CAHIR NOTES CAHIR DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY LOTTO The Jackpot total stands at a hefty €4,300 for the next draw, which will not take place until 7th January 2009. Please note that the Business & Training Centre will be closed from lunchtime on Tuesday 23rd December until 5th January, when normal service will be resumed. The last of the Lucky Dip winners for this year were: Kay Bailes, Kilcommon; Margaret Lonergan, Bengurragh; Rosie Murphy, Pearse Street; Robbie Halley, Rosemount Drive; Breda Burke, Croughatour, Ballylooby. The profit from the Community Lotto services community projects in Cahir. THE CAHIR CLIMATOLOGIST I hope Con Traas doesn’t mind me borrowing this piece from The Apple Club Newsletter that has just come out. Thanks in advance, Con. “I was surprised and delighted to see an old school-friend of mine on Prime Time about two weeks ago. Kieran Hickey, who now lectures in University Collect Galway, was featured, being interviewed by Miriam O’Callaghan about the prospects of global warming.. He was debating the issue with a film-maker who was critical of the idea, whose argument was that because scientists have made errors in the past, their predictions are also unreliable now. “Kieran did a great job in arguing his case, and he certainly did expose how far out of his depth the film-maker was. Personally speaking, I am very suspicious of people who down-play the prospects of global warming, as most who do so have a vested interest in allowing the current situation to continue, whereas the scientists (whose opinions are almost universal now) have nothing to gain by telling us of the impending problems caused by greenhouse gases. “For those who don’t know Kieran, he originally hails from Church Street, Cahir, in what you may remember as Hickey’s Drapery, beside Sampson’s Newsagent.” YOUNG CARER OF THE YEAR – FROM CAHIR It was a sister act, that stole the show at the Carers Association Awards ceremony at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham, Dublin recently.  Young Mary Condon- O’Connor, age 11 years from Church Street, Cahir, Co Tipperary, helps care for her eight year old sister Aine, who has Autism. Mary was nominated by a neighbour, thanks to her tireless devotion to her little sister over the past few years. The annual event acknowledges the inspirational levels of care that family carers provide in the home for their loved ones, children and adults with special needs, severe disabilities, mental illness, elderly and people who are terminally ill.  The Carers Association which organised the Awards, received more than a 1,000 nominations for this years Carers of the Year Awards, “Our Young Carer Mary is an exceptional young lady playing a significant role in caring for her sister Aine” said Enda Egan, CEO of eth Carers Association.  “Family carers are invaluable to Irish society and their enormous contributions have been recognised by our Carer of eth Year award”, Mr Egan said. Mary is the eldest daughter of Mary and Pat Condon – O’Connor and attends Our Lady of Mercy Primary School, Cahir; Aine aged 8 attends Scoil Aonghusa Special School Cashel for moderate to severe learning disabilities.  Aine is mostly non –verbal, but is able to communicate through her sister Mary, Mary helps out with her little sister’s daily needs, assists her with her exercise, help her to dress, she also helps her to fall asleep by cuddling up to her , she plays with her and reads to her and they both love listening to music together.  Mary calls Aine her best friend.   Mary Condon O'Connor with her Principal Mr. Pat O'Malley   Mary with her fantastic award   Mary with from L to R; Annette Condon, Richie Molloy, manager of Carers Association, Clonmel, Pat O'Connor, Sangeeta Molloy, Mary Condon, her mother   With her very proud parents Pat and Mary Condon O'Connor Her mother Mary said my husband Pat and I are very proud of Mary and are delighted to see her daughter being recognised because sacrifices made by the siblings of children with disabilities often go unrecognised.  She often feels that Mary tends to get left out, because they have to devote so much time and energy attending to Aine’s needs.  “I think that children who grow up with children with special needs are more caring and resilient as adults because they see the benefit of having a special needs person in their lives”. Patrons of the Carers Association and TV personalities Mary Kennedy and Marty Whelan hosted the Carers Association Awards at the Royal Hospital, Kilmainham by the Emergency Response and Minister for Older People Maire Hoctor, T.D. presented the Awards. The Three Tenors provided after dinner entertainment followed by the Black Magic Big Band.  A lot of the organisation of the event was carried out by Karen Phelan Project Manager and Catherine Cox Regional Manager, great credit is due to them both, as the night was an enormous success.  The President Mary McAleese sent Mary Condon – O’Connor a special letter of congratulations and commended her kindness to her special needs little sister. The centre Manager of the Clonmel branch of the Carers Association Richie Molloy said he was delighted to hear that Mary had won.  “I was delighted that we have an All Ireland winner from Tipperary and Mary represents countless, probably thousands of young carers throughout Ireland who provide care to their siblings “said Mr Molloy.  “For an 11 year old it is a wonderful achievement”. The Carers Association Centre can be contacted by telephone- 052 – 70454, or at 8 Sarsfield Street, Clonmel, Co Tipperary.  The Carers Association is the National voluntary organisation of family carers in the home providing support services, respite,  training and information to carers throughout Ireland their web address is www.carersireland.com  The national careline is free phone 1800 2407 24   DEPUTY MATTIE MCGRATH CALLS ON AN BORD BIA TO ATTEND INTERNATIONAL FOOD FAIRS TO PROMOTE IRISH PORK An Bord Bia needs to undertake a programme of international food fair exhibitions to restore confidence in Irish pork products around the world, according to Tipperary South TD and member of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Agriculture and Food, Mattie McGrath.  Deputy McGrath has written to the chief executive of An Bord Bia, Mr. Aidan Cotter, asking him about what international food fairs the food promotion body will be attending in 2009 and about what other plans are in place to promote Irish pork following the contamination crisis. Deputy McGrath also suggested a list of international food fairs that would provide an ideal opportunity to promote Irish pork products.  These events include:   Scotland International Food Fair 2009 (25th January) European Fine Food Fair, Maastricht, Netherlands (26-28 Jan) Gulfood 2009, Dubai (23-26 February) Canadian Food and Beverage Show, Toronto (8-10 March) Anuga FoodTec, Cologne, Germany (10-13 March) SIAL Montreal, Canada (1-3 April) Regional Food Fair, Buxton, UK (19 April) PackEx, Toronto, Canada (5-7 May) Real Food Festival, Earl’s Court, London (8-10 May) American Food Fair, Chicago (16-19 May) DjazAgro, Algiers, Algeria, (18-21 May) PPI China (10 June) BBC Good Food Show, Birmingham (11-15 June) Malaysia International Food and Beverage Trade Fair (9-11 July) “I really believe now that the pork crisis has been dealt with we need to go the extra mile to restore international confidence in Irish pork products,” said Deputy McGrath.  “The first step in doing that is to ensure we have a place at all the major international food fairs that are taking place next year.  This will help us to re-establish Irish pork as being a safe, high quality food source.” “Bord Bia is responsible for the promotion of Irish food so they obviously need to be the lead in this effort.  That is why I have written to Mr. Cotter, suggesting that An Bord Bia attends the above events.  I have also requested some information on what other efforts are being undertaken to promote Irish pork again around the world.” “When you consider that the Irish pork industry is worth €1.1 billion every year and provides 6,500 jobs through the processing and related sectors, this is extremely important for the country.  Not only will it help our agriculture sector but the economy as a whole.  We need the money our pork exports bring in so the sooner we have restored Irish pork back to its previous position the better it will be for everyone,” Deputy McGrath concluded. DEPUTY MATTIE MCGRATH EXPRESSES DEEP CONCERN FOR TEH FUTURE OF COMMUNITY CHILDCARE PROJECTS  Deputy Mattie McGrath in a statement today has said that Community Childcare providers throughout the country have received hundreds of millions in capital grants for funding of childcare facilities throughout Ireland; and in his own constituency of Tipperary South over €9 million alone has been grated for capital projects in the past eight (8) years.   In addition to capital grants, millions of euro of Staffing Grants were appropriated to these facilities to allow for affordable, accessible and quality childcare to enable parents and guardians to go out to work.   At the end of the 2000-2006 National Development plan, the government and the civil servants administering the staffing grants decided to change the type of payments from direct staffing grants to facilities to a system known as subvention whereby families that are classified as disadvantaged (unemployed, eligible for medical cards, disabled etc.) would get money towards the payment of their weekly fees for childcare.  In affect, this reduced the cost of childcare to those already entitled to social welfare payments but did not for the working class parents that were not eligible for social welfare assistance.  What this has done is to increase the cost of childcare to those who are already in the work force by upwards to 45% and at the same time forced the managers of childcare facilities to effectively become administrators of the monies being provided under the subvention scheme.  This has also forced the childcare managers to pry into the economic status of families in order to determine who is and is not eligible under the new scheme, which came into effect as of July of this year.   Deputy McGrath will today (Tuesday, 9th) raise this issue at Fianna Fáil’s Parlimentary Party meeting to bring attention to the need for the government to address the method being used to provide subsidies to parents and more importantly to re-instate the original form of direct staffing grants to facilities to allow them to continue operating an AFFORDABLE and ACCESSIBLE service without compromising the QUALITY of the service.   Deputy McGrath went on to say, “I have organised deputations on these issues in the past and appreciate the difficulties that the Minister of Children, Barry Andrews TD, has with budget constraints etc.  However, based on the commitment made to assess the system after it was put in place, and after hearing that across the board almost every facility is facing an administrative and financial crisis, that something is done to prevent the closing of facilities and the impact that would have to working parents, their children and the staff of the facilities.  Ireland is among the lowest, if not the lowest, in terms of spending by the government for childcare.  A recent study showed the average cost per child to provide childcare within the quality guidelines established by the health board and related agencies is almost € 239 per week, yet the average fee charged by community-based childcare providers is only € 160 per week.  If we can not bridge the gap in the cost of providing childcare versus a reasonable rate being charged to care for those children, then it is inevitable that facilities will close and the result will be catastrophic.”   Concluding Deputy McGrath said, “I  am asking the Minister and the related civil servants to examine all options to address this matter and to do so with a sense of urgency, as facilities may be forced to close or to risk recklessly trading as soon as the first of next year.” A HAPPY NIGHT IN CAHIR HOUSE The Patrons’ Night in Cahir House, which I mentioned in an earlier issue, was great fun, and above are photos of a few of the people who enjoyed themselves so much. I am listing below the staff members, as some of them are unknown to so many: L to R: Laura Delaney, Duty Manager; Mary Farrell, General Manager; Ray Brennan, Head Chef; Colette O’Dwyer, Marketing Manager; Nell Shinners, Housekeeper; David Walsh, Director. (Robert Scannall was missing - on holiday).   ATTENTION LAST-MINUTE SHOPPERS! Most of the shops in Cahir will be open up to and including Christmas Eve, and there are some real bargains to be had.  Interior Concepts, in particular, is a treasure-trove of presents, where you can spend a few euros or a few thousand. CAHIR CAMOGIE CLUB The Chairman and officers of Cahir Camogie club would like to wish all our player, friends and supporters the very best for a wonderful Christmas and a healthy and prosperous 2009. Nollaig Shona duit go leir.   READERS’ NEWS & VIEWS You have all been great, keeping me up-to-date with your information. To all my readers and friends I wish a very Happy Christmas, and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year. I am happy to say that it seems I will be back with you in 2009 after all, as will Maria Taylor. Special good wishes to all those who work over the High Days and holidays ahead to help those in need. Also to the Postmen, Milkmen and Outdoor Workers with the Council who are there for us come rain or come shine. And there’s been an awful lot of rain in 2008!