Bertie Ahern says he will not run in next general election
Former taoiseach Bertie Ahern: 'I am proud of what I have achieved in politics . . . If there must be recognition of where we went wrong, there has to be clarity about what we got right.'
Related
Dáil elects Ahern for historic third term | 14/06/2007
President, Tánaiste lead tributes to Ahern | 02/04/2008
Ahern formally resigns at Aras an Uachtarain | 06/05/2008
Bertie tries to reveal the man behind the mask | 22/10/2008
Ahern delivers impassioned defence of role as statesman and taoiseach | 31/12/2010
DEAGLÁN de BRÉADÚN Political Correspondent and CIAN NIHILL
Former taoiseach and Fianna Fáil leader Bertie Ahern has announced he will not run for Dáil Éireann at the next general election.
In a speech to his party cumann in the Dublin Central constituency last night, Mr Ahern, who was 59 last September, said he had made it clear as far back as 2002 that it was always his plan to step down as a TD before he was 60.
The announcement brings an end to a Dáil career that began in 1977 and saw him serve as taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, winning three general elections in succession.
Asked by reporters if he intended to run for the Presidency, he replied: “I don’t know. I honestly haven’t decided that.” Asked if he was ruling out running, he said: “No, not tonight, everyone would love to be in the Áras. Only one person will end up there.”
Asked if he had any regrets, he said: “If I had seen the banking crisis coming. Nobody advised me, no economist, all those people now writing books saying ‘I told you so’ – none of them.”
On Anglo Irish Bank, he said: “I can honestly say that not once did anyone or any delegation that came in to see me ever say, ‘Watch out for Anglo’ . . . I wish they had have.”
Local party members had no knowledge of his intentions as they assembled at their headquarters in St Luke’s, Drumcondra, for what was expected to be a social occasion.
The meeting was held in private but a script for Mr Ahern’s speech was released. “With an election due in the spring and my next birthday in September being my 60th, I want to confirm tonight that I will not be a candidate at the next general election.”
Referring to the “great economic storm” currently under way in Ireland, he warned against excessive pessimism. “Some gains have been lost, but in truth many remain. I dearly wish there was no crisis. I realise that it would have been better if some things had been done differently, but I will not denigrate the good that has been done,” he added.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen said last night that Mr Ahern’s decision “truly marks the end of an era”.
“He is without question the consummate politician of our generation in this country. He is a person of rare ability and extraordinary talent.”
Describing the office of Taoiseach as “the highest and the ultimate civic responsibility”, Mr Ahern said it had been his “great honour” to be entrusted with it for over a decade.
“I am proud of what I have achieved in politics and I am prouder still to have had the privilege to have worked with and for so many fine, patriotic and extraordinary people.
“It is not given to anyone in life who tries and tries again not to sometimes fail. Years of apparently great success then, are apparently tainted by great failures now, but the truth is more complex and in time it will be viewed more dispassionately. The raw emotion of real shock means it is too soon to take stock.”
He said he was proud of the role that he and former British prime minister Tony Blair played in leading the negotiations on the Belfast Agreement “to a successful and a successfully lasting conclusion”.
“Every single day, I thank God that I have lived to see peace fulfilled.”
Paying tribute to his successor, he said: “I especially want to extend my good wishes to our Taoiseach, Brian Cowen, who is a leader of great ability and decency. He has my enduring respect.”
Mr Ahern served as taoiseach from June 26th, 1997, until May 7th, 2008. His resignation was precipitated by the controversy arising out of revelations about his private finances at the Mahon tribunal, which is expected to report early next year.
He was elected the sixth leader of Fianna Fáil in 1994, following the break-up of the Fianna Fáil-Labour coalition headed by Albert Reynolds and Dick Spring.
Mr Ahern will receive an estimated €135,000 as a combined ministerial and TD’s pension. Had he delayed his retirement until after the end of February 2012, his pension would have been significantly less.
Senator Paschal Donohoe, who stood unsuccessfully for Fine Gael in Dublin Central in the 2007 general election and 2009 byelection, said his party was confident of gaining a seat in the constituency.
He said Mr Ahern made a significant contribution to the Northern Ireland peace process, building on the work of his predecessors. “However, his overall legacy to Ireland is very mixed.
Friday, December 31, 2010
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Thousands miss Christmas with families
Thousands miss Christmas with families
Updated: 14:21, Saturday, 25 December 2010
Thousands of people throughout Europe are spending Christmas Day away from their families and friends having had their flights delayed on cancelled because of snow and ice.
Dublin Airport - Flights operations will resume tomorrow morning
Related Stories
Christmas Eve - Weather and transport updates
Flights suspended at Dublin Airport until 5am
Thousands of people throughout Europe are spending Christmas Day away from their families and friends having had their flights delayed on cancelled because of snow and ice.
The disruption to schedules at Dublin Airport over the past week has resulted in many passengers being stranded.
Dublin Airport has closed for Christmas Day, as is traditional, and flights will not resume until tomorrow morning.
The DAA said it had done its best to provide accommodation for passengers who remained stranded at Dublin Airport yesterday evening.
More than 200 stranded air passengers are spending Christmas Day at the Carlton Hotel near Dublin Airport.
Meanwhile, there have been renewed warnings issued about dangerous roads despite the expected onset of a thaw over the weekend.
There is a steady flow of traffic today as people visit relatives or friends in hospital or at their home.
It is extremely cold in most parts of the country this Christmas Day with widespread very severe frost and patches of freezing fog.
Met Éireann says temperatures will range from -5C in to +4 or 5C.
Tonight will be bitterly cold once again and severe frost will affect almost all areas with temperatures hitting -12C. Tomorrow will be less cold with rain and strong spreading throughout the day and highest temperatures from 3C to 8C.
Bus Éireann is operating a limited inter-city service to main towns and cities.
There are Christmas Day services to and from Limerick, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Rosslare Harbour, Ballina, Sligo, Waterford, Letterkenny, Donegal, Clonmel, and Derry.
A spokesperson for the company said the extra services are subject to weather and road conditions. The situation will be reviewed as the day goes on.
The services are due to continue until 9pm.
The Defence Forces say their severe weather assistance will continue throughout the Christmas period.
The Army is transporting healthcare professionals to medical facilities in Dublin, Cork, the Midlands and the West of the country.
Patients are also being transported to Dublin from Cork and the Midlands for ongoing treatment, and a meals on wheels service is being provided to the elderly and housebound in a number of locations around the country.
Water valves freeze in Dublin
The extremely cold temperatures in the Dublin area overnight caused water valves in Fairview to freeze.
These valves distribute water supply in the northeast of Dublin city.
Disruptions include reductions in pressure and in some cases a loss of supply. Affected areas include Clontarf, Killester and Raheny
Updated: 14:21, Saturday, 25 December 2010
Thousands of people throughout Europe are spending Christmas Day away from their families and friends having had their flights delayed on cancelled because of snow and ice.
Dublin Airport - Flights operations will resume tomorrow morning
Related Stories
Christmas Eve - Weather and transport updates
Flights suspended at Dublin Airport until 5am
Thousands of people throughout Europe are spending Christmas Day away from their families and friends having had their flights delayed on cancelled because of snow and ice.
The disruption to schedules at Dublin Airport over the past week has resulted in many passengers being stranded.
Dublin Airport has closed for Christmas Day, as is traditional, and flights will not resume until tomorrow morning.
The DAA said it had done its best to provide accommodation for passengers who remained stranded at Dublin Airport yesterday evening.
More than 200 stranded air passengers are spending Christmas Day at the Carlton Hotel near Dublin Airport.
Meanwhile, there have been renewed warnings issued about dangerous roads despite the expected onset of a thaw over the weekend.
There is a steady flow of traffic today as people visit relatives or friends in hospital or at their home.
It is extremely cold in most parts of the country this Christmas Day with widespread very severe frost and patches of freezing fog.
Met Éireann says temperatures will range from -5C in to +4 or 5C.
Tonight will be bitterly cold once again and severe frost will affect almost all areas with temperatures hitting -12C. Tomorrow will be less cold with rain and strong spreading throughout the day and highest temperatures from 3C to 8C.
Bus Éireann is operating a limited inter-city service to main towns and cities.
There are Christmas Day services to and from Limerick, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Rosslare Harbour, Ballina, Sligo, Waterford, Letterkenny, Donegal, Clonmel, and Derry.
A spokesperson for the company said the extra services are subject to weather and road conditions. The situation will be reviewed as the day goes on.
The services are due to continue until 9pm.
The Defence Forces say their severe weather assistance will continue throughout the Christmas period.
The Army is transporting healthcare professionals to medical facilities in Dublin, Cork, the Midlands and the West of the country.
Patients are also being transported to Dublin from Cork and the Midlands for ongoing treatment, and a meals on wheels service is being provided to the elderly and housebound in a number of locations around the country.
Water valves freeze in Dublin
The extremely cold temperatures in the Dublin area overnight caused water valves in Fairview to freeze.
These valves distribute water supply in the northeast of Dublin city.
Disruptions include reductions in pressure and in some cases a loss of supply. Affected areas include Clontarf, Killester and Raheny
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Men jailed over fatal crash have 123 road convictions
Men jailed over fatal crash have 123 road convictions
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By Ralph Riegel
Tuesday December 21 2010
TWO men jailed yesterday for dangerous driving causing the deaths of two teenagers have 123 road traffic convictions between them.
And the drivers were both disqualified at the time of the fatal high-speed chase during which the cars reached up to 120kmh in a 50kmh zone.
James Simms (28), who has cerebral palsy, absconded from Shelton Abbey Prison two months before the fatal accident, while Philip Murphy (40) was on bail challenging a jail sentence for burglary at the time.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard both men also have multiple previous convictions for dangerous driving, driving without insurance and a licence and failing to stop for gardai.
Murphy was jailed for six years and Simms was jailed for four years after both were convicted last week of dangerous driving causing the death of CJ Dolan (16) and Derry O'Callaghan (19) on May 13 last.
When his jail term was imposed, Simms winked at a friend in the public gallery.
Both were unanimously convicted by a circuit court jury after a three-week trial.
The two teenagers, who were back-seat passengers, died when the Ford Mondeo car, driven by Simms, crashed into the gable-end of a house on Cork's Harbour View Road after a high-speed chase with a Volkswagen Golf driven by Murphy.
At one point, the two vehicles reached speeds of 120kmh in a heavily built-up residential area where the speed limit is 50kmh.
Seconds before the crash, the Mondeo began to lose control after attempting to take a corner at high speed -- and it was then struck from behind by Murphy's Golf. The Mondeo was wrecked in the impact with the house and Mr Dolan sustained a fractured skull while Mr O'Callaghan suffered fatal blunt-force trauma to his chest.
Simms was injured in the crash, while Murphy attempted to flee the scene on foot before being arrested by gardai.
Gardai said the high-speed chase was linked to a bitter family feud on Cork's northside.
Mr Dolan and Mr O'Callaghan were described as innocent parties who were merely passengers in the Mondeo when the trouble flared up.
Disqualified
Sgt Brendan Kelly told the court that Simms, who was originally from Belfast, had a total of 99 previous convictions -- 92 of which are for Road Traffic Act offences.
Simms, of Adelaide Terrace, Cork and who was homeless for a time, received a three-year prison term in 2008 for endangerment (while driving).
In March 2009 he was disqualified from driving for 10 years -- but absconded from Shelton Abbey Prison on March 31, 2001.
Sgt Kelly said that Murphy, of 58 Killala Gardens, Knocknaheeny, Co Cork, was a reformed heroin addict who has 76 previous convictions, 31 of which relate to the Road Traffic Act.
In 2006, he was disqualified from driving for five years -- and, last May, was on bail pending a challenge to a six-month sentence imposed by Clonakilty District Court for burglary.
In imposing sentence, Judge Patrick Moran said it was a very serious case with shocking consequences for the Dolan and O'Callaghan families.
"This was an horrific, appalling and shocking kind of driving on this particular day," he said.
"I accept there were other circumstances which triggered it off. But the attack on Murphy's car by some people in the Simms car was the real trigger," he added.
The windscreen of Murphy's Golf was shattered -- but he still drove off in pursuit of Simms' car at high speed.
Judge Moran backdated both sentences to run from when Murphy and Simms were taken into custody
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By Ralph Riegel
Tuesday December 21 2010
TWO men jailed yesterday for dangerous driving causing the deaths of two teenagers have 123 road traffic convictions between them.
And the drivers were both disqualified at the time of the fatal high-speed chase during which the cars reached up to 120kmh in a 50kmh zone.
James Simms (28), who has cerebral palsy, absconded from Shelton Abbey Prison two months before the fatal accident, while Philip Murphy (40) was on bail challenging a jail sentence for burglary at the time.
Cork Circuit Criminal Court heard both men also have multiple previous convictions for dangerous driving, driving without insurance and a licence and failing to stop for gardai.
Murphy was jailed for six years and Simms was jailed for four years after both were convicted last week of dangerous driving causing the death of CJ Dolan (16) and Derry O'Callaghan (19) on May 13 last.
When his jail term was imposed, Simms winked at a friend in the public gallery.
Both were unanimously convicted by a circuit court jury after a three-week trial.
The two teenagers, who were back-seat passengers, died when the Ford Mondeo car, driven by Simms, crashed into the gable-end of a house on Cork's Harbour View Road after a high-speed chase with a Volkswagen Golf driven by Murphy.
At one point, the two vehicles reached speeds of 120kmh in a heavily built-up residential area where the speed limit is 50kmh.
Seconds before the crash, the Mondeo began to lose control after attempting to take a corner at high speed -- and it was then struck from behind by Murphy's Golf. The Mondeo was wrecked in the impact with the house and Mr Dolan sustained a fractured skull while Mr O'Callaghan suffered fatal blunt-force trauma to his chest.
Simms was injured in the crash, while Murphy attempted to flee the scene on foot before being arrested by gardai.
Gardai said the high-speed chase was linked to a bitter family feud on Cork's northside.
Mr Dolan and Mr O'Callaghan were described as innocent parties who were merely passengers in the Mondeo when the trouble flared up.
Disqualified
Sgt Brendan Kelly told the court that Simms, who was originally from Belfast, had a total of 99 previous convictions -- 92 of which are for Road Traffic Act offences.
Simms, of Adelaide Terrace, Cork and who was homeless for a time, received a three-year prison term in 2008 for endangerment (while driving).
In March 2009 he was disqualified from driving for 10 years -- but absconded from Shelton Abbey Prison on March 31, 2001.
Sgt Kelly said that Murphy, of 58 Killala Gardens, Knocknaheeny, Co Cork, was a reformed heroin addict who has 76 previous convictions, 31 of which relate to the Road Traffic Act.
In 2006, he was disqualified from driving for five years -- and, last May, was on bail pending a challenge to a six-month sentence imposed by Clonakilty District Court for burglary.
In imposing sentence, Judge Patrick Moran said it was a very serious case with shocking consequences for the Dolan and O'Callaghan families.
"This was an horrific, appalling and shocking kind of driving on this particular day," he said.
"I accept there were other circumstances which triggered it off. But the attack on Murphy's car by some people in the Simms car was the real trigger," he added.
The windscreen of Murphy's Golf was shattered -- but he still drove off in pursuit of Simms' car at high speed.
Judge Moran backdated both sentences to run from when Murphy and Simms were taken into custody
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Gareth O'Callaghan, friend of Gerry Ryan.
O'Callaghan to blow whistle on rampant coke use in RTE
DJ says four more RTE stars using drug as he vows to name Ryan's dealer to gardai
S.
Gareth O'Callaghan, friend of Gerry Ryan.
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By NIAMH HORAN Entertainment News Reporter EXCLUSIVE
Sunday December 19 2010
FORMER RTE presenter and friend of Gerry Ryan, Gareth O'Callaghan, has lifted the lid on the rampant use of cocaine within RTE.
In an explosive interview with the Sunday Independent he has claimed the scourge of cocaine has infected every level of RTE -- including management -- and says Mr Ryan once offered him coke in the RTE staff canteen, telling him: "Don't knock it till you try it".
In his most revealing interview yet, the insider has also claimed:
Four more high-profile stars are using cocaine.
It's rampant in the media business.
He is going to name Mr Ryan's dealer to gardai.
He's been threatened with sinister calls since going public.
The shocking allegations come as pressure mounts on the national broadcaster for failing to do enough to cover the cocaine addiction and death of its biggest star.
A poll carried out by the Sunday Independent has also found that 68 per cent of people believe there has been a conspiracy of silence in RTE on Mr Ryan's drug-taking, with one respondent saying: "If he has been taking cocaine for years, several of his colleagues must know the source"; while 57 per cent believe there should be a Garda investigation to find the person, or persons, who supplied Mr Ryan with drugs.
Mr O'Callaghan said yesterday: "I know of three or four stars in RTE alone that are using the drug.
"People would get a huge shock if they realised how bad it actually is. That some of the people they look up to as celebrities -- who they listen to on the radio, who they watch at home on their TV sets -- use cocaine."
The former 2fm star also claimed he knows the names of Mr Ryan's drug dealers and will pass them on to gardai in the hope of securing a conviction.
"People need to come to terms with the fact that Gerry Ryan was a chronic drug abuser. And he was dealing with one or two individuals who he would have known for years. I know of one or two individuals who are well-connected in the industry. Two names which are regularly bandied about in media circles as the same people who supply the drugs to a few of them, including Gerry, and I have no problem talking to the guards about it.
"I will contact the guards with their names and if they can collect evidence and do something about it then all the better. These names don't come up again and again for no reason," he said.
And he warned: "The ramifications for these individuals if they were to be identified would drag the names of well-know media stars into the murky pool of water."
Speaking about the time Mr Ryan urged him to try cocaine he said: "Gerry asked me once if I had ever taken drugs. He had a great knack at sort of throwing a grenade into a conversation, and make it sound as normal as could be.
"It was after a segment he was doing on a cocaine bust that had been in the news and we were talking about it afterwards in the RTE canteen and I was saying how shocked I was by it," explained Mr O'Callaghan.
"He said, 'Have you ever taken drugs, Gareth?' And I said, 'No way, never'. He looked at me with sort of disbelief -- as if he thought I was pulling his leg, but I was adamant I would never touch them.
"That's when he said, 'Don't knock it 'til you try it,' and gave me this look with a glint in his eye. I can still remember it. I took it as an invitation. I shuddered. I knew he was doing it at that stage."
Speaking about the huge resistance he has come up against since speaking out about Mr Ryan's drug addiction, he said: "It's been the biggest shock of my career that people who I have worked with for 18 years have formed a solid impenetrable wall of silence. Since I have spoken out the phone has stopped ringing, I would usually be asked out for a drink -- this week the invites have stopped. Close friends of mine have stopped calling.
"You have to wonder what these people are hiding?
"One individual rang me anonymously saying, 'Who the f**k do you think you are?'. And I asked him, 'Are you afraid of what I'm going to do? Are you scared I'm getting a little too close for comfort? Did I cause you to lose sleep last night because you're going to lose a lot more by the time I'm finished.' There's something very sinister going on here to protect a lot of people.
"What has probably shocked people most about my comments is that I've always been seen as the quiet one. I never joined in but I was in a position to observe quietly and silently.
"I've seen a lot in my time and I think it's time the truth came out and this is all brought to a head.
"I feel quiet isolated this weekend. But I have had some very uplifting and positive calls from people in anti-drugs groups and addiction centres who have voiced their support and said well done for trying to break down this terrible wall of silence.
DJ says four more RTE stars using drug as he vows to name Ryan's dealer to gardai
S.
Gareth O'Callaghan, friend of Gerry Ryan.
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By NIAMH HORAN Entertainment News Reporter EXCLUSIVE
Sunday December 19 2010
FORMER RTE presenter and friend of Gerry Ryan, Gareth O'Callaghan, has lifted the lid on the rampant use of cocaine within RTE.
In an explosive interview with the Sunday Independent he has claimed the scourge of cocaine has infected every level of RTE -- including management -- and says Mr Ryan once offered him coke in the RTE staff canteen, telling him: "Don't knock it till you try it".
In his most revealing interview yet, the insider has also claimed:
Four more high-profile stars are using cocaine.
It's rampant in the media business.
He is going to name Mr Ryan's dealer to gardai.
He's been threatened with sinister calls since going public.
The shocking allegations come as pressure mounts on the national broadcaster for failing to do enough to cover the cocaine addiction and death of its biggest star.
A poll carried out by the Sunday Independent has also found that 68 per cent of people believe there has been a conspiracy of silence in RTE on Mr Ryan's drug-taking, with one respondent saying: "If he has been taking cocaine for years, several of his colleagues must know the source"; while 57 per cent believe there should be a Garda investigation to find the person, or persons, who supplied Mr Ryan with drugs.
Mr O'Callaghan said yesterday: "I know of three or four stars in RTE alone that are using the drug.
"People would get a huge shock if they realised how bad it actually is. That some of the people they look up to as celebrities -- who they listen to on the radio, who they watch at home on their TV sets -- use cocaine."
The former 2fm star also claimed he knows the names of Mr Ryan's drug dealers and will pass them on to gardai in the hope of securing a conviction.
"People need to come to terms with the fact that Gerry Ryan was a chronic drug abuser. And he was dealing with one or two individuals who he would have known for years. I know of one or two individuals who are well-connected in the industry. Two names which are regularly bandied about in media circles as the same people who supply the drugs to a few of them, including Gerry, and I have no problem talking to the guards about it.
"I will contact the guards with their names and if they can collect evidence and do something about it then all the better. These names don't come up again and again for no reason," he said.
And he warned: "The ramifications for these individuals if they were to be identified would drag the names of well-know media stars into the murky pool of water."
Speaking about the time Mr Ryan urged him to try cocaine he said: "Gerry asked me once if I had ever taken drugs. He had a great knack at sort of throwing a grenade into a conversation, and make it sound as normal as could be.
"It was after a segment he was doing on a cocaine bust that had been in the news and we were talking about it afterwards in the RTE canteen and I was saying how shocked I was by it," explained Mr O'Callaghan.
"He said, 'Have you ever taken drugs, Gareth?' And I said, 'No way, never'. He looked at me with sort of disbelief -- as if he thought I was pulling his leg, but I was adamant I would never touch them.
"That's when he said, 'Don't knock it 'til you try it,' and gave me this look with a glint in his eye. I can still remember it. I took it as an invitation. I shuddered. I knew he was doing it at that stage."
Speaking about the huge resistance he has come up against since speaking out about Mr Ryan's drug addiction, he said: "It's been the biggest shock of my career that people who I have worked with for 18 years have formed a solid impenetrable wall of silence. Since I have spoken out the phone has stopped ringing, I would usually be asked out for a drink -- this week the invites have stopped. Close friends of mine have stopped calling.
"You have to wonder what these people are hiding?
"One individual rang me anonymously saying, 'Who the f**k do you think you are?'. And I asked him, 'Are you afraid of what I'm going to do? Are you scared I'm getting a little too close for comfort? Did I cause you to lose sleep last night because you're going to lose a lot more by the time I'm finished.' There's something very sinister going on here to protect a lot of people.
"What has probably shocked people most about my comments is that I've always been seen as the quiet one. I never joined in but I was in a position to observe quietly and silently.
"I've seen a lot in my time and I think it's time the truth came out and this is all brought to a head.
"I feel quiet isolated this weekend. But I have had some very uplifting and positive calls from people in anti-drugs groups and addiction centres who have voiced their support and said well done for trying to break down this terrible wall of silence.
Friday, December 17, 2010
Beverley: I'm quitting politics for the sake of my family
Beverley: I'm quitting politics for the sake of my family
.
Beverley Flynn, pictured with her father Padraig, has become the latest high-profile member of Fianna Fail to announce that she is quitting politics
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By Michael Brennan and Tom Kelly
Friday December 17 2010
BEVERLEY Flynn last night became the latest Fianna Fail TD to announce that she was quitting politics.
And there are also doubts about whether Transport Minister Noel Dempsey will contest next year's General Election.
Ms Flynn said she had made her decision for family reasons -- she has two young children of school-going age. It is understood she only made her final decision at the weekend.
She said she was committed to working for the organisation and its candidates during the forthcoming campaign.
Deputy Flynn said last night: "I have enjoyed my time in public life and worked hard for those who elected me, but the time has come when I have other priorities in my life.
"My decision was purely for family reasons and I thank all those who have supported me in my decision. So many people had already committed to helping me in the next campaign, but I know they understand the reasons for me opting not to run," she said.
Hers is the latest in a series of announcements by serving Fianna Fail TDs that they will retire, some rather than risk losing their seats at a time when the party is at an all-time low in the opinion polls.
Last night, Transport Minster Noel Dempsey said he would make an announcement about whether he would run in the election "very, very shortly".
Ms Flynn made her announcement at a meeting of Fianna Fail's Comhairle Dail Ceanntar (the umbrella body for the 200 or so Fianna Fail branches in Mayo) in the Welcome Inn hotel, Castlebar.
Fianna Fail councillor Jimmy Maloney said her departure would represent a huge loss for the town of Castlebar, which has been served by a Fianna Fail TD since her father was elected in 1977.
Difficult
"It'll be very difficult for the party to retain the seat, particularly when Enda Kenny is also running in the town," he said.
Fianna Fail councillor Damian Ryan, one of Ms Flynn's closest allies, described it as a shock announcement. Although there had been rumblings over the past number of weeks, he said he thought it was just political speculation. "It has plunged the party's plans for the election into chaos," he said.
Fine Gael has been heavily targeting Ms Flynn's seat as part of its plan to win four of the five seats in the constituency.
Ms Flynn was expelled from Fianna Fail three times during her turbulent career in the Dail. She lost the High Court and Supreme Court libel actions she took against RTE, which reported on her involvement in the sale of tax-dodging insurance policies as an employee of National Irish Bank. She was elected as an independent TD for Mayo in the 2007 General Election and accepted back into Fianna Fail the following year.
Fianna Fail councillor Al McDonnell, former constituency organiser Denis Gallagher (son of a former minister) and former TD John Carty were all mentioned last night by party sources as possible candidates.
Fine Gael Mayo TD Michael Ring said: "She caught us all by surprise. I wish her and her family the best of luck."
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night paid tribute to Ms Flynn. "She has been assiduous in her attention to the needs of her constituents and I know that her many supporters will be sorry to see her leave representative politics," he said
.
Beverley Flynn, pictured with her father Padraig, has become the latest high-profile member of Fianna Fail to announce that she is quitting politics
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By Michael Brennan and Tom Kelly
Friday December 17 2010
BEVERLEY Flynn last night became the latest Fianna Fail TD to announce that she was quitting politics.
And there are also doubts about whether Transport Minister Noel Dempsey will contest next year's General Election.
Ms Flynn said she had made her decision for family reasons -- she has two young children of school-going age. It is understood she only made her final decision at the weekend.
She said she was committed to working for the organisation and its candidates during the forthcoming campaign.
Deputy Flynn said last night: "I have enjoyed my time in public life and worked hard for those who elected me, but the time has come when I have other priorities in my life.
"My decision was purely for family reasons and I thank all those who have supported me in my decision. So many people had already committed to helping me in the next campaign, but I know they understand the reasons for me opting not to run," she said.
Hers is the latest in a series of announcements by serving Fianna Fail TDs that they will retire, some rather than risk losing their seats at a time when the party is at an all-time low in the opinion polls.
Last night, Transport Minster Noel Dempsey said he would make an announcement about whether he would run in the election "very, very shortly".
Ms Flynn made her announcement at a meeting of Fianna Fail's Comhairle Dail Ceanntar (the umbrella body for the 200 or so Fianna Fail branches in Mayo) in the Welcome Inn hotel, Castlebar.
Fianna Fail councillor Jimmy Maloney said her departure would represent a huge loss for the town of Castlebar, which has been served by a Fianna Fail TD since her father was elected in 1977.
Difficult
"It'll be very difficult for the party to retain the seat, particularly when Enda Kenny is also running in the town," he said.
Fianna Fail councillor Damian Ryan, one of Ms Flynn's closest allies, described it as a shock announcement. Although there had been rumblings over the past number of weeks, he said he thought it was just political speculation. "It has plunged the party's plans for the election into chaos," he said.
Fine Gael has been heavily targeting Ms Flynn's seat as part of its plan to win four of the five seats in the constituency.
Ms Flynn was expelled from Fianna Fail three times during her turbulent career in the Dail. She lost the High Court and Supreme Court libel actions she took against RTE, which reported on her involvement in the sale of tax-dodging insurance policies as an employee of National Irish Bank. She was elected as an independent TD for Mayo in the 2007 General Election and accepted back into Fianna Fail the following year.
Fianna Fail councillor Al McDonnell, former constituency organiser Denis Gallagher (son of a former minister) and former TD John Carty were all mentioned last night by party sources as possible candidates.
Fine Gael Mayo TD Michael Ring said: "She caught us all by surprise. I wish her and her family the best of luck."
The Taoiseach Brian Cowen last night paid tribute to Ms Flynn. "She has been assiduous in her attention to the needs of her constituents and I know that her many supporters will be sorry to see her leave representative politics," he said
Woman hid pregnancy and left son in bin liner after birth
Woman hid pregnancy and left son in bin liner after birth
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By Edel Kennedy and Tom Shiel
Friday December 17 2010
A WOMAN concealed her pregnancy from her partner, then hid the body of their newborn son in a black bin liner bag in their home.
An inquest yesterday heard how the desperate woman, already a mother of five, could not face another pregnancy. But neither could she face telling anyone. In desperation, she left her baby wrapped in blankets, hidden in a bin liner in the bottom of a hot press.
The 42-year-old from Mayo had been planning to have a termination because she didn't want another child.
Things were "not good at home" at the time, she said yesterday and she feared that if she told her partner he would want to keep the baby.
For reasons that were unclear, she didn't go ahead with the termination but instead concealed her pregnancy from everyone. Her partner said he never noticed that she was pregnant, just that she had put on around a stone in weight.
But in January of this year the woman was admitted to hospital after losing a lot of blood in her home. It was only then that her family found out that she had been hiding her pregnancy and had given birth to her sixth child.
Child
When her partner and her mother went to the hospital they were told by a nurse she had given birth and they should go home and search the house for a child "in case the other kids would discover it".
Her 38-year-old partner told coroner John O'Dwyer: "My mother was searching the hot press and on the bottom shelf under some towels she found a black bin liner.
"She took it out and discovered a baby's body wrapped in some towels in the bag. I touched the baby's forehead with my two fingers and I felt I was cold. I knew the child was dead."
A post mortem was carried out by the State pathologist, Marie Cassidy.
Dr Cassidy told the inquest the child was a full-term male infant. There was no evidence of any scars or injuries to suggest the child had been deliberately injured. The pathologist said the cause of death was a general lack of care and attention prior to death, complicated by aspiration of amniotic fluid and meconium.
After delivering a narrative verdict in the case, the coroner, Mr O'Dwyer described the death as "an awful tragedy" for the couple. "I hope the love and care this couple need is available to them from friends, family and the community," he added
SHAREPRINTEMAILTEXT SIZE NORMALLARGEEXTRA LARGE
Also in National News
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Man acquitted of unlawful sex with 13-year-old in 'diary' case
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Christmas Phones 2010
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By Edel Kennedy and Tom Shiel
Friday December 17 2010
A WOMAN concealed her pregnancy from her partner, then hid the body of their newborn son in a black bin liner bag in their home.
An inquest yesterday heard how the desperate woman, already a mother of five, could not face another pregnancy. But neither could she face telling anyone. In desperation, she left her baby wrapped in blankets, hidden in a bin liner in the bottom of a hot press.
The 42-year-old from Mayo had been planning to have a termination because she didn't want another child.
Things were "not good at home" at the time, she said yesterday and she feared that if she told her partner he would want to keep the baby.
For reasons that were unclear, she didn't go ahead with the termination but instead concealed her pregnancy from everyone. Her partner said he never noticed that she was pregnant, just that she had put on around a stone in weight.
But in January of this year the woman was admitted to hospital after losing a lot of blood in her home. It was only then that her family found out that she had been hiding her pregnancy and had given birth to her sixth child.
Child
When her partner and her mother went to the hospital they were told by a nurse she had given birth and they should go home and search the house for a child "in case the other kids would discover it".
Her 38-year-old partner told coroner John O'Dwyer: "My mother was searching the hot press and on the bottom shelf under some towels she found a black bin liner.
"She took it out and discovered a baby's body wrapped in some towels in the bag. I touched the baby's forehead with my two fingers and I felt I was cold. I knew the child was dead."
A post mortem was carried out by the State pathologist, Marie Cassidy.
Dr Cassidy told the inquest the child was a full-term male infant. There was no evidence of any scars or injuries to suggest the child had been deliberately injured. The pathologist said the cause of death was a general lack of care and attention prior to death, complicated by aspiration of amniotic fluid and meconium.
After delivering a narrative verdict in the case, the coroner, Mr O'Dwyer described the death as "an awful tragedy" for the couple. "I hope the love and care this couple need is available to them from friends, family and the community," he added
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Meeting with Padraic Philbin on 2nd July2008
Meeting with Padraic Philbin on 2nd July2008
A meeting took place on 2nd of July 2008 with Padraic Philbin, Area Engineer for Newport Town and my self Tom Chambers. We met in the newly refurbished offices in Newport at approximately 10am. We had a chat about what we were to do and then proceeded to have a walkabout in the town environs.
• We looked at several areas and Padraic and I agreed the areas that needed attention he gave me a commitment, money allowing, of the areas he could make changes to this year. It transpires money for remedial work has already being spent, but the money could be found for these remedial works.
• The ramp to the viaduct was one area highlighted but unfortunately money is not available for this at present, unless funds are made available this work will not be done till next year.
• The grill surrounding the trees on Main Street was highlighted.
• The ramp on to the Main Street was highlighted and is to be enlarged to enable easier access for disabled parking and all pedestrian crossings to be painted in a highly visible colour.
• The drop down kerb and the pedestrian crossing, opposite the hotel raised concern. Padraic said improvements for access were to be made.
• George’s Street raised concerns as access is not viable from midway down on the left hand side going down.
• Disabled Parking bay will be relocated to lower George’s Street and the crossing by the telephone box will be widened to its appropriate width and painted for visibility.
• Quay Road (North Side) speed ramps are not accessible for wheelchairs due to the design and layout of the footpath and are located to close to kerbs this was to be looked at but due to forthcoming sewerage works due to commence this will be at a later date.
• Ramps in Seaview Park are not accessible due to the design and layout of the footpath and causing distress to residents as it is at the moment.
• The dropped kerb and crossing of Quay Road (South side) needs attention.
• Post Office disabled bays are not signed or marked out correctly.
• The Access ramp at Canon Killeen Park needs attention.
• A need for a Footpath is required from Canon Killeen Park to the health center and from the Health Centre to the Post Office but Padraic couldn’t comment on this.
He said if the money could be made available for the ramp onto the viaduct these works could be undertaken this year. He gave a commitment that the other highlighted works would be done this year.
On the 26th May 2009 I again met with Padraic and he said that the money was available for the viaduct and all other items outstanding. This work was due to be completed by the end of the year. I am very disappointed that none of the above has been carried out.
Finally, he permitted me to carry out my own inspection on the new Newport Town Council offices and forward report to Kevin Cooke, Disability access officer for Mayo Co. Council.
Regards,
Tom Chambers
A meeting took place on 2nd of July 2008 with Padraic Philbin, Area Engineer for Newport Town and my self Tom Chambers. We met in the newly refurbished offices in Newport at approximately 10am. We had a chat about what we were to do and then proceeded to have a walkabout in the town environs.
• We looked at several areas and Padraic and I agreed the areas that needed attention he gave me a commitment, money allowing, of the areas he could make changes to this year. It transpires money for remedial work has already being spent, but the money could be found for these remedial works.
• The ramp to the viaduct was one area highlighted but unfortunately money is not available for this at present, unless funds are made available this work will not be done till next year.
• The grill surrounding the trees on Main Street was highlighted.
• The ramp on to the Main Street was highlighted and is to be enlarged to enable easier access for disabled parking and all pedestrian crossings to be painted in a highly visible colour.
• The drop down kerb and the pedestrian crossing, opposite the hotel raised concern. Padraic said improvements for access were to be made.
• George’s Street raised concerns as access is not viable from midway down on the left hand side going down.
• Disabled Parking bay will be relocated to lower George’s Street and the crossing by the telephone box will be widened to its appropriate width and painted for visibility.
• Quay Road (North Side) speed ramps are not accessible for wheelchairs due to the design and layout of the footpath and are located to close to kerbs this was to be looked at but due to forthcoming sewerage works due to commence this will be at a later date.
• Ramps in Seaview Park are not accessible due to the design and layout of the footpath and causing distress to residents as it is at the moment.
• The dropped kerb and crossing of Quay Road (South side) needs attention.
• Post Office disabled bays are not signed or marked out correctly.
• The Access ramp at Canon Killeen Park needs attention.
• A need for a Footpath is required from Canon Killeen Park to the health center and from the Health Centre to the Post Office but Padraic couldn’t comment on this.
He said if the money could be made available for the ramp onto the viaduct these works could be undertaken this year. He gave a commitment that the other highlighted works would be done this year.
On the 26th May 2009 I again met with Padraic and he said that the money was available for the viaduct and all other items outstanding. This work was due to be completed by the end of the year. I am very disappointed that none of the above has been carried out.
Finally, he permitted me to carry out my own inspection on the new Newport Town Council offices and forward report to Kevin Cooke, Disability access officer for Mayo Co. Council.
Regards,
Tom Chambers
Minutes of meeting held on 1/11/04 on accessibility in Westport Town
Minutes of meeting held on 1/11/04 on accessibility in Westport Town
Present Tom Chambers
Eoghan Murphy
Simon Wall
Teresa Mc Guire
Tom Mc Donnell
Agenda
17 See survey
18 Agreed on different spaces
19 Survey done on that
20 Guideline ‘building for everyone” NDA
1. High street and Peter Street not taken into consideration as they would be inaccessible to people with disabilities.
2. Proposed 28 spaces, increase of 16.
3. One proposed outside FRC offices-one to be added on the leisure centre side of James Street.
4. Buses are only allowed to use a disability parking space and then move off-need to be checked.
5. Ramp to be placed onto octagon – Tom questioned about courtesy crossing, drivers obliged to give “right of way” to the crosser.
6. Tom questioned surveying access by people that do not have a disability.
7. Very little space on the mall footpaths because of flowers and trees.
8. Post office to put ramp in entrance.
9. Quay area is currently under resourced for disabled parking spaces.
10. Work to begin in January- next meeting end of January.
11. Proposed that blue signs be put up at all accessible spaces.
Present Tom Chambers
Eoghan Murphy
Simon Wall
Teresa Mc Guire
Tom Mc Donnell
Agenda
17 See survey
18 Agreed on different spaces
19 Survey done on that
20 Guideline ‘building for everyone” NDA
1. High street and Peter Street not taken into consideration as they would be inaccessible to people with disabilities.
2. Proposed 28 spaces, increase of 16.
3. One proposed outside FRC offices-one to be added on the leisure centre side of James Street.
4. Buses are only allowed to use a disability parking space and then move off-need to be checked.
5. Ramp to be placed onto octagon – Tom questioned about courtesy crossing, drivers obliged to give “right of way” to the crosser.
6. Tom questioned surveying access by people that do not have a disability.
7. Very little space on the mall footpaths because of flowers and trees.
8. Post office to put ramp in entrance.
9. Quay area is currently under resourced for disabled parking spaces.
10. Work to begin in January- next meeting end of January.
11. Proposed that blue signs be put up at all accessible spaces.
Beijing Uproar
Beijing Uproar
Dear Editor
During early summer, disabled groups reacted with outrage to an official guide for assistants at the Beijing Olympic Games that describes them as unsocial, stubborn and defensive. The guide for Chinese volunteers at the Games this summer explains that disabled people are a “special group” with “unique personalities and ways of thinking”.
The section of the manual entitled “Skills for helping the disabled” goes on to say: “Some physically disabled are isolated, unsocial, and introspective. They can be stubborn and controlling…defensive and have a strong sense of inferiority.
“Sometimes they are overly protective of themselves, especially when they are called crippled or paralyzed. Does not use “cripple” or “lame” even if you are just joking.”
The guide, distributed to 100,000 volunteers before the Olympics in August and Paralympics in September, sparked outrage in among disabled groups.
“I’m stunned,” said Simone Aspic, a parliamentary campaigner at the UK Disabled people’s Council. “It’s not just the language but the perception that in 2008 we are considered a race apart. Disabled people are introverted and stubborn the same way as anyone else is.” The handbook notes that “often optically disabled people are introverted” and that physically disabled people can be mentally healthy.
“They show no differences in sensation, reaction, memorization and thinking mechanisms from other people, but they might have unusual personalities because of disfigurement and disability,” it said.
“Never stare at their disfigurement. A patronizing or condescending attitude will easily sensed by them, even for a brain-damaged patient.”
The advice reflects decades of discrimination in China against mentally and physically disabled people, who total 83 million – equivalent to the population of Germany.
The Communist Party’s desire for a healthy nation, characterized by the one child policy, fostered deep prejudices that extended to forced sterilizations, bans on marriages between disabled people and abortions of abnormal fetuses.
Most disabled people are from poor, rural areas. Those in affluent society were hidden away until public attitudes softened in the 1990s. Besides improved legal rights, there has been social progress. The Chinese now refer to can ji ren, or people with disabilities, instead of can fei, the handicapped and deficient.
Regards,
Tom Chambers
Disability Campaigner
“The Billy Ranch”
Newport
Co. Mayo
Dear Editor
During early summer, disabled groups reacted with outrage to an official guide for assistants at the Beijing Olympic Games that describes them as unsocial, stubborn and defensive. The guide for Chinese volunteers at the Games this summer explains that disabled people are a “special group” with “unique personalities and ways of thinking”.
The section of the manual entitled “Skills for helping the disabled” goes on to say: “Some physically disabled are isolated, unsocial, and introspective. They can be stubborn and controlling…defensive and have a strong sense of inferiority.
“Sometimes they are overly protective of themselves, especially when they are called crippled or paralyzed. Does not use “cripple” or “lame” even if you are just joking.”
The guide, distributed to 100,000 volunteers before the Olympics in August and Paralympics in September, sparked outrage in among disabled groups.
“I’m stunned,” said Simone Aspic, a parliamentary campaigner at the UK Disabled people’s Council. “It’s not just the language but the perception that in 2008 we are considered a race apart. Disabled people are introverted and stubborn the same way as anyone else is.” The handbook notes that “often optically disabled people are introverted” and that physically disabled people can be mentally healthy.
“They show no differences in sensation, reaction, memorization and thinking mechanisms from other people, but they might have unusual personalities because of disfigurement and disability,” it said.
“Never stare at their disfigurement. A patronizing or condescending attitude will easily sensed by them, even for a brain-damaged patient.”
The advice reflects decades of discrimination in China against mentally and physically disabled people, who total 83 million – equivalent to the population of Germany.
The Communist Party’s desire for a healthy nation, characterized by the one child policy, fostered deep prejudices that extended to forced sterilizations, bans on marriages between disabled people and abortions of abnormal fetuses.
Most disabled people are from poor, rural areas. Those in affluent society were hidden away until public attitudes softened in the 1990s. Besides improved legal rights, there has been social progress. The Chinese now refer to can ji ren, or people with disabilities, instead of can fei, the handicapped and deficient.
Regards,
Tom Chambers
Disability Campaigner
“The Billy Ranch”
Newport
Co. Mayo
Along with 47 other Tom Chambers Newport
Along with 47 other Tom Chambers Newport traveled to Strasbourg and met up with 441 others from 21 European Countries. This time he traveled to Stansted by air and from there to Paris by Euro Star and from there to Strasbourg on the Train ò Grande Vitesse (TGV). This time I was accompanied by a Personal Assistant.
The purpose of this trip was to deliver a petition from people all over Europe with various disabilities to the European Parliament. The European Parliament is co-legislator for most of Europe's laws. It is a place where people from 27 member states come together to disagree, a place where political ideas and ideals meet, sometimes to clash, sometimes to be reconciled. Alliances are formed, deals are struck compromises made, in other words, it's the usual, sometimes glorious, sometimes inglorious, business of democratic politics.
Members of the European Parliament make decisions which affect you directly. The car you.. you drive, the air you breathe, the mobile phone in your pocket, the food you eat, the water you drink, the worker you employ, the bank you borrow from, the waste you discard.
The petition consisted of eight demands (8) which were compiled by European Network of Independent Living (ENIL) and the Centre for Independent Living Dublin (CIL Dublin). A total of 48 persons and their PA’s went from Ireland and were joined by 441 people from 21 countries from all over Europe to be there. Some took 3 days to get there you can imagine the strength of body and mind it took to do that?
On Tuesday al participants were formally introduces to Strasbourg by
Wednesday was the day of the march. All Freedom Drivers met at Parc Du Commardes at 10am where tee-shirts were given to all participants, sponsored by the Norwegian Group, and marched from there to the Parliament Buildings a distance of 1.6 kilometres. It was very uplifting and I was proud to be there. All participants were singing “We shall overcome” and chanting and mildly protesting! So can you imagine the scene? Both myself and my Tom were appropriately dressed in the Mayo colours and waiving the Red and Green flags of Mayo.
The meeting was chaired by Richard Howitt, Chairperson of the European Disability Federation (EDF). Several members of ENIL New Member States had their voices heard such as Bulgaria and Lithuania. As the meeting was about to close the President of the European Union, Mr. Jerzy Buzek, was presented with the Eight Petitions by the President of ENIL Bente Skansgard and it was a meaningful and poignant exchange.
The meeting was chaired by Richard Howitt, Chairperson of the European Disability Federation (EDF). Several members of ENIL New Member States had their voices heard such as Bulgaria and Lithuania. As the meeting was about to close the President of the European Union, Mr. Jerzy Buzek, was presented with the Eight Petitions by the President of ENIL Bente Skansgard and it was a meaningful and poignant exchange.
This trip would not be able to do without the generosity of all the people who had faith in me by helping to sponsor my trip to which I am extremely grateful.
After a quick lunch break the national groups moved over to the European Parliament to meet with their national MEPs. Ireland, Germany, Slovenia, Latvia, Sweden, Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic all managed to secure a meeting with their European representatives. All participants seemed to be happy with the outcomes of their individual meetings and we hope that some serious follow-up will be happening in each country to avoid the two year gap in between the Freedom Drives.
The purpose of this trip was to deliver a petition from people all over Europe with various disabilities to the European Parliament. The European Parliament is co-legislator for most of Europe's laws. It is a place where people from 27 member states come together to disagree, a place where political ideas and ideals meet, sometimes to clash, sometimes to be reconciled. Alliances are formed, deals are struck compromises made, in other words, it's the usual, sometimes glorious, sometimes inglorious, business of democratic politics.
Members of the European Parliament make decisions which affect you directly. The car you.. you drive, the air you breathe, the mobile phone in your pocket, the food you eat, the water you drink, the worker you employ, the bank you borrow from, the waste you discard.
The petition consisted of eight demands (8) which were compiled by European Network of Independent Living (ENIL) and the Centre for Independent Living Dublin (CIL Dublin). A total of 48 persons and their PA’s went from Ireland and were joined by 441 people from 21 countries from all over Europe to be there. Some took 3 days to get there you can imagine the strength of body and mind it took to do that?
On Tuesday al participants were formally introduces to Strasbourg by
Wednesday was the day of the march. All Freedom Drivers met at Parc Du Commardes at 10am where tee-shirts were given to all participants, sponsored by the Norwegian Group, and marched from there to the Parliament Buildings a distance of 1.6 kilometres. It was very uplifting and I was proud to be there. All participants were singing “We shall overcome” and chanting and mildly protesting! So can you imagine the scene? Both myself and my Tom were appropriately dressed in the Mayo colours and waiving the Red and Green flags of Mayo.
The meeting was chaired by Richard Howitt, Chairperson of the European Disability Federation (EDF). Several members of ENIL New Member States had their voices heard such as Bulgaria and Lithuania. As the meeting was about to close the President of the European Union, Mr. Jerzy Buzek, was presented with the Eight Petitions by the President of ENIL Bente Skansgard and it was a meaningful and poignant exchange.
The meeting was chaired by Richard Howitt, Chairperson of the European Disability Federation (EDF). Several members of ENIL New Member States had their voices heard such as Bulgaria and Lithuania. As the meeting was about to close the President of the European Union, Mr. Jerzy Buzek, was presented with the Eight Petitions by the President of ENIL Bente Skansgard and it was a meaningful and poignant exchange.
This trip would not be able to do without the generosity of all the people who had faith in me by helping to sponsor my trip to which I am extremely grateful.
After a quick lunch break the national groups moved over to the European Parliament to meet with their national MEPs. Ireland, Germany, Slovenia, Latvia, Sweden, Belgium, Lithuania, Bulgaria, Romania and Czech Republic all managed to secure a meeting with their European representatives. All participants seemed to be happy with the outcomes of their individual meetings and we hope that some serious follow-up will be happening in each country to avoid the two year gap in between the Freedom Drives.
Did you know?….
Did you know?….
There are an estimated 360,000 people with disabilities in Ireland. That is one in ten people in Ireland have some type of disability.
Everyday activities like shopping or travelling can often be difficult for many people with disabilities?
Sometimes this is due to a lack of facilities, but more often it comes from other people’s attitudes, lack of awareness and understanding.
Being disabled is not the same as being ill. Most people with disabilities are perfectly well - they have impairments, not ailments.
Language
It is important to gain a general understanding of the words and phrases which may give offence to people with disabilities. In order to reflect the broad spectrum of opinion among disabled people themselves, about terminology, the phrases ‘people with disabilities or disabled people are accessible.
Many disabled people find the word ‘handicapped’ offensive as it portrays an image of a ‘cap’ in hand or begging.
Similarly the term ‘invalid’ should be avoided because it can be seen as not ‘valid’.
Medical ‘labels’ are undesirable and often misleading as no two people are alike. Medical labels say little about people as individuals, and tend to reinforce stere
There are an estimated 360,000 people with disabilities in Ireland. That is one in ten people in Ireland have some type of disability.
Everyday activities like shopping or travelling can often be difficult for many people with disabilities?
Sometimes this is due to a lack of facilities, but more often it comes from other people’s attitudes, lack of awareness and understanding.
Being disabled is not the same as being ill. Most people with disabilities are perfectly well - they have impairments, not ailments.
Language
It is important to gain a general understanding of the words and phrases which may give offence to people with disabilities. In order to reflect the broad spectrum of opinion among disabled people themselves, about terminology, the phrases ‘people with disabilities or disabled people are accessible.
Many disabled people find the word ‘handicapped’ offensive as it portrays an image of a ‘cap’ in hand or begging.
Similarly the term ‘invalid’ should be avoided because it can be seen as not ‘valid’.
Medical ‘labels’ are undesirable and often misleading as no two people are alike. Medical labels say little about people as individuals, and tend to reinforce stere
Tom Chambers loves to talk.
On a spring morning in 1981 Tom Chambers’ life changed forever. A car accident near Drogheda snapped the Newport man’s spine and left him paralysed from the chest down. This week he talks to Michael Gallagher about his life and the joy he takes from living every day to the full.
By Michael Gallagher,
A reporter for Western People in July 2002. (Local paper)
Tom Chambers loves to talk. He has a way of telling stories that brings the past to life and the tale of his existence so far is one, which generates a great sense of hope and determination.
Born in Rockfleet just outside Newport Co. Mayo he grew up surrounded by seven brothers, eight sisters and parents Mick and Maud. He enjoyed life, going to school, doing the chores and playing games the way kids do. He loved sport and was soon playing football with the local teams.
“I enjoyed playing football and in 1964 we had a great minor team in the area. We were called Mulranny but we drew lads from the whole region stretching from Ballycroy to Kilmeena. I was lucky enough to captain the team and on one special evening in McHale Park we beat Ballina Stephenites in the County league final. That was a famous team and we had some fine footballers like Joe McAndrew, Stephen Conway and Christy Loftus. I scored 1-9 that evening and it is a game I will never forget. Later that year we won the West championship but lost the county semi-final to a Jimmy Duggan-inspired Claremorris. I loved the games and the excitement and will never forget those special days.”
He spent happy times learning the painting trade from Sean Kelly and in 1964 when Burrishoole GAA team went to London on tour Tom was in the party. He saw the abundance of work available in the English capital and was soon back there looking for a start.
“I worked all over England from Birmingham to Ipswich and Bristol to Norwich. I followed the work, the money was good and the craic was mighty. I played some football around London with St. Jarlath’s and St. Pat’s and enjoyed life. There were lots of lads from home over there and when there was a big match on in Ireland like an All-Ireland Final we all gathered to listen to it on the radio. We would tie the radio and the aerial to a lamppost and gather around it listening in silence. The locals didn’t know what was happening and often called the police who would come along and often listen to the game with us.”
Tom enjoyed life in England but in the autumn of 1980 he returned to Dublin where the building boom was just about to begin. He wasn’t long there when fate intervened and changed his life forever. On March 30th 1981 the car he was driving hit a wall just outside Drogheda with devastating consequences.
“I wasn’t found for five hours after the accident and when they got to the car I was trapped under a pile of stone from the wall. I could only tell them my name and was then taken to a hospital in Drogheda before being flown to the Central Remedial Clinic in Dun Laoghaire.
“That day back in Mayo my parents were going to Mass when they heard on the radio that a man named Tom Chambers had been in a serious accident near Drogheda but they never thought it was me as I was living in Dublin at the time.”
Soon they learned that it was indeed their son who had been injured in the accident and life would never be the same again. In Dun Laoghaire Tom was asking the nurses could he soon go home as there was a lot of concrete being delivered that week but it wasn’t long before he realised that he was in serious trouble.
“I looked around me and saw some frightening sights. Fine people lying there in beds unable to move a muscle and I knew that I had some major problems but I also realised that I was very lucky. There was an Irish rugby international there called Gus Barrett who had passed his final exams in dentistry only days before his life was turned upside down and I thanked God that I was as good as I was.”
Months of physio and hard work were put in before Tom saw Rockfleet again but in December he arrived home full of trepidation about what the future held.
“I was very nervous wondering what would happen if something went wrong but there was no need to worry, everything worked out fine.”
Fundraising locally and in London and Cleveland meant that Tom could buy a car and soon he was on the open road. He valued his independence and later moved to a house of his own in nearby Newport. He settled into life in West Mayo and could often be found driving a carload of friends to dances all over the county. The man from Rockfleet wasn’t going to sit around complaining about the hand he had been dealt.
Then in October 1985 the local sergeant Tom Rochford, set him a challenge. He believed that Chambers was capable of competing in the Dublin City Marathon and told him he would support him all the way. Tom took up the challenge and the rest is history.
He trained four or five hours every day. Rochford, Martin O’ Malley, Kevin McManamon and a local committee secured funding for a new lighter wheelchair and after endless preparation and a few local half-marathons Tom found himself on the starting line for the 1986 marathon.
“Bertie Ahern was the Lord Mayor of Dublin at the time sent us on our way. I was going well at first until one of the front wheels came loose on the chair but I pulled into a garage and borrowed a spanner, which kept me going until I got to the service vehicle.”
Soon he was back on course again and as he raced down the Malahide Road a special Mayo lady shouted out her support.
“Rosaline Gallagher was there urging me on and I got great courage from that. She had done so much on the sporting scene worldwide and I was honoured that she turned out to wish me luck.”
The Newport man raced onwards and as he went up Westland Row a spectator shouted that there was only a mile to go.
“For the first time in the race I thought about the distance I had travelled and I put in a special effort to get to the finish because there were many people who had doubted my ability to finish.”
Soon Tom had crossed the line and one of his life’s’ ambitions had been achieved. He would complete another two marathons and numerous other distances in the following years as his fame spread far and wide. The man from Rockfleet became one of Newport’s best-known residents.
These days Tom doesn’t race anymore but he still keeps in touch with the people he met on the athletics trail. He waits anxiously for the opportunity to help another Mayo wheelchair athlete enter the racing game. His head is filled with tips for aspiring racers and he knows someday that another Mayo racer will scorch through the Dublin streets.
His days are filled with the IT lessons he gives in Mayo Tech and the designs he makes for wheelchair accessible buildings. He is enjoying life in Newport and is thankful for the hand life has dealt him.
“If I hadn’t run into that wall I might be dead now, who knows? I have a great life filled with wonderful people and remember it’s only my legs that are paralysed, not my brain.”
The man who has packed more into his life than many others has a lot of living to do. He is already planning his next project and the ones after that. Tom Chambers is a unique man, one of Newport’s finest.
Shona,
My accident happened at about 3.30am on the last Saturday in March 1981. I had been socialising with friends in Castlebellingham in Co. Louth when I decided to return to Philsburg Avenue Fairview, Dublin. The last thing I remember was lighting a cigarette and then closing the window and apparently I fell asleep hitting a stone wall measuring 12ft high and 22ft long completely knocking the wall covering my car and that probably why I was not found until around 8.30 that morning. I was totally confused and had injections that sedated me and as I would not give anyone my surname it was impossible for all concerned to find out anything about me regarding making contacts. As the letter said that my parents heard it on the radio I also had a girlfriend who was living with me and she did not know where I was and all she could do was report me missing. It was very hard on her as well as my parents as we were engaged to get married later on that year. We first met in London in 1972 and lived together over there until we moved back to Dublin in 1980.
I left home when I was a young lively lad in 1964 and to return back in 1981 confined to a wheelchair was something my father could never accept until the day he passed away. Plans were been made behind my back to get me into a home and when I found out it caused problems and would have left and live with my girlfriends family but that would have broke my mothers heart as she was a nice kind woman who wanted to look after me. All this and no support from the rest of my family had a strain on our relationship because when they found out that I would not be getting any money from the accident I felt that it was not right on my girlfriend and after a lot of tears one night while she was down from Dublin I done the hardest thing I ever had to do and that was to ask her to go back to London and find a good man for herself.
By now I had purchased a car and took her for two weeks holiday to Cork and Kerry and when that was over I drove her to her home in Galway and after filling up the car with petrol I handed every penny I had to my name to her and said goodbye. It was 40 miles home but it was the hardest drive in my life but she never got married or went to London just like myself. We met once since and had a few drinks and a great chat, but life is cruel and that’s life!!
I did not get much support from my family but that will not stop me helping others until I am not able to do so. I was not free until I got my own house to live in but as I write this I see a bit of “ Susan Boyle” in me because like her I got on very well with my mother.
Hope reading this does not bore you as I have not spoken about this before to anybody.
By Michael Gallagher,
A reporter for Western People in July 2002. (Local paper)
Tom Chambers loves to talk. He has a way of telling stories that brings the past to life and the tale of his existence so far is one, which generates a great sense of hope and determination.
Born in Rockfleet just outside Newport Co. Mayo he grew up surrounded by seven brothers, eight sisters and parents Mick and Maud. He enjoyed life, going to school, doing the chores and playing games the way kids do. He loved sport and was soon playing football with the local teams.
“I enjoyed playing football and in 1964 we had a great minor team in the area. We were called Mulranny but we drew lads from the whole region stretching from Ballycroy to Kilmeena. I was lucky enough to captain the team and on one special evening in McHale Park we beat Ballina Stephenites in the County league final. That was a famous team and we had some fine footballers like Joe McAndrew, Stephen Conway and Christy Loftus. I scored 1-9 that evening and it is a game I will never forget. Later that year we won the West championship but lost the county semi-final to a Jimmy Duggan-inspired Claremorris. I loved the games and the excitement and will never forget those special days.”
He spent happy times learning the painting trade from Sean Kelly and in 1964 when Burrishoole GAA team went to London on tour Tom was in the party. He saw the abundance of work available in the English capital and was soon back there looking for a start.
“I worked all over England from Birmingham to Ipswich and Bristol to Norwich. I followed the work, the money was good and the craic was mighty. I played some football around London with St. Jarlath’s and St. Pat’s and enjoyed life. There were lots of lads from home over there and when there was a big match on in Ireland like an All-Ireland Final we all gathered to listen to it on the radio. We would tie the radio and the aerial to a lamppost and gather around it listening in silence. The locals didn’t know what was happening and often called the police who would come along and often listen to the game with us.”
Tom enjoyed life in England but in the autumn of 1980 he returned to Dublin where the building boom was just about to begin. He wasn’t long there when fate intervened and changed his life forever. On March 30th 1981 the car he was driving hit a wall just outside Drogheda with devastating consequences.
“I wasn’t found for five hours after the accident and when they got to the car I was trapped under a pile of stone from the wall. I could only tell them my name and was then taken to a hospital in Drogheda before being flown to the Central Remedial Clinic in Dun Laoghaire.
“That day back in Mayo my parents were going to Mass when they heard on the radio that a man named Tom Chambers had been in a serious accident near Drogheda but they never thought it was me as I was living in Dublin at the time.”
Soon they learned that it was indeed their son who had been injured in the accident and life would never be the same again. In Dun Laoghaire Tom was asking the nurses could he soon go home as there was a lot of concrete being delivered that week but it wasn’t long before he realised that he was in serious trouble.
“I looked around me and saw some frightening sights. Fine people lying there in beds unable to move a muscle and I knew that I had some major problems but I also realised that I was very lucky. There was an Irish rugby international there called Gus Barrett who had passed his final exams in dentistry only days before his life was turned upside down and I thanked God that I was as good as I was.”
Months of physio and hard work were put in before Tom saw Rockfleet again but in December he arrived home full of trepidation about what the future held.
“I was very nervous wondering what would happen if something went wrong but there was no need to worry, everything worked out fine.”
Fundraising locally and in London and Cleveland meant that Tom could buy a car and soon he was on the open road. He valued his independence and later moved to a house of his own in nearby Newport. He settled into life in West Mayo and could often be found driving a carload of friends to dances all over the county. The man from Rockfleet wasn’t going to sit around complaining about the hand he had been dealt.
Then in October 1985 the local sergeant Tom Rochford, set him a challenge. He believed that Chambers was capable of competing in the Dublin City Marathon and told him he would support him all the way. Tom took up the challenge and the rest is history.
He trained four or five hours every day. Rochford, Martin O’ Malley, Kevin McManamon and a local committee secured funding for a new lighter wheelchair and after endless preparation and a few local half-marathons Tom found himself on the starting line for the 1986 marathon.
“Bertie Ahern was the Lord Mayor of Dublin at the time sent us on our way. I was going well at first until one of the front wheels came loose on the chair but I pulled into a garage and borrowed a spanner, which kept me going until I got to the service vehicle.”
Soon he was back on course again and as he raced down the Malahide Road a special Mayo lady shouted out her support.
“Rosaline Gallagher was there urging me on and I got great courage from that. She had done so much on the sporting scene worldwide and I was honoured that she turned out to wish me luck.”
The Newport man raced onwards and as he went up Westland Row a spectator shouted that there was only a mile to go.
“For the first time in the race I thought about the distance I had travelled and I put in a special effort to get to the finish because there were many people who had doubted my ability to finish.”
Soon Tom had crossed the line and one of his life’s’ ambitions had been achieved. He would complete another two marathons and numerous other distances in the following years as his fame spread far and wide. The man from Rockfleet became one of Newport’s best-known residents.
These days Tom doesn’t race anymore but he still keeps in touch with the people he met on the athletics trail. He waits anxiously for the opportunity to help another Mayo wheelchair athlete enter the racing game. His head is filled with tips for aspiring racers and he knows someday that another Mayo racer will scorch through the Dublin streets.
His days are filled with the IT lessons he gives in Mayo Tech and the designs he makes for wheelchair accessible buildings. He is enjoying life in Newport and is thankful for the hand life has dealt him.
“If I hadn’t run into that wall I might be dead now, who knows? I have a great life filled with wonderful people and remember it’s only my legs that are paralysed, not my brain.”
The man who has packed more into his life than many others has a lot of living to do. He is already planning his next project and the ones after that. Tom Chambers is a unique man, one of Newport’s finest.
Shona,
My accident happened at about 3.30am on the last Saturday in March 1981. I had been socialising with friends in Castlebellingham in Co. Louth when I decided to return to Philsburg Avenue Fairview, Dublin. The last thing I remember was lighting a cigarette and then closing the window and apparently I fell asleep hitting a stone wall measuring 12ft high and 22ft long completely knocking the wall covering my car and that probably why I was not found until around 8.30 that morning. I was totally confused and had injections that sedated me and as I would not give anyone my surname it was impossible for all concerned to find out anything about me regarding making contacts. As the letter said that my parents heard it on the radio I also had a girlfriend who was living with me and she did not know where I was and all she could do was report me missing. It was very hard on her as well as my parents as we were engaged to get married later on that year. We first met in London in 1972 and lived together over there until we moved back to Dublin in 1980.
I left home when I was a young lively lad in 1964 and to return back in 1981 confined to a wheelchair was something my father could never accept until the day he passed away. Plans were been made behind my back to get me into a home and when I found out it caused problems and would have left and live with my girlfriends family but that would have broke my mothers heart as she was a nice kind woman who wanted to look after me. All this and no support from the rest of my family had a strain on our relationship because when they found out that I would not be getting any money from the accident I felt that it was not right on my girlfriend and after a lot of tears one night while she was down from Dublin I done the hardest thing I ever had to do and that was to ask her to go back to London and find a good man for herself.
By now I had purchased a car and took her for two weeks holiday to Cork and Kerry and when that was over I drove her to her home in Galway and after filling up the car with petrol I handed every penny I had to my name to her and said goodbye. It was 40 miles home but it was the hardest drive in my life but she never got married or went to London just like myself. We met once since and had a few drinks and a great chat, but life is cruel and that’s life!!
I did not get much support from my family but that will not stop me helping others until I am not able to do so. I was not free until I got my own house to live in but as I write this I see a bit of “ Susan Boyle” in me because like her I got on very well with my mother.
Hope reading this does not bore you as I have not spoken about this before to anybody.
Department of Transport
Dear Mr. Chambers,
I refer to your email dated 18th October 2010 to the Department of Transport regarding disabled parking bays in Mayo, which has been referred to the County Manager’s office in Mayo County Council for reply.
In response to your queries in your email dated 18th October 2010, I wish to reply as follows:
There is no national standard regarding accessible parking spaces. There is best practice guidance but this is not an enforceable standard. Best practice guides that 1200mm free space is provided adjacent to the parking space.
With due consideration to traffic management and engineering constraints, spaces are provided on streets, where practical, for blue badge holders in close proximity to amenity areas. With limited street (width) space available it is not always possible to provide the guided 1200mm free space adjacent to the parking space.
The only other option for on street parking would be to provide parking vertically to the flows of traffic and in general there are very few streets that will facilitate this.
Additional spaces with the guided 1200mm free space adjacent to the parking space are provided in car parks. If a blue badge holder does not feel they can safely use on-street parking facilities they should use the larger spaces provided in car parks.
When a driver alights from a vehicle, assuming that they have parked in the same direction as the flow of traffic, they will always be entering into the line of traffic. That is why it is incumbent upon them to exercise proper due care and attention.The user takes the same responsibility and risks as any other driver/pedestrian in accessing/exiting a vehicle on the street.
Regards
Joe Loftus,
Director of Services,
Corporate Affairs,
Mayo County Council.
Email: jloftus@mayococo.ie
Tel no: 094 9047306
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
***************************************************************************************************************************************
Tá eolas atá príobháideach agus rúnda sa ríomhphost seo agus in aon iatán a ghabhann leis agus is leis an duine/na daoine sin amháin a bhfuil siad seolta chucu a bhaineann siad. Mura seolaí thú, níl tú údaraithe an ríomhphost nó aon iatán a ghabhann leis a léamh, a chóipeáil ná a úsáid. Má tá an ríomhphost seo faighte agat trí dhearmad, cuir an seoltóir ar an eolas thrí aischur ríomhphoist agus scrios ansin é le do thoil.
This e-mail and any attachment contains information which is private and confidential and is intended for the addressee only. If you are not an addressee, you are not authorised to read, copy or use the e-mail or any attachment. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and then destroy it.
***************************************************************************************************************************************
I refer to your email dated 18th October 2010 to the Department of Transport regarding disabled parking bays in Mayo, which has been referred to the County Manager’s office in Mayo County Council for reply.
In response to your queries in your email dated 18th October 2010, I wish to reply as follows:
There is no national standard regarding accessible parking spaces. There is best practice guidance but this is not an enforceable standard. Best practice guides that 1200mm free space is provided adjacent to the parking space.
With due consideration to traffic management and engineering constraints, spaces are provided on streets, where practical, for blue badge holders in close proximity to amenity areas. With limited street (width) space available it is not always possible to provide the guided 1200mm free space adjacent to the parking space.
The only other option for on street parking would be to provide parking vertically to the flows of traffic and in general there are very few streets that will facilitate this.
Additional spaces with the guided 1200mm free space adjacent to the parking space are provided in car parks. If a blue badge holder does not feel they can safely use on-street parking facilities they should use the larger spaces provided in car parks.
When a driver alights from a vehicle, assuming that they have parked in the same direction as the flow of traffic, they will always be entering into the line of traffic. That is why it is incumbent upon them to exercise proper due care and attention.The user takes the same responsibility and risks as any other driver/pedestrian in accessing/exiting a vehicle on the street.
Regards
Joe Loftus,
Director of Services,
Corporate Affairs,
Mayo County Council.
Email: jloftus@mayococo.ie
Tel no: 094 9047306
P Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail
***************************************************************************************************************************************
Tá eolas atá príobháideach agus rúnda sa ríomhphost seo agus in aon iatán a ghabhann leis agus is leis an duine/na daoine sin amháin a bhfuil siad seolta chucu a bhaineann siad. Mura seolaí thú, níl tú údaraithe an ríomhphost nó aon iatán a ghabhann leis a léamh, a chóipeáil ná a úsáid. Má tá an ríomhphost seo faighte agat trí dhearmad, cuir an seoltóir ar an eolas thrí aischur ríomhphoist agus scrios ansin é le do thoil.
This e-mail and any attachment contains information which is private and confidential and is intended for the addressee only. If you are not an addressee, you are not authorised to read, copy or use the e-mail or any attachment. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender by return e-mail and then destroy it.
***************************************************************************************************************************************
CONFERENCE: Lib Dems call for disabled councillors' funding
CONFERENCE: Lib Dems call for disabled councillors' funding
From Cathy Reay in Bournemouth
Disabled campaigners kicked off the Liberal Democrat party conference proceedings this weekend by calling on the party to extend Access To Work funding for disabled councillors so more party members can run for local councils.
During a disability consultation session on Saturday, activists said that it is virtually impossible for disabled people to run for council under current legislation as councillors do not qualify for Access To Work support, so costly assistance or adaptations could not be reimbursed.
Vaughan Bruce, member of the Liberal Democrat Disability Association, said: “Able-bodied people are always willing to just sit there and judge without knowing what disability is about. If we had disabled councillors they would know the importance of disability issues, like disability hate crime.”
David Harrison, Hampshire county councillor, said: “We’ve had requests through the Liberal Democrats Disability Association from other disabled people wanting to become councillors who have researched it and found out they can’t do it because they can’t receive Access To Work. This is a real problem.
When I became a county councillor there were two other disabled people going for councillor roles and they just got picked off because they couldn’t get the funding for the assistance they needed.”
Robert Adamson, Liberal Democrat candidate for East Yorkshire, who has multiple sclerosis, said: “some disabled people don’t want to get involved, they want to just be couch potatoes or whatever, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want us or that we shouldn’t try to fight on their behalf.”
Abigail Lock, Head of Advocacy and Campaigns at disability charity Scope, added: “This is exactly why we want to put forward an Access to Public Life fund. The unique issues that disabled councillors face could be tackled by this.
“Under the Disability Discrimination Act and Equality Duty, for the first time, local councils are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people wishing to go into council. As we all know, having something in legislation is one thing but getting reality on the ground is another.”
Celia Thomas, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Work and Pensions, who has muscular dystrophy, said the she is determined to make this change. She added: “I am going to look into trying to get an amendment in the Welfare Reform Bill for Access To Work for councillors, I think it would be good even if we can just discuss it. It’s vital that this changes.”
19th September 200
From Cathy Reay in Bournemouth
Disabled campaigners kicked off the Liberal Democrat party conference proceedings this weekend by calling on the party to extend Access To Work funding for disabled councillors so more party members can run for local councils.
During a disability consultation session on Saturday, activists said that it is virtually impossible for disabled people to run for council under current legislation as councillors do not qualify for Access To Work support, so costly assistance or adaptations could not be reimbursed.
Vaughan Bruce, member of the Liberal Democrat Disability Association, said: “Able-bodied people are always willing to just sit there and judge without knowing what disability is about. If we had disabled councillors they would know the importance of disability issues, like disability hate crime.”
David Harrison, Hampshire county councillor, said: “We’ve had requests through the Liberal Democrats Disability Association from other disabled people wanting to become councillors who have researched it and found out they can’t do it because they can’t receive Access To Work. This is a real problem.
When I became a county councillor there were two other disabled people going for councillor roles and they just got picked off because they couldn’t get the funding for the assistance they needed.”
Robert Adamson, Liberal Democrat candidate for East Yorkshire, who has multiple sclerosis, said: “some disabled people don’t want to get involved, they want to just be couch potatoes or whatever, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want us or that we shouldn’t try to fight on their behalf.”
Abigail Lock, Head of Advocacy and Campaigns at disability charity Scope, added: “This is exactly why we want to put forward an Access to Public Life fund. The unique issues that disabled councillors face could be tackled by this.
“Under the Disability Discrimination Act and Equality Duty, for the first time, local councils are required to make reasonable adjustments for disabled people wishing to go into council. As we all know, having something in legislation is one thing but getting reality on the ground is another.”
Celia Thomas, Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Work and Pensions, who has muscular dystrophy, said the she is determined to make this change. She added: “I am going to look into trying to get an amendment in the Welfare Reform Bill for Access To Work for councillors, I think it would be good even if we can just discuss it. It’s vital that this changes.”
19th September 200
www.thomaschambers.blogspot.com
Dear John,
It was great to see you after all these years. I believe it was 1986 since we met last at your Dads house. I was training for the Dublin City marathon at the time, which I beat successfully and continued to do three more times until I decided to retire.
I hope in the next couple of years we will have a good labour representation (yourself) and Jerry Cowley here in Mayo.
On a different subject I took time out on my way to Dublin to have a look at designated parking bays in Ballintubber and found one bay outside the local Garda Station that had blue paint on the ground but had no sign up to identify it. There was approximately 2-3 inches in difference of level from road to footpath making it inaccessible for wheelchair users to use on there own. Eventually after driving through the town in and out and back and over, and found another bay same again the place was blue and no place to identify it. It was located in Market Square outside a public house that was closed down (the name escapes me). I can see no differences in those bays only that they have a coat of paint (blue paint) and are the same size of bay for able bodied drivers. Designated parking bays should be at least 4800mm long and 3600mm wide with signage indicating the location of designated spaces and should incorporate the International Symbol of Access.
I checked for designated parking bays in Strokes town and much the same there an ordinary bay painted in blue with no signs. All those bags are totally inaccessible for disabled drivers using his/her wheelchair.
Maybe we could meet sometime to discuss this in more detail.
Kindest Regards
Tom
Thomas Chambers
Access Campaigner
The Billy Ranch
Newport
Mayo
www.thomaschambers.blogspot.com
086 3552047
098 41545
It was great to see you after all these years. I believe it was 1986 since we met last at your Dads house. I was training for the Dublin City marathon at the time, which I beat successfully and continued to do three more times until I decided to retire.
I hope in the next couple of years we will have a good labour representation (yourself) and Jerry Cowley here in Mayo.
On a different subject I took time out on my way to Dublin to have a look at designated parking bays in Ballintubber and found one bay outside the local Garda Station that had blue paint on the ground but had no sign up to identify it. There was approximately 2-3 inches in difference of level from road to footpath making it inaccessible for wheelchair users to use on there own. Eventually after driving through the town in and out and back and over, and found another bay same again the place was blue and no place to identify it. It was located in Market Square outside a public house that was closed down (the name escapes me). I can see no differences in those bays only that they have a coat of paint (blue paint) and are the same size of bay for able bodied drivers. Designated parking bays should be at least 4800mm long and 3600mm wide with signage indicating the location of designated spaces and should incorporate the International Symbol of Access.
I checked for designated parking bays in Strokes town and much the same there an ordinary bay painted in blue with no signs. All those bags are totally inaccessible for disabled drivers using his/her wheelchair.
Maybe we could meet sometime to discuss this in more detail.
Kindest Regards
Tom
Thomas Chambers
Access Campaigner
The Billy Ranch
Newport
Mayo
www.thomaschambers.blogspot.com
086 3552047
098 41545
Disability Consultant and Campaigner
Dear Cathaoirleach,
Congratulations on your election to the chair. I hope you have a good year.
I know that disability issues are important to you and your authority
and I would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you improvements
which I think can be made to facilities for the disabled and how
progress can be made in meeting targets for disability works.
Please drop me a line when you can to discuss the same.
Thanks
Tom Chambers
Disability Consultant and Campaigner
Congratulations on your election to the chair. I hope you have a good year.
I know that disability issues are important to you and your authority
and I would welcome the opportunity to discuss with you improvements
which I think can be made to facilities for the disabled and how
progress can be made in meeting targets for disability works.
Please drop me a line when you can to discuss the same.
Thanks
Tom Chambers
Disability Consultant and Campaigner
HSE Apologises After an Offaly Woman
Welcome to our new site Tel: 0818-300-103 Text: 083 30 10 103 Email: info@midlandsradio.fm
HSE Apologises After an Offaly Woman Dies Following Alleged Misdiagnosis
The High Court has approved a settlement of 65,000 euro to the family of a woman who died from lung cancer after an allegedly wrong diagnosis.
It is claimed Esther Galvin of Tullamore in Co. Offaly was told she had depression by a consultant at the Midland Regional Hospital 13 months before her death in August 2006.
There has been no admission of liability.
The solicitor for the family Declan O'Flaherty spoke on their behalf outside court.
"Yesterday Esther Galvin should have celebrated her birthday - today her families' long search for answers about the events leading to her death more than 4 years ago came to an end" he said.
"The family acknowledge the HSE's apology for the failure to diagnose Esther's lung cancer".
"The Galvin family encourage other families and individuals in a similar position to continue in their quest for answers" he added
HSE Apologises After an Offaly Woman Dies Following Alleged Misdiagnosis
The High Court has approved a settlement of 65,000 euro to the family of a woman who died from lung cancer after an allegedly wrong diagnosis.
It is claimed Esther Galvin of Tullamore in Co. Offaly was told she had depression by a consultant at the Midland Regional Hospital 13 months before her death in August 2006.
There has been no admission of liability.
The solicitor for the family Declan O'Flaherty spoke on their behalf outside court.
"Yesterday Esther Galvin should have celebrated her birthday - today her families' long search for answers about the events leading to her death more than 4 years ago came to an end" he said.
"The family acknowledge the HSE's apology for the failure to diagnose Esther's lung cancer".
"The Galvin family encourage other families and individuals in a similar position to continue in their quest for answers" he added
In-depth Analysis of Budget 2011
In-depth Analysis of Budget 2011
Submitted by paulmeade on 8 December 2010 - 4:47pm
Introduction and broad context
Budget 2011 is the fourth in the set of austerity budgets introduced following the initial economic collapse of September 2008 (previous budgets being December 2008, April 2009 and December 2009). These set budgetary policy on a period of contraction until a recovery in 2011 and a restoration of normal budgeting by 2014.
The second economic collapse of autumn 2010, leading to the €85bn rescue package agreed with the European financial institutions and the International Monetary Fund in November 2010 set budgetary policy on a course of severe contraction, €15bn over 4 years, so as to reduce debt as a proportion of GDP to 3% by 2014, with €6bn to be made in the 2011 budget.
The four-year plan accompanying the EU/IMF/ECB rescue set the 2011 budget as the first of a series that will reduce spending and increase taxation over 2011-15. Whereas the first contraction was largely dealt with by spending cuts, the second contraction, which is magnitudes more severe, is accompanied this time by significant tax increases.
The Wheel is seriously concerned about the ability of Ireland’s charities to withstand the negative impact of Budget 2011
The Wheel’s primary concern is for the impact of budgetary changes on the voluntary and community sector and those whom it serves. A strong voluntary and community sector is essential for any modern, pluralist and democratic society and is necessary for re-building that society after the present economic collapse.
Those who it serves are those who are most vulnerable, for they are often the poorest, most marginalized and with the least political influence: those on low incomes, dependent on social welfare, people with physical or intellectual disabilities, or living on the margins of society, such as homeless people and Travellers.
The Wheel has already expressed its concern that in the initial budgetary contractions, both voluntary and community organisations and the poor suffered disproportionately.
Budgets for voluntary and community organisations fell in the range 8% to 10% in 2009 and again by a similar pattern in 2010, at a time when national spending actually rose.
It is estimated that these changes have led to a contraction of the voluntary and community sector by -15% by the end of 2010.
The social impact of the 2011 budget
First, Budget 2011 will have a significant impact on those dependent on social welfare. The principal changes are as follows:
• General reductions on social welfare of -4% (excluding the pension). This means €8 weekly for most rates, €6 weekly in the case of job seeker allowance
• Reduction in child benefit of €10 monthly (to €140) (additional €10 reduction for third child)
• Additional €2 weekly contribution by recipients to rent supplement
• €8 weekly reduction in FAS training allowances
• Reduction in weekly VTOS bonus from €31.80 to €20.
These measures will cause considerable hardship for the poor of Ireland, who are principally the unemployed, children, lone parents, the low-paid and marginalized groups (e.g. homeless people and Travellers). In the case of child benefit, we know that the systematic increase of child benefit until 2009 led to an identifiable (if modest) reduction in child poverty. These decisions will drive up the level of child poverty again.
Second, the budget is likely to have a significant effect on those at work but in poverty. Although the government has a mantra that ‘the best solution to poverty is a job’, this ignores the reality of low pay and limited opportunities for those in the least well paid sections of the workforce.
The four-year plan announced a reduction in the minimum wage from €8.65 an hour to €7.65 an hour while the budget announced 10% reduction in pay for new public service entrants, the bottom grades of which are low paid. This will give additional impetus to the downward drive in wages.
There is a danger that the budget will create a number of poverty traps. Perhaps the most severe poverty trap is for those whose income is just above the qualification level of the medical card (with its attendant benefits and entitlements) but whose incomes are low and are bringing up children.
For example, in the case of families with school-going children, there are numerous additional charges in education which will be passed on to parents. Some are potentially a considerable burden to parents on low incomes e.g. school transport charges (up to €50 primary, €350 secondary, up to €650/household). They will reverse progress that had been made in reducing the hidden costs of ‘free’ education and will affect those most in need of education. Although medical card holders are exempt, all working families will be obliged to pay, contributing to a poverty trap. Coupled with the reduction in child benefit, this is likely to lead to an increase in child poverty.
The live register is currently at 438,000, and unemployment stands at 13.5% of the workforce. The budget announced 15,000 fresh activation places, divided equally into skills, development and internship; work placement; and a new Community Work Placement Scheme. The budgetary response to the problem of unemployment is wholly insufficient. Unlike other countries in Europe, there is no effective budgetary stimulus to create jobs.
Budget 2011 and its effect on social policy
Much of the significant meat of the 2011 budget is to be found in the departmental estimates. If we look at the headline figures:
• The four-year plan projects overall government spending to fall from €61.2bn to €59.1bn, with current spending falling from €54bn to €48bn
• For 2011, spending on current services is to fall from €54.5bn to €52.8bn
• This gives us a general cut in government current spending of -3.2%. This is the standard against which departmental and detailed budget line cuts should be measured.
As was the case before, the burden of savings to be achieved in 2011 falls on social policy areas. If we look at the €2,192m savings to be achieved in 2011, the main impact falls on social protection with €873m in cuts, health services with €746m in cuts, followed by education with €170m in cuts.
Even though the four-year plan specifies that the numbers of public servants remain flat (around 308,000), the most substantial reductions are to take place in the health services (reducing from 111,000 in 2008 to 100,000 by 2014).
If we look at departmental estimates in detail, we get:
• The social housing budget is down from €829m to €529m, -36%. This is the budget line which provides housing for people on low incomes and for voluntary and cooperative housing associations
• The regeneration budget, which is attempting to rebuild the shattered communities of Limerick and inner city Dublin, is down from €241m to 204m, -15%
• Funding for private housing adaptation, which is vital for the quality of life of people with disabilities, is down from €94m to €72m, -23%
• The budget for local authority disability services, €8.2m in 2010, is zeroed
• The budget for the Irish Youth Justice Service, which is essential to help young people at risk of offending, is reduced from €51.6m down to 39.3m, -24%
• In education, there is a 5% reduction in capitation funds for four key programmes that combat disadvantage: adult literacy, community education, school completion programme, Youthreach.
• Prison education services are vital for the rehabilitation of offenders. They are a vital, low cost, high-impact service and their budget is down from €1.6m to 1.3m, -24%
• The RAPID fund to assist disadvantaged rural areas is reduced from €5.6m to €3.1m, -47%
• The CLAR fund to assist disadvantaged rural areas is reduced from €8m to 500,000, -94%
• The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government budget forcommunity and social inclusion is reduced from €5.6m to €2.9m, -47%
• Funding for sport in disadvantaged areas, €395,000 in 2010, is zeroed
• Funding for the National Childcare Investment Programme is reduced from €105m to €85m, -18%
• There is a reduction in the subsidy for public transport of -4%, from €288m to €275m, a support level which is already low by European standards. This is likely to lead to fewer bus and rail services for those who depend on them
• Funding for the medical card scheme is set to fall from €2.8bn to €2.4bn, down -12%. Granted the significant fall in incomes expected in 2011, one might have expected more people to fall below the threshold for the means test. Such a reduction suggests that the threshold will be brought lower still, reducing the numbers of medical card holders, adding to the poverty trap of those just above the threshold.
• There is a miscellany of cuts in a number of justice-related areas. These are theRefugee Fund, down from €1.8m to €1.5m, -15%; the status of people with disabilities, €2.5m to €2.1m, -15%; disability projects, down from €469,000 to €187,000, -60% and equality proofing, down from €310,000 to €300,000 -68%
If we look at the remaining institutions that promote the social well-being of the state, the budget for the National Economic and Social Development Organisation, an organisation essential for social planning, is reduced from €3.3m to 2.3m, -30%.
• The budget for the Equality Authority, which took a -43% reduction last year, was reduced from €3.2m to €3m, -4%. Funding for national women’s organisations is to be reduced from €558,000 to €537,000, -4%
• Funding for the Minister for Integration is reduced from €5.3m to €4.1m, -22%
• The budget for the National Disability Authority is reduced from €5.6m to €5.1m, -8%
• The Irish Human Rights Commission, which suffered a 24% reduction last year, sees its budget fall from €1.5m to €1.4m, -5%
• The allocation for the Family Support Agency is reduced from €33.5m to €31.7m, -5%
• There have been substantial reductions in the allocations from dormant accounts, as follows:
o In the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the budget for economic and social disadvantage (dormant accounts) is reduced from €1m to €282,000 -72%
o In the Department of Education & Skills, the budget for educational disadvantage (dormant accounts), is reduced from €5m to €2m, -60%
o In the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, one initiative tackling economic and social disadvantage (dormant accounts) was reduced from €6.6m to €2m (-70%) and another from €1m to €240,000, -75%
o In the Department of Health & Children, funding for economic and social disadvantage (dormant accounts), €9.3m in 2010, is zeroed, while the early intervention programme, (dormant accounts) is reduced from €5.3m to 4.3m, -18%
o Funding for sport in disadvantaged areas (dormant accounts) in the Department of Tourism, Sport and culture was €395,000 in 2010 but zeroed this year.
Budget 2011 and its effect on voluntary and community organisations
As was the case in 2009 and 2010, the burden of cuts falls disproportionately on those departments and budgets where voluntary and community organisations are funded.
• The Health Service Executive budget, which is the largest (albeit indirect) funder of voluntary and community organisations, is down from €7.664bn to €7.249bn, -6%, which is likely to lead to a funding cut for these organisations at least that level. The level of HSE grants to voluntary hospitals is reduced by -7%, confirming this as the range for the headline figure in the health service.
• The principal direct funder of voluntary and community organisations is the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs. Its budget is reduced by -16%, from €366m to €307m. Within that:
o The general fund for voluntary and community organisations, which includes local grants, Senior alert, volunteering and support for national organisations, is down from €14m to €10m, -29%. We do not yet have detail on the individual headings
o The Local and Community Development Programme is reduced from €67.5m to €63.5m, -6%
o Action against drugs is led by voluntary and community organisations. The main fund is provided by the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs and it is cut from €36.1m to €33.7m, -7%. The Department of Education and Skills contribution to local drugs task forces is reduced from €2.4m to €899,000, -63%.
Ireland stands out internationally for the level of voluntary sports activity. Here, funding for sporting bodies is reduced by almost half, from €48m to €28m, -42%.
In only a small number of social policy areas is the cut less than the national average of -3.2.%. These are the National Educational Welfare Board (-2%), adult education (-1%) and some funding heads which are not cut at all, such as third level alleviation of disadvantage, gender mainstreaming, the Free Legal Advice Centres and civil legal aid. Only one shows a significant increase, COSC funding for the prevention of violence against women (+18%).
There are some important assumptions in the budget, which make the government’s strategy questionable on its own terms. First, there is an assumption that economic growth will generate sufficient income for services to be maintained in 2011. Granted the deflationary effect of the €6bn cut outlined here, this is doubtful. An example of governmental optimism may be seen in the anticipated savings from labour market activation, €100m, reducing numbers on the live register. It may well be the case that there will be fewer unemployed, but this is more likely to be due to emigration.
A significant element in any budget is fairness and perceived fairness. Although the government announced further reductions in the pay of ministers, they are estimated to be proportionately less than the reductions of those on the minimum wage and must be set in the context of some of the highest ministerial pay in Europe. Although a maximum wage was set for the public sector (€250,000), one was not set for the private sector. The only area where tax increases have been ruled out is in company taxation. At the start of the economic crisis, the European Commission spoke of how a sense of solidarity must inform governmental responses, but it is difficult to discern such a sense in Budget 2011.
Key points and messages emerging from this analysis
In summary, the following are the key issues emerging:
• Reductions in welfare will add to the level of hardship experienced by the poor. The process of immizerization will intensify;
• Specifically, there is likely to be an increase in in-work poverty and child poverty;
• The only economic stimulus is for 15,000 places, which will reduce the live register by only 3.4%;
• Social protection, health and education bear the main share of cuts and savings;
• Although the overall level of cut in government spending is -3.2%, it is much higher in the social policy area. The government has continued its policy of applying differential cuts, with much higher levels of cuts in critical areas such as social housing (-36%). A number of funds important for severe disadvantage have been significantly cut back, such as regeneration (-15%), RAPID in urban areas (-47%), CLAR in rural areas (-94%), youth justice and prison education (both -24%);
• Dormant accounts funding is reduced by very large amounts: 18%, 60%, 72%, 75% and one zeroed;
• Institutions that are important for social policy and social planning have lost between -4% and -30% of their budgets;
• Voluntary and community organisations are again disproportionately affected. In the main area of funding, health services, the headline cut is in the order of -6% to -7%. In the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, the principal fund is cut -29%. Funding for local development is reduced by 7% and for local action against drugs, over -7%. Grants for sporting organisations are down -42%;
• The ability of the government to draw in the necessary revenue in 2001 to pay for state services is based on unwarranted assumptions of economic growth;
• The budget lacks fairness, with those responsible for the current crisis being expected to shoulder a lesser burden than what is required of the low waged. It lack the sense of solidarity necessary to generate public support.
Conclusion
Budget 2011 fails to protect vulnerable people and threatens survival of charities working with Ireland’s poorest.
In September this year The Wheel presented Government with a Five-Point Plan to Protect Vulnerable People in Budget 2011. It is now clear that Government has failed to protect vulnerable people in Budget 2011 and poor, sick, disabled and low paid people will pay a totally disproportionate price to deliver economic recovery– but not social recovery - for our country.
The Wheel asked Government that Budget 2011 would ensure that
• People who can afford it contribute more to the cost of recovery.
• We take an integrated approach to achieving social and economic recovery.
• Our public services - and the people who depend on them - must not be sacrificed to fund a superficial recovery.
Far from taking an integrated approach to achieving social and economic recovery,Budget 2011 will create serious difficulties for those dependent on social welfare and for those working on low pay. Poor people will be hit many times by this budget, with a cut in the minimum wage rate, cuts in social welfare rates for unemployed people, disabled people and carers, a reduction in child benefit, increased tax and universal-social-charges and reductions in rent supports.
Meanwhile, people on higher incomes are making a disproportionately small contribution towards the cost of recovery in Budget 2011. The impact on people on social welfare and low pay is much greater than on higher earners and Budget 2011 will inevitably lead to increased poverty rates.
Statistics released last week by the Central Statistics Office ( CSO) for 2009 show that levels of consistent poverty rose from 4.2% in 2008 to 5.5% while the numbers unable to afford basic requirements went up by 25%. This is even before the impact of cuts in Budget 2011 are taken into account. It is indeed a source of shame that Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people have been sacrificed to fund a superficial “economic” recovery in Budget 2011
In our 5 Point Plan to Protect Vulnerable People The Wheel asked Government to increase the tax take while keeping Ireland a low tax country. We pointed out that targeting Ireland’s lowest earners was not the best or fairest way to widen the tax base or increase the tax-take.
While Government has increased the tax take in Budget 2011, by bringing over 100,000 lower paid workers into the tax net, Ireland’s total tax take is still only 30% of GDP which means Ireland is still an ultra-low tax country by European standards: People who can afford to have not been asked to contribute their fair share to the cost of recovery in Budget 2011.
The Wheel asked Government to secure better value for money in the delivery of our public services and pointed out that while targeted expenditure cuts were undoubtedly required in Budget 2011, vulnerable people should have been protected. We noted that a good starting point would have been the elimination of the waste identified in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports. Budget 2011 does not set any financial targets for achieving better value for the delivery of our public services – financial savings that COULD have reduced the impact of budget 2011 on people dependent on benefits and on the working poor.
The Wheel asked Government to reform the public sector by implementing the recommendations contained in the report of the OECD – again Budget 2011 contains no vision as to how our public services can be restructured around meeting the needs of vulnerable people.
Finally, The Wheel argued that Government should be focusing expenditure on the common good to provide the public services required by vulnerable people. Instead, Government has reduced key budget lines for supporting the thousands of charities and voluntary organisations that provide essential services for vulnerable people. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs appears to have been singled out for a punishing 16% budget cut. These cuts will impact completely disproportionately on Ireland’s most vulnerable communities.
Key budget lines for Government support for charities and community groups in other departments such as the HSE; Justice and Law Reform; Environment, Heritage and Local Government; and Education and Skills also appear to have been severely cut. As a result, The Wheel is seriously concerned about the ability of Ireland’s charities to withstand the negative impact of Budget 2011 and to continue to provide essential services and supports for Ireland’s most vulnerable people.
Meanwhile senior bondholders, the beneficiaries of the Croke Park deal and beneficiaries of Ireland’s 12% corporation tax rate are all exempt from making a contribution to achieving a fair and just social and economic recovery.
Submitted by paulmeade on 8 December 2010 - 4:47pm
Introduction and broad context
Budget 2011 is the fourth in the set of austerity budgets introduced following the initial economic collapse of September 2008 (previous budgets being December 2008, April 2009 and December 2009). These set budgetary policy on a period of contraction until a recovery in 2011 and a restoration of normal budgeting by 2014.
The second economic collapse of autumn 2010, leading to the €85bn rescue package agreed with the European financial institutions and the International Monetary Fund in November 2010 set budgetary policy on a course of severe contraction, €15bn over 4 years, so as to reduce debt as a proportion of GDP to 3% by 2014, with €6bn to be made in the 2011 budget.
The four-year plan accompanying the EU/IMF/ECB rescue set the 2011 budget as the first of a series that will reduce spending and increase taxation over 2011-15. Whereas the first contraction was largely dealt with by spending cuts, the second contraction, which is magnitudes more severe, is accompanied this time by significant tax increases.
The Wheel is seriously concerned about the ability of Ireland’s charities to withstand the negative impact of Budget 2011
The Wheel’s primary concern is for the impact of budgetary changes on the voluntary and community sector and those whom it serves. A strong voluntary and community sector is essential for any modern, pluralist and democratic society and is necessary for re-building that society after the present economic collapse.
Those who it serves are those who are most vulnerable, for they are often the poorest, most marginalized and with the least political influence: those on low incomes, dependent on social welfare, people with physical or intellectual disabilities, or living on the margins of society, such as homeless people and Travellers.
The Wheel has already expressed its concern that in the initial budgetary contractions, both voluntary and community organisations and the poor suffered disproportionately.
Budgets for voluntary and community organisations fell in the range 8% to 10% in 2009 and again by a similar pattern in 2010, at a time when national spending actually rose.
It is estimated that these changes have led to a contraction of the voluntary and community sector by -15% by the end of 2010.
The social impact of the 2011 budget
First, Budget 2011 will have a significant impact on those dependent on social welfare. The principal changes are as follows:
• General reductions on social welfare of -4% (excluding the pension). This means €8 weekly for most rates, €6 weekly in the case of job seeker allowance
• Reduction in child benefit of €10 monthly (to €140) (additional €10 reduction for third child)
• Additional €2 weekly contribution by recipients to rent supplement
• €8 weekly reduction in FAS training allowances
• Reduction in weekly VTOS bonus from €31.80 to €20.
These measures will cause considerable hardship for the poor of Ireland, who are principally the unemployed, children, lone parents, the low-paid and marginalized groups (e.g. homeless people and Travellers). In the case of child benefit, we know that the systematic increase of child benefit until 2009 led to an identifiable (if modest) reduction in child poverty. These decisions will drive up the level of child poverty again.
Second, the budget is likely to have a significant effect on those at work but in poverty. Although the government has a mantra that ‘the best solution to poverty is a job’, this ignores the reality of low pay and limited opportunities for those in the least well paid sections of the workforce.
The four-year plan announced a reduction in the minimum wage from €8.65 an hour to €7.65 an hour while the budget announced 10% reduction in pay for new public service entrants, the bottom grades of which are low paid. This will give additional impetus to the downward drive in wages.
There is a danger that the budget will create a number of poverty traps. Perhaps the most severe poverty trap is for those whose income is just above the qualification level of the medical card (with its attendant benefits and entitlements) but whose incomes are low and are bringing up children.
For example, in the case of families with school-going children, there are numerous additional charges in education which will be passed on to parents. Some are potentially a considerable burden to parents on low incomes e.g. school transport charges (up to €50 primary, €350 secondary, up to €650/household). They will reverse progress that had been made in reducing the hidden costs of ‘free’ education and will affect those most in need of education. Although medical card holders are exempt, all working families will be obliged to pay, contributing to a poverty trap. Coupled with the reduction in child benefit, this is likely to lead to an increase in child poverty.
The live register is currently at 438,000, and unemployment stands at 13.5% of the workforce. The budget announced 15,000 fresh activation places, divided equally into skills, development and internship; work placement; and a new Community Work Placement Scheme. The budgetary response to the problem of unemployment is wholly insufficient. Unlike other countries in Europe, there is no effective budgetary stimulus to create jobs.
Budget 2011 and its effect on social policy
Much of the significant meat of the 2011 budget is to be found in the departmental estimates. If we look at the headline figures:
• The four-year plan projects overall government spending to fall from €61.2bn to €59.1bn, with current spending falling from €54bn to €48bn
• For 2011, spending on current services is to fall from €54.5bn to €52.8bn
• This gives us a general cut in government current spending of -3.2%. This is the standard against which departmental and detailed budget line cuts should be measured.
As was the case before, the burden of savings to be achieved in 2011 falls on social policy areas. If we look at the €2,192m savings to be achieved in 2011, the main impact falls on social protection with €873m in cuts, health services with €746m in cuts, followed by education with €170m in cuts.
Even though the four-year plan specifies that the numbers of public servants remain flat (around 308,000), the most substantial reductions are to take place in the health services (reducing from 111,000 in 2008 to 100,000 by 2014).
If we look at departmental estimates in detail, we get:
• The social housing budget is down from €829m to €529m, -36%. This is the budget line which provides housing for people on low incomes and for voluntary and cooperative housing associations
• The regeneration budget, which is attempting to rebuild the shattered communities of Limerick and inner city Dublin, is down from €241m to 204m, -15%
• Funding for private housing adaptation, which is vital for the quality of life of people with disabilities, is down from €94m to €72m, -23%
• The budget for local authority disability services, €8.2m in 2010, is zeroed
• The budget for the Irish Youth Justice Service, which is essential to help young people at risk of offending, is reduced from €51.6m down to 39.3m, -24%
• In education, there is a 5% reduction in capitation funds for four key programmes that combat disadvantage: adult literacy, community education, school completion programme, Youthreach.
• Prison education services are vital for the rehabilitation of offenders. They are a vital, low cost, high-impact service and their budget is down from €1.6m to 1.3m, -24%
• The RAPID fund to assist disadvantaged rural areas is reduced from €5.6m to €3.1m, -47%
• The CLAR fund to assist disadvantaged rural areas is reduced from €8m to 500,000, -94%
• The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government budget forcommunity and social inclusion is reduced from €5.6m to €2.9m, -47%
• Funding for sport in disadvantaged areas, €395,000 in 2010, is zeroed
• Funding for the National Childcare Investment Programme is reduced from €105m to €85m, -18%
• There is a reduction in the subsidy for public transport of -4%, from €288m to €275m, a support level which is already low by European standards. This is likely to lead to fewer bus and rail services for those who depend on them
• Funding for the medical card scheme is set to fall from €2.8bn to €2.4bn, down -12%. Granted the significant fall in incomes expected in 2011, one might have expected more people to fall below the threshold for the means test. Such a reduction suggests that the threshold will be brought lower still, reducing the numbers of medical card holders, adding to the poverty trap of those just above the threshold.
• There is a miscellany of cuts in a number of justice-related areas. These are theRefugee Fund, down from €1.8m to €1.5m, -15%; the status of people with disabilities, €2.5m to €2.1m, -15%; disability projects, down from €469,000 to €187,000, -60% and equality proofing, down from €310,000 to €300,000 -68%
If we look at the remaining institutions that promote the social well-being of the state, the budget for the National Economic and Social Development Organisation, an organisation essential for social planning, is reduced from €3.3m to 2.3m, -30%.
• The budget for the Equality Authority, which took a -43% reduction last year, was reduced from €3.2m to €3m, -4%. Funding for national women’s organisations is to be reduced from €558,000 to €537,000, -4%
• Funding for the Minister for Integration is reduced from €5.3m to €4.1m, -22%
• The budget for the National Disability Authority is reduced from €5.6m to €5.1m, -8%
• The Irish Human Rights Commission, which suffered a 24% reduction last year, sees its budget fall from €1.5m to €1.4m, -5%
• The allocation for the Family Support Agency is reduced from €33.5m to €31.7m, -5%
• There have been substantial reductions in the allocations from dormant accounts, as follows:
o In the Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, the budget for economic and social disadvantage (dormant accounts) is reduced from €1m to €282,000 -72%
o In the Department of Education & Skills, the budget for educational disadvantage (dormant accounts), is reduced from €5m to €2m, -60%
o In the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, one initiative tackling economic and social disadvantage (dormant accounts) was reduced from €6.6m to €2m (-70%) and another from €1m to €240,000, -75%
o In the Department of Health & Children, funding for economic and social disadvantage (dormant accounts), €9.3m in 2010, is zeroed, while the early intervention programme, (dormant accounts) is reduced from €5.3m to 4.3m, -18%
o Funding for sport in disadvantaged areas (dormant accounts) in the Department of Tourism, Sport and culture was €395,000 in 2010 but zeroed this year.
Budget 2011 and its effect on voluntary and community organisations
As was the case in 2009 and 2010, the burden of cuts falls disproportionately on those departments and budgets where voluntary and community organisations are funded.
• The Health Service Executive budget, which is the largest (albeit indirect) funder of voluntary and community organisations, is down from €7.664bn to €7.249bn, -6%, which is likely to lead to a funding cut for these organisations at least that level. The level of HSE grants to voluntary hospitals is reduced by -7%, confirming this as the range for the headline figure in the health service.
• The principal direct funder of voluntary and community organisations is the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs. Its budget is reduced by -16%, from €366m to €307m. Within that:
o The general fund for voluntary and community organisations, which includes local grants, Senior alert, volunteering and support for national organisations, is down from €14m to €10m, -29%. We do not yet have detail on the individual headings
o The Local and Community Development Programme is reduced from €67.5m to €63.5m, -6%
o Action against drugs is led by voluntary and community organisations. The main fund is provided by the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs and it is cut from €36.1m to €33.7m, -7%. The Department of Education and Skills contribution to local drugs task forces is reduced from €2.4m to €899,000, -63%.
Ireland stands out internationally for the level of voluntary sports activity. Here, funding for sporting bodies is reduced by almost half, from €48m to €28m, -42%.
In only a small number of social policy areas is the cut less than the national average of -3.2.%. These are the National Educational Welfare Board (-2%), adult education (-1%) and some funding heads which are not cut at all, such as third level alleviation of disadvantage, gender mainstreaming, the Free Legal Advice Centres and civil legal aid. Only one shows a significant increase, COSC funding for the prevention of violence against women (+18%).
There are some important assumptions in the budget, which make the government’s strategy questionable on its own terms. First, there is an assumption that economic growth will generate sufficient income for services to be maintained in 2011. Granted the deflationary effect of the €6bn cut outlined here, this is doubtful. An example of governmental optimism may be seen in the anticipated savings from labour market activation, €100m, reducing numbers on the live register. It may well be the case that there will be fewer unemployed, but this is more likely to be due to emigration.
A significant element in any budget is fairness and perceived fairness. Although the government announced further reductions in the pay of ministers, they are estimated to be proportionately less than the reductions of those on the minimum wage and must be set in the context of some of the highest ministerial pay in Europe. Although a maximum wage was set for the public sector (€250,000), one was not set for the private sector. The only area where tax increases have been ruled out is in company taxation. At the start of the economic crisis, the European Commission spoke of how a sense of solidarity must inform governmental responses, but it is difficult to discern such a sense in Budget 2011.
Key points and messages emerging from this analysis
In summary, the following are the key issues emerging:
• Reductions in welfare will add to the level of hardship experienced by the poor. The process of immizerization will intensify;
• Specifically, there is likely to be an increase in in-work poverty and child poverty;
• The only economic stimulus is for 15,000 places, which will reduce the live register by only 3.4%;
• Social protection, health and education bear the main share of cuts and savings;
• Although the overall level of cut in government spending is -3.2%, it is much higher in the social policy area. The government has continued its policy of applying differential cuts, with much higher levels of cuts in critical areas such as social housing (-36%). A number of funds important for severe disadvantage have been significantly cut back, such as regeneration (-15%), RAPID in urban areas (-47%), CLAR in rural areas (-94%), youth justice and prison education (both -24%);
• Dormant accounts funding is reduced by very large amounts: 18%, 60%, 72%, 75% and one zeroed;
• Institutions that are important for social policy and social planning have lost between -4% and -30% of their budgets;
• Voluntary and community organisations are again disproportionately affected. In the main area of funding, health services, the headline cut is in the order of -6% to -7%. In the Department of Community, Equality and Gaeltacht Affairs, the principal fund is cut -29%. Funding for local development is reduced by 7% and for local action against drugs, over -7%. Grants for sporting organisations are down -42%;
• The ability of the government to draw in the necessary revenue in 2001 to pay for state services is based on unwarranted assumptions of economic growth;
• The budget lacks fairness, with those responsible for the current crisis being expected to shoulder a lesser burden than what is required of the low waged. It lack the sense of solidarity necessary to generate public support.
Conclusion
Budget 2011 fails to protect vulnerable people and threatens survival of charities working with Ireland’s poorest.
In September this year The Wheel presented Government with a Five-Point Plan to Protect Vulnerable People in Budget 2011. It is now clear that Government has failed to protect vulnerable people in Budget 2011 and poor, sick, disabled and low paid people will pay a totally disproportionate price to deliver economic recovery– but not social recovery - for our country.
The Wheel asked Government that Budget 2011 would ensure that
• People who can afford it contribute more to the cost of recovery.
• We take an integrated approach to achieving social and economic recovery.
• Our public services - and the people who depend on them - must not be sacrificed to fund a superficial recovery.
Far from taking an integrated approach to achieving social and economic recovery,Budget 2011 will create serious difficulties for those dependent on social welfare and for those working on low pay. Poor people will be hit many times by this budget, with a cut in the minimum wage rate, cuts in social welfare rates for unemployed people, disabled people and carers, a reduction in child benefit, increased tax and universal-social-charges and reductions in rent supports.
Meanwhile, people on higher incomes are making a disproportionately small contribution towards the cost of recovery in Budget 2011. The impact on people on social welfare and low pay is much greater than on higher earners and Budget 2011 will inevitably lead to increased poverty rates.
Statistics released last week by the Central Statistics Office ( CSO) for 2009 show that levels of consistent poverty rose from 4.2% in 2008 to 5.5% while the numbers unable to afford basic requirements went up by 25%. This is even before the impact of cuts in Budget 2011 are taken into account. It is indeed a source of shame that Ireland’s poor and vulnerable people have been sacrificed to fund a superficial “economic” recovery in Budget 2011
In our 5 Point Plan to Protect Vulnerable People The Wheel asked Government to increase the tax take while keeping Ireland a low tax country. We pointed out that targeting Ireland’s lowest earners was not the best or fairest way to widen the tax base or increase the tax-take.
While Government has increased the tax take in Budget 2011, by bringing over 100,000 lower paid workers into the tax net, Ireland’s total tax take is still only 30% of GDP which means Ireland is still an ultra-low tax country by European standards: People who can afford to have not been asked to contribute their fair share to the cost of recovery in Budget 2011.
The Wheel asked Government to secure better value for money in the delivery of our public services and pointed out that while targeted expenditure cuts were undoubtedly required in Budget 2011, vulnerable people should have been protected. We noted that a good starting point would have been the elimination of the waste identified in the Comptroller and Auditor General’s reports. Budget 2011 does not set any financial targets for achieving better value for the delivery of our public services – financial savings that COULD have reduced the impact of budget 2011 on people dependent on benefits and on the working poor.
The Wheel asked Government to reform the public sector by implementing the recommendations contained in the report of the OECD – again Budget 2011 contains no vision as to how our public services can be restructured around meeting the needs of vulnerable people.
Finally, The Wheel argued that Government should be focusing expenditure on the common good to provide the public services required by vulnerable people. Instead, Government has reduced key budget lines for supporting the thousands of charities and voluntary organisations that provide essential services for vulnerable people. The Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs appears to have been singled out for a punishing 16% budget cut. These cuts will impact completely disproportionately on Ireland’s most vulnerable communities.
Key budget lines for Government support for charities and community groups in other departments such as the HSE; Justice and Law Reform; Environment, Heritage and Local Government; and Education and Skills also appear to have been severely cut. As a result, The Wheel is seriously concerned about the ability of Ireland’s charities to withstand the negative impact of Budget 2011 and to continue to provide essential services and supports for Ireland’s most vulnerable people.
Meanwhile senior bondholders, the beneficiaries of the Croke Park deal and beneficiaries of Ireland’s 12% corporation tax rate are all exempt from making a contribution to achieving a fair and just social and economic recovery.
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Disabled kids get £800 million boost for trips
Disabled kids get £800 million boost for trips
by Mark Ellis, Daily Mirror 11/12/2010
FAMILIES and carers with disabled children are to be offered free holidays.
The Government today announced £800million would be injected into the programme offering carers a well-earned “break from caring responsibilities”.
It means from April all councils will have a new duty to offer a range of breaks for families, and carers of disabled youngsters who will get regular and varied short trips.
Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said: “Supporting families with disabled children is at the heart of what this Government is trying to achieve
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/12/11/disabled-kids-get-800-million-boost-for-trips-115875-22775488/#ixzz17thdok4W
Go Camping for 95p! Vouchers collectable in the Daily and Sunday Mirror until 11th August . Click here for more information
by Mark Ellis, Daily Mirror 11/12/2010
FAMILIES and carers with disabled children are to be offered free holidays.
The Government today announced £800million would be injected into the programme offering carers a well-earned “break from caring responsibilities”.
It means from April all councils will have a new duty to offer a range of breaks for families, and carers of disabled youngsters who will get regular and varied short trips.
Children’s Minister Sarah Teather said: “Supporting families with disabled children is at the heart of what this Government is trying to achieve
Read more: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2010/12/11/disabled-kids-get-800-million-boost-for-trips-115875-22775488/#ixzz17thdok4W
Go Camping for 95p! Vouchers collectable in the Daily and Sunday Mirror until 11th August . Click here for more information
John Drennan: 'Game's up for Cowen' as FF leader
John Drennan: 'Game's up for Cowen' as FF leader
But he could remain Taoiseach until party finds new figurehead
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John Drennan: Sinn Fein's by-election win heralds surge to left
John Drennan: Greens insist election will be held before end of January
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By JOHN DRENNAN
Sunday November 28 2010
A major power vacuum is developing in the heart of Fianna Fail as TDs agonise over the possibility that Brian Cowen might either stay, resign voluntarily or be deposed in a post-Christmas coup.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent yesterday, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan of the Green Party said: "Even the Taoiseach appears to have been slightly released by the knowledge of an end date."
Last week, Mr Cowen emphatically refuted the claim by the dissident FF TD Sean Power that the Taoiseach knew "the game was up'' and would resign before the next election.
But in spite of the denials and the chaos any leadership heave might provoke, a broad swathe of largely Munster deputies now believe that the Mr Cowen will either go voluntarily or be made an offer he cannot refuse over the Christmas holiday period.
One high-profile minister told this newspaper that if Mr Cowen does not voluntarily resign after the Budget then it will be a case of "either he goes easy or he goes hard, but go he will''.
Unlike the Greens, who have given Mr Cowen a January ultimatum -- such has been the collapse in the Taoiseach's authority -- senior party figures now want the Taoiseach to resign the day after the December Budget.
Such is the level of anger that one minister, when asked how would the country be governed without a leader, icily replied: "Well, we haven't had a leader for two years -- so what difference would that make?''
However, there are concerns that replacing Mr Cowen could spark a period of serious fiscal and political instability.
Ironically, the unacceptability of Mr Cowen to his own party could mean that he would remain as Taoiseach but be replaced as the party leader.
"There is no constitutional impediment to Mr Cowen not remaining on as Taoiseach whilst we secure a new leader," said a source.
However, the uncertainty has been increased by the mercurial nature of Mr Cowen's own mood.
Earlier in the week, TDs were confident that "if Brian is asked, he'll step aside''. Several Deputies noted that, at the party meeting, "he was very beat up this week as a human being."
And significantly, witnesses say that when the Taoiseach was directly asked by Noel O'Flynn: "Are you going to lead us into a general election?'' Mr Cowen "did not give a direct reply''.
Some TDs are also concerned about a scenario where Mr Cowen would remain in the Taoiseach's job while a new party leader is given the task of reshaping the battered image of Fianna Fail.
One worried TD said: "So we are, if I'm right, going to have two FF leaders -- the Taoiseach and then the leader of FF proper.
"That's going to be very confusing for the public."
But the desire for a change of leadership was qualified by the growing belief that not even a change of leader would roll back the alienation of the public. Instead, some FF TDs are concerned that the party might suffer the further humiliation of seeing any new leader losing their seat.
Currently, the two of the top contenders -- Mary Hanafin and Micheal Martin -- are believed to be struggling to retain their seats
But he could remain Taoiseach until party finds new figurehead
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John Drennan: Taoiseach still a dead leader talking
John Drennan: Fianna Fail's turkeys must vote for Budget or we'll all end up stuffed
Johm Drennan: Ireland now seen as bad debt waiting to happen
John Drennan: Sinn Fein's by-election win heralds surge to left
John Drennan: Greens insist election will be held before end of January
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By JOHN DRENNAN
Sunday November 28 2010
A major power vacuum is developing in the heart of Fianna Fail as TDs agonise over the possibility that Brian Cowen might either stay, resign voluntarily or be deposed in a post-Christmas coup.
In an interview with the Sunday Independent yesterday, Communications Minister Eamon Ryan of the Green Party said: "Even the Taoiseach appears to have been slightly released by the knowledge of an end date."
Last week, Mr Cowen emphatically refuted the claim by the dissident FF TD Sean Power that the Taoiseach knew "the game was up'' and would resign before the next election.
But in spite of the denials and the chaos any leadership heave might provoke, a broad swathe of largely Munster deputies now believe that the Mr Cowen will either go voluntarily or be made an offer he cannot refuse over the Christmas holiday period.
One high-profile minister told this newspaper that if Mr Cowen does not voluntarily resign after the Budget then it will be a case of "either he goes easy or he goes hard, but go he will''.
Unlike the Greens, who have given Mr Cowen a January ultimatum -- such has been the collapse in the Taoiseach's authority -- senior party figures now want the Taoiseach to resign the day after the December Budget.
Such is the level of anger that one minister, when asked how would the country be governed without a leader, icily replied: "Well, we haven't had a leader for two years -- so what difference would that make?''
However, there are concerns that replacing Mr Cowen could spark a period of serious fiscal and political instability.
Ironically, the unacceptability of Mr Cowen to his own party could mean that he would remain as Taoiseach but be replaced as the party leader.
"There is no constitutional impediment to Mr Cowen not remaining on as Taoiseach whilst we secure a new leader," said a source.
However, the uncertainty has been increased by the mercurial nature of Mr Cowen's own mood.
Earlier in the week, TDs were confident that "if Brian is asked, he'll step aside''. Several Deputies noted that, at the party meeting, "he was very beat up this week as a human being."
And significantly, witnesses say that when the Taoiseach was directly asked by Noel O'Flynn: "Are you going to lead us into a general election?'' Mr Cowen "did not give a direct reply''.
Some TDs are also concerned about a scenario where Mr Cowen would remain in the Taoiseach's job while a new party leader is given the task of reshaping the battered image of Fianna Fail.
One worried TD said: "So we are, if I'm right, going to have two FF leaders -- the Taoiseach and then the leader of FF proper.
"That's going to be very confusing for the public."
But the desire for a change of leadership was qualified by the growing belief that not even a change of leader would roll back the alienation of the public. Instead, some FF TDs are concerned that the party might suffer the further humiliation of seeing any new leader losing their seat.
Currently, the two of the top contenders -- Mary Hanafin and Micheal Martin -- are believed to be struggling to retain their seats
Friday, December 10, 2010
Cocaine 'likely' factor in Gerry Ryan's death
Cocaine 'likely' factor in Gerry Ryan's death
Friday 10 December 2010
A Coroner has told the inquest into the death of RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan that traces of cocaine found during toxicology tests were the likely trigger that led to a cardiac arrhythmia that resulted in his death.
Gerry Ryan - Inquest taking place today
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The coroner said that Mr Ryan's heart was normal, but he said traces of cocaine were found in his system during toxicology tests carried out at Beaumont Hospital and at the State Laboratory.
He said that alcohol levels in Mr Ryan's system were no where near the level that would cause complications.
Mr Ryan, 53, was found dead at his apartment at Upper Leeson Street in Dublin on 30 April.
Earlier, Gerry Ryan's partner denied that he used cocaine in the hours before his death.
Melanie Verwoerd was speaking at the inquest for the RTÉ broadcaster at the Dublin City Coroner's Court.
Asked by Coroner Brian Farrell if 'cocaine was ever an issue', Ms Verwoerd said 'absolutely not'.
Ms Verwoerd said one of the ground rules of their relationship was that drugs were not acceptable. She said in the two years they were together nothing had been used.
Ms Verwoerd said that the pressures of finalising his separation from his wife Morah, as well as enormous pressure from RTÉ and his work, had begun to take a toll on Mr Ryan.
She said that he was constantly waking in the middle of the night, sweating and feeling very unwell.
Ms Verwoerd said she was 'incredibly' concerned about him and he had told her he was 'totally banjaxed' and felt very tired.
She said the pressure Mr Ryan was under was never openly obvious to people as he was a 'showman'.
He would give private signals to her during social events when he was unwell and had to leave. She said this was a fairly common occurrence.
Ms Verwoerd said that changes in sick leave policy in RTÉ had resulted in Mr Ryan feeling he could not take time off work even though he was unwell.
Friends of Mr Ryan have been describing the last hours of his life.
Several witnesses at the inquest have said he was in good form and enjoyed a meal in Town Bar and Grill and a few drinks, before going home at around 10.45pm on the night before his death.
Ms Verwoerd described finding Mr Ryan's body on the floor of his bedroom, lying wrapped in bedclothes beside his bed.
She said it was immediately apparent he was cold and stiff and had been dead for some time.
Mr Ryan's wife Morah and his son Rex also attended the inquest, along with colleagues from 2FM.
Mr Ryan's GP, Dr Tony Crosby, said that Mr Ryan was suffering from 'severe stress and anxiety' as a result of a number of factors.
He said he had seen Mr Ryan on 22 April, just a few days before Mr Ryan's death.
Dr Crosby said he had prescribed some drugs to assist with his condition.
He said Mr Ryan was normally very open and forthright about how he was feeling but made no complaint about chest pains.
He said Gerry Ryan had told him was not sleeping, was feeling very stressed, and was quite anxious
Friday 10 December 2010
A Coroner has told the inquest into the death of RTÉ broadcaster Gerry Ryan that traces of cocaine found during toxicology tests were the likely trigger that led to a cardiac arrhythmia that resulted in his death.
Gerry Ryan - Inquest taking place today
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The coroner said that Mr Ryan's heart was normal, but he said traces of cocaine were found in his system during toxicology tests carried out at Beaumont Hospital and at the State Laboratory.
He said that alcohol levels in Mr Ryan's system were no where near the level that would cause complications.
Mr Ryan, 53, was found dead at his apartment at Upper Leeson Street in Dublin on 30 April.
Earlier, Gerry Ryan's partner denied that he used cocaine in the hours before his death.
Melanie Verwoerd was speaking at the inquest for the RTÉ broadcaster at the Dublin City Coroner's Court.
Asked by Coroner Brian Farrell if 'cocaine was ever an issue', Ms Verwoerd said 'absolutely not'.
Ms Verwoerd said one of the ground rules of their relationship was that drugs were not acceptable. She said in the two years they were together nothing had been used.
Ms Verwoerd said that the pressures of finalising his separation from his wife Morah, as well as enormous pressure from RTÉ and his work, had begun to take a toll on Mr Ryan.
She said that he was constantly waking in the middle of the night, sweating and feeling very unwell.
Ms Verwoerd said she was 'incredibly' concerned about him and he had told her he was 'totally banjaxed' and felt very tired.
She said the pressure Mr Ryan was under was never openly obvious to people as he was a 'showman'.
He would give private signals to her during social events when he was unwell and had to leave. She said this was a fairly common occurrence.
Ms Verwoerd said that changes in sick leave policy in RTÉ had resulted in Mr Ryan feeling he could not take time off work even though he was unwell.
Friends of Mr Ryan have been describing the last hours of his life.
Several witnesses at the inquest have said he was in good form and enjoyed a meal in Town Bar and Grill and a few drinks, before going home at around 10.45pm on the night before his death.
Ms Verwoerd described finding Mr Ryan's body on the floor of his bedroom, lying wrapped in bedclothes beside his bed.
She said it was immediately apparent he was cold and stiff and had been dead for some time.
Mr Ryan's wife Morah and his son Rex also attended the inquest, along with colleagues from 2FM.
Mr Ryan's GP, Dr Tony Crosby, said that Mr Ryan was suffering from 'severe stress and anxiety' as a result of a number of factors.
He said he had seen Mr Ryan on 22 April, just a few days before Mr Ryan's death.
Dr Crosby said he had prescribed some drugs to assist with his condition.
He said Mr Ryan was normally very open and forthright about how he was feeling but made no complaint about chest pains.
He said Gerry Ryan had told him was not sleeping, was feeling very stressed, and was quite anxious
Could Charles and Camilla have been better protected?
Could Charles and Camilla have been better protected?
By Victoria King
BBC News
A small group of protesters surrounded the car and threw paint at it
Continue reading the main story
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The image of the Duchess of Cornwall open-mouthed in shock as her car came under attack has already come to define the tuition fees protests.
It has also raised questions about the way the Royal Family are protected and whether the right route and right car were chosen.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were travelling to the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium on Thursday evening.
On Regent Street, their car was surrounded by as many as 20 demonstrators, chanting "Off with their heads" and "Tory scum". One of the windows was smashed and paint was thrown at the vehicle.
Former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe told the BBC the royals' "shiny brown limousine" was "a challenge" the crowd couldn't resist - and once it became a target, escape was very difficult.
"From my own experience, it is a vehicle that is very difficult to manoeuvre in any area, let alone a congested street at Christmas time," he said.
"I do think this was the classic example where the Prince of Wales should have been using his armoured Bentley - it's far less conspicuous.
"It was the sheer conspicuousness of this vehicle in a busy street in the wake of this demonstration that caused the problem."
Armed outriders
The job of keeping the royals safe falls to the Royalty Protection Specialist Operations unit of the Metropolitan Police - or SO14.
The Rolls Royce's windows are toughened but the car itself isn't armoured
This elite group is divided into three sections. The first, Personal and Close Protection, effectively provides bodyguards for the Royal Family, both at home and on overseas trips.
The second, Residential Protection, guards for royal homes in London, Windsor and Scotland.
The third - and the one most in the spotlight now - is the Special Escort Group, which provides protection to the Royal Family when they are on the move.
Key to the SEG are armed motorcyclists who travel as outriders for the VIP convoy and look ahead for trouble - several were on hand on Thursday night.
Other SEG officers were travelling in a Jaguar back-up vehicle behind the royals' car.
All royal protection officers are highly trained and experienced - which perhaps only adds to the questions being asked about what went wrong in this case.
Security analyst and former police officer Charles Shoebridge said: "This is a very serious incident. It ranks amongst the most serious security breaches of the past decade.
"Some of the demonstrators yesterday were carrying petrol, specifically to use in arson attacks. If the can of paint had been a can of petrol, it would have been very different."
Alternative routes
The first decision in planning any potential royal engagement is to consider the risks involved and whether they outweigh the benefits of going ahead.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
One of the principles of protection is to have alternative routes”
Dai Davies
Former head of Royal Protection
In this case, the decision was made that they didn't - in part no doubt because of the importance of the event; the Variety Performance is Royal for a reason.
So assuming the journey had to be made, how could the threats be minimised?
The vehicle used by Prince Charles and his wife was a Rolls Royce Phantom VI - a state limousine designed to show off the royal family to the public at glitzy events like the Royal Variety Performance.
Its windows are toughened but it is by no means built to cope in a riot, so an armoured alternative, as suggested by Ken Wharfe, might have been better.
Then there was the route taken to the venue.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said it had been "recced" - checked out - by SEG officers just a few minutes before the royal car arrived and it was clear.
But he said there was then "an unpredictable movement of some numbers of demonstrators" that led to the problems.
Former head of Royal Protection Dai Davies told the BBC that, although it was true to say that protection was never "an exact science", there were questions to be asked about communication and preparation.
"One of the principles of protection is to have alternative routes - I would expect there to be at least three different routes," he said.
"I'm surprised, and clearly the commissioner is embarrassed and surprised, why there wasn't better coordination... between those in charge of protection and those marshalling and dealing with the riots we saw."
Former assistant Met commissioner Brian Paddick criticised the apparent failure of the SEG outriders to see the trouble coming.
But he pointed out that the attack occurred on Regent Street - a major thoroughfare - and using much narrower side roads instead could actually have been more, not less, dangerous.
Big bill
Royal Protection officers are armed for a reason and can open fire if the situation demands it.
Sir Paul refused to be drawn on whether they were authorised to shoot at the protesters, but insisted officers had shown "enormous restraint and great judgement" in deciding how to react last night.
However, some previous royal security incidents have involved very serious violence.
In 1974, Princess Anne was the target of an attempted kidnap by a mentally ill man when she was driving along The Mall.
Her bodyguard, Jim Beaton, was shot three times but survived.
Despite rare cases like these the Royal Family continue to pride themselves on getting out and about being visible to the public.
But allowing them to do that takes a lot of expensive work by police.
It costs the Met about £50m a year to protect 22 members of the Royal Family but the Met commissioner is currently involved in a dispute with the government over what he says is big shortfall in the amount that it is paying his force to carry out those duties
By Victoria King
BBC News
A small group of protesters surrounded the car and threw paint at it
Continue reading the main story
Related stories
Fee protests to be investigated
Prince William policing bill row
The image of the Duchess of Cornwall open-mouthed in shock as her car came under attack has already come to define the tuition fees protests.
It has also raised questions about the way the Royal Family are protected and whether the right route and right car were chosen.
Prince Charles and the Duchess of Cornwall were travelling to the Royal Variety Performance at the London Palladium on Thursday evening.
On Regent Street, their car was surrounded by as many as 20 demonstrators, chanting "Off with their heads" and "Tory scum". One of the windows was smashed and paint was thrown at the vehicle.
Former royal protection officer Ken Wharfe told the BBC the royals' "shiny brown limousine" was "a challenge" the crowd couldn't resist - and once it became a target, escape was very difficult.
"From my own experience, it is a vehicle that is very difficult to manoeuvre in any area, let alone a congested street at Christmas time," he said.
"I do think this was the classic example where the Prince of Wales should have been using his armoured Bentley - it's far less conspicuous.
"It was the sheer conspicuousness of this vehicle in a busy street in the wake of this demonstration that caused the problem."
Armed outriders
The job of keeping the royals safe falls to the Royalty Protection Specialist Operations unit of the Metropolitan Police - or SO14.
The Rolls Royce's windows are toughened but the car itself isn't armoured
This elite group is divided into three sections. The first, Personal and Close Protection, effectively provides bodyguards for the Royal Family, both at home and on overseas trips.
The second, Residential Protection, guards for royal homes in London, Windsor and Scotland.
The third - and the one most in the spotlight now - is the Special Escort Group, which provides protection to the Royal Family when they are on the move.
Key to the SEG are armed motorcyclists who travel as outriders for the VIP convoy and look ahead for trouble - several were on hand on Thursday night.
Other SEG officers were travelling in a Jaguar back-up vehicle behind the royals' car.
All royal protection officers are highly trained and experienced - which perhaps only adds to the questions being asked about what went wrong in this case.
Security analyst and former police officer Charles Shoebridge said: "This is a very serious incident. It ranks amongst the most serious security breaches of the past decade.
"Some of the demonstrators yesterday were carrying petrol, specifically to use in arson attacks. If the can of paint had been a can of petrol, it would have been very different."
Alternative routes
The first decision in planning any potential royal engagement is to consider the risks involved and whether they outweigh the benefits of going ahead.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
One of the principles of protection is to have alternative routes”
Dai Davies
Former head of Royal Protection
In this case, the decision was made that they didn't - in part no doubt because of the importance of the event; the Variety Performance is Royal for a reason.
So assuming the journey had to be made, how could the threats be minimised?
The vehicle used by Prince Charles and his wife was a Rolls Royce Phantom VI - a state limousine designed to show off the royal family to the public at glitzy events like the Royal Variety Performance.
Its windows are toughened but it is by no means built to cope in a riot, so an armoured alternative, as suggested by Ken Wharfe, might have been better.
Then there was the route taken to the venue.
Met Police Commissioner Sir Paul Stephenson said it had been "recced" - checked out - by SEG officers just a few minutes before the royal car arrived and it was clear.
But he said there was then "an unpredictable movement of some numbers of demonstrators" that led to the problems.
Former head of Royal Protection Dai Davies told the BBC that, although it was true to say that protection was never "an exact science", there were questions to be asked about communication and preparation.
"One of the principles of protection is to have alternative routes - I would expect there to be at least three different routes," he said.
"I'm surprised, and clearly the commissioner is embarrassed and surprised, why there wasn't better coordination... between those in charge of protection and those marshalling and dealing with the riots we saw."
Former assistant Met commissioner Brian Paddick criticised the apparent failure of the SEG outriders to see the trouble coming.
But he pointed out that the attack occurred on Regent Street - a major thoroughfare - and using much narrower side roads instead could actually have been more, not less, dangerous.
Big bill
Royal Protection officers are armed for a reason and can open fire if the situation demands it.
Sir Paul refused to be drawn on whether they were authorised to shoot at the protesters, but insisted officers had shown "enormous restraint and great judgement" in deciding how to react last night.
However, some previous royal security incidents have involved very serious violence.
In 1974, Princess Anne was the target of an attempted kidnap by a mentally ill man when she was driving along The Mall.
Her bodyguard, Jim Beaton, was shot three times but survived.
Despite rare cases like these the Royal Family continue to pride themselves on getting out and about being visible to the public.
But allowing them to do that takes a lot of expensive work by police.
It costs the Met about £50m a year to protect 22 members of the Royal Family but the Met commissioner is currently involved in a dispute with the government over what he says is big shortfall in the amount that it is paying his force to carry out those duties
Thursday, December 09, 2010
People with Disabilities in Ireland Ltd
People with Disabilities in Ireland Ltd
Press Release
Wednesday, 8th December 2010, People with Disabilities in Ireland (PWDI) the representative body of people with disabilities as end users, commenting on the Budget, states that it has in one fell swoop pushed people with disabilities further into the margins of Irish society.
These cuts in Social Welfare rates and services to people with disabilities represent a direct attack on their standard of living.
PWDI would point out that people with disabilities have already been hit in pre budget moves which has seen the imposition of prescription charges,
PWDI would ask the government to look at the term used in providing for these cuts, The Minister stated in his budget speech “In the case of working age rates of payment there will be a reduction of about 4 per cent. “and having looked at this they must realise that persons on long term disability payments, such as Invalidity Pension, are there due to the fact that they are unable to work and probably will not work in future – De facto pensioned out of the workforce and should not be considered as job-seekers or people of working age . Therefore PWDI sees it as a logical concession that persons on these long term disability payments be provided for in the same manner as pensioners i.e. persons of non working age.
No economic reasoning by the Government in including these payments and services to people with disabilities in Budget cuts can disguise the fact that it will cause a drastic reduction in the quality of life of many disabled persons in receipt of Social Welfare payments and those caring for them. Those family members in receipt of a Carers payment have given up work to provide care and attention for a family member and the cut in their payment demeans and fails to recognise the huge contribution they are making which would otherwise have to be met by the state services.
The cut in funding available to the HSE to provide services to people with disabilities will further impact on their standard of living and quality of life.
PWDI are concerned that the overall Budget cuts will diminish the hard fought gains achieved for people with disabilities under the Sectoral Plans and that its overall effect will be to send people with disabilities back to the margins of Irish society.
PWDI intends to adopt a very robust and proactive approach to ensuring the voice of people with disabilities is heard in protesting against these cuts.
Further Information contact:
Mr Morgan Mc Knight, CEO, 0879306814
Mr Malachy Foots, Board Member, PRO 0863220248
Mr James McClean, Acting Chairperson, 0863445075
Press Release
Wednesday, 8th December 2010, People with Disabilities in Ireland (PWDI) the representative body of people with disabilities as end users, commenting on the Budget, states that it has in one fell swoop pushed people with disabilities further into the margins of Irish society.
These cuts in Social Welfare rates and services to people with disabilities represent a direct attack on their standard of living.
PWDI would point out that people with disabilities have already been hit in pre budget moves which has seen the imposition of prescription charges,
PWDI would ask the government to look at the term used in providing for these cuts, The Minister stated in his budget speech “In the case of working age rates of payment there will be a reduction of about 4 per cent. “and having looked at this they must realise that persons on long term disability payments, such as Invalidity Pension, are there due to the fact that they are unable to work and probably will not work in future – De facto pensioned out of the workforce and should not be considered as job-seekers or people of working age . Therefore PWDI sees it as a logical concession that persons on these long term disability payments be provided for in the same manner as pensioners i.e. persons of non working age.
No economic reasoning by the Government in including these payments and services to people with disabilities in Budget cuts can disguise the fact that it will cause a drastic reduction in the quality of life of many disabled persons in receipt of Social Welfare payments and those caring for them. Those family members in receipt of a Carers payment have given up work to provide care and attention for a family member and the cut in their payment demeans and fails to recognise the huge contribution they are making which would otherwise have to be met by the state services.
The cut in funding available to the HSE to provide services to people with disabilities will further impact on their standard of living and quality of life.
PWDI are concerned that the overall Budget cuts will diminish the hard fought gains achieved for people with disabilities under the Sectoral Plans and that its overall effect will be to send people with disabilities back to the margins of Irish society.
PWDI intends to adopt a very robust and proactive approach to ensuring the voice of people with disabilities is heard in protesting against these cuts.
Further Information contact:
Mr Morgan Mc Knight, CEO, 0879306814
Mr Malachy Foots, Board Member, PRO 0863220248
Mr James McClean, Acting Chairperson, 0863445075
Wednesday, December 08, 2010
JAMIE SMYTH, Social Affairs Correspondent
JAMIE SMYTH, Social Affairs Correspondent
CHILDREN, unemployed people, the disabled and carers will feel the brunt of the €873 million cuts to the social welfare budget next year, with an average of a 4.1 per cent reduction in welfare payments.
Pensioners escape any cut to the State pension, though Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív said wealthy pensioners would contribute through new changes made to the tax system.
The hundreds of thousands of people currently on the Live Register will experience an €8 per week cut in their jobseeker’s allowance to €188 per week.
A range of other welfare payments – illness, health and safety, injury, one-parent family, widow’s allowance and disability/blind allowance – will fall by the same amount to a weekly payment worth €188 per week.
Child benefit payments will be reduced by €10 per month for first and second children – to €140 per month, in a cost-saving measure designed to save €149 million for the exchequer.
Payments for a third child will by cut by €20 to €167 per month, while claimants will receive € 177 per month for fourth and subsequent children.
Unlike in previous budgets, the Government did not increase separate targeted schemes – the qualified child increase and family income supplement – to compensate families on low incomes.
Supplementary welfare allowance, which is generally paid to people awaiting a decision on a social welfare claim, will fall by €10 to €186.
Maternity benefit and welfare payments to adoptive parents will fall by €8 to €217.80.
The rate of jobseeker’s allowance or supplementary welfare allowance paid to people aged 18 to 21 will remain unchanged at €100.
For people aged 23 and 24, these benefits will be reduced to €144 in January.
Carer’s benefit will fall to €205 per week, down from €213.
But extra payments for people caring for more than one person have been maintained and carers will continue to get the annual respite grant of €1,700.
Invalidity pension, disablement pension and death benefit pensions paid to people under 66 years of age will face a reduction of €8 following the budget.
The cutbacks in these working-age payments should result in savings worth €397 million for the Department of Social Protection.
Additional savings are targeted from: a shake-up of the rent supplement scheme (€60 million); reducing the number of people signing on the dole (€100 million); energy and communications benefits (€30 million); treatment benefits (€77 million); administrative efficiencies (€11 million); and a range of other measures such as fraud detection (€49 million).
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said welfare rates remained high in Ireland, much higher than in Britain. The average 4.1 per cent reduction in welfare payments meant working-age payments remained slightly above those paid in 2007.
Mr Ó Cuív said the adjustments were necessary as pensioners, carers and unemployed people would face far greater cuts in the future if they weren’t made.
“I’m aware the changes we make will affect the lives of many citizens . . . spending will still be at €20.6 billion in 2011,” he said.
Mr Ó Cuív said the rent supplement scheme, which costs the exchequer about €500 million a year, would be reformed in the new year.
He said this would make tenants who receive the supplement pay an additional €2 per week towards their rents.
The reform would also seek to make it mandatory for rent supplement recipients to move into local authority housing when they are offered it, rather than staying in private rented accommodation.
Mr Ó Cuív said this should save €60 million.
CHILDREN, unemployed people, the disabled and carers will feel the brunt of the €873 million cuts to the social welfare budget next year, with an average of a 4.1 per cent reduction in welfare payments.
Pensioners escape any cut to the State pension, though Minister for Social Protection Éamon Ó Cuív said wealthy pensioners would contribute through new changes made to the tax system.
The hundreds of thousands of people currently on the Live Register will experience an €8 per week cut in their jobseeker’s allowance to €188 per week.
A range of other welfare payments – illness, health and safety, injury, one-parent family, widow’s allowance and disability/blind allowance – will fall by the same amount to a weekly payment worth €188 per week.
Child benefit payments will be reduced by €10 per month for first and second children – to €140 per month, in a cost-saving measure designed to save €149 million for the exchequer.
Payments for a third child will by cut by €20 to €167 per month, while claimants will receive € 177 per month for fourth and subsequent children.
Unlike in previous budgets, the Government did not increase separate targeted schemes – the qualified child increase and family income supplement – to compensate families on low incomes.
Supplementary welfare allowance, which is generally paid to people awaiting a decision on a social welfare claim, will fall by €10 to €186.
Maternity benefit and welfare payments to adoptive parents will fall by €8 to €217.80.
The rate of jobseeker’s allowance or supplementary welfare allowance paid to people aged 18 to 21 will remain unchanged at €100.
For people aged 23 and 24, these benefits will be reduced to €144 in January.
Carer’s benefit will fall to €205 per week, down from €213.
But extra payments for people caring for more than one person have been maintained and carers will continue to get the annual respite grant of €1,700.
Invalidity pension, disablement pension and death benefit pensions paid to people under 66 years of age will face a reduction of €8 following the budget.
The cutbacks in these working-age payments should result in savings worth €397 million for the Department of Social Protection.
Additional savings are targeted from: a shake-up of the rent supplement scheme (€60 million); reducing the number of people signing on the dole (€100 million); energy and communications benefits (€30 million); treatment benefits (€77 million); administrative efficiencies (€11 million); and a range of other measures such as fraud detection (€49 million).
Minister for Finance Brian Lenihan said welfare rates remained high in Ireland, much higher than in Britain. The average 4.1 per cent reduction in welfare payments meant working-age payments remained slightly above those paid in 2007.
Mr Ó Cuív said the adjustments were necessary as pensioners, carers and unemployed people would face far greater cuts in the future if they weren’t made.
“I’m aware the changes we make will affect the lives of many citizens . . . spending will still be at €20.6 billion in 2011,” he said.
Mr Ó Cuív said the rent supplement scheme, which costs the exchequer about €500 million a year, would be reformed in the new year.
He said this would make tenants who receive the supplement pay an additional €2 per week towards their rents.
The reform would also seek to make it mandatory for rent supplement recipients to move into local authority housing when they are offered it, rather than staying in private rented accommodation.
Mr Ó Cuív said this should save €60 million.
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