STUDENTS URGED TO CHECK GRANT ELIGIBILITY

South Tipperary Fianna Fail TD Mattie McGrath is encouraging Tipp students who will attend third level education for the forthcoming academic year to investigate whether they are eligible for the academic grant before the August 29th deadline.

The Government has recently announced a widening of the income limits for eligibility, ensuring more students will be able to qualify for the grant. Under the new rules the top income limit for qualifying for the grant (where there are less than four children) has increased from €48,335 to €49,690.

This will ensure that over 56,000 students from households with moderate incomes will not have to pay the student service/registration charge.

Additionally, the income threshold for the full maintenance grant has increased from €18,055 to €20,147 to ensure families on the lowest incomes continue to qualify for the maximum grant rates.

Speaking about the grants, Deputy McGrath said, “I would encourage every third level student in South Tipperary, and their parents, to look into whether they are eligible for the third level grant. A huge number of families every year miss out on some payments simply because they have not applied in time and I would hate to see any Tipperary families not receive payments they were due.”

“The deadline for applications is August 29th so I would urge all parents and students to act as soon as possible. Even if you are not eligible for the full maintenance grant there is a sliding scale of payments and you may be entitled to something. The Government will also pay the cost of the student service charge, up to the value of €900. Such a saving is clearly worth taking a few minutes to investigate fully.”

“There has also been a change in the way the grant payments are reviewed. From now on changes to the level of payments to be provided will be decided as part of the national budget process, which makes sound financial sense really”.

“If anyone has any questions about applying for the grant or needs any further information on the scheme I would encourage them to contact my office and I’d be happy to assist them,” Deputy McGrath concluded..

FERMOY UNDERTAKERS MAKE ALTERNATIVE ARRANGEMENTS

Although the funeral removal service from Fermoy Hospital is due to be stopped only temporarily during the construction phase of the 30-bed hospital extension unit, the area funeral directors who used the facility extensively, have had to consider alternative arrangements for their businesses.

Martin Neligan’s Funeral Home, housed in the former Fermoy Railway Station building, just recently reopened for business. Martin opened his funeral home in 1984, but “everyone preferred the chapel in the hospital, so we switched about nine to ten years ago due to general demand. We never really closed it”, he told The Avondhu.

After ten years of using the hospital and its chapel, he has now returned to his own funeral home, to provide the removal service, as it is currently the only one in town. The funeral home will also accommodate another local funeral director, Senan Waters, for future removals until the hospital service has resumed.

Senan is not phased by the current situation as he has been informed, along with other area funeral directors, that the service was going to be interrupted at the hospital once the construction of the new building started.

“We were given enough time to find alternative arrangements. It wasn’t a surprise when it happened”, Senan says.

James Ronayne, another area funeral director from Castlelyons who made use of the hospital’s services, is due to open his own funeral home on Patrick Street next week. Everyone has had to adjust to the new reality, including the local community.

There has been great concern over the use of the chapel during the period of the construction project to which HSE’s Communications Unit responded, ‘The construction of this new accommodation incorporates use of the current car park at the front of the chapel.

'During construction the chapel will be largely inaccessible and will not be available as a location for funeral removals to the public to ensure compliance with health and safety regulations.

'Arrangements have been made with the local parish priest with regard to facilitating Sunday Mass for patients and staff in the hospital. Hospital management regret any inconvenience caused by this temporary closure. However, it is unavoidable due to health and safety issues'.

HSE has also confirmed that the interruption of the funeral removal service from the hospital is temporary and will be resumed once the construction of the new extension is over.

TRIATHLON PROMISES HUGE SPIN OFF FOR TOWN

With just over a week to go and preparations well on track, the Blackwater Triathlon on Sunday, August 31, Fermoy’s first ever competition of this nature, has reached its maximum capacity of 450 participants.

Olympic rower, Gearoid Towey will officially start the race which is being organized by the Blackwater Triathlon Club, Fermoy. Competitors will start arriving from all over Ireland on either Saturday or Sunday.

Registration of participants with collection of numbers and race timing clips will take place on Saturday evening between 7pm and 9pm and on Sunday morning between 7.30am and 9.30am. The race will start from Barnane, on the banks of the Blackwater River at 11am with a 750m swim downstream towards the weir.

“The competitors will come out by the weir on a triangular field, which is the transition area. There they will get on their bikes and cycle towards Glanworth, turn left for Ballyhooly and then return to Fermoy. They will come off their bikes at the protestant church and they will run with bikes to transition area, rack the bikes and continue with the 5km run out to Grange school and back near the town park,” explains Frank O’Halloran, chairman of the Blackwater Triathlon Club, which was founded only one year ago.

The demand for the event was great as “interest in the sport is booming at the moment. It is one of the top up and coming sports. It’s becoming very popular and Fermoy is a very popular venue, as it is quite centrally located. There will be a huge spin off for the town. Hopefully we’ll get a big number of spectators,” continues an enthusiastic Mr. O’Halloran.

The triathlon event will feature some of the sport’s biggest names, among them: Trevor Wood, Cork, Darren Hughes, Colin Bulger and Matt Dowling, all from the Pulse Triathlon Club, Dublin and Colm Turner of the Limerick Triathlon Club. It is not known yet if Fermoy’s top athlete, Michael Lyons, will be in a position to take part in the competition. Among the local athletes will be Louise O’Shea of Fermoy and Patricia O’Brien from Clondulane.

The race will be followed by a barbecue for the participants and the presentation of prizes at The Forge Bar. Spectators can participate as well for a small charge.

The Fermoy Blackwater Triathlon will be launched on this Monday evening, at 8.30pm in the Forge Bar, Fermoy. Helpers, medical crew, sponsors and volunteers willing to help in any way are invited to attend.

For further enquiries on the launch, the event itself or membership of the Blackwater Triathlon Club please contact Sinead Sheridan at 087-7972126 or Helen Lyons at 025-31623.

The Blackwater Triathlon Club have expressed their appreciation to the many sponsors of the event including local gardai, Blackwater Sub Aqua Club, Fermoy Cycling Club, Grange Fermoy Athletic Club, Fermoy Swimming Masters Club and Fermoy Rowing Club. Blackwater Motors will be providing the lead car for the race.

We wish all competitors the best of luck.

THE END OF AN OLYMPIC DREAM

It is the end of the road and of the Beijing Olympic dream for Kilworth rower Gearoid Towey and his teammates, from the men’s lightweight four, who failed to qualify for the final last Sunday.

The Irish lightweight four Olympic rowing team – Gearoid Towey, Richard Archibald, Paul Griffin and Cathal Moynihan - came fourth in the semi-final after Denmark, France and Great Britain with a time of 6:13.85 as opposed to the 6:05.75, which was the time registered by the Danish team.

Only the first three teams qualified for the Olympic final. The other three teams who took part in the final were Poland, Canada and the Netherlands, who had qualified from the first semi-final.

PACKED HERITAGE WEEK AHEAD FOR LOCAL VILLAGES

Ballyhoura Development has announced that Heritage Week will run from August 24 - August 31. Billed as a week long celebration of “who we are and where we’ve come from,” Heritage Week is part of European Heritage Days, a joint initiative of the Council of Europe and the European Union.

In Ireland Heritage Week is co-ordinated by the Heritage Council with support from the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and each year many national, as well as hundreds of local community organisations, participate by organising events throughout the country.

There is something to appeal to almost everyone and the main aim is to build awareness of native built, natural and cultural heritage thereby encouraging its conservation and preservation. Activities will be taking place in every county and most activities are free of charge or offer great value for money.

Everyone is encouraged to get involved and activities range from fairs, night-time bat walks, wildlife tours and lectures to music recitals, historical re-enactments, and outdoor activities. Many heritage sites and stately homes will offer free admission or special concessions.

The ‘Villages of Tradition’ in Ballyhoura Country are also getting involved with events to suit all ages. Check out the gala week in Kilbehenny running from Monday, August 25 to Sunday, August 31 with a launch of the DVD marking ‘A village evening in the 1940s’.

A plethora of events will be held throughout the week. Galbally will hold its 29th annual garden fete in the village on August 31 when thousands of people are expected to throng the village.

Knockainey will be having an open day on this Sunday, August 24 at the recently restored St John’s Church, now used as a cultural centre where concerts are held year round.

The village of Glenbrohane will be hosting a guided walk visiting the sites identified in the new heritage board in the village; the start point is St Patrick’s Church at 2pm on August 31.

For something a little more active why not take to the new biking trails in Glenanaar forest near the picturesque village of Ardpatrick.

Blackwater Castle in Castletownroche will be having guided tours of the 12th century castle from 10am to 4pm, tours given every hour on August 24, while Mitchelstown Heritage Society will be launching the Mitchelstown Heritage Town Trail at 6.30pm on Thursday, August 28; meeting point will be the interpretative sign at the Georgian pump in King Square.

To find out more of what’s on offer in your area check out www.heritageweek.ie to find out more about the Ballyhoura Country Villages of Tradition check out www.ballyhouracountry.com or e-mail Amanda Slattery, tourism and heritage officer aslattery@ballyhoura.org or phone 063-91741.

MORE OBJECTIONS TO PROPOSED DEMOLITION OF LISMORE SCHOOL BUILDINGS

- A GREAT DEAL OF DISQUIET ABOUT SITUATION -

Opposition continues to grow against the proposed demolition at Bunscoil Bothar na Naomh, Lismore, of three school buildings and the construction of a driveway that would traverse the site where the buildings are currently located. Two further objections have been submitted to Waterford County Council for consideration.

The planning application that proposes the construction of two new classrooms, minor works on the five classroom extension, and the removal of the three portakabins, as they are referred to, has been causing great consternation for a large group of people, including the majority of the board of management and the parents’ council.

After the majority of the school’s board of management filed their own objection with the council, the parents’ council then followed suit.

The objection letter reads, ‘We wholeheartedly welcome the application for the two additional classrooms, but are strongly opposed to the demolition of the three buildings to make way for the new driveway. Two of these buildings are in everyday use by the school and the accommodation lost will not be replaced by the proposed extension to the school.

"Furthermore, we believe that the permission for the demolition is being sought to facilitate the construction of a roadway, the purpose of which is to give access to a field behind the old convent building. This field is in private ownership and is zoned for residential development in the Town Development Plan".

The letter concludes, ‘We adamantly believe that the loss of school accommodation to facilitate a private developer is contrary to the common good and it would not be in the interest of proper planning. We therefore urge Waterford County Council to refuse planning permission for the demolition of these buildings".

Mr. Eddie Hanley submitted another objection to the planning application, for a completely different reason than the ones mentioned above by the other two groups. He states in his letter to the council, "I wish to make the following observation regarding the above, (re: planning application) that the access road to the development is traversing my property and I have an interest therein”.

Mr. Hanley was this week unavailable for comment. Lismore Deputy Mayor, Bernard Leddy, who was previously on the school’s parents’ council, told The Avondhu, “There is a great deal of disquiet about the situation. We are very concerned that the extension will be put in difficulty. It is also unprecedented that the majority of the staff and the board of management are objecting to a planning application that was filed by the board of management.”