WINTER
2016 JUDGEMENTS
Paul O’Sullivan
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK: U.S. POLICIES IN THE ERA OF PRESIDENT TRUMP Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev
5 TIPS FOR MANAGING STRESS IN THE WORKPLACE EXTREME WEATHER: CONSIDERATIONS FOR YOUR BUSINESS Caroline McEnery
HOW TO CULTIVATE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT IN YOUR SMALL BUSINESS WHAT GOOGLE KNOWS ABOUT YOU: FIND OUT WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW LEGAL BRIEFS MEET THE TEAM
TABLE OF CONTENTS Judgements - Paul O’Sullivan Economic Outlook - Dr Constantin Gurdgiev How To Deliver Persuasive Presentations How To Cultivate An Entrepreneurial Spirit In Your Small Business Extreme Weather: Considerations For Your Business - Caroline McEnery Business Briefs Legal Briefs 5 Tips For Managing Stress In The Workplace 8 Steps For Savvy Saving What Google Knows About You: Find Out What You Need To Know Meet The Team Range of Services
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WELCOME to the Winter 2016 edition of our bi-monthly newsletter.
We hope that 2016 has been a good one for all of you and has brought success to you and your business. This edition has articles which we hope will be of interest to you and, as always, we welcome your suggestions and feedback. If you have any legal queries, please do not hesitate to contact us.
Kevin and Paul.
JUDGEMENTS Paul O’Sullivan – Partner, Kevin O’ Donovan & Partners Solicitors
Repayment of Debts The option which you take will usually depend on the particular debtor and as to what assets they may have and whether these assets are available and can be taken and either sold off or used for the benefit of the creditor being the person owed the money. If you obtain a Court Order to recover a sum of money from a debtor that has real or actual goods and materials, often the decision is made to seek the assistance of the Sheriff if you are in the counties of Cork and Dublin or the County Registrar if elsewhere. If you apply for this to be done, the Sheriff or County Registrar will call directly to the place of business or home of the debtor and seek possession of whatever assets are available which would be subsequently sold on with the proceeds of same being furnished to the creditor after the Sheriff or County Registrar has taken out their fees and costs for obtaining same. Such a procedure is generally taken where the debtor has assets which the creditor knows about and which are likely to be available to be sold by the creditor without any problem of the asset being secured by a mortgage or subject to hire purchase or otherwise. Obviously, if the debtor has no assets as such or has no assets which are not secured by a mortgage or otherwise, the process of going down the road with the Sheriff or County Registrar is not advisable as the creditor will end up ultimately frustrated and without any recovery of monies and will be back to square one. The second option is to register the judgement which you have obtained in the Central Office of the High Court and this can be done in respect of Orders obtained either in the District Court, Circuit Court or the High Court. Evidence of the judgement will be available to other individuals and businesses throughout the country who will see that there has been a judgement registered against either the debtor as an individual or their business and this will obviously make third parties very circumspect in having any further dealings with the said person or business with the judgement. This is particularly the case
with business and is the reason why businesses do not want to appear in such registers as the Stubbs Gazette among others. However, the disadvantage of doing so is that while you may succeed in making things unpleasant for the debtor, it doesn’t actually get you any money back and you are still left without recouping the monies owing to you. Another option used relates to the registration of a judgement mortgage and what this essentially allows you to do is that if you get an Order against an individual or a business that owns a property whether it be lands or buildings, it is open for you to register the judgement on the title of this property so that it essentially becomes like a mortgage and safeguards the creditor’s position by ensuring that while the creditor cannot as of itself force a sale of the property over which the judgement mortgage has been registered, it prevents the registered owner doing anything with the property without reference to the judgement mortgage and without having to disclose the existence of same to a potential purchaser who will in turn insist on the judgement mortgage being redeemed or repaid so that it is taken off the title of the property being purchased. This is especially suitable where you as the creditor might have information or an expectation that the property being registered is likely to be sold at some stage in the future. The period that a judgement mortgage remains on title is for twelve years but it can be renewed thereafter. Again, it doesn’t automatically get you a recovery of monies but it does mean that the debtor is somewhat hamstrung in disposing of any property which they own over which the judgement mortgage has been registered. Normally in such an scenario, if there are funds available from the sale of the asset, these are used to discharge the judgement mortgage or at least, there is some engagement from the debtor owner with the creditor to try and reach some agreement as to a figure to be paid out of the sale proceeds by way of partial reimbursement of the monies owing. One would ask why the creditor in such a situation would agree
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to take less but in reality, if a debtor owns a property, there is often at times a first legal charge already on the property and it may be in the interest of the judgement mortgage holder/creditor to accept a lesser amount so as to facilitate a sale or disposal of the asset as opposed to letting a bank who has the first legal charge obtain possession of the property and sell it as mortgagee in possession thereby meaning that the holder of the judgement mortgage receives nothing back in the disposal of the property by a bank as mortgagee in possession. Finally, as regards the recovery of monies, one can apply for an Instalment Order in the District Court and under this, the debtor will be mandated or instructed by a Judge to pay a specific amount each month to the creditor until the full debt or an agreed amount will have been repaid back in full. This is how it should operate in theory but in practice, it is a very unsatisfactory arrangement typically for a creditor in that the creditor has to go through a fairly tedious and time consuming process in order to get an Instalment Order and even when this is obtained and served, it is regular that the debtor may make a few initial payments and then go into default again in respect of the instalments. Furthermore and unfortunately from the point of view of a creditor owed monies, the Courts seem to be quite reluctant to penalise or punish a debtor for non payment or non compliance with
an Instalment Order. While the creditor and their solicitor and/or legal counsel have to jump through several procedural hoops in order to get to the stage of obtaining the instalment amount, a debtor is often shown great leniency and is frequently given additional time in which to sort something out and/or may even get the instalment amount reduced if they can show to the Court that their financial circumstances are such that compliance with the Instalment Order amount is not feasible. The Instalment Order process is only really suitable for a smaller amount of money owed as otherwise, the repayment of an instalment amount means that the amount owing could go on for several years thereby both lessening the benefit to the creditor and also allowing more opportunity for further default to occur. In practice, the Instalment Order route is used in respect of fairly small debts owing and is haphazard at best in being successful at recovering these amounts. In the position of larger debts, the use of the County Sheriff or County Registrar in recovering assets may be beneficial but this is entirely dependent upon the nature of the assets or business of the debtor and whether there are likely to be items such as motor cars, equipment or other goods that are available for seizure by the staff of the County Sheriff or County Registrar.
Sale of Property by Lending Institution As everyone is aware, arising from the economic crash in 2008 onwards, there was a huge issue of mortgage holders being in significant arrears due to job losses and other issues which made the repayment of mortgages totally unsustainable. In such situations, the banks have agreed to some changes in the repayment method by way of allowing a borrower i.e. the owner of the property, pay by way of interest only or pay a lesser amount of principal than strictly allowed under the terms of the mortgage. However, this often will still not sort out the satiation because if you are paying interest only or with a reduced capital amount, the problem for the borrower is that they are not really making any inroads into the capital left and they are essentially paying money which is not reducing their ultimate capital liability remaining on the property. In practice, the banks have been willing to enter into these arrangements with their customer borrowers where there has been engagement as the banks do not if at all possible want a large number of mortgages which are in default. The agreement of a revised repayment structure takes these mortgages out of the default category which is essentially a paper exercise to benefit the banks when they are dealing with shareholders and with the Central Bank and other such statutory bodies. The downside though for the mortgage holder is that even though this revised payment or
interest only payment is with the agreement of the lender, it is treated from the point of view of financial institutions as a default and does affect your credit history going on into the future. Where there is no voluntary discussion or engagement by the mortgage holder with the lending institution, the lending institution ultimately has the powers under the mortgage deed to take possession of the property and enforce its power of sale under the mortgage by way of public auction, sale by private treaty or otherwise. The power of sale as a mortgagee in possession is obviously of huge benefit to a lender and puts the lender in a different position when trying to recoup arrears. In the past number of years, it has been the general experience that the banks and lending institutions do not strictly speaking want to have to take possession of the property and sell by mortgagee in possession because it certainly lessens the value on the property and ultimately the amount which the bank will recoup from the sale of same. It is commonly accepted that where a property is being sold by a lending institution, the prices being offered by potential purchasers are significantly less than where the property is essentially being sold the owner but where this in reality is a sale by the bank with the consent of the borrower owner. Obviously, the benefit from the point of view of the mortgage holder is that the better the price achieved, the less of a remainder of the mortgage amount is then left with the result that it obviously leaves a lesser figure to be dealt with by the borrower/mortgage holder. However, in the situations whereby the mortgage holder has not consented to the sale of the property and has not surrendered possession to the lender, the lender is in such instance required to go to Court to get an Order for possession and sale and while this obviously delays matters for a period of time, it ultimately just results in additional costs being incurred which have to be discharged at some stage in the future. Some of the lending institutions have been more active in trying to sort out their mortgage arrears issues in this way but on balance, it is better for an individual who is in arrears and cannot hope to pay off the mortgage to make contact with the lender and try and sort out some sort of repayment structure that may work or if not, that they achieve the best deal possible for themselves in any consent sale of the property over which the mortgage has been secured.
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Negotiating Loan Restructures and or Asset Sales There has been a huge number of individuals and businesses in Ireland since the economic crash who have found themselves in a position whereby either the mortgage or loan has to be restructured or the individual debtor enters into an agreement for the sale of certain assets at a minimum price and as part of the sale restructure, the lender grants a certain write-off of the remainder of the debt once these minimum figures are achieved and sales of these properties are completed. It has been our experience in dealing with some of these restructures that while the bank or lending institutions have taken significant reductions or write-offs in order to achieve sales and partial recovery of the monies owing, the loan restructure agreement which the banks have prepared are very much pro the bank’s position and affords the banks massive protections in the roll out and ultimate completion of the provisions as set out in the loan restructure. Unfortunately, even where attempts have been made to alter some of the more blatantly biased provisions in favour of the lender or bank, the banks seem to operate a “take it or leave it� approach and do not really accept significant changes which would otherwise assist and safeguard in some shape or fashion the position of the debtor. However, it is important that a debtor, be it an individual or a business, take the agreement of a loan restructure seriously and go through each part of it in detail. It is also advisable to have assistance from an experienced individual who will be on your side. There are financial advisors, accountants and other individuals who are available and specialise in this area and it is advisable to have as much help and expertise on your side prior to completing the negotiations and ultimately signing the agreement. This in some way evens up the uneven playing field between the individual or business and the lender bank who has huge
help and expert assistance in the agreement and drafting of such loan restructure agreements. Certainly, the best possible result for a debtor is that they can agree with the lender that on the disposal of the assets as set out in the agreement, the balance is written off and the agreement is in full and final settlement of all liabilities which the borrower party owes to the bank or lender. This is not always possible and sometimes, the banks will take a somewhat practical approach whereby they will not agree to write off the balance of the loan that will exist after the disposal of the secured assets they will in practice not seek to enforce the recovery of any balance thereafter. However, in situations whereby the bank is insisting on any such balance being repaid by way of instalments or otherwise, it is important that this is agreed before one enters into a loan restructure agreement. Obviously however, this may not be possible in all instances and in these cases, the debtor has to just accept the agreement of the bank to the disposal of the assets for certain sums of money and that some type of a repayment structure in respect of the residual balance is put in place on terms that the debtor can fulfil. I hope that the above will be of some assistance to readers in setting out the means of enforcement of Court Orders, the sale by lending institutions of properties and how they go about that and finally the importance of getting the best advice possible when dealing with lenders on loan restructure agreements. Otherwise, you as an individual or business debtor may receive unwelcome surprises down the road due to the small print contained in loan restructure agreements prepared by the relevant bank or lending institution.
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in the Era of President Trump Dr. Constantin Gurdgiev
With the U.S. Presidential and Congressional contest behind us, it is time to tally up the end results in terms of their potential impact on the economic policies and markets. While the overall quality of election debates marked a new low for the U.S. political discourse, there are six key platforms for future economic policy development under the President-elect Donald Trump. All form an important, but commonly overlooked in the media, axis of the incoming Trump Administration’s dealings with the U.S. Legislature, now firmly in control of the Republican Party.
The likely outrun of Trump’s election is that the U.S. position on TTIP will harden in line with his demands to secure more preferential status to U.S. exporters, which will derail the deal. When it comes to TTP, it is unlikely that the Trump Administration will be able to completely re-write the agreement, but President-elect Trump might try to bring BRICS (at least India and Russia) into the agreement either directly or indirectly. This would be a welcome improvement, but hard to achieve, given the roles played by Japan, Canada and Australia in the TTP. The Chinese position will be further threatened by Trump’s calls to impose 45 percent tariffs on goods from China and the prospect of a trade war that such a move can engender. Of course, given the WTO standing of both countries, such tariffs are unlikely to stick. President-elect Trump also called for fundamental changes to be made to the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement) agreement with Mexico and Canada - an agreement that has been in place since January 1994. In an interview given in September 2015, Trump called NAFTA «the single worst trade deal ever approved”. He promised that the U.S. “will either renegotiate it, or we will break it’’.
FOREIGN TRADE:
Less is More? Donald Trump has opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TTP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) deals - the two cornerstones of the Obama ‘Legacy’ that are de facto corporatist agreements to promote largely big business interests and push through a geopolitical rebalancing of trade away from China, Brazil, Russia India, South Africa - the BRICS - and a host of other large regional trade powers, toward more U.S.-Japan-EU-centric trade arrangements. Both agreements contain far-reaching clauses advancing power of larger corporates over the signatory States. The agreements are positive in terms of reducing barriers to trade, including non-tariff barriers, but by being exclusionary in nature, they reduce trade between the signatories and non-signatories, thereby shifting economic power toward those states that were included in the deals. Despite the widely advertised arguments that the two trade deals benefit also smaller companies and entrepreneurs, in reality, there is precious little in either TTP or TTIP that will give smaller enterprises a more level playing field when faced with their larger rivals.
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The claim is false: Congressional Research Service found that NAFTA delivered ”net overall effect …on the U.S. economy appears to have been relatively modest…” Given the nature of the NAFTA-covered trade and investment ties, it is highly unlikely that President Trump will be able to achieve any meaningful changes to the agreement. Pulling out of NAFTA is a ‘nuclear option’ that will reduce access to important (from the U.S. exporters’ perspectives) markets, impose imports’ substitution costs and raise prices of key materials (including food) for U.S. companies and consumers. These costs will gradually be reallocated to other trading partners and consumers, leaving the U.S. in a long-run net negative position, albeit a modest one. Overall, we can expect contentious rhetoric from the White House to run against the bedrock of the Congressional Republicans’ traditionally pro-trade and pro-business stance. The contest will most likely result in the demise of TTIP to which neither the Congress nor the incoming President have any serious commitments, but re-affirmation of the TTP and NAFTA, with some added modifications being put on the table. China and Russia’s engagement in the TTP will be most likely derailed by the more hawkish Republicans in the Senate, but India can be invited to bilateral trade talks. Which will lead to renewed tensions with Iran and Pakistan, and an even closer alignment between Chinese and Russian interests in the Pacific and Central Asia. On the net, the election outrun does not provide much hope for renewed global trade growth, which means that the U.S. trade policy going forward will likely be consistent with the status quo ante of weak global trade environment extending beyond 2016.
FOREIGN POLICY:
TAX POLICIES:
Doing More with Less?
Different Music, Different Dance.
President-elect Trump has challenged the conventional neoconservative paradigms prevalent in Washington across a range of geopolitical pressure points.
During the election campaign, President Trump has promised the biggest tax reforms since the age of Ronald Reagan. This promise included a pledge to cut taxes across the board, bringing the headline corporate tax rate to 15 percent from the current maximum rate of 35 percent, and reducing top rate for personal income tax from 39.6 percent to 33 percent, while eliminating a Byzantine system of multiple tax brackets. Under Trump’s proposal, personal income tax rates will fall into three brackets of 12 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent, with zero effective tax rate applying to the working poor.
Trump called into question President Obama’s deal with Iran, claiming that he will aim to dismantle or, at the very least renegotiate, the original agreement. He also called for normalising the U.S.’s acrimonious relations with Russia. Whereby President Obama took a hands-off approach to geopolitical positioning of the U.S., allowing Washington hawks, like Hillary Clinton, Victoria Nuland, Samantha Power, and Susan Rice, to run foreign policy, Trump is likely to focus his Presidential efforts more on achieving twin objectives of modernising the U.S. military forces (including implementing Obama Administration-initiated modernisation of the U.S. nuclear arsenals) and simultaneously reducing the range of the U.S. military engagements around the globe. This can result in an improvement of the U.S.-Russian and U.S.-Chinese relations, but can also lead to a race across the EU to develop enhanced joint military capabilities. Scaling back U.S. financial expenditures on NATO will be tricky, but it is quite likely that the Trump Administration will be able to sell such a rationalisation of spending to the conservative Congress. If so, there will be some resources freed from endless geopolitical conflicts for domestic investment, targeted tax breaks and fiscal tightening - a potentially large-scale positive for the U.S. economy and markets.
These proposals are extremely far-reaching from an economic point of view. Reducing the burden of tax compliance (the dead weight of taxes), and cutting the overall burden of taxation on personal income will trigger significant growth benefits to the economy that will run over the long term. While it is hard to predict how much more growth the U.S. can get in the short run from such measures, in the longer term, my expectation would be that Trump’s tax cuts can increase U.S. potential rate of growth by 1.2-1.5 percentage points per annum. One significant benefit of reducing the number of tax bands is that a flatter system of taxation will create an incentive for people to return back to work. In recent years, the U.S. economy experienced significant declines in labour force participation rates. If Trump’s tax reforms trigger the reversal of this trend, the U.S. might be able to add some 2-5 million workers back to employment rosters, both reducing the cost of social security benefits and increasing economic activity. President-elect Trump’s corporate tax proposal is perhaps the most dramatic example of supply-side economic policy ever entertained in the U.S. Lowering corporate tax rate to 15 percent, while increasing pressure on companies using offshore tax havens, and supporting the U.S.’s ongoing participation in the OECD-led corporate tax reforms, will de facto eliminate incentives for U.S. multinationals to avoid U.S. tax net. In a recent article in the Cayman Financial Review http://www.caymanfinancialreview.com/2016/11/01/a-tax-cure-for-sisyphean-american-monetarism
I estimated potential gains to the U.S. Treasury from closing tax havens access to American multinationals at US$ 51-54 billion in one-off amnesty on currently expatriate funds. The economic benefits of on-shoring corporate earnings back into the U.S. run in multiples of these numbers. Incidentally, should the Trump Administration pursue such an agenda, of tax amnesty, plus corporate tax reforms, the country hardest hit by such measures will be Ireland. Furthermore, Ireland will sustain even greater losses (and the U.S. will sustain even greater gains) should the U.S. encourage the European Union adoption of the Brussels proposals concerning the introduction of CCCT reforms. Once again, it is hard to envision the Republican-controlled Congress putting forward significant opposition to majority of the above proposals, as they fall in line with the traditional supply-side stance of the GOP.
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ENTITLEMENTS AND IMMIGRATION:
MONETARY POLICY:
Bye-bye Obamacare, but not Cost Inflation.
The Invisible Godzilla.
From the very start of his campaign, Donald Trump aligned his incoming Administration with the Republican pledge to end Obamacare. In place of the universal access programme introduced by President Obama, Trump offered to “encourage competition between markets” across the states - a vague and uncertain proposal, staking more in terms of principles (return to markets-led healthcare access and pricing) than in terms of tangible policies. As the result, Trump’s position on healthcare is a net negative for the U.S. economy as an ever increasing share of households’ and companies’ budgets will be swallowed by already bloated and grossly inefficient health sector. In the age of demographic ageing and faced with the need to increase productivity of the older workers, this is a step in a wrong direction. Unfortunately, the Congress is likely to support the White House on this. During his campaign, Donald Trump promised to cut Federal spending programmes “so much, your head will spin”, while at the same time promoting the idea of Federally-funded expansion of benefits for some interest groups, including the U.S. veterans. The bulk of cuts, according to Trump will come in the reduction of Federal spending on education. Sadly, education is exactly the area where the U.S. requires more spending, not less. Currently, the U.S. education system does not provide a decent quality education from early childhood education through to high school education. This is most apparent amongst the fastest growing segment of American children: those residing in lower income households. In a way, President-elect Trump’s position on education will leverage the short-term fiscal stabilisation benefits for the long-term quality of the U.S. labour force. It will also force educational expenditures by households to flow even more toward earlier education, reducing funds available to fund college studies and widening the already dramatic education gap. Again, the net effect will likely be higher debt burdens on college graduates, reduced quality of incoming workers and college students and poorer prospects for labour productivity growth. Immigration was the most contentious issue raised by Donald Trump in his bid for the White House. One key area of importance – from an economic perspective – is the President-elect’s position on immigration is his promise to introduce “extreme vetting” of incoming immigrants, including legal immigrants. Currently, the U.S. operates one of the least welcoming regimes for skilled workers, investors and entrepreneurs coming from abroad. Despite the simple fact that swaths of the U.S.’s ICT, financial, pharmaceutical, healthcare and manufacturing sectors require skills that are in short supply in the U.S., the American immigration regime remains one of the most costly and prohibitive / restrictive in the world. Making immigration requirements tighter for skilled workers, entrepreneurs and investors will impose huge costs on U.S. employers and will undoubtedly lower labour and technological capital productivity in the country.
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The election will likely have significant repercussions for the U.S. monetary policy. Prior to the election, financial markets estimated the probability of a Fed rate hike in December was 82 percent. Post-election, the number dropped to 76 percent. Given the state of the U.S. economy, especially the low unemployment rate, currently the Fed rate should be some 350-400 basis points higher. Given the poor trends in the U.S. productivity growth, global trade stagnation and the inflation of the U.S. corporate in debt markets, the Fed rate should be at or only slightly (+50-75 basis points) above its current levels. Herein lies the dilemma: to cool off the financial bubble inflating across the U.S. markets, the Fed needs to tighten fast and sharp. To sustain the financial debt bubble already present in the corporate bond markets, and to allow for unemployment to rest around 5 percent mark, the Fed rate rises will have to be extremely slow and shallow. I suspect that, barring a significant uptick in the U.S. productivity and a decline in the producers’ and consumers’ confidence, the Fed will still proceed with the December-January hike. Once the new Administration is sworn into the office, no part of the Federal Government will want to see a hawkish Fed. Which brings us to consider the long run. Donald Trump routinely demonised the Fed, and attacked Janet Yellen personally as part of the alleged international conspiracy responsible for impoverishing Americans. Given her term ends in February 2018 and there is no easy mechanism available for Donald Trump to push Yellen out or to directly influence the Fed’s policies. Thus, we can expect more acrimonious exchanges and behind-the-scenes fighting over the next 14 months. Thereafter, all bets are off. Trump might opt for a Fed nominee with more conservative, hawkish credentials - a move that will likely push interest rates up both at policy and retail levels, setting the train in motion for a new recession. Alternatively, Trump might opt for a nominee - less acceptable to the Republican Congress - who would continue with excessively loose monetary policies of Yellen and her predecessors. In which case we are likely to witness a dilution of Fed’s powers, as such a move will most likely require revision of the Fed’s inflation targets. This is especially true if the Trump Administration induces higher fiscal deficits through tax cuts and public investment deployment. In a sign of things to come, treasury yields rose strongly after the election: the markets are pricing in the assumption that Trump’s calls for infrastructure and military spending will lift inflation and deficits. President-elect Trump’s impact on the Fed policy bears direct consequences for the Euro area. Firstly, any increase in the U.S. rates will lead to Euro devaluation against the U.S. dollar and a spike in the market interest rates, irrespective of the actions of the ECB. The ECB, in turn, will be left with nothing else to do, but to embark on lifting the rates. If the Euro area economic indicators continue to improve as they have been doing over the last 6-9 months, the ECB will have to hike faster and by larger margins. The risk, of course, is the same as in the Fed case: hiking too fast and too sharply will force the Euro economy into another recession. Not hiking fast enough, while fiscal spending balloons, will risk inducing run away inflation and creating larger and more unstable asset bubbles in the financial system.
put a stop to all US payments for UN global warming programmes. Sheer stupidity aside, these proclamations suggest that as President, Trump will closely align with climate change sceptics in the ranks of the Republicans in Congress. The result can be a large scale claw-back on alternative energy and storage technologies subsidies, reduction in R&D supports for climate change initiatives and potential re-diversion of Federal funds to support clean coal and other fossil fuels initiatives. Crucially, re-direction of Federal supports to fossil fuels will see an increase in fracking investments and boost U.S. exports of oil and LNG. The two sectors are likely to do well under the Trump administration, at the expense of the rest of the U.S. economy.
ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY:
Risks Last, but not least, Donald Trump’s campaign offers significant insights into how his administration is likely to deal with one of the key longterm systemic risks the U.S. (and global) economy is facing today: the risk of climate change. During the months of campaign speeches, Trump has called global warming a hoax and accused China of creating the myth in order to undermine U.S. manufacturing competitiveness. The President-elect also vowed to “cancel” the Paris climate agreement and
In summary, thus, the incoming new White House Administration offers, predictably, a more uncertain path to policies reforms and economic management than any administration on record, save for the first Presidency of Ronald Reagan. Whether or not President Trump will become a transformative leader of the country, in a similar way that Reagan did, remains an open question. The balance of Donald Trump’s proposals, vetted through the Republican-led Congress, suggests that more realistic, more pragmatic policies relating to taxation, fiscal spending and foreign policy will be a net positive for growth. On the other hand, more outlandish, populist positions, such as those on immigration and education policies, trade and climate change are likely to be moderated by the Congress. Despite this moderation, however, there remains substantial risk that attempting to implement these policies positions in full can induce a highly costly and disruptive momentum in U.S. economic environment.
Dr Constantin Gurdgiev is the Adjunct Assistant Professor of Finance with Trinity College, Dublin and serves as a co-founder and a Director of the Irish Mortgage Holders Organisation Ltd and the Chairman of Ireland Russia Business Association. He holds a non-executive appointment on the Investment Committee of Heniz Global Asset Management, LLC (US). In the past, Dr Constantin Gurdgiev served as the Head of Research with St Columbanus AG (Switzerland), the Head of Macroeconomics with the Institute for Business Value, IBM, Director of Research with NCB Stockbrokers Ltd and Group Editor and Director of Business and Finance Publications. He also held a non-executive appointment on the Investment Committee of GoldCore Ltd (Ireland) and Sierra Nevada College (US). Born in Moscow, Russian, Dr. Gurdgiev was educated in the University of California, Los Angeles, University of Chicago, John Hopkins University and Trinity College, Dublin.
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HOW TO DELIVER PERSUASIVE PRESENTATIONS It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to deliver a good presentation. We all know the dos and don’ts: look your audience in the eye, don’t read from a script, and keep the slides simple. However, when it comes to persuading decision makers to buy into your proposal, the basics won’t cut it. A strong outline is the key to ensuring your idea is approved. Use this simple checklist - a range of questions to ask yourself - to find out whether you’re defusing objections from the start, and to ensure that the ‘‘yes’’ is more likely.
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WHAT’S THE PROBLEM YOU WISH TO SOLVE
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CAN YOU SIMPLIFY THE STRUCTURE
Remember that you’re overly familiar with the idea, and even the most complex facets are obvious to you. However, people hearing about it for the first time may be lost in translation. Consider ways in which you can simplify or clarify the information. You could use phases or numbered steps that enable your audience to grasp the complex solution. This should also inspire more confidence in your proposed path and provide an overarching structure for the rest of your presentation. Even experienced sales people talk about the solutions they offer right at the start of the presentation. Remember that outsiders who have not been involved in the development process of the project, and therefore, they may not be privy to the problem you are trying to solve. Unless you explain it to them upfront, you may risk losing them early on, as they may not understand the relevance of your proposal.
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WHY SHOULD THEY MAKE A DECISION NOW
The problem you are trying to solve may be relevant, but if they have successfully avoided it thus far, they may not see the value in changing now. It’s up to you to show them why they should act now to avoid the problem worsening. Explain the cost of inaction.
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CAN YOU INCLUDE A STORY?
While anecdotes seem frivolous to some, storytelling is actually an advantageous factor that you should include in your toolkit. You don’t have to tell elaborate stories, but pairing a simplistic anecdote with concrete examples of how your solution helped others, will create a visual connection with the rest of your presentation.
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HAVE YOU INCLUDED A POWERFUL CALL TO ACTION?
HOW WAS YOUR IDEA VETTED
You may have worked on this project forever, however, your audience may not appreciate the depth of the effort. Contextualise it by highlighting the evidence of your competence and the seriousness that went into finding this solution to their problem. You could mention all the researchers who were interviewed to establish the best practices you recommend, or the pilots that were run to test your concept. This is a crucial element that you should build into the outline early on.
For you, the next step after a powerful presentation is obvious, however, most professionals fail to include a call to action in their presentations. It may not be that obvious to your audience though. Consider what you want them to do - invest in your company, or approve the budget to launch your product - and include a strong invitation as a call to action. Clarify for them which action they should take to show support.
NEXT TIME YOU DO A PRESENTATION, FOCUS MORE ON THE MEAT OF YOUR PRESENTATION, RATHER THAN THE THEATRICS AND THE AESTHETICS. YOUR CONTENT DETERMINES WHETHER YOU’RE GOING TO MAKE THAT SALE OR NOT.
By covering the bases above, you will be much more likely to achieve the desired results. 10
HOW TO CULTIVATE AN ENTREPRENEURIAL SPIRIT IN YOUR SMALL BUSINESS Economies rely on the entrepreneurial strengths of small businesses, which is why companies should encourage innovation. Even after years of experience, companies should stay on the cutting edge of innovation, where they change and even break the rules and encourage new business creation. Staying one step ahead of the game and of current trends, is a great way to set yourself apart in business. One way of doing so, is to work with other small businesses, helping them to deliver new and innovative solutions by putting your indepth market knowledge to use. Here are some more ways in which you can cultivate an entrepreneurial spirit:
HAVE FUN When starting a business, you should endeavour to follow your passion. That will ensure that you have fun, which is a priority on the journey of entrepreneurship. Passion is the driving force behind every successful business.
INNOVATE Continual development of new ideas and products will encourage your business to go from strength to strength. As a small business, you have carte blanche to do so, as there’s nobody to report to or seek approval from. You can let your creative juices run wild with new ideas and innovative designs.
TAKE CALCULATED RISKS & EMBRACE CHANGE Technology changes the way companies speak to their audience, which is why it is important to stay ahead of the latest trends that are driving your sector forward.
SUPPLY/DEMAND While coping with increasing pressure, be sure that your overall service quality does not suffer. Customers are the lifeblood of your business, and you must do everything in your power to meet their demands.
DON’T BE (OVERLY) CONFIDENT A fruitful business requires quality products to survive, and this needs to be backed by customer service excellence. Don’t rest on your laurels, as competitors will strive to improve on their offering, and you may fall behind them.
By following the five steps above, you can ensure that your business flourishes and that your brand remains entrepreneurial. Be positive, dynamic and innovative on the path to success.
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Extreme WEATHER
Caroline McEnery - Manager, The HR Suite
Severe weather challenges all of us and activities that we take for granted can become difficult or even hazardous when severe weather occurs. Ireland’s previous extreme weather events have in some cases impacted on employers’ ability to operate businesses, their ability to be able to provide work and employees’ abilities to make it to work. As we all know extreme weather can happen at any time of the year here in Ireland. In recent years we experienced extreme storms which highlighted the need for employers and managers to be proactive in managing this aspect of workplace disruption. Inclement weather refers to any kind of extreme weather - usually snow or ice, which might create hazardous driving conditions or significantly impair normal operations. It might also include severe storms, flooding or other natural perils. In general, organisations must continue certain operations during periods of bad weather due to the needs of clients, customers and other factors. However, it is advisable that all Companies have a plan which clearly defines how the organisation intends to deal with difficult weather situations. With winter now upon us organisations should consider some of the main aspects of their business that can be effected during adverse weather.
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PLACE OF BUSINESS How could the place of work be affected i.e. the site and buildings. Is the location at risk of storm damage including flooding? Are water pipes insulated (including in and around vacant buildings)? Employers should check premises over weekends and holiday periods and review the companies’ insurance cover. Contact insurance advisors in relation to any concerns you may have about your premises.
EMPLOYEES Can management introduce options that could minimise disruption e.g. working from home, teleworking or shift-work. Ensure the business has up-to-date employee contact details and that responsibility is assigned for planning and making preparations. Employers and management need to consider what has to be put in place to ensure employee safety across the place of work.
CUSTOMERS AND SUPPLIERS Have a plan for communicating with customers e.g. social media communication updates etc. Liaise with key suppliers with regard to arrival times of supplies and services. Ensure you consider customer and supplier safety within their access areas in the business. Assess how surrounding pavements and access points can be cleared in the event of snow and ice and make preparations for suitable equipment being available. Consider these key considerations for implementing a plan should the severe weather impact on your organisation this year. Common queries are outlined below that The HR Suite would receive from Clients in relation to disruptive weather.
ROSTER CHANGE In a normal situation employees would be entitled to notice of at least 24 hours of a roster change. However, if adverse weather has affected your business and you have to change your roster to facilitate a later opening time etc. this time requirement does not apply in such unforeseen circumstances.
LAYOFF If the organisation has suffered due to adverse severe weather and is unable to function due to repair work and restoration efforts - the employer can put employees on a period of ‘layoff’ as there is no work available. It is clear that this would be a temporary situation and that the employee can expect to return to work in the future once work has been completed to make the site safe and workable. In such a case the employer is not obliged to pay employees.
PAYMENT There is no legal entitlement for an employee to be paid where they cannot attend work because of extreme weather conditions.
ANNUAL LEAVE Employers can ask employees to take annual leave for days of bad weather, in which case employees would be paid. In a normal situation there would be a month’s notice of the employer’s intention to have employees take annual leave, however the employee may agree to a shorter time frame given the unusual situation.
UNPAID LEAVE If the employee cannot attend work due to difficulties in travelling to work etc. this is a matter for agreement between the employer and the employee. In some cases, the two parties may agree that it can be taken as a day of unpaid leave.
The HR Suite can advise you and your organisation how to be proactive in managing the potential disruptive nature of severe adverse weather that could face your business. If you require further information, please do not hesitate to contact one of our HR Advisors on 066 7102887.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Caroline McEnery Manager, The HR Suite
The HR Suite is managed by Caroline McEnery who has over 20 years’ experience in providing HR Services to business throughout Ireland. Caroline is a member on the Low Pay Commission and is also an adjudicator in the new Work Place Relations Commission. She has also completed a Masters in Human Resources in the University of Limerick, she is CIPD accredited as well as being a trained mediator.
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BUSINESS BRIEFS ‘QUICK-SERVE’ RESTAURANTS DEVOUR ONE THIRD OF IRELAND’S FOOD SPEND
Pubs, meanwhile, accounted for 18% or €1.3 billion, of the consumer spend (excluding alcohol), with food-led pubs seeing the biggest return.
Quick-serve restaurants (which encompasses everything from fast food chains to more upmarket eateries like the Chopped salad store) now account for a third of all spending in Ireland’s foodservice industry while coffee shops are the fastest growing segment of the market, a report by Bord Bia has revealed.
According to Bord Bia,the value of the foodservice industry here grew to a record €7.5 billion in 2016, and is forecast to grow to over €9 billion by 2020.
Spending in this sector is expected to hit a record €2.6 billion this year, making it the largest single component of the industry.
UNEMPLOYMENT HITS ANOTHER POST-CRASH LOW OF 7.7% Ireland’s unemployment rate fell to another post-crash low of 7.7% in October, bringing the official figure to 168,000 which is an annual decrease of 1.5%. The seasonally adjusted jobless rate for males was 9% while the rate for females was 6.2%. The State’s youth unemployment rate
KERRY GROUP VOLUMES RISE 3.2% DESPITE ‘WEAK’ MARKET Business volumes at Irish ingredients firm Kerry Group are up 3.2% in the year so far, driven by surges in both its nutrition and consumer foods businesses. Kerry Group said global market conditions ‘‘remained weak’’, with currency volatility and a changing marketplace hitting business. Consumer trends are tipping towards healthy foods, which has led to significant product churn with the company looking to develop more innovative products. Pricing declined by 2.2% in the three months to the end of September, against a background of a 4.5% drop in raw material
HOUSING MARKET EXPECTED TO DOUBLE BY 2020 It was another strong quarter of growth in mortgage lending in the third quarter according to data from the Banking & Payments Federation of Ireland. Mortgage drawdowns totalled €1.6bn, up 17% on the year. Of
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The report found the strongest growth was in the coffee shop channel, although this was from a low base.
The industry has benefitted from better-than-expected economic growth, buoyant consumer confidence, recovery in tourism and the continuation of 9% VAT for hospitality, Bord Bia said.
was 15.1% in September, down from the 15.9% recorded the previous month. Although emigration has played a significant role in keeping unemployment down since the financial crisis, labour market conditions have improved in tandem with economic recovery. Minister for Social Protection Leo Varadkar said the figures, alongside positive exchequer data, was “proof positive” that the economy was still on track despite Brexit uncertainty.
costs. The Dairygold-owner said consumer demand in its foods business remained strong despite the Brexit vote. Kerry reported an adverse currency translation impact of 4.5%, a significant amount of which was attributed to the massive drop in the value of sterling. Meanwhile, Ornua, formerly the Irish Dairy Board, has expanded in the US. The company said yesterday that it has acquired the CoreFX Ingredients division of US-based MCT Dairies, along with a powder ingredient production facility in Orangeville, Illinois. The acquisition, made in partnership with Denis Neville, formerly of MCT Dairies, is Ornua’s first specialty dry ingredients production facility in the US.
this, €1.4bn was for new lending towards house purchase or €3.4bn year-to-date. The figures show that mortgage approvals continue to grow at a rapid pace, up 38% in the third quarter, signalling a strong final quarter for new lending. Davy Stockbrokers have re-iterated that they are happy to leave their full-year forecast for house purchase at €5bn in 2016, up 13% from €4.4bn in 2015.
LEGAL BRIEFS
FAST-TRACK HOUSING ESTATE LEGISLATION PUBLISHED Legislation allowing applications for large-scale housing developments to be made directly to An Bord Pleanála, bypassing local authority decision makers, was published in early November. The Planning and Development and Residential Tenancies Bill 2016, will also stop “institutional” landlords who plan to sell 20 or more homes in a development, evicting sitting tenants. The Bill gives effect to the commitment made under Rebuilding Ireland last July, to “fast-track” decision making for large scale housing and student accommodation schemes. Instead of developers applying to their local authority, whose decisions could then be appealed to An Bord Pleanála, applications for developments of more than 100 homes, or blocks of 200 student
SALE OF ALCOHOL BILL DELAYED DESPITE LOBBYING OVER GOOD FRIDAY BAN The Sale of Alcohol Bill has been indefinitely delayed “due to other priorities”, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald has said. The Bill updates and streamlines the law relating to the sale and consumption of alcohol, repealing the Licensing Acts 1833–2011
LEGAL LIMBO FEARS FOR SURROGATE CHILDREN Children born of a surrogate mother could find themselves in a legal tug-of-war if proposed laws follow the English model, it has been claimed. The Department of Health hopes to have a draft of proposed new laws on the subject ready in the first quarter of 2017. It is likely to require at least one of the intending parents in any surrogacy arrangement to be genetically related to the child. Recently, details of a ruling made in the UK revealed how two children had been left in a “legal limbo” after their surrogate mother refused to relinquish her parental status. The Judge in the case said the couple could not become the
bedspaces, would be made directly to the Board. The Board will be required to hold pre-application consultations with developers and the relevant local authority for a maximum period of nine weeks, prior to the submission of an application. It will then have up to 16 weeks to decide whether to grant permission,during which time the public, councillors and the local authority could make submissions. The fast-track provision will be in place for three years with a possible two-year extension if the housing crisis continues. The Irish Planning Institute has criticised the measure, saying it will damage democracy and increase the risk of judicial reviews of planning decisions. The changes in relation to tenant rights in the Bill will mean that where 20 or more rented houses or apartments in an estate are being sold within a six-month period, the sales will be conditional on the existing tenants remaining in situ.
and Registration of Clubs Acts 1904–2008, and replacing them with provisions “more suited to modern conditions”. The Government has come under pressure from the Licensed Vintners Association (LVA) and Labour leader Brendan Howlin to use the legislation to lift a long-standing ban on the sale of alcohol on Good Friday. However, in response to a parliamentary question by Mr Howlin, Ms Fitzgerald said there was no timescale for introducing the Bill.
children’s legal parents without the surrogate mother’s consent, and that she now hoped the woman either had a change or heart, or that the law changed. Drafting has been under way here for some time regarding the area of surrogacy, with indications that elements of the English model — a post-birth parental transfer model — would be incorporated, rather than a pre-birth judicially-approved model. Dr Brian Tobin, lecturer in the School of Law at NUI Galway, said any model pursued in this country would have to be child-focussed. He said while the circumstances of the UK case were “unusual”, it highlighted shortcomings in UK law which, if transplanted here, would raise questions as to whether or not it was adhering to Article 42A of the Constitution on the Rights of the Child.
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TIPS 5 for for
Managing Stress IN THE WORKPLACE
The workplace can be challenging at the best of times, what with reaching targets, and getting along with co-workers. Everyone has their own objectives, and not everyone understands that there is no ‘I’ in team. Stress takes a toll on your enjoyment of your career and also on your health. If you don’t handle it well, workplace stress can have a negative impact on your personal brand. So how do you do manage workplace stress?
LEARN TO SAY NO Whenever you say yes to one request, you say no to something else. When you start running at a deficit in your work hours, you will naturally start allocating your personal time to additional work, volunteering and favours. Before long, you lose control of your time. You don’t have to say yes all the time. Learn to say NO to things that do not promote your objectives and those of your team.
BEAT CHAOS WITH ORGANISATION By planning ahead and adding leeway for changes, you can manage workplace stress. Allowing for extra time, gives you the opportunity to plan ahead and you can put plan B into place, in the event that plan A fails. It will alleviate stress about what could possibly go wrong, but it will also make it easier to deal with anything that might go wrong.
TAKE A BREATHER Instead of wolfing down lunch absentmindedly while hunched over the computer, stop right now and get out. Take your lunch and go enjoy it outside. Combining some exercise with fresh air will clear your mind and help you relax, so that you can make it easily through the 3pm slump. Also, exercise can boost sleep, which is crucial for handling stress, and stress can prevent you from getting adequate sleep. If you’re having difficulty sleeping and handling stress, then you must consider adding more exercise to your day.
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LEARN TO DELEGATE
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BREATHE DEEPLY
Much of the stress we face, is caused by the fact that we try to do everything ourselves. Perhaps it is because we think we’re the only ones capable of properly completing tasks, or because we don’t want to burden others. However, by delegating, you will provide someone else with the opportunity to learn while relieving your own stress at the same time. Your working relationships will be helped by this display of stress, and that, too, will have a positive effect on reducing your stress.
Deep breathing while focusing on each breath, will help manage your stress levels. Inhale deeply through your nose for five counts, and then exhaling through your mouth for a count of five, can help alleviate stress. Finally, no matter how important your job, you need to take a break from time to time. Take a break or a holiday to recharge your batteries and restore your creativity levels.
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8
Steps SAVVY SAVING to
Accessing money is not as easy as it was before, so it’s important to make it work for you. It’s tougher than ever to access money, whether you’re looking for a credit card, home loan or vehicle finance. By applying financial discipline and personal organisation, you can develop a savings culture, which is much more significant than saving money for the things that matter or for a rainy day. How you plan on saving depends on what you are saving towards. A deposit on a home of €300,000 (including property valuation, mandatory deposit, legal fees, etc.) would require an amount of €48,000 to get a foot in the door. If that’s your money goal, you need to now put the structure in place to save up towards that amount. You will need the following documents:
STEP
NET INCOME
Start by calculating your net weekly or monthly income (after taxes and deductions). The amount is usually equal to approximately 2/3 of your gross income. That will now be referred to as your financial base.
STEP
IDENTIFY EXPENSES
Identifying your expenses and other costs puts you in control of your finances. If you don’t keep track of your money, it will disappear. Use your receipts, bank statements and credit or debit card statements to keep a track. Your card statements may tell you where you spent money, but it doesn’t show what you purchased, which is very important. Be sure to request a receipt every time you buy something.
STEP
KEEP A RECORD
After 3 months of accurately recording your income and expenses, you will establish a spending baseline.
STEP
REVIEW
On a monthly basis, review your spending. Break your spending up into two groups, namely needs and wants. Needs are those essentials you need to live and work, such as food, fuel (electricity, petrol). Clothes are a need, but style is a want. Transport is a must, but a luxury statement car is a want. As you review your spending, consider whether a particular purchase satisfies an essential need (food or shelter) or whether it makes a statement.
• Income statements or payslips • Bank statements • Debit and credit card statements • Receipts
STEP
• A budget planner
MILLENNIALS ARE DEBT AVERSE According to a variety of global studies, millennials seem to be adverse to obtaining personal debt. Many of them witnessed the problems their friends and family faced in the wake of the 2008 global financial crash. Debt is risky, but when it comes to buying big ticket items such as homes and cars, it is a necessary evil. For that reason, consumers are advised to combine carefully selected debts with a lifelong savings culture as a guide for growing your own personal wealth. This will help protect you from unexpected financial crisis. If you’re buying a home, ensure that the purchase still allows sufficient financial breathing space for your family to continue saving towards a rainy day fund, retirement and the like. When life happens, you can gain strength from a healthy financial cushion that can cover your short and medium-term financial commitments. Being able to weather financial storms and protect your home, family and wealth, places you in a stronger position to handle life’s challenges.
CUT AND SAVE
Now that you’ve decided whether each expense is a want or a need, it is time to start cutting down. Use your big money goal as a motivator to slash unnecessary expenses, and you’re guaranteed to see a sizable difference in your savings.
STEP
AUTOMATE YOUR SAVINGS
Automating your savings is critical in keeping away temptation. Set up an automatic pay deduction that goes into a savings account. This will automatically reduce the cash available to spend on things you really can do without.
STEP
SET A TIMELINE
When do you want to achieve your goal by? Create a plan and put it in place. If you are able to save €1,000 per month, it will only take you 48 months to reach the €48,000 goal. Double your savings and half the time.
STEP
MAKE ADJUSTMENTS
Review your plan regularly, and make the necessary adjustments. Continue monitoring your money goals, and your progress, and adjust it when you receive a promotion at work - or win the lottery! If, for whatever reason, you fall short financially, try to reduce your automated savings amount, but don’t abandon it, if you can help matters. Keep a track of your finances and if you stay strong, you will find a way to remain on track.
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What Google Knows About You FIND OUT WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW If online privacy is a concern for you, read this article to find out how to enhance yours. If you, like the rest of the world, use Google Maps, Gmail, Chrome and other Google Apps, the search engine probably knows quite a lot about you and your activities. It may not really bother you much, as the services are free and giving up some privacy is the price you pay in return. However, if you’re not sold on giving up a whole lot of information in return for targeted advertising, read on to find out what Google knows about you and what you can do about it.
MY ACTIVITY Go to myactivity.google.com to see exactly what Google knows about you. It includes information about your app usage and web activity. You can see everything you’ve done, listed by service, date and topic. Drill down further to view each item, or bundle it. Either way, you will note that they have amassed quite a bit of information: • YouTube activity will include a list of the videos you watched, including the dates.
Delete
You have two options when it comes to deleting your information: delete by date, or delete everything. If you delete everything, it may affect some of your services, such as having commuting options sent to services including Google Now. You can delete everything by going to myactivity and clicking on the three vertical dots in the top right corner. Select Delete activity by and choose the product you want to wipe clean. You can also Select All. Click on Delete to confirm your selection, and click on the confirmation requests from Google.
• Maps will show you all the places you searched and the directions you obtained. • Google Now will provide information on upcoming appointments before you ask, and it will also tell you how long it will take you to get home. • Other Google Activity will show you the places you visited with your device switched on, based on location history. While you’re the only one who can see your activity, you may not be comfortable with sharing information, such as your locations. This is especially frightening when you consider the prospect that someone might gain access to your account and find out all your personal information. Use Activity Controls to stop tracking certain activities, which paint a detailed picture of your life.
Here’s what you can do about it. When you turn off Web & App Activity, a warning will be displayed: “Please note that even when this setting is paused, Google may temporarily store searches in order to improve the quality of the active search session.” That means that while you will no longer be tracked, some of your activity will still be temporarily stored. Use the Incognito browsing mode in Chrome to get around the issue above. Your IP address will still show up on services you access, but it will remove traces of the activity on your laptop, PC or phone.
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Controls
You can tell the search engine not to track certain activity by clicking on Activity Controls. Here you will find a list of services, such as Web & App Activity, Device Information, Location History and others, along with a small slider next to each item, which you can turn off to stop tracking activity.
By far the easiest method to circumvent Google tracking your activity is to avoid logging into Chrome using your Google account, and to logout of your Google Account when you are done using Gmail or Drive. In doing so, your browsing activity won’t be associated with your Google account. Of course, this is easier to do on your laptop or desktop computer than it is on an Android phone, however, using a combination of the controls above, and paying careful attention about allowing access to your activity will go a long way to giving you more privacy.
MEET THE TEAM KEVIN O’ DONOVAN
PAUL O’ SULLIVAN
Partner
Partner
Kevin qualified as a solicitor in 1986 and formed his own practice in 1989. He has vast experience of all forms of residential and commercial property transactions. Kevin also has wide expertise in Wills and probate as well as litigation with a particular focus on personal injuries and equity matters. Kevin is a member of the West Cork Bar Association and Southern Law Association. Kevin is a keen golfer which is his main hobby and is a past Captain of Bantry Bay Golf Club. Practice Areas: Property/Conveyancing, Tax Advice, Probate, Licensing, Employment Law.
Paul qualified as a solicitor in 2000 and became a Partner in the practice in 2003. He advises in all areas of conveyancing representing both private and commercial clients, including new and second hand sales/purchases, mortgages, farm transfers and tax issues relating to same. He also works extensively in probate matters including estate administration and estate tax planning. He also has particular expertise in licensing law and is a member of the West Cork Bar Association where he acts as Continuing Professional Development Officer and is also a member of the Southern Law Association. Paul is also a Director in Muintir Skibbereen Credit Union. He is a GAA fan and in particular hurling which he played for many years and is now a coach for Fastnet Gaels. Practice Areas: Property/Conveyancing, Tax Advice, Probate, Licensing, Employment Law
SANDRA O’ SHEA
ANN O’GRADY
LEGAL SECRETARY
RECEPTIONIST/LEGAL SECRETARY
SUSAN O’DONOVAN
MARY O’SHEA
ACCOUNTS MANAGER
LEGAL SECRETARY
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RANGE OF SERVICES PROPERTY & CONVEYANCING
PERSONAL INJURY LITIGATION
GENERAL LITIGATION
•• Residential Property Sales & Purchases •• Commercial Property Sales & Purchases •• Mortgages & Re-Mortgages •• Farm Transfers •• Voluntary Transfers
•• Personal Injuries Board Applications •• Road Traffic Accidents •• Accidents at Work •• Public Liability Claims •• Fatal Injury Claims •• Garda Compensation Claims
•• •• •• •• •• ••
WILLS & PROBATE
RESIDENTIAL AND COMMERCIAL LEASES
•• •• •• •• ••
Draft Wills Administering Estates Estate Planning Enduring Powers of Attorney Wards of Court Applications
•• Residential Letting Agreements •• Commercial Leases •• Landlord & Tenant Advice
Equity Claims Landlord & Tenant Disputes Probate Litigation Insurance Claims Injunctions Professional Negligence Claims
TAX ADVICE •• Stamp Duty •• Capital Gains Tax •• Capital Acquisitions Tax (Inheritance Tax/Gift Tax) •• Residential Property Taxes (NPPR, Household Charge, Local Property Tax)
Visit our website for a full list of our services.
kevinodonovanandpartnerssolicitors.com The Old Market House Upper Main Street, Bantry, Co. Cork Tel: 00 353 (0)27 51440 odonk@securemail.ie