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 Following a doubling in the rate of electricity disconnections in the four months up to July last and a warning yesterday by Bord Gáis of a “social middle-class recession,” the Oireachtas Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources has called Bord Gáis, ESB, Airtricty and the Commission for Energy Regulation to a meeting of the Committee set for next Wednesday September 29th.
110,000 families who ran up huge arrears on their electricity and gas bills over the past nine months have been forced to sign special repayment plans, to avoid having services cut off.
Bord Gáis is now disconnecting 230 homes per month from gas supplies while the ESB is disconnecting 900 Irish homes each month or some 30 homes each day.
The Oireachtas Committee, of which Tipperary North TD Noel Coonan is a member, have taken this action following concerns expressed regarding the high disconnection rate in recent months, the cost of reconnection and the recent increases in electricity prices.
Speaking to Thurles.Info Deputy Coonan stated:
“Many households in North Tipperary have been impacted by disconnections. It has been revealed that almost 2,500 households a month, some 80 a day, are having their electricity disconnected after failing to pay their bills. In total, as of the beginning of September, 10,678 customers had been disconnected, more than in the whole of 2009. Bord Gáis is introducing a range of payment plans every five minutes for customers across the country, who have fallen into arrears. Electricity suppliers and the Regulator have agreed to our request to attend, so the Committee and I look forward to putting these issues to them and finding out how they intend to handle this worrying trend in North Tipperary and nationwide.”
There is also great concern among Oireachtas Committee members that the price for reconnecting electricity is excessively high and prohibitively expensive for many consumers.
 Roscrea Credit Union here in Co. Tipperary insists that its member’s money is safe after it recorded losses of €6m, while being forced to put aside €9.3m to cover bad debts.
Roscrea Credit Union insist that savings are guaranteed up to €100,000 for each member under the State’s Deposit Guarantee Scheme, but acknowledged it is seeking financial assistance from the League of Credit Unions.
Accounts for 2009 show that it had been forced to avail of a guarantee of €3m from the league’s savings-protection fund (SPS), latter a bail-out fund for credit unions that are experiencing funding problems.
The League of Credit Unions, said it was working with the board of Roscrea and added that Roscrea was complying fully and working with the regulator.
Members were informed at an annual general meeting earlier this month that no dividend would now be paid for the foreseeable future.
Roscrea Credit Union had assets of €53m last year, down from €55m in 2008.
 The Scottish distillers William Grant & Sons Ltd is to sell liqueur brands Irish Mist, Carolans and Frangelico to Gruppo Campari for €129 million.
There are expected to be no immediate job losses as a result of this deal since Gruppo Campari are signing a 10 year manufacturing services agreement for William Grant to provide blending and bottling services for the liqueur brands at its Clonmel bottling operations here in Co Tipperary. The division’s management and team involving 57 employees will transfer with the business on its disposal and William Grant will continue to operate the division’s packaging facility located at the group’s manufacturing site here in Clonmel.
William Grant purchased the three named brands from C&C Group plc earlier this year as part of a €300 million deal for its spirits division.
The Scottish distiller is retaining the Tullamore Dew Irish whiskey brand, and said it remained committed to making a significant investment in Ireland. The company announced earlier this month that it would establish its new global marketing office in Dublin, creating 17 jobs. The office will manage global marketing operations for the firm’s non-Scotch brands including Sailor Jerry, Hendrick’s Gin and Tullamore Dew.
Billionaire John Paul Getty III is selling his one hundred acre estate, Gurthalougha House, on the shores of Lough Derg here in Co Tipperary.
Mr Getty is the grandson of John Paul Getty, the American industrialist who founded Getty Oil and was once declared America’s richest man. Latter at one time famously installed a coin operated telephone in his New York mansion.
 Getty Irish Residence in Tipperary As a teenager John Paul Getty III was kidnapped by Sicilian bandits in the 1970s. When his grandfather refused to pay the $17 million ransom, he received a further demand with an envelope containing the ear and a lock of hair of the 16 year old. Following this a ransom of $2.9 million was paid and John Paul III was restored to the bosom of his family. His kidnappers, supposedly linked with the ‘Ndrangheta, were never caught. In 1981, a prescription drug overdose resulted in a stroke which left Mr Getty permanently paralyzed and nearly blind.
The Victorian house is a short boat ride away from the beautiful village of Terryglass, Nenagh and has been the hideaway for Mr Getty and his mother Mrs Gail Harris Getty, on and off, for the past 12 year, since the property was purchased and restored in 1998.
Mr Getty, who is aged 53 and wheelchair bound, now will spend his time living between UK, USA and Italy, and has already begun to move the bulk of the properties furniture and paintings to their family’s other homes.
The house, a former Hidden Ireland guest-house was purchased for €1.27 million following the acquisition by several members of the Getty family, of Irish passports under the infamous “Passports for Investment” scheme just before the latter was abolished. Sheikh Khalid bin Mahfouz, brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden, also purchased eleven Irish passports in 1990 as part of this scheme. Latter was handled personally by the then Fianna Fail Taoiseach, Charles J Haughey. Later Sheikh Mahfouz is understood to have invested £3m in Kerry Airport and a further £3m to help pay for projects associated with companies owned by the Millstreet,Co Cork business entrepreneur Noel C Duggan.
The house, which is set well back from the main road and almost invisible, except from the lake side view, contains 12 bedrooms and is understood to be in immaculate condition.
Co. Tipperary is home to many of the worlds rich and famous who seek privacy in a “get away from it all” environment.
 Back To School With the start of the new school year only days away, and many more late applications expected, the Health Service Executive (HSE) admit that a massive 33,192 crucial back-to-school payment forms currently lie unopened nationally.
Parents are being forced to take out Credit Union loans in their efforts to help meet the costs of required new uniforms and school shoes.
The HSE has confirmed that some families would now not receive payments until after many schools re-open, however some of these affected were parents whose application arrived late.
The North Tipperary region is amongst the countries worst defaulters, where no final decision has been made on almost half of all applications applied for under this grant aid.
Many low-income and lone parents depend on the Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance to send their children back to school.
RATES OF PAYMENT
A. €200 in respect of children aged 2 to 11 on the 30th September 2010;
B. €305 in respect of children aged 12 to 17 on the 30th September 2010;
C. €305 in respect of children aged 18 to 22 on the 30th September 2010 who are in full time education.
D. As a special measure introduced in Budget 2009, an additional amount of €215 is payable for children aged 18 ONLY in respect of whom compensatory Child Benefit is in payment.Total payment in respect of eligible children aged 18 is €520.
Applications forms are now available at:
http://www.welfare.ie/EN/Forms/Documents/bscfa.pdf or at http://communitywelfareservice.ie/cws_public/application-forms
Parents who are concerned about their application are advised to contact their local office or the HSE information line, Tel: 1850 24 18 50.
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