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GOOD MORNING. Here’s all the news you need to know as you start your day.
The Budget
1. Budget negotiations will come down to the wire this weekend, as the final few Government departments work to agree their spending levels for the year ahead.
As of Wednesday, only five departments had agreed their budgets, with more getting sign-off in the run up to the weekend.
Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien has said it will be Monday before his department budget is agreed. It is understood that Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys is working to ensure the roll out of the new pay-related-benefit scheme forms part of next week’s budget announcement.
Flight paths
2. A disagreement has emerged between Housing Minister Darragh O’Brien, Dublin Airport and Ryanair as the minister expressed his view that planes coming and going from Dublin Airport have been flying outside of agreed flight paths.
Both Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) and Ryanair have said this is not the case.
Since the opening of Dublin Airport’s North Runway last year, residents who unexpectedly found themselves under the flight path have been calling on the government to intervene and force the routes to be changed.
Limerick
3. Gardaí are investigating “all the circumstances” surrounding the discovery of a man’s body in a Limerick car park.
The body of the man, aged in his 40s, was discovered in Steamboat Quay Car Park, Limerick.
It is understood that he may have suffered head injuries.
Deforestation
4. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon fell by 59% in September compared to the same month last year, official data showed, confirming a positive trend that began after President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva returned to power this year.
However, it hit new highs in the tropical savannah region known as the Cerrado, south of the Amazon, which has been hit by incursions from farming companies.
Some 590 square kilometres were deforested last month in the Brazilian part of the world’s largest tropical forest, compared to around 1,454 square kilometers in September 2022, according to satellite data collected by the National Institute for Space Research.
Garda dispute
5. “Substantial” progress was made in talks between garda representative bodies and Commissioner Drew Harris yesterday in the ongoing roster dispute.
The Garda Representative Association (GRA) has deferred their days of industrial action, including on Budget Day, which has been welcomed by Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
Sources said that tensions have been eased and talks are continuing but that a possible agreement, if finally accepted by GRA officials, would see the Commissioner’s proposed roster be altered.
State secrets
6. Former US President Donald Trump denied reports in US media yesterday that he had shared US nuclear submarine secrets with an Australian businessman in a meeting at his Florida mansion shortly after leaving office.
The New York Times, citing unnamed sources, identified the entrepreneur as billionaire Anthony Pratt, who heads one of the world’s largest packaging companies.
ABC News, which first revealed the story, said Pratt later shared sensitive details about the US submarines with “scores of others, including more than a dozen foreign officials, several of his own employees, and a handful of journalists.”
Sources told the Times that Trump’s disclosures “potentially endangered the US nuclear fleet.”
Surplus
7. With days to go until Budget 2024, new figures have shown that the surplus in public finances this year will be €9.62 billion.
The Department of Finance’s annual White Paper, published ahead of the budget every year, shows that Ireland’s finances remain in good health, despite being below projections made earlier this year.
Looking ahead to next year, the surplus is projected to reach €12.535 billion. According to the paper, corporation tax receipts are expected to come in at €23.5 billion for this year, compared to an expected €24.3 billion.
Ozempic
8. Health authorities’ guidance to pharmacists to prioritise patients with diabetes when dispensing Ozempic is causing “huge distress and anxiety” to people with obesity who have been prescribed it for weight loss, a doctor has warned.
The drug, which is effective in regulating blood sugar and insulin for diabetics and in suppresing appetite for people with diabetes, is in very short supply in Ireland and internationally.
Professor Francis Finucane, who leads the obesity clinic at Galway University Hospital, told The Journal the problem was “worse than [he] envisioned in May”, when doctors and pharmacists were first instructed by regulators that using Ozempic for weight management was placing its availability for people with diabetes at risk.
Bedbugs
9. France has been forced to shut seven schools over growing concerns over an infestation of bedbugs, Education Minister Gabriel Attal said today.
“Bedbugs were detected at various levels in… I believe 17 institutions, and currently as I speak to you, seven institutions are closed for this reason,” Attal told France 5 television.
The French government has held a series of meetings this week to examine surging numbers of reported bedbug cases at a time when France is hosting the Rugby World Cup and preparing to host the Paris 2024 Olympics.
“We have almost 60,000 institutions and we’re only talking about a few dozen here, but it’s true that cases are piling up,” Attal said. “An immediate response is needed, so that we can have institutions treated within 24 hours.”
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We need universal healthcare not go fund me campaigns
We do have universal health care..It’s called central taxes.. What you want is double or triple taxation to pay for a health system that doesn’t work
The extra taxes (Universal Social Charge) socialised the banks not health and housing. We should keep USC now we have and use it to move towards universal health care.
There is plenty of money going into the HSE. The problem is with the way it is squandered. The whole system needs to lose the deadwood and compulsory redundancies for useless pen pushers in the system.
It costs 75 euro a night to stay in hospital as a public patient up to a max of 750 a year. Also he is self employed so obviously cant work if he is recovering from open heart surgery and wouldn’t be entitled to illness benefit as a self employed person I don’t think. Hope he makes a speedy recovery.
Really? I didn’t know that. Wow. So I’m now wondering what the health levy piece of my Prsi goes to, if I’ve to pay for a public hospital stay?
Are you serious? Any deductions on your payslip goes straight into a deep dark hole called the exchequer….paye, usc, prsi. The prsi bit is required so you have access to social welfare if you go unemployed your PRSI stamps pay your dole, allows you a state pension etc it does fcuk all else that’s why they want you taking out health insurance to cover hospital stays etc
And if you struggle to pay the bill,
They send debt collectors to get it!
Working is a real joke in Ireland!
kicked and punched all the way by the state,
Whilst the lazy and super rich are Molly coddled
@ Ciaran. Wikipedia says “If a person cannot afford to pay hospital charges, the HSE will provide the services free of charge.” Can’t find that anywhere legit , yet…
If he is a private patient he will have to pay between 660 – 1000 (determined by which hospital and what type of room) plus any private consultants fees. As we know, what he may have to pay, depends on the insurance package. Get saving for that rainy day people!
that’s for each night!
You could work for 25 or 30 years here, paying full PRSI, be made redundant, and all you are entitled to is €188 per week for 9 months. Why is it called “pay related”? It plainly is NOT!
That’s rubbish,
I tried that!
They asked what I and my wife earned!
Didn’t take into fact a mortgage and bills!
Was told I had to pay it!
When the in circa 1975 DSP changed from a stamp on a card for Social Welfare Benefits to PAY RELATED SOCIAL INSURANCE we were to by the then minister the we would receive social welfare benefits based on our earnings. I was made redundant in 1980 and received initially 90% of my pre redundancy pay on a sliding scale as unemployment benefit. Like all paye workers we believed after the PAYE marches this new PRSI benefit was offered to compensate us for massive pay deductions at source. Needless to say that promise was like all benefits we pay for it was short lived in reality.DSP minister reverted to type in circa the mid 80′s. Now we have USC etc and we still pay through the nose for medical care if we can afford private health insurance. The more things change the more that they say the same.
Why isnt he covered by the public health system?
My stay in the public health system and follow up visits cost me well over a thousand euro. (Mainly day rates for the hospital and prescriptions). Although when I looked afterwards at private health insurance all but the most expensive plans I would have paid more in excess fees.
I’d say it’s not just the costs of healthcare, it says in the article that he is self-employed so presumably while he’s not working he’s not earning.
Because he was self employed. In that case he should have organised sufficient health and other insurances himself.
Johannes you insensitive fool, being self employed is the most unpredictable way of working some months you may not have any work when you are competing against people doing nixers and working for just pocket money ,
I thought once you were brought in by Ambulance all costs are waived or you only pay for one night.. Even if you go to A&E and you’re admitted to hospital through that you’re only charged the initial €100.. I think what’s going on here is the lad is self employed and won’t be earning while he’s getting better and his other bills are adding up..
No Cosmo
The first question your asked in A&E is what cover you have and while you’ll receive full care they allocate your accommodation according to the cover you have.
Unless you have a medical card or are covered by insurance your liable for all fees including your A&E bill.
It doesn’t matter what cover you have in an emergency everybody is given the same care regardless..
That’s what I said.
Regardless of all that they still ask about your cover.
Your accommodation is allocated according to that.
The only people exempt of any payment are medical card holders.
Coming in by ambulance makes no difference and in fact you may be charged for the ambulance if it wasn’t called to a road traffic accident.
When your self employed, your screwed when it comes to health, social welfare and most things, the government treats you like dirt.
@hugh sure – he’s not being insensitive, if you are not covered under public health insurance you should ensure you are covered under private – and if you are working for yourself, is it not a choice? bloody clown
Moral of the story, its not worth becoming self employed unless your a CEO of big company.
No. If you’re self employed you should arrange appropriate insurance to cover you and your family.
Just checked and it looks like they have reached the goal of €8,000 already
A basic private health insurance package i.e. €600 pa, would not cover you in any of the private hospitals. Nor would it cover specialised cardiac care.
€600 a year would easily provide critical illness cover though. The loss of income is the issue for self employed people.
You cannot get it if you have a pre existing illness, i tried to get it and no one would cover me even after being cancer free for 15 years
@hugh sure – again you are clueless, for health insurance policies taken out since May 2015, the max waiting period for pre-existing illness is 5 years. Any waiting period for a pre-existing condition may switch from one Irish insurer to another. If the switch takes place within 13 weeks, the completed waiting periods will not have to be served again.
Even with a €750 maximum, a minimum wage worker would also struggle. The loss of pay alone is a crisis.
I can’t believe what I’m reading. Sorry what country is this again. Cos the EU really looks after its citizens..
What’s it got to do with the EU?
Glad they reached their target and he’s ok. Just for clarity the article should not say “medical bills” as these are covered by the state- the 750 is nothing compared to his actual costs if these had had to be paid. And “universal health insurance” would have made no difference in this case- I’ve read the policy document. Presume the main bill is the money’s lost through being self employed and not being able to work
Self employed and no income protection,duh and double duh.And now expects generosity of others to bail him out. Get real!
Thank fcuk you’re one of a kind george.
Im not one of a kind. Just one who is pissed off picking up the tab for others who can’t be bothered.
George has a point though. When I started out in my own business one of the first thigs I was told to do was to take out critical illness cover, to at least cover your income for a year or two if something like this happens.
Tommy Wonder will they appoint a C E O to manage the fund l know the Irish are the most generous people on earth But this takes the Biscuit
I agree with George and Reg, it’s essential to have private health insurance and critical illness cover. It was the one thing we made sure of when we began our own business, it was especially tough during the recession but just as well we did, otherwise when my husband had his heart attack and subsequent intensive care we would have been facing a bill of over 3000€.
Moral of the story is …. everyone should know CPR
My dad had a heart attack had 3 stents spent 10 days in hospital still out of work he’s the only bread winner in the house. Shall I start a fund for him too
Yes
Event in question is a for profit event, run by a commercial event company who organise many such events. Would they not have insurance the bloke can claim against?
Kudos to the people first responding to the incident. I hope the victim makes a full recovery. I refer to the gentleman as a ‘victim’ because he has been failed by corruption and incompetence. This does this not surprise me, when we had ‘health minister’ Varadkar touting for business on behalf of private health insurance companies because the state had neglected it’s duty of care to it’s people ie. you can’t afford to be sick in Ireland without private health insurance. The money deducted from your pay goes to fund the over managed top heavy echelons of the HSE. If you don’t have private insurance, you end up getting the HSE’s ‘Third World Plan’, numerous days suffering on a trolley in a bustling corridor waiting to be seen by exhausted Doctors and overworked Nurses
If you are self-employed, you may be entitled to Jobseeker’s Allowance depending on your earnings from your business. You do not need to close your business or stop working as self-employed for you to get Jobseeker’s Allowance. You will get Jobseeker’s Allowance if your income is below a certain level. (See Citizens Information website ). There’s also a supplementary payment option.
You won’t get JSA if you’re ill and unable for employment.
As a fellow runner ill donate!!
We all still have to pay our own even if we can’t afford why shouldn’t he.
Every self employed persons nightmare , a disgrace , you pay just as much tax , prsi , usc etc and get nothing back for it , really hope Dave gets the support he needs and I’ll be donating.
He should or a member of his family should speak to their local welfare officer, he may be provided with financial assistance
The go fund me page was set up so his friends and family could help. All of whom who did were happy to do so. Jeez people, relax, no one is knocking on your door looking for your couch pennies to help out a stranger. Don’t want to donate, guess what? You don’t have to!
I’m confused. Is he self-employed or is he a student? It says in the article that his sister says they want him to be able to resume his counselling and psychotherapy training come October?? If he is a student surely he’s entitled to treatment under the public health system??
Is the sisters name Angela Kearns?
Im genuinely glad this gentleman is going to be ok, really I am – however, there have been others who have not been so lucky. As a seasoned runner myself, I would like to see the introduction of a medical clearance letter for all runners of 1/2 marathon and over. In France they made it mandatory for the Paris marathon. While I know this would not prevent all health risks it might save a few people.
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