Warning over ‘eye-watering’ levels of youth unemployment
The National Youth Council of Ireland has described the level of youth unemployment in Ireland as “eye-watering” and warned of a major social and economic crisis if young people continue to be unable to get onto the jobs ladder.
Speaking on RTÉ’s This Week, Deputy director of the National Youth Council, James Doorley, said six out of ten young people in the labour market were now unemployed.
Recently released CSO figures showed that 59% of people aged 15-24 were unemployed in March.
“At the height of the last crisis ten years ago we had 30% youth unemployment and that was a huge political crisis,” Mr Doorley said.
“There doesn’t appear to be a plan from Government. We have a social and political crisis if we allow young people with talent and qualifications to not gain a foot on the ladder.”
Report recommends Vitamin-D to combat Covid-19
RTÉ has reported that a group of politicians recommended Irish people take daily Vitamin D supplements due to growing international evidence that it may help prevent Covid-19 outbreaks.
The recommendation is contained in a new report which says that anyone attending Covid-19 test centres should be given Vitamin D, and that an ‘opt-out’ system for the supplement should be created in nursing homes and among healthcare workers to encourage the uptake of the vitamin.
The 28-page report was composed by the cross-party Oireachtas Committee on Health in recent weeks as part of its ongoing review of the Covid-19 situation in the country.
The report is based on the views of the Covit-D Consortium of doctors from Trinity College, St James’ Hospital, the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Connolly Hospital Blanchardstown.
Scientists say bitcoin could derail China’s climate change targets
New research shows that bitcoin ‘mining’ in China is so carbon intensive that it could threaten the country’s emissions reduction targets, the BBC has reported.
The cryptocurrency’s carbon footprint is as large as that of one of China’s ten largest cities, the study found.
China has stated that it wants its emissions to peak in 2030, and it has plans to be carbon neutral by 2060.
However, scientists say bitcoin mining could threaten to derail that plan. China accounts for more than 75% of bitcoin mining around the world, researchers said.
The study was written by academics from a number of universities across the world, and published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Communications.
Rural areas in China are popular among bitcoin miners, mainly due to the cheaper electricity prices and undeveloped land to house the servers.
Miners play a twin role, auditing bitcoin transactions in exchange for the opportunity to acquire the digital currency.