GOOD WEEK
Sergio Garcia
The Spanish golfer burst in to the golf world as a precocious young talent in 1999, but it took 18 years and 74 attempts at winning a major before he finally claimed one of the big ones, donning the famous green jacket after triumphing at the Masters in Augusta last Sunday.
CF Ireland
It has been a long, arduous campaign for the more than 1,000 Irish people affected by cystic fibrosis, but this week the HSE and Vertex Pharmaceuticals finally reached a deal to provide the very effective Orkambi and Kalydeco drugs.
BAD WEEK
Aidan O’Brien
The renowned trainer fell foul of the Turf Club’s new “non-trier” rules this week, losing an appeal after Coolmore horse Music Box finished third in a race in Dundalk at the end of March.
Daily Mail
The English tabloid’s appetite for salacious gossip got the better of it this week when the US first lady Melania Trump won a sizeable sum, reputed to be in the region of $3 million (€2.82m), after the paper made accusations about the early days of her modelling career.
PROTEST PICTURE OF THE WEEK
It’s the smile playing on her face that you notice first. The smile of a woman, Saffiyah Khan, looking completely at ease in a tense stand off with irate far-right English Defence League protester in Birmingham, England.
Khan had stepped in to defend Muslim woman Saira Zafar, who was being verbally abused by protesters:
Saffiyah, who had never met Zafar before the incident, said police were not responding to the abuse, so she stepped in to help. And help she did.
The photograph, by Joe Giddens of PA news agency, went viral this week. It was another example of powerful images that show women using a very different kind of ammunition to get their message across in protest situations: flowers, defiant body language, determined expressions and yes, smiles. These pictures also have something else in common: the women seem to be subverting where the power lies just by their single presence Here are some from the archive:
GIVE ME A CRASH COURSE IN . . . IRELAND’S GREENHOUSE GAS TARGETS
So greenhouse gases are back in the news?
I know. We have not heard too much about emissions since the recession took hold. The irony was the collapse of the economy had one silver lining in that emissions fell, especially in transport. Not that it could compensate for all the pain families endured.
So we're on course to reach our targets?
Unfortunately no. On Thursday the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published its latest projections which show that Ireland is falling hopelessly behind in meeting emissions targets set by the European Commission for 2020.
The target is a 20 per cent reduction in emissions of harmful greenhouse gases compared to 2005 figures. The EPA is saying that, at best, Ireland can reduce its total by between 4 per cent and 6 per cent. That is a long way short of the target.
What are the consequences of that?
Well, Ireland will be one of only two EU States out of 27 that will not meet the targets. That will mean that the Government will have to spend hundreds of millions of euro to "buy" out the excessive emissions.
It will improve after that, won't it?
Nominally yes.
And we have signed up to the Paris Accord and our own climate change legislation binds us to be carbon neutral by 2050?
When it comes to good intentions Ireland gets an A1. The problem for the State is implementation. The most worrying aspect of the EPA projections is that emissions will continue to increase over the next 15 years. That's during a period they are meant to fall dramatically. Even with "additional measures" (new technology, new policies, carbon credits), the emissions are actually set to rise by 6.4 per cent between 2020 and 2030, on current projections.
The Government has an ambitious agriculture policy but the problem is it will not lead to a fall in emissions. Politically, the Government has argued about how sustainable Irish agriculture is but that has not been backed up by any meaningful action beyond a few schemes such as Glas.
So achieving carbon neutrality by 2050 could be emission impossible?
Now, you have it.
Who's to blame for all this?
Well, the recession is partly to blame. While it reduced emissions, it also reduced funding for the kind of infrastructure and big policies that would help combat climate change. For example, an easy win is insulation but that is costly and the Government has yet to come up with a funding solution.
But the most controversial reason has been offered by the Minister for Climate Change Denis Naughten. He has launched a massive broadside against the Green Party in an opinion piece in The Irish Times.
He contended the Greens had agreed to a “reckless” 20 per cent target in 2009 (when in government). That target was never realistic, practical, economic or achievable, he argued.
“The Green Party was part of a government that signed up in 2009, without any apparent economic analysis, to an unachievable target.
“Ireland will need to purchase compliance with its 2020 targets. This is a direct consequence of what can be characterised as economically reckless decision making in 2009.”
Naughten contended a 7 per cent target was what should have been decided.
Green Party leader Eamon Ryan responded in kind saying Naughten was trying to distract from the complete inaction of Government on climate change.
"This Government has done nothing. It has failed to make any progress on solar energy or on offshore wind. Energy retrofitting has been halved. They have pulled back on public transport, and there is no investment in cycling," said Ryan. – HARRY McGEE
SOUNDBITES
"A few minutes after this attack the only question that was asked was: 'Are you ready to play?' As if we had a beer can thrown at our coach"
Borussia Dortmund Thomas Tuchel criticises Uefa for making them play a day after their bus was bombed
"We require significant investment in our water infrastructure to address years of underinvestment and support the modern economy that we are trying to build"
Simon Coveney emerges triumphant on the water charges issue
"Bus Éireann have displayed outright brass-neckery by attempting to paint our members in a bad light by implying that they would not cooperate with a return to work"
NBRU general secretary Dermot O'Leary isn't entirely happy with the bus company's behaviour
"You had someone as despicable as Hitler who didn't even sink to using chemical weapons."
White House press secretary Sean Spicer for some reason tries to favourably compare Adolf Hitler to Bashar al-Assad
"We had the most beautiful piece of chocolate cake that you've ever seen. And President Xi was enjoying it. I said 'Mr President, let me explain something to you' – this was during dessert – I said, 'We've just launched 59 missiles heading to Iraq.'
Donald Trump, on eating chocolate cake and attacking Syria
THE WEEK IN NUMBERS
4.3%
Ireland’s latest growth forecast, upgraded from 3.5%, according to Michael Noonan
27.1%
The so-called “tax wedge” paid by a single person in Ireland, the seventh-lowest among 35 countries in a new OECD report
12,626
Number of new businesses incorporated in the Republic in the first quarter
€3m
Size of the fine imposed on Eir for breaching its obligations in relation to rural phone services
€4,799
Average bonus paid to the 675 members of staff at Irish Water
€120,000
Amount paid at auction for a painting of Christ that was expected to make up to €800
THE QUESTION: HOW CAN AIRLINES BEST HANDLE OVERBOOKING?
There were many reasons why the incident in which a passenger was brutally dragged off a full United Airlines flight from Chicago to Kentucky last Sunday captured the world’s attention – the distressing violence of the footage, the hamfisted attempts at an apology by United chief executive Oscar Munoz and the way it encapsulated the capricious authoritarianism we submit to when we fly.
But it also focused attention on the aviation industry’s practice of overbooking flights. Airlines are a rather singular business – the barriers to entry are very high, the margins are low, and the cost of flying a half-full flight is about the same as flying a full flight, so overbooking is a lucrative way of ensuring as few empty seats as possible.
Ryanair – the biggest airline in the world for carrying international passengers – claims it doesn’t overbook flights, perhaps a testament to its skill at maximising its passenger numbers in the first place.
The mechanism for resolving the overbooking varies from airline to airline, and usually involves asking for volunteers in exchange for compensation. In United Airlines, volunteers were offered $800 (€753) to give up their seats to accommodate four United crew members needed in Kentucky, but nobody took the bribe, so United randomly chose four passengers.
Dr David Dao was one of the names chosen, but argued he needed to get home that night as he had patients waiting for him. The response from United was to invite the heavy-handed Chicago police to get involved, with disastrous results.
In the EU, the maximum compensation for a passenger denied boarding is €600, while in the US it can be as high as $1,350. But Delta takes a different approach – rather than merely ask for volunteers, Delta asks passengers at check-in how much they would accept for missing their flight, essentially inviting passengers to bid for the inconvenience, rather than bribe them after the fact. This auction also lowers the amount the airline pays, as passengers bid low if they are flexible about travelling. The approach works – Delta has the highest percentage of passengers denied boarding among big US airlines, but the lowest rate of involuntary denials. – DAVIN O'DWYER
