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Thursday, January 23, 2014

Donie's news Ireland daily BLOG Wednesday

Rehab scratch cards made just 8% profit on sales of €7 million “Unbelievable ?”

  Angela Kerins, chief executive of Rehab

ANGELA KERINS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF REHAB, Salary unknown?      

Lottery scratch cards sold by charity giant Rehab worth €4 million in 2010 made profits of just €9,452, according to Minister for Justice Alan Shatter.
In a Dail speech he revealed that an audit by his Department also found that Rehab Bingo sales of €3.19m in the same year yielded profits of €548,000.
  Minister Alan Shatter released the details as he explained his decision to phase out the Charitable Lottery Scheme.
Under the scheme charities could apply for government grants based the gross sales of tickets.
Shatter said the scheme was “no longer fit for purpose” and that more than €120 million in National Lottery surplus funding and taxpayers’ money has been paid out since 1997.
He said it encourages “inefficient fundraising practices and high administration costs” and that it was unfair to the donors that a low proportion of monies donated was being used for charitable purposes.”
Minister Shatter said that people must be properly paid for their “the charity sector is not well served by a lack of transparency over senior executive salaries, nor by excessive levels of remuneration, where such may exist.”
The Minister for Justice also pointed out that the Rehab Group and Rehab Lotteries are suing the State for €1.5 billion in damages over the operation of the National lottery.
 Rehab claim the rules are anti-competitive.
“Whatever the outcome of this costly action, it is likely to exert a significant burden on either public resources or charity resources or both,” said Shatter.

Homing pigeons navigate like Human pilots “Memory navigation map the key”

   

Pigeons are best able to memorise flight paths when the terrain below is neither too featureless nor too crowded. 

Homing pigeons navigate in the same classic way as human pilots, by spotting landmarks on the ground, research has shown.
And like their human counterparts, they can be confused by landscape that all looks the same.
The birds are best able to memorise flight paths when the terrain below is neither too featureless nor too crowded.
“We discovered that pigeons’ ability to memorise routes is highly influenced by the visual properties of the landscape in a 250 metre radius below them,” said lead scientist Dr Richard Mann of Uppsala University, Sweden.
“Looking at how quickly they memorise different routes, we see that that visual landmarks play a key role. Pigeons have a harder time remembering routes when the landscape is too bland like a field or too busy like a forest or dense urban area.
“The sweet spot is somewhere in between; relatively open areas with hedges, trees or buildings dotted about. Boundaries between rural and urban areas are also good.”
Dr Mann and colleagues from Oxford University and the Zoological Society ofLondon released 31 pigeons from four sites around Oxford for an average of 20 flights each.
Their findings, published in the Royal Society journal Biology Letters, showed the birds were better navigators over landscapes with a certain visual complexity, such as rural areas with hedges or copses.
Pigeons navigate exceptionally well despite having small brains. Whatever method they use must make highly efficient use of their limited mental processing, scientists believe.
“There may be certain rules that free-flying birds use to structure information that enable them to map the environment using their limited brain power,” said co-author Professor Tim Guilford, from Oxford University’s Department of Zoology.
“Fundamentally understanding how they do this will tell us more about their abilities and limitations, and could reveal methods that robots with limited processing power might use to navigate.”
Knowing the landscape features that pigeons use to navigate could also help researchers to predict the flight patterns of any birds that are active during the day, or diurnal.
Identifying the likely flight paths of birds could be of use to conservationists, birdwatchers and town planners.
“Homing pigeons provide a reliable model for studying navigation and there’s no reason to believe that other diurnal birds won’t use similar methods,” said Prof Guilford.

Watch out for glaucoma “Untreated can lead to blindness”

 

Did you know that glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United States? Glaucoma is a sneaky disease which causes damage to the optic nerve, the part of the eye that carries the images we see to our brains.

Glaucoma awareness is extremely important since this disease has little symptoms. A person with glaucoma can lose up to 40% of their vision before they even notice and once their vision is lost, it is permanent.
The National Eye Institute projects a 58 percent increase in glaucoma patients by 2030.
Early detection and treatment (like eye drops above right picture) by your ophthalmologist (Eye M.D.) are keys in preventing optic nerve damage and blindness from glaucoma.
While the only sure way to detect glaucoma is to have a complete eye examination performed by your ophthalmologist, there are some important risk factors to consider.
These factors include age, elevated eye pressure, family history of glaucoma, African or Hispanic ancestry, farsightedness or nearsightedness, past eye injuries, thinner central corneal thickness, systemic health problems (including diabetes, migraine headaches, and poor circulation), and pre-existing thinning of the optic nerve.
Your ophthalmologist can weigh all of these factors to determine if your risk of developing glaucoma is higher than normal and whether you should be closely monitored as a glaucoma suspect.
Together we can work to spread the word about this sight-stealing disease and fight to prevent unnecessary vision loss from glaucoma!

“607 people died” 40% increase in drug-related deaths in Ireland since 2004

  

607 people died from drug-related incidents in 2011 – a 40% increase since 2004

The number of drug-related deaths in Ireland has increased from 431 in 2004 to 607 in 2011, according to the latest figures published by the Health Research Board (HRB).
365 of the deaths in 2011 were due to poisoning (ie overdose).
242 deaths were related to trauma, such as road traffic collisions, or medical causes, such as liver disease.
The 2011 figures show that there were ten more drug-related deaths than the previous year.
The HRB also says that from 2004 to 2011, 4,606 people died directly or indirectly from drug use in Ireland.
The HRB National Drug-Related Deaths Index provides the latest data about the nature and the extent of premature death due to problem drug and alcohol use in Ireland. It makes a number of key findings:
- The number of poisoning deaths increased from 338 in 2010 to 365 in 2011.
- Almost two thirds of these deaths were male and men account for the majority of deaths since 2004.
- The median age for those who died was 39 and alcohol was involved in 37% of poisoning deaths in 2011, more than any other drug.
- Alcohol alone was responsible for 17% of poisoning deaths.
More than half of poisoning deaths involved more than one drug (polydrug). There was a notable increase (28%) in the number of poisoning deaths as a result of polydrug use, rising from 168 in 2010, to 215 in 2011.
The drugs most implicated in polydrug use are alcohol, diazepam, methadone and anti-depressant medication.
Heroin-related poisonings continue to decline from 72 in 2010 to 60 in 2011, while cocaine deaths have fallen from a peak of 66 deaths in 2007 to 23 in 2011.
One quarter of all sharks and rays are threatened with extinction, according to a new study published in the open-access journal eLife. The paper analyzed the threat and conservation status of 1,041 species of chondrichthyans—the class of fish whose skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone which includes sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras—and found this group to be among the most threatened animals in the world.
The collaboration between 300 scientists from 64 countries reports, “the main threats to chondrichthyans are overexploitation through targeted fisheries and incidental catches (bycatch), followed by habitat loss, persecution, and climate change.”
The authors pinpoint two areas with greater than expected threat levels: the Indo-Pacific Biodiversity Triangle and the Red Sea. The former is among the most biologically and culturally diverse areas on the planet, but is also among the least-regulated.
“The Indo-Pacific Biodiversity Triangle, particularly the Gulf of Thailand, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Sulawesi, is a hotspot of greatest residual threat especially for coastal sharks and rays with 76 threatened species.” The paper’s authors argue that without national and international action, the species found in this area may rapidly become extinct.
The paper cites ‘finning’—the process of cutting off the fins and dumping the body back into the ocean—as a major threat to sharks, wedgefishes and sawfishes. This practice is driven by market demands in China where shark fin soup is a highly sought-after delicacy. 
“Fins, in particular, have become one of the most valuable seafood commodities,” the authors write, “It is estimated that the fins of between 26 and 73 million individuals, worth US$400-550 million, are traded each year.”
Large body size and shallow habitat are the biggest factors determining a species’ likelihood of being threatened. “The probability that a species is threatened increases by 1.2% for each 10 cm increase in maximum body length, and decreases by 10.3% for each 50 m deepening in the minimum depth limit of species,” the authors report.
In addition to targeted fishing, 20 species of shark and rays are directly threatened by pollution. 22 species are threatened by the destruction of river systems and estuaries through residential and commercial development. 12 species are at risk from the conversion of mangroves into shrimp farms, and the construction of dams and other water-control measures.
“While no species has been driven to global extinction— as far as we know,” the authors write, “at least 28 populations of sawfishes, skates, and angel sharks are locally or regionally extinct,” and “several shark species have not been seen for many decades.”

One quarter of sharks and rays are threatened with extinction

Giant Guitarfish  
One quarter of all sharks and rays are threatened with extinction, according to a new study published in the open-access journal eLife. The paper analyzed the threat and conservation status of 1,041 species of chondrichthyans—the class of fish whose skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone which includes sharks, rays, skates and chimaeras—and found this group to be among the most threatened animals in the world. 
The collaboration between 300 scientists from 64 countries reports, “the main threats to chondrichthyans are overexploitation through targeted fisheries and incidental catches (bycatch), followed by habitat loss, persecution, and climate change.”
via IUCN SSG   The authors pinpoint two areas with greater than expected threat levels: the Indo-Pacific Biodiversity Triangle and the Red Sea. The former is among the most biologically and culturally diverse areas on the planet, but is also among the least-regulated. 
“The Indo-Pacific Biodiversity Triangle, particularly the Gulf of Thailand, and the islands of Sumatra, Java, Borneo, and Sulawesi, is a hotspot of greatest residual threat especially for coastal sharks and rays with 76 threatened species.” The paper’s authors argue that without national and international action, the species found in this area may rapidly become extinct.
The paper cites ‘finning’—the process of cutting off the fins and dumping the body back into the ocean—as a major threat to sharks, wedgefishes and sawfishes. This practice is driven by market demands in China where shark fin soup is a highly sought-after delicacy.
“Fins, in particular, have become one of the most valuable seafood commodities,” the authors write, “It is estimated that the fins of between 26 and 73 million individuals, worth US$400-550 million, are traded each year.”
Large body size and shallow habitat are the biggest factors determining a species’ likelihood of being threatened. “The probability that a species is threatened increases by 1.2% for each 10 cm increase in maximum body length, and decreases by 10.3% for each 50 m deepening in the minimum depth limit of species,” the authors report.
In addition to targeted fishing, 20 species of shark and rays are directly threatened by pollution. 22 species are threatened by the destruction of river systems and estuaries through residential and commercial development. 12 species are at risk from the conversion of mangroves into shrimp farms, and the construction of dams and other water-control measures.
“While no species has been driven to global extinction— as far as we know,” the authors write, “at least 28 populations of sawfishes, skates, and angel sharks are locally or regionally extinct,” and “several shark species have not been seen for many decades.”  

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG Tuesday

Long-awaited Irish banking inquiry to get under way

 

the ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT NATURE AND SCOPE OF COMMITTEE TO BE MADE WITHIN TWO WEEKS

A new Oireachtas committee will be established in the next two weeks to preside over the long-awaited banking inquiry.
Government chief whip Paul Kehoe tonight met the whips of the Opposition parties to present them with a proposed set of standing orders for the new committee.
These standing orders will be discussed by the Committee on Procedure and Privileges tomorrow evening.
An announcement about the nature and scope of the committee will be made within two weeks.
It is understood one of the key elements of the standing orders will be a requirement that no member of the committee should have made any public comments about the banking crisis that could be regarded as biased.
This requirement will mean that many prominent political figures who have made trenchant speeches about the banking crisis will not be eligible to serve.
Government sources said no decision had been made as to whether the new committee will be composed of TDs and Senators or whether it will be restricted to TDs.
However, the indications are that the Government favours the establishment of a small committee composed of around six TDs to handle the complex issues involved in the banking inquiry.
The sub-committee of the public accounts committee that inquired into the Dirt tax scandal in 1999, chaired by the late Jim Mitchell, has been widely cited as a template for the banking inquiry.
The then attorney general David Byrne pointed out that an essential element of the Dirt committee’s success was that it operated to a strict set of parameters laid down by his office, which prohibited findings relating to the responsibility of individuals.
That committee concluded its business in 26 days and issued a comprehensive report within a few months.

Irish house prices now rising at a faster rate than most EU states

 

Eurostat figures indicate property prices here rose by 4.1% in third quarter of last year

According to the latest Eurostat figures, house prices here rose by 4.1 per cent in the third quarter of last year compared with the previous quarter.

Irish house prices are now rising at a faster rate than in nearly every other European Union country.

According to the latest Eurostat figures, house prices here rose by 4.1 per cent in the third quarter of last year compared with the previous quarter.
This was the second-highest rate of acceleration recorded across the EU, eclipsed only by Estonia where prices jumped by 5.3 per cent.
Compared with the second quarter of 2013, house prices rose by 0.6 per cent in the euro area and by 0.7 per cent in EU in a sign that economic recovery was slowly gathering pace.
On an annual basis, house prices fell by 1.3 per cent in the euro zone and by 0.5 per cent in the EU in the third quarter compared with the same quarter of 2012.
The quarterly gain was the strongest since a 1.1 per cent increase in the second quarter of 2011, while the annual drop was the smallest since the fourth quarter of 2011.
Among the EU member states for which data are available, the highest annual increases in house prices in the third quarter of 2013 were recorded in Estonia (+11.1 per cent),Luxembourg (+6.5 per cent) and Latvia (+6.2 per cent), with the largest falls in Croatia (-16.9 per cent), Cyprus(-8.0 per cent) and Spain (-6.4 per cent).
The highest quarterly increases in the third quarter of 2013 were recorded in Estonia (+5.3 per cent), Ireland (+4.1 per cent), and the United Kingdom (+2.5 per cent), with the largest declines recorded in Slovenia (-4.0 per cent),Denmark (-3.3 per cent) and Romania (-2.4 per cent).
Only five of the 17 euro area countries – Italy, Cyprus,Malta, Slovenia and Finland – saw house prices fall between July and September last year, according to the data.
Meanwhile, mortgage lenders in the UK reported that last month was their strongest December since 2007.
Some £17 billion worth of mortgages were advanced to customers last month, up 49 per cent on the same month a year ago when £11.4 billion worth of loans were issued, according to a report from the UK’s Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML).
It was also the highest total for a December month since 2007, the CML added.

Woman’s car swept off road by ‘avalanche of slurry’

 

Estimated 50,000 gallons of slurry flows onto road after tank on a hilltop farm ruptures.

How slurry has traditionally been spread on fields. In Co Limerick last night a slurry tank burst and an estimated 50,000 gallons of material flowed over a road.
A woman is recovering after her car was swept off a road by an avalanche of slurry in Co Limerick last night after a tank on a hill ruptured.
The Doon to Cappamore Road in east Limerick remains closed after the spillage of an estimated 50,000 gallons of slurry onto the road.
It is expected the route will re-open later today.
The surge was so powerful that a Ford Fiesta carrying a woman was washed off the road and into a field at around 9.45pm .
The female driver was taken from the car by a local man who responded to her screams .
The woman, who is from Cappamore, did not sustain any injuries but is said to suffering from shock.
A hearse and another car narrowly escaped the spillage which came from a slurry pit on a hilltop farm.
A number of houses nearby were damaged by the spillage and will have to be cleaned and the cost of the incident is expected to be several thousand euros.
A source at the scene said: “It must have been like an avalanche. The slurry smashed through the slurry tank wall and it ran down a hill about 50 yards from the road. There was a woman driving a car and she was swept across the road with the force if it. There was a hearse and another car in front of her and they got through it.”
Members of the Limerick City and County CouncilEnvironment Department have attended the scene to assess the cost of the clean up and the damage to the local environment.
A Council spokesperson said engineers have inspected the slurry tank.
“Engineers from the council have discussed the matter with the farmer. They have expressed concern about the condition of the tank. It is believed the tank is fifty to sixty years old,” the spokesperson said.
“The road embankment was removed by the slurry flow. The Council is currently building it back up. There is some structural damage to the road boundary, it is being rebuilt by staff from the (Council’s) Roads Department,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson added: “The council is confident it will be able to contain the slurry spill and minimise any environmental impact”.
He said because the material had flowed onto a flat area without any rivers or streams the council did not anticipate any issues with local water supplies.

Pharmacists want to spare Irish patients a visit to their GP?

  

Pharmacists in Ireland should be allowed provide a greater range of services to spare many patients an expensive visit to the GP.

The call was made at a conference in Dublin today which was told that pharmacists in Canada and Scotland are already being given an expanded role.
Already the  introduction of the flu vaccination service and loosening of restrictions on the way women can access the morning after pill have shown that pharmacists here can prove an accessible, convenient and cost-effective,” said Rory O’ Donnell, President of the Irish Pharmacy Union which organised the conference.
But overall Ireland has been “laggard “in unleashing the power of pharmacists in the provision of health services.
“Internationally the argument for expanding the role of pharmacists is settled and the question now is only on what more services they can do,” he said.
Research in the UK “suggests that greater use of pharmacists there could reduce the number of visits to GPs by 51 million a year.
“The same approach in Ireland could make a significant impact on reducing pressures on GPs and A&E visits.”
There are over 20 million visits to GPs in Ireland each year. The bulk of these will require a GP but a significant percentage doesn’t and could be dealt with by a pharmacist.”

Advantages of using pharmacists would:

•     Improve access to professional healthcare;
•     Reduce overall Exchequer spending on healthcare;
•     Ease some of the existing burden on GP services and free up crucial resources; and
•     Improve health outcomes for patients and the public.
He said:“There is clear evidence internationally to show that these additional pharmacy-based services have led to considerable improvements in patients’ health outcomes and considerable savings to healthcare budgets.
“The focus of the system must be towards the creation of a patient-centred health service delivered at the lowest level of complexity.”

Pat Rabbitte defends new Irish postcode system

  

The Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has defended his decision to choose a new form of postcode for Ireland.

A private firm is being given a 10-year contract to roll out a postcode system in Ireland, with the process beginning this year.
At an Oireachtas committee Minister Rabbitte was criticised over the decision not to use a free system for assigning codes to every property.
Mr Rabbitte said the only difficulty with the process will be the need to update existing Government systems.
He said: “Ours will be a unique system.
“The reason that it will take 12 months to be brought into play is that other systems with which it is doing business and interacting will have to be brought into line.
“Databases will have to be brought into line and Government departments for example,and so on.”

Overcrowding in our hospitals cannot not be tolerated

 

A Letter to Hiqa highlights staffing issues, overcrowding and unsafe work conditions.

The HSE said work is “well under way” to implement all of the recommendations in the Tallaght report in hospitals.
Frontline doctors have warned that emergency departments (EDs) in hospitals across the country are “unequivocally dangerous” to patients due to severe overcrowding.In a letter addressed to the Health Information and Quality Authority (Hiqa), which was also sent to the directorate of the HSE, the doctors highlight issues with staffing coupled with increasing numbers of patients and an ageing population.
“ED overcrowding should not be tolerated,” wrote Dr Aileen McCabe, president of the Irish Emergency Medicine Trainees Association (IEMTA). “We believe that current ED conditions are unequivocally dangerous for patients and staff and there is substantial medical evidence that overcrowding leads to higher mortality and poorer patient outcomes.”
In the letter, which was sent on January 9th, Dr McCabe says doctors around the country “whole-heartedly” welcomed the Hiqa Tallaght Hospital Investigation Report published in May 2012. “We felt that your report signalled clearly and unambiguously to hospital management and the healthcare commissioners that these unsafe systems of healthcare provision would no longer be accepted.”
She said doctors working in Tallaght at the time of the report saw “immediate improvements in conditions and quality of care for ED patients”. However, she argues that the HSE has not issued directives to hospital managers and is relying on a “recommended compliance”.
In response, Hiqa said it would have “serious concerns” if the recommendations from its Tallaght investigation report had not been implemented in full, in particular those relating to emergency departments. “We will be in contact with the HSE seeking assurance on the issues raised by the IEMTA.”
The HSE said work is “well under way” to implement all of the recommendations in the Tallaght report in hospitals.
Meanwhile, all “non-urgent” surgery continued to be deferred at University Hospital Galway (UHG) for a sixth day today due to a “significant” increase in demand at its emergency department.
UHG was overall top of the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) trolley and ward watch table today, with 27 people on trolleys in corridors and 17 people on trolleys or chairs in wards or “inappropriate settings”, according to the union.
This compares to 20 on trolleys in corridors and 17 in inappropriate ward settings today in Connolly Hospital, Blanchardstown, Dublin, and 30 on corridor trolleys and three in inappropriate ward settings in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital, Drogheda, Co Louth.

Deep-space Rosetta a comet hunter wakes up from hibernation & gets back to work

 

Rosetta, a dormant billion-dollar comet-chasing spacecraft, arose from its deep-space slumber and sent a message back to Earth, but not before an unanticipated 18-minute delay in waking up.

Scientists waited with bated breath to hear back from Rosetta, the slumbering billion-dollar comet-chasing spacecraft.
“But an unanticipated 18-minute delay made everybody nervous, as you can imagine” Stephen Fuselier, co-investigator of one of the instruments on Rosetta, told the Monitor.
Rosetta did eventually wake up, though.
The spacecraft, which was made to fall asleep in mid-2011 after it cruised far from the Sun and out toward the orbit of Jupiter, sent out the first signal that was received by both NASA’s Goldstone and Canberra ground stations, according to a press release by the European Space Agency.
Rosetta was launched in 2004 and is chasing comet 67P/Churyumov–Gerasimenko.
Currently, the spacecraft is within about 400 million miles of the Sun, which means that Rosetta will continue to get enough solar energy.
“We have our comet-chaser back,” said Alvaro Giménez, ESA’s Director of Science and Robotic Exploration.
The successful wake-up mission was announced to the world via the @ESA_Rosetta twitter account, which tweeted: “Hello, world!”
“This was one alarm clock not to hit snooze on, and after a tense day we are absolutely delighted to have our spacecraft awake and back online,” said Fred Jansen, ESA’s Rosetta mission manager.
In a press release, NASA announced that it will also be participating in the European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, which aims to observe “one such space-bound icy dirt ball from up close — for months on end.”
“We are going to be in the cometary catbird seat on this one,” said Claudia Alexander, project scientist for U.S. Rosetta from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.  “To have an extended presence in the neighborhood of a comet as it goes through so many changes should change our perspective on what it is to be a comet.”
The scientists are now trying to increase the data rate so that they can study the comet in detail, says Dr. Fuselier. They are looking at the data for the entire time period during which Rosetta was asleep, he adds.
“All other comet missions have been flybys, capturing fleeting moments in the life of these icy treasure chests,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist. “With Rosetta, we will track the evolution of a comet on a daily basis and for over a year, giving us a unique insight into a comet’s behaviour and ultimately helping us to decipher their role in the formation of the Solar System.”

THE SPACECRAFT WOKE UP AFTER 957 DAYS OF HIBERNATION.

In November, Rosetta will release a lander – another spacecraft within the larger spacecraft – whose shock absorbers will touch down on the surface of the comet. 

Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Donie's Ireland daily news BLOG update

Ireland’s five-year borrowing costs hit a record low of 1.62% after rating’s upgrade

 

Yields on five-year bonds fall 17 basis points to 1.62%, lower than equivalent US bonds

Moody’s upgrading of Ireland’s credit rating by one notch to Baa3 on Friday, the lowest investment grade, meant investors previously restricted from buying junk-rated debt were once again able buy Irish bonds.
The State’s five-year borrowing costs fell to a record 92-year low today on the back of Moody’s decision to restore Ireland’s credit rating to investment grade.
Yields on five-year Irish bonds dropped 17 basis points to 1.621% at one stage, lower than equivalent US yields, as investors anticipated further upgrades in the coming months.
Yields on benchmark 10-year Irish bonds fell 20 basis points to 3.24% close to an eight-year low.
Moody’s upgrading of Ireland’s credit rating by one notch to Baa3 on Friday, the lowest investment grade, meant investors previously restricted from buying junk-rated debt were once again able to buy Irish bonds.
Yields on Irish debt have fallen steadily since mid-2011, at the height of the euro zone debt crisis, when five-year Irish yields topped 18%, and ten-year yields were 14 per cent.
Welcoming the positive market reaction, National Treasury Management Agency (NTMA) chief executive John Corrigan said the agency still had about €4 billion to raise this year, though the size of the individual auctions would be “modest”.
Mr Corrigan said he hoped Ireland may benefit from a further rating upgrade, possibly within 15-18 months if the Government stuck to its fiscal targets, and that Friday’s decision by Moody’s may bring interest in Irish bonds from Japan and the Far East.
He also indicated to RTÉ’s Morning Ireland programme that the agency intended to make an announcement regarding its auction plan for the year in a week or two.
Despite an EU-wide bond market rally today, which saw yields on German bunds fall to a six-week low, the premium investors require to hold Irish debt over German debt shrank to 152 basis points – its lowest level since early 2010 several months before the country was forced to seek an international bailout.
“Ireland has clearly turned a corner and you’re starting to see that reflected in the ratings,” said Allan von Mehren, the chief analyst at Danske Bank.
“We’re going to see a continued grind lower in yields in peripheral countries as investors look for places where they can get yield pick-up and as long as fundamentals are also improving,” he said.
Citigroup strategist Peter Goves said that the rating action came earlier than anticipated and goes beyond expectations. He said Irish bonds may now gravitate toward the “soft core” of euro zone more quickly than anticipated, and suggested another Moody’s upgrade later in 2014 was a possibility.
Standards and Poor’s and Fitch rate Irish debt three notches above junk at BBB+. S&P lifted its outlook to positive last year while Fitch, scheduled to give an update in a month’s time, has a stable outlook.
“Ratings agencies are catching up with reality,” said Chris Scicluna, head of economic research at Daiwa Capital Markets. “Yields are still closer to the periphery (than top-rated states) so you can’t argue the rally is excessive.”
“Bottom line, the Moody’s move on Ireland was overdue but is still an important confirmation of the market discount, and especially as the market is discounting more positive developments,” said Padhraic Garvey, global head of developed markets debt & rates strategy at ING Bank in Amsterdam.
Mr Garvey noted that ING’s own credit rating model pitches Ireland at BBB+, and thus suggests that Moody’s is “still behind the pace”.
The cost of insuring against an Irish default also fell today. Five-year credit default swaps broke below 100 basis point for the first time since 2008, to 93 basis points, according to Markit.

World’s 85 richest people own nearly half of the world's wealth

  

A tiny elite like Warren Buffett (above right) comprising the richest 85 individuals hold wealth equivalent to that owned by the bottom half of the world’s population, a report says.

The report by worldwide development organisation Oxfam, titled ‘Working For the Few’, published ahead of the World Economic Forum meet in Davos, details the impact that widening inequality is having in both developed and developing nations.
“Wealthy elites have co-opted political power to rig the rules of the economic game. undermining democracy and creating a world where the 85 richest people own the wealth of half of the world’s population,” Oxfam claimed.
It further added that since the late 1970s, tax rates for the richest have fallen in 29 of the 30 countries for which data are available, meaning that in many places the rich not only get more money but also pay less tax on it.
As per the report, in the last 25 years wealth has become even more concentrated in the hands of fewer people so much that one per cent of the world’s families own almost half (46 per cent) of the world’s wealth.
Oxfam wants governments to take urgent action to reverse the trend. It is asking those attending the World Economic Forum (WEF) to make six-point personal pledge to tackle the problem.
“It is staggering that in the 21st Century, half of the world’s population own no more than a tiny elite whose numbers could all sit comfortably in a single train carriage,” ” Oxfam Executive Director Winnie Byanyima said.
The report alleged that the richest individuals and companies in the world hide trillions of dollars away from the tax man in a web of tax havens around the world. “It is estimated that $21 trillion is held unrecorded and off-shore,” it said.
The report further added that in India, the number of billionaires increased tenfold in the past decade, aided by a highly regressive tax structure and the wealthy exploiting their government connections, while spending on the poorest remains remarkably low.
Moreover, seven out of ten people live in countries where economic inequality has increased in the last 30 years. Besides, the richest one per cent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.
The richest one per cent increased their share of income in 24 out of 26 countries for which we have data between 1980 and 2012.
Budget supermarkets Lidl and Aldi now more popular with shoppers than any other chain

More and more punters in Ireland now flocking to the cut-price stores

  

Cut-price grocery stores Lidl and Aldi are now more popular with shoppers than any other chain.

A Behaviour & Attitudes survey for Checkout Magazine found 62% of consumers have shopped in one or both in the past year, compared to 48% in Tesco, 41% in SuperValu and 36% in Dunnes.
When it came to choosing a store for the “main shop”, Lidl and Aldi again came out on top with 30% – an increase of 21% on the previous year.
That’s compared to 20% who choose Tesco for their big shop, 19% who opt for Dunnes and another19% who prefer Super Valu.
Checkout editor Stephen Wynne-Jones cited the survey as proof the discount stores have become part of the shopping landscape here.
He said: “These figures illustrate what many in the industry have believed for some time, the discounters have ‘entered the mainstream’ in the eyes of Irish shoppers.
“As the economic clouds start to recede, it will be interesting to see whether the significant growth enjoyed by both Aldi and Lidl can be sustained.”
Of those surveyed, 92% said they have a Lidl in their local area while 86% have an Aldi, illustrating how the retailers have spread their reach nationwide.
The study also discovered the overall weekly grocery spend has seen its first increase in six years, with weekly spend up by 6%, bringing grocery bills back to 2010 levels.
In terms of the supermarkets that have gained most from this increase, Dunnes Stores has seen a 12% rise since last year.
Last November, Tesco began what many dubbed a price-war as they looked to ways of combating the loss of their customers to the likes of Aldi and Lidl.
The Tesco “price promise” allows customers to compare products they bring to the till with similar products available in the German stores.
If the Tesco product is more expensive, customers will receive a voucher for the difference. The offer applies to 1,400 products in the store.
However, the scheme was well received by Aldi, who issued a statement welcoming the “admission by Tesco that it is more expensive”.

Heartfelt appeal for return of watches stolen "given by dying father to his sons" 

20.1.2014. Stephen Carroll from Blackrock in Co Louth who passed away in November 2013 pictured with his wife Breffnie (39) and three sons L-R Keelan age 8, Roan age 4 and Seenan who is 10, also pictured on Breffnie's knee is Stephen's only niece Lucy. On Friday thieves forced their way into Stephen's parents house and stole watches that Stephen had engraved to be given to his two eldest sons on their 21'st birthdays. Picture Ciara Wilkinson.  

Two watches (LIKE ABOVE) which were to be given to his two sons when they reached 21 were stolen in Co Louth last week.

Thieves who stole engraved watches left by a dying father in Co Louth to his two young sons have been asked to “to give them back”.
They were specially engraved by Stephen Carroll (38) for his sons the week before he died in November.
“They are the only tangible gift Stephen left for his eldest sons and they are just heart-broken that they have been stolen,” said Mr Carroll’s sister-in-law Kerrie Carroll.
The Omega watches have little or no monetary value, according to his family.

HIS FAMILY HAS APPEALED TO THE THIEVES TO “GIVE THEM BACK.

Drop them to a church, to the Gardai or leave them somewhere they will be found but just give them back. There will be no questions asked.”
Mr Carroll and his wife Breffnie (39) have three sons, Senan (10), Keelan (8) and Roan (4) . The watches were given to Mr Carroll for his 21st and 30th birthdays.
According to his sister-in-law when Mr Carroll diagnosed with kidney cancer 18 months, he spent a lot of time thinking about special momentos to leave for his beloved children.
“He wanted to leave something for the boys to have and they were to each be given a watch when they too reach 21,” explained Kerrie.
Mr Carroll died last November but “lived long enough to see the engraving. It was what he wanted. He wanted to have the engraving done and he thought a long time about it” said Kerrie.
Mr Carroll and his family run the well known Carroll newsagents and Hallmark shops in Dundalk, Drogheda,Monaghan and Navan.
Mr Carroll is from Blackrock, Co Louth and the watches were being kept by his parents Ian and Anita in their family home in Blackrock.
They were away from the house and last Friday thieves forced their way in.
“We are all devastated that this has happened. The watches have no resale value at all because of the unique engravings on them. To us they have sentimental value that we could not put a price on. This is very hard on all of the family especially coming so soon after Stephen’s death,” added Kerrie.
One watch is an Omega Constellation model which is engraved on the back with “To Keelan love Daddy x” while the other is an Omega Seamaster and is engraved “To Senan love Daddy x”.
She said: “We are hoping that someone, somewhere has a conscience and returns these watches to an utterly devastated family. These were the only tangible memories we have of him.”
The family is using the media, to highlight details of the watches in case they are offered for sale.
Gardai in Blackrock are investigating the theft.

Can socially engaging meals help Irish elderly people?

      

A new Irish study is planning to investigate the importance of nutritious and socially engaging meals among older people.

Researchers at Trinity College Dublin are appealing for volunteers to take part in the study, which aims to see whether such meals could help to fight age-related problems in cognition, frailty and overall quality of life. They will do this by tackling the two areas of malnutrition and social isolation.
According to the researchers, many older people in Ireland who live independently are at risk of malnutrition. This refers to under-nutrition that affects a person’s health and wellbeing. It can come about if the body cannot use food properly, which can lead to a person losing weight and developing nutritional deficiencies. Certain diseases can also lead to appetite suppression.
Across the EU, including in Ireland, an estimated 5-15% of older adults are already affected. Malnutrition can lead to frailty and impaired cognition, such as memory problems. Cognition is also essential for physical health and social wellbeing.
Meanwhile, another major risk for older adults is social isolation. This can come about as a result of frailty, illness or bereavement.
According to the researchers from Trinity’s NEIL (Neuro-Enhancement for Independent Lives) Programme, isolation and loneliness are as bad for a person as obesity and smoking. They are associated with an increased risk of depression, frailty, sleep problems and dying.
Figures suggest that around 6% of Irish adults over the age of 60 are at risk of social isolation.
This new study aims to tackle the two issues of malnutrition and social isolation. It aims to tap into the 20% of older adults in Ireland who actively volunteer in their communities, to deliver and evaluate a mealtime intervention to older people who are socially isolated.
The intervention will emphaise the social element of the meal as much as the nutritious element. The volunteers will provide nutritional advice, but will also spend time with the isolated people, planning and cooking the meal together and then eating it together as well.
The two-year RelAte study wants to assess whether nutritious and socially engaging meals can mitigate against age-related decline and help people maintain their independence for longer.
The study requires two types of volunteer:
-50 people over the age of 55, who would like to be trained as a NEIL volunteer. They will be expected to deliver the mealtime intervention -100 socially isolated people over the age of 60 who are currently living alone.
“Physical health, mental health, and engagement with life are the three core aspects of healthy ageing and independent living. We hope the two-year RelAte study will show that social interaction and good nutrition can impact positively on quality of life, frailty and cognitive function,” explained principal investigator, Dr Sabina Brennan.
Almost commenting on the study, Prof Brian Lawlor of Trinity College, emphasised that the provision of home-based support for the ageing population ‘is an economic necessity of both national and international priority.’
“At an individual level, home-based care provides individuals with the independence they require to maintain their health, activities and sense of identity in their own home. The RelAte project has far-reaching implications for home-based support and for maintenance of independence into late life, both at a national and an international level,” he said.

The size of Bumblebees drastically reduced by common pesticides,

BEE HEALTH EXPERTS WARN US

bumblebee  

A study by Royal Holloway University of London reports that exposure to a commonly used pesticide causes stunted growth in bumblebees.

When exposed to the pesticide pyrethroid, which is used on flowering crops to prevent insect damage, the bumblebees, which are pollinators of flowering plants, grow less and go on to produce young that hatch in smaller sizes, the researchers said.
The investigation was done over a four-month period, where researchers recorded the size of the bees, weighing them on micro-scales and monitoring the size of queens and and male drones produced by the colony.
“We already know that larger bumblebees are more effective at foraging,” said researcher Gemma Baron. “Our result, revealing that this pesticide causes bees to hatch out at a smaller size, is of concern as the size of workers produced in the field is likely to be a key component of colony success, with smaller bees being less efficient at collecting nectar and pollen from flowers.”
Baron and her colleagues report that the research was the first to be carried out on pyrethroid pesticides across the entire lifecycle of bumblebees.
“Bumblebees are essential to our food chain so it’s critical we understand how wild bees might be impacted by the chemicals we are putting into the environment. We know we have to protect plants from insect damage but we need to find a balance and ensure we are not harming our bees in the process,” said Mark Brown, a professor at Royal Holloway who was involved in the study.
The researchers contend that in light of their results there will likely be further bans on pyrethroid pesticides throughout the European Union, where there is already a moratorium on the use of three neonicotinoid pesticides, which have been linked to colony collapse disorder.
“Our work provides a significant step forward in understanding the detrimental impact of pesticides other than neonicotinoids on wild bees,” Nigel Raine, an expert on bee health.
“Further studies using colonies placed in the field are essential to understand the full impacts, and conducting such studies needs to be a priority for scientists and governments,” he said.