Seamus O Donnell Manager of the Athea Intermediate team with John O’Connell who is the village’s longest serving GAA supporter.

Easter Bunny Found
“The Easter bunny was found by Evan Curry during the Athea Tidy Towns, Team Limerick clean-up on Good Friday”

Congratulations to Fergal Pierse who won a gold medal in the U14 Community Games Art Competition. Fergal will now go on to represent Athea and Limerick in the All Ireland final in June.

Daffodil Day

The collection (which couldn’t be held on Daffodil Day due to  unforeseen circumstances) will take place on this Friday, April 6th. Please support this great cause.

Thank You

On behalf of my family and myself, I would like to say a  sincere thank you to all our wonderful customers who supported us over the 65 years while we were in business as Denihan’s, Brouder’s and Rose Enright.

I also wish Rose the best of health, happiness and good luck for the future. Thanks again.

Mary Brouder 

Ladies Monthly Night Out

The monthly night out will take place on this Friday April 6th in Brown Joe’s with all the usual fun and games including bingo, quiz, etc. The proceeds from this will go to Family Carers Ireland which will stay in the Limerick Branch.

A NEED FOR MATURITY

By Domhnall de Barra

There has been what one can only describe as a “media frenzy” surrounding the trial of the Ulster rugby players over the past couple of weeks. Every bit of the court case was reported in graphic detail on the public media and social media had a field day. The end result was the acquittal of the four defendants on all counts. The result has created much unease and discussion about the court setup in the North and the lack of protection given to the young lady who brought the complaint to the police in the first place. She is entitled to anonymity by law but it did not happen in this case. Unlike in this jurisdiction, the court was open to the public who heard the young lady being called by name and even though she was behind a screen while in the witness box, there was a television monitor where she was in plain view of the public gallery. Now Belfast is a relatively small place and she was immediately recognised and her details broadcast on social media. It has a grave knock-on effect for anyone who might want to report a sexual assault in the future.

Will any female, knowing what happened in this case, agree to go into court and be treated like she was?  I think not and that is a really frightening possibility. Nobody won at this trial. Yes, the defendants were found not guilty but were they totally innocent? Their conduct was reprehensible and the texts afterwards were disgusting.  That any woman should be treated  and spoken about like that shows an attitude of mind that has no place in civilised society. Drink will be blamed for a lot of the behaviour but there was no drink involved when the texts were flying the following day. On the night in question there was certainly too much drink involved, both by the defendants and the girl herself.

Is this now the norm that people get so blathered on nights out that they totally lose control and behave worse than animals. In this modern world there is a great need for sex education, especially for young men who get the wrong idea about sexual behaviour from watching porn which is freely available on the internet. It is a difficult task for parents to initiate this discussion at an early stage, especially when most of them did not themselves receive anything except the barest sex education. Respect is a word that one hears frequently in sport, politics and conflict resolution. It is the first thing human beings should have for each other, especially the opposite sex. Any young man who does not respect women should think of how he would like his mother or sister to be treated.  Everyone has the right to say no and that right has to be respected.

In my young days there was no mention of sex. Oh, it was there alright but you dare not talk about it. We started relationships with girls knowing nothing except what we had heard from older boys at school. The dancehall was the usual place for meeting girls and if you were lucky you might coax one of them to go outside for a kiss and a cuddle. Sometimes you might follow primitive urges and try your case but the girl was in complete control and if your advances were repulsed, that was the end of that and you continued with the kiss and the cuddle and went home happy. Unfortunately there was the odd male who would not take no for an answer. This was very seldom reported as the girl in question would be too ashamed. I think rape is the worst crime that can be committed on anybody. Physical wounds will heal in time but the mental agony may stay with a person for life. People need the law’s protection but if we cannot find a better way of conducting trials than we have at the moment then more and more sexual offences will go unpunished and the perpetrators will be free to continue their vile attacks on others.

Of course thorough investigations have to be carried out because not every female out there is whiter than white. It is not beyond the bounds of possibility that someone will cry rape to get revenge on a person who has upset them in some way. It may even be a cry for attention by some disturbed soul. Good police investigation should be able to sort those cases out before they ever reach a courtroom. In court people have to be treated with dignity and not subjected to personal vilification. In the meantime our young men and women must be educated in how to respect each other.   This should begin at a very early age and should involve both parents and teachers. We look forward to changes and a better future.