Search Results for: Ireland

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BELGIUM is the European Union’s (EU) salmonellosis hotspot according the latest comparative figures collated by Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency. In 2001, 104 cases were recorded in Belgium per 100,000 people, with other high figures being recorded in Germany (94 cases), Luxembourg (83) and Austria (81).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
AMONGST all European Union (EU) countries, Finland has the highest number of nurses and midwives per head of population, – 2,181 per 100,000 inhabitants – according to the recently released and latest available comparative figures. EU statistical agency Eurostat said that these 1998-2000 figures showed Portugal as having the least nurses and midwives (379 per 100,000) and Greece the second worst performer (391).…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
BRITAIN has been given a relatively clean bill of health in the latest Transparency International corruption rankings, being viewed as joint-11th least-corrupt country in the world, sharing its billing with Canada and Luxembourg. Finland was the most honest place in which to do business said the pressure group’s survey, followed by Iceland and the Denmark plus New Zealand at joint third.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
A SIGNIFICANT increase in the number of Chinese tourists coming to Europe is expected to follow the signing of an agreement between the European Union (EU) and the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) that will simplify and ease the tourist visa procedures for visitors to Approved Destination Status (ADS) countries.…

BY ALAN OSBORN
ABUSE of drugs and alcohol in the workplace may be a growing concern in European Union (EU) countries but there seems little evidence that the relevant authorities are unduly alarmed by it. An informal survey by Occupational Health of organisations and government departments suggests that little attempt has been made so far to assess the scale of the problem, still less to devise legislation aimed at workers, as distinct from society in general.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE EUROPEAN Commission has sent Ireland a legal final warning threatening possible legal action over Dublin’s alleged failure to protect too few maritime zones containing commercial shellfish fisheries. Brussels says that the Irish government has broken the EU shellfish water directive by designating only 14 shellfish zones for special protection.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
THE NETHERLANDS has restricted to 22,000 the number of working migrants it will accept from the 10 eastern and southern European countries joining the European Union (EU) this May. The announcement is the latest in a string of such caps imposed by existing EU Member States, (made by Austria, Belgium, France, Germany and Spain), ahead of the expansion of the union.…

BY JONATHAN THOMSON
A HIGH-LEVEL British police investigation is probing possible criminal activity by Northern Ireland insurance brokers who fraudulently inflate the cost of commercial premiums, pocketing the excess above their real price. The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) is working with the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), which uncovered evidence of “grossing up” during an investigation last year into frauds involving GBPounds 4 million in stolen ‘premiums’.…

BY KEITH NUTHALL
1. THE stage has been set for one of the fiercest internal EU legal battles in recent years following a decision by the European Commission to take the Union’s member states to court over their refusal to punish France and Germany for breaching the euro zone rules last November.…

Keith Nuthall
BINGE drinking is on the increase amongst young people in the existing European Union (EU), the European Economic Area and countries that becoming members in May, according to the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA). The EU agency noted from the latest available comparative figures that the proportion of 15-16-year-olds indulging in binge drinking (consuming five or more drinks in a row) rose from 47 to 57 per cent in Ireland during the late 1990s and from 37 to 50 per cent in Norway.…