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“Now the things I’ve come to know seem so confusin’
It’s gettin’ hard to tell what’s wrong from right
I can’t separate the winners from the losers anymore
And I’m thinking of just giving up the fight.“
“Good Christian Soldier,” Lyrics By Kris Kristofferson
An as yet unpublished report that will guide current Government policy on rural Ireland up until 2025, has discovered that the rural areas of Ireland have had twice the business failure rate as their larger urban counterparts, when it comes to a study of our economic downturn.
Despite 3.5 years of continuous cries of ‘Help,’ from rural dwellers, this report leaves sleepy Senior Civil Servants now considering whether perhaps a Government Department and a Minister of State should now be delegated, with responsibility for future Rural Development.
Other initiatives understood to have been identified by this Senior Civil Servants report include the re-energising of rural tourism.
I trust that the recent announcement by Cork County Manager Martin Riordan of three interpretive centres to be opened on Spike Island in lower Cork Harbour by the summer of 2015, at a cost of €40 million, will not be seen as the re-energising of rural tourism. It is also interesting to note that Bord Fáilte have confirmed it is reversing its initial decision not to grant aid for this project and will now release €2.5m for redevelopment of this island. Someone obviously had a word in someone’s “Shell Like,” (Nod, Nod, Wink and Wink.) Do tell us why this decision was reversed Mr Riordan or should we be asking Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht, one James “Jimmy” Deenihan, the Irish Fine Gael Teachta Dála for the Kerry North–West Limerick constituency, how this decision came about.
Mr James “Jimmy” Deenihan and Mr Noel Coonan were two of the people who failed to ensure that the Derrynaflan Hoard, latter stolen from Tipperary, was not returned for “The Gathering,” this year thus reducing tourism numbers to Co Tipperary, by some 25%, as my email records and other unanswered communications will attest.
In the past few days the Dáil have passed the Social Welfare and Pensions Bill after 77 TDs voted in favour of these cuts and new changes announced, and with only 46 opposing the most controversial parts of our recent Budget. These changes included the scrapping of the bereavement grant (77 votes to 43), cuts to maternity benefit, and a reduction in dole for new Social Welfare claimants who are aged under 26.
Just as a matter of interest did any of our readers see even one of our North Tipperary Government representatives in the Dáil, contributing to this debate? I ask this question as my eyesight isn’t what it used to be and these people may have taken up a space at the back of the class. Fobs need to be checked on more than Friday’s here Enda.
Scrapping Of The Bereavement Grant
We the elderly do not have to worry really about this, simply just leave our bodies to Medical Science and the State via one of the 5 medical colleges /universities, latter who in gratitude will provide an embellished coffin. They will cover the expense of (1) bringing the remains to Glasnevin Crematorium, (2) your cremation and (3) your ashes will be buried in the medical school’s private plot within two years of your death. So no problem for relatives here, unless of course you object to medical students standing around your stiffened freezing torso with a smile on their faces when they observe your hidden tattoos.
Continue reading Senior Civil Servants Have Discovered Rural Ireland
The county of Tipperary must welcome today’s announcement by Ryanair of its plans to increase the number of services it provides both to and from Shannon International Airport.
Ryanair have stated that as from April 2014 it will begin operating services to Berlin, Faro, Fuerteventura, Krakow, Munich, Nice, Paris and Warsaw, delivering an additional 300,000 passengers per annum to the airport.
If this latest announcement of new routes and the airline’s decision to increase and pursue significantly its Shannon Airport passenger numbers is successful, it will put the newly independent west of Ireland airport on a much more firmer footing with regard to possible future prospects for tourism growth in the Tipperary region.
As a result of today’s announcement a thriving Shannon Airport can be seen as ‘manna from heaven’ for the Tipperary economy as well as obviously being a significant moment for the entire West of Ireland Region, but only provided our heartland of Mid Tipperary now takes full advantage.
We must now introduce a stronger embryonic tourism cord from this western area, using the natural and other newer significant Tourism developments which have been put in place over the past number of years, thus linking to the smaller towns and villages creating the “Spokes of a Wheel,” to which I referred in the past. These “Spokes” will lead eventually here to Thurles and its Co Tipperary environs. The routes announced by Ryanair will then open up a number of new markets not just for Irish holidaymakers going outwards, but should also greatly contribute to the already growing number of Continental tourists currently visiting the West of Ireland and if encouraged the now neglected heartland of Ireland.
Here is an ideal opportunity to create real jobs in Co Tipperary.
To this end the tourism group Hidden Tipperary will shortly call on all Tourism Service Providers in Co Tipperary to a meeting to discuss tourism marketing issues in the coming weeks. While this event will take place in Thurles, an actual date and venue has yet to be decided.
Watch this space for further details to be announced in the coming week ahead.
Are you in or close to Thurles, Co Tipperary, tomorrow afternoon, Friday October 11th? Why not take a ‘Late Lunch,’ if you are, because Lár na Páirce, the G.A.A. Museum situated here on Slievenamon Road, in the town, will be re-opening its doors, following extensive renovation and upgrading, with the event beginning at 2.30pm.
To perform this official re-opening tomorrow G.A.A. President, Liam O’Neill, will be in attendance, to cut the customary blue and gold ribbon and the museum itself will continue to remain open to the public from 2.00pm – 4.00 pm. To facilitate your visit tomorrow, historian Mr Seamus King and his team will be on hand to take you on a free tour throughout this wonderful newly revamped facility.
For those of you not familiar with the museum building of late, Lár na Páirce was the first museum in Ireland dedicated to telling the story of Gaelic Games, well why not, after all lest we forget it was here in Hayes Hotel, Thurles, that the Gaelic Athletic Association was first founded in 1884.
What Can We Expect To See At Lár na Páirce?
Following latest renovations Lár na Páirce GAA Museum will again welcome tours on a regular basis. Visiting groups can choose to explore the collection on their own or be guided by one of the expert tour guides on hand. Throughout the year, a range of special offers will be made available to visiting groups; e.g. primary and secondary schools, bus tours, active retirement group, GAA clubs, etc.
There are true-to-life exhibitions on Hurling, Gaelic Football, Handball, Camogie, Hurley Making, Sports Broadcasting, and of course the rare Sam Melbourne Collection of GAA memorabilia, latter worthy of viewing solely in its own right.
The newly vamped museum will now be open Monday to Saturday 10.00 am – 5.30 pm, so do come and follow the path of Irish Sporting Legends and learn about the history and development of Hurling and Gaelic Football, from the myth and legend right through to modern times.
You can call to book your group for a tour of this amazing facility by Telephoning 0504-22702.
[mappress mapid=”31″]
Click on “Green Icon” on map for directions.
Just a thought, but may I ask a question? “Has anyone got a few quid hidden away under the Bathroom Floor, in a Cookie Jar, the Fridge Salad Crisper Drawer or under your Mattress?”
“How much do you want?” I hear you scream excitedly.
Well to be honest it all depends on an item that goes under the hammer at “The Chatsworth Fine Art Sale,” to be held in Castlecomer, Co Kilkenny on Tuesday October 8th next. The particular item which generates my particular interest is, I believe, numbered Lot 727.
 Painting of Mary Francis Power Lalor (Ryan) It is a painted portrait of Mrs Mary Francis Power Lalor (nee Ryan) formally of Long Orchard, Templetuohy, Co. Tipperary. Mrs Power Lalor is featured wearing a black lace dress with pearl and diamond necklace, (Print Size about 130 cms x 105 cms or 51 ins x 41 ins) set in its original carved gilt-wood oval frame, signed and dated 1859.
This featured individual was born Mary Francis Ryan, daughter of George Ryan of Inch House, Thurles, Co. Tipperary and Catherine Whyte of Loughbrickland, Co Down. Her father was born on July 17th 1791 and died on September 6th 1884 at the age of 93. He had held the office of Deputy Lieutenant (D.L.) of County Tipperary and the office of Justice of the Peace (J.P.) for County Tipperary.
I believe this painting should now be purchased so as to remain in North Tipperary and preferably be proudly hung in Thurles Library for all to see and contemplate.
In early 1858, Mary Francis Ryan was presented at the State Drawing Room in Dublin Castle, to George William Frederick Howard, seventh Earl of Carlisle (Lord Morpheth of Morpeth Roll fame) being then Viceroy at that time, and in October of that year at the tender age of eighteen, she was married to Captain Edmund James Power Lawlor of Long Orchard, Templetuohy, Thurles Co Tipperary.
In 1859 Mary was presented to the Papal Court, during which time spent in Rome she was greatly admired for “her unusual beauty and a singular fascination of manner.” She visited some artist studios by special invitation and was painted at this time by G. Canavari.
After the death of her husband Edmund, James, Power Lalor, on August 4th 1873, and the following year by her daughter Helen Georgiana Power-Lalor in 1874, latter from meningitis, Mary devoted her life to charitable works and in 1880 published an appeal in the leading newspapers of the time on behalf of starving children following the famine of 1879 known as the “mini-famine” or An Gorta Beag. The New York Herald donated the massive sum then of £10,000 which enabled her to feed over 52,000 starving children throughout the country.
It was in this same year that on the Thursday evening of August 21st 1879, 15 people in Knock (Irish Translation: An Cnoc, meaning ‘The Hill,’ now more generally known in Irish as Cnoc Mhuire, “Hill of Mary”) County Mayo experienced an apparition of Our Lady, St. Joseph and St. John the Evangelist, who all appeared at the south gable of the local church, together with an altar with a cross and the figure of a lamb, around which angels hovered. Two Commissions of Enquiry, in 1879 and 1936, would later accept their testimony as being both trustworthy and satisfactory.
This Knock apparition brought about a massive religious revival during this Irish famine, latter now erased and rarely remembered in Irish history. Many Christians even today believe that this visitation to the “Hill of Mary”, contributed greatly to the low number of deaths then experienced in 1879, compared to the earlier Great Famine of 1845 -1849.
Mary Francis Power Lawlor now took full charge of this fund, clothing children of all denominations, thus saving many from certain death. In 1886 Mary Power Lalor established the Distressed Ladies Fund; latter to assist poor Irish women suffering through the non-payment of rent and the then land depression in Ireland. This Fund also established in Dublin a home to care for the many poor old ladies living in garrets and cellars, which in 1887 was opened in Mountjoy Square (Then Rutland Square,). This house subsequently became known as the Power Lalor Home, with Queen Victoria as patroness, and Princess Louise as President of the Central Committee, when this fund was extended to include England.
In 1912 Mary Francis Power Lawlor took up the reins in Ireland of the International Catholic Girls Protection Society and opened the Bureau and Home for Catholic Girls in Dublin, in the same year. It is also to her that the people of Templetuohy owe a debt of gratitude for organising the building of the magnificent Church of The Sacred Heart, Templetuohy and the beautiful stained glass window, which she then had specially commissioned in memory of her late husband, with the fitting title “For The Greater Glory Of God.”
Mrs. Power Lalor died on March 26th 1913, (100 years ago this year) and is buried next to her husband in Templetuohy Graveyard.
It’s just a thought but if 100 people, including businesses and including myself, came up with €50 each, we could possibly meet the asking price (Between €3,000 – €5,000) for this portrait of one truly great Tipperary lady and take her home to her native County.
Anyone interested in venturing into this “Thurles Historic Art Investment Co-Operative Programme,” should contact me Email george.willo@gmail.com and sure who knows, it might just sell for less than its asking price.
There I go, possibly dreaming again, but in recessionary times we all must dream.
 Hayes Hotel, Thurles, Co Tipperary Enda Kenny was busy down in Castlebar today, attempting to make 60 Senators redundant.
Meanwhile back here in Thurles, Co Tipperary, those placed with the custodial responsibility for the property of others, were also busy little bees, behaving in a somewhat secretive and similar fashion, attempting to reduce the turnover of one of our town’s historical landmarks and a world renowned place of annual pilgrimage.
Receiverships, even in Ireland, are normally observed as an equitable solution whose purpose is to protect a distressed company’s tangible and intangible assets. The obligations of receivers, both moral and otherwise when appointed, come under two headings;
(1) Secure and realise the entity and assets of the company to which they are assigned and where possible retain employees.
(2) Manage the affairs of the company in order to resolve all / any debts outstanding.
As a former employee of the hotel industry for many years, I find myself, when in need of a cup of coffee or a bite to eat, being drawn more to Hotels rather than the Tea Shop or the local Take-Away. As a lover of local history and folklore, you can therefore usually expect to find me supping my cup of coffee in a quiet corner of our famous landmark hostelry known worldwide as Hayes Hotel, home of the GAA and situated here in the very heart of Thurles.
In April last, Hayes Hotel, Thurles, went into receivership. No great shame on its current owners, who had dared to dream, taken a business gamble which if successful would have offered badly needed and considerable full time and part-time employment to our rural community. Six years ago encouraged by our now retired bankers they borrowed and were encouraged to do so, in the name of further necessary business expansion. This encouraged business accepted finance, gambled and lost heavily, when those who had offered umbrellas on sunny days recalled same at the first sign of cloudy sky. (Our readers will have met some of these same banking fraternity today, who despite being in receipt of vast pensions, were contracted to ‘strut their stuff’ behind polling booth tables, drawing lines through voters names, practically everywhere around this island of ours. This is despite the needs of 410,000 unemployed persons who could have happily undertaken this work and supplemented their meagre incomes.)
Having fallen on hard times, KPMG appointed receivers to Hayes Hotel, who confirmed that business would continue as normal and there would be no noticeable interruptions to current day-to-day trading activity. The hotel would continue to fully honour all customer bookings, all deposits and all current memberships.
The appointment of this new management operation was seen here by Thurles residents and business people as yet another blow to an already ailing uncertain rural town economy forced to resort to the use of savings to retain their essential staff and fund new trading stock.
I had noticed during my past few visits to Hayes that my favourite good humoured receptionist was missing, so on my visit this morning I had reason to query her absence as two friends had asked me to book a double room for next weekend. “She does not work here any more and we do not offer accommodation presently,” came the rather apologetic reply from the polite receptionist. With offers of help to obtain alternative accommodation I retreated to the bar area and having concluded other business, I left to make further discreet local inquiries as to the hotels welfare.
The following information gleaned from others, including previous employees, (Current Management point blankly refused to discuss the situation) revealed that since going into receivership in April there has been a systematic down grading of the profitable aspects of this establishment.
Hard working staff have now been cast out to exist on the generosity of the Irish Free State via Dole and Redundancy payments. In recent weeks essential staff; e.g. two Receptionists, two Night Porters, a Resident Disc Jockey and two House Keepers have had their employment terminated. Bedrooms are now closed, the nightclub is closed. Unconfirmed reports from these staff also state that essential maintenance is being undertaken by non local contract operators.
Is it impossible to make a profit from an already established popular weekend Nightclub and is it impossible not to make a profit from bedroom accommodation, even if staff employed were being paid slightly over and above the minimum hourly wage? Why are profitable aspects of this trading enterprise now being closed up?
Local readers stop and think for a moment and ask the questions; “What would Liberty Square be like if this hotel is to be abandoned?” Is Hayes Hotel being deliberately reduced to a valueless entity in time for the next AllSop Space auction? Is it now to be a case of “Last out, please turn off the lights?”
KPMG and their appointed receivers know the answer, but may need reminding that Hayes Hotel is not simply just another property. For many it is a place of annual pilgrimage and a national monument, whose patrons should not be angered. Politicians would do well to remember that Tipperary fired the first shots of the war of Independence once before and just may decide to do the same again before the next election.
If ten jobs had being made available in Thurles this morning, Enda Kenny, RTE, the head of the IDA (whatever his name is), Richard Bruton, Noel Coonan and their ‘handlers’ would have all been strutting around town displaying puffed up chests, spitting out dodgy CSO statistics on their success in creating employment. Unemployment like emigration on the other hand are dirty words best not discussed in any great detail.
Let us see if our Dublin orientated national news seeking journalistic friends will cover this catastrophe, concerning rural Ireland, in their newspapers this week.
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