CEHG

The first speaker was Sean Crudden. Given that this was the 20th Workshop, Sean provided an overview of the previous Workshops, paying particular attention to the 2010 Workshop (Back To Basics: A Plan For Survival). A copy of his report on the 2010 Workshop has been appended to the 2010 Workshop page. A full list of the previous workshops may be viewed here.

Liam Kieran then provided us with a very persuasive argument about what we should be attempting to achieve with regard to transportation over the next 20 years, drawing heavily on examples from other countries where seemingly radical ideas are already in operation. Amongst the objectives suggested were: footpaths should be slip-proof and well-lighted; bus shelters should be provided every 200 metres; buses and trains should be free and frequent with plenty of seats for everyone; there should be crossings at every bus stop; bicycles should be encouraged and should be completely segregated by barriers from vehicular traffic; electric bikes should be available for hire; cars should be fewer in numbers and smaller; they should be forced to drive slower to save fuel; there should be no right turns to impede traffic; there should be a radical reform of how insurance claims are processed; there should be a plentiful supply of charging points for electric cars; cars should only be allowed to park in car parks, not on-street; there should be better sign-posting; lorries should be smaller and safer; better facilities should be provided to allow drivers to rest; trains should be electric and much more frequent; hospitals, shops, schools and places of employment should be built near train stations; and people should be encouraged to travel by boat rather than by air. These were only some of the points covered in Laim's tour de force.

Next, Don Johnson gave a talk on the Encumbered Estates Court established by the Encumbered Estates Act of 1849 to sell off the estates of landowners unable to meet their obligations following the loss of rental income during and after the Great Famine. The big estates were leased hierarchically to agents, middlemen etc and eventually to the actual tenants who farmed the land. However, before the Encumbered Estates Act the land was entailed meaning that it could not be sold to pay off the landlords debts.The Court cutailed entails, and absorbed the landlords debts, with the intention of heralding in a new class of entrepreneurs. However, the conditions of the tenants did not improve significantly until the Land League in the 1870s. Don drew parallels with NAMA established in 2009 to buy up the land held by indebted property developers.

Don was followed by Niall Hayden who discussed the National Assets Management Agency (NAMA) in more detail. NAMA was established to buy up the bad loans of six financial institutions: Bank of Ireland, AIB, Anglo-Irish Bank, EBS, Permanent TSB and Irish Nationwide. The original book value of these loans was €77 billion (comprising €68bn for the original loans and €9bn rolled up interest), but the assets secured were worth a lot less. NAMA has since been trying to recover its investments by selling off its assets. Many of these sales have proved contentious. Niall in particular mentioned the controversy surrounding the sale of assets to Cerberus, a US Vulture Fund, which is currently the subject of two investigations, one by by a judge in the Republic and the other by an agency in Northern Ireland.

Dennis Pringle then spoke about health trends over the past 20 years, especially with regard to cancer. Dennis originally carried out a report on Cancer in Cooley in 2004 for the CEHG following concerns that there had been an upsurge in cancer due to nuclear contamination. At that time, he found that although cancer rates were above average in Louth the were close to the national average in Cooley. He could find no evidence of a link with Sellafield. (The original report may be read here). Although Dennis did not have the same access to local level information, there is good material available at national level on several websites. Cancer became the leading cause of death in the mid-2010s, but this was because of a marked decline in deaths from diseases of the circulatory system (the previous major cause). However morbidity rates (i.e. new cases) for cancer have increased slightly, although the age-standardised death rates for cancer have continued to decline due to improvements in the 5-year survival rates. Generally speaking things have improved over the past 20 years despite the continuing crises in the health services.

Some photos from the 2020 Workshop may be viewed here.