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During August, 2014 last, Mr Thomas O’Connor (Limerick) and Miss Deirdre Ryan (Thurles) made their dream trip and contracted a guided motorcycle tour of the historic Route-66 (Will Rogers Highway), from Chicago to Los Angeles.
Eaglerider.com rent touring motorcycles and offer guided tour programs in several regions of America. These guided tours provide an experienced leader as well as a support van for supplies, luggage, etc.
 Top pictures: Show Thomas O’Connor, Deirdre Ryan, on Route-66 with support van driver Patrick Hayes. Bottom Pictures: Show Patrick and Regina Hayes with historian Monsignor, Dr. Maurice Dooley, during their stay in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, latter building the birth place of the Irish Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) . What a surprise when Thomas and Deirdre arrived in Chicago to discover that their support van driver was none other than Mr Patrick Hayes, a daily reader and regular contributor here on Thurles.Info.
Mr Patrick Hayes is descended from ancestry in Loughmore (East), Thurles Co Tipperary, and has just recently been certified as a foreign born Irish Citizen. Patrick has Ryan ancestry and he and Deirdre, during their trip shared many stories and jokes about distant cousins meeting halfway around the world. Thomas was quite impressed by Patrick’s detailed knowledge of Thurles and its surroundings areas.
Patrick and his wife Regina, returned to Thurles for a brief visit just last April (2015), introducing his lady wife to many of the old haunts he had previously discovered while researching his families long history in the Loughmore area. During their April 2015 trip Regina and Patrick visited St Mary’s Famine Museum while staying at; yes ‘Hayes Hotel’ in Thurles. The couple met with friend, historian and roots researcher Monsignor Dr. Maurice Dooley, while also renewing their friendship over dinner, meeting with Thomas and Deirdre in Templemore.
Perhaps another motorcycle tour will be Thomas and Deirdre’s future together; touring the south-west National Parks perhaps or the Rocky Mountains, with Patrick no doubt acting once again as their support van driver?
My sincere thanks to Deirdre, Thomas and Patrick for sharing their remarkable story with us. All matters now considered, is not our world really just a small place?
  
A “Tipperary Tourism Seminar” will take place on the 19th of May from 2:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. in Cahir House Hotel as part of Tipperary Enterprise Week 2015. All persons involved in any way in the tourism industry are very welcome to attend this free event.
Seminar Schedule and Speakers
‘Chairperson & Introduction’ – Mr. Joe MacGrath (Chief Executive, Tipperary County Council).
‘Irelands Ancient East’ – Mr. Ruairi Deane (Fáilte Ireland).
‘Commercial Advantages of a Responsible Tourism Approach’ – Mr James Chilton (ReThink Tourism & Irish Centre for Responsible Tourism).
‘Heritage Sites in Tipperary and the Value of Tourism to Tipperary’ – Mr. Chris Corlett (Department of Arts, Heritage & the Gaeltacht).
‘Tipperary Tourism Company’ – Ms. Marie Phelan, (Tourism Development Officer).
‘Business Supports Available to Tourism Industry in Tipperary’ – Ms. Rita Guinan, (Tipperary Local Enterprise Office [L.E.O.] ).
Those wishing to attend can book their place directly by visiting https://www.localenterprise.ie/Tipperary/Training-Events/Online-Bookings/
 M/s Ann Marie Brophy, Executive Librarian, Library Service, Tipperary County Council reports as follows:-
An Cathaoirleach, Cllr. Mr Michael FitzGerald and Chief Executive Officer Mr Joe MacGrath of Tipperary County Council are inviting you, the public, to take part in one of their “Ireland 2016 Workshop and Public Consultations” to be held on the 25th May 2015, at the Abbey Court Hotel Nenagh (beginning sharp at 7.00pm) or on the 26th May 2016, at the Hotel Minella Clonmel, (also at 7.00pm sharp).
“Our plans to commemorate 1916 will include a very wide and exciting range of cultural and community activities, involving especially our young people. As well as formal and informal commemorative events directly related to the Rising, we will be working with artists, poets, musicians, Irish language bodies, festivals – in fact everyone in our community – to ensure that 2016 is a truly memorable year,” said An Cathaoirleach Cllr. FitzGerald.
“We are asking you to become involved by attending a public workshop to allow everyone who is interested to offer their own suggestions and listen to the ideas of others. Your ideas will then be brought forward to our 2016 committee,” said Chief Executive Mr MacGrath.
Remember: To secure your place you in these discussions you must register now at either of the two venues named above via heritage@tipperarycoco.ie or contact M/s Mary Quigley on Telephone 0761 06 5000 on or before 3.00pm on Friday 22nd May 2015.
 The United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is to accept the Tipperary International Peace Award in person; visiting Tipperary on Sunday May 24th 2015, to receive his award at the Ballykisteen Hotel in Co. Tipperary.
As previously announced Mr Ban Ki-moon is being honoured for his leadership in mobilising the international community to address a series of grave conflicts and major natural disasters.
“At a moment of division, he has sought to be a bridge-builder; in a period of economic upheaval. He has strived to give voice to the world’s poorest and most vulnerable people; and in a world of deepening interconnectedness, he has pursued wide-ranging efforts to adapt the United Nations to face a new generation of challenges and threats,” the Tipperary Peace Convention has stated.
Mr Ban Ki-moon, who is expected to be accompanied to Co. Tipperary by his wife (married Yoo Soon-taek in 1971), has three adult children: two daughters; Seon-yong (born 1972), Hyun-hee (born 1976) and a son; Woo-hyun latter who was born in 1974.
Mr Ban Ki-moon was born on June 13th 1944 and is the current Secretary-General of the United Nations, having succeeded Mr Kofi Annan in 2007. Before becoming Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon was a career diplomat in South Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and in the United Nations. He first entered the diplomatic service in the same year he graduated from university, accepting his first post in New Delhi, India. Here, working in the foreign ministry, he quickly established a reputation for both modesty and competence.
He was the foreign minister of South Korea from January 2004 through until November 2006, before beginning his campaign for the post of Office of Secretary-General. Initially considered as having only an outside chance of achieving this office, he was able to travel to all the countries on the United Nations Security Council, as the foreign minister of South Korea. He was soon recognised for his strong diplomatic skill and acknowledged as the campaign’s most likely victor. Thus on October 13th 2006, he was elected as the eighth Secretary-General by the United Nations General Assembly.
Previous recipients of the Tipperary International Peace Award have included Bob Geldof, former US President Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, late US Senator Edward Kennedy and his sister former Ambassador to Ireland Jean Kennedy-Smith, Dr Sima Samar, Benazir Bhutto, Dr Richard Haass, wounded Pakistani school girl and Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai, former President Mary McAleese and her husband Senator Martin McAleese.
The Tipperary International Peace Prize, now in its 27th year, recognises the contribution of individuals and organisations that promote peaceful cooperation.
 The popular ‘White Tailed Sea Eagle Viewing & Information Point’ situated at Mountshannon Pier in Co. Clare has now reopened to the public, following a hugely successful pilot opening period last summer.
More than 10,000 people flocked to the shores of Lough Derg, latter which borders on counties Tipperary, Clare, and Galway, between mid-July and September last to catch a glimpse of the first successful breeding pair of White Tailed Sea Eagles in Ireland in some 110 years.
The Viewing & Information Point is operated by the Mountshannon Eagle Group, in conjunction with the Golden Eagle Trust and Mountshannon Community Council. This new venue features telescopes, together with required information and displays about the White Tailed Sea Eagle, now regarded as Ireland’s largest and most spectacular of bird life.
This new facility generated more than half a million Euro for the local economy in 2014. A visitor survey conducted last year found that 43% of people said the attraction was the primary factor influencing their decision to visit the shores of Lough Derg.
The eagles, a seven-year-old male and six-year-old female, were originally collected as chicks on the island of Frøya off the west coast of Norway by the Golden Eagle Trust. The birds were later released in Killarney National Park before deciding to relocate; taking up residence in Lough Derg in 2011. The pair, named Saoirse and Caimin, both created history back in 2013 when they reared the first chicks to fly from a nest in Ireland in over 110 years. The pair successfully reared another chick in 2014 and the hope is that another successful hatching will take place this summer.
Visitor figures compare well to the Island of Mull in Scotland where White-tailed Sea Eagle watching has been popular for more than 10 years. It should be noted that a higher percentage of visitors came to Mountshannon (43%) specifically to see the Eagle pair than to the Island of Mull (23%), where eagle tourism brings in an estimated 5 million (sterling) annually.
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