New standards to provide guidance to business on adopting cloud computing – Minister Bruton

New Cloud Computing Standard Launched by NSAI and IIA

The Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation, Richard Bruton TD, today launched new Government-backed standards to help provide guidance to businesses small and large on moving to cloud computing.

The announcement marks the delivery of a Q2 measure under Action Plan for Jobs 2012.

Cloud services are reshaping the future of computing, but one of the primary concerns with the emerging Cloud paradigm is the lack of standards to guide its adoption and implementation. The National Standards Authority of Ireland (an agency of Minister Bruton’s Department) in partnership with the Irish Internet Association (IIA), this morning launched the new standards, entitled, “SWiFT 10: Adopting the Cloud – decision support for Cloud computing”. The standard is designed to provide guidance to organisations both large and small on the various issues that need to be considered when moving to the cloud.

Launching the new standards, Minister Bruton said: “A central part of the Government’s plan for jobs and growth is targeting key sectors where Ireland has competitive advantages and the potential to foster growth. One such sector is cloud computing, and various studies have reported that Ireland has potential to create high levels of growth and jobs in this sector if we move early. That is why the Action Plan for Jobs sets out a number of measures that the Government will deliver in 2012 to help deliver on this potential.

“Today’s launch of new Government-backed standards to help guide businesses of all sizes that are looking to move to the Cloud marks the delivery of one of these measures. This is an important move by Government to help increase the numbers of Irish businesses, small and large, who successfully adopt the Cloud. I am determined that over the coming months we will continue delivering these measures on time so that we can achieve the growth in the economy and in employment that we need”.

Developed by IIA Cloud Computing Working Group and adopted by the NSAI as SWiFT 10, this collaboration has delivered a comprehensive roadmap for businesses to encompass all Cloud delivery and deployment models. It is intended for use as a means of assessing Cloud adoption prioritisation and suitability.  The IIA Cloud Computing Working Group is a collaboration of expert practitioners and business leaders (Chief Information Officers, Chief Technical Officers, Heads of IT, Legal, and Consultancy) from a variety of business sectors and organisation sizes in Ireland.

Maurice Buckley, Chief Executive, NSAI, said, “Many people are already using Cloud computing in everyday life without even realising it. Services such as e-mail, social networking and photo sharing are all forms of Cloud computing. SMEs in particular will be receptive to this standard, as every effort has been made to make it as user friendly and straightforward as possible. Many businesses are already making the transition, moving elements of their business to the more mature and better known aspects of the Cloud, such as email or file storage. We hope that SWiFT 10 will enable and encourage more Irish businesses to move to the Cloud in the coming years, which we believe will give Ireland an early adopter and market advantage in this space.”

The Decision Support Matrix contained within SWiFT 10 has been divided into a number of categories, which address the challenges and business benefits to be considered in developing and implementing a Cloud migration strategy.  Using the guide will support organisations in thoroughly assessing the practical suitability of Cloud computing across the gamut of business operations.  It includes a thorough review of all legal, security, maturity and cost/benefit considerations.  

Joan Mulvihill, CEO, Irish Internet Association, said "We are so proud and pleased to have the NSAI endorse the great work of the IIA Cloud Computing Working Group. Cloud discussion tends to be quite vendor led and product focussed.  SWiFT 10 has been specifically designed with the customer in mind.  All of the research has shown that while SMEs are convinced of the merits of the Cloud, they are hesitant to take those first steps. SWiFT 10 will guide business owners and managers through the process and assist them in making the appropriate decisions and setting the right course for their Cloud adoption strategy."

Meath Men take GAA Initiative

Fine Gael TD for Meath East, Regina Doherty today leant her support to the Meath GAA Social Initiative .
The Initiative, established by the GAA in 2009 in conjunction with Áras an Uachtaráin, provides a social outlet for older male members of society and particularly those in rural areas. It is a community-based project aimed at older men who would benefit from an enhanced engagement within the local community.

“I would like to congratulate the GAA for taking up the mantle. This scheme has the potential to transform the lives of the individuals involved and contribute significantly to community life. These men have no doubt contributed handsomely in various ways to their respective communities in the past and the project provides an ideal opportunity for the community to express their deep gratitude to them while also offering the men the opportunity to continue to utilise their great experience and wisdom for the benefit of society."
“There are great benefits for clubs getting involved in this initiative out from the visible benefits of improving the quality of life of particular people in your area the club will also be in a stronger position to make applications for grants from various agencies outside the GAA.”
Participation in the project will involve the clubs organising social activities in their respective areas - some of which will be GAA orientated. However, it is important to note that the Initiative is not exclusive to GAA members and the hope would be to have all men within a Club's parish to be made feel welcome.
Paddy Kelly has been appointed as a provincial co-ordinator to help and encourage clubs in Meath to join this initiative. Those who are interested can contact him at: 086 8282458

'Everyone can do something'

Adult volunteers from Ratoath Foroige Club recently visited Leinster House, where they were showen around by Regina Doherty TD.

Deputy Doherty has leant her support to the club's drive for adult volunteers. Entering their ninth year, the club offers young people the opportunity to run the club for themselves with the support and guidance of trained adult volunteers.

"Nobody can do everything, but everyone can do something by volunteering. This is a wonderful opportunity to make a difference in the lives of our young people and for volunteers. Foroige offers the opportunity make new friends, discover new talents and learn new skills for your own development of career," said deputy Doherty.

Ratoath Foroige are currently seeking adult volunteers to help in the running of the club, every Tuesday, 7.00-8.30pm. Induction and continued training will be provided.

For further details contact Foroige regional youth officer Joeanne O'Brien (086) 6579606

Regina Doherty T.D. on whether there is a enough time and information for voters

A Yes vote will help keep Meath on the road to recovery

Fine Gael Meath East TD, Regina Doherty, has today (Friday) said that a Yes vote in the Stability Treaty Referendum will help keep Meath on the road to recovery, by bringing about the certainty needed for jobs growth.

“As someone who has worked in the private sector for most of my career, I understand the need for certainty. International job creating investors thinking about coming here also crave certainty. They want to know that Ireland is moving forward on the road to recovery. We can give this to them by voting Yes in the Stability Treaty Referendum

“We’ve seen the benefit of Foreign Direct Investment in recent months in the North East, with the announcement from PayPal that it is creating 1,000 jobs in Dundalk, and a series of high profile announcements in Dublin from companies like Cisco, Amgen, Mylan, Mastercard and Sky. If we want to continue to attract this kind of inward investment, we need to send out a message of stability and certainty by voting Yes on May 31st.

“There are a number of positive reasons to vote in favour of the Stability Treaty. Firstly, it will give Irish and global companies the confidence they need to invest here and create jobs. The Treaty will also ensure governments stick to sensible budget rules, to avoid the reckless mistakes of the past from being made again. “And crucially, voting Yes to the Stability Treaty ensures we will have access to the ESM, Europe’s new bailout fund, should we ever need it.

Despite what Sinn Féin and others may claim, this is set out in black and white in the Treaty document; if we reject the Treaty, we will be cut off from these funds. “We need to borrow about €19 billion to run the country in 2014, after our current funding runs out.

Those opposing the Treaty cannot explain where we would get this money from if we block ourselves off from the ESM. “It’s also important to make clear what the Treaty does not do. It has absolutely no impact on our corporation tax rate; in fact the word tax does not feature at all in the Treaty document.

It does not threaten our sovereignty; decisions about Ireland and our finances will continue to be made by our government. “The Stability Treaty won’t solve all of our problems overnight. We still have a lot of work to do, and the Treaty will help us get there.”

Levy on construction industry would be fairest resolution of pyrite problem

Fine Gael TD for Meath East, Regina Doherty, has called for the introduction of a mandatory multi-annual levy on the construction industry to cover the cost of repairing pyrite affected homes. Pyrite is a building material which has caused significant damage to homes.

Pyrite has been used in the construction of an estimated 20,000 houses in north Dublin, Meath and Kildare and has left homeowners facing massive bills for problems such as cracked walls and floors.
“With the pyrite panel due to report imminently, affected homeowners are extremely keen to know who will pay for the repair of these homes.

“I don’t believe it is fair that the individual homeowners should have to pay for the significant bills to fix their homes, given that they bought their houses in good faith. Nor do I believe that the taxpayer should pay for it. I think the fairest solution is that a mandatory multi-annual levy be imposed on the construction industry in order to recoup the costs that will be incurred in repairing these homes.

“The repair of these people’s homes is a major priority and I hope the report of the pyrite panel will kickstart this process. I believe the construction industry should welcome this process in that it will provide much needed employment to the sector. It will also give the value back to this large swathe of our housing stock which is currently highly compromised.

“I have been contacted by numerous homeowners who are experiencing serious defects within their homes and am acutely aware of the impact that this issue has had on people. These people, many of whom bought their houses during the peak of the property boom, have had to endure the nightmare scenario of their homes being destroyed in front of their eyes.

“I believe that it would be fundamentally wrong for the homeowners to have to pay for the repairs and it would be wrong to foist the charge on Irish taxpayers who have already had to fund payments to bondholders of our banking institutions.”

Sinn Féin continues to talk absolute rubbish about future funding if we vote No

Fine Gael Meath East TD, Regina Doherty, has today (Wednesday) accused Sinn Féin of continuing to talk absolute rubbish about where we could get funding to run the country in the future if we vote No to the Stability Treaty. Deputy Doherty was responding to claims from Sinn Féin’s Mary Lou McDonald that Ireland would be able to access the ESM, even if we reject the Treaty.

“I was left flabbergasted this morning when I heard Mary Lou say that if we vote No Ireland would still be given funding from the ESM, Europe’s new bailout fund, should we ever need it. I am beginning to wonder if Sinn Féin actually believes the myths they are pedalling.

“Let’s look at the facts here; voting Yes is the only way to ensure access to the ESM, which will act as an important insurance policy for Ireland. The certainty and stability brought about by having access to the ESM will not only be good for jobs growth, it will ease our entry back into the money markets.

“It is clearly stated, in black and white in the Treaty document, that only countries that ratify the Stability Treaty will have access to the ESM. Those countries that choose not to ratify the Treaty – which Sinn Féin is advocating – will not have access to this important source of funding. It’s that simple.

“Sinn Féin wants this country to take a leap into the unknown. They want us to take a massive risk, a gamble, and hope it works out for the best.

“Instead of uncertainty and risk, I believe we should vote for certainty and stability. A Yes vote will be good for investor confidence, which is so essential for jobs growth. It will ensure governments across Europe sign up to sensible budget rules, to prevent the mistakes of the past from being repeated. And it will provide access to the ESM.

“It’s about time Sinn Féin started talking honestly in the best interests of this country, instead of engaging in reckless and irresponsible rhetoric.”

Flower power brings healing garden in Our Lady’s Hospital, Navan

Fine Gael Meath East Deputy, Regina Doherty today (Wednesday) congratulated Our Lady’s Hospital Navan, on the completion of its new rehabilitation garden for patients recovering from orthopaedic surgery.

“I’d like to express my admiration to the patients, their families and friends and   whose sponsored   walk and generous contributions,  have turned  the garden plans into a wonderful reality.”

The garden with its differing surfaces, slopes, steps and seating is used by the staff orthopaedic staff as an outdoor treatment area, but also provides patients with an enhanced hospital stay and a place to enjoy with their visitors

Speech by John Bruton, former Taoiseach and current Vice President of Fine Gael, at the launch of the Meath Fine Gael campaign for a Yes vote to the Stability Treaty, Ardboyne Hotel, Navan

The net question in the Referendum is whether Irish permanent law should be amended to constrain governments running up debts in future. In a way, this should not be a controversial issue.

If governments run up debts, these debts have to be serviced or repaid by citizens.  Prudent citizens should, I believe, be in favour of using the law to prevent governments piling up unnecessary or wasteful liabilities for future generations. It is very difficult for an individual voter to follow what a government is doing with its finances on a day to day basis. So having limits and independent controls should be seen as helping people ensure that their money is managed prudently by their government.

Opposition parties, in particular, should favour placing limits on borrowing by current governments because, if they ever find themselves in office, they will be the ones  who will have to put money aside to pay interest on the previous government’s debts, before they can spend any money at all on day to day services or investment for the future.

If the Stability Treaty is ratified by people on 31st May, the Dáil and the people will be much better informed about what the government is doing with the people’s money.

An independent Fiscal Advisory Council will keep the Dáil, and the people, informed about trends in government finances. If mistakes are being made in estimating future revenue or spending, the Dáil and the people will have a new means of keeping government finances honest, so to speak.

This searching analysis of government finances by the Fiscal Advisory Council, and also that by the European Commission, will greatly enhance Dáil Eireann’s ability to carry out its duties under Article 17 of the Irish Constitution. This Article requires the Dáil to approve government spending and taxation. If the Stability Treaty is approved, the Dail will have much better quality information for making these important decisions. Governments will not be able to produce phoney estimates, something of which I had direct experience myself as incoming Minister for Finance in 1981.

And, under Article 13 of the Stability Treaty, government and opposition parties the Dáil will have a new means of observing and influencing the economic policies of other EU countries. There will be a new conference of parliamentarians drawn from economic affairs committees from all Member States of the euro. As an export economy, we need to have an input into the policies of our neighbours, and this provision in the Stability Treaty will help give us that.

Some people are describing the Treaty as an ‘austerity treaty’, because it places limits on government borrowing.

But borrowing is not a cure for austerity.

Borrowing is often just a means of postponing austerity.
It is a means of getting the next generation to pay this generation’s bills, without consulting them. And if the interest rate is high, the austerity in the future will be much greater than anything that would happen if problems were faced up to now.

The idea of placing limits on government borrowing and debt is not new. Back in 1992, the Irish people in a referendum approved our joining the Euro currency, and agreed to rules to defend the value of that currency by limiting government debts to 60% of GDP, and government deficits to 3% of GDP.

Put another way, we agreed that our overall government debt would not be more than just below two thirds of everything everyone earned in Ireland in a year, and that the government would not borrow additionally, in any one year, more than three cents for every euro earned by the country as a whole in a year.

These rules were put in the form of an EU Treaty, known as the Maastricht Treaty, approved by the Irish electorate on 18th June 1992.

Some might ask why we needed a rule like that, about government borrowing, in a Treaty primarily about setting up a new common currency?

The answer is that if you want to prevent a shared currency becoming worthless through inflation, you have got to control the amount of money in circulation. One of the ways that money is put into circulation is by governments borrowing money, and spending it.

Unfortunately we have not been able to keep our word to ourselves.  All over Europe, governments have got themselves into trouble because they have breached the 60% and 3% limits.

Of course, this was not the only problem, nor the only cause of the economic crisis.

Private businesses and individuals also borrowed and spent excessively. There was too much credit given out, and things were bought with that credit for more than they were worth.  The European Central Bank, and the Central Banks of most European states, did not put a stop to this. The same thing happened outside the euro area, in Britain and the United States, so it was not a problem of the euro as such.

To use an analogy, it was a problem of people, and businesses, acting like sheep, following one another, rather than thinking about where they were going.  Meanwhile the fences had been allowed to get into disrepair, parts of the field had no fences at all, and the shepherd had gone to sleep.

Now we have to put these things right.

The Stability Treaty is only a small part of the solution.

Ireland, and the rest of Europe, needs to reform its banking system.  A functioning economy needs banks. But banks never again must be allowed grow to be too big to fail.

Genuine economic growth needs to be promoted based on developing new products and services that the rest of the world will want to buy.

The consequences of our ageing societies must be addressed honestly.

Confidence must be restored, so that people will feel free to spend what they have. But confidence is only sustainable if it is based on truth; the truth about what we owe, and the truth about what we are spending. The Stability Treaty will help us tell ourselves the truth about our own economy, more fully than we did in the past, and in that way it will help restore confidence.

A Yes vote to the Stability Treaty will not bring complete certainty. Uncertainties will remain in the European and global economies. 

The EU is a political organisation. It is democratic. All EU governments have public opinions to consider, not just the Irish Government. The road to a stable, sustainable, and productive economy in Europe will be a long one, probably with some  detours. But the EU has made a start:
·         on banking;
·         on regulation;
·         on monitoring systemic risks and;
·         on monitoring economic as well as fiscal imbalances.

There is more to do:
·         on promoting investment;
·         opening up markets to competition and;
·         freeing people to work in other EU countries by  recognising their  qualifications.

But, having served as an Ambassador in the United States, and observed the United States legislative process at close quarters, I can say that the European Union is much further along the road towards dealing with its - admittedly more severe - long term structural and budgetary problems, than the United States.

The EU system is not deadlocked. It is working, slowly, sometimes incompletely, but it is working. Passing the Stability Treaty is a part of that work.

People considering cosmetic surgery should be fully informed of medical implications

Fine Gael TD for Meath East, Regina Doherty, has highlighted the need for people to be fully informed of medical the reprecussions of any cosmetic surgery procedure.

Deputy Doherty, who is a member of the Oireachtas Committee on Health and Children, was speaking following today’s appearance of Chief Medical Officer, Dr Tony Holohan, before the Committee to speak about the impact of faulty silicone breast implants made by French company PIP.

“It is clear to me that the current arrangement of self-regulation of the cosmetic surgery industry in Ireland is not good enough. On that note, I strongly welcome the news that the Department of Health is preparing legislation to deal with the regulation of the cosmetic surgery industry. It is sorely needed.

“This point is underscored by the case of the implants manufactured by French company PIP, who deliberately used industrial grade silicone during production. An estimated 1,500 Irish women have had this product inserted in their bodies.

“One company, which carried out the breast augmentation procedure with over 900 of these women, have proven to be far from helpful to the women who underwent the procedure with them. I hope that with the regulation of the industry in Ireland, patients will be spared the hardship that these women have had to go through.

“I urge the Department of Health to ensure that all advertisements for cosmetic surgery services contain advice for people to visit their GP in advance of any procedures to assess their physical suitability for the treatment and the potential medical implications. The State has a duty of care to its citizens and as such should encourage people to ensure that they are aware of what they are undertaking.”