Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Construction activity in the Irish Republic rose again in October

BUILDING, ORDERS AND EMPLOYMENT ALL ROSE RAPIDLY LAST MONTH of October,

  

TOTAL CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY IN THE REPUBLIC INCREASED FOR THE SECOND SUCCESSIVE MONTH IN OCTOBER.

The construction sector in the Republic recorded a strong start to the final quarter of the year, with activity, new orders and employment all increasing at faster rates in October, according to the latest Ulster Bank Construction Purchasing Managers’

Meanwhile, a similar survey by Ulster Bank in Northern Ireland showed that firms enjoyed a surge in export orders last month on the back of sterling’s continued weakness but their good fortune was mirrored by growing problems for local importers as costs continue to spiral.

In the Republic, the seasonally adjusted index, designed to track changes in total construction activity, increased for the second successive month in October to 62.3, up from 58.7 in September.

This represented a sharp monthly rise in total construction activity, and the fastest in seven months. Construction output has increased continuously since September 2013.

Commenting on the survey results, Simon Barry, chief economist for the Republic of Ireland at Ulster Bank, said: “Importantly, construction firms are continuing to benefit from robust increases in new business levels, with the new orders index rising to its highest level since February following a fifth consecutive monthly acceleration in October.

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“Firms continue to report a strengthening in client demand amid a general improvement in economic conditions as an important contributor to the ongoing uplift in new business volumes. In turn, the healthy expansion of new orders continues to underpin increased demand for construction workers. The employment index rose sharply last month, with the pace of hiring accelerating to its fastest in eight months as almost one-third of firms noted a rise in employment.”

Mr Barry said the mainly domestic-facing construction sector was less directly exposed to adverse Brexit impacts than more heavily trade-dependent areas of the economy.

Northern Ireland figures

In Northern Ireland, Ulster Bank’s PMI survey showed that although businesses are enjoying an export boost following the Brexit vote, the total number of new orders recorded by local firms remained largely unchanged during October.

The PMI survey also highlighted that while business activity demonstrated growth last month in the local economy, the pace of growth was sluggish and weaker compared to nearly every other UK region.

Richard Ramsey, Ulster Bank’s chief economist in Northern Ireland, said the survey reveals the stark differences between domestic and export markets.

“Overall, incoming orders stagnated in October and have failed to grow since June. However, export orders expanded at their second-highest rate since the survey began. This implies that domestic orders have been contracting at a significant rate.

“The converse seems to be the case within the construction sector. Given Belfast’s crane-cluttered skyline, it would appear that business conditions within the local construction market are relatively buoyant.

“However, despite this, and perhaps surprisingly, the PMI points to rapid rates of contraction in construction output orders and employment. This is largely due to subdued demand within a major external market, ie GB.”

Mr Ramsey said sterling’s current weakness was a “mixed blessing” for the North as the manufacturing and retail sectors are forced to bear the brunt of the input-cost inflation.

Donald Trump’s temperament will not serve him well as the next president of USA,

   

DONALD TRUMP IS KNOWN FOR HIS BLUNT SPEAKING

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA HAS WARNED THERE ARE “CERTAIN ELEMENTS” OF DONALD TRUMP’S TEMPERAMENT THAT WILL NOT SERVE HIM WELL “UNLESS HE RECOGNISES THEM AND CORRECTS THEM”.

With just weeks left in office, Mr Obama said the president-elect understands that a candidate being reckless with his words can be less consequential than a president saying the same thing.

Mr Obama noted that markets move and foreign governments take note of a president’s rhetoric and stressed that national security “requires a level of precision” so that deadly mistakes are not made.

He said blunt-spoken Mr Trump “recognises that this is different – and so do the American people”.

In a White House news conference ahead of his final overseas trip as president, Mr Obama made the argument that immigration is good for the American economy.

He acknowledged that many Americans have grown sceptical about the “complex argument” in support of immigration, when they see factories closing at home and jobs going offshore. But he said “immigration is good for our economy” if it is “orderly and lawful”.

Mr Trump campaigned on a promise to limit immigration into the US and bring offshore jobs back home.

But Mr Obama maintained that it is still his “strong belief” that achieving a strong global economy does not mean “shutting people out”.

And he believes Mr Trump will seek to “send some signals of unity” to people alienated by his ferocious campaign.

He said he advised the president-elect “to reach out to minority groups or women or others that were concerned about the tenor of the campaign” and “that’s something that he will want to do”.

But he added that Mr Trump is trying to balance commitments he made to “supporters that helped to get him here”.

On the campaign trail, Mr Trump described Mexicans as rapists and criminals. He vowed to build a wall along the US’s southern border and make Mexico pay for it.

He appeared to mock a reporter with a physical disability and threatened to sue several women who accused him of assaulting them. Mr Trump also disparaged the Muslim American parents of an Army captain killed in Iraq, and battled a former Miss America who is Latino about having gained weight.

Mr Obama stressed the need to give Mr Trump the “rope and space” for a “reset” once he takes over the reins of power.

Earlier it emerged that Mr Trump was considering a woman and an openly gay man to fill major positions in his new leadership team.

It would be seen as history-making moves that would inject diversity into a Trump administration already facing questions about its ties to white nationalists.

The incoming president is considering Richard Grenell as United States ambassador to the United Nations.

If picked and ultimately confirmed by the Senate, he would be the first openly gay person to fill a Cabinet-level foreign policy post.

Mr Grenell previously served as US spokesman at the UN under former President George W Bush’s administration.

At the same time, Mr Trump is weighing up whether to select the first woman to serve as chairman of the Republican National Committee.

On his short list of prospective chairs: Michigan GOP chairwoman Ronna Romney McDaniel, the former sister-in-law of Trump rival and 2012 presidential nominee Mitt Romney.

“I’ll be interested in whatever Mr Trump wants,” Ms McDaniel said, adding that she was planning to seek the Michigan GOP chairmanship again

Internal deliberations about staffing come a day after Mr Trump made overtures to warring Republican circles by appointing RNC Chairman Reince Priebus as his White House chief of staff and Breitbart News executive Stephen Bannon as chief strategist and senior counsellor.

Meanwhile:–

Will Mike Pence the US vice-president elect visit his roots in Ireland?

    

THE VICE-PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE USA MIKE PENCE WILL BE OFFICIALLY INVITED TO THE CO SLIGO TOWN OF TUBBERCURRY WHERE HIS GRANDFATHER HAILS FROM.

And the Chamber of Commerce in Tubbercurry believes Donald Trump’s running mate could himself end up in the top job in as little as four years’ time.

“Local people are delighted,” said chamber spokesman Roger McCarrick.

“We will be writing to him officially to invite him to the home of his ancestors. Regardless of policies he is still an ex-Tubbercurry man as far as we are concerned.

“There has been a sense of pride that a descendant of here could aspire to such high office. He has been Governor of Indiana since 2013 and it’s possible he could run for President in four or eight years’ time and he could be on the biggest political stage of all for the next 16 years.”

Governor Pence’s grandfather was Richard Michael Cawley, who emigrated in 1923 to Chicago where he became a bus driver.

He is said to have hailed from the Doocastle area outside Tubbercurry.

Pence has spoken in the past on how his views on immigration were shaped by his grandfather’s entry from Ireland through Ellis Island in 1923.

Now, further details of Mr Cawley’s Sligo roots have emerged thanks to research carried out by New York native, Robert Theiss from Arlington, Virginia, a postgraduate in history who has a strong interest in genealogy.

Theiss said: “Passenger arrival records show Richard Cawley, aged 20, a miner, arriving in New York on April 11, 1923, on a ship called the Andania, which had set sail from Liverpool.

“The passenger arrival record shows Richard Cawley’s place of birth as Doocastle. The passenger arrival record shows his last place of residence as having been Ashton-in-Makerfield, Lancs., England.”

Pence’s Irish granddad died on Christmas Eve 1980. He was 77. Pence was 21 at the time.

Richard Cawley’s wife, was Mary Elizabeth Maloney. She was born on March 22, 1907, in Chicago, Illinois. She died in Chicago on November 1, 1980, aged 73, just weeks before her husband Richard died.

She was the daughter of Irish immigrants. Her father, James Michael Maloney, was born on February 1, 1872, in Killaloe, Co. Clare, and her mother, Mary Anne Downes, was born on July 16, 1880, in Doonbeg, Co. Clare. James died in Chicago on October 10, 1916, aged 44. Mary Anne died in Chicago on December 23, 1955, aged 75.

Mike Pence and his family visited Ireland three years ago going to Co. Clare and Co. Sligo. Mike Pence met Moloney and Downes distant cousins, in Co. Clare.

Ireland’s Garda reserve membership has fallen 13% from June-Sept this year

  

FIANNA FÁIL HAS CALLED ON THE JUSTICE MINISTER TO START RECRUITING MORE MEMBERS ONTO THE RESERVE FORCE.

The number of Garda reserves across the country has fallen to under 800 in the past four months.

New figures released to Fianna Fáil’s Jim O’Callaghan showed how there were 1,179 reservists at the beginning of 2014. This number has now fallen a further 13% in the four-month period between June and September to 756.

DEPLETED RESERVES?

The biggest drop was in the Dublin South Central district where the number fell by a further 12% since May of this year.

O’Callaghan said: “Concerns have been expressed for some time on not utilising the significant potential of the garda reserve. This poses a much bigger challenge if the numbers continue to fall.

“The Garda Inspectorate report, published last December, indicated that despite receiving considerable training, reserves are not consistently or strategically maximised for operational purposes.

Just last month it was stated that there are plans afoot to more than double the number of Garda reserves nationally. This would bring the strength of the force up to 2,000. I am calling on the minister to kick start this process without delay.

NUIG refutes claims of continued gender discrimination at University

   

The five female lecturers (right) who claimed NUIG overlooked them for promotion.

NUI GALWAY HAS REFUTED CLAIMS THAT IT’S ‘PUNISHING’ WOMEN WHO HIGHLIGHTED ISSUES SURROUNDING GENDER DISCRIMINATION AT THE UNIVERSITY.

In a statement, college authorities said accusations made by the Irish Federation of University Teachers are ‘ill-informed’ and ‘untrue’.

The Irish Federation of University Teachers claims NUI Galway has failed to address outstanding legal cases relating to gender discrimination.

It argues that the university is stalling and prolonging actions taken by four female staff members, which are currently before the Circuit and High Court.

It says the situation amounts to the ‘punishment’ of whistleblowers who have highlighted vital issues on the national stage.

It comes more than two years since the Equality Tribunal ruled against NUI Galway in a case involving Dr. Micheline Sheehy-Skeffington.

NUI Galway says the cases are subject to the remit and rules of the courts and it is actively seeking their progression.

It adds that the contention by the IFUT that the university is delaying or prolonging court cases is ill-informed and simply untrue.

A new search in depression area for life on Mars now being looked at

    

SCIENTISTS AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS HAVE ZEROED IN ON A DEPRESSION THAT COULD POSSIBLY SUPPORT LIFE ON MARS.

A newly discovered depression may breathe new life into the pursuit to find life on Mars.

A strangely shaped depression—likely formed by a volcano beneath a glacier—could be a warm, chemical-rich environment suited for microbial life, according to a study from the University of Texas at Austin.

“We were drawn to this site because it looked like it could host some of the key ingredients for habitability — water, heat and nutrients,” lead author Joseph Levy, a research associate at the University of Texas Institute for Geophysics, a research unit of the Jackson School of Geosciences, said in a statement.

The depression is located inside a crater perched on the rim of the Hellas basin and is surrounded by ancient glacial deposits.

The depression first came to light in 2009 when Levy noticed crack-like features on pictures of depressions taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter looked similar to ice cauldrons formations found in Iceland and Greenland, which were made by volcanos erupting under an ice sheet. Levy and others also discovered another depression in the Galaxias Fossae region of Mars that had a similar appearance.

“These landforms caught our eye because they’re weird looking,” Levy said. “They’re concentrically fractured so they look like a bulls-eye. That can be a very diagnostic pattern you see in Earth materials.”

Earlier this year, Levy and his research team were able to more thoroughly analyze the depressions using stereoscopic images to investigate whether the depressions were made by underground volcanic activity that melted away surface ice or by an impact from an asteroid.

Timothy Goudge, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Texas- Austin, used pairs of high-resolution images to create digital elevation models of the depressions that enabled in-depth analysis of their shape and structure in 3D.

“The big contribution of the study was that we were able to measure not just their shape and appearance, but also how much material was lost to form the depressions,” Levy added. “That 3D view lets us test this idea of volcanic or impact.”

A closer analysis showed that both depressions shared an unusual funnel shape with a broad perimeter that gradually narrowed with depth.

“That surprised us and led to a lot of thinking about whether it meant there was melting concentrated in the center that removed ice and allowed stuff to pour in from the sides,” Levy said. “Or if you had an impact crater, did you start with a much smaller crater in the past and by sublimating away ice, you’ve expanded the apparent size of the crater.”

After running formation scenarios for the two depressions, researchers concluded that the debris spread around the Galaxias Fossae depression suggests that it was the result of an impact with the possibility it could be formed by a volcano due to the volcanic history of the area. However, the Hellas depression has many signs of volcanic origins, lacks the surrounding debris of an impact and has a fracture pattern associated with concentrated removal of ice by melting or sublimation.

According to Levy, the interaction of lava and ice to form a depression would show that it could create an environment with liquid water and chemical nutrients.      

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

A spring statement showing five ways it will affect your pocket

• After Irish Water debacle Government is planning absolutely no nasty surprises.

  

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan speaks delivered the Government’s spring economic statement. He predicts tax reductions and extra Government spending in the Budget.

The spring statement set the goalpost for the budget, but did not give us the detail. We don’t have the budgetary tables of who wins and who loses and by how much and the typical budget day examples such as “Mary”, the single public servant earning €40,000, or “Michael and Siobhán”, the couple earning €85,000. But clear hints have been dropped by Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin about how the spoils of economic growth will be divided.

Some €1 billion was distributed in tax cuts and spending hikes in the 2015 package presented last October. For next October the indications are that there will be at least €1.5 billion to spare.

Here are five things that this all means for your pocket:

1 Lower tax and charges on pay packets: The Government cut the USC and income tax modestly in the last budget, with tweaks made to claw back some of the gains from those earning more than €70,000 a year. We can expect more of the same in the next budget, as Noonan confirmed when he launched a strong defence of the Government’s tax strategy. Tax cuts of over €600 million are expected next October, compared to €400 million last October.

If the Government is re-elected, Noonan made clear that we can expect more of the same in the years ahead.

Next October we can expect a further increase in the standard rate tax band – single earners now enter the higher 40% income tax rate at €33,800 and this income limit will likely rise, benefiting anyone earning over that level. As happened last year, USC changes are likely to benefit lower and middle income earners in particular.

Last year’s budget boosted after-tax income by 1 -1.5% for most earners with the biggest gains going to a group of lowest earners excluded from USC and to those on incomes of €35,000 to €75,000 for a single earner.

So if, as expected, the Government goes for a “same but a bit more” approach next October, the gains for many will be about 1.5 – 2.5% in terms of a boost to take home pay.

Tax cuts will benefit people’s pockets, but the return of cash is gradual. Tax hikes during the crisis totaled about €10 billion. There were tax cuts of about €400 million last October and a further €2 billion might be affordable over the next three years. So in rough terms taxpayers might get a quarter of the emergency hikes back by 2018.

2 Rising public sector pay: There is no doubt that rising public sector pay in some form is now on the agenda, with Howlin getting Cabinet clearance to commence talks with the unions. How much this will take of the €600 million – €750 million available for day-to-day spending increases next year is not clear. The public pay bill is about €14 billion so the gross cost of each 1% rise is €140 million, though the net cost is lower as the exchequer gets about 30% of any rise back in higher income tax. Howlin was cautious, but he did say in relation to public pay that “the unwinding of the measures will take time”.

The Government will consider increases – the issue is how quickly and on what basis. One option would be to focus initially on the pension levy, which was introduced in 2009 and takes about 7.5% from an average public sector salary. Overall, however, like tax cuts, it is a long way back after pay cuts of 14-15% for most public servants.

3 Increases in Government payments and subsidies: Howlin mentioned the social protection budget as one area set to get more cash. This means more in payments in some areas. In the last budget, the monthly child benefit payment was increased by €5 and another rise can be expected in October. Last year the living-alone allowance paid to 180,000 older people was also increased and more of this kind of targeted payment rises can be anticipated too.

Howlin also referenced a special group examining childcare issues and more help for younger families looks likely. This could involve either subsidies for childcare costs or some kind of tax relief. A second free preschool year is also being examined, as is subsidised after-school activities.

4 No nasty surprises on the way: After the water charges row, the Government is going to do absolutely nothing to raise any additional taxes or charges, no matter how small. There was nothing in the statement that might cause even a hint of controversy. Noonan did say, however, that the property tax and water charges must remain in place.

5 Banking bonus: It is clear that the main banks are gearing up to cut their standard variable mortgage rates and that the Government will take whatever credit it can. Noonan said he will call in the main lenders and would not be likely to do so unless he felt that reductions were imminent.

Those in mortgage arrears are also promised more options in a new package to be unveiled over the next few weeks.

Men from the construction industry ‘account for half of male suicides in Ireland’

• Report for CIF and Pieta House suggests a high number of deaths among those in production-type jobs

  

Mind our Workers: a new campaign by the Construction Industry Federation and Pieta House aims to raise awareness of suicide and mental health issues in the sector.

Men working in construction and production jobs accounted for nearly half of all male deaths by suicide in the period 2008 to 2012, a new report suggests.

An estimated 1,039 men from a construction or production background died by suicide during that period out of a total of 2,137 male suicides, according to figures published by the Construction Industry Federation (CIF).

Mind our Workers, a campaign to raise awareness of suicide and mental health in the sector, was launched on Tuesday by the CIF and suicide prevention charity Pieta House.

A report commissioned by the organisations notes there has generally been little data available on the professional background of people who have died by suicide in Ireland.

But in recent years, the National Office for Suicide Prevention commissioned the National Suicide Research Foundation to undertake a study and to establish a suicide support and information system (SSIS).

In the second phase of that study, some 307 cases of suicide in Cork between September 2008 and June 2012 were examined (275 suicides and 32 open verdicts at inquest).

Of the 307 deaths, 246 (80%) were males. Some 120 of those had been working in the construction/production sector, a total of 49%.

This was more than triple the number of deaths accounted for by next highest sector, which was agriculture.

By extrapolating from the trends identified in the research and applying them to the national data, the researchers said “it could be soundly estimated” that at least 1,000 suicides came from a construction/production professional background between 2008 and 2012.” This rose to 1,039 when directly extrapolated from the second phase of the study.

Men account for 108,300 or 93% of the total 116,700 working in the construction sector, the Mind Our Workers report notes.

Ten people a week in Ireland die by suicide and eight of those are men.

Some 6,520 suicides took place between 2000 and 2012 – 81% or 5,263 were male.

Between 2008 and 2012, there were 2,137 male suicides.

Pieta House chief executive Brian Higgins said the organisation was delighted to initiate the campaign in partnership with the CIF.

“It is extremely encouraging that a national body as influential as the CIF sees the impact of suicide on the construction industry and its employees and is partnering with an organisation such as ourselves to help tackle the issue. Partnerships such as this are a way of building resilience within our society.”

CIF director general Tom Parlon said the suicide figures for the sector were “shocking”.

“The industry can’t ignore this problem – there is a necessity to take steps to try to help those in need. Given the amount of time people spend in the workplace, that is where the Mind Our Workers campaign will focus. By promoting a more open approach amongst construction workers and their colleagues we hope it might reduce the number of people who feel they have no way out.”

CIF president Michael Stone said the organisation wanted to see a working environment where it was acceptable for men to ask their friends and colleagues, “Are you ok?”

The ‘Mind Our Workers’ campaign will run throughout the year. Campaign leaflets will be distributed throughout the industry and briefings and workshops will also be organised for CIF members.

Pieta House representatives will also attend regional branch meetings to discuss suicide and mental health.

A series of ‘toolbox talks’ about mental health and suicide will also be organised at workplaces and construction sites.

Separately, more than 100,000 people are expected to participate in the seventh annual Darkness into Light event for Pieta House in the early hours of Saturday May 9th.

No extension to insurance loading date from Leo Varadkar

• Lifetime Community Rating will begin on May 1

    

The Minister for Health, Leo Varadkar, has confirmed that there will be no extension to the starting date of Lifetime Community Rating, which is due to come into effect at the end of this week.

From May 1, members of the public aged 35 and older who do not have private health insurance, but then choose to take it out, will be charged extra.

Known as Lifetime Community Rating, these consumers will see their premiums permanently loaded by 2% per year from the age of 35. For example, if a 54-year-old decides to take out private health insurance for the first time after April 30, they will have a loading of 40% added to their premium every single year that they remain insured.

The maximum loading is 70% and this will apply to people aged 69 and older who take out insurance for the first time after April 30.

According to Minister Varadkar, this system ‘will help to ensure that older and sicker citizens can still afford health insurance because the healthy and young who do not make as many claims still pay into the system’.

“It will also help to stabilise the market by encouraging people to retain health insurance once they have it. This is an essential measure to protect our system of community rating whereby everyone pays the same premium for the same policy regardless of their age or their health status,” he said.

He added that private health insurers are recording a higher volume of calls and internet enquiries this week and phone lines are remaining open late each night to deal with this.

Women who breastfeed ‘can lower the risk of dying from breast cancer’?

   

Women breastfeed their children during a pro-breastfeeding protest in central London in December

Breastfeeding significantly reduces the risk of being killed by breast cancer, a new study has suggested.

Women with the disease who breastfed their babies have a significantly lower risk of the cancer killing them or recurring, according to the paper.

Scientists found a history of breastfeeding lowered the risk of dying by 28 per cent and reduced the chance of the cancer coming back by 30 per cent.

The study, by US health care provider Kaiser Permanente, used data from 1,636 women with breast cancer who completed a questionnaire about breastfeeding.

Breastfeeding had a clear protective effect, especially in relation to particular types of tumour including the most common hormone-sensitive strain.

The protection was strongest for women who had a history of breastfeeding for six months or longer.

Lead researcher Dr Marilyn Kwan said: “This is the first study we’re aware of that examined the role of breastfeeding history in cancer recurrence, and by tumour subtype.

“Women who breastfeed are more likely to get the luminal A subtype of breast cancer, which is less aggressive, and breastfeeding may set up a molecular environment that makes the tumour more responsive to anti-oestrogen therapy.”

Luminal A breast cancer includes oestrogen-positive tumours which are driven by the female hormone and are the most commonly diagnosed form of the disease.

These tumours are less likely to spread to other parts of the body than other types and are treatable with hormonal drugs such as tamoxifen and aromatase inhibitors.

Why women who breastfeed their babies develop less aggressive tumours is not entirely clear.

Co-author Dr Bette Caan, also from Kaiser Permanente, said: “Breastfeeding may increase the maturation of ductal cells in the breast, making them less susceptible to carcinogens or facilitate the excretion of carcinogens, and lead to slower growing tumours.”

The research appears in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.

Irish meteor hunters some tips to find one,

• Here are 5 steps to finding a recent meteorite

   

Irish meteor hunters pay attention, here are 5 steps to finding the recent meteorite

Those on the island of Ireland who may have spotted a giant flare-like streak in the sky were intrigued to discover that it was in fact a rare meteorite, pieces of which could be worth thousands of euro to its finders.

Perhaps even more eyebrow-raising for meteorite hunters is that the very rare event – approximately twice a year – is so unusual that each piece of the meteorite could be worth 10 times the price of gold at its current rate, which could put it as high as €10,000 per piece.

According to David Moore of Astronomy Ireland, the best guessas to where it landed is most likely in the north of the island and he is now calling on every camera that may have recorded the incident sometime around 10.10pm on Sunday, 26 April to bring forth their footage to better locate the smoking piece of space debris.

Despite Ireland’s small size compared with the rest of the planet, it’s understandably difficult to find a small piece of rock, with the last recorded finding not even occurring this millennium, having been discovered in Leighlinbridge, Co Carlow back in 1999.

Given its rarity, it might be a little daunting to meteorite hunters as to how to actually find the smoking gun/rock, which is why, in their infinite space wisdom, Space.com has previously detailed the essential five steps to making a big find.

1. Finding a potential spot

Meteor hunting isn’t just a treasure hunt, but a scientific expedition that needs exact detail in order to find where the meteorite may have landed.

While we know that it landed somewhere in the north of the island, with the help of trajectory calculations, the prospector needs to identify the meteorite’s ‘dark flight’, which is the part of its fall when it slows to a speed of between 3-4km per second when its bright tail vanishes from sight.

If this can be located, it can narrow down the potential landing site significantly given that it would likely fall soon after its dark flight.

2. Make sure you have permission before jumping in a field

Given that there’s a lot of farmland across this island, most patches of grass in the countryside are likely to belong to a farmer or group of farmers.

The one thing to be certain of is that if a meteorite falls onto the grounds of someone’s estate, they don’t have the legal right to ownership of a large chunk of space debris, so once permission is sought, legal possession falls to the finder.

It’s probably best not to make them aware of its potential value, however…

  3  Get a good metal detector … and know how to use it

It might seem obvious to run to the nearest store that might sell metal detectors and pick one up to begin a hunt, but it’s much more complicated than that.

Given the complexity of minerals that make up meteorites, it’s simply not possible to just move a metal detector around a field, as would be seen in movies, as a specific type of metal detector is needed to find one.

According to metal detector enthusiasts, it is vital that, when searching for meteorites, the detector’s iron discriminator is switched off to better locate iron-laden meteorites, while gold-prospecting metal detectors are also good at locating the space debris.

4. Get your rock verified by a mineralogist

Given that it’s likely that many people in Ireland are not experts in minerals, it’s probably safe to say that should someone discover what they believe to be a piece of the recent meteorite crash, it’s best to take it to someone who could actually determine whether it is from terra firma or outer space.

For preliminary tests, however, it might be a good idea to bring a magnet to see whether the rock is magnetic given that the typical meteorite contains between 10-30pc iron.

However, magnetism does not mean it’s a meteorite, rather that it’s increased the likelihood of it being from space.

Likewise, if the sample is ground slightly, does it reveal a metallic silver substance inside? This is one of the tell-tale signs as to whether a rock is just a rock, or an ancient meteorite.

  5  Science over personal gain?

So you’ve discovered a meteorite, congratulations! But while your thoughts might be on where you’re going to install your new swimming pool, make sure to alert organisations, such as Astronomy Ireland, of your find so as they can analyse the sample with the hope of maybe finding something that could prove beneficial to our understanding of the wider universe.

Astronomy Ireland is currently looking for as many reports as possible from eyewitnesses and potential discoverers of the meteorite fragments so take this into account if you are lucky enough to stumble across them.