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THERE HAS BEEN a fall in the number of people who say their disposable income has decreased.
The Irish League of Credit Unions (ILCU) has today published the first ‘What’s Left’ tracker of 2014 which shows that since April 2013, disposable income has increased slightly.
In April 2013, 65 per cent of people said their disposable income had decreased, however, in April 2014 , just 54 per cent said it had.
For all adults, disposable income has increased by €13 since April 2013, while for working adults, disposable income has increased by €20 since April 2013.
Disposable income
Speaking about the April 2014 tracker results, Kieron Brennan, CEO of ILCU said “over the past 12 months we have begun to see the first signs of possible economic recovery”.
He added:
This is certainly good news and should the results continue like this throughout 2014 it is quite possible that we will see a strengthening in consumer confidence which will impact on savings and spending levels.Those struggling to pay their bills on time every month are becoming savvier and are shopping around for the best deals or switching providers in an effort to keep costs down.
Other findings from the research shows that more people are in a position to save compared to this time last year with 44 per cent in April 2014 as opposed to 39 per cent in April 2013.
The average amount saved is €177, up from €170 in April 2013 and an increase from €175 in December 2013.
An average family household is left with €327 at the end of a typical month, a slight decrease from €367 in December 2013. This may be due to the overall increased costs per household and may take account the impact of expenses like the property tax.
The average net income for a household in Ireland is €2,710 per month, up from €2,707 in December 2013.
Education
The cost of education has increased, according to the results. There has been a jump in third level education costs by €67 per month from December 2013 to €355 per month.
There has been a significant increase in school related costs for both primary and secondary by €86 per month from December 2013 to €138 per month.
There has also been an increase in cost of extra-curricular school activities by €15 to €86 per month since December 2013.
In terms of charitable giving 62 per cent of adults donate to charity in Ireland giving an average €25 per month.
Irish donors show strong preference for supporting Irish charities, 53 per cent, as opposed to international charities, at 7 per cent.
The recent financial scandals in the charity sector has caused 9 in 10 to rethink where they donate with 20 per cent saying they have stopped donating to charity completely.
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What a load of b….. , too late by now. Not needed, built a whole hospital.in China in TEN days.
@Gina Carroll:
Build a hospital in 10 days? Lol. That is pure lies from China
@Gina Carroll: they fitted out a hospital in an existing building
@Gina Carroll: no they didn’t
@Gina Carroll: everyone seems to think this pandemic is over when it’s only just begun. The warmer weather and precautions put in place to fight the virus have worked well for us but if you think the virus is gone your very wrong, there will be a resurgence in the winter months ahead.
@Paul Lee: what was the live stream of the hospital being built I watched?
@Gina Carroll: Do you really want to start comparing Ireland to China as a like for like comparison? It’s amazing what can be done when a totalitarian government with no regard for health and safety is calling the shots. You do know it wasn’t a permanent structure that they built? It was a prefabricated structure based on plans and materials used to build something similar for the SARS epidemic in 2003— ie: stuff they already had. As far as I’m aware, no such stockpile exists in Ireland.
@Marc Walsh: are you a doctor?
@Just Some Guy: you obviously don’t watch or listen to the news as video and pictures of it getting done we’re plastered all over the media at the time!!
@colm connolly: Your wrong, they did not and get your facts right.
@john flynn: this one that collapsed after? https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/07/china/china-coronavirus-hotel-collapse/index.html
@Gina Carroll: it’s not necessarily for Covid it’s more to free up hospital beds to deal with the usual overcrowding which will inevitably happen again when people are no longer afraid to go to GP/A&E, and also be available should there be a second wave, but looking at the layout it’s not for Covid.
@Eoin Scanlon: that’s the one!
@Gina Carroll: Actually needed more than ever now, regular patients coming back means that Limerick is always overcrowded.
@Wheresmyjumper: he doesnt need to be, If you cant understand just how more difficult this will get in the winter season and the flu. All our immune systems once healthy should be as strong as they can get in these months, come winter our immune systems aren’t as strong.
@colm connolly: The two temporary hospitals were built in Ten days using a prefabricated modular design used for the previous SARS epidemic in 2002-03 developed by the Chinese military.
It is quite worrying that the design appears look a lot like a prison layout, there were prison bars on the windows inside the hospital and secure locked doors. I suspect it’s a dual use design that could also be used to imprison Chinese citizen if there’s widespread riots against the government (they have flat pack hospital/prisons in storage).
There were live webcam footage of the builds, and now many time-lapse webcam videos of the build is still available on YouTube. There is no doubt they built them in 10 days.
@Eoin Scanlon: Sorry but that was a hotel that was being used for covid patients that collapsed, not the new built corona hospitals
@Wheresmyjumper: Are you a doctor?
@David Jordan: More video, notice the bars on the windows:
That’s why I think these were repurposed fast build prisons modified as hospitals. They were build by a construction company connected to the Chinese military.
Here’s the inside of the hospital: https://youtu.be/-p4NE-e1gMU
@Gina Carroll: There’s a backlog of patients who need treatment. In Ireland. They can’t go straight home after a serious operation or sickness. Okay? They aren’t going to be in nursing homes. This is for people served by Limerick hospitals who don’t have Covid-19, but still need nursing care, while they recover. IDK why you imagine they should go to China.
@Paul Shepherd: But that was a field hospital for people in China who had Covid-19. It wasn’t anything to do with people in Ireland who need nursing and don’t have Covid-19.
@Eoin Scanlon: nope two different things
@Just Some Guy: https://youtu.be/MbNFvJhUmYE
@colm connolly: https://youtu.be/MbNFvJhUmYE
@Paul Lee: https://youtu.be/MbNFvJhUmYE
@Gina Carroll: There’s a growing realsation that many people do not fully recover from COVID-19, many are left with debilitating sequelae and need long term rehabilitation and support.
Over 4000 severely and critically ill people with COVID-19 were admitted to Irish hospitals during the epidemic, 55% survived. There are just over 2000 survivors of severe COVID-19, and many are left with long term debilitating sequelae e.g. lung scarring/damage, kidney damage, debilitated by strokes or pulmonary embolisms due to blood cots induced by the illness, and even heart damage.
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/8/21251899/coronavirus-long-term-effects-symptoms
There is also psychological damage. Many survivors experienced psychosis when in hospital and many continue to suffer from depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts and anxiety following discharge.
@Just Some Guy: actually if u look at tv, u would have seen it, the rest of the world saw it, where were u, under a stone.
@colm connolly: no actually they didnt, they built a new one, not bricks etc, a prefabricated.
@Gina Carroll: Impressive stuff done by China indeed especially when it comes to construction and engineering. Was wondering whether we could hire them to finish the Children’s Hospital here…
@Just Some Guy: You’re quite ill-informed, sadly
@colm connolly: No. They actually built a 1,000 beds hospital in 10 days, and another one with 1,500 beds about the same time. They were living streaming the construction sites on YouTube in January/February. People spent those days laughing at them instead of learning the reason why they had to do it was because Wuhan’s hospitals were getting overwhelmed. We never prepared until the virus reached our own shores.
@Seriousnojoke: That’s grand if you want to be replacing it every few years as it falls to bits.
@Alan Watts: are you a doctor?
@Decko49: Are you a doctor?
@Gina Carroll: no they didn’t, they slapped together a load of prefabs on a site they cleared that was already in the process of being cleared when this started.
@Tommy Roche: You sound like someone who’s never been to China and get all information from social media.
@Marc Walsh: bet your a bundle of laughs at a party.
@Jun Stone: which sounds great, till they have to pull it all down in September, when we will be heading into the hospitals busiest time of the year. Why not build something permanent FFS?
@alphasully: It wasn’t – it was a quarantine centre. Everyone there tested negative, at least. Rotten luck to be put in a building that collapsed. The interesting thing is that the owner has been arrested. Imagine if faulty buildings here resulted in the owners being held responsible?
@Paul Lee: they assembled a number of stockpiled prefabricated modules to create a basic hospital. Once the site had been prepared, the first phase of the project was operational in ten days.
It was hailed as some kind of major achievement, but it was just good logistics. Any decent construction company here could have done the same if they had access to the modular units.
@David Jordan: Very scientific scaremongeringthere, “many people”. There’s a growing realisation that for people under 65 without underlying conditions this virus is little more dangerous than the flu and there is a growing realisation that the vast majority of people don’t have any lasting effects from contracting this virus and there is a growing realisation that once someone contracts the virus they can’t contract it again and there is a growing realisation that the period of immunity is likely to be years. There is also a growing realisation that fear mongers like you have been talking out your hoop for months now
Will it be staffed by spin doctors?
@Philo: The spin doctors don’t play anymore.
Great idea for the winter flu overflow if it is still open then. Limerick seems to have major trolley issues in the winter.
@Mairead Jenkins: A field hospital is a temporary hospital or mobile medical unit that takes care of casualties on-site before they can be safely transported to more permanent facilities. The danger is that, like most temporary things in this country, they become permanent and the real issue is never addressed.
Field hospitals are intended to address the needs of war zones, disaster areas, or major incidents. Exactly which one of these the University of Limerick is we can only guess and I’m sure the government spin doctors will present it as a marvelous solution everyone asked for to a problem nobody wanted. They haven’t mentioned exactly how many nurses, health assistants or doctors will staff this 68 bed infection trap… I mean ward.
@Arch Angel: agree totally. This is warehousing patients and open for cross infection of bugs
This really proves how madness has taken hold , very convenient location for university student research purposes , especially if patients aren’t allowed visitors. So much about what is happening doesn’t add up and it becomes more unbelievable and sinister by the day .
@Rose Larkin.: you’re right it is sinister…word on the street has it bill gates himself is going to go down and vaccinate everyone with microchips but keep it under your tinfoil hat
@Rose Larkin.: What exactly do you thinking is happening in UL?
@Rose Larkin.: Over 4000 severely and critically ill people with COVID-19 were admitted to Irish hospitals during the epidemic, many were critically ill, 45% died. There are just over 2000 survivors of COVID-19, and many are left with long term debilitating sequelae e.g. lung damage, kidney damage, or are debilitated by strokes or pulmonary embolisms due to blood cots induced by the illness.
They require rehabilitation.
https://www.vox.com/2020/5/8/21251899/coronavirus-long-term-effects-symptoms
There is also psychological damage, many survivors experienced psychosis, and continue to suffer from depression, PTSD, suicidal thoughts and anxiety.
There appears to be a very unfortunate misunderstanding here that wrongly assumes a person fully recovers from COVID-19 and walks out of hospital just as healthy and happy as before their illness. This very wrong.
@Rochelle: she hasn’t a clue and no answer to that very simple question.
Did they not get the memo?
Maybe they only heard about Covid19 now, surely this can’t be correct?
What’s Covid-19 got to do with this? It’s not for people with the virus. It’s more like an overflow ward for all the other patients.
Would love to see the paper trail on this, Who fitted it out etc, Someone got a few €.
@Dave Nomates: They hardly did it for free!!
@NotMyIreland:
DAW!
@Dave Nomates: These conspiracy theories are getting lazier by the day. “Look, an invoice! Somebody got paid!”. Follow the money, Dave. Bank of Ireland created the Corona virus.
@Sean Fahey:
What’s it like being so gullible Sean, believing everything that doesn’t gel with your thinking is a conspiracy theory, You really should get that state of mind looked at.
@Dave Nomates: That’s not how it works. What evidence do YOU have that this wasn’t a straightforward business transaction? If you supply the theory then you supply the evidence.
@Kem Trayle:
I did not supply a theory, I asked a question that clearly got some agitated and as of yet has not been answered,
@Dave Nomates: Ah, the old question mark technicality. Trump would be proud. And who exactly owes you an answer to a question you plucked out of the air that implies someone has behaved illegally?
Oh wait, you didn’t imply anything – you just asked a question right?
@Kem Trayle:
Looks like your the one doing the implying here, Still no answer to my question.
Imagine the noise… How could you sleep/recover in a ward like that?
Hospital wards are closed in Limerick because they can’t staff them. Who’s vanity project is this!
Late only 3 months
@Mislav Smok: is not for Covid, read the article.
No one’s reading the article first! Maybe they thought everyone else could fit into some random nursing home.
It’s a good idea in the short term. Everyone is prepared to stand in line to get into shops are they prepared to wait outside hospitals for treatment? Hospitals face the same social distancing issues as all other premises open to the public and anything that adds capacity has to be a good thing.
True indeed. Also, I’m guessing it is a temporary measure to clear some of the backlog. At some point the uni will get their hall back.
Did they not get the memo?
Maybe they only heard about Covid19 now, surely this can’t be correct?
@James Butler: maybe you didnt read the article? It’s for non-covid patients, and even without a pandemic, such is the pressure on our health system a few extra beds won’t do any harm
Bit late from these spoofers in power
All I want to know is how much did this cost ? Fair play for getting it in place but 68 beds not going to do much tbh but at least it’s 68 more bed in the system temporarily
@El Poblo Escobar: Well they can’t go into nursing homes, sure they have to have some separate wards for people.
@Fiona Fitzgerald: Is this just for the people who cannot be transferred to a nursing home ? I would not like to be sent to a nursing home myself the way they been handled atm.
@El Poblo Escobar: Well, according to the article, yes. It’s for people who aren’t well enough to go home and frees up hospital beds.
https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/ireland/scientists-urge-irish-government-to-crush-coronavirus-before-vaccine-available-1003978.html fg are the viral equivalent of climate deniers.
How much will it cost to transfer patients across the city by ambulance? As there are no kitchen facilities (a pantry is not a kitchen), what will the patients eat? If they are fed hot meals they will need to be made off site, bought onto site and taken away. How much will that cost? Where is the nurses canteen? If a patients condition changes and they have to be taken back across the city (another costly ambulance journey) will they be in increased danger because they are not on the hospital site?
That’s not there for the good of the people. It’s so next winter no press people can get pictures of a dangerously overcrowded hospital.
I didn’t think things in our healthcare system could get worse. This is a whole new level.
have your say