5/12/12

Irish Examiner

Our vitriol in this crisis is seriously misplaced

By Joe Gill

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 05, 2012

Have you noticed the level of vitriol aimed at various Irish people who sit in the pigeon holes marked "property developers" and "bankers" recently? A series of attacks comprised of violent spoken and written words has been under way now for some time, positioning their victims as pariahs in Irish society who deserve to be at least jailed if not worse.

This new apartheid is aimed at a group who have become utterly defenceless against a media gang who have shaped a narrative which goes something like this — Ireland has been destroyed by a small group of bankers and property developers who gorged themselves on the Celtic Tiger and bled the country dry b helping themselves to fortunes while screwing the entire population.

Any attempt at putting balance against this view is met with a wave of snorting about the privileged few who are spoilt brats in need of a good hiding. Writing in their defence attracts opprobrium.

Handy, isn’t it? Instead of exploring some dark corners of Irish society to understand our national crisis, it is far better to have a small number of named individuals we can take photos of, stone metaphorically and abuse repeatedly in an effort to re-assure ourselves that a small group of Baddies killed lovely Ireland.

The truth is very different. Back in the mid-noughties, I worked in Irish stockbroking. I clearly remember the management teams of leading Irish banks being excoriated by international fund managers and analysts as being too conservative relative to the thrust of Anglo Irish Bank.

Anglo Irish itself was over-run with international investment bankers who were offering ever more exotic financial instruments that could swell its balance sheet and turbo-charge its loan volumes. A vicious cycle ensued of Anglo aggressively expanding its loan book and AIB and Bank of Ireland executives being repeatedly lectured about their relative backwardness. We all know what happened next.

A similar tale washed over the property sector. Individuals running small construction companies were propelled into global property magnates through a set of financial steroids provided by a system that salivated on a complex collection of asset- backed securities, otherwise known as debt.

This system was an integral part of the euro and was regulated and overseen by the ECB. The ECB was part of a global group of central banks that conspired to create a debt-filled bubble across the US, UK and Europe. Ireland was flame- grilled in the midst of that.

So, as we face another bone crunching budget designed to meet the needs of a troika which contains the ECB, why are we largely directing our vitriol at a group of Irish citizens when it should be focussed on much bigger institutions?

These monoliths are not easy to personalise. You cannot get photos of them next to swimming pools. Yet, that is where our firepower needs to be trained now. Alongside the unemployed and underworked, are a group of previously wealthy and not so wealthy Irish now in financial ruin. One of these groups is presented as the effect of an Irish tragedy and the others are portrayed as the cause.

In fact, they are all citizens of this society. A somewhat more sophisticated analysis is needed to root out what went wrong here instead of the Cartoon Network that masquerades as informed comment and debate.

In the rush to judgment, we are at risk of another witch-hunt against a set of Irish men and women who are now voiceless. They live in leafy suburbs, wear fancy clothes, and get indignant when challenged. Many of them are also financially and professionally destroyed.

"Let them burn" is an attractive populist perspective on how they should be treated, but Ireland is a civilised society — isn’t it?

The Irish Times - Wednesday, December 5, 2012

Where deepest cuts and tax hikes will hit hardest

HARRY MCGEE

While leaks about the contents of today’s budget were contained compared with last year, the shape of the €3.5 billion in adjustments have emerged in the past few weeks, especially last weekend when the Government signed off on most of the big-ticket items.

Taxes

Almost €1 billion in new taxes will have to be raised, as there is €250 million of the full-year effect of measures from last year’s budget.

Property tax

A bulwark of this will be property tax. It will be levied at 0.18 per cent of the value of the property. The late decision to add a so-called mansion tax on houses worth more than €1 million meant the rate reduced from 0.2 per cent. This measure was introduced as a quid pro quo to Labour following Fine Gael’s rejection of a 3 per cent hike in the USC rate for PAYE employees earning more than €100,000. It is mostly symbolic as the proportion of houses worth over €1 million is tiny. The property tax could generate €250 million in revenue during the six months it operates in 2013.

PRSI exemption

Another big change in the offing that has not attracted the same publicity is the scrapping of the €127 exemption from PRSI for all those earning over €352 a week. That will cost each taxpayer some €261 per annum and will yield more than €300 million to the exchequer in a full year.It could prove controversial as it will affect lower income groups proportionately harder. Other PRSI changes will be extended to unearned income, such as rental and share income. That could bring in up to €80 million in additional revenues.

Private pensions

This Government has rowed back on the previous administration’s commitment to reducing tax relief on private pension contributions from 41 per cent to the standard 20 per cent, but has instead targeted a maximum annual pension of €60,000.

Pensioners

The group in society least affected in recent budgets has been pensioners. There may be some changes to the more generous tax exemptions available to over-65s, as well as the lower rate of the top USC band available to over-70s with income of €16,000 or more. However, the wholesale changes floated two months ago will not now materialise but the gap will be closed. At present, a person over 70 with an income of €40,000 pays €3,500 less tax than someone under 65 on the same income.

Universal social charge

The pressure from Labour to have the USC rate for PAYE workers earning over €100,000 increased by 3 points to 10 per cent has come to nought. Fine Gael never bought the Labour arguments and its Ministers dug their heels in, demanding a comparable cut of 3 per cent in social welfare rates.That was never going to happen.

Motor taxes

The likely increase in motor tax and vehicle registration tax is a steep 15 per cent with low- emission cars no longer enjoying an advantage. A combination of people buying CO2-efficient cars and a collapse in new car sales has meant the State’s take fell from €1.4 billion in 2007 to €387 million in 2011, with strong indications of further sharp drops in 2012.

Tobacco and alcohol

The old reliables also face increases. There is a Government commitment to deal with the sale of cheap alcohol in off- licences, although sharp hikes might lead to renewed cross-Border purchases of alcohol and tobacco. A 50 cent increase for a packet of cigarettes would be worth €81 million to the exchequer. A 20 cent increase in excise duties on beer and spirits and a 50 cent jump in excise on wine would garner €156 million in additional revenues in 2013.

Carbon tax

There is also likely to be an increase in carbon tax, although it may not be as high as the €5 per tonne mooted. If that happened, it would yield €108 million.

No supertax on bank pensions

There will be no supertax on the extravagant pensions of former top bankers. Government sources said the strong legal advice was that a specific group could not be singled out in that manner. A more general targeting of high-income pensioners – both in the private and public sector – may be announced.

CUTS

Social protection

The good news is that over the past few days, the department’s very onerous target of €540 million has been reduced by €150 million to €390 million, making the kind of savage cuts that seemed in prospect a month ago seem less remote.

Child benefit

The €10 cut per child in child benefit will not be popular with backbench TDs from either Government party but has been inevitable for many months. That will yield about €140 million to the exchequer.

Statutory sick pay

Another controversial proposal being refloated by the department is for employers to pay the first four weeks of statutory sick pay, for which the State is on the hook at present. However, what will be announced today will apply only to the public sector. The individual department or body will be responsible for paying their own sick pay.While that will reduce the cost to the Department of Social Protection, it will be revenue neutral as the State will still foot the bill. The Government will not apply the move to the private sector, to the relief of Fine Gael TDs.

Employers rebate for redundancy

Employers will no longer get State support for funding redundancy packages.This will save the State €25 million.

Household package, free travel, TV licence

Secondary allowances for pensioners will be tightened. Telephone allowances will be halved. There will be some adjustments to gas and electricity allowances. However, free travel, fuel allowance and television licences will all be unaffected.

School clothing allowances

Expected to be cut from €150 to €100 for primary school pupils and from €250 to €200 for secondary school pupils.

Health

Because of overruns, the total cut for health will be €930 million. However, the target has been reduced by €150 million to about €780 million as the Government has found savings elsewhere. Health staff and rising charges Savings include trimming back of agency staff, cuts in over-time, new terms for consultants, increases in charges for providing public hospital facilities – including beds and AE services – to private patients, and further reductions in drug pricing. A hike in the 50c prescription charge is also on the cards.

Medical cards

The income thresholds for medical cards for pensioners will be reduced substantially from €36,000 to €30,000 for a single person and from €72,000 to €60,000 for a couple. Those who fall outside the limit will be entitled to a GP-only medical card.

Education

Cuts will be €80 million. A big part of this will come from increasing the pupil-teacher ration from 21-1 to perhaps 23-1. There will also be rises in student fees as well cuts in allowances for Gaeltacht and Irish-speaking duties. There may also be some additional cuts to the €90 million budget for private schools.

25/11/12

Irish Independent

By Maeve Sheehan

Sunday November 25 2012

Bereft and grieving, Praveen battles on

Widower has not wavered in his account as he continues to look for a public inquiry

GIVEN the shambles of the official response into the death of his wife, few would blame Praveen Halappanavar for doubting the system. Savita died on October 28 at University Hospital Galway and, at almost every turn since, something has turned up to feed Praveen's suspicion that the health services cannot be trusted.

There have been complaints of incomplete medical notes; an internal hospital review that was bumped up to a national investigation before settling on calling itself a clinical review. Consultants appointed to it were booted off after its independence was questioned; and there have been cack-handed megaphone appeals from no less than the Taoiseach to a grieving husband.

The scandal is how an otherwise healthy and fit 31-year-old woman died. She was 17 weeks pregnant; the baby was dying inside her; she pleaded for a termination but, according to her husband's account, was told Ireland is a Catholic country. She delivered her dead foetus and died of blood poisoning days later. Her husband believes that she would still be alive had the foetus been terminated. Two investigations are now underway – both of which fall far short of Praveen's call for a public sworn inquiry, at which witnesses could be cross-examined.

The HSE is conducting a clinical review, which it says it is compelled to conduct under best practice guidelines. The health watchdog, Hiqa, has launched a statutory investigation – in part because the HSE asked it to conduct an inquiry, but also because it seems the watchdog has concerns of its own. It will investigate the safety and quality of care given to critically ill patients – not just the care that was given to Savita, or other pregnant women.

Praveen and his solicitor Gerald O'Donnell are still holding out for a public inquiry, following a hastily arranged meeting on Friday with the Minister for Health James Reilly, who happened to be in Galway at a health event. While government sources are not ruling one out, Dr Reilly has said he is confident that the existing inquiries will establish the truth of what happened to Savita.

There are two sides to this story and the hospital's account has yet to emerge. Some sources say that the hospital staff will challenge Praveen's account that he was told by a hospital consultant that "this is a Catholic country" so his wife's baby could not be terminated.

Whatever the truth of what happened to Savita, the tragedy of it has been compounded by the fact it now seems that the State and its agencies struggled to deal with the fall-out from her death.

Praveen has not wavered in his account of what happened, most recently in an interview with RTE's Miriam O'Callaghan on Prime Time last week.

How on October 21, she went to University Hospital Galway complaining of severe back pain to be told by a doctor that she was miscarrying: "He basically said the baby would not survive, it's cervical dilation, the cervix is open," he said. The doctors told them they could do nothing because the foetus was still alive. According to Praveen, Savita said: "'No. Can't take it, please terminate'. She requested. Basically, the (doctor) said he will check and come back because Savita was so insisting." He continued: "We were waiting for the doctor to come back to us on the termination. We were waiting and the doctor came for the morning rounds around 10.30 along with the two other junior doctors. There was the midwife, the nurse, you know and also we had a close friend of ours with us, visiting us in the room. . . The doctor said unfortunately the foetus is still alive and it's a Catholic country and we won't be able to terminate. That's what the doctor said. Savita was insisting that she's not a Catholic and she's not Irish either so why impose the law on her?"

Savita's health worsened on Tuesday night. On Wednesday, she delivered the dead baby in the operating theatre. By Thursday afternoon Praveen was told that "further tests picked septicaemia, septic shock". He said the doctor told him "she is critically stable" and was "on antibiotics". "On Friday they started telling me that she was critically ill. She is very, very ill." She died early on Sunday morning, 28 October. Asked if he believed she would still be alive, if she had had a termination, he replied: "Of course, yes."

A spokesman for Galway University Hospital has pointed out that it responded immediately to Savita's death, notifying the coroner, who notified the gardai, conducting a risk assessment, notifying the maternal deaths register and preparing a clinical review of her death. It also dispatched a letter of condolence to Praveen on October 31, which apparently included mention of an internal review of his wife's death. But Praveen has insisted that he went public with his story because "nothing was being done". He appointed a solicitor, Gerard O'Donnell, before he returned to India with his wife's remains. Her distraught family in Belgaum – her parents had just returned from visiting their daughter in Ireland days before her death – were disbelieving. He could tell them nothing as he had heard nothing. Although in fairness to the hospital, it apparently had no contact details for him in India.

But in his absence, Praveen's Indian friends in Galway took action on his behalf. They contacted a pro-choice group in the city, met one of its representatives, and discussed how to break this major story: Praveen could go for a public onslaught or insist on anonymity. Praveen chose to go public.By the time the news of Savita's death broke on November 14, Galway University Hospital's internal review of Savita's death still had not begun, and her medical file had still not been released to her husband's solicitor.

With the hospital under international media scrutiny, this was not good enough. Her death, as told by her husband, was laden with suggestion of religious dogma still lurking in a secular health system in a country polarised over abortion.The HSE stepped in. On November 15, the day after the story broke, it announced that the hospital's local review was being bumped up to one that would be "overseen" by the HSE's National Incident Management Team – with the assistance of an independent external expert. On November 16, Savita's medical records were released to Praveen's solicitor, O'Donnell. He found no mention in the notes of Savita's multiple requests for a termination, even though at one point, according to Praveen's account, a doctor went off to check with another whether one was possible. As Praveen later said, the notes included requests for tea and toast and a blanket, but not for a termination.

Michael Boylan, a lawyer experienced in cases of a medical nature, regarded this as surprising: "It is surprising that there is no mention of it whatsoever. You would have expected there to be some note of it."Those were not the only issues relating to the hospital's record-keeping. Retrospective notes were added to Savita's file. It's common for staff going off duty to fill in medical records at a later stage. But according to O'Donnell, some notes were added after Praveen had requested the file. "There are entries after I requested the notes. My request went in on November 2. I would say that someone sat down and began to look at this file after my request went in," said O'Donnell. "In fact, I'd say someone sat down and looked at this file after the poor lady died. Certainly after my request went in, I'd say they had to look at it a bit closer."

Over last weekend, the HSE found an expert to appoint to the national incident management team's overseeing of the review of Savita's death. But the Government and the health authorities were mistaken if they thought that the announcement of this inquiry would bring lockdown on the scandal. Last Saturday, Praveen's solicitor spoke to the HSE director, Dr Philip Crowley, to discuss the draft terms of reference of this inquiry. O'Donnell claimed he told Dr Crowley that Praveen wasn't happy with the HSE conducting the inquiry: "I said to him, 'I'm flagging this now for you and I will write to you on Monday setting out my thoughts in writing'. I did that and sent off the letter. Then on Monday afternoon I heard they had gone ahead and established it anyway. That's why we have no faith in the HSE."

At a press conference last Monday, the HSE's "review" was bumped up to an "investigation", headed by Professor Sabaratnam Arulkumaran, a renowned expert on obstetrics and gynaecology from London – who himself was accused of being a liberal on abortion. Surprisingly, the three consultants who worked for Galway University Hospital were originally selected by the hospital to do the initial local "review" of Savita's death. According to the HSE this weekend, the three Galway consultants were simply "subsumed" into the bigger inquiry, yet no one had spotted the potential conflict of interest in having three consultants help investigate the very hospital they work for.

By Thursday, Tony O'Brien, the head of the HSE, was calling the "investigation" a "clinical review", acknowledged its limitations and called in the health watchdog, Hiqa, to add independence by launching a statutory inquiry. Regardless of Praveen's concerns, it would be criminally negligent for the HSE's inquiry not to proceed.

But the controversy and confusion over the setting up of an inquiry into Savita's death became an ugly side show in an appalling human tragedy. Threats from Praveen's solicitor of High Court injunctions to stop the inquiry by refusing it access to Savita's medical records, talk of complaints to the Data Protection Commissioner about breaches of confidentiality, of complaints to the Ombudsman, have as yet come to nothing.

This weekend, O'Donnell had suggested that a commission of investigation – if it included cross examination and was in public – might just do. Praveen meanwhile cuts a lonely figure, bereft, grieving and the only representative of their families in Ireland to battle for answers over her death.

"The family are very much behind him, they are on to him several times a day. And they want a public inquiry. So he is doing his best for them as well, both for his own parents and for Savita's parents," said O'Donnell.

30/9/12

9/9/12