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 Tomás Mac Giolla The death took place on Thursday last of Tipperary born Mr Tomás Mac Giolla, former president of the Workers’ Party, who died at Beaumont Hospital, Dublin, aged 86.
Mr Mac Giolla was born in Nenagh, Co Tipperary in 1924, son to farmer Mr Robert Gill and Mrs Mary Gill (Ni Hourigan). His uncle T. P. Gill was a Member of Parliament (MP) and member of the Irish Parliamentary Party of the land reform agitator, Charles Stewart Parnell.
Known in his early life as Tom Gill, he was educated locally by the Christian Brothers and later attended St Flannan’s College, Ennis, Co. Clare where his classmates were to included the future archbishop of Dublin, Kevin McNamara, and the future distinguished Dominican priest and social justice campaigner, Austin Flannery.
From St Flannan’s College, Mr Mac Giolla won a scholarship to University College Dublin (UCD) where he qualified with a Bachelor of Arts degree, followed by a degree in Commerce and was employed by the Irish Electricity Supply Board (ESB) as an accountant from 1947 until 1977 after which he became a full time politician. His contemporaries during his years at UCD included both future taoisigh, Mr Charles Haughey and Mr Garret FitzGerald.
He joined Sinn Féin and the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1950 and was interned for two years by the Irish government in the Curragh, during the IRA Border campaign of 1956 to 1962. He also served a number of prison sentences in Mountjoy Prison, Dublin, one for six months for failing to give an account of his movements. In 1962, following the collapse of the IRA Border campaign, he was elected president of a then very isolated Sinn Féin, which later became Sinn Féin The Workers Party.
Mr Mac Giolla served as Lord Mayor of Dublin from 1993 to 1994 and remained a member of Dublin Corporation until 1998.
History will record Mr Mac Giolla as a man of great principle, personal courage, a champion of the poor and the disadvantaged, who played a central role in trying to wean the Republican Movement away from violence.
He is survived by his wife May (née McLoughlin, former member of Sinn Féin and Cumann na mBan, latter the women’s section of the IRA), his sister Evelyn and nephews and nieces.
 North Tipperary Independent Deputy Michael Lowry has confirmed that he has held discussions with Transport Minister Noel Dempsey and the latter has confirmed his commitment to providing some €2.6 million, in relation to the completion of the Thurles link road.
This funding will see the link between the Templemore and Nenagh roads completed before the end of 2010.
This link road will includes the building of a €2.2 million bridge over the main Dublin-Cork railway line, which has been, supposedly, the major stumbling block to the continued progress of this long drawn out project. Construction came to a sudden stop in October last with the road footprint having been carved out.
Deputy Lowry has stated:
“I have been in discussion with Minister Noel Dempsey on this congestion issue and arising from these talks I have gotten a commitment that the link road will be completed before the end of the year. Monies are being provided to finish the road and the engineers and design team have now agreed on the necessary requirement for the bridge. This will be a very significant piece of infrastructure for the area.”
When this long overdue road is completed, it will be the first step in alleviating heavy traffic congestion coming from the north of the county, which together with a poorly designed and badly flawed traffic calming system, presently brings Thurles to a standstill between the hours 8.30am – 9.30am and between 3.30 pm – 6.00 pm.
Presently, from a health and safety view point, both Fire, Doctor and Ambulance services are now being greatly hindered in their efforts to answer 999 emergency calls, particularly on the Dublin road, through Cathedral street and Kickham street, due to clogged motorists unable to mount high footpaths to give a clear way to these essential services.
One angry frustrated motorist informed us this week:-
“Elderly cyclists who pay no road taxes, now decide the speed of traffic in Thurles, since they cannot be overtaken by motorists, due to the recent traffic calming measures introduced. These so called calming measures have had quiet the opposite effect to calming, with motorists forced to take unnecessary risks while becoming enraged and discourteous in their everyday driving habits within the town. We continue to elect Maurice Hickey type, self serving, headline gathering town and county representatives, with little or no business acumen or qualifications, to service our town and county’s need and what we elect is what we get.” he continued.
Once daily shoppers from the villages of Two Mile Borris, Moyne, Templetuohy, Holycross, Glengoole etc. have now taken their daily shopping trips to nearby Cashel, because of the long delays in Thurles traffic. Supermarkets on the outskirts of the town who offer free car parking, continue to do reasonable business at the expense of the now strangled town centre. Some local commuters and centre town businesses are now privately calling for a blockade of the town in order to highlight this ever growing problem.
Other Road Problems
North Tipperary County Council have estimated that between €3.2 and €4 million will be needed to repair roads damaged in the recent cold spell. Of this sum, €2.7 million will be needed to spent on restoring local and regional roads.
Motorists are asked to be particularly careful driving on the road between Thurles and Templetuohy, where road surfaces have been described as similar to mountainous terrain. The road from Templetuohy to Johnstown is grossly unsafe to travel by any form of transport, with large areas of the surface having subsided by up to 12 to 18 inches in many places over the past twelve months, leaving it particularly hazardous for unfamiliar motorist during periods of darkness.
If you feel strongly about this issue, please feel free to comment hereunder.
Confirmation from the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern that the Garda College in Templemore is safe, has been received by Independent Deputy Michael Lowry. Mr Lowry sought the assurances after local Templemore Town Councillors spoke of ‘rumours of imminent closure’ due to the current recruitment embargo. However operations at the college are expected to be cut back.
 Templemore Garda Training College Plans for the 220-acre site at Clonmore, latter situated close to Templemore, Thurles, Co.Tipperary, which was ear marked for use as a firearms and as a tactical training facility three years ago, for €5.5 million, still remain on hold.
Minister Ahern assured Mr Lowry that the College would “not be closed for any period of time not withstanding the current recruitment embargo and the college will remains an integral part of the infrastructure of An Garda Síochána. It will continue to be used to train and up skill existing members of the force.”
Deputy Lowry communicated this information to a specially convened meeting of Templemore town Councillors and North Tipperary Oireachtas representatives in Templemore town hall on Monday night.
The Chief Superintendent Mr Jack Nolan, in charge of the college, has already assured all permanent staff at the college that their positions are safe. There is a problem with the positions of some of the catering staff at the college as they are not officially on the Department of Justice payroll, but a solution is currently being sought.
Deputy Lowry Stated:-
” While undoubtedly I would prefer new recruits to be going through the college and onto our streets, the current embargo gives the Gardaì the opportunity to engage in further training and up skilling for its current personnel. The main problem the force is experiencing at present is the retirement of senior members, and the vacuum of expertise and leadership that this has left. The recruitment freeze allows the Garda College the capacity to allow the training of existing officers for more senior and specialised roles, so that some of this deficit can be addressed.”
All eyes will now be focused on the implementation of changes to garda work practices recommended in last week’s report by the Garda Chief Inspector, former Boston police commissioner Kathleen O’Toole, to see if these changes will in any way effect the college’s future.
Chief Inspector O’Toole, in her recent published report, entitled ‘Resourse Allocation‘, recommends that advantage should be taken of future opportunities to acquire civilian staff with the required skills who may become available through increased mobility across the public service. Future recruitment of police officers should be linked to progress towards achieving an initial minimum target ratio of one member of police staff to every three serving police officers.
 Tipperary For Sale Per figures recently published by the National Institute of Regional and Spatial Analysis (NIRSA) based in NUI Maynooth since 2001, there are now no less than 33 “Ghost Housing Estates” vacant in Co.Tipperary. (17 in South Tipp – 16 in North Tipp)
During the period 2006-09, it appears that we have, as a nation, only now woken up to the fact that housing stock became completely devoid from any kind of realistic sensible projected planning and demand. This apparent oversight has now been further aggravated by a diminished market and an ever changing human population profile.
There were 217,101 housing units built in Ireland between April 2006 – Dec 2009. Based on 1996-2006 population growth there was a need for only about 85,446 units countrywide and we now have a potential oversupply of 131,665 units for which the lower paid working members of our Green Island are being asked indirectly to subsidise without ever getting our names on a Title Deed.
So How Did This Housing Surplus Happen?
A census here in Ireland takes place, usually, in every year that ends in a 1 or a 6 except when some national crisis rears its ugly head e.g. Famine, War or Foot and Mouth disease. ‘Census 2006’ took place on the night of Sunday, April 23, 2006. The preliminary results of the 2006 Census were published on 19 July 2006, that is three months following the actual Census Day.
The publication schedule for the Census 2006 reports can be downloaded here.
From these figures the Irish Government knew the population growth and household size for the period 1996-2006 from this 2006 Census and so they knew the number of household units that would have been required for the period 2006-09, if population growth followed this 06-09 trend.
Given this present government knew the number of house units built between April 2006 (date of the census) and 2009, for each county, they could therefore have calculated accurately the projected oversupply of units per county, based on these projected household growth and population figures.
If this data had been examined the following information would surely have been gleaned regarding Co.Tipperary.
Household growth 1996-2006 –5640.
Houses required 2006-2009 based on 1996-2006 growth figures – 2256.
Because of this apparent failure to examine this known collected data, by developers, bankers etc, we now find ourselves in the following position as we go forward.
Houses built in Tipperary County 2006- 2009 – 7211.
Over supply of Building Units –4955.
This situation now leaves Co.Tipperary with a percentage of housing over supplied, amounting to 439.6% and a problem which will haunt us for the next 10 years at least.
This is what happens when no one is ‘minding the shop’ and when greed and looting within our society is routine and allowed to go unrestrained by those we elect, entrust and enhance with large salaries and bonuses, to manage our affairs.
Have you been refused finance by your bank?
Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism Martin Cullen has spoken for the first time of his horrendous treatment by the media after he was wrongly accused of having an affair with a Waterford businesswoman Monica Leech.
PR consultant Monica Leech was awarded €1.87m in a record libel award in June 2009, after she won her action against Independent Newspapers.
Mr Cullen said defamatory media coverage of groundless allegations almost destroyed his life, that of his family.
Minister Martin Cullen, who was a guest speaker at a seminar on defamation, described the media intrusion he experienced over false allegations concerning Monica Leech as akin to “rape.”
According to RTÉ News and The Irish Times, he said that the media treatment he received was “like waking up every morning and being raped”.
 Cllr Pauline Coonan Feeling like a hare at a coursing meet , besieged even, witch-hunted, naked in public, violated or persecuted possibly, but most definitely not raped Mr Cullen.
North Tipperary Cllr. Pauline Coonan has described this comment made by Minister Martin Cullen on the sensitive topic of rape as “crass and hurtful”.
Cllr. Coonan said: “This was an extremely insensitive and tactless remark to make and undoubtedly hurtful towards all those who have experienced rape and who still suffer today. I was astounded that Minister Cullen could compare media coverage of allegations against him as being raped.”
Cllr. Coonan continued: “I understand that Minister Cullen and his family had a tough time during the groundless allegations but his remarks take no account of the horrific crime of the rape of children, men, and women. It is absolutely shameful that a Government Minister can compare the intrusion of the media to the absolute horror experienced by victims of rape. He was insensitive and uncaring in his remarks and his empathy is false, hurtful and damaging to real victims of rape,” concluded the Fine Gael Councillor.
People affected by rape can contact Aware’s Helpline by telephone on 1890 – 303 302 and the Rape Crisis Centre in Nenagh on 067 – 41122 for a listening ear.
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