Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG

Irish State’s elderly population set to increase significantly in next 45 years

 

A new EU report has said that the Republic’s elderly population is set to increase dramatically over the next 45 years.

The Irish State’s pension problems may be due to get worse, with new figures showing that the Republic’s elderly population is set to increase dramatically over the next 45 years.

The European Commission’s 2015 Ageing Report, published today, shows the national population is expected to rise to 5.3 million by 2060, with average life expectancy increasing from 79 to 85 for men and from 83 to 89 for women.

The elderly population, currently classified as those aged 80 and over, will rise from its current population share of 2.9% to as high as 10.2% over the same period.

Public spending demands will rise accordingly in the areas of healthcare and pension payments, the report says.

Unemployment benefits

Spending on unemployment benefits, however, will most likely decrease due to a decline in the younger population.

The report says that those aged up to 14 years will fall in proportional terms from 21.9% to 18.5% of the population, with unemployment rates in the 20 to 64 age bracket expected to decrease from 12.8% in 2013 to 6.5% in 2060.

In broader terms, the EU population is projected to increase by almost 5%, rising from 507 million in 2013 to as high as 526 million by 2050.

A decline in population to about 523 million is then forecast over the following decade, although that figure may be altered by variations due to immigration.

According to these projections, the UK would become the most populous country in the EU by 2060, with about 80 million people, followed by France (76 million), Germany(71 million), Italy (66 million) and Spain (46 million).

SuperValu and Tesco on Irish retailer’s top spot

  

The Irish supermarkets SuperValu and Tesco have now 25% market share each and are tied in first place, according to the latest figures from Kantor for the 12 weeks ending April.

“Over the past 12 weeks SuperValu and Tesco have each captured 25% of the grocery market, with SuperValu battling to hold on to the number one position it claimed last month and Tesco aiming to recover lost ground,” said David Berry, director at Kantar Worldpanel.

Among the big three retailers, Dunnes has posted the strongest sales growth of 3.6%, lifting its market share from 21.5% to 22%.

Dunnes has been benefiting from an offer that gives hefty discounts to customers who make big purchases.

It wasn’t good news for everybody.

“One of the most interesting trends in the latest data is the slowing growth rate of bothAldi and Lidl,” he added.

“While the 8.8% growth posted by Aldi and 7.8% for Lidl remains impressive, this is the first time since 2010 that both Aldi and Lidl have grown their sales by less than 10%.”

Classroom internet access linked to much higher Irish schools sucess test scores

 

Schools teaching design and graphics programme set to benefit from €7m in grants.

Researchers said “we cannot be certain that the use of internet in the class caused” the higher scores but a strong “relationship” was identified.

Primary school children who used the internet in the classroom had significantly higher mathematics and reading scores on average than peers who had no online access, a study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has found.

The researchers said “we cannot be certain that the use of internet in the class caused” the higher scores but there was a strong “relationship” identified.

The study comes amid further investment in technology in schools, with the announcement of €7 million in grants to post-primary schools to support the implementation of Design and Communication Graphics (DCG) curriculum.

Minister for Education and Skills Jan O’Sullivan announced the funding on Tuesday, which will see 450 schools get an average of €15,560 for the purchase of computers and software to encourage more students to take DCG in the Leaving Cert.

The ESRI study, published in the ‘Economic and Social Review’, identified “encouraging” returns from the state’s investment of €30 million in primary school broadband between 2005 and 2008.

The researchers found “no evidence for Ireland of the negative effects of broadband in schools reported in some studies internationally” but cited a time lapse in the positive results filtering through here.

“We found that on average teachers were more than twice as likely to use the internet in class after broadband service was installed under the programme, but it took about two years for this gain to emerge.

“This is not surprising, because it takes time for teachers to learn to use new technologies and to change their teaching practices.

“In addition, teachers in schools with better computer-related facilities were also more likely to use the internet in class.”

While many teachers and pupils express frustration at slow broadband speeds, the researchers found that having a faster connection speed had no statistically significant effect on educational outcomes.

Of the scale of these improvements, the authors noted, “the average difference in mathematics test scores between children in classes with and without internet use was as big as the rise enjoyed by children whose mothers had completed a degree rather than finishing at the Leaving Cert”.

ESRI and TCD researcher Seán Lyons, one of the authors of the study, said “we think the effect of the internet in the classroom depends on the context, and the way it’s used.

“So it may even differ from one school to another, and certainly from one country to another.”

A study in Portugal last year found that the roll out of broadband in schools led to negative educational outcomes for both male and female pupils.

But Mr Lyons said Portuguese schools appeared to have brought in internet access “in an unrestrictive way”.

The negative impact had been greatest in Portuguese schools where pupils were allowed to access websites such as YouTube.

For the study, the team of researchers, comprising Mr Lyons, Marie Hyland, Richard Layte, Selina McCoy and Mary Silles, examined data from standardised test scores, statistics on the broadband rollout, and figures from the Growing Up in Ireland survey.

Announcing the grants for the DCG programme, Minister for Education and Skills Jan O’Sullivan says the subject incorporated principles of science, materials, manufacture, design, technology and information technology and as such “directly contributes to the key skills required in Ireland’s knowledge-based economy”.

In 2012, 5,319 candidates sat the exam, with the predicted 2015 figure standing at 5,705.

“The allocated funding has been increased accordingly and will ensure that this important subject continues to go from strength to strength,” she said.

Letters will issue to schools detailing the amount of money they’re being allocated, based on the number of students who had taken the subject in the past three-four years.

The Department has also purchased support software from Solid Solutions Ireland for six years and three months, at a cost of €299,000.

Tourism Ireland Board Meets in Sligo

  

The Sligo Park Hotel was the venue for the May board meeting of Tourism Ireland, which took place on Thursday, 7th May.

The board members took the opportunity to meet with local tourism operators prior to the meeting, to discuss the upcoming peak season and the extensive promotional programme which Tourism Ireland is undertaking to highlight Sligo, the North West and the island of Ireland around the world this year.

Speaking after the board meeting, Niall Gibbons, CEO of Tourism Ireland, said: “We were delighted to be in Sligo for this month’s board meeting and to have the chance to meet with representatives of the tourism industry from Sligo and to hear directly how business is shaping up for the upcoming peak season.”

Man falls flat on his face behind Vincent Browne live on air

  

TV3 broadcaster Vincent Browne can’t help but chuckle when somebody faceplants behind him as he says his intro on Tonight with Vincent Browne.

Watch the TV clip here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=opGudV7EhXM

During the opening of the show, which was broadcast from the Headfort Arms Hotel in Kells, the unlucky man stumbles and falls, landing at the presenter’s feet, prompting

Vincent to look down in surprise and exclaim, “Somebody’s just fallen down beside me” much to the delight of audience and guests alike.

Robot pets way of future, could change human relationship with animals, researcher says

  

Robot pets could be common place in 10 years’ time and change the way we interact and relate with the real things, a Melbourne researcher believes.

Dr Jean-Loup Rault from Melbourne University studies animal welfare and the way humans and animals interact with each other.

Recently, he has been looking into how technology has changed the way we relate to animals and pets.

“We know very little about robotic pets, virtual animals online and what they actually do to people,” Dr Rault said.

“Is that going to change the way we relate to animals? Can that be a substitute to a live pet?

“Technology is moving very fast. The Tamagotchi in the early 1990s was really a prototype of a robotic pet and now Sony and other big companies have elaborated a lot on what have become robotic animals.”

He said humans were able to become emotionally attached to objects.

“There’s anecdotal evidence and a few studies that show people actually develop a bond, some kind of emotional attachment to those robots,” Dr Rault said.

“They know it’s not a live pet, they don’t consider it as a live animal but they also don’t consider it a mere object.

“It has an intermittent status between that of an animal and that of an object that projects some kind of personality.”

Dr Rault said robot pets could suit someone living in inner-city or high-density areas, as well as those with allergies and who were unable to look after a live animal.

But robotics expert Professor Maurice Pagnucco from the School of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of New South Wales said there was still a big gap between the current technology and a “virtual pet”.

“I don’t think we’re at the point where you could have a reliable pet,” he said.

“They wouldn’t be at the same level as a real pet, at the moment they’re basically toys.

“But where we’ll be in the future, we can’t really say.”

Technology ‘now part of our normal lives’

Dr Rault said the growing popularity of robot pets also raised questions about the way humans developed socially.

“There are school programs that use animals to teach children about responsibility, if you replace those live animals with robotic animals that don’t need to feed, you just plug them in and turn them off, is that the same thing?” he said.

“Are they going to develop in a different way?

Maybe you have a dog that stays at home when you’re at work so you buy it a robotic companion, so it interacts with it when you’re gone.

Dr Jean-Loup Rault, researcher

“It raises some major ethical questions in the same way that Facebook has – does interacting with others on the site actually make you social or less social?”

Dr Rault said robot pets could also have a positive effect, with robotic baby seals being used in the United States to help people with Alzheimer’s.

“They found out if you gave them a robotic baby seal, people would interact with it and derive some benefits from it,” he said.

“Maybe you have a dog that stays at home when you’re at work so you buy it a robotic companion, so it interacts with it when you’re gone and it keep it company.

“It’s not replacing anything that we have, it’s creating something new.

“Now we think as them as strange, weird and perhaps creepy, but in 10 years’ time people may think it’s normal.

“The new generation is very different. This technology is part of their lives, it’s not seen as something extra.

“Will it change the way we interact with real animals? A difficult question to ask, but it is an interesting one.”

Donie's all Ireland news told by Donie

Katie Taylor Irish superstar boxes her way into history as she wins gold at London Olympics

      

Ireland’s Katie Taylor completed a lifetime dream by winning an Olympic gold medal when she beat Russia’s Sofya Ochigava 10-8 in the women’s lightweight final at the ExCel Arena.

Cheered on by a capacity crowd, that surely broke the decibel level record at the London 2012 Games, Taylor had to dig deep against an opponent who had previously beaten her.

Unlike Taylor’s quarter-final bout with Natasha Jonas, this was no classic, as Ochigava’s spoiling tactics and counter-attacking style troubled the Bray woman, who trailed 4-3 at the end of the second round.

Nevertheless, Taylor dug deep and rallied in the third round with the kind of precision boxing that has made her a four-time world champion.

And although she had to endure a tense wait at the end of a tough fourth round, the referee duly raised her hand to spark off wild celebrations and emotional scenes throughout the arena.

A calm and confident Taylor entered the ring to unbelievable support from a crowd that had the likes of Dara Ó Briain rubbing shoulders with Princess Anne – who was forced to cover her ears such was the noise.

The ring announcer could barely be heard over the din of Taylor’s supporters, but a calm and confident Sofya Ochigava did not look flustered, despite some unsporting booing as her name was announced.

Taylor was bouncing on her toes from the start and was the immediate aggressor, feinting with her left jab and using it to create room for her right hook. The Bray woman suffered an early slip in the clinch but a slip is all it was and there’s no bonus point for Ochigava.

The Russian, known for her defensive tactics, was happy to invite Taylor on and caught her flush with a powerful right, but the Bray woman hit back with a looping left before ending the round with a powerful flurry on the bell that Ochigava did well to block.

A scoreline of 2-2 was a fair reflection of the opening round and Ochigava, encouraged by her early success, loosened up slightly, going after Taylor and catching her twice in quick succession with her left hook.

The Russian southpaw then reverted to form, slowing down the pace of the fight and disrupting Taylor’s rhythm with a series of clinches and awkward non-scoring jabs that had the Irishwomen struggling.

Taylor managed to land a scoring blow just before the bell went, but there was real concern among the Irish supporters as the scorecard read 4-3 in the favour of Ochigava.

Determined not to allow Ochigava the chance to continue dictating the pace, Taylor made early gains in the third, catching the Russian with her right hook twice in quick succession.

The Bray fighter followed that up with a left jab and a right hook that both looked like scoring before the Russian hit back with a powerful-looking body blow.

Both fighters got a well-earned breather with 30 seconds to go in the round as Ochigava’s equipment needed attention, and that break killed the momentum of the round, which Taylor was in danger of running away with.

Nevertheless there where huge cheers when the bell went and the scorecard showed that Taylor had punched her way to a 7-5 lead.

Trailing going into the final round, Ochigava finally left her counter-punching style behind her and opened the round with a massive haymaker that Taylor did well to avoid.

Taylor then went to work on the body of her opponent, before the referee rather harshly broke them up and indicated that she had called for a break.

Ochigava then looked to have scored with a left on the counter, and after a clinch, she appeared to catch Taylor with a booming right that forced a stumble. To her credit Taylor recovered immediately and disguised it as a slip and there was no standing count.

An increasingly desperate Ochigava pushed forward in the closing minute, throwing as many punches as she had in the first two rounds, and even Taylor was working well behind her defence and blocking well, she was still getting caught.

Taylor hit back with a scoring left just before the closing bell, but there was still an almost unbearable wait and what seemed to be a prolonged delay, sparking concerns that it may have been a countback, before the referee raised her hand to send the crowd in attendance and those watching at home into rapture.

Sore loser Ochigava points finger at judge’s after her loss to Katie Taylor

    

Defeated Olympic finalist Sofya Ochigava was less than impressed by the manner of her 10-8 loss to newly-crowned champion Katie Taylor this afternoon and reiterated claims of a conspiracy this evening.

The Russian lightweight, who yesterday claimed the judges would favour Taylor in the second women’s final of the day, said today that as far as she was concerned it was the same old story.

“As usual they tried their best to let the Irish win,” she told reporters, “the judges as usual corrected the scores in her favour just as they did during the world championships to let Katie win,” Ochigava told reporters through a translator. “What can I say now?”

  Jimmy McGee at ringside giving the viewers and listeners the true picture.

It was third time in four meetings Taylor has beaten Ochigava, but the Wicklow woman, gracious in victory, said it was a close run thing and revealed she feared a countback. The result took so long to arrive after four punishing rounds at the ExCel Arena, Taylor admitted afterwards she had no idea which way the decision had gone.

“I didn’t know to be honest,” said the five-time world champion. “The last round was very close. She caught me with a few shots and I caught her with a few shots as well, but I didn’t know what way the score-line went really.

“There was a bit of a delay near the end and I thought it had gone to a countback at one stage, and I was thinking that maybe if it went to a countback I wouldn’t have won because I think maybe she threw more punches than me. But I definitely thought I landed the cleaner punches.”

The boxers could not be separated after the first and the Russian went in one point ahead after the second, but Taylor insisted that she wasn’t concerned at that stage, before coming out to win the third 4-1 for 7-5 lead before the final round was scored level at 3-3.

“It was only one punch, only one point,” she said of the deficit after round two. “The last thing you do in that situation is panic because she’s a good counter-puncher and if you start panicking that’s when she’ll pick you off. I just had to stay calm all the way throughout the fight. It’s just a point really. You can easily get that back.”

She was calm then, but not before the fight, when she was unable to eat because of “knot” in her gut.

“I was so nervous all day really. It’s the most nervous I’ve ever been for a fight naturally enough. I had a knot in my stomach all day but I tried to stay calm and composed throughout the whole day and tried to relax but it was hard to relax. I couldn’t even eat all day to be honest.

“I was so nervous but when I got in there it was just like any other contest except for the crowd, it was amazing.”

A devout Christian, Taylor insisted the journey to this stage of a remarkable career could not have been accomplished alone.

“I dreamt of this moment so many times before and now I just can’t believe the grace of God in my life right now,” she told RTÉ. “I just want to thank everyone for all their prayers. I said it yesterday, as well, with all the prayers over the last week. I’d be nothing without God.

“I’m here because of the grace of God in my life and because of Jesus in my life and without him I’d be nothing really. So praise God, thank you Jesus for such a great victory today.”

The weekly incomes of elderly people in Ireland down by 6% 

   

The average weekly incomes of elderly people in Ireland fell by 6% between 2009 and 2010. 

The average weekly incomes of elderly people fell by 6 per cent – or €25.63 – between 2009 and 2010, according to figures from the Central Statistics Office.

In 2009, the average weekly income of an elderly person – those aged over 65 – was €428.86, which fell to €403.23 in 2010.

This reversed an upward trend from 2004 when average weekly income was €289.06, according to the findings in a CSO thematic report on the elderly for the three years 2004, 2009 and 2010.

The Survey on Income and Living Conditions also reported the proportion of income coming from social transfers or welfare payments increased by almost 7 per cent from 56.8 per cent in 2004 to 63.4 per cent in 2010.

Earnings fell as a proportion of average income from 24.1 per cent in 2004 to 18.3 per cent in 2009 and to 12.7 per cent in 2010.

The report also noted the “at risk of poverty” rate for the elderly in 2010 was 9.6 per cent, the same as the previous year and a significant reduction compared to 2004 when those at risk of poverty represented 27.1 per cent of the elderly population.

Those in “enforced deprivation” – at 9.3 per cent of those over 65 – showed no significant change in 2010 from 2009 or 2004.

Enforced deprivation is defined as living in a household deprived of two or more of 11 indicators, which include having to go without heat during the last year because of lack of money; not having two pairs of strong shoes; and in terms of nutrition, not having a roast joint or its equivalent at least once a week.

The 22-page report said “in general, elderly people tend to experience lower levels of enforced deprivation than other groups in society”.

The report’s figures show almost 55 per cent of the elderly in 2010 were female. Just over 7 per cent were still working while just under 7 per cent had third level qualifications or higher.

Almost 56 per cent of those surveyed were married, almost 88 per cent lived in their own home and more than one third lived alone. A majority, almost 55 per cent, lived in an urban area in 2010.

In that year, almost 56 per cent of the elderly said they suffered from a chronic illness while almost 7 per cent said they had bad or very bad health.

Just over 43 per cent had private medical insurance in 2010 compared to 33.5 per cent six years earlier.

Republic of Ireland abandoning religion faster than almost all other countries

   

The Republic of Ireland is abandoning religion faster than almost every other country worldwide, a massive global survey on faith reveals.

Only Vietnam has seen a bigger drop in people declaring themselves to be religious over the past seven years, a period when the Catholic Church in Ireland has been rocked by sex-abuse scandals and a crisis of leadership.

Red C interviewed more than 51,000 people worldwide, including just over 1,000 people in the Republic.

An overwhelming 69% of Irish people declared themselves to be “a religious person” in the last survey conducted in 2005, but this has now plummeted to 47%.

Last night the Archbishop of Dublin, Diarmuid Martin, said the results of the global index required “closer critical reading” but he acknowledged that it highlighted the challenges facing the Catholic faith in a changing Ireland.

“The Catholic Church, on its part, cannot simply presume that the faith will automatically be passed from one generation to the next or be lived to the full by its own members,” he said last night.

There was a need for strong ongoing education in the faith, he said, with a growing need for adult religious education to stop people drifting from the faith as they got older.

Meanwhile, a spokesman for the Catholic Communications Office said faith was not a “numbers game”.

And it said the latest survey contrasted sharply with last year’s census in the Republic, which found that 84% described themselves as Catholic, and just 5% said they had no religion.

But according to the latest research, the Republic is now in the top 10 for the number of people declaring themselves to be “a convinced atheist”.

Although this is still a minority group at 10%, it puts the country high in the global league table, and is a stark rise from 3% seven years ago.

The poll asked people, irrespective of whether they attended a place of worship, if they considered themselves to be religious, not religious, or an atheist.

However, the nature of the question may have affected the results — something the pollsters themselves admit.

They said that while there had been a 9% drop globally in the number describing themselves as “religious”, most people still felt part of the faith they grew up in.

However, it will still come as a blow to the Catholic Church in Ireland, and is the second survey in recent months to show massive alienation among the population.

A survey in February by market research group Amarach found the public at odds with the church hierarchy on a range of issues, including women clergy and married priests.

That survey, which questioned more than 1,000 Irish Catholics, found that 77% believed women should be ordained.

Nine out of 10 said priests should be able to marry. It also revealed just 35% went to church on a weekly basis.

However nothing has been done to address the crisis in the church in the six months since the Amarach survey was carried out.

The Catholic Communications Office was asked what actions had been taken by the bishops since the survey was published.

But a spokesman declined to comment, saying the study had been commissioned by the Association of Catholic Priests, a group of 800 clerics who are critical of the hierarchy.

Asked about the new Red C poll, the spokesman queried the language used by the poll.

“The word ‘religious’, if left unqualified, is too general to be used as the keyword in a survey questionnaire — especially in the Irish context — where people prefer words such as ‘spiritual’. Being ‘religious’ is a very subjective measurement,” said a spokesman.

“For example, in the Catholic Church, someone who attends Mass on a daily basis may not describe themselves as ‘religious’, yet they are outwardly a person of deep faith.”

Fr Brendan Hoban, a spokesman for the ACP, said the Red C results were “predictable enough” given the fall-off in Mass attendance and the drop in interest in the Catholic Church in recent years.

However, he said Irish Catholic numbers were “holding up markedly” and pointed to the Census figures and the 35% attending Mass on a weekly basis.

He suggested that the Catholic Church was “almost traumatised” by the scandals of the last 10 to 15 years, and this was affecting its ability to take steps to address declining religious observation.

“It’s so difficult for the bishops to provide leadership because, on the one hand, if they speak out, they are criticised, and if they don’t speak out, they are also criticised.”

Meanwhile, Michael Nugent of Atheism Ireland said the Red C poll showed people were rejecting the idea that atheism was an “extreme position”.

He said the figure of 10% of the population being atheists could be an under-estimation, as there were still people who did not believe in a God, but disliked the “atheist” label.

The Red C global poll also found that the richer you got, the less religious you defined yourself. Religiosity was higher among the poor, with people in the bottom-income groups 17% more religious than those in the top-earning groups.

NUIG University Galway launches a new dedicated student hotline

  

NUIG Galway is to open a dedicated hotline for first year students.

This will be the third year that the college has run the service, which is open to students, their parents and their advisers. It will run from Wed 15 August to Friday 28 September.

The initiative, which was launched in summer 2010 and was the first of its kind across the sector, has been specially designed to help incoming first year students make the transition to third level education.

With NUI Galway anticipating an intake of over 3,200 new students in September, a team of specially trained students will service the hotline Monday to Friday from 9am to 6pm, and Saturday 18 and 25 August from 10am to 1pm.

The availability of the hotline coincides with the period of frantic activity and decision making that immediately follows the release of the Leaving Certificate results.

The hotline will be active throughout first year orientation on 8 and 9 September and will remain in service for two weeks after lectures begin on 10 September, providing students with a place to direct any conceivable query they encounter as they embark on their journey to NUI Galway.

The hotline team will provide an efficient, responsive service to callers and are expected to deal with numerous issues that are of concern to incoming first year students. Anticipated queries include points requirements for courses, first round offers, registering as a student of the University, start dates, fees and accommodation options.

A designated website for first years will also be updated on a daily basis detailing the information sought and fed through the new hotline. It will be a portal of specific information aimed at demystifying the first few weeks of university life.

“For every young person, the transition from second-level to third-level education represents a significant life-change, and whilst this is an exciting time, navigating your way through the change can sometimes be daunting,” said Stephen O’Dea, Admissions Officer at NUI Galway.

“The First Year Student Hotline has been set up therefore to provide information, guidance and support to all individuals involved in the transition process and we invite students, parents and advisors to avail of this service to make the passage to NUI Galway as smooth as possible.”