Donie's Ireland daily BLOG Wednesday

Irish lending Banks ‘pushing homeowners into arrears’

    

IRISH BANKS ARE PUSHING STRUGGLING HOMEOWNERS INTO ARREARS BY HIKING VARIABLE MORTGAGE RATES.

Bankers denied to TDs and senators earlier this month that they were using higher variable rates to compensate for the fact that thousands of people are not paying their mortgages. But a Central Bank study found banks are making up for losses – caused by high levels of arrears – by hiking variable rates.

There is evidence that “higher interest rates can increase arrears”, according to the study entitled ‘Variable mortgage rate pricing in Ireland’.

The logic of hiking variables that push some borrowers into arrears is that most of those with variables are older, and have paid off most of their mortgage, the study makes clear.

Lenders are also charging higher variable rates to make up for losses from trackers.

“Banks with higher arrears rates exhibit higher variable mortgage rates,” the paper by Jean Goggin and four other economists found. “Changes in the rate of mortgage arrears also drive changes in variable rates.”

PRESSURE: Some 300,000 homeowners have variable rates, with interest rates that are 2pc higher than those on trackers.

This means that someone with a €300,000 standard variable rate is paying €300 a month more than someone with the same tracker rate.

The new findings came as regulators have ramped up pressure on banks to deal with the mortgage arrears crisis. Six of the main mortgage lenders have been told to conclude deals with at least one-in-six of those in arrears by the end of the year.

Up to now, banks have been told to help homeowners, but now the Central Bank has moved to the next phase and set targets for concluded deals.

The new targets have been put in place after talks between regulators and the bailout troika of the EU, IMF and European Central Bank.

By March next year, lenders will have to have in place “concluded solutions” with a quarter of those who are behind.

Close to 100,000 homeowners are now at least three months behind onpayments.

“The Central Bank, in agreement with the troika, has now set its expectations of the banks in this regard and requires banks to have concluded arrangements with 15pc of their over 90-day mortgage arrears customers by end of December 2013,” the regulatory body said yesterday.

Banks have already been set targets to make offers of long-term solutions.

By the end of this year, half of those in arrears must get an offer of a sustainable solution.

And 70pc in arrears must now get an offer by next March.

Banks recently revealed that they are counting letters threatening repossession as offers of “sustainable solutions” as part of the Central Bank targets.

They said they have clearance from the regulators to do this.

AIB, Bank of Ireland, Ulster Bank and Permanent TSB have sent 15,000 legal letters threatening repossession.

Malala Yousfzai receives amnesty award inspired by Seamus Heaney

BONO MAKES PRESENTATION IN DUBLIN

 

ALALA Yousfzai, the teenage girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban, is being presented with a humanitarian award by Bono at a ceremony in Dublin this evening.

The 16-year-old Pakistani education activist, who survived the gun attack last October, is being named Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience.

She is following in the footsteps ofNelson Mandela and Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyias a recipient of the honour.

Malala’s award comes just a month after she was presented with the Tipperary Peace Prize.

The ceremony is being attended by an illustrious gathering of guests at the Mansion House this evening, including Pink Floyd star Roger Waters, who performs at the Aviva Stadium tomorrow night.

Malala said:”I am truly honoured and would like to take the opportunity to remind everyone that there are many millions of children like me across the world who fight every single day for their right to go to school.

“I hope that by working together we will one day realise our dream of education for every child, in every corner of the world.”

The 16-year-old schoolgirl had been targeted by the Taliban after campaigning for girls’ right to attend school.

The American singer Harry Belafonte was given the same award at the ceremony for his work on human rights and social justice.

The award was inspired by the poem, From the Republic of Conscience, written for Amnesty by the late Seamus Heaney.

The Nobel laureate, who died last month, had been due to attend the ceremony and read the poem.

British cosmologist Hawking backs right to assisted suicide

  

Marie Fleming (59) is in the final stages of Multiple Sclerosis and has said her long-term partner Tom Curran is willing to help her take her own life but she failed in a high court action to make it legal.

BRITISH COSMOLOGIST STEPHEN HAWKING HAS BACKED THE RIGHT FOR PEOPLE WHO ARE TERMINALLY ILL TO CHOOSE TO END THEIR LIVES AND TO RECEIVE HELP TO DO SO AS LONG AS SAFEGUARDS ARE IN PLACE.

The wheelchair-bound Hawking was diagnosed with motor neurone disease aged 21 and told he had two to three years to live. Now 71, he is one of the world’s leading scientists, known especially for his work on black holes and as author of the international bestseller “A Brief History of Time”.

Speaking ahead of the release of a documentary about his life this week, Hawking said he backed the right to die but only if the person involved had chosen that route.

He recalled how he was once put on a life support machine after suffering pneumonia and his wife was given the option of switching off the machine but this is not something he wanted.

“I think those who have a terminal illness and are in great pain should have the right to choose to end their lives, and those who help them should be free from prosecution,” Hawking told the BBC.

“There must be safeguards that the person concerned genuinely wants to end their life and are not being pressurized into it or have it done without their knowledge and consent as would have been the case with me.”

Assisted suicide is illegal in Britain and the issue of whether or not to decriminalize it for people whose lives are unbearable is a matter of debate in many countries.

Right-to-die advocates say people capable of making that decision should be allowed to die with dignity. Opponents say liberalizing the law could leave vulnerable people at risk.

Switzerland and several U.S. states are among places where some forms of euthanasia or assisted suicide are legal under certain circumstances.

Hawking, who has made guest appearances in TV shows such as The Simpsons and Star Trek, says his active mind and sense of humor are key to his survival.

Hawking communicates via a cheek muscle linked to a sensor and computerized voice system. He urged anyone with a disability to focus on what they can do and not regret what they cannot do.

“Theoretical physics is one field where being disabled is not a handicap. It is all in the mind,” said the scientist, who works at Cambridge University.

Nearly half of Irish people believe social media is harmful for mental health,

A survey finds

  

Vast majority believe depression and mental health issues on the rise, according to study

Most people believe modern technology and social media are detrimental to the health of young people, according to a new survey.

This sentiment is particularly felt in households with children under 16, with 45 per cent “strongly agreeing” that social media are harmful, according to this year’s PfizerHealth Index.

The survey reveals the perceived impact the recession is having on people’s health, with 90 per cent of respondents agreeing that depression, anxiety and mental health issues have increased since the recession.

When asked in what ways depression or mental health issues have affected people or their families, reduced finances and not being able to work were the most frequent responses. Over one-third of people said these problems had caused divisions in the family and 34 per cent said it caused other physical illnesses. One-quarter of those surveyed referred to relationship or marital difficulties.

Now in its eighth year, the index tracks changes in relation to private health insurance and medical cards annually. The number of people with health insurance has dropped from 44 per cent in 2010 to 34 per cent this year. The increase in medical cards seen in recent years has tailed off and now stands at 41 per cent, the same as in 2011.

The number of people with no medical cover now stands at 950,000, or 27 per cent of the population, the highest since this figure was included in the survey four years ago.

Paul Reid, managing director of Pfizer Healthcare, said the increase in people with no health insurance or medical card cover was a concern. “This is of enormous public and personal significance, as an increasing number of people are vulnerable at times of ill health and sickness and the continued decline in private insurance increases pressure on public health expenditure,” he said.

Speaking at the launch of the index, Kilkenny hurler DJ Carey discussed his own health experience. “Despite being physically healthy for years as part of the senior Kilkenny hurling team, I experienced some health scares of my own last year and no doubt the stress and pressure that I was under at the time contributed to them. Thankfully I was treated successfully for both conditions and I’m feeling great today but I can’t emphasise enough how important it is to look after your health, and in particular your mental health.”

The basic sample for the survey released by the pharmaceutical company is 1,003 adults aged and over. Pfizer said the sample was quota controlled to ensure a precise representation of the adult population. The questionnaire is included on one of Behaviour & Attitudes’ fortnightly barometer surveys,

Autumn Fall is a great time to soak up sunshine for your Health

   

The power of the sun for health and healing are far reaching. Optimal times to store up on the sun’s health benefits are between 10am and 3pm. Overwhelming research shows that sunlight improves mood, athletic performance, blood pressure, immunity and bone health while helping to prevent cancers, heart disease and autoimmune disorders.

Humans cannot survive without the sun. They have evolved to absorb the sunrays needed according to their proximity to the sun.

Absorbing UVB rays between noon and 2pm is the most optimal for gaining the beneficial vitamin D needed for so many health benefits. The amount of time needed depends on one’s proximity to the sun and skin type. If one obtains the sunlight needed between May and October, the body can utilize stored vitamin D throughout the winter months, when most countries’ latitudes are too far from the sun to absorb any more healthy sun rays.

The sun has proven to be beneficial against almost every disease process known to man. Studies show sun exposure and vitamin D increases muscle mass and strength. Research demonstrates that repeated UVB exposure is equally effective to medications in reducing high blood pressure. The sun creates endorphins in the skin correlated with positive mood, explaining why sunning feels so good.

Risk of heart disease, auto-immune disorders and the major cancers are reduced by increased sun exposure times. Research is beginning to explore the health role of photoisomers, components related to vitamin D and created by the sun, which cannot be obtained through supplementation.

Humans have long depended on sunlight for survival and have evolved as needed.

While supplementing with vitamin D can improve health and is often beneficial and necessary, there is no real substitute for direct sunlight on the skin. Sunscreens with a sun protection factor (SPF) of 8 or higher essentially block the formation of vitamin D, so direct exposure of skin to the sun without sunscreen is essential to reap the sun’s many health benefits.

Humans have long worshiped the sun and have understood its many health benefits. See http://www.naturalnews.com.  Individuals have evolved to obtain the necessary amounts of sunlight needed for survival, dependent on distance from the sun.

African Americans, with their dark skin pigmentation, which serves as a natural sunscreen, require longer periods in the intense sunlight provided close to the equator to obtain optimal health. In contrast, the fair skinned individuals of Ireland have evolved to obtain ideal amounts of sun from the often cloudy days with indirect sunlight common to that country.

Donie's Ireland news BLOG Friday

Ireland Census 2011 shows a population of great growth in diversity

 

The latest results and analysis of Census 2011 paints a picture of an increasingly diverse population with a significant growth in people who say they have no religion, while also recording the largest congregation of Catholics since records began.

The research by the Central Statistics Office highlights a sharp rise in unemployment among Travellers, as well as high rates of disability and ill health.

Just five religions were mentioned in the 1961 census but Census 2011 refers to more than 20, and also has a category for “other religions”, which was ticked by 56,558 people.

 It shows that the proportion of the population who were Catholic reached its lowest point last year at 84.2 per cent, but its congregation of 3.86 million people was never higher.

This was explained by the number of Catholic immigrants living here. Eight per cent of the Catholic population were non-Irish last year. Polish people accounted for the biggest group, with 110,410 Catholics, followed by the UK with 49,761.

The research also noted a fourfold increase, over a 20-year period, in people who said they had no religion, were atheists or agnostics.

Some 277,237 people fell into this category last year. The group included 14,769 children of primary school age and 14,478 of secondary school age. Some 4,690 babies were categorised by their parents as having no religion.

The census noted the rise in the number of Muslims in this State, from 0.1 per cent of the population in 1991 to 1.1 per cent – or 49,204 people – last year.

There was a 6 per cent increase in Church of Ireland members in the past five years and a tenfold increase in Hindus since 1991.

Apostolic and Pentecostal members also saw their numbers swelling. There were 8,116 members in 2006 but that rose to 14,043 last year. Over 60 per cent of those had African ethnicity.

The CSO also examined the findings about Travellers in more detail and noted a sharp increase in unemployment. It rose from almost 75 per cent in 2006 to more than 84 per cent last year.

There were 29,573 Travellers living here in April 2011, accounting for 0.6 per cent of the population. Co Galway had the highest number of Travellers, with 2,476 people, followed by south Dublin with 2,216. Co Waterford had the smallest number, with just 152 enumerated.

Almost one in three Traveller households was living in mobile or temporary accommodation with no sewerage facilities.

The education of seven out of 10 Travellers ended at primary school, while just 1 per cent said they had completed third level. This compares with 30.7 per cent of the general population, excluding Travellers.

Rates of ill-health were also high among Travellers, with 17.5 per cent reporting one or more disabilities, compared with 13 per cent of the general population.

Martin Collins, spokesman for the Pavee Point Travellers’ rights centre, said the figures were not surprising. “Education is improving and that’s a result of Traveller organisations continually trying to press home the value and need for education,” he said.

CSO senior statistician Deirdre Cullen encouraged people to visit cso.ie, whose interactive tables let you focus on areas of interest and create your own analysis tables.

Anti-abortion Protesters at new Marie Stopes Belfast clinic

   

Anti-abortion campaigners sing hymns during a protest outside the Marie Stopes International clinic in Belfast. One campaigner accused the clinic of having an agenda to “break the law to change the law”.

The first private clinic providing abortion on the island of Ireland opened at lunchtime yesterday in Belfast. About 300 people protested peacefully outside the high-rise building on Great Victoria Street where the Marie Stopes International clinic is based.

The clinic opened as the North’s Attorney General, John Larkin, wrote to the Northern Assembly’s justice committee inviting members to investigate how the clinic would meet the law in Northern Ireland.

Abortions can only be carried out in the North where the mother’s life is at risk or where there are serious mental and health risks to the woman from continuing the pregnancy.

The committee discussed the issue at Stormont yesterday afternoon, after which members asked representatives from Marie Stopes to appear before the committee. The request was made “because of the level of interest and concern about the services it states it will be providing in Belfast”, said committee chairman Paul Givan.

“It is appropriate for this committee to assure itself, and the public, that this private clinic will scrupulously follow the law,” added the DUP Assembly member.

In his letter Mr Larkin said that while he could not intervene in his official capacity, in his non-statutory role as guardian of the law he could become engaged. He said he would be happy to offer every possible assistance, including acting as counsel to the committee and questioning witnesses on its behalf.

Marie Stopes International’s UK and Europe director Tracey McNeill reiterated that the clinic would observe the law on abortion in Northern Ireland. “We are clear about the law here. The team here are all from Northern Ireland – we understand the culture here. We don’t want to change the culture here and have abortion on demand. This is about offering choice,” she said.

Anti-abortion protesters began arriving outside the building where the clinic is located from before 10am. There was an initial group of about 50 from organisations such as Precious Life, Life and UK Life which grew to about 200 by noon. Later numbers rose to around 300.

Some carried placards with statements such as “Keep Ireland Abortion Free”, “Abortion – We Can Live Without It” and “Ulster Says No to Abortion”. Some also carried posters with pictures of aborted foetuses. Prayers were also said and hymns sung.

Bernadette Smyth, head of Precious Life, accused Marie Stopes of having an agenda to “break the law to change the law” so that the British 1967 Abortion Act could be introduced to Northern Ireland.

Ms Smyth added that there was great opposition to abortion in Northern Ireland, including at political level.

There was also a much smaller counter demonstration in favour of the clinic. The Belfast director of the clinic, Dawn Purvis, former leader of the Progressive Unionist Party, said the level of support for the clinic was “truly inspiring”.

The search commences for Galway’s Vikings

    

If your name is Duffy or Doyle, your ancestors were Danish, if the name is Lynch or FitzGerald they were Norman, but the secret to your ancestry does not lie only in your surname.

The Vikings and the Normans make up two of Ireland’s major indigenous population groups – alongside the Gaels. The origins of both people lie in Scandinavia; the Vikings coming from Norway and Denmark, while the Normans were French people descended from Viking settlers in Normandy.

Now a cross-disciplinary network of academics consisting of scientists, geneticists, historians, linguists, bone specialists, and archaeologists have come together to investigate the population of Ireland’s Viking cities and their hinterland, and they will be in Galway this weekend.

This group – led by Dr Catherine Swift of Mary Immaculate College, Limerick, and Dr Turi King of the Department of Genetics, University of Leicester – will be in Kelly’s Bar, Bridge Street, this Sunday at 8pm.

They use modern scientific techniques and the traditional tools of the historian and archaeologist in an attempt to identify what percentage of the Irish population are descended from Vikings.

They are also hoping to examine the extent to which the Vikings in different parts of the country intermarried with the native Irish. To do this, the experts have identified specific surnames which are found in the medieval records and townland names of Galway city and county.

Most people get their surnames from their father and men also inherit specific genetic material (DNA) from their father. This is the Y chromosome which is responsible for making males. A Y chromosome type can relate to a particular surname and most surnames are linked to particular regions.

By sampling men with specific surnames in the Galway area, the scientists hope to identify the particular characteristics of the mixed population of local natives and incoming adventurers who populated Galway in the past.

As the scientists are primarily interested in Y chromosomes, they will only collect samples from men. This will be through a swab from cheek cells. Various tests will be done on the Y chromosome DNA. The DNA will not be altered or used for other purposes.

At the end of the study the scientists will return individual Y-chromosome results to participants. The information given will be strictly confidential. If information we gain about your DNA is ever published in scientific papers, it will be completely anonymous.

Taking vitamins may reduce cancer risk in men, a study finds

    

Taking a daily multivitamin pill may lower the risk of developing cancer in men, US researchers have claimed.

Their study followed nearly 15,000 men, aged over 50, for more than a decade.

The findings, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, reported a small reduction in cancer cases in men taking vitamin pills.

But experts warned that other studies had found the opposite effect and that eating a diet packed with fruit and vegetables was a safer bet.

Vitamin supplements are recommended for some groups of people, such as vitamin D in the over 65s.

However, the benefits of multivitamins on general health have been mixed. Some studies suggest they cause more harm than good when taken by healthy people while others have shown no benefit in cancer.

Doctors at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School analysed data from men who were given either a multivitamin or a sugar pill every day.

Diet emphasis

There were 17 cancers per 1,000 people taking multivitamins per year compared with 18 cancers per 1,000 people taking the dummy pills per year.

One of the researchers, Dr Howard Sesso said: “Many studies have suggested that eating a nutritious diet may reduce a man’s risk of developing cancer.

“Now we know that taking a daily multivitamin, in addition to addressing vitamin and mineral deficiencies, may also be considered in the prevention of cancer in middle-aged and older men.”

The researchers do not know if a similar effect would be seen in women or in younger men.

Dr Helga Groll, health information officer at Cancer Research UK, said: “Although this study suggests that men in the trial had a slightly lower cancer risk if they took multivitamins, we can’t be sure from this research whether this is a true effect or down to chance.

“Many other large studies tell us that vitamin and mineral supplements don’t protect against cancer – they either have no effect or can even increase cancer risk in some cases.

“The best way to get a full range of vitamins and minerals is to eat a healthy, balanced diet with a wide variety of fruit and vegetables. Most healthy people shouldn’t need to take supplements although some may be advised to do so by their doctor.”

Moon research reinforces impact theory that it is a twin of the Earth

  

Astronomers have known for ages that emmentaler cheese was not the main constituent of the moon, despite what their children had persistently told them.

Scientists can now confirm the moon is not made of Swiss cheese, but instead was formed from the same stuff the Earth was.

New research answers most of the questions relating to the giant smash-up that ultimately created the moon.

Rather, most scientists focused on astronomy believed a massive collision between the Earth and another large planet in the early days of the solar system knocked out the material from which the moon ultimately coalesced.

The problem with this theory was the many unanswered questions, such as why the moon is basically an Earth twin, given its composition. Or, how the collision could have thrown off enough material to deliver the moon.

Two groups of scientists have come up with answers to these questions, in the process adding considerable weight to the collision model for the formation of the moon. Both papers were released online yesterday in the journal Science.

The original collision theory held that a small planet called Theia hit the Earth, flinging Theia debris into orbit to shape the moon. Moon rocks showed, however, that the moon and earth are made of similar stuff – and so this theory could not be correct.

Instead, the Harvard/Seti group described a similar collision where the Earth was spinning much faster, completing a revolution in only two hours. In this case the debris from the collision would in fact have come from the Earth.

They showed that the Earth and moon have matching chemical isotopes. They also explained how the spin of the Earth gradually slowed due to gravitational interaction between the sun and moon.

A team from the Southwest Research Institute in Texas answered the questions in a similar way. In their scenario, the Earth and its impactor have about the same mass, four to five times the mass of present day Mars.

They collide, spraying out a disc of material that gradually forms an orbiting moon. The two colliders merge into one, with the new planet’s outer layer made of much the same material as the moon’s debris disc.

They calculated the newly formed Earth would be spinning too fast, but gravitational drag would eventually serve to slow the Earth to its current clip.

No doubt the new findings will come as a blow to those still supporting the Swiss cheese lunar theory. They will, however, be able to keep their theory alive, advertising their cheese during children’s TV programming.