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Mr Fionnan Sheahan, originally from Slievenamon Road, Thurles, Co Tipperary, has been appointed Group Political Editor with Independent News & Media (INM).
Fionnan, a graduate of University College Cork, was winner of the National Newspapers of Ireland Journalist of the Year award in 2012, as leader of the Irish Independent Presidential Election Team.
He was also nominated for Scoop of the Year 2012, as a result of the link uncovered between the then Presidential candidate hopeful Sean Gallagher to a Fianna Fail fund-raiser, which became the leading story of the Presidential election campaign.
As an award-winning journalist and a respected public commentator, Fionnan is a regular contributor to numerous TV and radio debates on current affairs programmes, with a reputation for ‘digging deep,’ to emerge with accurate, often unfamiliar yet factual, economic and political analysis.
Fionnan who is married to Fianna Fáil Seanad spokesperson on Education and Skills, Averil Power, will now report directly to INM Editor-in-Chief, Stephen Rae.
 Members of Fianna Fáil the Republican Party across the new Templemore-Thurles Electoral Area have received invitations and nomination papers for their Candidate Selection Convention for the 2014 Local Elections on the 15th October next in the Ragg, Thurles.
It’s understood that at the time of writing five candidates have been nominated to contest the Convention; sitting Cllrs. Michael Smith MCC, Seamus Hanafin MCC, John Hogan MCC and Gerard Fogarty MTC; and newcomer Jackie Cahill, former President of the ICMSA. There are also unconfirmed rumours of a candidate from the Moycarkey Cumainn.
Fianna Fáil HQ won’t confirm how many candidates will be selected until nominations close, although it is likely that they will run four. However, it is also likely that should a sitting Councillor lose their seat, that the Fianna Fáil Ard Chomhairle will add them to the ticket later.
To take the recent national tracking poll figures Fianna Fáil will have enough support for two quotas to take at least two seats, but have always polled well in these areas.
With the new membership system in Fianna Fáil, One Member One Vote, all fully registered members in the area are entitled to vote on Tuesday amounting to in excess of 300 delegates, which is one of the largest membership figures for an electoral area for Fianna Fáil in the country.
 More job losses could be arriving down the line for Co Tipperary with the news that the fashion retail chain Carl Scarpa has gone into examiner-ship. The chain which began operating in the early seventies selling shoes and accessories employs more than 80 people in 21 outlets, one of which is in based at No 6 Gladstone Street, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.
Examining, Mr Justice Gerard Hogan stated that the stores had established a strong brand; selling shoes designed for the fashion conscious consumer and described Carl Scarpa’s present difficulties as sadly an all too familiar site in the present Irish retail sector. At the moment however the business cannot pay its debts, including in the region of €200,000 in tax arrears due to Irish Revenue.
Carl Scarpa site Legacy Debt and above Market Rents as being partially to blame for their current trading difficulties.
Earlier this week the US pharmaceutical giant Merck said it would eliminate an additional 8,500 jobs worldwide as it seeks to cut costs by $2.5 billion by the end of 2015. The new job cuts, combined with previously announced cuts of about 7,500, will slash some 20% of their current global workforce of 81,000 by end-2015. The company has been under pressure following the expiration of patents on some key drugs.
Merck employs some 2,000 people in Ireland, with over 400 employees at its manufacturing facility at Ballydine, Kilsheelan, Clonmel, Co Tipperary. The company’s plant near Kilsheelan exports to some 30 countries. Back in 2010 a new research and development site was opened. The worry for Tipperary employees is that most of Merck’s new expected savings are expected to come via marketing and administrative expenses, including a cut back in research and development.
Merck & Co have already agreed to close its MSD (Merck Sharp & Dohme) plant at Rathdrum in Co Wicklow by the end of 2015, resulting in the loss of 280 jobs and had planed to relocate products manufactured in Rathdrum to MSD sites in Ballydine and Singapore, as well as to third-party manufacturers.
Job Creation In Tipperary
The Irish Industrial Development Authority (IDA) boasts of its successes in achieving strong net job performance mainly through foreign direct investment particularly over the previous 12 months. It should be noted however that some 54%, or 6,389 of their created jobs were in Co Dublin, while some 1,979 jobs were created in Co Cork during this same twelve month period.
Here in the County of Tipperary, alas in the South of our county a mere ten jobs were only put in place, (Fifth from bottom of the overall job creation list nationally) and to equate this to North Tipperary, we saw not even one single job created, (Bottom of the overall job creation list nationally) during this same period.
While unemployment figures may have improved very slightly in the larger Irish cities, Thurles and Tipperary presently sit under a dark cloud while awaiting details of the next budget. If a reversal in the current 9% VAT rate is implemented, as was recently muted by Finance Minister Michael Noonan, then hospitality and services sectors in the county will have no alternative but to shed further employees, thus ultimately leading to net losses for the exchequer and the further destruction of rural Ireland.
 Michael Lowry TD Independent North Tipperary TD Michael Lowry has been cleared by the Political Standards Watchdog, following complaints made regarding his non-declaration of land, understood to be partially owned by him in the North West of England.
Under Dáil Éireann rules, Irish TD’s are obliged to declare their ownership of all land worth over €13,000. A large number of individuals had complained that Mr Lowry had not included details of his part share in a 21-acre site located in Wigan, England, on his official Dáil Éireann declaration.
The Standards in Public Office Commission are understood to have hired professional land valuers who confirmed that the land owned by Mr Lowry was worth less than €13,000 and therefore exempted his need for any such declaration being necessarily required.
In correspondence to Mr Lowry, the Commission confirmed that having received the valuation report, it had decided that the evidence supplied was sufficient not to sustain the complaints received, and further confirmed that it had now decided not to pursue any further investigation into these complaints of non-declaration.
 Despite promises to the contrary, the first recruitment of Gardaí in more than five years will now not take place until next year. A ban on hiring new officers for An Garda Síochána has been in place since 2009, as part of a moratorium in the public sector, gravely affecting the local economy of Templemore.
In July of this year Fine Gael Justice Minister Alan Shatter had announced that the controversial Garda recruitment ban, currently now in force, would start again after plans were sanctioned by the Public Spending Minister Brendan Howlin.
The Minister had stated that it was very important for an organisation like An Garda Síochána, given the demanding nature of policing, to receive a reasonably regular intake of new recruits. He stated that he would now make arrangements with the Public Appointments Service, so that they can do the necessary preparatory work to deal with new applications later this year in 2013.
Deputy Noel Coonan TD had also, last February, welcomed what he called “positive news” from his Fine Gael colleague, Minister Shatter that the Government was now to review its position regarding the future recruitment of new Gardaí, following representations on this matter, he himself had concluded with Government Chief Whip Paul Kehoe.
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