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EVERY MORNING, TheJournal.ie brings you nine things you should know with your morning coffee.
1. #CLERICAL ABUSE: A huge report into clerical sexual abuse in the Netherlands has confirmed that up to 20,000 children were abused there by more than 800 Catholic priests and lay workers since 1945. Associated Press says the commission of inquiry also criticised Catholic Church officials for failing to tackle the abuse.
2. #FISHING QUOTAS: Some good news for the Irish fishing industry. The Irish sea prawn fishery – which had been closed since mid-October – will be reopened with immediate effect after negotiations took place in Europe overnight. Other fish quotas for Irish trawlers are also being increased according to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine Simon Coveney.
3. #HOUSEHOLD CHARGE: Homeowners thinking of not paying the new €100 household charge might do well to listen to Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty who last night told TheJournal.ie that he doesn’t want people to get into legal trouble for boycotting it. According to the Irish Times and the Irish Examiner, the Fines Act 2010 could lead to the €100 – and extra fines – being taken from people’s wages or benefits instead. The Government this morning confirmed to TheJournal.ie that this could be the case.
4. #RECESSION NUA? Dan O’Brien and Paul Cullen have suggested on the front of today’s Irish Times that Ireland is heading for a “new recession”. Yesterday’s grim figures from the Central Statistics Office showed the Irish economy shrank in Q3 of 2011. This morning, the London Independent says that the Irish contraction discredits the usefulness of austerity measures but the Wall Street Journal yesterday counselled that the figures “should certainly not be read as a sign that Ireland is sliding back” into recession.
5. #ALCOHOL: Is Ireland turning teetotal? Not quite – but figures from the Revenue Commissioners show that the tax take from alcohol sales between 2007 and 2010 dropped by a whopping one-third.
6. #FEMALE ASSASSIN? The woman arrested yesterday morning in relation to the fatal shooting of David Darcy in Ballyfermot, Dublin two weeks ago may have been the person who pulled the trigger, according to Michael O’Toole in the Irish Daily Star. He quotes a Garda source as saying detectives found she had a hit list of potential targets.
7. #EARLY CHRISTMAS SALES: Retail Excellence Ireland has declared that the “Christmas rush” will start today but, according to this trading statement, several retailers are “considering entering sale mid next week”, ie, BEFORE Christmas Day to get our purses and wallets open.
8. #CHEERS: The last remaining independent whiskey-maker in Ireland, Cooley Distillery, is to be bought by spirits company BEAM according to the Wall Street Journal. BEAM will pay €72.8m for the company. The drinks are on Cooley then…
9. #BLACK ICE: Be careful out there this morning – some readers of TheJournal.ie have been reporting black ice in areas as widespread as Cavan, Donegal, Derry, Kildare, Dublin and Kerry. What you DON’T want is to see a runaway truck trailer coming at you as this driver did in this phenomenally scary video (it’s okay – he had a lucky escape):
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The whole thing is a joke, while waiting on home care packages these people are labeled as ‘bed blockers’ by the same people that are refusing to allocate the necessary hours.
An absolute disgrace. The biggest contributor to the trolley situation for the past 15 years.
Main issue is HSE management can’t be fired under the public service rules.
They wouldn’t last a week in the private sector.
You apply, get approved and then nothing. No one assigned. Then you apply, get approved and then nothing. No one assigned. Then…
@Artugal: same same…two years waiting…
Just spend the damn money. Probably the best value we can get. Help the people who need it, free up hospital beds thereby freeing up accident & emergency rooms around the country. This has to be a no brainer surely?
Every government this country has ever had, counting Cummann na nGaelheal as proto blueshirt, has been either Fine Gael or Fianna Fail. None of these governments have made decent efforts to find lasting solutions to our seemingly everlasting problems. Yet in a while, whenever Michael Martin plucks up the courage to pull the plug on Varadkar and the rest of his fascists, they will arrive at our door promising everything we could ever dream of. Lots will vote for one or other side of the mirror. Sure didn’t my granny know Collins or didn’t Dev get us the lectric. Any talk of voting for an alternative. Sure that crowd would ruin the country! We get the politicians that we deserve. Ironically, most older people will turn to one or other of these criminal gangs for help out of this mess.
What a disgrace. Hse is not fit for purpose. It needs to be completely striped down and restructured from the front line services back. There are examples all over the world, particularly in the Netherlands where cost could be considerably cut and improved at the same time.
I have Parkinsons for the past 10 years. It has taken me 5 years to get 14 hours per week assistance. HSE just don’t have the finance.
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