Dublin Fire Brigade to charge for attending road traffic accidents, as local authorities struggle to make ends meet

Dublin Fire Service

Dublin city's fire service is reportedly planning to levy a €610 fee for road traffic accident call-outs as local councils turn to charging for emergency services in another bid to boost ever-ailing revenues.

The proposals, reported in both today's Irish Times and Belfast Telegraph would encompass more than just fire service accident assistance costs: an equal charge of €610 would also accrue for having to attend chimney fires, while domestic fires would be relatively cheaper, at just €500.

Although a number of local authorities already institute such measures on a limited scale, this would the first time in recent history that the measures are introduced to the capital, by far Ireland's biggest population center.

A levy of 1.5% of household insurance costs already goes towards helping the fire service recoup its costs in tending the nation's fires.
-------------------
READ MORE:
More news from Ireland on IrishCentral

‘Suffering of Irish people outrageous’ says NY Times Paul Krugman

Disturbing teenage sex trends blamed on 'over sexualization' of young girls

-------------------
One commenter to the Belfast Telegraph had this to say on the article:

"I just had to check the date there for a second, I thought this was some sort of sick April's Fools Day joke, surely this is not true?".

Dublin Central TD Maureen O’Sullivan said that measures should be directed instead at tackling nuisance calls to the fire service, rather than penalizing legitimate ones.

And Firefighers themselves have already expressed their opposition to the proposals.

Firefighting members of SIPTU (the Services Industrial Professional and Technical Union) said that charging househoulders for fire service calls would dis-incentivize them from doing so -- encouraging a dangerous reluctance to dial emergency services in the event of a real fire, or to resort to attempting to deal with the fire themselves in order to avoid incurring the charge.

“Fire-fighters across the country already experience a situation where elderly people in particular will attempt to deal with a house or chimney fire themselves rather than face a possible charge for calling the fire-service.

“We are calling on the members of Dublin City Council to reject any proposal from the management to introduce such charges,” sector organiser Owen Rediy told InsideIrealand.ie.

GPS, postcodes, continue to post a problem

And firefighters are struggling in more ways than one.

A recent report on news aggregation site TheJournal.ie shows that firefighters are struggling to find addresses during emergencies because the government has yet to introduce nationwide postcodes -- and (somewhat amazingly) their vehicles aren't yet fitted out with GPS.

"There could be a town land three or four miles in radius. You’d know that you’re within half a mile of the address, but that’s all. It’s an emergency call, so you want to be there as quickly as you can. A minute or two could make all the difference," a fire representative told the website.

The Health Service Executive said that it recognized that the fire services were having an issue with finding rural addresses during emergencies.

The tendering process for introducing a national system of postcodes was begun earlier this year.

Besides addresses in the Dublin metropolitan area, Ireland does not have postcodes.
-------------------
READ MORE:
More news from Ireland on IrishCentral

‘Suffering of Irish people outrageous’ says NY Times Paul Krugman

Disturbing teenage sex trends blamed on 'over sexualization' of young girls

-------------------

Publicans call for ten percent cut on liquor tax as pub trade continues to flounder

Maybe this is what's need to
revitalize Ireland's pub industry!

Irish publicans are calling on the government to reduce liquor taxes by 10pc in the upcoming Budget as what is arguably Ireland’s most iconic industry, the pub trade, continues to flounder.

Widespread cheap liquor-store drink and a shift in consumer spending from on-trade to off-trade liquor sales has taken a deadly toll on the publicans: the Drinks Industry Group of Ireland (Digi) said that the sector would be facing ‘meltdown’ unless some sort of governmental tax relief scheme is offered.

The call comes after news was leaked showing that Finance Minister Micheal Noonan would be seeking a 2pc increase in Ireland’s top VAT rate - from 21pc to 23pc - to help fast-track the economic recovery (at least according to him).

-------------------
READ MORE:
More Irish business news from IrishCentral

Marriage of two former Death Row inmates, one Irish, one American

Thanksgiving Baileys Irish Cream pumpkin pie recipe
-------------------

The news would obviously result in a further increase in the price of already expensive on-trade drink, and chief executive of the Licensed Vintners Association Donall O'Keeffe said that without any ‘offsetting measure’ to offer a counterweight, the hike could be too much for some publicans to bear:

"This will inevitably lead to price increases and will act as a major disincentive to consumers to socialise and spend money in the hospitality sector," he told the Belfast Telegraph.

"It will exacerbate the severe difficulties being experienced by the on-trade in particular."

Sales at bars have dropped by almost a third in the past four years, according to the Telegraph  , while off-licence trade (liquor stores) have also recorded a drop in intakes, but not to the same extent. O'Keeffe told the paper that almost 38,000 jobs had been lost as a result of the declined spending.



Personally, I strongly agree with the publicans on this one.

Besides the jobs aspect, which can hardly be understated, there’s a social dimension to the situation too.

Alcohol Ireland as well as some politicians, are currently clamoring for minimum alcohol prices for Ireland, as are seen in some other parts of the world, as a way of curbing alcohol-fueled anti-social behavior, which has become rampant in some parts of Ireland.

Along with many others, I don’t like their proposal for a few reasons.

Primarily, I believe that if someone is stupid enough to overindulge on cheap alcohol - to the point that he/she is liable to cause others, or even themselves, damage - that’s their fault - why should others be prevented from availing of decent value beer/wine/etc if that’s what’s on offer?

Besides, by foreign standards, Ireland’s on-trade liquor prices are not that fantastically good value to begin with, perhaps with the exception of vodka, which can often be purchased for just €4 (~ $5.80) for 200ml. Combined with the high cost of living here, it seems like a crude punishing stick designed to deprive most of the population of one of the few reasonably priced items here for the stupid actions of a few.

Perhaps a more egalitarian approach would be to tackle the problem at its root: young people are drinking in more, and frequenting the pub less, because the differential between the price of a pint and that of a price of a can of beer is so glaringly obvious: €5 versus €1-€2.

As any former J1er will also immediately notice after returning from a summer in the States, Irish pubs do not seem to believe in offering deals of any sort to attract the masses.

Happy hours, TGIF deals, or any means of bringing the price of alcohol down in line with students’ budgets are very infrequently used tools in publicans’ promotional arsenal here.

Once the price of a pint falls below €4, it’s considered relatively cheap, which is shocking compared to what’s considered value in some parts of the world.

I’m not advocating reckless pub drinking, but pricing young people and students out of all but a few wallet-friendly pubs is simply asking for them to over-indulge at home, and compromising the quality of our cities’ nightlife for everyone.

The fault isn’t with the publicans, though, but with the government: excise on pints is deducted at 15.71 per hectolitre per cent of alcohol, before VAT and brewery costs are passed on.

The result is becoming increasingly obvious.
-------------------
READ MORE:
More Irish business news from IrishCentral


Marriage of two former Death Row inmates, one Irish, one American


Thanksgiving Baileys Irish Cream pumpkin pie recipe

Cork councillor to propose rebel passport

Laura McGonigle

A Fine Gael Councillor is tonight expected to propose the introduction of a passport especially for Cork before a sitting of Cork City Council.

The surprise idea, being commandeered by Fine Gael Councillor Laura McGonigle is a sort of Rebel City take on the recently introduced Irish heritage certificates, a sort of Government-endorsed money racket whereby patriotic members of the Irish diaspora can (for just €15) get their very own 'Certificate of Irish Heritage' for all that that's worth (precious little).

The Heritage Certificate website (heritagecertificate.ie) is a remarkable example of just how low a government will stoop in the middle of an economic crisis in order to fleece starry eyed emigreés of their hard earned cash.

The site bears perfect resemblance to more legitimate governmental web portals such as the official passports website.

Users are taken to an applications sub-domain where they can follow the bizarre process through to its ridiculous end.

From naming their 'ancestor', choosing whether to have the cert framed or not, to having the useless piece of paper dispatched to their address a few thousand miles from the Emerald Isle, users can configure their heritage cert. as they see fit.

When finished it even comes replete with a signature from the Minister for Foreign Affairs to add another stamp of governmental veneer to the whole process.

It now seems as if the ever enterprising McGonigle, a local Fine Gael Councillor, is hoping Cork can jump on the bandwagon by importing the idea to the Rebel City in order to pump some money back into cash-bereft local authorities.

Fortunately, it seems as if the smart people of Cork will not be such an easy sell as their overseas brethren.

Reaction, both on the internet and anecdotally through friends, has been scathingly negative on the nutty proposal.

In fairness, McGonigle couldn't have really chosen a more transparent headline when she flatly intoned on her blog, announcing the idea, "Cork passport to be introduced. New source of revenue."

McGonigle's sale pitch is a sort of desperate appeal to Corkonians' widely-known attachment to the Banks of the Lee:

"Corkonians’ unique attachment and devotion to their county is known country and world wide," the Councillor states.

"The Certificate of Irish Heritage is a great initiative, and creates great value and a bond with our people wherever they live, but why not take this further with a Cork Heritage cert or “Cork passport”."

Although born in Dublin, I've called Cork home for longer than I can remember, and although I may love my Barry's Tea and Beamish, I'm certainly not forking out money on a useless piece of paper to prove my Cork 'heritage'.

This comment, from an article on TheJournal.ie, is just about typical of the sort of reaction the 'idea' has had so far: "And cork people wonder why they’re not liked in other parts of the country.Their misguided sense of superiority can be topped off with their own passport, maybe they could have their own currency while they’re at it".

Not that I agree that Cork people are not liked in other parts of the country, but an idea like this does beggar belief about what sort of world our local elected representatives in City Hall are living in.

What value would owing such a document have? Should 'certificates of heritage' be made available for all the 26 counties of the Republic? How about border control, or currencies as the commenter form TheJournal suggested! If all such measures were to be implemented, it would be a sort of modern reversion to the days of feudalism.

The idea of course is laughable, but even more laughable that it's seriously being proposed before the local assembly.

Local authorities are definitely in need of extra cash (the man sized potholes still found dotted along  the city's roads bear testament to that fact), but trying to swindle cash strapped residents into buying a 'Cork heritage' passport is pushing McGonigle's credibility to a strech to say the least.

The motion “That Cork City Council would introduce a ‘Certificate of Corkness’ or a ‘Cork Passport’, issued similarly to the ‘Certificate of Irish Heritage’ scheme introduced by Central Government earlier this year.," is due to be voted on before Cork City Council this evening. I'll let you know the result.

Irish students brace for fees bonanza - Student Union prepares protest march

USI leader Gary Redmond

Irish students are bracing for a fees bonanza in the next Budget, as the national students' union prepares a major protest march to show students' disgust at the possibility of further fee hikes.

The protest is being spear-headed by the Union of Students in Ireland (USI), and recently won the support of the students union at Trinity, a major boost for the campaign.

Students are disappointed that key education players such as Minister for Education and Skills back-tracked on a pre-election pledge not to raise fees should they accede to power.

Quinn, himself a former students' union leader, announced at a key policy address earlier this year that the current fees' situation was untenable -- a position which he has maintained adamantly since.

---------------------
READ MORE:
More news stories from Ireland on IrishCentral

Irish lives could be saved - if we eat like the English

Ryanair cabin crew strip off for annual charity calendar - PHOTOS & VIDEO
---------------------

What's untenable for the Department of Finance, however, may prove to be equally so for a large swathe of the student population.

Students unions warn that Irish students are on the brink of not being able to afford a college education, and if the fees hike comes to be as much as is feared (talk of €5,000 has been on the cards for a few weeks), then many students will undoubtedly be unable to afford college next term.

Perhaps un-coincidentally, as Irish Central recently reported thousands of young Irish women are gaining a foot-hold in the sugar-daddying business, many of them students, who are faced with no alternative but to resort to practical prostitution in order to fund their way through college.

The considerable surge of young women joining popular sugar-daddying web locales has even caught the interest of the websites' US bosses, with many tying the meteoric rise in subscriptions from Irish customers with the country's economic demise.

Whether the rise or threatened rise of fees is really forcing Irish students into sugar-daddying or not is debatable, but the fact that it may well be the case is a worrying indication of just how hard any rise in fees is going to be on Irish students.

It may all seem a bit spoiled to American readers used to having to fork out tens of thousands of dollars on getting their kids through college, but for Irish parents more used to planning for Ryanair-style on-the-cheap degrees, any move upwards of the current fees level is going to put a massive strain on their already limited resources.

College has already become more expensive in the last year, and with the economic situation showing little signs of improvement it's just going to get harder and harder for both students and parents alike.

Cuts to the non-adjacent maintenance grant have made college a lot more expensive for many living further from home, while other cuts have created a strain on colleges' own financial resources.

And although the journalist who first circulated the horrible sounding figure of €5,000, Kim Bielenberg, since admitted that the figure was only "hypothetical", if it is indeed the figure that's on the cards it would be very hard on students.

If that level of fees is on the card later this year there may be no telling what's next.
---------------------
READ MORE:
More news stories from Ireland on IrishCentral

Irish lives could be saved - if we eat like the English

Ryanair cabin crew strip off for annual charity calendar - PHOTOS & VIDEO
---------------------