Latest news with #authority
BreakingNews.ie
5 days ago
- Business
- BreakingNews.ie
Paul Reid to be paid €50,000 to chair overhauled planning body
Former HSE chief Paul Reid is to be paid a €50,000 salary to chair the State's overhauled planning authority, the Housing Minister said. The establishment of the new planning body was one of three housing proposals approved by Cabinet on Tuesday. Advertisement Mr Reid is to be the chairman of An Coimisiun Pleanala, which replaces An Bord Pleanala following allegations of conflicts of interest at the planning appeals body were raised in 2022. A senior Government spokesman said Mr Reid was approached for the role by Housing Minister James Browne after a six-month competitive process through the Public Appointment Service 'was ultimately successful'. The minister said the overhauled planning authority would be 'essential' and aim to provide more certain timelines for planning decisions. Mr Browne said it was 'the single most important agency' in the state that would require a 'hands-on role'. Advertisement He said he identified Mr Reid, who headed up the HSE during the Covid-19 pandemic, as someone with 'that governance experience, that management experience'. 'In terms of his salary, it would be 50,000 euro per year as chair of a board but Mr Reid would be expected to be very hands on, on an almost daily basis, engaging with the CEO, to ensure that this change of management happens as well with this new body.' He added that this does not include per diems and said he would have to check on allowances. The other six board members, who will take up their roles on Wednesday, barrister Peter Dennehy; former chief executive of the National Transport Authority Anne Graham; former director general of Law Society of Ireland Mary Keane; accountant Penelope Kenny; businessman Peter Madden and Michael Moriarty from the NGO sector. Advertisement The other two housing measures approved by Cabinet on Tuesday were emergency legislation to quickly introduce rent caps to a fifth of tenancies not already covered. Mr Browne said he expected that the extension of rent controls to be approved by the Oireachtas this week. 'I am confident we can get it done this week, I am in the hands of the Houses of the Oireachtas,' he said. He said they wanted greater uptake on the renters' credit outlined as part of previous budget measures. Advertisement Taoiseach Micheál Martin (left) and Paul Reid, then-CEO of the HSE, in 2021 (Brian Lawless/PA) The third measure was to expand the role of the Land Development Agency, including its geographical area of operation and to develop key public lands through infrastructure investment. He said different entities competing for limited land was 'a real problem' and so he would be writing to local authorities in three weeks to encourage them to 'significantly rezone land right across this country'. The housing and planning measures come a week after the Government announced a swathe of rent and tenancy reforms. Mr Browne, who admitted that rents in Ireland are 'way too high', said the measures would give renters 'greater certainty' and would attract new investment in rental accommodation. Advertisement They included the extension nationwide of the rent pressure zone (RPZ) system, areas of high demand where rent increases are capped at inflation or 2 per cent, whichever is lower. Rent increases in new developments will be capped only by inflation in an attempt to boost Ireland's apartment supply, Mr Browne said. Other rental reforms will kick in from March 1st, 2026: the offer of six-year-minimum rolling tenancies and a ban on no-fault evictions for large landlords, defined as having four or more tenancies. The opposition has criticised the proposals as 'a recipe for rocketing rents', particularly a measure that sees rents 'reset' to the market rate when a tenant voluntarily leaves a six-year-minimum tenancy. Meanwhile, the Department of Housing is engaging with multiple potential candidates for the 'housing czar' role at the top of the new Housing Activation Office. A joint-opposition motion on housing and homelessness, which will be voted on on Tuesday, calls for the introduction of a no-fault eviction ban and greater use of compulsory purchase orders to 'bring empty homes back into use'. The motion is being proposed by Sinn Féin, Labour, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, the Green Party and Independents. A Raise The Roof protest will be held outside Leinster House at 6pm to coincide with the opposition motion.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- General
- Yahoo
This father's day, offer dad forgiveness as much as celebration
What makes a father? Most every living thing has parents, but only a small minority of animals exhibit any degree of paternal care. Almost none approach the amount of male investment in children that characterizes human societies, and some of our closest primate relatives appear to be especially unlike us in this regard. We will probably never know where this aspect of human uniqueness comes from, or who the first men to think of themselves as fathers were. For the great majority of our history as a species, there was no understanding of reproduction to support anything like what we now call 'biological fatherhood.' In fact, only in the 1980s, with the development of gene-based testing, did it become possible to establish paternity with absolute certainty. But there are common themes in the annals of dads. Across millennia, in the absence of a precise understanding of paternity, men have told stories about what it means to be a father that have supported their claims to power and authority. Our unique human capacity for storytelling underpins the importance of fathers in human families and societies. And these stories share a key resemblance. As far back as we can go in the historical record, to the earliest law codes and religious texts, fatherhood is presented as a godlike paternal mandate: I know what's best for you, and if you do as I say and you will be protected and provided for. But this creates another problem. Men have historically made promises that only gods could keep, defining fatherhood in terms that can never be entirely satisfied — probably in order to elevate themselves above women, whose role in the creation and sustenance of life was vividly clear. As a result, time and time again, and especially in moments of historical change and upheaval, men have found themselves mired in crises of masculinity and fatherhood, unable to entirely satisfy the role's expectations and responsibilities. At such moments, men have often tried to reassert the power of fathers by making new versions of the same old promises. This is arguably the oldest story in the history of fatherhood, and it's very much alive today. On this point, Bob Dylan can speak for hundreds of generations of fathers. As a young man, he spent years pretending he was estranged from his father, Abe Zimmerman, a hard-working appliance salesman who bought his son virtually everything he asked for. In 1964's 'The Times They Are A-Changin',' Dylan told mothers and fathers to get out of the way. Yet even as he wrote the songs that defined a generation of protests against 'the man,' Dylan found himself craving the traditional model of home and family. And by the time he was a father of five (later six) himself, he wanted to be 'the man' after all. Dylan's 1973 song 'Forever Young' sounds like an anthem but is really a prayer — that all his children's wishes may yet come true. At some point every father has wanted the same thing, but none has ever got it. When it comes to parents and children, 'forever' is impossible. The nature of parenthood, and fatherhood especially, with its promises to protect and provide, requires us to confront the paradox of boundless love amid finite power. Our wishes for our children may be limitless, but our ability to make those wishes come true is decidedly limited. Understanding this core theme of the history of fatherhood changed me in two ways. First, it helped me see my father in a new way: as a person. It helped me forgive him for things that were never his fault, and to forgive myself for having internalized unrealistic expectations and images. Second, and at the same time, I have been trying to be a father to my own son on this more human, and I would say humane, scale — one that's clear about both my vast love for him and the real restrictions on what I can do about it. There's a larger point here, too. As we celebrate Father's Day this year, our shared stories of fatherhood should honor the paradox of fatherhood rather than wish it away. Protection and provision fall often short not as the result of personal failings, but because men have never been gods after all. If our stories about fatherhood could move away from the unrealistic standards that come down to us from earlier generations, we might find it easier to forgive ourselves and each other when we cannot always meet them. We will find forgiveness for our limitations as men and fathers and sons. In their place, we might find a way to acknowledge and accept the real challenges and the real triumphs of caring for those we love, which are ultimately, always fleeting, yet forever enduring. This essay is inspired by 'Fatherhood: A History of Love and Power' by Augustine Sedgewick. Copyright © 2025 by Augustine Sedgewick with permission by Scribner, a division of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Globe and Mail
05-06-2025
- General
- Globe and Mail
Your daily horoscope: June 5, 2025
Jupiter in your sign links with Venus on your birthday, which means you will accomplish more over the coming year when you strive to work with people rather than against them. A pleasant and productive daily environment is a must for success. You have always been a leader rather than a follower and that's a good thing, but the planets warn you need to tone down your tendency to rush into situations you know little about. It could be a rival has set up a trap for you. Are you Nice or are you Nasty? No doubt you are a bit of both but you will need to come down hard on someone today who has been taking liberties. Then, when Venus moves into your sign tomorrow, you can be Nice again. The best way to deal with a rival is to look for areas where the two of you can agree and maybe even work together. By focusing on what brings you together rather than on what keeps you apart your rivalry won't be such a problem. Most likely you will clash with someone in a position of authority today but under no circumstances can you afford to back down. If you show even a hint of weakness they will be on your case constantly over the next few days. Mars in your sign makes you hugely ambitious but as Venus, planet of harmony, is about to enter the career area of your chart you will move up more quickly if you make friends rather than enemies. It's not you against the world! If a friend gets into a spot of bother today by all means help them out, but make sure they know this is going to be a one-off event and if they make the same mistake again you won't be there to rescue them next time. If you insist on being different then you must allow other people to be different as well. That will, of course, mean having to accept that when they do something you do not approve of you let it go, so long as it doesn't harm you personally. The message of the stars today, and for tomorrow and the weekend, is that if you want to get important things done you must join forces with people whose aims are not a million miles from your own. Together you can do wonderful things. Anyone who thinks you are so easygoing that they can take advantage of you is making a big mistake. You are in one of those moods where you will forgive and forget only up to a certain point – after that they had better watch out! Stop worrying about things that are not worth the effort. Life is good and about to get many times better, so ignore the one or two little things that have gone wrong of late and get ready for something really big to go right. You won't be short of opinions and you won't by shy about pointing out where other people's thinking is completely messed up. You rarely suffer fools and the clowns you have to deal with over the next 24 hours will get no leeway at all. A work-related problem can be easily resolved by making an effort to see it through the eyes of someone who disagrees with you. You're not actually that far apart in your outlook, so come up with a creative solution that satisfies you both. Discover more about yourself at
Daily Mail
25-05-2025
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE America's worst neighbor revealed in nauseating photos that will strike fear into the heart of suburbia
He's racked up a staggering $5.5million in county fines for a 'junkyard' home that one exasperated neighbor tells the Daily Mail 'should be burned to the ground'. But defiant Alan Davis, who served nearly five years behind bars for what he claims is his stand against authority, shows no sign of backing down in his quest to keep finessing an epic eyesore in the midst of a quiet middle class Florida street.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Behind Xi's Strongman Image, a Demanding Father Always Loyal to the Party
Xi's self-styled image as a leader with absolute authority has roots in his formative years as the son of a revolutionary hero.
