Latest news with #GNI
Irish Examiner
9 hours ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
Gas Networks Ireland spent €190m building 'capacity, security, and resilience' last year
Gas Networks Ireland (GNI) spent almost €190m last year on building capacity, security, and resilience in the system, including on critical pipelines and physical and cyber security. GNI chairman Kevin Toland said this was to meet the growing energy demand in Ireland, and secure the network from 'ever growing malevolent threats'. GNI's annual report for 2024 said it will spend more than €200m in 2025 to further bolster the security of the network. Mr Toland pointed out that gas plays a 'critical role' in Ireland's energy system. It is involved in the production of over 40% of Ireland's electricity — rising as high as 83% when renewable energy is not available. Writing in the GNI annual report, Mr Toland said they submitted a proposal in April 2024 to the Government to create a strategic gas emergency reserve to protect Ireland in the event of a gas supply reduction. Almost a year later the Government said it was backing the plan and would set up a liquified natural gas (LNG) terminal for such a purpose. In the report, Mr Toland said GNI invested €188m in the safety, capacity, security, and resilience of the network in 2024, including at stations in Moffat, Scotland, where both the British gas pipelines to Ireland come from. We also continued to advance our cyber and physical security programmes to protect our network from ever growing malevolent threats. The report said managing the risk of a physical or cyber attack was going to be a major priority moving forward. 'In 2025 we will invest in excess of €200m of capital investment to improve the safety, capacity, security and resilience of the network.' The report also said the €200m will progress the development of the strategic gas emergency reserve, key transmission connections, and facilitate a significant capacity upgrade project at their stations in Scotland. 'The threat of a successful cyber attack remains a key risk, and we remain vigilant to this very real and growing threat,' the report said. 'The UK remains Ireland's principal supply source. 'Any disruption to the UK's energy supply, or failure/disruption to our strategic gas infrastructure could seriously impact Gas Networks Ireland's business/operations.' It said GNI, along with the Irish Naval Service, 'responded to a subsea security incident when a foreign vessel [Russian ship, the Yantar] was detected operating on top of the sub sea pipeline Interconnector 1 in the Irish sea. 'As a result an unplanned sub sea survey to ensure no interference to the pipeline was completed.' It said GNI was a founding partner in 2004 of the European Union's horizon project VIGIMARE, through which key capital projects received €4.75m in grant funding to further develop 'our subsea critical asset protection' from the EU horizon europe research and innovation programme. 'This innovation project uses artificial intelligence algorithms on multiple data sources to identify and alarm if a vessel is acting suspiciously in the vicinity of subsea infrastructure,' it said.
The Star
a day ago
- General
- The Star
Dedicated to teaching Punjabi language
For over three decades, Dayal Singh has devoted his life to keeping the Punjabi language alive among Sikhs in Malaysia. The former government school teacher began his career teaching English in Kuala Lipis, Pahang, in 1969 and retired in Sitiawan, Perak in 2003. But his work as a Punjabi educator extended far beyond the classroom. In the late 1980s, he was roped in to teach Punjabi at the local gurdwara in Sitiawan. 'I did not plan it, but I took the challenge and it became a turning point in my life; teaching Punjabi quickly became a labour of love. 'I have been teaching the Punjabi language even before Punjabi Education Centres (PECs) were established in 2001, and I was among the pioneer teachers in the programme. 'In 2010, I moved to Seremban in Negri Sembilan, and although I had intentions to retire upon relocation, my passion could not be extinguished,' Dayal said. He offered to help after noticing a class at the Gurdwara Sahib Mantin was struggling. Every Saturday since, he has been making the 15km journey from his home to Mantin, teaching beginners and advanced learners phonetics, a skill that helps children who struggle with basic reading. 'Even when I am not well, I teach, as that makes me well and happy,' he added. Dayal emulates the dedication of his father, Ram Singh, who had taught him the basics at his hometown in Batu Gajah, Perak. 'In Batu Gajah back then, we had Punjabi classes every day after school. It became a part of who I am. 'Teaching Punjabi is more than just a service, it is a responsibility for me,' said the man who is fondly known as 'Masterji' (teacher). Similarly, Guru Nanak Institution (GNI) principal Phajan Kaur remains an inspiring force in Punjabi language education. Also a retired government school teacher, Phajan returned to her hometown in Ipoh, Perak, from Johor upon her retirement. Dayal teaching children at the Punjabi Education Centre in Gurdwara Sahib Mantin in Negri Sembilan. — Courtesy photo Phajan said she was recruited as part of the teaching workforce in the year 2000, just as KDM was in the midst of working on the framework of the PECs. Punjabi language lessons started in 2001. 'I scored an 'A' for SPM Punjabi Paper, so they pulled me in because I had the background and passion for teaching. 'I started teaching upper secondary classes and still teach until today. 'Although the student enrolment has dropped since 2001, I still see a glimmer of hope,' she said. She noted that children were more distracted these days with other activities and unfortunately, many parents did not prioritise Punjabi language education. 'Interest is still there but it heavily depends on parental involvement, especially from mothers,' said Phajan. She said students who shone, always had a strong support system at home. In order to keep students engaged, her team organises activities such as language carnivals and monthly birthday celebrations as well as use technology tools in class, including laptops and digital resources. 'We also hold student seminars. Every student is assessed through mid-year and end-year exams, and the school holds report card days where teachers meet with parents to discuss student progress and placement,' she said. 'Some families still struggle, especially those with three children or more. 'If a parent can afford to pay for one child, KDM tries to sponsor the other two,' she added. Despite the challenges, Phajan remains deeply committed. 'This is not just about language but about identity, values and keeping our roots alive for the next generation,' she said. During the 25th anniversary of Khalsa Diwan Malaysia's Punjabi education programme in Kuala Lumpur in May, Dayal and Phajan were among recipients who received the long service and 25 years of service awards respectively.
The Guardian
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
£5bn UK overseas aid cuts cannot be challenged in court, say government lawyers
Cuts of £5bn to the UK overseas aid budget cannot be challenged in the courts, government lawyers have said, even though ministers have no plan to return spending to the legal commitment of 0.7 % of UK gross national income (GNI). The assertion by Treasury solicitors that ministers are immune from legal challenge over aid cuts comes in preliminary exchanges with the aid advocacy group One Campaign. It is the first step in what could prove a highly embarrassing judicial review. In the spring statement in March the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said she was slashing aid from 0.5% to 0.3 % of GNI. The international development minister, Jenny Chapman, recently said in a Guardian interview that this level of spending was the new normal. The 40% cut, due to be imposed by April 2027, is being billed as necessary to fund a new permanent increase in defence spending required by long-term changes to the security landscape. The previous aid cut, from 0.7 % to 0.5 %, imposed by Dominic Raab, the then Conservative foreign secretary, was billed as temporary. It was accompanied by aspirational timetables for aid spending to return to 0.7%, the target set out in the 2015 International Development Act entrenching that figure as the government commitment on overseas aid. One Campaign says that for ministers to comply with the law, they face a choice of either repealing the act, a vote that some Labour MPs will be reluctant to justify to their electorates, or to set out a credible pathway to return to the target. The campaign said it is impossible for ministers to keep legislation on the statute book that places duties upon them they intend to defy. In their legal defence – a written exchange on the legal merits between government and One Campaign prior to a potential judicial review – government lawyers claimed a section in the act shields ministers from all legal challenge. They said the act's only mechanism for securing accountability is through a ministerial report to parliament. They pointed to a section of the act on the ministerial duty to report to parliament that states the reporting duty 'does not affect the lawfulness of anything done or omitted to be done by any person'. The lawyers told One Campaign that 'this puts beyond doubt that parliament intended the courts would have no jurisdiction'. This interpretation is being contested by the Liberal Democrat peer Jeremy Purvis, who helped draft the legislation and steered it through parliament. He said ministers cannot hide behind the narrow section of the act on minister's reporting duty to claim it ousts the courts. He added: 'This government has not just missed the target but is changing it, and there is no scope to do this. 'The simple fact is the government is seeking to avoid a vote in parliament, avoid the courts and avoid all accountability for reneging on all requirements under the act.' He added the government had set out no pathway to return to 0.7 %. One Campaign says the cuts are likely to be devastating. Its director, Adrian Lovett, said there was no evidence that ministers had met the requirement to undertake impact assessments of the cuts on poverty reduction and gender equality. Ministers say they only have to make such an assessment when cuts to specific programmes are being made.
Observer
09-06-2025
- Business
- Observer
Rebuild aid consensus
In 2015, the United Kingdom's then-prime minister, David Cameron, stood before the United Nations General Assembly and challenged other donor countries to follow the UK's lead and back the newly-minted Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for eradicating poverty with their aid money. 'We haven't just achieved the UN's 0.7 per cent [aid-to-GNI spending] target, we've enshrined it in law,' he declared. That was then. As heir to an extraordinary bipartisan consensus forged under the post-1997 Labour government, Cameron's Conservative government had established Britain as the most generous aid donor in the G7, and one of just four countries to meet the 0.7 per cent aid target. Now, a Labour government has torn up the remnants of that consensus, joined a global attack on aid, and set a course that will leave the UK among the world's least generous countries. The fact that a UK government led by the Labour Party, with its long tradition of internationalism and solidarity, has all but abandoned its leadership role on an issue encoded in its DNA illustrates the political forces shaping a new world order, notably US President Donald Trump's view of international cooperation as a zero-sum game played by losers. But it also challenges development advocates in the UK to focus on strategies aimed at minimising harm and rebuilding the case for aid. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the decision to cut foreign aid and channel the savings to an expanded defence budget ahead of a meeting with Trump. The aid budget is set to fall from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of Gross Nation Income – the lowest level since the late 1990s. After removing the roughly one-quarter of the official development assistance spent on refugees in the UK, Britain will slip from ninth to 22nd in a ranking of countries' Overseas Development Assistance as a share of GNI. While there has been opposition to the aid cuts, a new consensus has taken root. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch applauded the decision to convert ODA into defence spending. The far-right Reform UK party's election manifesto called for the aid budget to be halved. When Jenny Chapman, Britain's development minister, delivered ODA's death warrant, she told a parliamentary committee in May that 'the days of viewing the UK government as a global charity are over.' Some two-thirds of Britons, including most Labour supporters, support increased defence spending at the expense of overseas aid. The UK is hardly alone. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which accounted for more than 40 per cent of all humanitarian aid in 2024, has been dismantled. In Germany, the world's second-largest donor, Chancellor Friedrich Merz's new government will reduce an already-diminished aid budget. France is set to slash ODA by 40 per cent, while the recently collapsed right-wing government in the Netherlands, a longstanding member of the 0.7 per cent club, has decreased aid spending by more than two-thirds. The human toll of the cuts is already starting to emerge. The demolition of USAID has left acutely malnourished children without food, HIV/AIDS patients without antiretroviral drugs, and clinics unable to treat deadly diseases like childhood malaria. According to a recent study, Trump's suspension of aid could result in 14 million additional deaths, including 4.5 million children under five, by 2030. Cuts by the UK and other donors will inevitably add to these human costs. An already chronically under-financed humanitarian aid system now confronting famine threats and food emergencies from Sudan to Gaza and the Sahel has been pushed to the brink of collapse: less than 10 per cent of the 2025 UN appeal is funded. The political currents fuelling the attack on aid vary across countries. In the US, nihilistic anti-multilateralism has been a driving force. In Europe, fiscal pressures have interacted with right-wing populist narratives linking aid to migration, pressure on public services, waste, and corruption. Starmer now cites Russian security threats to justify deeper cuts. So, what can be done to rebuild an aid consensus? The first priority is to minimise harm. Maintaining the UK's £1.9 billion ($2.6 billion) commitment to the World Bank's International Development Association is critical because every dollar contributed can leverage $3-4 of financial support for the poorest countries. The UK could also make the most of a shrinking aid budget by channelling more humanitarian aid through local actors, rather than bureaucratic UN agencies. Still, tough choices must be made. There is a strong argument to protect spending on life-saving programmes, such as child nutrition, vaccinations, and HIV/AIDS, and for minimising cuts in areas where the UK is a global frontrunner, like girls' education and social protection. Even with a diminished aid budget, the UK could exercise greater leadership. With debt-service costs now crowding out spending on essential services in many low-income countries, Starmer's government could demand comprehensive debt relief at this month's UN International Conference on Financing for Development. Ultimately though, the case for aid must be fought and won in a public square increasingly dominated by right-wing populists. Political leaders in the UK and across the West need to communicate the hard truth that global challenges like climate change, war, and poverty require international cooperation. And they need to tap into the deep reservoirs of generosity, solidarity, and moral concern that define public sentiment even in the midst of our troubled times. Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025. Kevin Watkins The author, a former CEO of Save the Children UK, is a visiting professor at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa at the London School of Economics.
The Independent
22-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
More than 60 charities demand UK reverse ‘shameful' aid cuts that will expose women and girls to abuse
More than 60 major UK and international charities have called for the government to reverse funding cuts that they warn will ensure the 'worst aid budget for women and girls on record'. In a joint statement signed by Oxfam, Save the Children, World Vision and Care International, the 61 charities say they are 'deeply alarmed' by the 'shameful proposal' to shift money away from projects that specifically support women and girls by scrapping dedicated spending on gender equality. The charities estimate the closure of just one UK-funded violence prevention project, the 'What Works' programme, would put more than one million women and children at increased risk of abuse worldwide. One charity chief executive called the cuts 'dangerous'. In February, prime minister Sir Keir Starmer announced a plan to cut aid spending from 0.5 per cent to 0.3 per cent of the UK's gross national income (GNI) – a measure of the nation's total wealth. That amounts to roughly £6 billion cut from a current budget of £15.4bn. On 14 May, development minister Jennifer Chapman told MPs these cuts would fall on gender and education programmes, as the government sought to 'sharpen [its] focus' on humanitarian emergencies in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan. However, the coalition of leading charities have warned these cuts will mean 'specialised services for survivors of rape will disappear, girls will miss out on education, and women will continue to be excluded from positions of power and influence'. Currently just 12 per cent of all UK aid currently prioritises gender equality, which the charities say must be protected – with more than half of women's rights organisations surveyed by the coalition in developing countries saying they will have to close in the next six months because of aid cuts. 'We urge the UK Government to reverse course. It otherwise risks sending the message that the rights and lives of women and girls are expendable,' the statement reads. 'Without investment that specifically supports women and girls, specialised services for survivors of rape will disappear, girls will miss out on education, and women will continue to be excluded from positions of power and influence,' the statement adds. 'These decisions aren't simply about numbers on a balance sheet – they are choices that determine whether women and girls live in safety, go to school, or access healthcare. Behind every cut is a person whose life and future are at stake. 'As a coalition of organisations working toward a gender-just world both in the UK and overseas, we are deeply alarmed by the shameful proposal to eradicate standalone aid funding for gender equality.' Beyond gender equality spending, the 40 per cent cut to the UK's spending in developing countries is projected to leave millions at risk of malnutrition. An analysis by Save the Children previously shared with The Independent found the 'savage' cuts to UK foreign aid would leave 55.5 million of the world's poorest people without access to basic resources. Addressing the international development select committee last week, Baroness Chapman said: 'There will be a huge impact, I'm not pretending otherwise. I can't promise to protect every good programme'. She claimed that the crises in Ukraine, Gaza and Sudan are 'actually where the public expects us to lead'. But in their statement, the coalition of charities cited polling by YouGov that showed that 63 per cent of respondents think the aid budget should be used to protect women's and girls' rights. The UK's aid cuts come at a time when many rich countries are shifting spending away from development. But none has cut as deeply as the US, where Donald Trump 's decision to slash overseas spending is already having wide-ranging destructive effects, from leaving millions on the brink of famine, to derailing the end of the AIDS pandemic, driving millions of preventable deaths. Dr Halima Begum, chief executive of Oxfam GB said: 'The UK government's proposed rollback on dedicated funding for gender equality is beyond concerning – it's dangerous. With the rise of anti-rights movements, the fight to protect the rights of women and girls is more important than ever. 'Not only does it threaten the gains that have been made in recent decades, she said, but it is 'simply wrong that the Government is choosing to push more people into poverty and deepen gender inequality while the surging wealth of the super-rich goes untouched.'
