The EU initiative will see parking spaces transformed in parts of Dublin today, while tomorrow will see people encouraged to go into town without their car.
Electricity is more readily available and cheaper than petrol, but people need to be converted to electric cars and realise that you can still get high performance from those vehicles, writes Stephen Wynne.
Maximum release fees, a ban on clamping in hospitals and a two-tier appeals process are just some of the 38 legislative proposals given to Leo Varadkar today.
The cost of petrol and diesel at the pumps increased again in the last month, adding a reported average of €10 onto the cost of running a modest family car.
That is according a new AA Rescue survey which showed that more women neglect “simple yet important” tasks like checking tyre pressure than men – but both genders fare badly overall.
Although the number of new cars licensed decreased last month compared to October 2010, overall this year more new cars have been licensed than in the previous year.
The AA said that the average price of a motor insurance policy has dropped from €567 to €549 since the beginning of this year, and that the new stringent drink-driving laws could have a further positive effect.
The Transport Minister is hoping to bring in new operating guidelines for clampers after motorists contacted him about their problems with the clamping industry.
The blood alcohol limit for drink-driving will be reduced from 80mg to 50mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood from this Friday – certain drivers will be tested at an even lower limit of 20mg.
SIXTY-EIGHT PER cent of patients are unaware that they can officially complain about their hospital stay.
An Irish Society for Quality and Safety in Healthcare survey revealed that although 93 per cent of the patients surveyed were satisfied with the service they received, one in every five wanted to discuss an area of dissatisfaction but a third felt they never had the opportunity to do so.
The aspects of care that patients were most dissatisfied with included emergency department conditions and waiting times and lack of information about hospital routines, tests, medication side effects and after-care.
So today we want to know: Have you ever lodged a complaint about a hospital?
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