Cahir Notes PUBLIC MEETING   Kevin Brunnick has asked me to include the following. Stop the downgrading of South Tipperary General Hospital and save our Hospital Committee. Come to our Public Meeting in the Park Hotel, Clonmel on Monday next 9th March at 8pm. All are Welcome. An Post’s Commitment to Lend to Small Business and Target of 94% Next Day Delivery Encouraging-McGrath As part of An Post’s new retail strategy it plans to roll out lending and mortgage services to customers throughout its branch network. It also aims to reach a target of 94% of next day deliveries by 2011, according to South Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD, Mattie McGrath and member of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Communications, Energy and Natural Resources today. An POST CEO Mr Donal Connell informed the Oireachtas Joint Committee on the organisation's plans for rural post offices. He stated that while closure of some post offices was likely this year, automation of rural post offices would continue and any closures would not be solely based on the volume of business of a particularly branch. Mr Connell also outlined to the committee the challenges his organisation now faces in the light of the current economic situation and particularly the forecasted reduction in house completions. The committee was told that for this year, the initial forecast of 108,000 houses completions had now been revised to 22,500, while for next year only 18,500 houses are predicted to be completed down from an original estimate of 110,000. This trend has the potential to have considerable impact on An Post’s strategy. Deputy McGrath said, “It was positive to hear today that as part of An Post’s new retail strategy they intend to lend to small businesses. It has been suggested that many depositors have placed money with An Post owing to the current uncertainty in the mainstream banking sector, so hopefully this development will provide An Post with extra capacity to increase lending to this section of the economy which will be vital for any future recovery. The pledge to increase the rate of next day delivery from the current 80% to 94% was also encouraging. Members of the committee expressed the frustration felt by their constituents on occasions when items fail to arrive within 24 hours.” Speaking about An Post’s plans for its rural post office network Deputy McGrath said; “Rural post-offices form the life-blood of local communities and I would be concerned about any large scale closures. However, the committee was heartened somewhat by Mr Connell’s assertions that any closures of rural post offices would not be based on purely economic reasons.” CREDIT UNION QUIZ 2009   Congratulations to the U-11 School Team who won the Chapter Final, in Waterford on Saturday last. The team are Kenneth Conlon, Conor Cashman, Ben Halpin, Jack Malone and substitute Eoin Tobin. They won following a play-off that took place in the Granville Hotel, Waterford. They now represent the area in the National Credit Union Quiz Final in the RDS on April 5th. Good Luck in the Final and Well Done to you all.     OLD SILO   Councillor Seanie Lonergan has requested that the County Council Engineers inspect the building called the Old Silo in Cahir and deem it a health hazard. The councillor believes that the asbestos clad structure has outlived its use, he says he is aware of the huge cost involved in the demolition of such a building, but apart from it being an eyesore, it is also a health hazard. The Silo has not been used for its original purpose for many years and many of the towns people would like to see it removed, said Cllr. Lonergan.   CAHIR BUSINESS AND TRAINING CENTRE   Since January, Cahir Business and Training Centre have noted huge demand for ECDL courses and have seven courses running at the moment. They have reported that people are extremely motivated in using their time to learn a new skill and computer skills are coming out tops. The new Digital Photography Course is also doing well with a waiting list of people to start the next course. Also, local businesses are looking at retraining and updating the skills of their existing staff and Cahir Business and Training Centre are now taking bookings for EXCEL courses tailored to suit every individual companies needs. The one to one CV consultation service is really starting to take off and services people can avail of include, creating a CV and Cover Letter, How to Ace an Interview as well as Job Seeking Skills advice, once again tailor made for each individual person. Appointments are essential. If you are interested in any of the courses mentioned, please do not hesitate to contact Jennifer on 052 42616.   HSE SERVICES??? Fact-Finding trip to Aiseiri Shows Gaps in HSE Treatment - Hayes Local T.D. Tom Hayes has called on the HSE to re-address their services after a fact-finding trip to Aiseiri in Cahir. Catherine Byrne, Dublin T.D. and Fine Gael  with Special Responsibility for National Drugs Strategy, Senator Paudie Coffey, and Tom Hayes T.D, met with Willie Collins, Director of Aiseiri. "I was very pleased to attend this session at Aiseiri, to hear about the service they are providing, the issues that they are experiencing and their ideas for the future. Aiseiri have highlighted the problems that they are facing, with large numbers of people who want to take them up on their services, but with a cut in funding from the South Eastern Drugs Regional Taskforce," Tom Hayes said. "The HSE needs to increase funding to organisations like Aiseiri, in line with the huge increases in operational costs that they have seen in recent years. In times of economic hardship, people are under extreme pressure, and can become addicted to drugs and alcohol in larger numbers, meaning that there will be more pressure on the system, with less money to go around. Aiseiri do fantastic work and are absolutely invaluable in this region and they need all the support they can get," he continued. "Aiseiri, and other groups like them, provide services so that people can get help when they need it, bringing the huge waiting list for addiction counselling under control to a degree that the HSE could not manage on their own. Nobody should have to wait 6-12 months for help with addiction, when they are asking for help. This gap created by the HSE system and waiting lists is cruel and inefficient, and I will continue to lobby the HSE and the Regional Drugs Taskforce to take this issue in hand," Tom Hayes concluded from left to right: Pictured above are Tom Hayes T.D., Willie Collins, Director of Aiseiri, Catherine Byrnes, Dublin T.D. with Special Responsibility for National Drugs Strategy, Kate Byrne, Manager for Quality Assurance and Development in Aiseiri, and Senator Paudie Coffey.   CAHIR BOYS NATIONAL SCHOOL   Great Famine Heritage Project   5th and 6th class recently participated in the South Tipperary Co.Council Heritage Project on the Great Famine. 5th class concentrated their work on the Cahir area and the childrens workhouse in Tincurry. Stories based on the time provided a present insight into the lives of the victims of the Famine. 6th class focused their work on the effect of the Potato Blight, the growing methods of the time, models and artwork symbolicof the Great Famine. At the prize giving presentation in the County Museum in Clonmel last Tuesday 24th February, 5th class won the Class Award and 6th came 3rd in their category. Congratulations to all involved, it was a most rewarding project to be involved with.   School Blog   School information can now be accessed on http://cahirboys.blogspot.com .Designed as a simple diary, it aims to give anyone access to relevant school information. Photos of events and activities are on the blog and you can scroll through the archive for other information on the school.   Cahir Bingo   Many thanks to all those in Cahir Bingo, who offered us the fundraising night on Tuesday 3rd March. Your support is very much appreciated.   Confirmation and Communion   March 15th- Confirmation, St. Mary's Church, 3.00pm. May 16th -  First Holy Communion, St.Mary's Church, 11.00am.   CAHIR YOUTH AWARDS   On Tuesday night last, the 24 transition year Students from Colaiste Dun Iascaigh, held their Youth Leadership Awards Evening. This was a chance for the Students to give speeches and evaluations after only seven meetings. I was very impressed with the results. There were 12 speakers, speaking on a wide range of subjects. Each speech was timed and evaluated by the students with some very honest and sometimes funny results. Sgt. Peter Butler gave a brief explanation of the inception of the Youth Leadership Awards, praised the transition year Students for their work on this project and also for their commitment to it. He also commented on the help that the Students gave at The Older Persons Party recently, saying that it was important to praise teenagers and to say Well Done. Sgt. Butler finished by saying that transition year was about getting involved in things and he felt that this years students, really had done that. The photos are of the Youth Awards night , all of the transition year students from Colaiste Dun Iasccaigh, Insp. Paul O'Driscoll, Sgt. Peter Butler, Gda. Pat English, Maggie Morrissey and Michael Cronin of Toastmasters, Class teacher Joanne Trehy, Bill Coffey and School Principal Mary Finnegan Burke. Maggie Morrissey from Toastmasters, said that the meeting was very enjoyable, the evaluations were brilliant and honest and that the topic suggestions were very good. Micheal Cronin also from toastmasters, gave a speech that had the audience in stitches and its no surprise that he was the winner of 2009 District 71 Toastmasters Award. Inspector Paul O'Driscoll and Maggie Morrissey presented each of the Students with a certificate in recognition of their efforts. Sgt. Peter Butler presented transition year teacher Ms.Joanne Trehy with a certificate for her participation in the project and her dedication to the transition year students. Congratulations to all involved, it was a very enjoyable evening and the students were a credit to their parents, teachers and Colaiste Dun Iascaigh.      ST.PATRICKS DAY PARADE   There will be a Parade taking place in Cahir this year on St.Patricks Day. The parade is promoting the Cahir Group and they will be contacting all relevant groups by letter and groups/businesses or anyone in fact, that would like to participate can contact Patrick Donovan on 052 42730. The Cahir Group would like this Parade to be a multicultural event and hopes that all nationalities living in Cahir will take part in this project. The Parade will start at Woodview at 12.30 on Tuesday 17th March. This is great news and I'm looking forward to it.     FAIRTRADE FORTNIGHT   As its Fairtrade fortnight from 28th February to 8th March, its nice to see Businesses displaying their Fairtrade Produce. I was delighted to see a lovely display in Supervalu. I must have a look around Town and see if there are more.   GYMNASTICS   Gillian and Andrea O'Keefe have started a gymnastics class for children in the Convent of Mercy Primary School. The class is in the Hall on Wednesday evenings from 5.30pm - 6.30pm. The cost is €4 per child. What a great fun way for children to not only have fun but keep fit too. Well Done Gillian and Andrea.   CONGRATULATIONS   Congratulations to Margaret of Golden Threads in Cashel whose three stunning outfits were shown on TV3's TVam last week. They were shown by models from Assets Model Agency and they obviously impressed many people, as Margaret won the "Battle of the Stylist Award" against another shop in Co. Meath. Pity you don't get to keep the "Oscar", I hope you got some photos of it. Well Done Margaret, you were the definite winner with 64% of the votes.( I voted for you too)   BIRTHDAYS   Belated Happy Birthday to Lauren Murphy who was 9 years old on 26th February, lots of love from Mam, Dad, Hayden and all your family and friends.   €2 WORLD   The Management and Staff of €2 World have asked me to thank all the people who wished them well when they opened their doors for the first time last week. They were stunned by the kindness of local people who popped in to wish them well and wanted to thank them all. (No problem Job Done.)   CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL FUN   This week you can buy your tickets for the  C.D.A. Cheltenham Festival, from Cahir Business and Training Centre, Members of the Management Committee of the C.D.A and of course from Maureen Calvert , who will be in the shopfront next to the Lazy Bean ( By kind permission of Joe Walsh) from 12 noon every day this week. So as usual, we will be right in the centre of town for your convenience. Tickets are €40  for the four days, for which you get to pick a horse from each of the first four races of each day of the festival. Your choices need to be in before 1pm daily and can be telephoned to us (Phone numbers on tickets) or emailed to us on reception@cahirda.com.  This is how it works . Points are awarded to all those picking out the 1st, 2nd and 3rd horse in each race.The points winner each day wins €150.00 and at the end of the week, the overall winner receives €1000, 2nd wins €300 and 3rd wins €200. By the way, if by any chance you are not able to let us have your choice, we allocate the favourite to you. May the best man/woman win.   CONFIRMATIONS   Best Wishes to 5th class of Ballylooby National School who made their Confirmations on Tuesday 3rd March .We hope you had a lovely day, and that you and your families enjoyed it.   'IN WILD EARTH'   Just a reminder that the Cahir District and Lions Club annual Dinner theatre is featuring this Friday night 6th March, in Cahir House Hotel. This years play is ' In Wild Earth' by J.O'Donnell-Cassidy and will be performed by the renowned Fr.Mathew Players of New Inn. The wonderful cast of characters act out the strained relationship between an hotelier and his wife . With pathos and comedy intertwined with marital breakdown, the play is excellently performed by the players. Anybody that witnessed last years performance will be enthralled by this  years wonderful nights entertainment. Tickets are available from reception in Cahir House Hotel, they are €30 and include a four course meal.    SYMPATHIES   The Late Billy Duggan   On the 4th February 2009, Billy as he was always known to all , passed away suddenly near his home in Avondale Court, Cahir. He is survived by his wife Joan, his son Gerrard, daughter in law Jama, brother Gerrard, sister Mary and brother in law Frank O'Cleary. Billy originally came from Abbey Street was one of the oldest Cahir families with his forbearers interred in the old Abbey. Billy was interred in St.Mary's cemetery on 7th February. The funeral mass was celebrated by Fr.O'Dwyer. In his younger days, Billys passion was Cahir Park Soccer Club and he was a formidable player in the late fifties and early seventies. He was a member of the Cahir Park Junior Team that won the Hogg Cup in 1959 and he played in the Munster Junior Cup in the 1959/60 season, as well as playing in the Veterans Team of 1980. Billy was also a passionate Manchester United Supporter. He worked in in Going and Smiths mills and later in IAWS. Before his retirement, he worked in security with the Goodman Group. May he rest in peace.   READERS NEWS AND VIEWS    Please send all your news to  Maria Taylor call 086 1022014 or you can email Maria at caplicetaylor@hotmail.com.