Government accused of doing a ‘terrible job' simplifying and explaining pensions
It comes as Social Protection Minister Dara Calleary TD launches what he said was a major national awareness campaign for the new auto-enrolment pension, now called 'My Future Fund'.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Extra.ie
2 hours ago
- Extra.ie
Fears as Irish aid worker among eight kidnapped from Haitian orphanage
A Paramilitary gang has emerged as the chief suspects in the abduction of an Irish aid worker and seven others from an orphanage in Haiti. Residents in the Haitian town of Kenscoff have described scenes of 'complete chaos' as the group – called 'Live Together' – launched repeated raids on their neighbourhoods in recent weeks. Police have arrested a former senator with alleged links to the group. Fatima Jean-Jacques, the manager of My Green 509, an NGO in Kenscoff, told that her staff had to flee the town, and that her NGO shut for two months this summer to avoid attacks from the gang. A Paramilitary gang has emerged as the chief suspects in the abduction of an Irish aid worker and seven others from an orphanage in Haiti. Pic: Getty Images Ms Jean-Jacques, who attends St Nicolas, the same Kenscoff church as the nuns who run the orphanage, said there has been 'complete chaos' in the town in recent months. She said Mayo native Gena Heraty was kidnapped 'solely for money' and that Haiti has been slipping into chaos and gang fighting since President Jovenel Moïse was assassinated in 2021. She said the orphanage caters for local children and is located in the mountains. A Mass was held last night for Ms Heraty and her colleagues in Cushlough, near Westport, Co. Mayo. Ms Heraty, from Westport, was kidnapped in the early hours of yesterday morning with one child and six other adults. A Mass was held last night for Irish aid worker Ms Heraty and her colleagues in Cushlough, near Westport, Co. Mayo. Pic: Conor McKeown Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said the Government 'will continue to leave no stone unturned to ensure Gena and her colleagues are released'. Ms Heraty has been in Haiti for 33 years, working to help children with special needs in the island nation. She is well known around the commune of Kenscoff, about 10km southeast of the capital, Port-au-Prince. In a statement, her family said they are monitoring the situation, which they described as 'evolving and deeply worrying'. Ms Heraty is the director of special needs programmes at Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs (NPFS), an organisation that supports young people with disabilities. Tánaiste and Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Harris said the Government 'will continue to leave no stone unturned to ensure the Irish aid worker and her colleagues are released'. Pic: Sam Boal/Collins Photos NPFS is part of the Nuestros Pequeños Hermanos (NPH) network, founded in 1954 by Father William B. Wasson in Mexico. Kenscoff mayor Jean Massillon told The Associated Press in February that the town was under almost continuous attack by the Viv Ansanm gang coalition, with gunmen going from home to home and indiscriminately opening fire. According to AP, Viv Ansanm, which means 'Live Together,' formed in September 2023 as a coalition of two gang federations that were previously enemies. It was responsible for several attacks on critical government infrastructure in February, which eventually led to the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. The dead in Kenscoff in recent months include pastors, teachers and children. The attack on the town that began in January has left over 1,660 people homeless, according to the International Organisation for Migration. Irish aid worker Ms Heraty has lived in Haiti for three decades and has been the victim of extreme violence before. Pic: University of Limerick/RollingNews A former senator was charged with conspiring against the state and financing criminal organisations for allegedly supporting Live Together. Nenel Cassy was arrested on Saturday at a restaurant in Petionville, a wealthy district in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's National Police said in a Facebook post. The police shared photos of the former senator in handcuffs next to heavily armed officers wearing ski masks. Cassy was designated as a corrupt actor by the US State Department in 2023. He was accused by Haiti's police of backing the attacks on Kenscoff. A Heraty family spokeswoman said: 'We… are absolutely devastated by the awful news that Gena and seven of her colleagues were kidnapped from the orphanage grounds in Kenscoff, Haiti, on August 3, 2025. Gena has lived and worked in Haiti since 1993… The situation is evolving and deeply worrying. 'We are working closely with NPFS in Haiti and Ireland, the Irish Government, and international partners who are doing everything possible to ensure the [immediate] release of Gena and her colleagues. 'NPFS Haiti is working actively to ensure the ongoing safety and well-being of all the children and workers at the orphanage in Kenscoff during this challenging time. We ask that you keep Gena and her colleagues in your hearts as we pray for their safe return. 'Out of respect for the ongoing efforts and for Gena's safety, we are not in a position to share further details at this time.' Ms Heraty has lived in Haiti for three decades and has been the victim of extreme violence before. In 2013, she was struck several times with a hammer before two men used the same weapon to kill Haitian Edward Major in an attack at the orphanage from which she was kidnapped. Mr Major was killed as he tried to stop the robbery. Ms Heraty, who had been punched and hit with the hammer, was in a nearby bedroom protecting seven special needs children as the night watchman was murdered. 'We didn't know how they had killed him, we heard so much shouting and noise and banging, but we didn't hear a gunshot,' she told local media at the time. 'So we realised that they had killed him with the hammer. They must have knocked him on the ground, and they continued to beat him, I don't know.' The Department of Foreign Affairs has vowed to do all in its power to get Ms Heraty, her colleagues and an innocent child to safety.
Irish Independent
3 hours ago
- Irish Independent
Great-great-great grandson of Daniel O'Connell recalls the personal side of the Irish politician
When Johnny Cunningham was just a young boy he remembers discussions around the dinner table about the future of Derrynane House – the ancestral home of the Daniel O'Connell – and what would become of the home of the Irish politician who played such a monumental part in Irish history. For a brief moment it was even considered as a possible location for a Butlins Holiday Camp – but ultimately it ended up in the hands of the Government and is now one of the country's most visited locations as home of Ireland's most renowned politician who fought for justice and human rights.
Irish Times
5 hours ago
- Irish Times
Dublin's planned MetroLink will be obsolete because of artificial intelligence, says Dermot Desmond
Artificial intelligence (AI) will make Dublin's planned MetroLink obsolete and the Government should abandon the €10 billion project, according to businessman Dermot Desmond . Instead, Mr Desmond has urged the Government to concentrate on the coming advantages of AI , where autonomously-driven vehicles (AVs) will cut car ownership dramatically in the decades ahead. If approved, construction of the 18.8 km mostly-underground MetroLink should begin between 2028 and 2031, with services between Swords, Dublin Airport, Dublin city centre, and on to Charlemont in south Dublin city opening in early 2035. Equipped with driverless trains running every 3 minutes during peak hours, the MetroLink is proposed to carry 20,000 passengers each hour, each way when it opens. READ MORE Dermot Desmond has said he believes MetroLink will be out of date in 10 or 15 years' time. Photograph: Cyril Byrne However, Mr Desmond is scathing of the plan, believing that public and private transportation is on the cusp globally of the biggest changes for a century or more on the back of the growth of AI. The billionaire said he had believed that the Department of Finance should veto the MetroLink. 'I think it will be useless, out of date in 10 or 15 years' time. This is something that is not going to be required, it shouldn't be planned.' AI and autonomous vehicles will cut the numbers of vehicles on the roads dramatically, he predicted: 'I think you need to look at what's going to happen in the future and then plan backwards.' The billionaire investor has become increasingly interested in the subject of AI, sponsoring a conference in Belfast last month with Queen's University, which heard from major speakers from the United States and elsewhere. 'Where the change that's going to make a big difference to everybody in the world, not alone Ireland. I think that change is going to come out of transport,' Mr Desmond declared then. 'Within 15 to 25 years, I think it will be mandated that there will be autonomous vehicles. People will not be allowed to drive anything,' he said, adding that AI is already cutting travel times and saving energy. 'Public transport systems in the future will become much more efficient. Buses will know what and where the demand is and will organise themselves accordingly,' said Mr Desmond, who urged the Government to plan for wide-scale AV bus services. The changes to come will overturn every conception held today about transport in cities, with faster journeys, less pollution and far less demand for parking because there will be fewer private vehicles, replaced by robotaxis. Most cars today lie idle for 80 per cent of their lives. 'The most optimistic case for Dublin is a reduction of 98% in vehicle numbers,' he said, though he put most realistic reduction between 20% and 60%. 'AV cars will require less space on roads as they will be better able to travel efficiently if the margin for human error is removed,' he said, 'We already live in a world where our phones anticipate when we will leave for work and tell us how long it will take. '
