Athea GAA “Gone To The Dogs”
At the moment there is still an opportunity to sponsor a race at our race night on August 15th in Tralee Greyhound Stadium.
- Sponsor a Race on the night – €500 (includes a full page ad in Programme)
- Joint Sponsor a Race – €250 (includes a half page ad in Programme)
- Place a full page advert in the Race Programme – €100
- Place a half page advert in the Race Programme – €50
Please contact either Jacqueline O’Connor on 086-0670091, Paul Curry on 087-6501673 or Liz O’Sullivan on 087-6699783 or any member of the committee Paul Collins, Leo Geoghegan, MaryIta Casey, Eilish Geoghegan, Roger Ryan, Neddie Hunt or Mairead Donovan.
West Limerick 102fm
Fantastic Summer Holiday Raffle in conjunction with ACE Travel South Quay NCW
Do u need a well deserved break?
You and & Friend could be Jetting off on a 7 day break this September to The Sunset Plaza Hotel in Sunny Kusadasi Turkey A hotel firmly established as a favourite with holidaymakers. Tickets only €10 on sale now. Call us 06966200 for more information
Draw takes place live on air Wednesday 19th August on the Exchange programme between 11.30 am & 1pm. Be in to win!!!!!!!! Terms & Conditions apply
ATHEA DRAMA GROUPS RETURNS WITH ‘IT’S THE REAL MCCOY’
Following a hugely successful run of Athea Drama Group’s Production of the hilarious comedy ‘It’s the Real McCoy’ by Tommy Marren last spring and due to many requests for repeat performances, it has been decided to perform the play for two final nights during the Athea Village Festival on August 1st and 2nd at Con Colbert Hall Athea at 8pm.
Set in rural Ireland in the 1960s, lady of the house Madge Molloy welcomes us into the Molloy household to share in the hilarious mishaps and surprising events that center around Madge and her life over a two day period. With glimpses of John B. Keane and the characterisations of the Fr. Ted and Mrs Doyle genre, it will have the audiences in tears of laughter.
The cast features Angeline O’Donnell, Louise Ahern, Damien Ahern, Annette O Donnell, Edwina Sheehen, Michael O Connor and Oliver McGrath under the direction of Annette O’ Donnell.
A combination of high drama and amazing Irish wit – ‘It’s The Real McCoy’ is not to be missed!
A Waste of Time
Since the beef scandal we have had a number of extremely costly and protracted tribunals in this country. After months and months of legal wrangling and questioning at the first tribunal, nobody was punished except for two workers in Rathkeale who were only “carrying out orders”. The real culprits got away with fines and some of them were subsequently reimbursed and put back in charge. It was a real gravy train for the legal profession who charged exorbitant fees and took millions out of the economy. At the end we were no wiser than when the whole charade started. Lessons should have been learned but did we learn? – not at all. We have gone down the same road on a number of occasions since with the same results; fortunes made by lawyers and very few questions answered. The banking inquiry is different in that it is being undertaken by an Oireachtas committee and does not incur the heavy legal costs but will the result be any different? Do we really think that some politician is going to hold his/her hands up and say “yes, it was my fault. I got a brown envelope from developers to tilt the laws in their favour and made sure they got the right contracts” Of course they won’t. We have seen them come in and read from prepared scripts and defending their actions while in government. Despite some probing questions we are no wiser now than when the whole thing started. I fear that this inquiry was set up as a tool to give a good kicking to Fianna Fáil in the run up to the next election. The hard questions are coming from Fine Gael and Sinn Féin who hope to capitalise on Fianna Fáil’s decline at the polls. Fair play to them if they make some discoveries in the meantime but I’m afraid the whole thing is a waste of time. Politicians do what they have always done and most of them try to do a good job but, to survive, they had to depend on donations from business and there is always a quid pro quo. If a builder gives a big cheque to a political party he expects to be rewarded with government contracts at very attractive terms. That is the way it has worked in most of the world since governments were formed – you scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours. It is time to put an end to all that but it is not going to be easy. There is corruption in all walks of life and it would be naïve to think that it will not be found amongst those in power.
A new party has been formed called Social Democrats. Three independents are sharing the leadership which is a recipe for disaster for a start. Individually they are very good politicians who have a vision of an Ireland in the Nordic tradition of taxation and services. I know a little about the system in Denmark since my son Danjoe has worked there all his adult life. Yes, they have high taxes but they get the rewards in excellent services. Schools there are really free (including university) unlike here where parents are faced with hefty bills each autumn. There are no trolleys on wards in hospitals and no waiting lists for consultants. Public transport is second to none. If a bus or train is due at 9:00 people complain if it arrives at 9:02 ! Maternity leave for both partners is very generous; I could go on . To finance this they pay at least 50% of wages in taxes. It’s a lot you may say but if you add up all the extra taxes we have here plus all the voluntary payments we make, there isn’t much difference. I’m afraid it won’t be easy to sell to the Irish electorate many of whom want all the services but want somebody else to pay for them. Left wing parties in particular have this crazy idea that a few rich people can be taxed to the hilt to finance everything and that the average worker should have to pay little or nothing. They seem to forget that it is these wealthy people who create employment and if they are overtaxed in this country are quite likely to move to another jurisdiction where they will be welcomed with open arms. It is not the job of government to create jobs. It is their job to create the environment where jobs can be created. If people are not encouraged to start businesses then there will be no employment outside of the public service and they cannot survive without the taxes. I hope the new party does well and offers a viable alternative to “more of the same”. Despite the historical background, there is no difference between Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael, Labour is going to be wiped out at the next election and Sinn Féin’s policies, although they seem attractive to the low paid, have yet to succeed in any part of the world. What the new party must not do is be a junior party in any future government if the numbers stack up. Like all the other smaller parties, Greens, Progressive Democrats etc., they will not get the credit for any good they do but they will get blamed for all the failures and pay the price at the next election. Anyway, the people will decide for themselves, that is democracy and as the introduction to an old TV programme used to say, “democracy is a bad form of government, but all the others are so much worse”
Domhnall de Barra