Donie's news Ireland Blog Thursday

Donegal County Council votes not to use utilities database's for chasing the household levy defaulters

        

Seinn Fein councillor Jack Murray of  Donegal County council who proposed the move and the council voted to ban their civil servants from using utility bills to track down people who haven’t paid the Household Charge.

Councillor’s in Donegal voted by 11 to three to prevent the use of the optional power given to staff under the legislation set up to collect the €100 fee.

Labour councillors supported the motion, which was brought by Seinn Fein councillor Jack Murray. The council also agreed to send their decision to other local authorities, asking each of them to follow suit.

FINE GAEL COUNCILLORS OPPOSED THE MOTION.

“The vast majority of people in Donegal have not paid the Household Charge. They have not done so because it is unjust,” said Mr Murray. “This. . . was about protecting their privacy.”

It is understood that the motion has no legal effect, as local politicians have no role in revenue collection.

Meanwhile, independent TD Thomas Pringle has launched a High Court action against the Government, claiming the fiscal compact treaty breaches the Irish Constitution and EU laws.

Mr Pringle said he had ‘no choice’ after the Taoiseach had failed to respond to issues he raised. The Donegal South-West TD believes the treaties “raise serious legal difficulties both at the level of EU treaty law and Irish constitutional law”.

Irish Charities say Social Welfare Bill will push one-parent families into poverty hole

   

Joan Burton argues that encouraging parents to enter the workforce is the best way of helping them to gain economically.

CHARITIES REPRESENTING the rights of women, children and single parents have criticised government legislation being presented to the Dáil this evening which proposes to change the conditions under which parents qualify for the One-Parent Family Allowance.

The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill, which forms one of the last parts of the legislation giving effect to last December’s Budget, would see a gradual change in the age a parent’s eldest child must be under if the parent is to qualify for the allowance.

Single parents are currently eligible to receive the allowance when their youngest child is under the age of 14. The legislation proposes that this be lowered to 7 on a phased basis up to 2015 for new applicants, with single parents then being forced onto jobseekers’ allowance.

Barnardos, the National Women’s Council of Ireland and OPEN, the One Parent Exchange Network, say the legislation will worsen the levels of poverty that already exist in one-parent homes.

OPEN director Frances Byrne said there was a “huge fear” among lone parents that the plans would “make it increasingly difficult for parents to meet the costs of raising a family alone”.

“The majority of lone parents are already in work, or want to work,” she said, “but the ongoing lack of supports such as reliable and affordable childcare and afterschool care present impossible challenges that the Government cannot address by 2015.”

Introducing the legislation in the Dáil this evening, social protection minister Joan Burton conceded that a large proportion of lone parents were “still experiencing poverty, and were at much higher risk of poverty than other working-age adults.

“We believe that supporting parents in participating in the labour market, once their children have reached an appropriate age, will improve their own economic stituations and their social well-being as well as those of their families,” the minister said.

Burton said she recognised that many lone parents wished to enter the workforce, and said this would be addressed by plans to extend the JobBridge programme to lone parents.

We’ll have the same again waiter:

Ireland’s TDs and Senators rack up a refreshment bill worth €73,000

  

So it turns out that being a TD or a Senator is very hard work. In fact so hard that the majority of them are so overworked with representing us in Government that they need refreshments. How about €73,000 worth of refreshments.

Reports that documents released by the Oireachtas show that the current outstanding amount owed to the restaurant at the Dáil is a massive €65,000. But that’s not all. There’s also a further €8,000 owed to the bar by TDs and Senators who have been whetting their whistle in between important Dáil business gatherings.

While the majority of the bills are short-term, at least €30,000 has been owed for four months or more. If we were that publican, we’d be getting seriously p***ed off about having to wait so long for our money.

Sources from the Oireachtas said yesterday that a new reminder system had prompted Senators and TDs to cough up the dough that they owed more quickly, however, the sources added that there were still a few members, or former members, of the Oireachtas who still had outstanding debts for the past year or so.

This information came to light after the Irish Times made a freedom of information request regarding the issue.

The information that the paper received included various amounts for individual TDs and Senators, but the Oireachtas refused to identify the people who still had outstanding bills.

Of the 170 people who have bills on tab in the Dáil restaurant, 12 owe €1,000 or more and one unlucky individual owes a massive €3,572. Seriously…what are these people eating/drinking?

Another member owes €938 to the Dáil bar and hasn’t paid up for the past four months or more.

Speaking last night, a spokesman for the Oireachtas said that a credit facility for the bar and restaurant was offered to TDs and Senators solely because of convenience. Former members of the Oireachtas can also avail of this offer.

The spokesman said that the Oireachtas wrote to members with outstanding bills on a monthly basis, with further letters sent to the individual if they still had not paid up.

“The majority of outstanding bills are settled in full at the end of each calendar month,” he said.

Even still though, a €73,000 tab on refreshments? Has no one told them we’re in the middle of an economic crisis?

Cregg House Sligo Nuns fear for the (Daughters of Wisdom) future and support services

‘While Fine Gael TD John Perry states it should be kept’ & MEP Marian Harkin called on the HSE to meet the service providers half way.

      

The future of more than 200 people with intellectual disabilities, who are cared for by nuns and live in accommodation provided by the Daughters of Wisdom in Sligo, was uncertain last night after the nuns said they could no longer stand over the service because of budget cuts.

The provincial, Sr Jean Quinn, has written to families warning that alternative trustee arrangements may now have to be made for the care and support of users of Wisdom Services, also known as Cregg House. The order opened Cregg House as a residential facility for people with intellectual disabilities in 1955.

Describing it as “the blackest day” in the order’s history in Ireland, the provincial said the sisters were pulling out because despite a series of meetings with the Health Service Executive (HSE), no agreement had been reached on funding, and a €900,000 cut in this year’s budget would have implications for the safety of both service users and staff.

“We could not stand over that,” she pointed out. The provincial insisted the threat to withdraw was “not brinkmanship”.

Management at Cregg House said the budget, which is understood to be €15.5 million, had been cut by €2.5 million over the past four years, while the number of whole-time equivalent staff had been cut by 40 to 296 since 2008.

The facilities include residential accommodation, including 21 houses in and around Sligo town, outreach services, day services, respite care and a special school.

The provincial said the withdrawal of the psychology service last year “beggared belief” as it left more than 200 people, many with serious challenges such as dementia and autism, with no psychologist.

Describing the cuts as “draconian”, Sr Quinn urged local people to lobby the Minister for Health, saying the cuts would have an impact on the most vulnerable people in society, many with severe intellectual disabilities who regarded Cregg House as home.

In the letter to families last Monday, the nuns promised to work with the HSE to ensure service users would continue to receive the care and support they require. The letter warned some of the residential accommodation at Cregg House was “not fit for purpose”.

Expressing frustration at the lack of progress after a series of meetings with the HSE, Sr Quinn added: “Look at how the banks could be bailed out. Here you have the most vulnerable people in society and we cannot provide €1 million.”

In a statement, the HSE said the budget reduction for 2012 was “consistent with other disability service providers in the region”.

Local Fine Gael TD and Minister of State John Perry said it was “critically important” the services remained.

MEP Marian Harkin called on the HSE to meet the service providers half way.

Online advertising is up 20.5% in 2011 – A new study shows

         

Online advertising grew by nearly 20.5% last year reaching an estimated spend of €132 million, according to a new study by IAB Ireland and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

The 2011 IAB PwC Online Adspend study says that the growth in this sector bucks the trend in the Irish media market as the amount spend on advertising in other media areas last year dropped by 4 per cent over the year to €897 million.

The study says that increased broadband provision and the increased average time spent online by people in Ireland each week are the main factors behind the online advertising growth. The average Irish internet user spends 10 hours online a week, according to ComReg.

Seven out of ten of the study’s participants anticipate further growth in the sector in the coming six months, while the study says that smartphone penetration is expected to increase to over half of internet users in Ireland this year (55 per cent).

Meanwhile, social media sites accounted for over one-third of the online display market in 2011.

Advertising on social media sites in Ireland reached an estimated €5.8 million last year, according to the study.

Commenting on the results of the study, chairman of IAB Ireland Eamonn Fallon described the “strong performance of online advertising” recorded as “good news for the Irish advertising industry”.

“IAB predicts that the growth of online adspend in 2012 is set to break the €150 million barrier and see online account for 20 per cent of total adspend,” he added.

PwC’s Bartley O’Connor said that the online advertising growth highlighting in the study “demonstrates the continued level of activity and vibrancy of the online industry in Ireland”.

“All businesses need to consider their digital strategy and how they will capture the opportunities associated with the migration to digital platforms.”

Advertising online ranks third after television and newspaper advertising, and ahead of radio, cinema and magazine advertising.

Donie's Ireland news for Wednesday

Minister Phil (the-household) Hogan in another vow over new water firm

        

Environment Minister Phil Hogan has confirmed people will not be forced to make up-front payments for the installation of water meters

A new utility company being set up to oversee household water supplies and charges will not be sold off to the private sector, Environment Minister Phil Hogan has insisted.

Irish Water, which will operate under semi-state body Bord Gais, will be tasked with installing and running a metered network by the end of 2014.

And the minister insisted that the firm will remain in public hands even if the parent company is sold off in a disposal of state assets.

“Legislation will be put in place to ensure Irish Water remains in state ownership in relation to the sale of state assets,” Mr Hogan said.

Announcing the new company, Mr Hogan gave assurances that the public will not be forced to make upfront payments for meters – a must-have before charges come into effect by the end of 2014.

It is estimated that they must be installed in about one million homes and critics have warned there is not enough time between now and the end of next year. But Mr Hogan said he is confident between 90 and 95% of houses will be metered by the deadline.

It was also stressed that under the control of Bord Gais Irish Water would have the capacity to raise funds for capital investments on the financial markets in a similar fashion to the ESB.

In a statement Bord Gais said the new utility is an opportunity to establish a commercially successful infrastructure company and a valuable asset for the State.

Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams rejected the idea that making small annual payments to cover the cost of installing water meters would be less burdensome on householders than forcing them to fork out a lump sum.

The Co Louth TD said: “Straws break camels’ backs. We know that people can’t afford the septic tank charge, can’t afford the household charge, can’t afford VAT increases, and they can’t afford the hike in public transport.”

The Troika arrives & begins Ireland’s 10 day assessment and progress review

  

Ajay Chopra (third from left) , head of IMF-ECB troika arriving at the Department of Finance today.

Officials from the International Monetary Fund, the EU Commission and the European Central Bank have begun their sixth quarterly assessment of Ireland’s bailout programme.

As the delegation of troika officials arrived at the Department of Finance this morning to begin its 10-day review of how Ireland is performing under the bailout programmes, senior Government sources expressed confidence that all conditions of the bailout have been met so far.

The sources also confirmed that the issue of promissory notes would be a central focus for discussions between Government officials and the troika.

While the Government did succeed in converting a €3.06 billion annual payment due at the end of last month into a long-term bond, the discussions on the wider issue of the €30 billion promissory note issued primarily to Anglo Irish Bank and Irish Nationwide has not been resolved as yet.

Officials from the three institutions are working on a technical paper, but it is unlikely to be completed until later in the year.

“There is no anticipation [within Government] that the promissory note issue will be finalised during this review,” said the source.

“It is certain it will be discussed but a report will not be produced over the next 10 days.”

Minister for Finance Michael Noonan and Minister for Public Expenditure Brendan Howlin will meet today with the heads of mission from the three institutions. They are Ajai Chopra, the European deputy director of the IMF, the ECB’s chief economist Klaus Masuch and Istvan Szekely of the European Commission.

Mr Noonan, speaking in Limerick yesterday, said it would be a normal review. “They go through what we were supposed to have done for the previous quarter. And effectively we have done everything we’re supposed to have done, so that part of it is going to be pretty easy.

“And then we’ll be looking forward to the next quarter and to the remainder of the year, and we’ll have discussions on all of that.” Mr Noonan said today’s meeting would be a kind of “getting to know you meeting”.

He said the only big change was that Mr Masuch, the representative of the ECB, was now transferred on a full-time basis to Greece. “There’s a new representative of the new central bank coming in on the first of May, so this is Klaus’s last meeting with us.”

Among the other big issues that will be discussed will be the future of Permanent TSB, which will have to be decided by the end of April, according to the memorandum.

Officials from the commission and the IMF will also look very closely at the latest set of economic figures. While ahead of target, some analysts suggest the growth figures on which the Government is working are too optimistic.

The Government also published a spate of legislation and draft legislation towards the end of March. There were also requirements in relation to bringing forward proposals on water charges, labour-market reform and identifying State assets most suitable for disposal.

The new implant that tells you your heart is about to go into a cardiac arrest

     

A new hi-tech medical device implanted in the heart could save lives by sounding an emergency when the patient is facing an impending attack. 

Statistics in the U.S. show that more than 30 per cent of the one million heart attack victims each year die before seeking medical attention. 

Although widespread education campaigns have made the general public aware of the warning signs of a heart attack, the average time from the onset of symptoms to arrival at the hospital has remained around three hours.

Internal alarm: The AngelMed Guardian alarm has three separate ways of alerting a user to an impending heart attack – a vibration, a tone and a flashing light on an external device

In position: An X-Ray of a patient fitted with the AngelMed device. It sits near the heart on the upper left of the chest

In an upcoming article in Ergonomics In Design, an implantable device called the AngelMed Guardian alerts users of an impending heart attack through a combination of vibrations, audible tones, and visual warnings.

The device is currently undergoing clinical trials and costs £8,232. It has the potential of saving countless thousands of lives every year.

What makes the AngelMed distinctive is this combination of alert modes.

Although vibrating alarms are sometimes used to warn medical personnel in operating rooms of an emergency, very little research has focused on their potential as a self-monitoring device for patients.

Double alert: An external device, right, has a flashing light that is a back-up alert to the internal device’s vibrating alert and tone

Auditory alarms are provided with selected implantable heart defibrillators, but research indicates that some patients – particularly the elderly – are unable to hear the alarms.

Mary Carol Day, co-author of the Ergonomics In Design article, said: ‘A [vibrating] alarm from the implanted device is more likely to be felt than an auditory alarm is to be heard because, for example, the patient may be wearing heavy clothing, has hearing loss, or is in a noisy environment.’

The device offers two levels of alarm urgency: A high-priority alarm indicates that the patient may be having a heart attack and should call emergency services, while a low-priority alarm indicates that a condition has been detected that requires a doctor visit within 48 hours.

Clinical trials: AngelMed Guardian devices are still in the testing stage, but have proved successful in simulations and limited implant operations

The alarms are provided by an implanted medical device, similar in size to a pacemaker, that is placed in the upper left chest, plus an external device, similar to a pager, that emits an auditory alarm and flashes a red or yellow warning light. 

In a series of studies with older adults, designed to test the device’s ‘user-friendliness’, participants were able to tell the difference between the low-priority and high-priority vibration patterns and respond appropriately.

They also reported that they liked the vibrating alarms and the redundancy of the auditory and visual warnings.

British Government hand over 3rd. installment of £403m to Ireland

             

The latest multimillion-pound handout from British taxpayers to Ireland has been given to Dublin, the British Treasury has said.

Financial Secretary Mark Hoban confirmed more than £403 million had been sent across the Irish Sea as part of a £3.3 billion bailout loan deal agreed in 2010.

He said: “The Government believes it is in our national interest that the Irish economy is successful and its banking system is stable.”

Mr Hoban added that London “continues to support Ireland’s efforts to improve its economic situation”.

The release of the new money, which has a maturity date of September 30, 2019, follows Ireland’s successful completion last month of the fifth quarterly review of its programme of financial assistance from the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

The Treasury gave the cash – the third installment – on March 28, but ministers updated Parliament through a written statement.

A new treatment for prostate cancer gives ‘perfect results’

For nine in ten men: research finds

        

A new treatment for prostate cancer can rid the disease from nine in ten men without debilitating side effects, a study has found, leading to new hope for tens of thousands of men.

It is hoped the new treatment, which involves heating only the tumours with a highly focused ultrasound, will mean men can be treated without an overnight stay in hospital and avoiding the distressing side effects associated with current therapies.

A study has found that focal HIFU, high-intensity focused ultrasound, provides the ‘perfect’ outcome of no major side effects and free of cancer 12 months after treatment, in nine out of ten cases.

Traditional surgery or radiotherapy can only provide the perfect outcome in half of cases currently.

Experts have said the results are ‘very encouraging’ and were a ‘paradigm’ shift in treatment of the disease.

It is hoped that large scale trials can now begin so the treatment could be offered routinely on the NHS within five years.

The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence will say in new guidance next week that the treatment is safe and effective and larger scale trials should go ahead.

A larger trial is already recruiting patients and men interested in the treatment should speak to their cancer doctor or GP about being referrred, experts said.

Prostate cancer is the commonest cancer in men with more than 37,000 diagnoses each year approximately 10,000 deaths.

Current treatments include surgery to remove the whole prostate or radiotherapy. Both of which can effectively treat the cancer but often cause side effects such as incontinence and impotence.

However in many men prostate cancer will not progress to a life threatening disease meaning that radical treatment risks side effects unnecessarily. For this reason, research is now focused on reducing side effects.

Focal HIFU involves careful selection of tumours, as small as a grain of rice, within the prostate gland and targeting them with highly focused ultrasound to heat them and destroy them.

The advantage over previous HIFU and other treatments is that damage to surrounding tissue is minimised, meaning there are far fewer side effects.

In the study published in the journal Lancet Oncology, 41 men were treated with focal HIFU. After 12 months, none were incontinent and one in ten suffered impotence.

The majority, 95 per cent, were free of cancer after 12 months.

Dr Hashim Ahmed, who led the study at University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust andUniversity College London, said: “This changes the paradigm. By focusing just on the areas of cancer we reduce the collateral damage to surrounding tissue.

“Our results are very encouraging. We’re optimistic that men diagnosed with prostate cancer may soon be able to undergo a day case surgical procedure, which can be safely repeated once or twice, to treat their condition with very few side-effects. That could mean a significant improvement in their quality of life.

“This study provides the proof-of-concept we need to develop a much larger trial to look at whether focal therapy is as effective as the current standard treatment in protecting the health of the men treated for prostate cancer in the medium and long term.”

He said after Nice guidance is issued next week, he expected other doctors to consider using the treatment.

He said: “These results will encourage more physicians to look at it more carefully.

“If men are interested in this concept they should speak to their cancer doctror or their GP.

“The next step is a large scale randomised controlled trial. This needs to be evaluated in a timly way so men can benefit.”

The research programme is led by Professor Mark Emberton, of UCL and UCLH. He said: “Focal therapy offers harm reduction – it is a strategy that attempts to redress the balance of harms and benefits by offering men who place high utility on genito-urinary function an alternative to standard care.

“In fact, the concept is not new – tissue preserving strategies have been used successfully in all other solid organ cancers such as breast cancer by offering women a lumpectomy rather than mastectomy.”

Professor Gillies McKenna, director of the Medical Research Council and Cancer Research UK Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology, said: “Clinical trials, like this one supported by the MRC, are a fantastic tool for telling us whether experimental new treatments are likely to be effective in the clinic.

“If these promising results can be confirmed in a randomised controlled trial, focal therapy could soon become a reasonable treatment choice for prostate cancer alongside other proven effective therapies.”

The research was funded by the MRC, the Pelican Cancer Foundation and St Peter’s Trust.

Jacqui Graves, Interim Head of Healthcare at Macmillan Cancer Support, said: “We welcome any research that shows early signs of improving the outcomes of treatment for prostate cancer patients.

“Significant reduction in the likelihood of common side effects, such as incontinence, will enable men to recover better and go on to lead good quality lives. We hope that a larger trial will be supported to ensure that the UK achieves the best outcomes for men affected by prostate cancer.”

Owen Sharp, Chief Executive of The Prostate Cancer Charity said: “We welcome the development of any prostate cancer treatment which limits the possibility of damaging side effects such as incontinence and impotence. These early results certainly indicate that focal HIFU has the potential to achieve this in the future.

“However, we need to remember that this treatment was given to fewer than 50 men, without follow up over a sustained period of time. We look forward to the results of further trials, which we hope will provide a clearer idea of whether this treatment can control cancer in the long term whilst ridding men of the fear that treating their cancer might mean losing their quality of life.”