Category Archives: News

news as it is happening-ish

THE RTÉ steering group of senior executives is to meet tomorrow to discuss coverage of the forthcoming referendum on children’s rights, which takes place on November 10th.

The normal approach in referendums is to give equal representation to both sides. However, the low profile of the No side has raised issues as to whether this approach is appropriate on this occasion.

Informed sources said the forthcoming referendum was “fairly unique” and that it was difficult to remember any other poll where there was “virtual unanimity” on one side of the question among elected representatives and lobby groups. The difficulty in allocating coverage arose because “the No side is just so small and so much on the margins of society”.

Meanwhile, on the margins of society…

Nora Bennis of the Alliance of Parents against the State, set up last month to oppose the amendment, said: “RTÉ should give equal time to both the Yes side and the No side.”

“How do they know the No side is so small? I believe the No side will win. I deal with people on the ground and I know what people are saying,” she added.

 

RTÉ executives to outline referendum coverage plan (Deaglán de Bréadún, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

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THE GOVERNMENT will use its presidency of the European Union next year to advance plans for a “youth guarantee” scheme that would ensure young people who are out of work will automatically be directed into employment, education or training.

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton has said she will use the presidency, from January next year, to help deliver proposals for the new scheme, which would be targeted at any under-25s who are out of work.

She was unable to say when the scheme could be delivered or how much it would cost, but she expressed confidence that money could be sourced from the European Social Fund.

Under the plans, which are still being drawn up at European level, governments would initially fund training, further education or apprenticeships for any young person who is out of work for four months or more.

As the job-seeker then gains more experience in the workplace, the employer would begin to pay.

Brilliant. What could possibly go wrong?

Burton says Ireland’s EU presidency will help jobless youth (Carl O’Brien, Irish Times)

(Laura Hutton/Photocall Ireland)

 

The number of people at work in the April-June period fell by nearly 14,000, the biggest three-month fall in a year, according to the Central Statistics Office. The figures appear to dash hopes that employment growth is at hand.

They show there were 1,783,400 people employed on a seasonally adjusted basis in the second quarter, meaning there are 357,000 fewer people at work since employment peaked in 2007.

Minister for Jobs Richard Bruton last night acknowledged the continued fallout from the collapse of the “bubble economy”, but said “the sectors on which we will build the future economy are now showing signs of growth”.

That’s good, because, by all accounts, increasing jobless figures just dashed hopes of growth.

Previously: Messi

Increasing jobless figures dash hopes of growth (Dan O’Brien, Irish Times)

(MarkStedman/Photocall Ireland)

A renowned historian at Harvard Divinity School has discovered a sections of faded 4th century papyrus inscribed in Coptic that includes the phrase: “Jesus said to them, ‘My wife …’ ”

The faded papyrus fragment is smaller than a business card, with eight lines on one side, in black ink legible under a magnifying glass. Just below the line about Jesus having a wife, the papyrus includes a second provocative clause that purportedly says, “she will be able to be my disciple.”

The finding was made public in Rome on Tuesday at the International Congress of Coptic Studies by Karen L. King, a historian who has published several books about new Gospel discoveries and is the first woman to hold the nation’s oldest endowed chair, the Hollis professor of divinity.

The provenance of the papyrus fragment is a mystery, and its owner has asked to remain anonymous. Until Tuesday, Dr. King had shown the fragment to only a small circle of experts in papyrology and Coptic linguistics, who concluded that it is most likely not a forgery. But she and her collaborators say they are eager for more scholars to weigh in and perhaps upend their conclusions.

Source discredited, theory rubbished and evidence quietly buried in 3…2…

A faded Piece Of Papyrus Refers To Jesus’ Wife (NewYorkTimes)

highdefinite

Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform Brendan Howlin acknowledged yesterday the Government would fail to meet its target, with only €3.5 million due to be saved this year.

Under the plans agreed by the Cabinet yesterday, only one allowance out of 1,100 paid across the public service is to be abolished for serving personnel.

Other allowances paid to existing personnel may be reviewed or bought out in the future. The Department of Public Expenditure and Reform said it could not identify these allowances to the media due to industrial relations considerations.

Those Public Sector Allowances and Premium Payments in full.

Cabinet backs down on €75m in cuts over Croke Park fears (Martin Wall, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)

(Hat tip: Lars Biscuits)

Seventy-one years after it was taken over by Kerryman Denis Guiney and his family, the famous Clerys department store in Dublin was acquired by a US company yesterday.

The takeover safeguards almost 350 jobs at the O’Connell Street store, which will continue to trade as normal.

Yay!

However, its sister shop, Guineys on Dublin’s Talbot Street, and the Clerys home furnishing stores in Leopardstown and Naas, have been closed with the loss of 29 jobs.

Ah, knickers.

Boston-based private equity group Gordon Brothers acquired Clery & Co (1941) plc through a subsidiary called OCS Investment Holdings.

Meet you under the OCS Investment Holdings clock, so.

350 Clerys jobs saved in US takeover but Guineys closes (Kierán Hancock, Irish Times)

(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)

It’s so on…

Minister for Social Protection Joan Burton last night admonished Minister for State at the Department of Finance Brian Hayes for suggesting that she examine the need to target “well-off” pensioners.

There were strong hints last night that Ms Burton will resist any moves to target pensioners. “Ms Burton will make her views known to her colleagues in Cabinet in the lead-in to the budget. She greatly values the services her department provides to pensioners,” said a spokeswoman.

Mr Hayes, in an interview with The Irish Times on Saturday, had said the political system needed to overcome its reluctance to impose any cutbacks on older people. He pointed out that many were comparatively well off and did not have mortgages.

Damn replacement hipsters.

Ministers clash over cutbacks for pensioners in budget (Harry McGee, Irish Times)

(Sam Boal/Mark Stedman/Photocall Ireland)

Remember this guy?

Padraig O’Shea, the school owner who refused admission to a pregnant girl in Borrisoleigh, Co. Tipperary because he had to “uphold morals” in the classroom?

Well, he’s appeared on the Revenue defaulters list for undeclaring income tax in the sum of €705,000 [with interest and whatnot].

Seven hundred thousand and five euros.

Here’s how it went down:

O’SHEA, PÁDRAIG “BORRISOLEIGH, THURLES,” CO. TIPPERARY. PRIVATE SCHOOL OPERATOR €346,059.00 €100,016.00 €259,544.00 €705,619.00 “Underdeclaration of Income Tax. Revenue Deposit Interest Reporting Case.”

Hat tip to @JeremyTaxman 

Previously: The School That Refused To Enrol A Teenage Mother

THE PROMISED provision of free GP care for 60,000 people with long-term illnesses is likely to be delayed by at least a year because of legal issues.

Successive deadlines for implementing one of the key promises in the Fine Gael/Labour programme for government, the rolling out of free GP care, have been missed.

The first phase of this process would have seen free primary care extended to people with long-term illnesses such as diabetes and epilepsy.

However, complex issues that have arisen during the drafting of the primary legislation required for this change have caused significant delays, according to an informed source. In the meantime, most of the €15 million allocated for this purpose in 2012 has been used to offset the HSE’s deficit.

Legal issues delay free GP care for long-term ill (Paul Cullen, Irish Times)

(Eamonn Farrell/Photocall Ireland)

AUTHORITIES IN one of Ireland’s best-known beauty spots are finally cracking the whip on horse-and-cart drivers who may be tempted to tell tall tales to tourists or let their animals defecate in public.

Boatmen and other commercial operators in Killarney National Park will also be targeted by a new penalty point system, with fines and points for a range of offences including non-wearing of dung-catchers and “abuse of a horse” in the case of jarveys. Traditionally tolerated “yarns” by the boatmen and jarveys are also coming in for close scrutiny for any misleading content.

In short: no more talkin’ it, droppin’ it or behavin’ like it.

Penalty-point system cracks whip over dung-catcher use (Anne Lucey, Irish Times)

(Eamonn Farrell, Photocall Ireland)