Irish drivers must have breathalyser for travelling in France
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By JOHN FALLON
Thousands of Irish tourists who will take their car with them to France this summer will face fines unless they are carrying a breathalyser with them in their vehicle.
A new law is coming into operation prior to the start of summer which will make it obligatory for all drivers in France to have an alcohol breathalyser with them at all times.
It is the latest part of a clampdown on road deaths and accidents by President Nicolas Sarkozy, who last week announced the latest in a series of hard-hitting road safety measures. In recent years legislation has been introduced forcing drivers to have a hi-vis jacket within arm’s length, along with an accident warning triangle.
And now from the end of spring, every driver in France will be required to carry a personal alcohol tester in the vehicle.
The breathalysers will become available at reasonable prices throughout France — some for as little as €2 — but Irish motorists could have fork out as much as €50 if they buy them here before departing for France.
However, an award-winning road safety officer says that while the new French law has some merit, he does not see a need for it here.
Noel Gibbons, Road Safery Officer with Mayo County Council, said they were trying to promote a message of zero alcohol for drivers.
“The French plan is a good one ideally, but there is no requirement for it here at all,” said Mr Gibbons.
“We already are preaching the message that there is no safe limit to drive with drink in your system, so what use would carrying a breathalyser do?” he said. “We don’t want people to be taking a chance if they are close to the legal limit, putting people’s lives at risk.”
France is the world’s largest tourist market – 78.95million tourists visited there in 2010 – and visitors will need to take care when bringing their own cars to the country.
An estimated 765,000 Irish people travel to France from Irish shores each year and anyone bringing their own transport and found in breach of the new French law faces a €17 fine.
The operator of one of the country’s biggest specialists in French camping holidays, Pearse Keller of Keller Travel in Ballinasloe in Co Galway says holidaymakers will have to be fully aware of the implications.
“I suppose it will be up to us as travel agents to make sure our customers are made aware of the new rules of the road in France. Just like drivers have to carry a high-visibility vest and an accident triangle, they will now have to carry the breathalyser,” said Mr Keller.
“While it appears it will not be an expensive item, it is one more thing that holiday makers have to be aware of before leaving.
“But in fairness to the French administrators, they have made a concerted effort to reduce their accidents on the road. Going back ten or twelve years they had huge numbers of road deaths, but the hard work in that department should be applauded. Anything that makes it safer for our holiday makers is a positive thing,” said Mr Keller.
President Sarkozy’s latest manoeuvres come on the back of his 2007 pledge to cut road deaths in the country to 3,000 in 2012. Last year the death toll on French roads dipped below 4,000 for the first time, but still a long way off target.
Bakery back from the flames with Harrods contract
By JOHN FALLON
A SMALL family bakery that was threatened with closure after a fire during the summer is back in business and preparing to supply Harrods of London with Christmas puddings.
The Foods of Athenry bakery company in Kiltullagh, Co Galway, run by Paul and Siobhán Lawless, caught fire in June.
The blaze gutted their manufacturing plant.
Today, the company has not only recovered – it also secured a contract with Harrods.
After rebuilding the premises and getting their produce back on the shelves, the Lawlesses are getting ready to sell their gluten-free Christmas pudding in the iconic London store.
Siobhán Lawless said she was thrilled to get the opportunity to supply such a prestigious shop.
“Following the fire we entered the gluten-free pudding in the Great Taste Awards, where it came away with a two-star grade taste.”
And that doesn’t go unnoticed, especially in Britain, she said.
“And now we have secured the deal to supply Harrods, which is amazing.”
The recovery took some time, but Paul Lawless said the family had been overwhelmed by the goodwill and loyalty of customers.
“I think business is very, very good. We have had a fantastic response from the customers, from the managers and owners of the supermarkets.
“And business is almost back to where it was before the fire in all of those shops,” he said.
Could more flooding be on the way?
By JOHN FALLON
A climate expert has warned that little action has been taken to prevent a repeat of flooding damage which devastated large tracts of Co Galway last year.
NUI Galway lecturer and climate change specialist Kieran Hickey said that the Government has done very little to prepare for another disaster.
Mr Hickey, speaking in Galway before publication by Four Courts Press last night (THURS) of his analysis, entitled ‘Deluge: Ireland’s weather disasters 2009-2010’, said last year’s flood damage could have been avoided.
He said that ‘nothing of significance’ had taken place to prevent a repeat of estimated €1billion worth of damage caused by last year’s floods.
“You already have many families who are facing into a second Christmas without their home, and other individuals who have experienced illness and stress due to the flooding or the cold snap or both,” said Mr Hickey.
“Much of this could be avoided with a less short-term approach by the State,” he said.
He said that one immediate practical step would be to use the National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) to move residents in flood-risk areas into nearby ‘ghost estates’ on higher ground.
Mr Hickey said that houses subject to repeat flooding could be demolished, which would help to reduce the oversupply of housing stock and this, in turn, would encourage completion of some ghost estates.
He said a climate change minister, who would co-ordinate preventative measures, should be appointed to Cabinet, as fears that Ireland will be prone to more extreme weather events.
Mr Hickey said that the new minister should also have responsibility for an independent mediator to assist families and businesses affected by flooding.
He said that many families and businesses affected over the past winter were forced into taking expensive legal actions, due to the response of banks and insurance companies to date.
“It was also pure luck that no one perished in the flooding, particularly in Cork where people woke up with water lapping around their ankles”, said Mr Hickey.
It’s a family affair
By DECLAN ROONEY
Loughrea forward Johnny Coen will hope for County Cup glory next Sunday but his mother and sister have already created their own bit of history this year.
Rita Coen and her daughter Aisling (16) are playing out their own generation game as they inspire the Shamrocks camogie club to glory.
The two played a leading role as their team won the Galway camogie championship and will now hope to lead them into intermediate grade next season.
Mum Rita, who first took to the camogie fields in 1983 with her home club in Glenamady, is chuffed with the family’s success and all going well, she plans on sticking with the game for another year at least.
“Last year was the first year we played together and I suppose it has worked well for us,” she said.
“It is a great achievement for us coming all the way up through the levels after not having a team for a good few years. We are back in the big time again!”
But while goalkeeper Rita holds the upper hand on the home front, once they get onto the camogie field, 16-year-old midfielder Aisling is well able to stand her own ground.
“I think it is great we get on very well on the pitch,” Rita said. “When we are playing she calls me Rita. I often hear: ‘Puck it out there Rita’ or ‘What were you looking at that time Rita’ when I let in a goal, but we are team mates after all.
“We just do it for the craic though. We get a great buzz from the whole team. We socialise together and all get along. I suppose that is what is all about.”
And the family affair does not stop there as former county star Rita’s husband Tommy, is a former Galway goalkeeper and currently trains the Mullagh hurlers.
“We are all big into the game in our house. Tommy set up the Shamrocks club in the early 90s before Aisling was born.
“Then when Aisling was in the under-10 age group I started training them and we won that competition and the under-12s the following year. We didn’t win at under-14 grade but it has given us a good base to work from and with a few auld ones to show them how it was done the club is improving again.”
Irish scrabble launched
By JOHN FALLON
A new way has been found for young children to learn to speak Irish following the development of Junior Scrabble as Gaeilge.
The new game, aimed at kids aged four to eight, was unveiled in Galway at the weekend at the Tóstal na Gaeilge conference.
And plans are advanced to bring out an Irish language version of Scrabble — which was created in 1938 — later this year.
The Irish language Junior Scrabble is fully licensed by the game’s manufacturers and will feature 40 words.
Eoghan MacCormaic, a development worker with Glór na nGael who created the new game says that it is designed as a half-metre square floor puzzle for young players.
“It is both a jigsaw puzzle and a spelling game,” he said.
Longford man charged with unlawful killing
By JOHN FALLON
A 23-year old Longford man was yesterday (FRI) charged with the unlawful killing of a former army officer on New Year’s Eve.
Martin McDonagh of 55, Mostrim Oaks, Ballymahon Road, in Edgeworthstown was yesterday charged with unlawfully killing Noel Keegan at Park Road in Longford on December 31.
Det. Sgt. Padraic Jones told Geoffrey Browne at Harristown District Court in Roscommon yesterday that he charged McDonagh with the unlawful killing of Mr Keegan.
McDonagh had been remanded in custody since January charged with assault causing harm to Mr Keegan but Det Sgt Jones said this charge was now being withdrawn and replaced with the unlawful killing charge.
He said that McDonagh made no reply when he was charged yesterday.
McDonagh was remanded in custody to appear before Harristown District Court next Friday.
Hollywood returns to Connemara
By JOHN FALLON
One of the most famous Irish films ever is to provide the backdrop as Sir Roger Moore brings Hollywood back to Connemara 60 years after the shooting of ‘The Quiet Man’.
A romantic comedy is to be shot in Cong on the Galway-Mayo border based around the excitement created in the region back in the 1950s when John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara flew in to shoot their oscar-winning classic.
Sir Roger Moore will be executive producer of ‘Connemara Days’, a romantic comedy based around an 18-year old girl who falls in love with one of the assisant directors of ‘The Quiet Man’.
The new film is set to provide a much-needed tourism boost for the Connemara region with a host of top actors lined up to star when shooting begins this summer.
Aidan Quinn (Legends of the Fall), Geraldine Chaplin (The Wolfman), Sarah Bolger (In America) and Thomas Dekker (Sarah Connor Chronicles) will star in the new film.
And Stacy Keach (Escape from LA) will play the legendary film director John Ford in the film which is based around the novel of the same name by UK author Steve Mayhew.
The film will feature the trials and tribulations of the O’Dea family, who have lived in Cong for decades, and revolves around 18-year-old daughter Heather who falls for one of John Ford’s assistant directors.
Sir Roger Moore said he was greatly excited at the prospect of returning to the scene of the greatest cinematic work to be produced in Ireland and he is looking forward to reliving the excitement created back in 1951.
“The Quiet Man was undoubtedly the best movie John Ford ever directed. It is also one of my all-time favourite films.
“The opportunity to revisit the time when Hollywood arrived in Ireland to shoot it was simply too delicious an opportunity to miss.
“I’m greatly looking forward to stepping in front of the cameras in Cong and to being a part of this delightful project”, he said.
It will be produced by Belfast-based Causeway Pictures and directed by Kevin Connor (Marco Polo, The Wish List, Black Beard).
Failte Ireland Client Services Manager, Brian Quinn yesterday welcomed the announcement of the project.
“Over the years since it was first screened, the benefits of the filming and global distribution of ‘The Quiet Man’ to the area around Cong and Connemara have been remarkable,” he said, adding that the stunning Connemara scenery would again provide a magnificent backdrop this year.
No plans to change death register legislation
By JOHN FALLON
Families of Irish people who have died abroad have been dismayed to discover that there are no plans to change legislation that would allow their deaths be registered in this country.
At present the law only allows for the deaths of members of the Defence Forces and Gardai serving abroad to be registered here.
But with the number of deaths abroad increasing dramatically — there were 243 last year compared to 205 in 2008 and 130 the year before — a campaign has been launched
The chairman of HSE West, Cllr Padraig Conneely, is leading a campaign to have Irish deaths abroad registered here after a Galway family, whose son died in the United States this summer, found they could not register his death here.
Keith O’Reilly (22) from Merlin Park in Galway, a third year engineering student at NUI Galway, lost his life when he hit a hidden rock after diving into Lake Michigan after going for a swim.
His parents Liam and Yvonne, who have four other children, have had to deal with every parents’ nightmare but were astounded to discover they could not register Keith’s death here in Ireland.
“Keith was an Irish citizen. He was born in Dublin, raised in Galway, went to school and college here. He did everything in Ireland, yet his death will not be recorded here,” said his mother Yvonne.
“Everything about Keith’s life can be tracked here, yet it all comes to a halt and there is no record of when or where he died,” she added.
She was shocked to discover that Keith’s death would not be recorded in Ireland — it was only when she got around to doing practical things like closing bank accounts, dealing with his college place and all the other things that require multiple copies of his death certificate.
Cllr Conneely said that several other families in a similar position had been in contact from all over the country but they were dismayed to find out in the past few days that the law will not be changed.
“It is only a minor alteration, they changed it in Britain a few years ago. The deaths will still be registered abroad but they will also be registered.
“However, we have now been told by the Office of the Register Generral that he does not plan to make the change, although no reason is given.
“It is extremely disappointing and just adds considerably to the grief that families are going through.
“To be honest it is an unacceptable response and we will now be looking for cross-party support for the change to be made, not least as there is absolutely no reason not to make the alteration,” said Cllr. Coneely.
Geoghegan Quinn defends record
By JOHN FALLON
The new Irish EU Commissioner Maire Geoghegan Quinn yesterday said that Ireland had got a lot of its economic planning right over the past decade despite the current difficulties.
She said that the track record of investment in research and education would stand the country in good stead as it sought to emerge from the crisis.
Mrs Geoghegan Quinn, speaking to an invited audience at NUI Galway in her first address since being appointed as Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science, said she was not blind to the economic difficulties being endured.
“In times of crisis, those of us in public life have a public duty to optimism”, Mrs Geoghegan Quinn said, adding that she believed Europe had the ability to overcome the economic difficulties.
But she warned that research and development budgets needed to be maintained and she was pleased to see that the Irish government had sought to do this in the consolidation packages announced so far.
“I am worried that, with budgets under pressure, governments may view research and development as an easy area for cutbacks. This would be completely the wrong reaction.
“I want to remove, once and for all, the pension and social security obstacles which prevent researchers from moving freely between countries. And I want to put an end to the fragmentation of national research efforts and avoid duplication of effort,” said Mrs Geoghegan Quinn.
Forgotten Irish forgotten
By JOHN FALLON
A campaign aimed at helping the ‘forgotten’ Irish in Britain is to continue despite raising just over €2,000 of a targetted €1m by its St Patrick’s Day deadline.
The campaign aims to help hundreds of irish who are now in very poor circumstaces having emigrated to the UK in the ‘fifties and ‘sixties.
The campaign was launched six months ago through the travel website www.lookaroundireland.com and set a deadline of St Patrick’s Day to raise €1m for two charities which help the forgotten Irish.
The two charities — The Safe-Home Project based in Co. Mayo and the Irish Fund of Great Britain’s Forgotten Irish — help re-settle in Ireland those most in need.
The organiser and website director John McKeown said that while the response has been ‘very disappointing’ but he is going to keep the campaign going in the hope that funds will be pledged.
“The term ‘Forgotten Irish’ probably sums it all up. We were probably ambitious with the amount we aimed to raise but we are very disappointed with the response.
“Nevertheless, we will keep the campaign open in the hope that there will be a response,” said John, whose own father was one of the irish people who emigrated in the 1940s.
He set up the campaign after watching ‘The Forgotten Irish’ documentary on TV3 and decided to use his successful website in a bid to help the elderly and alone Irish in cities and towns throughout the United Kingdom.
Many of them had no choice but to emigrate during the 1940s, 50s and 60s but hundreds now live in near destitute throughout the United Kingdom.
“It is an era that is out of the spotlight and is not in people’s minds. Because it’s out of the spotlight it’s out of people’s minds. It won’t mean anything to people unless they can relate to the people who were forced to emigrate from Ireland in the ’50s and ’60s,” said John, who is from Liverpool but now lives in Louth.
