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Plan To Address Barriers To Entry To Lgal Professions Published.

Plan to address barriers to entry to legal professions and early career progression published.

  • Plan identifies steps needed to widen and increase access to education, training, and career opportunities in the legal professions.
  • Relevant professional bodies and stakeholders will sit on the Implementation Plan Working Group.
  • LSRA will provide progress reports every 6 months.

A plan has been published to address the barriers facing many newly qualified and early career solicitors and barristers.

The Legal Services Regulatory Authority (LSRA) were asked to submit a plan to implement the recommendations of its Breaking Down Barriers Report.

This report, which was published in September, examined how a range of issues such as financial means, geography and professional connections can act as obstacles to progression for those studying or starting out in the legal professions.

The plan contains 32 recommendations, and the implementation process will be led by the CEO of the LSRA, who will also chair the Barriers Implementation Working Group.

Relevant professional bodies will be invited to nominate representatives to sit on the Working Group, which will hold quarterly progress update meetings with the legal professional bodies, the Law Society of Ireland, the Honourable Society of King’s Inns and the Bar of Ireland.

Dr Brian Doherty, Chief Executive Officer of the Legal Service Regulatory Authority said: “The LSRA very much looks forward to working with all relevant stakeholders with the common goal of building a more inclusive and diverse legal services sector. The recommendations made in the Breaking Down Barriers report represent an important reform initiative which will build upon measures introduced in recent years by key stakeholders, including the professional bodies for solicitors and barristers, the Law Society of Ireland, the Bar of Ireland and the Honorable Society of King’s Inns.”

The LSRA Breaking Down Barriers Implementation Plan can be accessed HERE.

Halloween Lecture – Relics & Reliquaries – Cashel Library.

Halloween Lecture – Relics & Reliquaries – Thursday evening, October 31st Next at 7:00pm.

Librarian Ms Maura Barrett will continue her tradition of presenting a Halloween Lecture in Cashel Library.

This year Ms Barrett will looks at relics and their reliquaries in the Irish context, and discusses the enduring belief in their miraculous powers.

You can locate the Cashel Library building, situated on Friar Street, Lady’s Well, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, HERE. (G487+RX)

Please do remember: Booking is essential by return email or to Tel: 062 63825.
In booking, also keep in mind that the Library closes at 5:00pm this evening (Friday October 25th), and will not reopen again until Tuesday morning, October 29th at 9:30pm sharp.

“Oíche Shamhna faoi mhaise”. (Irish – Happy Halloween).

EPA Launch New Quarterly Greenhouse Gas Emissions For Ireland

EPA launches new Quarterly Greenhouse Gas Emissions for Ireland, which show greenhouse gas emissions decreased by 2.2 per cent in Quarter 1 of 2024.

  • The EPA launched a new series of quarterly greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland to support more frequent monitoring of national and sectoral progress on climate action.
  • Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions were down 2.2 per cent (306 kt CO2eq) in Quarter 1 2024 compared Quarter 1 of 2023.
  • Electricity emissions were down 16.7 per cent (-312 kt CO2 eq) driven by reductions in fossil fuel use and increased importation of electricity.
  • Agriculture emissions were down 2.6 per cent (-129 kt CO2 eq) due to reduced lime application to soils and lower milk output.
  • Transport emissions were up 2.7 per cent (78.2 kt CO2eq) driven by increased sales of petrol (+9.6 per cent) and diesel (+1.3 per cent).
  • Emissions from commercial and household buildings increased by +5.8 per cent (+126.0 kt CO2 eq) due to increased demand for heating and a decrease in the price of gas.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has today published quarterly greenhouse gas emissions for Ireland for Quarter 1 of 2024. This is a new series of quarterly greenhouse gas emission indicators which will support early and more frequent monitoring of progress on climate action.
The data show an overall reduction of 2.2 per cent in the first three months of 2024, compared to the same quarter last year. The largest sectoral decrease in emissions was observed in electricity generation with a reduction of 16.7 per cent (-312 kt CO2 eq). Emission reductions were also observed in the Agricultural (-2.6 per cent, -129 kt CO2 eq) and Industrial (-4.7 per cent, -69 kt CO2 eq) sectors.

Welcoming the report Dr Eimear Cotter, Director of the Office of Evidence and Assessment, EPA said:
“These quarterly greenhouse gas emissions respond to an on-going need for more timely and frequent data on Ireland’s greenhouse gases. Ireland joins a small number of countries worldwide to carry out this type of assessment, which will provide valuable early and frequent indicator data for the monitoring and governance of Ireland’s climate action. The series will complement the national greenhouse gas inventory and projections prepared annually by the EPA”.

Commenting on the findings, she added: “The reduction of 2.2 per cent in Ireland’s greenhouse gas emissions in the first quarter of 2024, when compared with the same period last year, is welcome following the largest annual reduction in emissions outside of recession reported in 2023. This shows that we can make progress in reducing our greenhouse gas emissions when concerted action is taken.”

An increase in greenhouse gas emissions for transport (+2.7 per cent), commercial (+4.1 per cent) and residential buildings (+6.1 per cent) in Quarter 1 of 2024 shows the clear link between increased energy demand, largely delivered by fossil fuels, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Also speaking about the results, Ms Mary Frances Rochford, Programme Manager of EPA’s Climate Programme said: “These findings signal the continued impact of climate action and decarbonisation measures across Ireland’s economy and society. The assessment on a quarterly basis also highlights the impact of market prices and weather conditions. We see reduced emissions from the electricity sector linked to increased renewables and interconnection, increases in emissions from heating associated with lower fuel price and cooler temperatures than quarter 1 2023. Poor weather conditions also impacted lime application to soils which led to lower emissions from the agriculture sector.”
The Quarterly Greenhouse Gas Emissions Indicators for Quarter 1 of 2024 is available on the EPA website HERE, and the EPA Greenhouse Gas web resource is also available online HERE.

Are Thurles Supermarket Retailing Inevitable Death?

Breast cancer awareness month 2024 began on Tuesday, October 1st and will continue until Thursday October 31st next.

All Irish Supermarkets, over the past two years, have significantly increased their retail prices on many items and yes, to my thinking, both breast cancer and Supermarket products are both inextricably linked, presently leaving both impossible to disentangle or separate.

My focus here in Thurles today was attracted to a product offered in plastic wrapping, containing 5 Bockwurst Sausages, (asking price €4.29). The product is manufactured by the German firm Dulano, latter who claim ‘Farm to fork” traceability.

Bockwurst is a German sausage traditionally made from ground pork or veal, but tending more towards veal. Bockwurst is flavoured with salt, white pepper and paprika. Other herbs, such as marjoram, chives and parsley, are also often added and in Germany, Bockwurst is often smoked as well.

Nowadays, it can be purchased all year round almost everywhere in Germany, in butcher’s shops, cheaper restaurants, snack bars, food booths, some bakeries and even gas stations.
Here in Thurles Co. Tipperary it can be purchased from the German International discount retailer chain Lidl, same which operate over 12,000 stores within the European Union.

Yuka Application: View HERE
Using the 100% independent, free ‘Yuka App’, which it is now imperative for everyone shopping in supermarkets to download to their smart phones, (because of its welcome ability to decipher product labels, while analysing the health impact of most food products and cosmetics, via their barcode,) we are disappointed and alarmed to learn the following information:-

On the ‘Yuka App’, the Bockwurst Sausages product is declared ‘BAD’, and is rated at 0 out of 100, because of two hazardous additives, plus containing two much fat, and two much sodium.

The two hazardous preservatives are identified as being (1) Sodium Nitrite, (2) Diphosphates,

(1) Sodium Nitrite: Sodium nitration is hazardous and when combined with certain foods, nitrites may contribute to the development of nitrosamines, compounds classified by the international agency for research on cancer (IARC) as “probably carcinogenic to humans”.
In 2022 the French agency for food environmental and occupational health and safety (ANSES) confirmed the carcinogenic and genotoxic effects of these compounds and recommended limiting the use of nitrate/nitrite additions in food products.

(2) Diphosphates: (Texturizing agent). Phosphate contains phosphorus a chemical element that is essential to the body. However excess phosphorus can disrupt bone mineralization; damage the kidneys, and increased the risk of cardiovascular disease and breast cancer the (EFSA) European food safety has indicated that phosphorus consumption exceeds the safe level of intake for part of the population.

This is just one of many products to be found in each of our Thurles supermarkets, placed there with no regard for consumers health; and retailed solely to generate massive profits.

We wonder why cancer is rapidly increasing and why our Irish hospitals are continuously overcrowded! The answer is most likely to be found in the food products located on our supermarket shelves, ignored by a VAT greedy government.

Eat No Raw Onions If Kissing Is Your Intended Aspiration.

Having had only limited experience myself, I base the above headline on the advice handed out by Anglo-Irish satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer poet and Anglican cleric, the late Dean Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), who once wrote:-. 

“There is in every cook’s opinion, 
No savoury dish without an onion; 
But less you’re kissing should be spoiled,
The onion must be thoroughly boiled.”
 

A recipe for boiled onions gathered from the era of Dean Jonathan Swift.
These onions should be cooked ‘country style’, as they were when large ovens where kept on the go all day and night.  Same are very good when eaten with chops or steaks or with potato oaten cakes; known in the Irish countryside as  ‘pratie oaten’.  

Method.

One large onion per person with a little water. Place the onions in a baking tin, unpeeled, with about 1 inch of water, no more. Bake in a slow to moderate oven to 250° f. – 275° f. Electric;  gas regulo 1 – 2 for 1 and 1⁄2 to 2 hours or until they are soft when squeezed. 

To eat, the brown skin is then pulled back and cut off as the root and the onion is eaten with pepper, salt and a pat of butter. Latter cooking method is one of the most delicious ways of serving onions.

Pratie Oaten.

2 cups warm mashed potatoes. 1 cup fine oatmeal½ cup melted butter. Salt.

Work enough fine oatmeal, butter and a little salt into the mashed potato to form a dough until fairly soft.  Scatter plenty of oatmeal on a board and roll out the dough substance. Cut into small shapes and either cook on both sides on a hot greased griddle in the oven, or fry in a little bacon fat, on top of the stove. Serve hot. 

These are very good for breakfast, with bacon, eggs and sausages. The above completed shapes should serve approximately 12 persons.

Kissing.

As for this kissing lark, passionate kisses have known health benefits; releasing calming brain chemicals (neurotransmitters) that reduce stress levels and soothe the mind. Exposure to germs that inhabit your partner’s mouth helps strengthens your immune system, so just get on with it.