Community News - Thurles Information

Closure Announced Of Immigrant Investor Programme.

Programme to close to all new applications.
Existing applications will continue to be processed in the normal way.

The Minister for Justice, Mr Simon Harris TD has today obtained approval from Government to close the Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) to further applications from close of business tomorrow, February 15th 2023.

The Immigrant Investor Programme (IIP) was a pathway for non-EEA nationals to secure an immigration permission in Ireland on the basis of long-term investment in a range of options approved by Government under the Programme.
The IIP was introduced by the Irish Government in 2012 to encourage inward investment for the creation of business and employment opportunities in the State.
The programme was designed to encourage investors and business professionals from outside the European Economic Area to avail of opportunities of investing and locating their business interests in Ireland and acquire a secure residency status in Ireland.
Applicants to the IIP were required to be high net worth individuals with a personal wealth of at least €2 million. The IIP required applicants to invest a minimum of €1 million for a minimum of three years or €500,000 as part of an Endowment (or €400,000 as part of joint endowment). The funds used for an investment had to be from the applicant’s own resources and not financed through a loan or other such facility.

Announcing the closure of the Programme, Minister Harris stated: “The Immigrant Investor Programme was established over a decade ago during a time of unprecedented economic difficulty to stimulate investment in Ireland that would be of strategic and public benefit to the State.
Since its inception, the Programme has brought significant investment to Ireland and has been operated by my Department to the highest professional standards.
However, it is important that we keep all programmes under review including any implications for wider public policy, such as the continuing appropriateness and suitability of this programme for cultural, social and economic use.
We have also taken on board a number of reports and findings from international bodies such as the EU Commission, Council of Europe and OECD on similar investment programmes.
Taking all of this into account, and informed by both internal and external reviews, I have recommended that it is now timely to close this Programme to new applications, and have received Government agreement to close it for further applications from close of business tomorrow, February 15th 2023.”

Since its inception, the Programme has approved investment of almost €1.252bn that has benefited many enterprises, both economic and social, including community and sporting organisations.

Applications will no longer be accepted from close of business tomorrow, February 15th 2023. The closure of the Programme will not affect existing projects or individuals already approved under the programme. The Department of Justice will continue to monitor existing approved projects in relation to the delivery and for compliance with the terms of the Programme. Current applications on hand at the time of closure will continue to be considered.

The Government also operates the Start-up Entrepreneur Programme (STEP), which was established in 2012, as a way for entrepreneurs with an innovative idea to apply for a residence permission in Ireland, and this will continue.

Contractor Fined €1,000 For Harvesting Turf In Protected Bog On Tipperary Border.

A case before Nenagh District Court, Co Tipperary on February 9th 2023 last, heard that turf was being extracted from a Natural Heritage Area containing a raised bog, without ministerial consent, contrary to Section 19 of the Wildlife Amendment Act 2000. The bog, situated at Monaincha & Ballaghmore, 6 km east of Roscrea, North Tipperary, spans the border of counties Tipperary and Laois.

The site is regarded as being of considerable conservation significance, and a rare habitat within the European Union. Same sites are becoming increasingly scarce and under threat here in Ireland.

The accused, named as Mr Pat McEvoy, aged 51, with an address at Blackbull, Birr, Co Offaly, had pleaded guilty to the offence and Judge Elizabeth McGrath imposed a fine of €1,000.

Evidence was provided before to the court by a National Parks and Wildlife Service Divisional Manager, latter who confirmed that the site had been designated as a Natural Heritage Area back in 2005, due to its unique raised bog microhabitat and large soak system.

He further confirmed that turf could only be harvested in the Natural Heritage Area with Ministerial consent and no such consent had been issued or requested.

On May 11th, 2020, as part of a surveillance operation in the afore mentioned area; together with a Wildlife Service colleague, the Divisional Manager had entered the bog at 7:30am and witnessed the extraction and spreading of peat on the protected site. When the machines began to leave the site, the accused involved, was approached. Mr McEvoy refused initially to identify himself, but subsequently did so, to a member of An Garda Síochána, who arrived shortly afterwards

Ignorantia juris non excusat. – Ignorance of the law is no excuse.

Judge Elizabeth McGrath, imposing a €1,000 fine, stated that she did not accept the defence that Mr McEvoy was unaware that the site was protected, adding that as a turf contractor involved in the turf trade for some years, it was his business to know the whereabouts of legally protected raised bog sites.

2023 Tipperary Drama Festival Returns To St. Michael’s Community Centre, Holycross, Thurles.

The Co. Tipperary 2023 Open Drama Festival; same an inclusive nine night annual event, will be held from March 17th to March 25th next in its now long established venue of St. Michael’s Community Centre, Holycross, Thurles, Co. Tipperary.

The programme, each night, will run from 8:30pm nightly, except on the final night, when the programme will begin sharp at 8:00pm.

This year the festival committee are pleased to welcome, as Adjudicator, a member of ADA (Association of Drama Adjudicators), namely Mr Peter O’Driscoll.

No stranger to the County Tipperary Drama Festival; Mr O’Driscoll has been an Actor, Designer and Director with many companies including the ‘Strand Players’.
For twenty years he has been ‘Head of Drama’ in St. Patrick’s College of Education, Drumcondra, Dublin; holding responsibility for equipping and maintaining the very fine theatre facilities available there, while also directing many of their performances.
He has contributed to the post-graduate ‘Theatre Studies Programme’, operating workshops on Authentic Voice Training; on Directing, and on Acting.
His main work was in preparing student teachers to use Drama as a method of education.

Engaged by the Association of Irish Musical Societies (AIMS) as an adjudicator; Mr O’Driscoll’s professional work as a lighting designer, has included work undertaken in the ‘Gate Theatre’, ‘Olympia Theatre’ and ‘Gaiety Theatre’.

He also has considerable experience as a musician, a choral director and as an organist; having directed a wide range of musicals in Dublin and throughout the country in the past. In the Dublin Arts Club, he played the lead in a new play about the Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher, Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928).

County Tipperary Drama Festival Programme 2023.

Friday 17th: (Confined); Harvest Moon Players; “God of Carnage“ by Yasmina Reza.
Saturday 18th: (Open); Prosperous; “Oleanna” by David Mamet.
Sunday 19th: (Open); Holycross/Ballycahill; “A skull in Connemara” by Martin McDonagh.
Monday 20th: (Open); Brideview; “The Father” by Florian Zeller.
Tuesday 21st: (Confined); Cill Dara; “I Do Not Like Thee Dr Fell” by Bernard Farrell.
Wednesday 22nd: (Open); Hinterland; “The Playboy of The Western World” by J.M. Synge.
Thursday 23rd: (Open); Thurles; “The Seafarer” by Conor McPhearson.
Friday 24th: (Open); Kilmeen; “Blithe Spirit” by Noel Coward.
Saturday 25th: (Open); Lifford; “When Elephants Collide” by Edward Flanagan.

For further information: Phone: 086-257 5159 or Email: donal@dugganvet.ie or Fax: 0504-43147

HSE Figures Highlight Chronic Underinvestment In Mid West.

Only 7 WTE (Fulltime /Whole-time Equivalent) healthcare professional positions in Acute Services were created at University Hospital Limerick (UHL) during 2022, despite UHL being the most overcrowded hospital in the country last year.

Figures released by the HSE in response to a Parliamentary Question by Independent Clare TD Mr Michael McNamara show that 61 or 2.3% of the 2,645 WTE acute services positions, created last year in Irish hospitals, were located in hospitals within the UL Hospital Group.
This compared with the creation of 579 WTE positions in Saolta University Hospital Care (21.9% of the national figure), 547 in the South/South West Hospital Group (20.7%), 498 in the RCSI Hospitals Group (18.8%), 459 in the Ireland East Hospital Group (17.4%), 418 in the Dublin Midlands Hospital Group (15.8%) and 77 in Children’s Health Ireland (2.9%).

The figures also show that University Maternity Hospital Limerick was one of only five hospitals across the country, to experience a reduction in staff numbers in Acute Services, with 265 WTE health professionals employed at the facility in December 2022, compared to 274 in December 2021.
The other hospitals experiencing a reduction in overall staff numbers were Coombe Women & Infants University (-20), St. Michael’s Dublin (-10), CHI at Temple Street (-6) and CHI at Connolly (-1).

The report is broken down by hospital and staff categories, namely Medical & Dental, Nursing & Midwifery and Health & Social Care professionals, including physiologists. The HSE states that an additional 666 and 38 W.T.E positions were created in Community Services and Health & Wellbeing services respectively during 2022.

Deputy McNamara, who will be raising the matter with Taoiseach Mr Leo Varadkar, during Leader’s Questions tomorrow (Tuesday), said the figures are contrary to repeated claims by Health Minister Mr Stephen Donnelly about investments in resources within the UL Hospital Group.

“UHL has been the most overcrowded hospital in the country for the past seven years, with a record 18,028 patients waiting on trolleys and on wards in 2022,” stated Deputy McNamara.

Deputy McNamara continued, “This time last year, we discovered that none of the six hospitals in the UL Hospitals Group would receive any of the 411 acute and 36 ICU beds scheduled to open across Ireland in 2022. Now we discover that the increase in the healthcare workforce in Acute Services in the Mid-West falls far behind the increases seen in other regions across the country. The picture painted by these figures suggests a chronic underinvestment in hospitals across this region and therefore, there should be no surprise as to why waiting lists and trolley numbers here remain consistently higher than other parts of the country.”

Deputy McNamara added, “Minister Donnelly told me in the Dáil last week that 2023 will be the fourth year of record recruitment into the HSE, since the foundation of the HSE, which will ring hollow for the people of North Tipperary, Clare, and Limerick, who will look at these figures and see that the UL Hospital Group has benefited little. The Minister also told me in the Dáil last week that 1,000 extra staff now work in UHL compared with three years ago. I have submitted a Parliamentary Question to Minister Donnelly in respect of a breakdown of these positions and I await his response.”

Callous Raiders Drown Two Dogs In Tipperary Burglary.

On Saturday evening last, (February 11th, 2023), a house, located in the Castleview estate area of Ardfinnan, in South Tipperary, (close to the border with Waterford), was targeted in a burglary.

The home owner on returning home found two dogs; latter protecting the house, drowned in a barrel of water in the back yard of their dwelling.
Having killed the animals, the thugs escaped with an amount of cash and valuables, valued at some €9,000, having completely ransacked the house.
Nobody was at home in the house at the time of the callous incident.

Investigating Gardaí believe the burglars gained access to the house, using a key which was hidden in a shed.

No arrests, as yet, have been made, and investigations are continuing.