METRO Friday, October 9, 2009 D SPANISH TOURISM OFFICE 1, Westmoreland Street DUBLIN 2 Information number: 081 846 2960 Office inquiries: 01 635 0200 Fax: 01 635 0205 dublin@tourspain.es www.comunitatvalenciana.com www.costablanca.org www.spain.info Valencia Region. I give you everything. TODAY: Rain in all areas and strong winds. Max: 16C TOMORROW: Mostly dry with some sunshine. Max: 14C METRO Weather MENU THE Home Digest .................... 4 World Digest .................. 10 Guilty Pleasures Celebrity gossip..............14-15 MetroLife Arts & entertainment ....... 16-17 60 Second Interview Ozzy Osbourne................... 18 TV ............................. 18-19 Puzzles........................... 20 Letters ........................... 21 Sport ........................ 25-28 Help keep Dublin clean and tidy for everyone by taking your Metro with you and recycling it Children from Scoil Oliver Naofa, Kilcoon, Co Meath take a well-deserved break from their regular curriculum to enjoy a day outside the class in celebration of Tree Day. This year the arbutus, aka strawberry tree, was the chosen focus. Arbutus is prevalent in south-western parts of Ireland and grows ripe and unripe fruits at the same time Picture: Maxwells STRAWBERRY TREES FOREVER One-dose vaccine for swine fluIRISH PEOPLE may only have to get one dose of the swine flu vaccine rather than two, the States chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan has said. But vaccination against the virus will not begin until early 2010, according to the HSE. The vaccines to be used in the Republic have now been licensed and their licence states two doses of each should be given to guard against swine flu. But yesterday Dr Holohan said there was a growing sense of optimism that we may get away with only having to give each person one dose of the vaccine. He added this would greatly expedite the planned national swine flu vaccination programme and make it logistically less complex. Dr Holohan said he expected the State would receive between 400,000 and 500,000 doses of swine flu vaccine from GlaxoSmithKline in the next four weeks and these would be used for at-risk groups. Three out of four people in Ireland plan to get the swine flu vaccine when the national vaccination programme begins, a survey carried out for the HSE has found. Meanwhile, another child with swine flu has died in in the North the second in less than 48 hours. Northern health minister Michael McGimpsey conceded there was now a high level of swine flu in Northern Ireland. Catholic Bishops yesterday told parishioners to continue giving the sign of peace during mass despite concerns over swine flu. The countrys top clergy said congregations could bow instead of shaking hands if they wanted. BY SARAh STACK Irish birth rate is Europes highest IRELANDS birth rate was the highest in Europe, with almost 72,000 babies born in one year, lat- est figures revealed yesterday. A report showed the number of newborns delivered rose by 9 per cent in 2007. One in five had moth- ers from outside Ireland. Researchers found 7.2 per cent of birth mums were from the EU ac- cession states and 3.6 per cent from Africa and Asia. Professor Miriam Wiley of the Economic and Social Research In- stitute said the high birth rate was partly down to Irelands economic strength at the time. We also had high inward migration of people coming here to work. Our popula- tion growth has been substantial in recent years and a lot of the immi- grants tended to be young and at the family formation stage, she said. The ESRIs perinatal statistics re- port revealed 71,963 births were registered in 2007. Meanwhile, the Central Statistics Office recorded 75,065 births the following year. More than a quarter of live births were delivered by Caesarean sec- tion while there were 1,092 sets of twin births, 27 sets of triplets and 186 home births. The average birthweight in 2007 was a healthy 3,465g (7.6lbs), with 45 per cent of babies breastfed at discharge from hospital. Prof Wiley said more needed to be done to encourage new mothers to breastfeed. Weve been seeing a steady in- crease, but the reality is that over half of all of babies born arent be- ing breastfed, she continued. It shows that we still have a lot to do in terms of facilitating and sup- porting mothers. Data showed the average age of women giving birth has increased to 31.1 years, with 27 per cent aged 35 years or older. Just 3.5 per cent of new mothers were 19 or younger, compared with 6.2 per cent in 1999. Single mothers accounted for almost a third of all women giving birth. Oh baby: 71,963 in 2007 A man joined the 1900 Gold Rush by travelling almost 2,000km across Alaska on a bike. Near the end of his trek the chain broke. DID YOu knOW? index.html2.html3.html4.html5.html6.html7.html8.html9.html10.html11.html12.html13.html14.html15.html16.html17.html18.html19.html20.html21.html22.html23.html24.html25.html26.html27.html