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“Who hath ears to hear, let him hear,” – Gospel of St. Mark Ch. 4: V. 9.
 One afternoon an Irish politician was riding along in his chauffeur driven Ford Excursion, 14 Seater Stretched Limo, when he spotted two homeless men sitting on the roadside apparently eating grass. Having ordered his driver to stop, he got out of his vehicle to further investigate.
He addressed both men, “Why are you eating grass?”
“We don’t have any money for food”, the homeless men both replied in unison “We have to eat grass”.
“Well, then, you can come with me to my house and I’ll feed you”, the TD said. “But sir, we both have wives and a total of 12 children with us”, stated the homeless men, “You can see them over there, starving under those trees”.
“Bring them along also” the TD replied.
Having crammed 4 children into the vehicles trunk / boot, the other 12 homeless individuals climbed aboard the interior of the plush 14 seater.
Once under-way, one of the homeless men turned to the TD sitting up front with the driver and in expressing his gratitude stated, “Sir, you are too kind. Thank you for taking all of us with you”.
The TD replied “Glad to do it. You’ll really love my place – I didn’t get a chance to cut the one acre of lawn to the rear of my home so far this year, and the unspoilt grass there is almost one foot high!”
 Cashel Palace Hotel, Cashel, Co. Tipperary. It has been confirmed by Deputy Mr Michael Lowry TD, that planning for the redevelopment of the Cashel Palace Hotel, Cashel, Co. Tipperary, has, this week, been granted in full.
Readers will remember that Trevester Ltd; a joint venture between the Magnier family and a group of International investors, acquired the valuable property in late 2015; which had closed without warning in 2014.
This development group also acquired the famous Cashel pub ‘Mikey Ryan’s’; which is adjacent to the hotel gardens. Refurbishment work has already started on the pub, which is due to reopen in the 3rd quarter of 2017, and will employ 25 people.
The completion of this project will ensure that the iconic Cashel Palace will once again become the heartbeat of the town as a vibrant, high quality, service provider for both locals and visiting tourists alike.
This welcome development, when fully complete will provide in total 61 bedrooms, together with top grade function facilities, a Spa & Leisure Centre, restaurants and hotel Taverns.
The construction phase will involve 100 people working on the project, which will take 18 to 24 months to fully complete. On completion, the hotel will employ a further 100 employees; 40 of which will be retained on a full-time basis.
In addition to the expansion of the hotel, the proposal will deliver a 3-acre town park as set out in the Cashel Development Plan and further enable the reinstatement of the famed ‘Bishop’s Walk’, allowing connectivity from the Rock of Cashel to the town centre.
Thurles Order of Malta Ambulance Corps – Mr Gerard Fogarty, Parnell Street, Thurles reports:-
Order of Malta Collections.
Order of Malta Ireland Ambulance Corps Thurles would like to thank those who contributed so generously to their annual collection recently, in the Thurles, Gortnahoe-Glengoole and Holycross-Ballycahill parishes.
Collections will be taken up next weekend after all masses in the Moycarkey / Littleton / Two-Mile-Borris parish. It should be noted that all funds are used locally for the upkeep of the unit and towards its new ambulance.
 Members of Thurles Order of Malta Ambulance Corps and its Cadet Corps, with colleagues from Nenagh, Cashel, Limerick and Dundrum, pictured here in Semple Stadium on last weekend. Officer-In-Charge Ms Catherine O’Loughlin has expressed her great pride in the unit, this week, after a very busy weekend in the local GAA calendar.
Ms O’Loughlin stated, “Our members are exceptionally well trained and thankfully all the matches went off without any major incident. We have recently completed our own on-site operational training, in Semple Stadium, to be prepared for any future emergency incident that might occur. We are grateful to the public for their generous support, allowing us to continuously upgrade our emergency ambulance fleet and equipment, and to keep them taxed etc, and fully maintained in pristine condition.”
Recent difficulties with our unit telephone have now been rectified and we can be contacted about ‘First Aid Courses’; ‘Event Cover’ and ‘Transport’, as per usual, on Mobile Telephone No. 087 2390111.
 The 2017 ‘Living Wage’ has been set at €11.70 per hour, up €0.20 on the €11.50 set last year.
The living wage is defined as the average hourly gross salary that a full-time worker would need to earn to ensure sufficient food, clothing, basic personal care, and health costs, while being able to meet a friend for coffee occasionally, maybe download a song from iTunes, or take a trip to the cinema a couple of times a year.
This years 20 cents increase is brought about by cost of living increases and changes in the taxation system over the past year, with the current housing crisis, and increases in rent levels, being the main reason given for the increase.
With the exception of heating oil, the cost of food, electricity, natural gas, clothing, and health insurance all saw reductions in 2017, while changes to the Universal Social Charge (USC) increased net pay for all persons earning the living wage.
Initially set up in 2014, the ‘Living Wage Rate’ is refreshed in July of each year, and employers can choose to pay their staff the higher rate, which is set each year by a group comprising of researchers and academics, who calculate what people need to earn to have a basic standard of living.
 The ‘Back to School Clothing and Footwear Allowance’ (BSCFA), has been increased. This allowance is designed to help parents/guardians to meet the cost of uniforms and footwear for primary and secondary school children, returning to school during the coming year, 2017/18.
The allowance has seen a rise from €100 to €125 for children aged 4-11 years, and up by €50 to €250 for children over 12 years. Nationally some 108,000 Irish families look set to benefit from this small increase.
Those who frequent supermarket chains like Dunnes, Marks and Spencers etc; will all be aware that back to school clothing is already on display in anticipation of the coming school year.
To avail, of the BSCFA, parents or guardians must be getting certain social welfare payments or taking part in training, employment or adult education schemes. Their siblings must be aged between 4 and 17 years of age, on or before September 30th, of the year for which you apply. If still in second-level education, siblings must be aged between 18 and 22 years of age on or before the same date.
The BSCFA scheme for 2017 opening date was on June 1st last 2017, and the closing date for such applications remains strictly September 30th 2017.
As is usual, the Dept. of Social Protection pay BSCFA automatically to many parents / guardians, meaning simply that same do not have to apply for this payment. Should you qualify automatically, you should be notified of your entitlements on or before June 23rd 2017 and receive correspondence stating when and how the allowance will be delivered. Payments are expected to be made available during this month, ending July 14th 2017.
Note: Parents / Guardians not automatically notified, may still be eligible for such allowances, subject to completing a means assessment, and you can find out more information on the rules and income limits affecting BSCFA by simply clicking HERE.
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