News Ireland daily BLOG by Donie

Monday 16th June 2014

Irish Coalition warned to keep to their €2 billion budget savings

 

Budgetary watchdog EFAC says Government has no scope for cuts in taxation

Professor John McHale, Chairman of , Irish Fiscal Advisory Council: stressed that significant uncertainties remain for the economy, primarily because of the high levels of private debt and the uneven pace of recovery abroad.

The Government would be “unwise” to contemplate a budget adjustment of less than €2 billion given the uncertainties still surrounding Ireland’s economic recovery, the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council (IFAC) has warned.

In its latest financial assessment report, the State’s budgetary watchdog also warned the Government had no scope for tax cuts .

The council’s warning runs counter to Minister for Finance Michael Noonan’s suggestion that next year’s deficit target of 3 per cent could be achieved with a smaller adjustment and separate hints that tax cuts may be in the offing.IFAC chairman Professor John McHale said it was the council’s assessment that the Government must follow through on its original budgetary commitments to keep the Government debt metric on a downward trajectory.

Private debt

Echoing a recent warning from the European Commission, Prof McHale stressed that significant uncertainties remain for the economy, primarily because of the high levels of private debt and the uneven pace of recovery abroad.

If the Coalition opted to row back on the proposed level of adjustment, Prof McHale said it ran the high risk of missing its deficit target for next year, which would undermine the State’s hard-won credibility.

On the prospect of tax breaks he said: “It seems to us unwise to erode the revenue-generating capacity of the State at this point.”

In its report, IFAC said significant progress had been achieved by the Government in resolving the fiscal crisis. It noted that if the proposed €2 billion adjustment for Budget 2015 goes ahead, a total of €32 billion will have been taken out of the economy since 2008, making Ireland’s austerity project one of the biggest in global financial history.

The council did, however, express reservations on the three-year time frame proposed to cut the fiscal deficit to zero after 2015, suggesting it was unnecessarily short.

In a separate blow to hopes of tax cuts, the prospect of some relief on the €41 billion in debt associated with bailing out the banks receded yesterday after a senior euro zone official said that the principle of retroactivity is not included in the guidelines for how the euro zone’s direct recapitalisation instrument will work.

“There’s nothing retroactive in the guidelines that we have adopted,” the senior official said ahead of a meeting of euro zone finance ministers on Thursday. “The rules as we have adopted them are forward-looking, so I see no case for retroactive application.”

Ireland is hoping that the European Stability Mechanism (ESM), the euro zone’s main bank rescue fund, could be used to retroactively recapitalise the State’s two pillar banks AIB and Bank of Ireland. Last June, at the end of the Irish presidency of the council of the European Union, euro zone finance minister agreed on the main guidelines on how the ESM’s direct bank recapitalisation instrument would work, including the provision that the potential retroactive application of the instrument should be decided on a case-by-case basis and by mutual agreement.

An Irish spokeswoman said yesterday that “nothing has changed” regarding direct bank recapitalisation which will be decided on a case by case basis. “The Minister for Finance and his Government colleagues ensure that Ireland’s case for retrospective direct recapitalisation is made at all levels as appropriate and remain confident that the commitment made by the euro area Heads of State or Government in June 2012 to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns will be respected.”

Wind energy meets target of supplying 50% of electricity needs

  

Wind energy fulfilled a record 50% of Ireland’s electricity needs at times over the past six months, according to the Irish Wind Energy Association (IWEA).

On average, wind energy supplied 23% of the electricity market in the December 2013 to May 2014 period, which is the highest level ever for the sector.

This year is expected to see a very significant increase in the sector’s potential output, with approximately 350MW of additional capacity coming on stream, adding enough new wind energy to power more than 225,000 additional houses, and coming on top of the existing Irish wind capacity of over 2,000MW.

“The role for clean, Irish wind energy in meeting our electricity demand continues to grow,” said Kenneth Matthews, CEO of the IWEA.

“Wind energy has firmly established itself as a reliable and integral part of our energy mix, reducing the unsustainable levels of importing 85% of our fossil fuels, protecting the environment and delivering significant revenues and investment into the Irish economy,”

But further improvements are needed to the planning and regulatory frameworks for the future development of the wind energy sector, said Mr Matthews.

“As the first months of 2014 have shown, we have an abundance of wind energy in Ireland which can help us curb our costly addiction to foreign fossil fuel imports, create jobs, attract local investment and avoid substantial EU fines by hitting our EU emissions targets.

“But we cannot take this for granted and must ensure that the clear focus and momentum remains on achieving our 2020 targets and planning towards 2030 and beyond.

“In realising this potential, we must of course engage in an open and frank discussion, based on fact and not fiction.

“We would encourage families across the country to experience wind energy at first hand and to learn more about this clean and guaranteed Irish energy source,” added Mr Matthews.

Almost 30% of Irish parents use medicines to get their child to sleep,

claims a health expert

  

It has been claimed that nearly a third of Irish parents use over-the-counter medicine to get their child to sleep.

Dr Aisling Garvey, who works at Our Lady’s Children’s Hospital in Crumlin, surveyed 183 parents through GP practices in Cork and Kerry.

She says up to 30% of people admitted misusing medicines like Calpol and Nurofen to get them to sleep at night or on long car journeys.

Dr Garvey, a senior house officer in paediatrics, believes restricting availability of the medicines to pharmacies, and ensuring people only get them after consulting with a chemist, would help the situation.

Bernard Duggan, pharmacist and honorary Treasurer of the Irish Pharmacy Union said: “It is important to ensure the safe use of both over-the-counter and prescription medicines as some medicines are only suitable for adults and not for children.

“Medicine dosages for children should be adjusted according to the age and weight of the child.

“Too little medication can be ineffective and too much medication can be harmful. Also, different medications have different concentrations of ingredients. The best approach is to ask your pharmacist first for advice.

“If a parent notices any adverse side effects having given their child medication (other than that outlined by their pharmacist) such as a rash, hives, vomiting or diarrhoea or has trouble breathing or swallowing, they should seek immediate medical assistance.”

New leukaemia drug boosts survival rate to 90% and could eventually replace invasive chemical treatment

  

Patients in Ireland have been involved in a breakthrough international trial of a new cancer drug which has given researchers renewed hope in the fight against leukaemia.

Research published in the New England Journal of Medicine has found Ibrutinib, an inhibitor of Bruton’s Kinase, to have better rates of survival for patients with the commonest form of leukaemia than conventional therapy and is a breakthrough for people with resistance to chemotherapy.

The results of a trial on 391 patients showed the drug Ibrutinib gave patients fighting a type of slow growing blood cancer called Chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL) a 90 per cent chance of survival, compared to 81 per cent who survive on more conventional treatment.

Dr Patrick Thornton, Consultant Haematologist, Senior Lecturer RCSI and co-author of a New England Journal of Medicine report said “Ireland was per capita the highest recruiter globally to this trial. During the trial the patients responded quicker to the new drug than to monoclonal antibody therapy and showed fewer side effects.

The trial also found that patients, who had not responded to, or have resistance to chemotherapy, now have an alternative treatment option. This drug represents a complete paradigm shift in the treatment of leukaemia which could replace the need for chemotherapy at all and changes completely how leukaemia can be treated.”

The research found the drug is better tolerated than traditional forms of treatment, and is an alternative for patients whose cancer cells have built up a resistance to chemotherapy. Results from the trial also showed that four out of every 10 patients entered remission within a year, compared to four in 100 on a traditional treatment

Ibrutinib works by disabling the enzyme, Bruton’s Kinase, crucial for Leukaemia’s survival. Due to the success of the clinical trial Dr Thornton said “Ibrutinib is now available to patients with the aggressive and chemotherapy resistant forms of CLL in Ireland.”

Although one of the rarest forms of cancer, CLL is the most common type of leukaemia and the older you are the higher the chance you have of developing it. Almost 80 per cent of all new cases are diagnosed in people over the age of 60.

It occurs more frequently in men than women, and because it develops slowly, many people don’t show symptoms in its early stages.  Many people can live for a long period of time with CLL, however there are aggressive variants, such as P53 deleted CLL which may be fatal in only a few years despite chemotherapy. This new treatment gives tremendous hope to these patients as it can overcome the usual resistant mechanisms seen in refractory chemotherapy resistant cases.

Leukaemia Facts:

• Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia (CLL) is a slow growing leukaemia that affects specialised white blood cells known as Lymphocytes

• Its symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, pain or discomfort under the ribs, anaemia, excessive sweating and weight loss

• About 30 per cent of people diagnosed with CLL never require treatment, while for 70 per cent the disease can spread and multiply

• There are approximately 500 Leukaemia diagnoses each year in Ireland of which around 40% of these are CLL

• More than 200 people in Ireland die every year of Leukaemia

Bachelor group stumbles upon 3-million-year-old elephant skull

  

A group of friends on a hike in New Mexico discover one of the most complete skulls belonging to the stegomastodon

A group of friends on a stag do made an unlikely discovery while out walking on a beach in New Mexico – a perfectly preserved three-million-year-old elephant skull.

The party was on a hike in Elephant Butte Lake State Park near Albuquerque when they spotted what looked like a bone emerging from the sand.

The friends began digging until the skull surfaced.

Antonia Gradillas, 33, who was out with the group celebrating a friend’s upcoming wedding when they made the find earlier this month, said: “As we were walking we saw a bone sticking out about one or two inches from the ground.”

They thought they had found a woolly mammoth and sent photographs they took of it to the New Mexico

As it turned out, they were not too far off. The skull was found to belong to a stegomastodon – a prehistoric ancestor of today’s elephants and one much older than the woolly mammoth, which dates back to the Ice Age.

An archaeology group went down to the beach and packaged the skull, which weighs more than 1,000 pounds, in a cast before transporting it to the museum, where it will be studied and eventually put on display.

Mastodons – relatives of the elephant – stood 10 feet tall and migrated to North America around 15 million years ago, before becoming extinct about 10,000 years ago.

Experts believe receding water exposed the skull, which they say is the most complete of its kind and could shed more light on the mammal.

Gary Morgan, a paleontologist at the museum, estimated that the creature uncovered by Mr Gradillas and his friends likely stood about 9ft tall, weighed more than six tons and was about 50 years old when it died.

“This mastodon find is older than the woolly mammoth that tread the Earth in the Ice Age. It probably died on a sandbar of the ancient Rio Grande River,” he said.

“It was living, drinking, feeding alongside the ancient Rio Grande three million years ago,” he said.

“This is far and away the best one we’ve ever found.”

Mr Gradillas said of the find: “This is the coolest thing ever. Some people with PhDs in this field might not even have this kind of opportunity. We were so lucky.”

News Ireland daily BLOG by Donie

Wednesday 21st May 2014

Irish householders pay among the highest prices in Europe for electricity

Irish prices rose twice as much as the rest of Europe last year

  

A new Eurostat report shows that Ireland has the fourth most expensive electricity in the EU.

Irish householders pay among the highest prices in Europe for electricity and they rose twice as much as the rest of Europe last year.

A new Eurostat report shows that Ireland has the fourth most expensive electricity in the EU and the price rose by 5.1pc in the second half of 2013 compared with just 2.8pc across Europe.

Consumers in Ireland pay €24.10 per 100 kilowatt hour (kWh) of electricity which is 20pc higher than the EU average of €20.10 and 34pc higher than our nearest neighbourBritain.

That makes us the fourth most expensive country in Europe for power behind Denmark, Germany and Cyprus.

Irish electricity prices are up to three times higher than the cheapest country Bulgaria, and twice as high as Romania.

The Eurostat figures show that gas prices in Ireland have soared by almost 15pc since 2011

When it comes to gas meanwhile Irish prices are closer to the average in Europe but prices rose by seven times as much here as elsewhere in Europe.

Householders here pay €7.20 per 100 kWh of gas  which is only marginally above the EU average of €7.10, although the price is 22pc higher than in Britain.

Irish gas prices rose by 7.4pc in the second half of 2013 compared with the same period of 2012 while across Europe the average price increase was just 1pc.

Irish gas prices are up 16pc since 2011 which is nearly twice as much as the rest of Europe in that period.

When Eurostat adjusted prices into ‘purchasing power standards’ to take account of general differences in the cost of living in member states, Irish electricity prices were 10pc higher than average, but gas prices were slightly cheaper.

Good news:-

Permanent TSB’s core business bank is now profitable

   

Permanent TSB’s core business bank was profitable after impairments for the first four months of the year, according to its interim management statement.

Moreover, the 99.2% state-owned bank reported a big increase in mortgage lending and a stabilisation in mortgage arrears.

All three domestic banks — Bank of Ireland, AIB and PTSB — have reported a return to post provision profitability so far this year.

The three banks face a stringent set of stress tests later this year as part of the ECB’s comprehensive assessment of the banking system, which also includes an asset quality review. If any of these banks fail the stress tests, then they will be required to raise capital.

According to the PTSB interim management statement the group continues to maintain a significant buffer against regulatory requirements, “with capital attrition reducing as loss levels have abated.”

The bank reported a drop in early and late stage arrears across all portfolios with overall levels 10% below the peak reached last year. It expects this year’s impairment charge to be “significantly reduced” from 2013 levels.

Under its restructuring plan, that is still awaiting approval from the European Commission, the bank has been split into three entities: a good bank; an asset management unit that will run down its distressed assets, including mortgages, and a separate UK division.

According to the interim management statement, the asset management unit has met its Central Bank target on mortgage arrears, with 19,000 sustainable treatments offered to customers and 15,600 accepted.

The net interest margin which is a key indicator of profitability, is improving at a rate similar to last year, on the back of a growth in retail deposit volumes and an overall reduction in the cost of funds.

However, if the ECB reduces the interest rate at its next monthly meeting in June, then this would negatively impact the net interest margin, warned the bank. PTSB had roughly €15bn in tracker mortgages, which are directly priced off the main ECB rate.

New mortgage approvals are up 80% over the first four months of this year compared with last year. PTSB’s market share for new mortgages is now 13% compared with 1.2% at the end of 2012.

As well as an increase in new deposits, there has been a 60% reduction in borrowings from the ECB, from peak levels in 2007.

The loan to deposit ratio is 142% overall and 124% for the good bank.

Little brain tumour toddler Aoife gets back her medical card

 

A Toddler girl who is battling a brain tumour has had her cancelled medical card reinstated as the HSE apologised for what it called an administrative error.

Three-year-old Aoife Keogh, from Blessington, Co Wicklow was diagnosed with a brain tumour last May and was given a medical card for two years to cover treatments.

But in April, the card came up as invalid when her mother, Carly, attempted to use it in a pharmacy.

M/s Keogh wrote to the HSE two weeks ago but had heard nothing back, and yesterday her story appeared in apology

By midday the HSE had rung the mother-of-three to personally apologise, and reinstated her with a working card.

“It’s just such pure relief – there’s no other way to describe it,” said Ms Keogh. “I never expected such a quick turnaround because I’d had such little dealings with the HSE.”

The Blessington woman said the confusion over the card was, “quite stressful on top of everything else that is going on”.

“Yesterday at around 12.30pm I got a call from a person over medical cards and he apologised for the hassle of everything and confirmed that the card would remain in place until June 2015 as previously agreed,” said Ms Keogh.

A spokeswoman from the HSE explained that Aoife’s card had come up for review 18 months early and then invalidated because of an admin fault.

“Due to an administrative error at the medical card processing centre the family was brought into an additional review in error,” she said.

The spokeswoman also stated that, “the HSE wishes to sincerely apologise to the Keogh family for the genuine errors involved in the processing of their case and the subsequent distress and upset caused to them”.

Aoife, who is the youngest of three children, suffers from a life-long condition and will have to live with brain tumours.

But it is hoped that her current bout of chemotherapy will be her last, said Ms Keogh.

The mum-of-three also said that she was not alone in her plight.

“There are so many other people who haven’t had their story in the media and their children need help,” she said.

Ms Keogh’s story came to light after she spoke to members of Our Children’s Health campaign.

The group is currently lobbying the Government to have a piece of legislation updated allowing terminally ill children and youngsters living with congenital conditions to have immediate access to medical cards.

Big confusion,

After months of confusion surrounding Aoife’s card, which originally kicked off last December when her mum was asked to fill in review forms, it took just half a day to sort out.

Ms Keogh had written to the HSE saying she had a card until June 2015 and that filling in the review forms was quite time consuming.

The HSE replied to her in January saying there was no need to fill in the forms but in April she discovered her daughter’s card had “just stopped working”.

James Reilly says €108m in health savings not achieveable

Minister says matter for Government as to where money will now come from

 

James Reilly says:  

“We don’t want doctors looking after patients nurses could be looking after; we don’t want nurses looking after patients that health care assistants could be looking after.”

More than €100 million in previously-anticipated pay savings in the health service this year are not achievable, Minister for Health James Reilly has said.

He said it was a matter for the whole of Government to determine where this money would come from.

The HSE’s service plan for the year was based on €290 million in savings being delivered under the Haddington Road agreement, as well as a further €108 million in pay savings.

Consultancy report

The Irish Times reported last month that a consultancy report commissioned by the health service had forecast that the Haddington Road deal may only produce €212 million in savings, plus or minus 20 per cent.

Dr Reilly said the €290 million target could be achieved at a stretch.

Proposed measures set out in a new HSE plan aimed at bridging the gap between the €212 million figure and €290 million target, such as changing skill mixes, were at the heart of the row between nurses and health management over the weekend.

Speaking yesterday, the Minister said the €108 million in savings which was set out in the health budget for the year was not achievable.

The consultancy report had shown the savings were “not available in the manner originally perceived”.

He said this was now a matter for negotiations between theDepartment of Health, the Department of the Taoiseachand the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform.

Separately, the Minister accused the country’s main nursing union of leaving itself open to the charge of “scaremongering” in its claim that patient safety would be put at risk in the move to alter the ratio between nurses and healthcare assistants. He said the changes had been agreed under the savings attached to Haddington Road.

The Minister also stressed he wanted to put to bed the idea that the model of care could not change, saying “the model of care has to change”.

Standards slipping.

This country was a long way off the London Royal College of Nursing advice on standards of one nurse per 2½ health care assistants in community service units, he said in Kenmare Co Kerry, where he opened a primary care centre which brings the town’s eight GPs and other practitioners under one roof.

Dr Reilly said in some big teaching hospitals in Ireland there were nine nurses to one health care assistant. In some other countries the ratio was 2.8 nurses per health care assistant.

“I want the patient looked at in the lowest level of complexity that is safe, timely and efficient and as near to home as possible,” he said.

“We don’t want doctors looking after patients nurses could be looking after; we don’t want nurses looking after patients that health care assistants could be looking after.”

Expensive

There had to be an end to “inappropriate use of very expensive time”.

He said the expanded role for nurses in taking over colonoscopy examinations and such from doctors and managing patient care as practice nurses, meant they too had to give a little bit.

White-tailed eagle chick hatched in Clare is sibling of shot bird

 

First births of the year take place in Mountshannon and Glengarriff

The first white-tailed eagle chicks of the year have been hatched in Co Clare and west Cork in recent weeks, it was announced today.

The rare birds were born in nests at Mountshannon, Co Clare and Glengarriff in west Cork, according to the Golden Eagle Trust which runs the reintroduction programme .

The chick born in Mountshannon is a sibling of a bird which was shot and killed three months ago. The deceased bird was one of two chicks born to the Mountshannon pair last year which became the first chicks to fly from a nest inIreland in over a century. The crime is under investigation by the Garda.

The chick born in Glengarriff, the first of the year to hatch, uunfortunately died at two weeks old. This was likely due to a combination of bad weather and inexperienced adults, Golden Eagle Trust project manager Dr Alan Mee said.

Nesting pairs at sites in Kerry and Galwayhave also laid eggs which have yet to hatch. At least half of the fourteen pairs of eagles across four counties have nested and laid eggs in recent weeks. Some pairs, including a nest in Killarney National Park, failed to breed.

These are the latest chicks in the reintroduction programme which began in 2007 with the release of 100 young Norwegian eagles in Killarney National Park .

Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan described it as a “very promising development” after the shocking killing earlier this year ” “That was a dark day for this ambitious project to reintroduce these magnificent birds of prey into Ireland,” he said. “I hope these young eagles will have a long life in our skies,” he said.

The pair at Mountshannon gives the general public a chance to see some of the most “spectacular birds” at “close quarters”, he said.

Dr Mee warned about risks of disturbance during the early stages of nesting which would be detrimental to success and could result in chicks being left unguarded.

“We would caution people not to approach the nest area but instead avail of the unique opportunity to watch from a nesting pair of sea eagles from nearby Mountshannon pier,” he said.

The increase in the number of nesting pairs is “encouraging” and “bodes well for the future of the species” he said. White-tailed eagles can live for 25 to 30 years and generally mate for life.

“Ultimately the viability of the reintroduced programme depends on these chicks going on to breed themselves in Ireland. Each step brings us closer to that goal,” he said.

The reintroduced birds came from Norway and the Norwegian Ambassador to Ireland also welcomed the news: “ This is an excellent example of international cooperation on the practical level, aiming at preserving nature and biodiversity for the benefit of future generations,” Roald Næss said.

The white-tailed eagle reintroduction project is managed by the Golden Eagle Trust with the National Parks and Wildlife Service. One hundred white-tailed eagles were released in Killarney National, park between 2007 and 2011 and 29 have been recovered dead mainly due to illegal poisoning.

The birds were historically a part of the Irish landscape before being made extinct here in the early 20th century due to human persecution.