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 Shane McEntee TD Minister of State for Food, Horticulture and Food Safety Shane McEntee today announced the payment of the 2011 annual forestry premiums, which involve the payment of €56.2 million to just over 11,500 forest owners.
Under the Forestry Programme, forestry premiums are payable each year for twenty years as in the case of farmers and for fifteen years as in the case of non-farmers.
The Minister of State, who was recently assigned the portfolio on forestry, stated that forestry provides a welcome income stream for owners, the majority of whom are farmers. In addition to the amount received each year in premiums, forest owners can look forward to returns from thinning and the clear-fell of their particular plantation.
Forestry, is an indigenous industry, providing a wider ranging and long term economic return through provides jobs, both directly and indirectly thus contributing to our export performance. It also provides huge benefits to the environment and also provides recreation and amenity value to our society in general.
Acorn Recycling, located close to the village of Littleton, near Thurles, in Co Tipperary, is presently considered one of the most advanced composting facilities of its kind in both Ireland or Britain, with regard to the treatment and recycling of Biological Waste.
The company is now expected to expand its operations considerably further in the coming years, following the granting of a licence from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and the Environmental Protection Agency, to produce a nutrient-rich compost.
The company just opened their €7 million, state-of-the-art plant last June 2010 and currently employ eight full time staff, in their present operation.
The Companies raw material, for the manufacture of this compost product, is derived from domestic organic waste bin collection and food waste residue. This raw material is treated at 70° Celsius, prior to curing and the scientific process effectively replaces the unwelcome use of landfill as a means of managing and disposing of such organic material, as in the past.
The company presently produces 13,000 tonnes of compost per year and sells this now odourless compost in bulk to customers who can collect directly from the plant, or in some cases the company will also deliver its product within a specified radius of the production plant itself.
This now easily affordable, high-end organic product is particularly suitable for use in horticulture, agriculture, domestic gardens and sports fields.
This news will be seen by environmentalists, nationally, as a welcome step forward in how we manage our Biodegradable Waste, currently coming daily from schools, hotels, canteens, restaurants and other food service outlets for disposal.
 Clik Pour-On All Ireland and International Sheep Shearing Championships. County Tipperary and Thurles are expected to gain a significant lift in terms of Revenue spin-off, if an expected 10,000 or more visitors gather for the Clik Pour-On, All Ireland and International Sheep Shearing and Wool Handling Championships. The event just across the border in Kilkenny, is taking place over this coming June bank holiday weekend and will be held at the Cillín Hill exhibition centre, a 28-acre agribusiness development, owned and operated by Kilkenny Co-operative Livestock Market Ltd.
Details of the event, which will see competitors from all parts of Ireland, from Britain, Australia, New Zealand and mainland Europe, were confirmed yesterday in Kilkenny. The event will coincides with the long-established Cats Laugh Comedy Festival, in the city.
The National Sheep Breeders Association confirmed a number of its breed societies will host the All Ireland championships at the event and it is likely that the Young Sheep Farmer competition will also be staged.
The organisers predict the championships will be a massive revenue-spinner in tourism terms for the Southeast and surrounding counties. The two-day festival will also be a major showcase for Trade, with Craft and Food exhibitors being offered exhibition space at very affordable rates.
Mr Michael Nolan, chairman of the organising committee, said the focus would be on helping craft exhibitors and indigenous artisan producers, showcase their quality goods, without having to spend a fortune.
Irish Farmers’ Association president, Mr John Bryan said the championships would attract farmers from all over the country. He forecast: “Higher lamb prices and additional direct payments have helped restore huge confidence to the sheep sector and it is essential that strong lamb prices during 2010 are now continued into 2011.”
Earlier this week meat plants paid sheep farmers up to 600c/kg for the first of this years spring lambs.
This year’s International Miss Macra Festival will be held from Thursday July 28th to Monday 1st August 2011. The festival is organised annually by Clonoulty Rossmore Macra, and will once again be held in the magnificent surroundings of the Dundrum House Hotel and Golf Resort here in Co. Tipperary.
Irish Beauty Festivals or pageants, as tourist attraction or festival themes, have for the most part died the death throughout this country, but two such events continue to stand the test of time and continue to flourish, namely The Rose of Tralee and the International Miss Macra Festival.
The main reasons for the mammoth and continued success of these festivals, possibly lies in the fact that the emphasis is not just on physical beauty alone, latter which I hasten to add, is very prominent in both, but judging in the afore mentioned festivals places an accent more on internal beauty and true qualification, which always demands a closer examination of those ‘lovelies’ who choose to enter the competition.
For International Miss Macra, this year is a very special one, as the festival make plans to celebrate it’s 40th birthday. It has been 40 years of learning, 40 years of mixed financial fortunes and 40 years of dedicated voluntary hard work, undertaken by an enthusiastic and dedicated Macra membership.
As part of their 40 Years Celebration this year, Clonoulty Rossmore Macra are poised to send invitations to all past winners of the festival. They look forward to welcoming previous contestants and their supporters back to Tipperary, to relive what was surely a memorable weekend in their lives during those past 40 years.
With selection processes underway for this year’s representatives, the club intend to have contestants once again from the four corners of Ireland as well as from overseas.
Promises to be an exciting weekend.
 Irish Fuel Prices The word boycott is not a new word to any patriotic Irishman. Indeed it entered the English language during the Irish “Land War” and is derived from the name of Captain Charles Cunningham Boycott, the land agent of an absentee landlord, Lord Erne, who lived in Lough Mask House, in County Mayo, Ireland and who was subject to social ostracism organized by the Irish Land League in 1880.
Thurles.Info receive lots of suggestions each week from its ‘Netizens‘ with regards to matters in and around Tipperary which they feel we could or should be highlighting. One particular suggestion received to-day was regarding increasing vehicle fuel prices and suggests, with some merit, that we ‘boycott‘ major oil companies.
We are now almost hitting €1.45 a litre for unleaded petrol and €1.38 for Diesel. Soon, if we are to believe the “Informed Prophets of Doom,” we will be faced with paying € 1.50 plus per litre in the coming months. One of our many discerning readers (My thanks ML) has put forward, what I believe is a rather good idea.
This idea makes much more sense than the ‘Don’t buy petrol on a certain day campaign ‘ that got started in America and was going around last year. Oil companies just laughed, knowingly, because they knew we couldn’t continue to hurt ourselves by refusing to buy petrol, and anyway it became more of an inconvenience to us the consumer, than it hurt the major Oil Companies.
However, whoever thought of this idea, has now come up with a plan that could really work.
Boycott And Give Unleaded Petrol Power To The people
Now that the oil companies and the OPEC nations have conditioned us into believing that the cost of the present litre of fuel is cheap, (well compared to bottled water), we need to take aggressive action to teach oil companies that consumers and not wholesalers control the oil market. Then of course there is Facebook, Twitter etc, etc.,sure we could tell everyone in this green and pleasant land in an hour.
With the price of petrol going up more each day, we consumers need to take action. The only way we are going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone very hard in the pocket, by not purchasing their petrol product. Yes, we can do that without hurting ourselves and here is how.
1. For the rest of this year DON”T purchase ANY petrol from one of the biggest oil companies presently operating. We know who they are, so pick one, but do make sure we all pick the same one. Ouch!
2. If they are not selling any petrol, they will be encouraged to reduce their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies will have to follow suit. See it as real laissez-faire economics at work, but to have an impact we need to reach literally millions of Irish petrol consumers to organise.
So how do you reach these consumers you now ask? Well it’s really so simple in this modern communications era.
Now, don’t switch off on me at this point… keep reading and I’ll explain how simple it is to reach those millions of people!
Thurles.Info are sending this information out to between 700 and 1000 daily readers. If all of these readers ‘Email This Post‘, by ordinary mail or using the Tag shown at the end of this post, to at least ten more people (700 x 10 = 7,000)….and those 7,000 send it to at least ten other people (7000 x 10 = 70,000) … and so on… now do you get my drift? Then of course there is Facebook, Twitter etc etc etc, sure the world and his mother would know in less than an hour.
Don’t know what you think of this idea, but oil companies are blackmailing us and between them and government taxes, essentials like motor fuel and motor vehicles are slowly being turned into luxury items, and very soon they will be only available to the very rich or NAMA clients.
Maybe we need to gain the support, influence and muscle of The Irish Farmers Association( IFA ) together with the Irish Road Haulage Association they could lead us in such a campaign, they would know better who and when to hit and I am sure that the low paid worker with the 2003 car, who is forced to drives ten miles, for his daily bread every morning, would be more than happy to give their full support.
Organise Brothers, Organise!
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