Donie's news Ireland daily BLOG

Irish Banks to face finance committee over mortgage crisis

 

THE LABOUR PARTY CHAIRMAN OF THE COMMITTEE, CIARAN LYNCH, SAID CHIEF EXECUTIVES COULD HELP SHINE A SPOTLIGHT ON SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS TO THE MORTGAGE CRISIS

The State’s four leading banks will have to explain just how they are tackling the mortgage debt crisis and offering people long-term and sustainable solutions to their debts when their executives appear before the Oireachtas Finance Committee starting today .

The Labour Party chairman of the committee, Ciaran Lynch, said last night that the appearance of chief executives of AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB before the committee would help shine a spotlight on sustainable, long-term solutions to the mortgage crisis.

The first senior executive to appear before the committee will be AIB’s chief executive David Duffy. Bank of Ireland and Ulster Bank executives will be questioned tomorrow, while Permanent TSB will appear at the committee on Thursday.

“A key focus will be finding sustainable, long-term solutions to the mortgage crisis and measures to ease the burden on struggling homeowners and distressed borrowers,” Mr Lynch said.

Specific targets
He pointed out that when the banks last appeared before the committee “there were no specific targets in place to provide solutions for homeowners in arrears. Those targets are now in place and, more specifically, we will consider how AIB is meeting its targets and ensuring that there is a consistency of approach in dealing with distressed borrowers.”

Ahead of the hearings, Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath criticised the banks’ piecemeal approach to the mortgage crisis as a “huge drag on the economy” that “is causing enormous distress for thousands of families across the country”.

Ireland’s Junior doctors vote overwhelmingly to go on strike

 

Industrial action in Irish hospitals likely within weeks after 97% vote by NCHDs

Ireland’s junior doctors have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action over their campaign to reduce “dangerously long” working hours.

Junior doctors have voted overwhelmingly to take industrial action over their campaign to reduce “dangerously long” working hours.

Some 97% of the 1,000 non-consultant hospital doctors (NCHDs) who voted on the proposed and favoured industrial action, according to the result of the ballot released by the Irish Medical Organisation (IMO) this evening. Some 56 per cent of junior doctors voted in the postal ballot.

It said a special meeting of the organisation’s NCHD committee would take place tomorrow to decide on the next steps in their campaign. A meeting of the IMO Council will also be held tomorrow at which formal approval for the campaign of industrial action will be sought.

Eric Young, the IMO’s assistant director of industrial relations, described the ballot result as unambiguous.

“Doctors are worried and angry. The concerns which they highlighted about the danger posed to hospital patients and to themselves continue to be ignored and there is now a strong appetite to step up the campaign to force the HSE and the Department of Health to do what everyone knows must be done – implement the European Working Time Directive and stop the dangerous and cruel exploitation of NCHDs in Irish hospitals.”

Mr Young criticised Minister for Health James Reilly, who has said he sympathises with the plight of NCHDs.

“When you read his comments in support of NCHDs, you’d think he was still president of the IMO. But he’s the Minister for Health now and he can fix this chaotic situation with the stroke of a pen, but he won’t do it.”

The IMO and the HSE have agreed to meet on Wednesday in relation to contingency plans for industrial action. Major disruption to hospital services is expected in the event of industrial action, with only emergency services certain to be unaffected. The IMO is expected to give three weeks’notice of any action.

The junior doctors are seeking an immediate end to shifts in excess of 24 hours and agreement for a planned move to compliance with the European directive by the end of next year.

John Perry’s credibility badly damaged after Danske Bank ruling against him

 

A last-minute debt restructuring deal with Danske Bank provides a lifeline to John Perry, who faced the prospect of financial and political ruin when the bank secured judgment for €2.47 million against him and his wife Marie in July.

Perry has won time with the agreement but his standing as minister of state has been severely undermined. He retains the support of Taoiseach Enda Kenny but serious questions remain as to whether he can credibly continue in Government in command of the small business portfolio.

The junior Minister’s statement last evening disclosed little enough about the new arrangement with Danske, with which he has been in prolonged and difficult talks over unpaid debts since the start of 2012.

The agreement is understood to involve assets disposal and longer loan maturities but the debt itself is not settled. A Commercial Court judgment against him remains in place, as does a bank-appointed receiver.

Perry will still have to work hard to uphold his side of the bargain, something he was unable to do in the face of a torrent of Dankse pressure when his finances veered out of control not long after he took office.

In many respects, the embattled Minister has met difficulties similar to those confronted by thousands of small business owners and mortgage holders.

Now that he has reached agreement with his bank, the hope must that he can indeed overcome his troubles and establish order in his affairs. That is only reasonable.

In political terms, however, Perry emerges badly from this affair. Court records show he used his formal ministerial title in correspondence with Danske on his private difficulties. Not only that, but he borrowed from the State-owned Allied Irish Banks to meet certain business liabilities and borrowed from the State-supported Bank of Ireland to meet a big tax bill.

Perry’s statement says all his tax affairs have been and remain up to date – but can he seriously exercise any political authority in exchanges with the banks on small business matters? Hardly.

Further nagging questions arise in relation to the code of conduct for office holders.

His increasingly fraught engagement with Danske is set out in court exhibits and it is fair to assume he spent the summer trying to reach an agreement with Danske.

Still, the official code of conduct says an office-holder “should not carry on a professional practice while in office”. It goes on to say they “may make arrangements for the maintenance of a practice until such time as s/he ceases to be an office-holder and returns to the practice”.

The code also says office-holders “should not take any part in the decision-making or management of the affairs of a company or practice and should dispose of, or otherwise set aside for the time being, any financial interests which might conflict, or be seen to conflict, with their position as an officeholder”.

Perry has never answered how he reconciles his dealings with Danske with his obligations under the code. He retains Kenny’s support but his ministerial stock has been laid very low indeed.

Enda Kenny has yet to respond to Stephanie's letter on Priory Hall suicide dad

 

Enda Kenny has not responded to the heartbreaking letter from Priory Hall resident Stephanie Meehan (above with her two children) four days after she made it public.

There has been an outcry since Stephanie allowed the letter, which she wrote in the wake of her partner Fiachra Daly’s suicide, to be published.

In the letter, she told the Taoiseach how banks were putting them under pressure on their mortgage in the days before Fiachra took his own life in July.

Stephanie told how her life, and the lives of her two children, will never be the same again.

She said Fiachra (37) had ended his life because of the stress and worry over the fire-trap homes from which they were evacuated, along with nearly 300 other families, in 2011.

Pleading for action on the blight of Priory Hall, Stephanie asked the Taoiseach to act.

“What will it take now for someone to listen and act on something that should’ve been dealt with two years ago and saved a lot of taxpayers money and, most of all, saved a life?” she said.

But asked if she had received a reply from the Taoiseach’s office since she sent her letter, Stephanie said she had got nothing “apart from an automated response”. Stephanie made her letter public last Thursday afternoon, and received a wave of support from people all over the country after they read how banks had sent demands for arrears payments and forms to be signed just days before Fiachra took his life.

RESPONSE

She is now set to appear on the Late Late Show in the coming weeks to talk about her life since the family were evacuated from Priory Hall in October 2011.

The Herald contacted the Department of An Taoiseach for a response to Stephanie’s letter, but was told that no statement would be made on it.

HIGH-POTENCY STATIN drugs may help prevent dementia

  

HIGH-POTENCY STATINS SUCH AS ATORVASTATIN AND ROSUVASTATIN SHOWED A SIGNIFICANT INVERSE ASSOCIATION WITH DEVELOPING DEMENTIA
THE MOST COMMONLY PRESCRIBED CHOLESTEROL-LOWERING DRUGS MAY HELP PREVENT DEMENTIA WHILE ALSO REDUCING THE RISK OF DEVELOPING CATARACTS, NEW RESEARCH SUGGESTS.

A study of almost 58,000 Taiwanese people aged 65 and over who were followed up for four and a half years found that those taking the highest dosage of statin drugs had a lower risk of developing symptoms of pre-senile and senile dementia.

In comparison with a control group, the 5,500 participants who went on to develop dementia were less likely to have been prescribed a statin or had taken the drug in low dose.

Statin effects
Statins are widely used in older people and those with a previous history of cardiovascular disease to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.

However, in contrast to this latest research, some recent reports of statin-associated cognitive impairment have led the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to list statin-induced cognitive changes as a potential side effect.

Lead investigator Dr Tin-Tse Lin of the National University Hospital in Taipei told the European Society of Cardiology congress at the weekend that “patients who received the highest total equivalent doses of statins had a three-fold decrease in the risk of developing dementia”.

He added: “It was the potency of the statins . . . which was a major determinant in reducing dementia. High-potency statins such as atorvastatin and rosuvastatin showed a significant inverse association with developing dementia.”

Statins can cause side effects such as liver and muscle inflammation and are a common reason why patients stop taking their medication. Taking higher doses of statins may increase the risk of experiencing these side effects.

A Lowers risk of cataracts
Meanwhile, separate research from the US presented at the conference showed statin use was associated with a 19 per cent lower risk of developing cataracts compared with those who did not take them.

Earthlings are really Martians, says a new theory

  

Life on Earth was kick-started thanks to a key mineral deposited by a meteorite from Mars, according to a novel theory aired on Thursday.

The vital ingredient was an oxidised mineral form of the element molybdenum, which helped prevent carbon molecules — the building blocks of life — from degrading into a tar-like goo.

The idea comes from Steven Benner, a professor at the Westheimer Institute for Science and Technology in Gainesville, Florida, who was to present it at an international conference of geochemists in Florence, Italy.

“It’s only when molybdenum becomes highly oxidized that it is able to influence how early life formed,” Benner said in a press release.

“This form of molybdenum couldn’t have been available on Earth at the time life first began, because three billion years ago the surface of the Earth had very little oxygen, but Mars did.”

In this violent epoch of the Solar System, the infant Earth was pounded by comets and asteroids.

Mars, too, would have come under bombardment, and the impacts would have caused Martian rubble to bounce into space, where they would have lingered until eventually being captured by Earth’s gravity.

Recent analysis of a Martian meteorite showed the presence of molybdenum, as well as a boron, an element that would also have helped nurture life by helping to protect RNA — a primitive cousin to DNA — from the corrosive effects of water.

“The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians, that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock,” said Benner.

“It’s lucky that we ended up here nevertheless, as certainly Earth has been the better of the two planets for sustaining life. If our hypothetical Martian ancestors had remained on Mars, there might not have been a story to tell.”

Other theories about how life began on Earth suggest that water, the key ingredient, was brought by comets, famously dubbed “dirty snowballs,” which comprise ice and dust left from the building of the Solar System.

Another hypothesis, called panspermia, suggests bacteria hitched a ride on space rocks, splashing into Earth’s warm and welcoming sea.

Donie's Ireland news BLOG Wednesday

Irish Government promises to step up attempts to tackle mortgage crisis

  

Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore have promised that the Government will accelerate attempts to tackle the mortgage crisis.

Marking the Coalition’s second anniversary in office, they pledged to ensure that most families were offered sustainable solutions by next year.

They said they will make sure economic recovery does not bypass families affected by unemployment by making sure any new jobs go to those on the Live Register.

The leaders also maintained that the country will be exiting the International Monetary Fund-EU programme by continuing to reduce borrowing and debt.

During a news conference, Mr Kenny insisted that the Coalition is making serious progress in implementing the Programme for Government.

He said that two thirds of targets had been met and a sense of stability was returning.

The Taoiseach insisted that the jobs haemorrhage had been stopped and the private sector was once more creating employment.

Mr Gilmore said the Government was delivering on its promises.

   

He said the economy had returned to growth, credit had begun to flow again to small businesses and Troika targets had been met -making Ireland a success story in Europe.

The Tánaiste said more work needs to be done on youth unemployment.

However, he insisted that the Coalition parties were working well together and would run their full course.

He said when they had taken office there was only five months’ money left to pay for Government services.

No one was claiming outright victory, he said, but people could now be confident about the future.

Mr Kenny reiterated that the public sector would have to contribute €1bn of savings over the next three years.

He said people understood that these things have to be done in the public interest.

“It’s not nice, believe you me, as a politician to have to do it, but it’s necessary (and) in everybody’s interests that we sort out this problem.

“Irish people want to see the problem sorted.

“Unfortunately the alternative is to cut frontline services even more, and that’s not palatable and it’s not on”, he said.

Penalties loom if Irish people blunder on their property tax

  

Revenue Commissioner Chairman Josephine Feehily.

IRISH HOUSEHOLDERS WHO SECOND-GUESS REVENUE’S ESTIMATE OF THEIR PROPERTY TAX COULD BE SLAPPED WITH PENALTIES.

From next Monday, letters will be sent to the country’s 1.6 million householders giving them six options for paying the new property tax.

People who fail to respond by the end of June will face immediate interest penalties and will ultimately have their tax deducted from their salary, pension or social welfare payments.

The Revenue letters will provide an initial estimate of the value of each property but homeowners will still have the right to self-assess their own home value.

But they will ultimately be liable to penalties if they send back a valuation that the Revenue later decides is too low.

The letters will advise people on how to value their homes and how to calculate the amount of tax they owe.

Dublin city residents are likely to pay an average property tax of €405, compared to about €249 for their rural counterparts. The chairwoman of the Revenue commissioners, Josephine Feehily, briefed ministers yesterday about the operation of the new tax, which has caused concerns among Government backbenchers about a possible public backlash.

She expressed confidence that Revenue would get a compliance rate of 97pc when the system is up and running.

Ms Feehily told ministers that the Revenue letters will make it clear to householders that they must make a return by the end of June, indicating how they intend to pay.

Interest penalties of 8pc will apply to people who do not pay and the Revenue will be entitled to deduct the tax and the penalties at source from salaries, welfare payments or bank accounts.

Everyone who receives a letter from Revenue is required to make a return – whether or not they are liable for the tax.

However, it has emerged that about 65,000 people who are registered with the Revenue Online Service (ROS) will not be sent a physical letter, but will instead have to check their email for notification to visit their online revenue account – a move that has been criticised for adding to confusion around the new tax.

Minister Reilly wants a EU ban on flavoured cigarettes

        

AN EU BAN ON MENTHOL- AND VANILLA-FLAVOURED CIGARETTES WAS VITAL TO “DENORMALISE” SMOKING FOR YOUNGER PEOPLE, MINISTER FOR HEALTH JAMES REILLY HAS SAID.

Stylishly packaged cigarettes were a particular problem, he said yesterday following a two-day meeting of EU health ministers in Dublin. “That’s what they are trying to attract our children to, particularly young girls,” he said.

He said 700,000 European were dying each year and the tobacco industry was looking for people to replace them. “They are focusing on children,” he said.

Plan for ban: Ireland had prioritised a plan for a ban even if this hurt jobs in the tobacco industry in some countries. “We have to remember it should never be a case of jobs or lives,” he said.

He said the EU should help countries to “get out of tobacco production” and to develop other types of industry instead.

European health commissioner Tonio Borg also acknowledged there would be opposition to the proposed ban.

“It is natural in those countries where tobacco production is high there will be considerations other than health which will be put forward, to put it mildly,” he said.

The aim of the law was to prevent young people from starting smoking, said Mr Borg. “Tobacco products should look like tobacco products . . . and it should taste like tobacco,” he said.

It was hoped the effect would be a 2 per cent reduction in the number of smokers over five years in the EU. This would represent 2.4 million fewer smokers, he added.

Tobacco-producing states: Thirteen EU states produce tobacco, including Italy, which produces the biggest amount, followed by Bulgaria, Poland and Spain.

The ban would affect menthol cigarettes, which are sold in Ireland, and vanilla-flavoured cigarettes.

The Minister said he was hoping to win agreement from other health ministers on the directive during Ireland’s EU presidency. It would then be submitted to the European Parliament for approval. The aim was to have agreement on it by next year and to have it enforced by 2015 or 2016.

Mr Reilly said he supported a proposed law in Ireland banning smoking in cars carrying children under 16, adding it was a “child protection issue”.

The law could be enacted later this year. Since February 1st, all cigarettes sold in Ireland must carry graphic images and health warnings about the dangers of smoking.

HSE West hospitals rejects ‘junk food’ claims

   

HSE West has rejected claims that it is feeding patients in Galway hospitals and nursing homes a ‘diet of junk food’ as a result of cost containment measures.

It was reported on Monday that tender documents had revealed that sick and elderly patients under the care of the HSE were being fed a ‘high fat, low nutrition’ diet, containing a high volume of frozen chips, sausage rolls, chicken nuggets and processed pies containing just ten per cent meat.

The tender related to patients in Clare, Galway, Tipperary, Roscommon, Mayo, Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim and raised fears that the recent €9 million savings made by the HSE in relation to its food budget may have come at the cost of healthy nutrition for patients.

However, a spokesperson for HSE West refuted the claims, saying it had managed to achieve economies of scale across the food and supplies it purchased, while “still ensuring the highest quality of produce”.

“The tender referred to is the first time the HSE has gone to the market for a national contract seeking a supplier for a range of frozen goods. The approach taken is a ‘catch all’ to test the market for value on a wide-range of products. That is to say, not all products about which information is being sought as part of the tender process will form part of the final contract listing or range of products that may subsequently be purchased by the HSE,” they said.

In a statement, the organisation said that a national advisory group comprised of dieticians, catering managers and procurement sets out the standards and arrangements for food to ensure a high quality content and good nutritional value.

It said the estimated value of the contract would be €800,000, with €36,000 or 4.5 per cent of this relating to processed foods.

“The frozen goods to be purchased include frozen vegetables and poultry, which are used to supplement the fresh produce also in use. These products are used in patient/client catering services, staff canteens and catering for visitors/public restaurants etc.

“The estimated value of frozen burgers as part of this contact worth €800,000 is €480. The value of the pies is estimated to be €360. Hospital menus are planned by trained personnel in order to meet the nutritional standards/requirements.”

The furore comes amid confirmation that University Hospital Galway and Merlin Park Hospital will have to make cuts of €23 million to their budgets in the coming year.

The figure was confirmed by Galway-Roscommon Hospital Group CEO Bill Maher at Thursday’s Regional Health Forum meeting, where the full Service Plan for 2013 was unveiled.

Galway University Hospitals will receive an allocation of €318.5 million for the coming year, an increase of seven per cent or €20.9 million on funding in 2012. However, Mr Maher said this would leave the hospitals with a financial challenge of €26 million for 2013 due to an escalating demand for services within the group.

It is envisaged that this saving would be made through looking at other sources of funding for non-revenue item expenditure, including the procurement of medical equipment, the introduction of legislation to allow hospitals to invoice private patients accommodated in public beds and the possible sourcing of additional funding.

“Our priorities in 2013 are to improve access to services for patients and this means working on admission times from the Emergency Departments, maintaining the inpatients waiting time targets (which includes a reduction to eight months wait time for adults) and meeting the Department of Health’s Special Delivery Unit outpatient waiting time target, which is that no patient should wait longer than 12 months by the end of November,” he explained.

New pictures of Mount Etna’s latest eruption

  

CHECK OUT THESE PICTURES OF MOUNT ETNA – EUROPE’S LARGEST VOLCANO – ERUPTING!

Plumes of lava and ash filled the night sky over the island of Sicily, in Italy, on Tuesday.

Eruptions of the volcano aren’t uncommon – sometimes planes have to alter their routes to avoid flying through ash clouds.

That didn’t happen this time – though roads close by were covered with volcanic stones.

There are several inhabited villages on the slopes of Mount Etna – which is almost 10 thousand feet high.

There were no reports of any injuries though.

Donie's Tuesday Blog update

How Nuclear Power Works?

    What is atomic energy?      

It’s not immediately obvious but tall buildings store energy—potential energy. You have to work hard to lift bricks and other building materials up off the ground into the right position and, as long as they remain where you put them, they can store that energy indefinitely. But a tall, unstable building is bound to collapse sooner or later and, when it does so, the materials from which it was built come crashing back down to the ground, releasing their stored potential energy as heat, sound and kinetic energy (the bricks could fall on your head!).

About Atoms (the building blocks of matter) are much the same. Some large atoms are very stable and quite happy to stay as they are pretty much forever. But other atoms exist in unstable forms called radioactive isotopes. They’re the atomic equivalents of wobbly old buildings: sooner or later, they’re bound to fall apart, splitting into bits like a large building tumbling to the ground and releasing energy on the way.  

To read more on this click here to see How It Works?   http://donieconwayaddress.wordpress.com/stuff-how-it-works/

Alarm at mortgage crisis as Irish bank’s  cry wolf on 10% of overdue accounts

       

When the Governor of the Central Bank, Patrick Honohan, and the Financial Regulator, Matthew Elderfield, both express their alarm at the extent of the mortgage crisis, it is time for the banks to explain why they have been so tardy in seeking a remedy — and to persuade the Government and the public that they intend to take early action.

Over the last year, the crisis has escalated rapidly. It is calculated that more than 10pc of all mortgage holders are now in arrears of more than three months. A further 10pc may be experiencing what has been called “some level of distress”. Many thousands stand to lose their homes.

In addition, the Government may have to engage in another round of recapitalising the banks. Frightening figures like €40bn have been bandied about. Where to find the money? There has been speculation about a second bailout from the EU and IMF. Even assuming that we could get it, could we afford it?

Not only is the need for action obvious, a blueprint exists in the form of the Keane Report, published last autumn.

This report, in brief, divides troubled mortgage holders into two categories.

The great majority will come through the crisis with their main objective safe. They will remain in possession of their homes.

But to ensure that desirable end, they will need concessions from the lenders. These concessions can best be made on a case-by-case basis.

Some people are more reliable, or luckier; personal circumstances can change suddenly, for the better as well as the worse.

The second category consists of those who will never be able to pay back their debts. For some, the best course might be to “hand back the keys”.

For most, a solution may be found in mortgage-to-rent schemes, whereby they would continue to live in their homes but would no longer own them.

All the possible courses of action have this in common: they will necessitate a huge amount of work from the parties concerned.

In particular, the banks need precise information about the circumstances — not just in relation to mortgages — of those in arrears and their prospects of finding reliable means of payment.

In fairness, the banks have made considerable progress, especially in relation to expertise, in recent times. They have recruited high-powered staff with expertise and an interest in the challenge.

But that is far from sufficient. Almost four years have passed since the financial crisis broke upon us.

The sight of lenders responding slowly and reluctantly — under constant pressure from the authorities — is not an encouraging one. Yesterday’s “going public” exercise by Dr Honohan and Mr Elderfield should remind them of the urgency of the issue.