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GOOD MORNING.
Here’s all the news to know as you start your day.
1. At least 124 people have been confirmed dead after a plane caught fire during a landing at an airport in Maun, South Korea.
The fire engulfed the aircraft carrying 181 people when it skidded off the runway just after landing and struck a barrier.
2. A man and woman have been charged with murder following the death of a man in Co Down on St Stephen’s Day.
Mark Dorrian was found unconscious at a block of flats in West Street, Newtownards, at approximately 01:50am on Thursday.
3. In the latest reveal from State Papers, it was found that unionists wanted Sinn Féin to be excluded from talks being carried out during a review of the Good Friday Agreement in 2004 after the attempted abduction and beating of former IRA member Bobby Tohill.
At the time, it was widely suspected that the men who abducted him were IRA members.
4. Georgia has inaugurated governing party loyalist Mikheil Kavelashvili as president this morning, despite his election being declared “illegitimate” by the outgoing leader and opposition groups.
The far-right former Manchester City footballer was sworn in at a parliamentary ceremony moments after outgoing president Salome Zurabishvili said she was the “only legitimate president”.
5. A marketing plan by Tourism Ireland was delayed because the late David Trimble, then-leader of the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP), objected to Great Britain being referred to as “overseas”.
Irish and British officials discussed the issue at a number of meetings in 2003 and 2004.
6. Israeli forces have detained more than 240 Palestinians including dozens of medical staff and the director of a north Gaza hospital they raided yesterday, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza and Israel’s military.
The health ministry said it was concerned about the well-being of Hussam Abu Safiya, director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, as some staff freed by the Israeli military last night said he was beaten up by soldiers.
7. Ireland’s economy contracted so far this year. Except it didn’t – it actually grew. How can both of these things be true at once?
Paul O’Donoghue explains how the Irish economy is still one of the fastest-growing in Europe – it just isn’t being properly reflected in our GDP.
8. A young Ulster side dug deep to grind out a fully-deserved interpro win in Galway yesterday, a 10-point victory over Connacht ending a five-game losing streak for Richie Murphy’s side and marking their first win on the road of the season.
Connacht will be deeply disappointed to come away with nothing, with Pete Wilkins’ men paying the price for a slow start and inaccurate attacking performance.
9. Outgoing Taoiseach Simon Harris wrote an article for the Irish Times yesterday, discussing the diplomatic and trade relationship between Ireland and the United States and the year ahead.
Harris outlined his view that the new Irish government must launch an “all-out diplomatic and trade offensive” in the United States as a new Trump presidential term begins.
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Complex mix of factors? Eh not really, the fact that women take on caring responsibility of children and/or elderly parents, so women either work part time and/or take career breaks and this is not recognised by society or the government as ‘working” so therefore no contributions.
I have taken career breaks and work part time due to the above, I know my pension will be effected but I will always choose my family and their needs, plus I am contributing towards society by providing unpaid care.
I could be dead by the time I can retire!
@Gucky: nail on the head here – my wife chooses to stay home and mind our children (not that we could afford childcare anyway) but I still think we would choose this anyway – all the government does is give you a measly 1500 per year tax credit for this and doesn’t recognize the work that goes into raising and taking care of the family – how about a better tax credit/ tax break for those spouses that want to contribute on their spouses behalf? All they seem to talk about is how they can get women back to “work” – equality should be there for those that choose to work and those that decide to stay at home.
@Gucky: And also the group in the study would have been affected by the Marriage bar – only lifted in the 70′s. Meaning a lot of them would of had to leave work once married, further hampering their potential to work and earn a pension. Horrible to think how they have been treated, forced out of work and also no provisions made to support them.
@Grainne Tallon: good point, I didn’t even think about that. A better analysis would be to analyse the current pension provisions of the current workforce if that’s the demographic that the laws are to effect.
@Sean Baylon: are you seriously saying that those that decide to work should get the same pension as those that decide to stay at home – with your logic the Jobseeker’s Allowance should be same average wage as those that go out to work
@lorcmulv: that isn’t what I said at all – I said that people who’s partners work should be allowed to contribute on their behalf as they are “working” in the home.
@Sean Baylon: 2 people work the same hours and one is specialised and earns 90k but the other 45k. Should they get the same pension? 2 people work different hours one earns 90k and the other 45k. Should they get the same pension? It doesn’t matter about gender or why the person works less hours. Simply some people pay more into their pension.
I’m not at all shocked by this. Women with children tend to not stay in the workforce as long as men over the course of their lives, as such, they get a lesser pension, usually just the state pension. Hardly a groundbreaking story.
So men who worked between 1965 and 2010 earned more pension than women in the same period?! They also earned more income. Women in the same period traditionally stayed home more. How is this news and why is the data 10 years out of date?
But there’s three different categories in retirement isnt there? Men women and politicians.
It is incorrect to conclude that there is no gender variance in the average state pension actually awarded.
The averaging of contributions over lifetime employments does reduce the actual, particularly for women, whose employment contributions are reduced by periods of domestic commitment.
Another factor is involuntary contract employment, whereby the state allowed widespread abuses by employers, to recategorise previously insure able jobs as self employment.
The recent announcement by a lady minister to redress these discriminations is limited in scope by age & records constraints, & does not offer equity universally. Unfortunately, The headline pronouncements do not reveal the continuing limitations to the rectification of these pension reductions.
I work with a number of job sharers who chose to work less hours because they wanted to spend time with their children. They are able to do this because their partners work full time. As a result they will have less pension contributions than their partner. Gender doesn’t come into it they simply earned less in paid employment which was their choice.
Every job sharer I know does no overtime and expect other team members to because they don’t have kids or they have a partner. This is not equality
Don’t have baby’s basically
Women also tend to be much more risk averse when it comes to finances. They are far less likely to invest money, preferring to keep it in deposit accounts – thus becoming poorer over time.
By the way, I’m not saying this is the main cause but it’s a large contributor.
Total household income is a much better indicator of economic well-being!
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