RehabCare/Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club project wins prestigious Innovation Award

A RehabCare/Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club project won the prestigious Innovation Award at the European Platform for Rehabilitation (EPR) conference in Valencia, Spain last weekend.

The award is given annually to one organisation from the EPR’s 27 members across 16 European countries.

The project began in 2008 when RehabCare, which provides services for people with disabilities in Dundalk, approached Dundalk Football Club as some of the men in RehabCare with an interest in football, wanted to join the Supporters’ Club.

From day one, they were made feel very welcome by the supporters. They became well known in the football grounds around the country as they travelled to all the away games supporting Dundalk FC. The initiative between RehabCare and the Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club has been an outstanding success and has made a big difference to the lives of those involved.

For those involved in the Supporters’ Club, it’s not just about being fans of football, it’s also about the friendships they make, being part of a club, the social life, and being part of the community.

Darren Belton says: “I love going to the away games. It’s brought me to places I’ve never been like Limerick, Longford, Athlone, Derry and Cork. There is always good craic on the bus. You can chat to people. I’ve made new friends through the club. One of my goals was to see Manchester United play. Because of being more confident now after a few years in the Supporters’ Club, I’m going to go Old Trafford in a few weeks. It’ll be my first time out of the country.”

Stephen Caraher, Programme Supervisor, RehabCare explains why the initiative has been such a success.

“From the very start, both Dundalk FC and the Dundalk FC Supporters’ Club were really enthusiastic. Having a disability doesn’t matter, you only need one thing to be a member of the Supporters’ Club – be a massive Dundalk FC fan! Everyone was really welcomed in. Because of their involvement in the Supporters’ Club, they are more confident, they feel like they belong in the club and they are really part of their community now.”

On a lighter note, Stephen added: “Now we have won a trophy in Europe, we have set the standard for Dundalk FC to lift a trophy in Europe. We can only dream, but sometimes dreams come true. C’mon the Town!”

Dundalk seeking to become part of Living City Initiative

A motion was put forward at the Dundalk Municipal District Committee’s annual general meeting last night seeking to have the Living City Initiative extended to Dundalk.

The Living City initiative focuses on the regeneration of retail and commercial districts and encouraging people to live in the historic centres of Cork, Dublin, Galway, Kilkenny, Limerick and Waterford.

The aim of the Living City initiative is to bring life back into the heart of the relevant cities by offering tax relief for qualifying expenditure incurred on the refurbishment or conversion of certain buildings where conditions are met. These property tax incentives apply in certain “special regeneration areas” (SRAs).

Cllr Mark Dearey of the Green Party put forward the motion to seek the extension of the scheme into Dundalk. A recent Sunday Times article titled ‘Rotting to the Core’ further highlighted how the centre of Dundalk is in need of regeneration with the number of people living on the likes of Clanbrassil Street now extremely low.

Cllr Dearey’s motion was supported by his fellow councillors and the local authority will now put forward a case to the Department of Finance to have Dundalk included in the scheme, which was launched early last month.

Skoda Cycle Series to finish in Dundalk this August

Model Roz Purcell promoting the Skoda Cycle Series

The 2015 Skoda Cycle Series will end in Dundalk this year.

Now in its second year, the series kicked off in Sligo last month and has since had evets in Longford and Wicklow.

The challenges moves on to Cavan and Enniscorthy next month before visiting Westport and Cork in July.

It will then conclude in Dundalk on August 30^th with the Cuchulainn Challenge over 80km and 130km respectively

For further details visit www.facebook.com/skodacycleseries

 

Scans at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital to be reviewed after errors found in locum’s work

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda

Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda is one of seven around the country where X-rays may have been misread.

The Irish Times reports today that thousands of X-rays and other scans have been reviewed and hundreds of patients recalled after errors were discovered in the work of three locum radiologists employed by the Health Service Executive.

The worst affected hospital was Bantry in Cork, where 4,388 scans and X-rays taken between May and September 2013 were reviewed and 50 patients recalled, with one of them given a late cancer diagnosis as a result of the mistakes made.

The locum who worked in Bantry went on to work in a number of other hospitals, including the Lourdes. As a result, the Drogheda hospital is carrying out preliminary audits of his work to see if X-rays were correctly assessed.

In 2008, the HSE reviewed more than 6,000 X-rays and scans of a radiologist in the Lourdes Hospital.

Dundalk Garda claims launderers are sending people to university to fuel illegal trade

A local Garda member has claimed that crime gangs are sending people to university to get chemical engineering degrees so they can then employ them for their expertise in petrol stretching as well as diesel laundering along the border.

Dundalk-based Garda Robbie Peelo, who is on the Garda Representative Association’s central executive committee, told the GRA’s annual conference yesterday that the fuel-altering operations were extremely sophisticated and were not only costing the State lost revenue but millions in having to export the toxic sludge by-products for disposal in Germany.

“Revenue and Customs have introduced a dye [in diesel] that they have told us cannot be removed. But the diesel washing continues to take place. It is in fuel stations throughout the country,” Garda Peelo said.

Petrol stretching has become a serious problem in some of the border counties and has destroyed numerous car engines.

Garda Peelo also warned that illicit diesel and stretched petrol is making its way further south.

““You will see fuel lorries along the south Armagh and south Down border with registration plates from Cork, Kerry and Donegal. This isn’t just along the border. Fuel lorries will travel up from the areas, from as far down as west Cork, Kerry, Limerick, and Waterford, they will travel up to the border for the laundered fuel and travel back.

“People seem to think that this is a backyard operation. This isn’t; this is a very sophisticated operation. We have got individuals going through third-level, studying to become chemical engineers in order to beat these dyes and get them removed to sell washed diesel. This is a multi-million euro industry,” Garda Peelo said.

Source: The Irish Examiner

It’s Richie TWOhill as Dundalk go five points clear

Richie Towell celebrates his strike against Cork City last night

Dundalk moved five points clear at the top of the Premier Division table last night after coming from behind to beat Cork City 2-1 at Turner’s Cross.

Richie Towell was once again the star man for Stephen Kenny’s side as he scored either side of half-time to secure a huge win for the visitors.

Cork had gone in front through a deflected Billy Dennehy strike just after the half hour mark but Towell equalised in first-half stoppage time with a volley high to the roof of the net after the home side failed to deal with a corner kick.

He then secured the win three minutes into the second half by slotting home a penalty after David McMillan had been upended in the area.

Dundalk are next in action on Bank Holiday Monday May 4^th when they host Bray Wanderers at Oriel Park.

70 homeowners in Dundalk risk losing their homes today

70 homeowners in Dundalk are at risk of losing their homes today.

Ross Maguire of New Beginning has revealed that the debt resolution group are presenting 70 people from the town in home repossession cases today.

The cases will go before the courts, who may well grant banks the opportunity to evict people from their homes, thus allowing them to repossess the properties.

As well as the 70 repossession cases from Dundalk, New Beginning will also be representing homeowners in Cork (49), Roscommon (83), Waterford (45) and Tullamore (65).

Fáilte Ireland insist Louth will be promoted as part of Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative

Fáilte Ireland have issued a press release today highlighting the attractions of County Louth as a tourist destination.

It comes after the body omitted the county from their new Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative, which was launched yesterday with the aim of bringing 600,000 more visitors here.

The initial press release, maps and videos omitted the Wee County from inclusion, saying the new initiative – which is hoped will rival the Wild Atlantic Way – started in the Boyne Valley and ended in Cork.

Fáilte Ireland were forced into an embarrassing apology earlier today when Gary Breen spoke at a Cross Border Tourism Conference in Dundalk.

They now say that “Ireland’s Ancient East is geared to maximise the history and heritage in Louth and bring it to greater international attention by offering visitors a personal experience of 5000 years of history through a relaxing journey of discovery in the beautiful landscape that attracted warring settlers for millennia.

“The key to the initiative’s success in the county will be how the local history is illuminated by local people, communities and tourism stakeholders. To that end, Fáilte Ireland will be meeting and working with local interested parties over the coming months to enlist their support and expertise to bring the project to life locally.”

Speaking today, Paul Keeley, Director of Business Development with Fáilte Ireland, said:

“With the great amount of history and heritage in the North East, ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ will allow us to seriously build on the assets we have in Louth and encourage visitors not only to visit but to stay longer.

“With attractions such as Mellifont Abbey, Carlingford’s Medieval town, Drogheda’s Cromwellian history, Cúchulainn’s Stone, Monasterboice and Castle Roche – to name but a few – Louth ticks all the boxes with regard to the main themes of Ireland’s Ancient East with ancient, early Christian, Medieval and Anglo-Irish sites all within reach.

“As with the Wild Atlantic Way, this will be an evolving project and, although the brand has now been launched, the hard work now begins. To that end, over the next few weeks and months, Fáilte Ireland will be meeting with tourism operators, local community groups and other interested parties in Louth to work with them and to bring Ireland’s Ancient East alive in this part of the region”.

Mr Keeley added: “Ireland’s Ancient East was very much to the fore in talks with overseas operators yesterday and they are very enthusiastic about selling the new proposition to their customers. I appreciate that there were some concerns that Louth did not seem to feature heavily on the illustrative map at yesterday’s launch but I can assure all our stakeholders in the county that we will be doing all we can to ensure that Louth is on every visitor’s itinerary as we roll out this project overseas.”

Fitzpatrick claims Louth will be included in Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative

The map for the Ireland’s Ancient East tourism initiative, which stopped short of Louth

Local TD Peter Fitzpatrick has claimed that he has received assurances from Fáilte Ireland that County Louth will be included in the new ‘Ireland’s Ancient East’ tourism initiative.

The new promotion was launched yesterday with its intention to promote the east and south in a similar manner to the Wild Atlantic Way, with the hope being that it will bring an extra 600,000 visitors here a year.

Local tourism bodies, businesses and politicians reacted angrily, however, after Louth – dubbed the Land of Legends – was left out of the picture with Fáilte Ireland’s promotional material claiming that the “cultural and heritage trail will stretch from the Boyne Valley in the northeast, through the midlands, Kilkenny, Waterford and end in Cork.”

The Battle of the Boyne site outside Drogheda was as far north as the initiative went on an illustrative map done up for promotional material, thus omitting other prominent local tourist attractions such as Cuchulainn’s Castle and the Táin area in Cooley and Carlingford.

Commenting via his Twitter page yesterday, Cllr Mark Dearey said it was “extraordinary and frustrating that the Cuchulainn story cycle” didn’t feature in the campaign.

Cllr Declan Breathnach also demanded answers as to why Louth, in particular the north of the county, was excluded. It was also questioned by Paddy Malone of Dundalk Chamber of Commerce, who said they were “not impressed” by the omission.

The Visit Carlingford tourism group were another to express their disappointment via Facebook.

They said: “How can North Louth be left out of this with the history we have, ancient land of Cu Chulainn and the place where the last High King was crowned and based (Edward de Bruce) could be ignored, snubbed by Failte Ireland. VERY Disappointing.”

However, Deputy Fitzpatrick, having spoken to Fáilte Ireland’s Gary Breen at a Cross Border Tourism Conference in the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Dundalk today, said he had received a commitment this morning that Louth will be included in the Ancient East initiative.

Speaking at the conference, Mr Breen issued an apology over the debacle, saying: “Apologies on behalf of Fáilte Ireland. It was not our intention to exclude any part of Ireland’s rich heritage, least of all Louth’s. It is regrettable that we scored a PR own goal in Louth yesterday.”

With much of the promotional material already printed and the promo video already made, it remains to be seen just how Louth is included, having been previously overlooked.

From left: Local TD Peter Fitzpatrick and Dundalk Chamber of Commerce PRO Paddy Malone with Fáílte Ireland’s Gary Breen in Dundalk this morning

Two local townlands feature on rudest nameplaces map

Two areas of Co Louth have been included in a new interactive map highlighting the rudest nameplaces in the world.

Hackballscross and Termonfeckin are amongst 10 Irish locations in the collection put together by Gary Gale.

The other locations around Ireland included on the map are Bastardstown, Co Wexford; Cum, Co Mayo; Dripsey, Co Cork; Effin, Co Limerick; Meelick, Co Galway, Muff, Co Donegal; Nobber, Co Meath and Ring, Ringville, Co Waterford.

You can check out the map here.