Tag: news

  • 67 people have died in Irish prisons since 2010

    67 people have died in Irish prisons since 2010

    There have been 67 deaths in Irish prisons between 2010 and 2017 according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act 2014.

    A high of 14 people died in 2015 while 2012 and 2016 saw the lowest figure since the turn of the decade with just five fatalities. Last year nine inmates died, which was an increase on the previous year.

    In 2010, a total of eleven people died which then dropped by five the following year. Nine people died in 2013.

    Prisonstat

    The most common form of death was misadventure, with sixteen deaths categorised in that way.

    Fourteen people died from natural causes, while the same amount of people died from suicide. A high of three people took their own lives 2013, while a record four died from natural causes in 2015.

    There was one confirmed unlawful killing in 2015, while there are ongoing inquests in relation to twelve incidents since 2010. There are seven active inquests from last year, while two inquests from 2013 are still ongoing.

  • Bus Éireann’s five most complained about routes

    Bus Éireann’s five most complained about routes

    Complaints made by Bus Éireann passengers nationwide are growing, according to figures obtained by TheCity.ie through Freedom of Information.

    Since the beginning of 2015, 1,268 complaints have been filed to the National Transport Authority by passengers about the bus service. These figures are rising by the year, too. There were 206 complaints made by passengers in 2015, which would rise to 273 complaints made in 2016.

    Complaint figures then skyrocketed nationwide in 2017 up to 458, in a year that saw Bus Éireann drivers go on strike for a three week period at the end of March into April.

    As of November 2018, 331 complaints have been made about the service so far this year, a significant increase on the number of complaints made in the years 2015 and 2016. However, it is unlikely to exceed the 458 complaint figure of 2017, which were inflated by the strike.

    Number of complaints per year


    So, what bus routes are the primary offenders over the last four years? The top five most complained about are all commuter buses to or from Dublin.

    The 133 service, which serves south County Wicklow, has the fifth highest number of complaints made, with 54 complaints being made about that bus service since the beginning of 2015. The highest number of complaints made in a year about the ‘133’ was 23 in 2017, with 10 being made this year, which has already exceeded the 9 complaints made in 2016 and has a chance of beating the 12 made in 2015. Complaints made by passengers of this route mostly consist of the service being unreliable.

    The 111 service, which runs from Athboy, Co. Meath to Dublin, comes in fourth place in the number of complaints made, with 72 complaints being filed to the NTA since 2015. However, this year the service appears to be running a lot more smoothly, with only two complaints made in 2018, compared to the high of 30 made in 2017 and 29 in 2016.

    The 109/109A/109x services, running from Kells, Co. Meath and Cavan Town comes next, with 73 complaints made since 2015, just one more than the ‘111’ Athboy route has received. There were only 11 complaints made about the service in total between 2015 and 2016, before a massive 52 complaints occurred in 2017. The majority of these complaints were regarding changes made to the service, but a good deal of them consisted of passengers complaining about the service being generally unreliable. The number of complaints in 2018 have fallen significantly to 10 so far this year, but this number still comfortably exceeds the 2015 and 2016 numbers.

    Now to the second highest total of complaints, which have been made about the ‘132’ bus route which runs from Dublin down to Bunclody in Co. Wexford. A huge 118 complaints have been made by passengers of this route since 2015, with the lowest figure for any of these four years being 22 in 2015. The highest number of complaints were made in 2017, with 42, an increase of 16 from 2016’s 26 complaints. So far, 28 complaints have been made about the ‘132’ route in 2018 and that number is expected to rise over the last month of the year. Practically all of the complaints made by passengers of this route surround the buses’ apparently being, “sub-standard”, which features heavily in all four years of data.

    Finally, the bus route(s) that holds the unfortunate honour of having the most complaints made about it in the the last four years, are the 103/103X, which serves Tayto Park and Fairyhouse from Dublin. There have been 124 complaints made in the last four years regarding the 103 services, with a whopping 67 of them occurring in 2016. The majority of the complaints that year were made in response to changes to that route by Bus Éireann. The following year saw 30 complaints to the NTA, with 19 made so far this year, both of these figures considerably higher than the mere eight that were made in 2015. Complaints made in the past two years have varied from buses being late to not showing up at all, with the reliability of the ‘103’ services being questioned.

    Top five most complaints


    The complaints filed by Bus Éireann passengers to the National Transport Authority are unfortunately not a true reflection of the service, as they do not include complaints made by passengers directly to Bus Éireann. However, it is still clear from the log of complaints seen by TheCity that Bus Éireann has reliability issues on multiple services and in the case of the ‘132’ route, some passengers believe buses are not up to standard.

  • A losing battle? Legal broadcasting versus illegal streaming

    A losing battle? Legal broadcasting versus illegal streaming

    The advances made in recent web-based technology is quite remarkable, with almost everything you could possibly desire available to you on your smartphone, laptop or any other device.

    As a football enthusiast, I still remember the frustration of my favourite football team not having their game broadcast on live TV, and instead having to check for any score updates using ‘Teletext’. Although I was grateful for this technology at the time, I can’t honestly say it’s something I miss using.

    Luckily, I was probably among the last generation who would have to resort to such ‘caveman’ technology.

    Today, you are only ever a few gentle thumb-presses on a screen away from viewing almost anything you want online. Twitter, one of the internet’s biggest successes at the moment, has even recently teamed up with Periscope, a live-streaming application which streams directly from the device of its users, so that they can broadcast anything to any number of people.

    There is no doubt that these two online ‘giants’ teaming up is great for us, as we are getting visual news and insights that we may previously have been starved of, and we are getting these insights almost as soon as they happen; quicker than ever before.

    However, as with almost all things good on the internet, there are many ways in which these live streams can be exploited in a way that breaks the law, and in turn, takes viewers away from legitimate broadcasts. This is something that is regularly happening in the English Premier League.

    In a survey completed by the UK-based sports industry (SIG) it was revealed that 54% of those aged between 18 and 24 years admitted to using illegal sports streams in order to watch their favourite team.  A third of this group also admitted that they use illegal streaming for football regularly.

    With only 4 percent of over 35s admitting to using online streaming to view football matches, it is hardly a surprise that the age group (which is almost three times more likely to be unemployed than the UK’s national average) is evidently far less likely to pay subscription fees for sports. Such subscriptions with Sky Sports and BT can cost up to €69.50 per month for a basic sports package. It is also the same age group that’s more likely to have the requisite skills in modern technology to comfortably bypass any TV subscription to watch whatever they desire.

    In 2017, Sky Sports released their viewing figures which revealed they were down a staggering 25 percent since 2010. Their flagship ‘Super Sunday’ had also seen a huge decrease in viewing, with the afternoon kick-offs averaging 1.1 million views in 2017/18 season compared to 1.7 million in 2011/12.

    SteStat1

    Denial

    Both Sky Sports and BT repeatedly decline to admit that this downfall in viewing figures was caused by illegal streaming. Instead, they pointed at other major events that occurred in particular years and claimed that regular viewers may have had other interests.

    However, in November 2017, BBC Radio 5 Live Daily surveyed 1,000 Premier League fans which again proved that illegal streaming was becoming more and more popular.

    According to the poll, “Nearly half of fans say they have streamed a match online through an unofficial provider – just over a third do so at least once a month and about one in five at least once a week.”

    The Main Reasons:

    • Other family member/friend is streaming and they just watched
    • The quality of streaming was of high quality
    • Sports packages were not viewed as good value for money
    • Fans ‘not knowing’ it was illegal to stream

    Following this report by BBC 5 Live, research company ComRes then proceeded to do a survey of 1,000 adults who reported to being regular viewers of all Premier League football.

    What were the survey’s results?

    • 34 percent of supporters said they streamed live Premier League matches online through an unofficial provider at least once a month, and 21 percent at least once a week.
    • 45 percent of these fans had illegally streamed a match using an illegal provider at least once.
    • Younger fans (aged 18-34) are considerably more likely than their older counterparts to say they stream live football matches online through an unofficial provider – 65 percent do so at least once a month compared to 33 percent of 35-54 year olds and 13 percent of those aged 55+.
    • Of those fans who stream matches illegally, the most popular reasons are because a friend/family member does it and they just watch (29%); because the quality of online streaming is good (25%) and because sports TV packages are not good value for money (24%).
    • 12 per cent of Premier League fans think it is legal to stream games online (not through an official provider), while 34 percent think it is always illegal and 32 percent don’t know; 4 percent believe it is not breaking the law but Sky or BT could fine you if they find out, 7 percent think it is sometimes illegal, and 10 percent believe it is legal to watch but illegal to upload a stream.

    SteStat2

    Since these surveys, both Sky and BT have begun a legal battle against all illegal streams which broadcast their footage to viewers who do not pay for the content.

    Matthew Hibbert, head of litigation at Sky UK has said that the Sky company have become successful in cutting off all illegal streams thanks to a recent court ruling granting them greater power to go after server providers and shut down illegitimate providers.

    Hibbert now claims that “live streams of the premier league can no longer be easily found in the UK.”

    In 2018, the High Court issued a “blocking order” which will force internet providers to cut streams throughout the 2017/18 Premier League season.

    However, there should be room for concern in this statement that illegal football streaming is becoming tougher to gain access to. While some popular streaming sites may have been targeted, meaning you can no longer stream matches on their sites, I personally have never struggled to find a stream when needed, and there are still many ways of finding these illegal streams all over the internet.

    I surveyed twenty men in my local pub, ranging in ages from 18 to 55 years old. All twenty admitted that they have often used illegal streaming sites to watch football matches.

    One twenty-year-old said: “Any time Liverpool aren’t live on TV I’ll try stream it. I don’t think I’ve ever struggled to get a good stream, I mirror my phone onto the telly and honestly you wouldn’t know I was watching a stream. That’s how good the streams are.”

    Another soccer fan had a similar outlook. He said: “My son downloaded an app onto my phone for me and it’s brilliant. It streams every sports channel from anywhere in the world. I do have a sports package at home but sometimes a match I want to watch won’t be on so I use my phone to stream it instead.”

    The only thing certain about the future of legal and illegal broadcasting is that app-makers will always find a way. With streaming applications and sites being both widespread and easily accessible, legal broadcasting stations are fighting an uphill battle.

  • Male unemployment down from 6.9 percent to 5.5 percent since last year

    Male unemployment down from 6.9 percent to 5.5 percent since last year

    In October 2018, the unemployment rate was 5.5 percent for males, down from 6.9 percent in the same month last year, according to the latest seasonally adjusted CSO figures. 

    The seasonally adjusted number of males unemployed was down from 88,800 to 71,800 from October 2017 to October 2018.

    IanStat
    Source // CSO

    The largest increases in employment in the second quarter of 2018 took place in construction, the wholesale and retail trade, accommodation and food service activities, and professional, scientific and technical activities, according to the latest Labour Force Survey figures. 

    In comparison, the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for the entire population of the United Kingdom in September 2018 was at 4.1 percent, according to figures released in November by the U.K.’s Office for National Statistics.

    In August 2018, the Department for Business, Enterprise and Innovation announced the Future Jobs program, which will be introduced in 2019 to succeed the Action Plan for jobs and to maintain the momentum in employment growth. 

    Earlier this year, the Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys supported the continued efforts to tackle unemployment and believes the Government’s successful annual Action Plans for Jobs has played a key role in the continued improvement in the job figures.

    The Action Plan for Jobs was created in 2012 – when unemployment was at its peak of 16 percent across everyone in the country. Since the first quarter of 2016, 174,200 jobs were created, with 65 percent of these coming outside of Dublin.

  • Social media is the main source of news for Irish secondary school students

    Social media is the main source of news for Irish secondary school students

    Half of secondary school students use social media as their main news source, new figures from the Central Statistics Office show.

    The CSO said that from a total of 2,200 students, 50.2 percent said social media was where they found out what was happening in the news as part of the CensusAtSchool survey which took place between September 2017 and August 2018.

    Ianstat2

    Almost three in five (56.2%) female students chose social media, while only two in four male students (40.7%) did the same.

    Another area of the study covered trust in media, and despite using social media the most, it was ranked second to magazines for lowest levels of trust from the students. Radio and television ranked highest in terms of trust level in the questionnaire.

    In July, the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar launched the Government’s Action Plan for Online Safety, stating that the internet has ‘transformed our lives’, but also emphasised the importance of knowing that ‘illegal and harmful content’ can be accessed online.

    “While the State has a role to play [in online safety], it cannot act alone. Individuals, parents, educators, industry and law enforcement all have roles to play in making the internet a safer place,” he said at the launch.

    Other aspects of the study covered sports and student’s ideal physical ability.

    In terms of student reasons for playing sport, ‘having fun’ came out on top, with ‘to win’ being the least important reason to participate. ‘Skill’ was the most common answer for ideal physical ability, with ‘agility’ being least popular.

  • Homeless numbers increased by over 15 percent

    Homeless numbers increased by over 15 percent

    The Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government has released their latest figure for homelessness in Ireland. The report shows the number of people that are trying to access local authority managed emergency accommodation.

    According to the monthly reports, as of September 2018, there is a total of 9,698 people homeless. This is a 15.8 percent increase from just one year before when 8,374 people were without housing in Ireland.  

    There are currently 5,869 adults looking for shelter throughout Ireland. The majority of these are male (3,275) as against 2,594 females.

    The report also shows more than two-thirds of homeless are between the ages of 25-44 (3,507). There were over 893 adults aged 18 to 24 living in emergency homeless accommodation.

    Map 2017

    This represents an 11 percent increase when compared to the figures from September 2017 (806). Overall, 52 percent of the homeless looking for shelter were in supported temporary accommodation which includes hostels, with on-site professional support.

    Across the Dublin region there is enormous pressure in providing emergency accommodation. Dublin has the highest rate of homelessness in Ireland and the report shows that there were 3,940 adults seeking shelter.

    Map 2018

    The northwest of Ireland including Donegal, Leitrim and Sligo, is the region with the lowest figures of people seeking shelter (54). Leitrim was the only county that accounted for nobody accessing homelessness accommodation services.

    It was announced that €2.3 billion would be dedicated to housing for the 2019 budget although this has been criticised by many charities. Focus Ireland claim that the budget “is not a game changer for people who are homeless”.

    A spokesperson for the Department of Housing, Planning and Local Government told TheCity: “The budget [for] 2019 reflects the commitment to dealing with homelessness by allocating an additional €30 million for homelessness services – bringing to €146 million the total for 2019 – €60 million extra in capital funding for additional emergency accommodation and €1.25 billion for the delivery of new social homes. This will deliver 10,000 new social homes next year.

    “A national Director of Housing First was appointed in February to work with the most vulnerable of the homeless population and a National Implementation Plan is in place. This plan seeks to extend the programme nationwide with targets for Housing First tenancies in each local authority. Combined, the plan will result in almost 1,000 former rough sleepers and long-term users of emergency accommodation having their housing and support needs met.

    “The numbers [for] homelessness are too high.  However, despite the high levels of homelessness, results are being achieved.  Over 4,700 adults exited homelessness into an independent tenancy in 2017. That does not include the children who were with these families. We are on target to achieve over 5,000 exits this year,” said the spokesman.

  • Over eight million people visited Ireland in the first nine months of 2018

    Over eight million people visited Ireland in the first nine months of 2018

    Over eight million overseas visitors came to Ireland during the first nine months of 2018, new figures show.

    Information released by the Central Statistics Office portrays a visitor increase of seven percent on the same period for last year.

    A total of 8,203,500 people came from outside the state to visit Ireland from January to September of this year, 542,300 more than 2017.

    British visitors represent a third of all overseas visitors for the year so far, with 2,842,000 Britons venturing across the Irish Sea.

    2,976,200 Europeans have visited so far in 2018, more than 270,000 above the total from the same period in 2017.

    With 2017 being Ireland’s best ever year for tourism, according to Tourism Ireland, and with visitor figures on the rise, there is every possibility that 2018 will be even better for tourism figures on the island.

    Fáilte Ireland’s CEO Paul Kelly welcomed this, saying: “2018 has been an exceptional year for tourism. Our latest estimates now show that we will have welcomed over 9.6 million overseas tourists and 9.8 million domestic trips this year, generating €7.8 billion in revenue. There is now an impressive 260,000 people estimated to be employed in the sector, an increase of 20,000 since 2017.

    “The tourism industry is vitally important for Ireland, particularly when you consider that this growth in revenue and jobs is generated in many parts of the country where many other major industries do not exist.”

    In September of this year, the collective number of trips to Ireland by overseas residents increased by 2.3% to 968,200 – an overall increase of 21,600 compared to twelve months earlier.

    British nationals visited 9.1% less than they did the previous year with figures dropping from 327,300 to 297,600, however, trips by residents of European countries other than Great Britain rose by 6.9% from 321,400 in 2017 to 343,500 in 2018.

    Residents of Canada and the USA willing to make the long trip across the pond to Ireland rose 11 percent from 235,500 to 261,400.

    Recently, Fáilte Ireland published its annual list of Ireland’s most popular visitor attractions for 2017. This list looks at both free and paid for spots, with the Guinness Storehouse topping the former and the National Gallery of Ireland topping the latter.

    TV and film exposure has been named as a contributing factor to the high levels of incoming visitors over the past number of years, with Game of Thrones and Star Wars having major scenes shot on the island. Skellig Michael, an ancient monastic settlement off the west coast of Ireland features heavily in Star Wars: The Last Jedi released in 2017. As well as this, spots such as Castle Ward in County Down and The Dark Hedges in Co Antrim feature in Game of Thrones, which averaged 30.6 million viewers per episode in its seventh season.

  • Irish man caught up in Melbourne terrorist attack

    Irish man caught up in Melbourne terrorist attack

    A young Irish man in Melbourne has spoken of the ‘pandemonium’ around him as a tram he was travelling on stopped less than five hundred metres away from the scene of a deadly terror attack.

    Sam Fearon, 21, from Bayside, Dublin is currently living in Melbourne with friends and said that the city has come together following the violent incident which left one man dead and several others injured.

    The Dubliner revealed that he was on board a tram less than half a kilometre away from where the attack took place at Bourke Street. He said: “I was on the 16 tram from St Kilda Road to CBD [Central Business District]. We were coming down Swanston Street which is very near where the incident took place, and the tram stopped really suddenly. We could hear an unusual siren in the distance, I hadn’t a clue what the siren was for, it was like nothing I’ve ever heard before.”

    phototakenbysamoftheattack
    A photo of the Melbourne attack // Sam Fearon

    This alarm was a ‘terrorism siren’, the first time the siren has ever been put to use in Melbourne.

    The passengers began to speculate, particularly those on social media. “I didn’t have a clue what was going on, but people on the tram started sharing videos on their phones and gossiping and other passengers started saying that there had been some sort of attack. 

    “It was pretty scary, and it was pandemonium on board the tram, everyone just wanted to get off really quickly, as at this stage people had an idea it was a terrorist attack of some sort,” said Mr Fearon.

    There was a sense of calm when the passengers were let off the train, said Mr Fearon. “We were eventually let off the carriage and people started growing a little more confident that the incident was under control and started getting closer to the scene to see what was going on.

    “The photo I took was of a man who was considered to be a threat by the police at the time because he had a bag on him which the police confiscated. The police were quite efficient in their role I must say,” he added.

    PictureofSamthemelbournecuprecently
    Picture of Sam at the Melbourne Cup // Facebook @SamFearon

    Mr Fearon explains the terror attack sent shock waves through the city, but the annual Melbourne Cup, which takes place over two weeks, has improved the local atmosphere. “This incident is a big deal, people were very worried, but we’re all fine.

    “Now that the whole thing is under control, everyone in the city is banding together,” he said.

  • Dublin City Council car clamping yields €2.6 million in fines

    Dublin City Council car clamping yields €2.6 million in fines

    Dublin City Council (DCC) earned over €2.6 million from clamping release fees during the first nine months of 2018, it has emerged.

    Figures released to thecity.ie show that DCC handed out 33,799 parking fines between January 1st and September 1st, 2018.

    With the standard fine for illegal parking in Dublin City set at €80, the council collected an estimated €2,647,840 but offered refunds or partial refunds on 929 occasions leaving the total sum of fines collected for the period at €2,629,600.

    The southside features more prominently within the top ten clamping hotspots in the capital, with the council keeping a watchful eye on the city’s busiest streets.

    Merrion Square is the city centre location where vehicles are most likely to be clamped, with 1,062 fines issued in this area, totalling to a sum collected of €84,960.

    Fitzwilliam Square proves to be the second most notorious clamping hotspot, with 625 offences committed and €50,000 claimed in fines.

    Mespill Road
    Mespill Road // Google Maps

    Other busy southside spots include Mespil Road (595), South Circular Road (544), Burlington Road (407), Waterloo Road (433) and Hatch Street (376).

    Across the Liffey, Gardiner Street Upper and Lower (426) proved to be the hotbed of northside clamping.

    Ormond Quay (297) and Parnell Square and Street (combined 393) make up the remainder of the top ten.

    Gardiner Street
    Gardiner Street // Google Maps

    Clamping appears to be rare on some of Dublin’s best-known streets, with O’Connell Street (0), Grafton Street (19), Dame Street (12) and Henry Street (5), registering few offences.

    The most common reasons for fines include: no valid paid parking (7,638), pay and display tickets expired by more than ten minutes (6,178), parking in permit-only areas (4,755), loading bay offences (2,440), parking on footpaths (1,874), parking within five metres of a road junction, (1,245), and parking on a double yellow line (1,035).

    Medical emergencies and compassionate cases make up the bulk of successful appeals, many of these in Parnell Square, which is adjacent to the Rotunda Hospital, one of Europe’s busiest maternity hospitals.

    On four occasions, gardaí on duty appealed fines and were successful in three of these appeals. One officer was clamped and fined for not displaying a parking ticket at Seafort Terrace in Sandymount.

    Top ten clamping hotspots in Dublin City – the number of fines

    Merrion Square – 1,062, North (182), South (412), East (86), West (382)

    Fitzwilliam Square – 625, North (317), South (182), East (53), West (73)

    Mespil Road – 595

    South Circular Road – 544

    Waterloo Road – 433

    Gardiner Street Upper (90) and Lower (335) – 426

    Burlington Road – 407

    Parnell Square (288) and Street (105) – 393

    Hatch Street– 376

    Ormond Quay – 297

    Appeals

    Total – 1764                                           Refund (50%) – 456

    Refund (Full) – 473                              Unsuccessful appeals – 835

     

  • Irish as an official and working language of the EU

    Irish as an official and working language of the EU

    The European Commission and the Department of Culture, Heritage and the Gaeltacht held their third conference on Irish as a full official and working language of the EU this week.

    The aim of the conference was to raise awareness of the many job and travel opportunities within EU Institutions that are available to young graduates. Because it’s an official and working language of the EU, job opportunities are available for Irish translators, interpreters, and proofreaders.

    Katherine Licken, Secretary General of the Department, said it will provide “high-quality employment” and it is “important for the Government that Irish is a full working language in the EU”.


    According to Licken, the aim is to “promote” the Irish language and to provide “a sufficient number of qualified graduates” to work in the EU Institutions.


    Licken acknowledged the amount of interest shown in this topic due to the number of representatives from the EU Institutions present at the conference.

    A high-quality knowledge of Irish is of course required to work at EU level, though, first-class training for those interested is available. Aside from the array of job opportunities, internships available in all EU Institutions were discussed – for these a knowledge of at least two official EU languages is required.

    Earlier this year, a new internship scheme, funded by the Government, was announced for Irish language graduates to work within three EU Institutions – the European Commission, the European Parliament, and the European Council – over a five-month period. The internship provides graduates with valuable training in the field of translation and the opportunity to work in a multilingual, highly professional, and skilled environment.

    The overall theme of the day was working together as a Union to reach Ireland’s aims for the Irish language within the EU. Rytis Martikonis, Directorate-General for Translation in the European Commission said: “We are in this together and it works.” Mr Martikonis acknowledged that it “remains a challenge” to reach these aims, however, current “results are promising” and there has been an increase in Irish speaking staff within the EU Institutions.

    Irish became an official and working language of the EU in 2007, though, the aim is to end the derogation of the language by 2022.

    The conference was conducted in Irish and it was unusual to see Irish interpreted to a room full of EU staff of various languages. The conference illustrated the importance of Irish as our national language and the significance of maintaining and using Irish by future generations.