Donie's Ireland news BLOG on Thursday

Emigration exodus of 300,000 people from Ireland in the past four years  

A nyc of Irl SURVEY SHOWS

  

Over 300,000 people have emigrated in the last four years. 

Over one quarter of Irish households have seen a close family member emigrate in the past two years, according to a survey commissioned by the National Youth Council of Ireland. 

Half of those aged between 18 and 24 have considered emigrating. 

Four out of ten adults aged between 25 and 34 have also considered leaving the country.

The survey is part of a new report on emigration and its impact on young people. 

It suggests that emigration is not just a matter for the country’s youth, as over one quarter of those aged between 35 and 54 have also considered moving abroad.

One in ten Irish people had seen a close family member emigrate and had considered doing the same thing themselves.

In the past four years, over 300,000 people have emigrated from Ireland; 40% were aged between 15 and 24.

The NYCI, an umbrella body which represents over 50 youth organisations around the country, is calling for the Government to develop and implement a strategy for Irish emigrants.

It also wants to see the appointment of a dedicated minister with responsibility for emigration policy and for the Irish abroad.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Deputy Director of the National Youth Council of Ireland James Doorley said that many young Irish people emigrating to Australia, Canada and elsewhere faced issues when they arrived in a new country such as accessing health services or looking for work. 

Mr Doorley said that the experience of emigration for many young Irish people was often positive but there was a need for a Government strategy to assist those who struggled after emigrating.

The survey also shows that most young Irish people intended to return home to Ireland after five years abroad. 

Mr Doorley said that some young people travel to Canada with enough money in savings to support themselves financially for one month without realising that it can take six months to get a job.

He said in other destinations people struggle with loneliness and other issues. 

He said the NYCI wanted the Government to engage with young Irish people abroad who may be having difficulties adapting to their new homes.

NUI Galway nominated among the world’s top universities

  

Academics and employers gathered to announce the world’s top universities in 30 individual disciplines as part of the 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject.

NUI Galway, along with eight other Irish institutions appeared on the list of the world’s top 200 universities. And considering that some 678 third level education facilities were ranked in total, Galway’s overall positioning should boost its credentials as a university worth attending. 

The subject area ranking, which covers mathematics, economics, history, environmental sciences, and 25 other distinctions, is based on last year’s rankings data. NUI Galway featured in five of the 30 subjects including English language and literture (151 – 200), history (101 – 150), computer science and info systems (101 – 150), pharmacy and pharmacology (151 – 200), and law (151 – 200)

Speaking of the announcement, president of NUI Galway, Dr Jim Browne, said: “This is very good news for NUI Galway as the QS World University Rankings by Subject series takes into the account the opinion of academics and employers via a global survey confirming that our position globally is on the rise.

We operate in a global market, competing for students and research support on an international playing field, and this international recognition of the quality of our research and teaching from academic and employer opinions around the world are very significant.” 

Now in its third year, The QS World University Rankings by Subject series is the only internationally approved evaluation that allows prospective students to compare universities in their particular area of interest.

The 2013 QS World University Rankings by Subject evaluated 2,858 universities and ranked 678 institutions in total. 

Ireland’s headline inflation rate remained flat last month just as it did twelve months ago, according to new data from the (CSO). Inflation as measured by the consumer price index was 0.5 per cent on an annual basis.

The CSO data shows the most significant annual price increases were in increases in alcoholic beverages & tobacco (+5.3 per cent), education (+4.8 per cent) and miscellaneous goods & services (+2.5 per cent). There were decreases in communications (-4.6 per cent), furnishings, household equipment & routine household maintenance (-3.4 per cent) and clothing & footwear (-1.8 per cent).

Irish rate of inflation continued to fall for April 

 

Services saw inflation of 1.7% but price of goods fell by 1%

The annual rate of inflation for services was 1.7 per cent to the end of April although the price of goods decreased by 1.0 per cent. When mortgage interest repayments are stripped out services increased by 2.5 per cent in the year since April 2012.

Isme, the Irish Small and Medium Enterprises Association, warned the Government against complacency over the figures which it said masked real increased government costs.

“If we are serious about making the transition from a reliance on domestic demand to a sustainable export-led growth, we must bring all of our costs in line with our trading partners,” said ISME chief executive, Mark Fielding.

“The reality, from a business viewpoint, is that state cost increases, in particular, utility costs, local authority rates and charges continue to negatively impact businesses, who themselves have cut their manageable costs to the bone.”

€1.4m Illegal cigarettes seized in Galway and Louth

 

400kg of tobacco and counterfeit vodka also discovered by gardaí and Revenue officials

Black market cigarettes and tobacco valued at more than €1.5 million have been seized in counties Galway and Louth.

A search by Revenue customs officials at a commercial property in Athenry, Co Galway yesterday yielded a haul of some 2 million Benson & Hedges brand cigarettes, which were valued at €950,000.

The cigarettes were brought into the State from Belgium through Dublin Port, Revenue said.

Separately, gardaí and Revenue officials discovered a haul of 1.2 million cigarettes, valued at €550,000, and 400kg of tobacco, valued at €180,000, during a search of a property at Faughart near Dundalk. Counterfeit vodka was also discovered during the search.

Nobody has been arrested in connection with the hauls, which Revenue said if sold on the black market would have resulted in a loss of more than €1.3 million to the exchequer.

Genetic Test Helps Predict Risk of Prostate Cancer Recurrence

   

Prostate cancer ranks as the most common internal malignancy diagnosed in men in the United States, but often does not require extensive treatment.

A study using tissue samples from men who underwent surgical removal of the prostate at UC San Francisco confirmed that a genetic test that measures cell cycle progression (CCP) — an indicator of how rapidly cancer cells are growing and dividing — can be a useful tool for predicting who will have a recurrence of the disease, especially when combined with existing information from laboratory and pathology tests.

The CCP score provides a biomarker that eventually might help guide decisions about whether to pursue additional treatment after surgery, such as radiation therapy.

The study, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology (2013 Apr 10;31(11):1428-34), used the UCSF Urologic Oncology Database to access tissue samples and medical records from men who had undergone prostatectomy at UCSF and been followed for at least five years after surgery.

A commercial laboratory operated by Myriad Genetics, the company that developed the test, conducted genetic analysis of the tissue samples to determine a CCP score in 413 patients. The researchers at UCSF then examined how well the CCP score predicted which men had a recurrence of their disease after surgery.

The CCP score was also evaluated with another validated predictive score, the Cancer of the Prostate Risk Assessment post-surgery score (CAPRA-S). The CAPRA-S score is based on preoperative PSA levels and information gleaned from surgery, including how much the tumor has invaded tissues surrounding the prostate and how aggressive he cancer cells look when examined under a microscope.

Investigators found that the CAPRA-S and CCP together they were more useful than either alone, and that adding the CCP was especially helpful in men who appeared to have low-risk disease based on the CAPRA-S score alone.

In addition to the 413 patients in the UCSF group, the researchers also looked at the predictive results of the CCP combined with the CAPRA-S in a group of patients previously studied at the Scott and White Clinic in Georgetown, TX, for whom longer-term follow-up was available. The combination of the CCP and CAPRA-S again accurately predicted recurrence in this group.

“One of the big challenges in prostate cancer is knowing when and how aggressively to treat patients,” said Matthew R. Cooperberg, MD, MPH, lead author of the study. “Biomarkers such as the CCP can provide valuable data to guide treatment decisions.”

The UCSF Urology Department is currently running additional studies with the CCP score, as well as other promising biomarkers and imaging tests, in men who have not undergone surgery or other treatments.

“Our hope is that these tests will help more men with low-risk prostate cancer avoid unnecessary treatment, while ensuring that those with more aggressive cancers do not miss the window of opportunity for cure,” said Cooperberg.

This research was funded by Myriad Genetics and by grants from the Department of Defense and National Cancer Institute.

Southampton scientists climb Everest for study

 

SCIENTISTS AND MEDICAL STAFF FROM SOUTHAMPTON ARE TACKLING ONE OF THE HARSHEST ENVIRONMENTS IN THE WORLD TO STUDY THE IMPACT OF LOW OXYGEN LEVELS ON THE HUMAN BODY.

The University of Southampton team has travelled to Nepal to carry out vital research into hypoxia – which is a common problem for patients in intensive care.

They are climbing to base camp of Mount Everest.

The scientists hope the expedition will give them a better understanding of why the condition can lead to death.

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Irish Government loses €1.5m a day on illegal cigarettes

 

Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee estimates that the Irish Government is loosing something like €1.5 million every day to illegal cigarette sales.

“Criminals are winning hands down” in the Government’s fight against illegal cigarette sales, a tobacco industry lobby group says.

It says that budget tax hikes on cigarettes will only serve to drive up criminal activity.

Figures released by the Irish Tobacco Manufacturers Advisory Committee (ITMAC) estimates that the Government is losing €1.5 million every day to illegal cigarette sales.

They estimate that while criminals are earning over €640,000 daily from sales of illegal tobacco, the annual loss to the Government in VAT and excise is €580 million.

Compiling the figures from CSO and EU Eurobarometer statistics, ITMAC estimates that over 1.6 billion cigarettes smoked in Ireland this year will be non-Irish duty paid. It says that by the end of 2012, this will mean a loss to the economy of over €730 million.

The number of cigarettes smoked in Ireland on which duty is not paid to the Government is also increasing according to ITMAC. Following VAT and excise hikes in last year’s budget which brought the cost of a packet of cigarettes to over €9, the rate of cigarettes on which duty is not paid here rose from 24.5 per cent in 2011 to 28.2 per cent this year.

ITMAC estimates that of the 28.2 per cent non-Irish duty paid tobacco consumed in Ireland; approximately 18.4 per cent is now illegal. Criminals will net over €230 million this year or €640,000 day from illegal tobacco trade, the group says.

With days to go before the budget, the tobacco lobby group claims that by raising the cost of cigarettes, the government has neither deterred smoking nor increased revenue.

Medicinal cannabis could be here next year in Ireland

  

Although the legalisation of recreational cannabis is certainly not on the horizon in Ireland, and won’t be any time soon, medicinal cannabis could be available as soon as next year.

Current law rules out even medicinal cannabis, except for research, but the Government has a different attitude to its predecessor, when Mary Harney was reluctant to loosen any kind of controls.

Now-resigned junior health minister Róisín Shortall last year said she was examining proposals to make cannabis-based medicines available.

That seems to be proceeding, with the Irish Medicines Board receiving a request from a manufacturer looking for permission to sell medicines containing cannabis.

A spokesperson told the Weekend Review: “Department officials have been engaging with experts on how best to legally describe authorised cannabis-based medicinal products while maintaining existing controls on cannabis and cannabis substances to enable such authorised medicinal products to be prescribed in Ireland and used by patients.

“While it is not possible to set out an exact time frame, it is hoped to bring forward legislative proposals in early 2013,” the statement added.

Euro-zone jobless figures hit a new record high of 19 million

  

Around 19 million people in the eurozone are without jobs.

Unemployment rates in the eurozone have risen to the highest level since the Euro currency began, and there are warnings the situation could get worse.

The jobless rate in the 17 nations that use the Euro currency rose to 11.7 per cent in October, up from 10.4 per cent last year.

It is the 14th consecutive monthly record since September 2011 when unemployment hit 10.3 per cent.

Around 19 million people are without jobs.

The highest rate was recorded again in Spain, where 26.2 per cent of adults are out of work.

Austria posted the lowest rate at 4.3 per cent while Germany and the Netherlands were at 5.4 and 5.5 per cent respectively.

Katinka Barysch from the Centre for European Reform says there is no one-size-fits-all-solution to the jobs crisis.

“Unemployment among young people has always been higher than general joblessness but the economic crisis has widened the gap further,” she said.

“Many measures will not bite until growth returns.”

Some experts predict the region’s unemployment will get worst next year with the financial crisis unlikely to improve in Spain and Greece.

The head of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, has conceded the single currency is unlikely to improve until the second half of next year.

The latest unemployment numbers coincide with a fall in inflation, leaving the possibility of the Central Bank introducing further measures to boost the economy

A low carbon future is the one we all Globally have to fight for

  

United Nations  negotiations in Doha are just a sideshow. The real climate change battle is being staged elsewhere.

A wind farm near Dessau in Germany, a country that is leading the drive towards de-carbonisation.

An innocent observer could be forgiven for thinking that the United Nations climate talks, now hotting up in the Qatar capital of Doha, would be the focus of the international fight to combat global warming. But the innocent observer would be wrong. There is indeed a battle going on, one that will determine the planet’s future, but it is not between the negotiators finding new ways to disagree over the implementation of decisions they have already made.

The battle is being waged in energy and finance ministries around the world, and in the boardrooms of energy companies and their bankers. It is the battle between a high-carbon and a low-carbon energy future. And the outcome is unclear.

On the one hand, global investment in renewable technologies, particularly wind and solar, has been racing ahead: for the past three years it has exceeded investment in generation from fossil fuels. Last year, fully 70% of all European power investment was in renewables.

Leading Europe’s drive towards decarbonisation is Germany, whose national “energy transition” will reduce emissions by 40% by 2020 and by 80% by 2050 without use of nuclear power – using renewables and energy efficiency alone. Meanwhile, China has become the world’s largest producer of both wind and solar power. In California, South Korea and Australia new emissions-trading schemes have recently put a price on carbon.

Yet at the same time the world is also going in the opposite direction. More coal – the dirtiest fossil fuel – was used to produce electricity last year than for 40 years. As the International Energy Agency warned this month, this is driving up global carbon emissions, which rose by an alarming 3% in 2011.

Coal burning now represents almost a third of all power generation; it is rising even in Europe, as the economic slump slashes the carbon price. And there is more to come: the World Resources Institute reports that globally no fewer than 1,200 new coal plants are currently proposed, two-thirds of them in India and China. Meanwhile, Canada leads the countries exploiting highly carbon-polluting tar sands, and the oil majors eye up the Arctic for new oil.

The environmental movement has tried hard to explain climate change in terms of emission trends, targets and international treaties. But as the British thinktank Carbon Tracker has pointed out, it’s really just simple maths. If the world is to limit global warming to 2C, it must keep greenhouse gases in the atmosphere to under 450 parts per million. We are currently at 392, and rising fast. To have a good (80%) chance of staying within the 2C limit, that means the world can emit only another 565 gigatonnes of carbon dioxide. But global fossil fuel reserves are much bigger than that, equivalent to 2,795 gigatonnes, or five times the safe amount.

In other words, we can only avoid devastating climate change if we keep most of the world’s fossil fuels, including almost all of its coal, in the ground.

Is that possible? Can we deliberately forgo using our most precious resource – the fuels that have powered 200 years of industrialisation – for the sake of future generations?

It is absolutely possible. The stone age did not end because we ran out of stone. We know how to produce energy without carbon emissions – through renewables, geothermal and nuclear power and much greater energy efficiency.

The variable supply of renewables needs to be overcome through interconnected smart grids that ensure that electricity can flow from wherever it is being generated to wherever it is needed, with demand adjusted to supply. Gas (the least emitting fossil fuel) can provide baseload capacity, as long as it is located where carbon capture and storage technology can in due course be applied.

Creating a decarbonised energy system of this kind will not be cheap. But there is no energy future that is cheap. Over the past few years the US has experienced a glut of shale gas that has reduced its price dramatically – and by displacing coal, cut US emissions. But in Europe it is unlikely that shale gas can be extracted cheaply; fierce competition as global demand rises will force its price up.

As the Confederation of British Industry warned when George Osborne suggested that the UK should embark on a new “dash for gas”, a fossil-dependent future would leave the economy highly vulnerable to volatile energy prices. The huge advantage of renewables is that, once built, they provide free energy not subject to geopolitical insecurities.

So the war that has been raging within the British cabinet over energy policy in recent weeks is not just some local political spat. It is an expression of a much larger global battle. The EU must choose whether to bolster its carbon price and commit to a 2030 renewables target, or see its green technology industries beaten in global markets.

President Barack Obama can fulfil the promises he made on entering office to set America on a clean energy course, or give in to the powerful fossil fuel lobbies. Most of all, China – now the world’s biggest carbon emitter – must decide whether to shift towards gas or to maintain its dependence on imported coal.

There are business forces lined up on both sides of this global battle. Counterposed to the fossil fuel industries are the environmental sectors that benefit from climate policy – now a $4tn industry that is sustaining a large number of jobs and growth. The CBI has come out in favour of a 2030 decarbonisation target, and this is a sure sign of shifting economic power.

For the UN negotiators in Qatar, this year’s talks are just the skirmishes before the key date of 2015, when a new global agreement must be achieved. Between now and then we will know if the world’s governments are committing to a low carbon future of tolerable safety, or condemning us to a high-carbon one, and to the catastrophic climate change it will bring.

Pharmacy queen & Bundoran business woman Ramona to inject new life into Dragons’ Den

  

Glamorous Ramona Nicholas known as a ‘Mother Teresa in Louboutins’ is to be the sexy new ‘Dragon’ in the RTE television series.

The 35-year-old behind the 12-strong chain of Cara Pharmacies has been recruited to follow in the footsteps of Sarah Newman and Norah Casey as one of the four business people in the new series of Dragons’ Den.

As the latest series prepares to go into production, businessman and media guru Gavin Duffy is now the “last Dragon standing” from the original show. It is expected that another wealthy Irish businessman from the Irish “diaspora” will be announced as the fourth Dragon in the coming weeks.

Coffee king Bobby Kerr and Black Tie owner Niall O’Farrell told the producers of the show, ShinAwil Productions some months ago that they would be leaving, and publisher Norah Casey announced last week that she would not be taking part in the 2013 series.

“I got a shock,” said Gavin Duffy last week, “and while the timing was late, four weeks before recording, I fully agree with Norah’s decision.”

He said that with all her commitments, “something had to give”. Nicholas, who lives in Bundoran, Co Donegal, with her husband Canice, and owns the Cara chain of pharmacies has cut her television teeth with an episode of The Secret Millionaire where she helped people with alcohol and drug addiction in Galway.

Originally from Dungannon, Co Tyrone, she is the daughter of a plumber and a schoolteacher and after studying pharmacy in Queen’s University she worked in the Dublin chemist shop, learning a lot about business and life.

“I had a very negative attitude to certain problems like alcoholism and drug addiction – when I was 21 I worked as a pharmacist in Coolock (Dublin) and put myself in some situations I probably shouldn’t have, becoming the confidante of a drug addict,” she told the Sunday Independent.

Duffy added: “One of the challenges doing Dragon’s Den is when the cameras stop rolling in the Den, only then does the real work start for a Dragon. Helping startups achieve their potential in the mother of all recessions is no easy work.”

Three young people in critical condition following Mayo 3 car crash

  

Three young people are in a critical condition in hospital – following a three car crash in Co. Mayo.

The collision occurred earlier this evening on the N17 Galway/Sligo Road at the Kiltamagh Junction.

Two men in their 20s and a 16-year-old girl in one of the cars were taken to Mayo General Hospital in Castlebar – where their conditions are described as critical.

A man in his 70s who was driving the second car was also taken to Mayo General – and a woman in her 60s who was driving the third car was taken to hospital in Galway.

However, their injuries are not believed to be life threatening. 

The road is currently closed while Gardaí carry out a forensic examination of the scene – diversions are in place.