy said the Government’s “failure to ensure fairness and impartiality” was “frustrating and disappointing” but this should not distract from the “core issues”.

Prominent No campaigner, columnist John Waters, accused the Government of “effectively misappropriating” public funds to produce “propaganda” on the referendum.

The number of new Irish mortgages rises for first time in six years 

    

A majority of the loans were issued to first-time buyers, who are in a scramble to close property deals before the end of the year to benefit from generous tax reliefs.

The number of new mortgages issued has risen for the first time in six years.

Experts said it was the latest sign that the property market was stabilising.

The figures came as the European Central Bank yesterday left interest rates unchanged, although economists now expect a cut in the new year.

More than 400,000 tracker mortgage holders will benefit if the ECB drops rates from the current record low of 0.75pc.

KBC Bank economist Austin Hughes said there was a “decent chance” of a rate cut early in 2013.

A Reuters poll had shown that a majority of European analysts anticipate that the central bank rate will be cut to a new record low of 0.5pc within the next few months. And figures from the Irish Banking Federation show that close to 4,000 new home loans were granted by banks in the July, August and September period.

This is a rise of more than 10pc in mortgages issued in the same three-month period last year, and a rise of 23pc on the numbers issued in the second quarter of this year.

A majority of the loans were issued to first-time buyers, who are in a scramble to close property deals before the end of the year to benefit from generous tax reliefs.

Analysts said that although the numbers were encouraging, the level of mortgage activity was still very low.

In the first nine months of the year almost 10,000 mortgages were issued, with most of these going to new buyers and existing homeowners who are moving to a new property.

Improvement

Economists said the latest mortgage statistics were another sign that the property market was over the worst.

Goodbody Stockbrokers economist Juliet Tennent said: “This improvement in activity echoes the increase in the number of property transactions reported by the new property register and supports the stabilisation in house prices seen recently.

“However, mortgage relief for first-time buyers is likely to be encouraging this segment of the market and it remains to be seen if these positive trends continue after the end of 2012 when the relief is due to expire.”

A stabilisation of the property market would allow banks and households to recover and generate the growth needed to pay off their debts.

Figures last week from the Central Statistics Office showed that house prices rose by 0.9pc in September, the fastest monthly growth recorded in five years. The Professional Insurance Brokers Association (PIBA) said the biggest impediment to people taking out mortgages was a lack of willingness to lend by banks.

Rachel Doyle, of PIBA, said seven out of 10 brokers responded in a survey that banks were not lending.

And she warned of the negative consequences arising from the end of the Government’s bank guarantee.

“It will mean that whatever about now, once the banks are free of the guarantee, they will rush to increase interest rates. That will have a dampening effect on the market.

“While in a normal market interest rates do rise and fall, the likelihood is that the banks will rush to recover profitability regardless of the consequences on consumers — unless severe pressure is applied by Government and the Central Bank.”

Irish households’ disposable income up €480m in 2^nd quarter  

  

The gross disposable income of Irish households grew by €480m or 2.2% to €22.4bn in the second quarter of the year.

This year-on-year figure, published yesterday by the CSO, was driven by an annualised €473m increase in profits earned by self-employed homeowners and a fall of €181m in income payments.

The figures show that household expenditure fell by €206m from the start of April to the end of June, when compared to the same period last year — declining from €18.92bn to just under €18.72bn.

“Taking this decline together with the increase in gross household disposable income, gross household savings increased from €3.65bn in the second quarter of 2011 to €4.34bn in the second quarter of 2012,” the CSO said.

“The derived gross savings ratio — which expresses savings as a percentage of gross disposable income — increased from 16.2% in the second quarter of 2011 to 18.8% in the second quarter of this year.”

While the data painted an improved picture of household affordability — albeit measuring the first half of the year — the latest quarterly EBS/DKM Affordability Index, taking in the third quarter and mainly looking at the mortgage and housing markets, said further challenges lie ahead for disposable income levels.

“It is expected that further austerity measures will impact the disposable income of Irish households, while homeowners are also preparing for the introduction of a property tax,” said the EBS head of mortgages, Owen Purcell.

Seven-year-old Paul playing doctor puts his diabetes in the shade

  

Type 1 diabetes is one of the most common life-threatening disorders in childhood around the world.

An estimated 65,000 children in the Middle East and North Africa region have insulin-dependent type 1 diabetes. Support groups offer help in coping with this challenging condition, discovers Suchitra Bajpai Chaudhary

Seven-year-old Paul* loves playing doctor. On a Friday morning he and his friend Dev are out playing in the garden of his villa in Springs, Dubai. Paul holds a toy stethoscope close to his teddy bear’s chest. A few seconds later, he presses a little strip of paper on Teddy’s paw, and pretends to take a reading. “The numbers don’t look good,’’ he says earnestly. After pretending to calculate some figures, he says: “Looks like Teddy might need an injection.’’ Paul then fishes out a toy syringe and injects Teddy in his stomach. “You’ll be fine now,’’ he says, propping Teddy on a little chair and running off to play on the swings.

A few metres away Myrna*, Paul’s mother, who observes the scene and smiles. Her little boy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes three years ago and is now play-acting something he does at least four times a day – checking his blood-sugar levels and then injecting himself with the right dose of insulin. Paul is not alone. Areej, a six-year-old student from Sharjah, was diagnosed with type 1 at the age of two. His family has no history of the condition, and it was only detected during a routine check-up at the paediatric clinic. He now checks his blood-sugar levels regularly with the help of an adult and is learning to calculate and inject himself with the required dosage of insulin.

“My mother, Safa, ensures I follow a healthy lifestyle,’’ he says, explaining how he’s had to give up his favourite pizzas and burgers to help control his condition.

According to the International Diabetes Federation (IDF) there are an estimated 65,000 children with type 1 diabetes (see box overleaf) in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Super-Earth practically next door could be habitable

       

You may think this planet is overpopulated or you may just be sick of the partisan politics. In either case, HD 40307g is an attractive getaway.

Forty-two light years away, the new super-Earth could have fantastic beachfront properties.

It’s only 42 light years away, it could have liquid water, and it’s more than seven times bigger than our planet (in mass). So once we destroy this one, we’re all set.

This latest super-Earth is called HD 40307g. It may sound like a tax form, but it’s almost guaranteed to be paradise. It’s right in a sweet spot orbit around HD 40307, a smaller star than the sun in the constellation of Pictor, where liquid water is possible. And the IRS can’t reach you.

Three exoplanets were already known to orbit the star from observations up to 2008 but they are likely too close for liquid water. A new study of the data by researchers at the University of Hertfordshire in Britain revealed an additional three planets, with the farthest about as far from the star as Venus is to our sun.

“The longer orbit of the new planet means that its climate and atmosphere may be just right to support life,” study co-author Hugh Jones said in a statement.

“Just as Goldilocks liked her porridge to be neither too hot nor too cold but just right, this planet or indeed any moons that it has lie in an orbit comparable to Earth, increasing the probability of it being habitable.”

The data come from the High Accuracy Radial velocity Planet Searcher (HARPS), which is run by the European Southern Observatory and has discovered dozens of other exoplanets. Further studies are needed to confirm the planet’s status, and telescopes of the future may be able to image it directly.

And of course we’ll need warp drive to get there. Meanwhile, check out this video about your next getaway planet.

Donie's all Ireland news BLOG by Donie

EU commission release an additional €1.7bn in loans to Irish Government under bailout scheme

  

The EU commission have now cleared the release of another €1.7 billion in emergency loans to the Government under the bailout scheme.

The disbursement brings to some €36.7 billion the total amount of European loans released to Ireland since the EU-IMF-ECB programme began in late 2010.

The latest payment includes €1 billion from the funding stream controlled by the European Financial Stability Facility, owned by euro-zone countries, and the European Financial Stability Mechanism, which is operated by the EU Commission.

A further €700 million comes from the bilateral loan scheme through which Britain, Sweden and Denmark are contributing to the bailout.

The latest payments follow the summer review of the Ireland’s bailout performance by the EU-IMF-ECB “troika” which was carried out in July.

That review, which went to finance ministers last weekend, found the programme is on track despite a challenging domestic and external backdrop.

The commission’s report, details of which were published last month by The Irish Times, said downside risks to the programme have increased, mainly due to “growing headwinds” in the economies of Ireland’s main trading partners. It called for “better targeting of the social support schemes” and said there should be a “further broadening of the tax base”.

This would help mitigate the adverse impact of the necessary consolidation on growth and the most vulnerable, it added.

“More needs to be done to alleviate or eliminate work disincentives and unemployment traps caused by some features of Ireland’s benefits system (eg, the broadly flat and open-ended unemployment benefits that do not diminish with the duration of the unemployment spell) and the recent move to de-couple housing support from unemployment status should be further advanced.”

However, the Commission said growth would depend in the near-to-medium term on export demand and performance.

Asylum children in refugee centres in Ireland ‘in extreme poverty’

 

An asylum-seeker pictured in the Globe House reception centre in Sligo.

A damning report on the plight of children in the State’s asylum process suggests many families are living in circumstances of extreme poverty in overcrowded accommodation with inadequate food.

The report, published today by the Irish Refugee Council (IRC), paints a grim picture of the State’s system for accommodating asylum seekers, known as direct provision.

It documented frequent instances of malnutrition among children and expectant mothers as well as illnesses related to diet among babies and young children.

The study, which reviewed the provision of direct accommodation in Ireland over the past decade, highlighted cases of weight loss among children and hunger among adults because of strict family rationing.

In one case, a reception centre in Co Mayo stipulated that once a child reached six months, no more baby or toddler foods would be provided and the children would only be supplied with food “consistent with the rest of the residents”.

The report found that, in many instances, asylum-seekers and their families were subject to severe levels of overcrowding, with many families confined to single rooms for long periods. In one case, a family of five was confined to single room, with three children made to sleep in one bed, despite repeated complaints.

Irish scientists invent technology (nano-science) to keep the fizz in our beer

  

Irish scientists invent technology to keep the fizz in beer

Multinational brewing company SABMiller is to invest in a project at Trinity College Dublin’s CRANN that will see nanoscience used to develop a new material to prolong the shelf life of beer in plastic bottles.

The project, led by Prof Jonathan Coleman and his team at CRANN, have used nanoscience to create a new material that when added to plastic bottles makes them extremely impervious.

As a result, oxygen cannot enter and neither can carbon dioxide escape – as a result preserving the taste and fizz.

The team will exfoliate nano-sheets of boron nitride, each with a thickness of about 50,000 times thinner than one human hair. These nano-sheets will be mixed with plastic, which will result in a material that is extremely impervious to gas molecules. The molecules will be unable to diffuse through the material and shelf life will be increased.

As well as increasing the shelf life of the beer itself, less material is required in production, reducing cost and environmental impact.

The technique has been published in the journal Science.

IRELAND IS SIXTH IN THE WORLD FOR NANO-SCIENCE

“This partnership with SABMiller highlights the applicability of nanoscience and its relevance to everyday products,” Dr Diarmuid O’Brien, executive director, CRANN, explained.

“Improving every consumables, from our lighting, our cars, our electronic devices, medicines, clothing, and food and drink, is being researched by nanoscientists worldwide. Ireland is amongst the world leaders in this area, ranked sixth globally for materials science.

“Because of the work like that of Prof Coleman and his peers, last year CRANN received over €5m in non-Exchequer funding to progress research projects. Companies worldwide, like SABMiller, are taking notice. We are delighted to partner on this exciting project and look forward to its results,” O’Brien said.

Ireland’s children’s referendum now set for November 10th 2012

  

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton on their way to a Jobs announcement for Electronic Arts in Galway today.

Mr Kenny told the Dail this afternoon the wording of the Children?s Referendum would be published tomorrow.

The children’s referendum will be held on Saturday, November 10th, the Taoiseach told the Dáil today.

Enda Kenny told the House he would announce the wording of the referendum tomorrow and also name the Referendum Commission chair.

He said he would brief Opposition leaders tomorrow in advance of the wording being published.

Mr Kenny said Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald would also publish the Adoption Amendment Bill tomorrow

The Taoiseach said the Government was “committed to ensuring the Irish people have all the information they need to make an informed decision”.

He said the Referendum Commission would be well-resourced. “The protection of children is an issue that concerns us all,” he said. “Numerous reports over many years have called for dedicated constitutional provisions for children.”

Mr Kenny said the referendum proposals, when combined with other reforms to improve child protection and welfare services, represented an historic step forward. He pointed out that there had been good co-operation on a cross-party basis about the issue over many years.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said the Taoiseach should have consulted the Opposition before making the announcement. It would have been “common courtesy”, Mr Martin said, particularly on an issue pertaining to the amendment of the Constitution and it was “proper parliamentary procedure”.

Meanwhile, Ms Fitzgerald said the referendum would be one of the most significant in the history of the State.

“I am very pleased by the decision of Government to hold this historic referendum on a Saturday,” she said in a statement..

“This referendum proposes a child-centred change to our Constitution and I think it is only right that we are taking a similar, child-centred approach to the holding of a Referendum, by naming a Saturday as polling date.”

‘Clear & robust’ wording is needed on Ireland’s children’s rights amendment

   

Children’s Minister Frances Fitzgerald.

The proposed children’s rights amendment to the Constitution will be “a strong robust article designed to enhance the constitutional protection of children from abusive situations”, Government sources said last night.

The wording agreed at Cabinet yesterday – and to be announced today – would, if approved by the electorate, “provide a clear instruction to judges from the Constitution to place a much greater focus on children”.

This would particularly include “the interests of children in cases that affect the critical elements of their lives”.

The referendum will take place on Saturday, November 10th, when, as usual, much of the balloting throughout the State will take place on school premises.

“It means children don’t have to be taken out of school,” a Government source said.

The wording is to be based on the “core principles” of the text published by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on the Constitutional Amendment on Children in February 2010. In particular, it is expected to contain five elements in a single article. The first would recognise the natural and imprescriptible rights of children.

The second would be similar to the current article 42.5, which the amendment proposes to delete, relating to the State supplying the role of the family in exceptional cases. It is expected to contain a form of words making clear this intervention can take place irrespective of parents’ marital status.

The third element is likely to provide for the adoption of children whose parents, again irrespective of marital status, have failed for a period of time prescribed by law in their responsibility. It will also allow for voluntary placement for adoption, meaning married parents can consent for the first time to having their children placed for adoption.

The fourth part is expected to say the best interests of the child must be a “paramount” consideration in judicial and custody proceedings. The fifth element is expected to say that in such proceedings the views of children must be heard and taken into account, having regard to the child’s age and maturity.

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald will brief Opposition leaders on the wording in meetings this morning, with a view to achieving all-party consensus.

Fianna Fáil spokesman on children Robert Troy said: “We are still waiting to see the exact wording of the changes proposed for the Constitution, but I welcome the fact that there are indications that the wording will be along the lines of that agreed by the all-party committee during the last Dáil.”

Sinn Féin’s Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin said his party was “disappointed we did not have prior sight and a longer opportunity to evaluate the Government’s proposed wording”. However, Government sources said changes could be proposed in the Oireachtas debate on the legislation.

A Good night’s sleep is important & can help you to lose weight

  

Getting a good night’s sleep is just as important as diet and exercise when trying to lose weight, Canadian scientists have claimed.

There is a growing body of evidence that a lack of sleep enhances hunger signals in the brain and increases levels of hormones which affect our appetite, causing us to eat more

A variety of studies suggest that getting at least seven hours’ sleep every night can significantly improve the chance of losing weight while on a diet.

There is a growing body of evidence that a lack of sleep enhances hunger signals in the brain and increases levels of hormones which affect our appetite, causing us to eat more.

Writing in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, researchers said sleeping habits ought to be addressed along with diet and physical exercise in programmes designed to help obese people lose weight.

In one recent experiment, they found that people who shifted their sleeping pattern from less than six hours to between seven and eight hours a night put on 2.4kg less weight over a six-year period.

  A shorter 17-week study of 123 overweight and obese people showed that people who slept for longer and had a higher quality of sleep were more likely to become slimmer while on a diet.

In another recent study by a separate team, participants were allowed to sleep for either five and a half or eight and a half hours each night for two weeks, while eating a low-fat diet.

The experiment showed that the lower amount of sleep resulted in stress which caused participants to burn off muscle while storing their body fat.

Compared with those who slept for eight and a half hours each night, the sleep-deprived group lost 55 per cent less body fat and 60 per cent more muscle over the two week period.

The researchers, from the Eastern Ontario Research Institute and Laval University in Quebec, wrote: “An accumulating body of evidence suggests that sleeping habits should not be overlooked when prescribing a weight-reduction program to a patient with obesity.

“Sleep should be included as part of the lifestyle package that traditionally has focused on diet and physical activity.”

Further research should identify the causes which prevent us getting a full night’s rest, such as watching television in the evening, they added.