Community News « Thurles Information

Sir David Attenborough Celebrates 100 Years As World Honours A Voice For Nature.

Legendary British broadcaster and natural historian Sir David Attenborough marked his 100th birthday, today Friday, May 8th 2026, receiving an extraordinary wave of tributes from around the world, after more than seven decades spent bringing the wonders of nature into millions of homes.
Born on May 8th, 1926 in Isleworth, Middlesex, England, Sir David has become one of the most respected and recognisable voices in broadcasting history.

In a heartfelt audio message released by the BBC, Sir David said he had expected a quiet celebration but was deeply moved by the global response to his milestone birthday. Messages arrived from children, families, schools and care homes, reflecting the affection generations of viewers feel for the man whose storytelling transformed wildlife filmmaking.

Across Britain, celebrations were organised to honour his remarkable contribution to television and environmental awareness. The BBC scheduled a week of special programming dedicated to his life and work, while events including concerts at London’s Royal Albert Hall, museum exhibitions, nature walks and tree-planting ceremonies were held nationwide.

For over 70 years, Sir David has documented the beauty, complexity and fragility of the natural world. His groundbreaking documentaries, including Life on Earth, The Blue Planet, Frozen Planet and Dynasties, revolutionised natural history broadcasting and inspired millions to care about wildlife and conservation.

Some of his most unforgettable moments include a famous encounter with playful mountain gorillas during the filming of Life on Earth, dramatic footage of orcas hunting seals in icy waters, and his emotional narration of the story of “Lonesome George,” the final surviving Pinta Island tortoise whose death marked the extinction of his species. These powerful scenes helped audiences understand both the wonder and vulnerability of life on Earth.

In recent decades, Attenborough has become one of the world’s strongest advocates for environmental protection. His acclaimed 2017 series Blue Planet II highlighted the devastating impact of plastic pollution in the oceans and sparked public pressure for action on waste reduction and conservation measures worldwide.

Despite his global fame, colleagues and friends often describe Attenborough as modest and deeply committed to public service. Producer Mike Gunton said Attenborough viewed himself not as a celebrity, but as someone fortunate enough to speak on behalf of the natural world.

Even at 100, Attenborough remains actively involved in filmmaking. One of the latest BBC projects celebrating his centenary is Secret Garden, a series exploring the hidden wildlife thriving in Britain’s gardens and green spaces.

Attenborough’s career began at the BBC in the early 1950s, before he rose through the organisation to become a senior television executive. However, his passion for storytelling and wildlife drew him back in front of the camera, leading to the creation of Life on Earth in 1979 — the landmark series that established him as a household name around the globe.

Today, Sir David Attenborough is regarded not only as a pioneering broadcaster, but also as one of the most influential communicators of science and conservation in modern history. His work has inspired generations to appreciate the natural world and to recognise the urgent need to protect it for the future.

FSAI Provides Advice On Consumption Of Calabash Chalk.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is advising consumers, particularly pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding, not to consume calabash chalk due to the presence of high levels of lead.

Calabash chalk (also known as calabar chalk, calabar stone, la craie, argile, nzu, ndom, eko and mabele) is sometimes consumed as a traditional remedy for morning sickness. However, eating it can significantly increase exposure to lead, which is harmful, particularly to unborn babies and infants.

Lead is a toxic metal that can accumulate in the body over time and can be transferred to unborn babies during pregnancy and to infants during breastfeeding. Exposure to lead is associated with a range of adverse health effects, particularly its impact on the developing brain of unborn babies and young infants.

Calabash chalk may be naturally occurring, composed of fossilised seashells, or artificially produced from a mixture of clay, sand, wood ash and other materials. The product is imported into Ireland and can be found in some ethnic shops, typically sold in blocks, pellets or powders, often with limited labelling or consumer information.

Mr Greg Dempsey, Chief Executive, FSAI urged pregnant and breastfeeding women not to eat this product.
“High levels of lead in calabash chalk is a serious public health concern. Lead can have harmful effects, particularly for unborn babies and infants, where it can severely affect how a child’s body grows and their brain develops. At very high levels, lead poisoning can be fatal. We advise pregnant women and women who are breastfeeding not to eat this product,” said Mr Dempsey.

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding and have consumed calabash chalk should stop using the product.

Those who feel unwell should seek medical advice.

Sheds Before Beds, Thurles Born Mikey Ryan Reports.

It was a damp Tuesday morning in Thurles when according to Mikey Ryan, he first heard whispers of “The Shed” in a conversation overheard in the Arch Bar.
From his evesdropping he learned that this was not just any shed, no, this was “THE Shed”; a €127,000 monument to human ambition; a bicycle sanctuary if you will; a stainless-steel Cathedral to two-wheeled transportation, and a structure so majestic that local lads had begun referring to it as “The Taj Ma-Cycle.”

Mikey, using his Charlie Haughey granted free travel pass, was soon to be seen standing outside University Hospital Kerry with a chicken fillet roll in one hand and existential rage in the other.

“Sweet suffering Jaysus,” he was heard to mutter, staring up at it. “For that money they could’ve built a second hospital, or at least fixed the machine in SuperValu that keeps robbing me Clubcard points.”

The bike shed shimmered in the Kerry drizzle like a spaceship designed by accountants. A gust of wind blew dramatically through Tralee town as elderly pensioners, nurses, and one confused German tourist gathered around hospital trollies, gawked in stunned silence.

“They say,” whispered young Paudie who had journeyed down with Mikey for free, having declared himself to be an Independent Travel Support assistants, “that there’s heated bolts in it.”
“Heated bolts?” said Mikey. “Heated Bolts” replied Paudie sounding like an echo. Mikey nearly fainted into a nearby puddle.

Meanwhile, inside the Dáil, panic spread quickly among the Shinners and the Peoples Before Profit Liberation Army; the announcement moving faster than free pints at an Irish wake. The Public Accounts Committee had declared the bike shed “extravagant,” which in Irish political language is only one level below “Ah now lads, come on seriously.”

Opposition politicians stormed corridors, led by Molly Loo, some carrying folders, spreadsheets, and previously unopened copies of “Value For Money For Dummies”.
One TD dramatically slapped a photograph of the shed onto a desk. “This,” he roared, “is no longer infrastructure. This is performance art.”
The controversy would soon echo the wider political fallout from the infamous Dáil bike shed saga at Leinster House, where a bicycle shelter costing more than €330,000, triggered a national debate on public procurement, value for money, and as suggested by a Tipperary Labour Deputy, should itself be classified as another UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Politicians now clutched spreadsheets like rosary beads, while ordinary citizens stared into the middle distance, calculating how many breakfast rolls, semi-detached houses, or actual bicycles could have been bought instead.
At one point, rumours spread that the shelter included heated seating, mood lighting, and a part-time Sommelier (Latter a trained, knowledgeable wine professional), necessary for assisting exhausted civil servants arriving on electric scooters.

Meanwhile, the HSE defended the project. “It’s a long-term investment,” they insisted. “Long term” barked Mikey now back in Thurles, and seated on his couch watching RTÉ. “For €127,000 that bike shed should be curing gout and baptising children.”

Rumours spiralled wildly across Kerry. Some claimed the shed had underfloor heating. Others insisted it had held its own Eircode, three civil servants, the Healy Brothers and full diplomatic immunity.
One woman swore she saw Michael Flatley emerge from it, days earlier, and at dawn surrounded in a cloud of dry ice.

Mikey Ryan was determined to uncover the truth. The next morning after a quick pint in The Arch Bar in Liberty Square, Thurles and armed only with a hi-vis Uisce Éireann jacket that he found in the boot of his cousin’s Corolla; then with the confidence of a man who once argued with a parking meter for forty minutes, he headed to Kerry to infiltrate the actual site.
Inside, silence, stillness and bicycles, just normal bicycles, including a rusty Halford’s mountain bike stood, fitted with a child’s seat covered in rainwater. Another bike stood without any cycle lock; one wheel missing entirely, so it wouldn’t be stolen.

Mikey stared in disbelief. “That’s it?” he gasped. “There’s only bikes in it? I thought there’d at least be a butler.”
Suddenly, a motion sensor light flicked on overhead with the drama of a Hollywood premiere.
Mikey froze. The shed hummed softly around him. And then, suddenly Mikey understood. This wasn’t a bike shed anymore. No, it was a facsimile of Ireland itself; overpriced; overcomplicated; mysteriously damp and somehow still held together with zip ties and taxpayer goodwill.

A single tear rolled down Mikey Ryan’s cheek. Then he looked at the polished steel beams one last time and whispered: “Wouldn’t it be grand if they put in a coffee dock though.”

And somewhere deep in Leinster House, another civil servant was quietly ordering a €94,000 umbrella stand.

A Health System Measured In Corridors: UHL And North Tipperary Paying The Price.

Ireland’s trolley crisis has become more than a seasonal emergency or a political talking point. It is now a defining feature of the country’s healthcare system. The latest figures from the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation reveal a staggering reality; more than 1.7 million people have been treated without a proper hospital bed since 2006. Behind that number are exhausted patients, distressed families and healthcare workers trying to deliver care in conditions that should never have become normal.

The fact that over one million people have been placed on trolleys in just the last decade shows how dramatically the problem has escalated. Despite years of economic growth, repeated promises of reform and countless government strategies, overcrowding remains deeply embedded in hospital life across Ireland. For many patients, entering an emergency department now means preparing for the possibility of spending hours, or even days, waiting in corridors for a bed to become available.

The figures from University Hospital Limerick are particularly alarming. Nearly 195,000 people have been left on trolleys there since 2006, making it the most overcrowded hospital in the country. Crucially, UHL serves not only Limerick but large parts of the Mid-West, including North Tipperary, meaning communities across the region are directly impacted by the ongoing crisis. Cork University Hospital and University Hospital Galway have also faced enormous pressures, highlighting how widespread the overcrowding problem has become.

What makes these numbers especially troubling is the human impact behind them. Patients on trolleys often experience a complete loss of dignity, treated in open corridors with little privacy, while waiting for care. Elderly and vulnerable patients are particularly affected, while frontline nurses and midwives continue to work under immense strain trying to provide safe treatment in overcrowded conditions.

The INMO survey reveals the growing toll on healthcare staff. More than two-thirds of respondents said staffing levels were inadequate to meet patient needs, while many reported burnout, stress and declining psychological wellbeing. Alarmingly, large numbers have considered leaving their work areas because of unsafe staffing conditions, creating fears that the crisis could worsen further if experienced staff continue to leave the system.

There is increasing concern that Ireland is beginning to normalise overcrowding in hospitals. Yet no modern healthcare system should accept corridors and trolleys as routine treatment spaces. Despite economic growth over the past two decades, many patients still face unacceptable waiting conditions when they are most vulnerable.

The warning from the INMO is not simply about statistics. It is a stark reminder that the healthcare system remains under severe pressure and that patients and staff across regions such as North Tipperary continue to pay the price for a crisis that has gone unresolved for far too long.

Thurles Planning Alert From Tipperary County Council.

Application Ref: 2660370.
Applicant: Aidan & Valerie Murphy.
Development Address: 18 Iona Drive, Thurles , Co. Tipperary.
Development Description: Demolition of existing attached lean-to ancillary to side facade and extension of dwelling including associated works.
Status: N/A.
Application Received: 29/04/2026.
Decision Date: N/A.
Further Details: http://www.eplanning.ie/TipperaryCC/AppFileRefDetails/2660370/0.