Soapbox | Thurles Information

How Do You Solve A Problem Like Clothes Pods?

We are informed online that during our present Covid-19 Virus Pandemic, our Clothes Pods (Textile Recycling Facilities) are being serviced as normal.

The clothespod.ie website also informs us that they have been advised by numerous County Councils that their service offered, across over 1,200 convenient locations in our Republic of Ireland, is considered part of the Waste Management Structure and currently Waste Management, both nationally and locally, is considered an essential service.

**Clothes Pods In Parnell Street Car Park Thurles, Co. Tipperary**.

Here in Thurles clothespod.ie; using a rather outdated website, and in an effort to direct us to our nearest Clothes Pods in Thurles, identify only two locations; namely Ardeen Nursing Home, Abbey Rd, Thurles and Thurles Greyhound Stadium.

There is no mention of the six (6) Clothes Pods available in the Parnell Street, Carpark, Thurles. This error may answer the question as to why Clothes Pods, in the latter vicinity, are not being emptied.

Note: There is also one Clothes Pod also in the front of Aldi Shopping Centre, on Kickham Street, and two others at the junction of Mitchel Street and Borroway in the town; latter three filthy dirty looking Pods, which should get an early mention in the next Thurles Tidy Towns report.

[Please do note: If clothes pods are full, you can phone one of the following Telephone Numbers: 087 222 1077 or 087 631 1698 or 01 4642676, to have same emptied.

To demonstrate the sad life we lead during this virus lockdown, we have been keeping an eye on these Clothes Pods over the past few days, to discover that same are being used as uncontrolled “charity thrift swap shops”.

People arrive to deposit their unwanted textiles, to find them packed to capacity. Having attempted to push items further in and failing in their efforts, full plastic bags are then pulled out and the now available space filled by the new depositor. Contents of the bag initially pulled out are then examined and items donated by an earlier depositor are often taken away.

The photograph above was taken on Saturday last, Oct.24th. Today anything that could be removed within easy reach in three of these clothes pods have been removed, some no doubt will end up for sale on Facebook.

We won’t even discuss or highlight the discarded single mattresses, also on view dumped between two Pods in the picture shown above.

Tipperary TD Jackie Cahill – Grasps At Imaginary Straws

You would swear it was a General Election year, then maybe it might be, and if it is, we need to change every solitary TD, we elect to represent our county of Tipperary.

Perhaps the biggest laugh local people got on Friday last, came from Fianna Fáil TD Mr Jackie Cahill. [See his Facebook page shared with Thurles public October 2nd, 2020].

He writes: “I want to give you an update on the work I’ve been doing, and will continue to do, for my home town of Thurles!

Social Housing: 28 units are currently being constructed on the Mill Road. This government is dedicated to providing social and affordable housing.
[Note: No mention of attempting to save the 175 year old “Great Famine Double Ditch”, which exists 5 metres (15ft) from where he was standing in his video. We sent 2 emails to Mr Cahill’s email address asking for the answers to 3 simple questions and as was expected from Mr Cahill, we got no reply.]

Jigsaw Centre: this will provide much needed mental health supports for young people in Tipperary.

Third Level Funding: this government has provided €2 million in capital grants for MIC and LIT Thurles campuses as part of the July stimulus.

MIC Thurles: I am working to increase the number of courses available for students, increasing the educational opportunities available in Thurles.

Tourism Office: €2.5 million for a tourism office on the site of the old Lár na Páirce. [You mean, Mr Cahill, the old National Bank building, not Lár na Páirce Museum, surely. By the way it was a €25,000 grant under the Village Renewal Scheme, not €2.5 million; hence the GO FUND ME page started, to try to keep it up and running.]

Hospital of the Assumption: €2.5 million investment in day and respite services for the area. [I thought Mr Alan Kelly TD, in opposition, was responsible for that enterprise before being contradicted by Mr Michael Lowry TD.]

National Apprenticeship Centre: working to increase spaces on offer and I secured €200,000 for Tipperary ETB.

Meanwhile, no mention of his formerly announced pipe dream of a Visitor Heritage Centre for Holycross Abbey, announced by Mr Cahill a week earlier, on 27th September, 2020.

HolyCross Abbey, Thurles, Co Tipperary from HiddenTipperary on Vimeo.

Mr Cahill TD states: [View HERE and do please read the comments underneath for further amusement.]

His press release reads: –
“Cahill announces plans for a Multi-million Euro Heritage Centre in the Thurles area.”
This development in the Thurles area is believed to have the potential to attract large numbers of international visitors to the area annually.
Investments like this are needed in Tipperary to take advantage of opportunities that are likely to emerge as the global pandemic is brought under control.
The fact that this project has been able to progress during the Covid pandemic proves to us all that there will be life after Covid, and our area will have a major investment to look forward to.
I have been working with stakeholders for some time now on this planned development. Consultations with the local community in the area in question are commencing. Once this process is over, I will be in a position to announce more details.
This multi-million Euro development will most definitely be a welcome boost to the mid Tipp region.
[Read the full announcement HERE as Local TippFm Radio broadcasts political deceit. No mention of attempting to save existing 175 year old Thurles heritage.]

The Holycross/ Ballycahill local News Letter on the 27th September 2020, quickly brought TD Mr Jackie Cahill and Thurles Councillor Mr Jim Ryan, back from ‘Fantasy Land’, into the local world of reality and materiality.

The Holycross/ Ballycahill local News Letter stated: – (27th September 2020)
“Visitor Heritage Centre: Further to recent media speculation in relation to Holycross Abbey, we wish to point out that there are no plans, drawings, costings or concrete proposals in relation to any development here at this point in time.

As has been the case for centuries, our Abbey remains the focal point of our parish for devotion and prayer and that will continue long into the future. If or when there are any further future developments at the Abbey, the people of the parish of Holycross/ Ballycahill should and hopefully will be the first to hear about it.

As you are probably aware from media reports, the Minister with responsibility for OPW (Office of Public Works), Deputy Patrick Donovan made a visit to the Abbey during the week. His predecessor Kevin “Boxer” Moran also made a visit some years ago.
Discussions on possible future development of the OPW portion of the grounds have been taking place over a number of years to see how we can further enhance the area to the benefit of the Abbey and the OPW. Therefore, there is nothing new to report at this point.

There are no plans or funding proposals on the table for discussion. Hopefully this will happen at a later stage which, according to the Minister, could take many years to bring to fruition.
We are advised that any media speculation is not helpful at this time and may in fact hinder any prospects for the future development.

So Mr Cahill, were you attempting to magnify your currently non-existant profile, to your limited electorate by the use of deceit?

Mr Cahill laughingly continues on his Facebook page:-

“I will continue to push for capital investments in the Thurles area, such as the car park in the town and the development of Liberty Square.” [Note: Carpark & Liberty Square developments were both paid for by the ratepayers of Thurles. Fianna Fáil local councillors voted against that same increase of rates collected to develop Liberty Square, when it was first proposed many years ago.]

Truth is Mr Cahill, you had no hand, act or part in securing or acquiring any one of the assets you claim in your statement, but which you expect the hard working people of Thurles to swallow as truth.

Perhaps the time has come for all TD’s representing Co. Tipperary to either work for their €96,189 per year (€1,850 per week) or fold their tents.
Sorry folks, but paying PR staff to associate you with the Met Éireann Weather Forecast on Facebook; with the successful and winning greats like cyclist Sam Bennett, is not actually the work we elected you all to undertake.

Tipperary Co. Council – Epitome Of Hypocrisy

Never follow community leaders who are more in love with gaining personal power, than with the people they have promised publicly to support and protect.

Hypocrisy is the skill of creating a false appearance of virtue or goodness, while at the same time concealing real inclinations.

In the case of Thurles Municipal District Council officials; same shaded under the umbrella of Tipperary County Council; hypocrisy is clearly the practice by them of claiming to have higher standards and more noble beliefs, than is truly the case.

Perhaps I should make myself clearer to those whom I accuse of this pretence.

**Photograph taken on June 22nd 2020**.
*Photographer: G.Willoughby*

News is slow here in rural Tipperary and Thurles Town presently, mainly because of the Covid-19 virus pandemic and the necessary wise guidelines laid down by our government, regarding public gatherings. Same guidelines, as you will be aware, were recommended by the Department of Health, led by our Chief Medical Officer for the Republic of Ireland, Dr Tony Holohan; all three of whom named have served this country remarkably well over the past number of months.

Here in Thurles the main news story, over the past week, was the removal of dumped rubbish from a back lane at Lisheen Terrace, Mitchel Street, Thurles, by Tipperary County Council.

We understand the local residents of that area, according to Radio and Press reports, are well aware of who is dumping this domestic rubbish. Despite this knowledge, we learn from these reports that the rubbish was removed on Thursday last, June 18th, by Tipperary Co. Council, at considerable expense to local taxpayers. While Tipperary Co. Council are to be commended for their actions in this regard, one must ask the question, will the costs of such action be recovered on behalf of Thurles Town taxpayers?

Please Study the picture above and weep.

Now here is the blatant act of hypocrisy. Imagine for a moment that Tipperary Co. Council identified the culprit/culprits, supposedly known to the local residents. They decide to prosecute through the courts. Could a court convict those accused if the defence provided concrete evidence that Tipperary County Council themselves dump, on a daily basis, their waste and litter into the River Suir via storm drains? Same can be viewed today under the building aptly called ‘The Source’, next to Barry’s Bridge here in the heart of Thurles town.

This is a deliberate act carried out under cover of winter high-water levels. The River Suir is now experiencing low water levels, revealing that the locking device closing one of the storm drains has been removed. This allows rain water containing litter and God only knows what else, to flow freely, unfiltered, into the river Suir, turning it into its current appearance; that of a badly managed slurry pit.

All of this is happening at a time when the so-called Environmental Section of Tipperary Co. Council are paying argumentative individuals, who carry no proper identification, to call to homes, checking if they have recycling bins.
It is also occurring at time when some Thurles elected representatives are delaying the introduction of a Thurles Recycling Centre; latter centres enjoyed by every other large town in Co. Tipperary.

Warning To All Eircom.net Email Users

Warning: No, this is not one of Eir’s little jokes.

Find, hereunder, an email being genuinely circulated by the privatised Eircom Limited, trading as Eir. Note, Eir is currently majority owned by Xavier Niel’s Illiad SA and his Paris based NJJ Telecom Europe investment fund.

Their email reads as follows:

Dear Eircom.net user,
Earlier this year we contacted you to inform you of the introduction of a €5.99 monthly subscription for the use of eircom.net webmail. This monthly subscription will commence from the 1st of July 2020 and will be rolled out to customers on a phased basis. This means you can only sign up once access to your account has been restricted, which will happen between 1st of July and the 15th of July 2020.

Once you sign up you will have access to your new webmail account and will be able to send and receive emails, it may take up to 2 hours for your old emails to migrate across to your new account.

Please note if you are using an email client such as outlook you will need to log in through the eir.ie/email page to sign up to the new service.

If you decide not to avail of the new eircom.net email service you can download your eircom.net email data to your personal storage before the 1st of July 2020, as you will no longer have access to the old service. You will have 60 days to sign up to the new service after the 1st of July 2020 before your email address, account and its data is permanently removed, this step is not reversible once complete.

For more information please visit eir.ie/support/webmail/webmail-frequently-asked-questions

This notice is on top of the 30 and 60 days notice provided earlier this year.

Regards
The eir webmail team.

Initially the company had excused this new greedy charge as needed to invest in maintenance and improvement of their service, going forward.

Thurles was one of the towns who in 1997 touted to win the then £15m (Eircom) Information Age Town competition. Looking back, “Thank God we never won it”. Imagine the mess the winners are in today, who were Ennis Co. Clare, in their attempts to amend items like banking and other subscriptions for which they have used Eircom.net email addresses to communicate for some 23 years.

To now charge €71.88 (€5.99 per month) for something that is poor quality and bad value for money, and which in the past was totally free, must surely be the best example of current day big business greed. Most customers here in Co. Tipperary, at least, already pay between €40 and €80 for their internet access package to a company who now openly admit their system needs improvements to their service.

Perhaps this new scenario, justifies fully why the Irish government refused outright to deal with Eir, regarding the much-debated contract for Ireland’s National Broadband planned rollout.

GOOD NEWS
But readers, before you rightly get all hot and bothered, do remember the good news is that there are plenty of superior free alternatives in the marketplace and switching to another free account is basically straight-forward. You will of course need to set up a new free email account, best choice currently being gmail.
You will then have to get your data from your old eircom.net account and inform your contacts/friends that you have changed your email address.

In my own personal dealings with Eir personnel in recent months, I have found them to be possibly the most arrogant mobile and broadband telecommunications company operating in Ireland, with which to do honest business, especially staff in their so called ‘Customer Service Department’.

Eir had confirmed that it would not proceed with plans to charge customers for ‘eircom.net’ email addresses, in light of the current COVID-19 outbreak. It would now appear that the COVID-19 virus as far as Eir is concerned has vanished, and no one has informed residents of Co. Tipperary.

Failte Eolas Cuartaiochta – Welcome Visitor Information

Where exists the Welcome Visitor Information in Thurles?

“A shade of sadness, a blush of shame, over the face of the leader came,”
Extract from the poem “Barbara Frietchie”, by John Greenleaf Whittier .

As people will be fully aware, the Thurles.Info website has in the past; and indeed, is fully committed to the continuation of granting assistance to Thurles Municipal District Councillors; latter persons difficult to predict because of their perverse and self-glorifying comportment.

So, here our elected representatives, are a few thoughts worthy of sharing at the next County Council meeting. Keep in mind that same in turn will give the impression to the Thurles local electorate that councillors are fully awake, when, having reflected, they announce on their facebook accounts, “what they thought they ought to have stated”.

Thurles Tourism

As one of the great unwashed members of this community, I am not sure if the word ‘Tourism‘ ever appears on Co. Council monthly agendas, despite fully committed promises given every five years by Municipal Councillors prior to local elections.

HolyCross Abbey, Thurles, Co Tipperary from HiddenTipperary

Regardless, we are informed that a minimum of 250,000 visitors come to visit Holy Cross Abbey each year. The now welcome new motorway entry signs, erected last October, (of which Thurles.Info were first to highlight the need), stand clearly visible on the Dublin / Nenagh / Horse & Jockey and Templemore roads, entering into Thurles.

However the Holycross Road, which possibly points most of the few tourists to visit Thurles, in our direction, has been totally overlooked, in favour of signs “Welcome To Thurles Home of Erin Foods”, (Factory Closed some 12 years ago), and requesting that visitors take advantage of ‘Disc Parking’, latter no longer in vogue for many years and which was first introduced by greedy / grabbing Co. Council officials, leading to the total destruction of a prosperous Town Centre, that was Thurles town.

Thurles Town Centre

Talking about Thurles Town Centre and tourism; we note that the filthy dirty Victorian cast iron ‘Welcome Visitor Information’ signs (Irish: Failte Eolas Cuartaiochta) have now been hijacked by “The Source” Theatre, in Cathedral Street, controlled by Tipperary Co. Council.

The signs; one positioned outside of the Ulster Bank building and one more central on Liberty Square, were originally introduced to indicate tourism information, e.g. Lár Na Páirce GAA Museum; Angling; Numerous excellent Sporting facilities, Hotels; B&B’s etc. etc.. Yesterday, January 7th, 2020 same signs displayed ‘Theatre Posters’; programmes dating back to last year, 2019, and a poster by Thurles Chamber, dated prior to March 29th, 2019, latter calling for a Public Rally & Protest March to stop a business from moving their premises in Liberty Square, just 500 meters, to the more profitable area of Thurles Shopping Centre.

Many Thurles people have remarked on the divisions being driven between Liberty Square and Thurles Shopping Centre, latter demonstrated by the failure to provide public Christmas lighting, which should have joined both business communities for the benifit of all. After all, is Christmas not the time to display that kind of love which is devoid of hostility and ill will.

Management at ‘The Source’ Theatre; officials within Thurles Chamber and elected Municipal councillors, should and must now immediately remedy these issues, explaining the reason for their lethargic and lacklustre attitude currently being played out on the ratepaying business people of Thurles.