StatusIreland

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/1222/health.html
The Health Information and Quality Authority issued their National Hygiene Services Quality Review for 2008. This is the second such review of hospital standards in Ireland and this year the HIQA reports that around two thirds of all hospitals reviewed scored well, however “there was wide variation between hospitals.”

8 of the hospitals received a worse hygiene rating than last year but there was a slight overall increase in standards.

Here is the list of hospitals and their rating from the Health Information and Quality Authority for 2008:

ireland Health Information and Quality Authority, HIQA report, Hospital, hygience, National Hygiene Services Quality Review

House prices are continuing to fall as indicated by the latest ESRI/ permanent TSB House Price Index. The chart below illustrates just how much has fallen of the average house in Ireland since prices peaked in 2007.

Expectations of a return to a vibrant market are very hopeful. The property donkey is dead and if we compare our situation to other countries then we can expect a 40%-60% drop in prices. Dublin prices peaked in April ‘07 and have since seen a drop of 16.6%. With a stockpile of empty property, banks not willing to lend, people not willing to buy and a very uncertain future for the economy it is inevitable that property prices will continue to slide.

In the first 10 months of 2008 there were 43,513 property completions. The total for 2007 was 78,027. A signs of the times. 2009 is going to be a tough year for the sector and as a result the country that relied so heavily on it.

Finance, Jobs, Property, ireland esri, house price index, house prices, ireland, Property, property completions

CSO.ie today released their monthly Retail Sales Index report. While the trend is continuing downward as expected it is only when compared to this time last year the impact of this downward trend is more obvious. Here is the chart showing the Retail Sales Index since January 2000:

The volume of sales has decreased by 7.3% since October 2007. The reports for the month of November and December are going to show even further drastic falls with retailers struggling to attract customers during the Christmas season even with pre Christmas sales.

CSO.ie also reported on the number of new dwellings approved for planning permission for the 3rd quarter of 2008. There has been a decrease of 30.9% in the number approved year on year. This figure breaks down to a 40.3% drop in apartments and 27.2% drop in houses.

Property, ireland Christmas, cso.ie, dwellings, planning permission, Retail Sales, statistics

With market stalls offering a wide variety of gifts and other delightful Christmas fun it’s worth taking a trip to the IFSC area of Dublin before the 23rd of December. If you’re not yet in the Christmas spirit then this might help!

http://www.dublindocklands.ie/12daysofchristmas/

fun, ireland Christmas, dublin, George's Dock, IFSC

It was noted back in January of this year that the government were closing their little visited and very useless website reachservices.ie.
The site was approved at a cost of €14,000,000 by a committee on eGovernment. It ended up costing €37,000,000 to build. It then had annual costs of €15,000,000 a year.

The local and European elections on 11 June 2004 should have been the dawn of a €50,000,000 e-Voting system. Instead due to the lack of public confidence on the back of an ICTE submission to the independent Commission on Electronic Voting which said the machines had a technical flaw the machines were shelved. Cost of this shelving is about €2,000,000 per year.

A small glass tuck shop on the grounds of Leinster House on Kildare Street was built between March 2007 and opened in January 2008. The bill for the 40Sq m glass house was €1,280,867.

Today (15 December 2008), it is reported that a senior manager in An Post was awarded a total of €106,000 for his 11 weeks work in 2007. Following a restructuring of An Post some employees who were surplus to requirements i.e. didn’t accept a move elsewhere, were moved to what is known as the “rubber room” or officially the resource centre. Here they had little or no work to do but still qualified for full pay and bonus.

These are of course just some of the many, many examples of waste in the public sector. The idea of reform of any sort in the public sector seems to be the least of the governments priorities. Due to bad management and a lack of willingness we are finding ourselves living in a country which costs €50billion a year to run. €20Billion covers the wages in the public sector alone. There is surely some fat that can be trimmed off and some wiser choices that can be made. There better be because so far this year the government has pulled in only €40billion in taxes and that is why we need to borrow, borrow and borrow some more.

Finance, ireland, technology an Post, Dail, e-voting, eGovernment, Irish government, Leinster house, reachservices.ie, revenue, Rubber room, tuck shop

Banks will be getting an early Christmas present with the news that the government has announced a €10billion recapitalisation programme.
http://www.rte.ie/business/2008/1214/bank.html
The government hopes to make credit more easily available to “individuals and businesses in the real economy. This initiative will help to foster and encourage the flow of funds to the economy, and limit the impact of financial market difficulties on businesses and individuals. “.

The governments decision may receive a mixed reception from the public, shareholders of credit institutions and businesses but it must be seen as a brave and needed move by a government that has been less than decisive in their dealings to date.

The €10billion will be funded through the National Pensions Reserve Fund or otherwise. On September 30th 2008 the outturn of the National Pensions Reserve Fund was -17.3% since January 1st 2008. The monetary value of the fund stands at €18.7bilion.

Finance, ireland banks, economy, financial crisis, national pension reserve, recapitalisation

Great visual guide illustrating the buildup to the US government bailout. Originally from here

Finance bailout, financial crisis, visual guide

Out of the 20 highest ever single-day percentage gains on the Dow Jones two have occured in 2008. The 5th largest percentage gain was on October 13 and the 6th was on October 28, with gains of 11.08 and 10.88 respectively. With the exception of a 10.15% gain in 1988 every other of the highest gains occurred during the great depression.

Out of the 20 highest intraday points swing (difference between day highest and lowest points throughout a day) 16 have occurred in 2008.
Over the past week or so in Ireland there have been plenty of job announcements
[jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs] but even more announcements of redundancies (no links needed).

The association between stock market fluctuations and job fluctuations is risk. Uncertainty in both areas means that some people will take a risk and some will not be willing to take any risks. Governments around the world are trying to sure up banks and industries so that confidence will return and the element of risk will be reduced.

So if you want to know when the recession is over then ask yourself if you would invest in a bank or take a mortgage out for a second home. If the risk is way too high then you’re probably still in a recession.

Finance, Jobs, ireland confidence, jobs in ireland, recession, stock market

The killings of 2 polish men in Drimnagh, back in February 2008, by teenagers was the first major tear to appear in the social fabric of Ireland since the end of the Celtic Tiger. Today it appears that the shooting dead of a 50 year old man in the East Wall area of Dublin by teenagers as young as 13 is further evidence that the problem is growing.

The growing anti-social problems are not just confined to Dublin but attention is surely going to focus on the black spots of the city, of which there are many.

If we as a nation are ever to address this problem then this is the best time to start. As the economy contracts, jobs are lost and people are more willing to act tough and are more likely to support stern government actions. These actions, however, must not be to simply follow other countries such as the UK and allow the government to look as if they are doing something. The long process must begin by looking at our own country first and seeing what model best suits us.

Society is always driven by the majority and the majority of Irish people are strong and morally grounded, it is our unique strength that separates us from other countries, this is the strength we must draw on in order to preserve our society.

ireland anti-social, crime, dublin, government, ireland, murder, teenagers

For anyone out there interested in art there is an excellent exhibition of Finnish paintings currently running at the National Gallery:

http://www.nationalgallery.ie/html/exhibitions.html

It’s about €7 to enter the exhibition but worth every penny. Exhibition runs until February 1st 2009.

Art, fun, ireland Art, dublin, exhibition, finland, ireland, national gallery, painting