|
|
 A new strategic plan, launched from the Irish Civil Defence headquarters in Roscrea, Co Tipperary, by Minister for Defence Tony Killeen yesterday, now commits the organisation to training and development skills for half of its 6,000 members, during the next three years.
The new plan also seeks to attract more volunteers to its ranks and will work to strengthen its links with other front-line services that also have a role in reacting to any unforeseen or any unplanned emergencies.
A branch of the Civil Defence are located in each county in the Republic of Ireland and are a voluntary body that aid professional organisations, such as the Garda.
The body was originally set up in 1950, as part of the national defence structure and as a then necessary civil response to potential hazards which might arise in a war time situation. The organisation was designed to undertake non combatant activities to mitigate the effects on persons and property against possible attacks in the State from hazards arising such as radio-active fallout, biological or chemical warfare etc.
With the enactment of the Civil Defence Act of 2002, the Civil Defence Board has assumed responsibility for Civil Defence at National level. Prior to this, the Civil Defence function at national level was the responsibility of the Minister for Defence.
The Irish Civil Defence is an organisation comprising currently approximately 6000 members who voluntarily make themselves available in their spare time. Much of this time presently is devoted to training for situations which, it is hoped, will never happen.
Joining the Civil Defence
To request information on becoming a Civil Defence Volunteer or have a member of the Civil Defence organisation contact you, please see following link: http://www.defence.ie/cdweb.nsf/enquiry?openform
 Major General Sean McCann Chief of Staff, Defence Forces The Cabinet has accepted the nomination, by Irish Defence Minister Tony Killeen, of Major General Sean McCann, as the new Chief of Staff of the Defence Forces.
In accepting this post, Major General McCann paid great tribute to his predecessor, Lieut General Dermot Earley, who is officially retiring early from this post on Sunday next after 44 years’ service in the Defence Forces. Lieut General Earley has been suffering from ill health since late last year.
Gen McCann aged 60, was born in Cork in 1950, but grew up here in Tipperary, where he was educated at Thurles C.B.S. and in the Cistercian College Roscrea. General McCann is married and resides in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, with his wife Frances and their two sons, one of whom is currently also serving in the Defence Forces.
Major General Sean McCann has been Deputy Chief of Staff (Operations) since last year, stated that he was proud and honoured to be nominated and he now intended to ensure that the organisation continued to develop the skills and capabilities necessary to meet the increasingly complex challenges of the security environment, both at home and overseas.
Paying tribute to Gen Earley, he stated that the outgoing Chief had made an enormous contribution to the Defence Forces and to the Irish State, during his long and distinguished career.
General McCann will now be officially appointed by President Mary McAleese and we wish him continued success.
A new €3.6 million building was opened this week in the Tipperary Technology Park in Thurles.
This Park is owned and managed by Shannon Development and is promoted in co-operation with IDA Ireland, Thurles Chamber, Thurles Town Council, Tipperary North County Council, Thurles Marketing Group and the private sector.
The new building, ‘Innovation Works 3’, is now the third building in this Technology Park and brings the total investment by Shannon Development in this parkland venture to €7.4 million.
This new building comprises a 21,500 sq/ft two-storey office building and associated site works including an increase to the existing car parking area, bringing a total industrial space in the Park to now over 45,000sq/ft.
Shannon Development has now 57 Business Technology Parks and Industrial Estates right across the Shannon Region which includes counties Clare, North Kerry, Limerick, South Offaly and North Tipperary. These parks feature turn key state of the art Office Accommodation, Distribution Warehousing and Incubation Spaces, to meet the demands of small or large scale businesses with either local or international interests.
Tipperary Technology Park is home to a number of investment projects and it has a core facility for incubating and growing new Irish technology companies. Present clients range from those operating in the cutting edge sphere of nano-biomaterials, to clients in digital cinema, to the international services sector and highlight Thurles as a superb location for entrepreneurship, in both tourism and business.
Businesses requiring further information on Tipperary Technology Park should contact Mr Brian Keating, Development Manager, at Shannon Development Tipperary Technology Park, Thurles, Tel: 086-2843803 or 0504-29300, or email: keatingb@shannondevelopment.ie
The Minister for Enterprise, Trade and Innovation, Mr Batt O’Keeffe TD, officially opened the building, against a backdrop of over 7,125 people currently unemployed in North Tipperary and with 196 further persons having just joined the dole queue in May of this year.
The Irish national overall unemployment figures now stand at over 13.7%, registering the highest number of unemployed people ever, in the history of the Irish State, with 439,100 now in receipt of support.
 The Dail in Summer Interested in what we pay our Public Representatives?
Click here to keep an eye on where your money goes.
Having read the allowances claimed, hereunder, think of the money we could save if we gave them access to houses in one of the many “Ghost Estates” which we, as taxpayers, were forced to purchase recently and now hold title?
Dual Abode Allowance.
A Minister or a Minister of State, may claim for a second residence. The allowance is confined to office holders who represent constituencies outside Dublin. The dual abode allowance is paid on owned, rented or hotel accommodation and covers mortgage and interest repayments, solicitors and auctioneers fees together with all maintenance costs including light, house insurance, house repairs and heating costs.
Constituency Office Maintenance Allowance.
An allowance of €8,888.17 is paid to Deputies who have constituency offices. This allowance is paid to cover all rates, rent, light, heat and utilities in the said offices. Payment is made on production of a signed declaration that the Deputy is incurring such expenses in maintaining his/her constituency office.
Constituency Office Grant.
A grant of €8,888.17 is paid on a once off basis, but only when first elected. This is to enable the Deputy to equip a Local Constituency Office.
Telephone Allowance.
An annual allowance of €6,348.69, unvouched, is paid to all Deputies from the date of their election to the Houses of the Oireachtas. An annual allowance of €4,761.52 is paid to Senators. This allowance is to cover all telephone costs incurred by a Member in the course of his duty. Mobile phones are paid on production of an original receipt from the Service Provider, but members must purchase their own mobile phone and are refunded to the maximum of €750 every 18 months.
Miscellaneous Expense.
An Annual allowance, unvouched, of €5,489.08 goes to Deputies and €4,112.68 goes to Senators.
Constituency Travel Allowance.
There are three constituency bands (a) €2475, (b) €5,489 and (c) €8,782. These payments, unvouched, are based on the size of the constituency from which a Deputy becomes elected.
Inform me if I got the figures wrong, meanwhile think about my idea, regarding future use for “Ghost Estates”. Lets get a return on our property investments.
 Mary Hanifin T.D. Thurles born Minister for Tourism, Culture and Sports, Mary Hanafin T.D.has announced the Irish Sports Council’s funding package for the National Network of Sports Partnerships.
The 32 Partnerships have been allocated almost €6.3 million in funding in 2010 and this will be matched by revenues from other sources bringing the total invested in local participation initiatives through these Partnerships, to more than €12.5 million in the current year.
At a meeting of the Sports Partnerships in Tullamore, Co Offaly, Minister Hanafin also launched the 2009 SPEAK (Strategic Planning, Evaluation and Knowledge) Report, the evaluation mechanism that tracks the activities of the Partnerships year on year. Among the many highlights were that 112,000 people participated in 744 directly delivered participation programmes and 3,500 clubs were supported in the delivery of their sports activity targets.
Under this announced funding, in 2010 North Tipperary will receive €178,264, while South Tipperary will receive €146,671. Women’s sports projects will further benefit by €6.500 overall for the county as a whole.
For those of our readers who would like to read the full text of the SPEAK Report, click here.
Note: This report is based on the information provided for the year 2009 by 33 Local Sports Partnerships (LSPs) using the SPEAK self-evaluation system.
|
Support Us Help keep Thurles.info online by donating below. Thank you.
Total Donated 2026: €300.00
Thank You!
Daily Thurles Mass Livestream
|
Recent Comments