Cheque Presentation to Ronald McDonald House

Athea Runs Faster in Stripes

We were delighted to travel to Ronald McDonald House on Sunday last to deliver the cheque for €30,000, proceeds from our fundraising weekend last October. A plaque has been erected in the current building engraved ‘Athea Community Limerick’ and we look forward to visiting the ‘Athea Room’ in the near future. Regrettably, we have placed the final piece of the ‘Athea Runs Faster in Stripes Jigsaw’, but the legacy of the event will last forever. Thank you all for your unending community support.  

Athea Drama Group

Athea Drama Group proudly presents  ‘Looking for Love’, the comic drama written by Westmeath playwright Jimmy Keary on this Thursday, February 6th, and continuing on the 8th, 9th, 13th, 15th & 16th at Con Colbert Memorial Hall, Athea at 8pm.

Directed by Tommy Denihan and starring Theresa O’Halloran, John Sheahan, Rebecca Stapleton, Nora Hunt, Linda Hunt, Oliver McGrath, Annette O’Donnell and Denis Casey.

Special opening night concession price on Thursday February 6th where all tickets will be priced at €5.

The Booking Line has been extremely busy since opening Monday afternoon. We wish to advise that there will be no extra nights added, just the 6 nights advertised. Don’t delay in booking by texting/calling 087 2743189

Irish Blood Transfusion Service

Our Mobile Unit will be holding a Blood Donor Clinic in Ceol Corbraí Hall in Glin on Thursday, February 6th from 5pm to 8pm.

C.E Scheme Vacancy

A vacancy will arise in February for a place on the current Athea/Carrigkerry/Old Mill C.E. Scheme. We are looking for someone to take over the cleaning of our Church in Athea.  The candidates need to be on a Social Welfare payment in order to qualify.

Denny Mulvihill preparing for his Malin2Mizen Cycle in aid of Cystic Fibrosis

Malin2Mizen Cycle4CF 2020

If interested please contact 068-42301 for more details.

I’ve created this page because I want to make a difference. I’m inspired by the work of Cystic Fibrosis Ireland and wanted to support them by raising money as part of my participation in the Malin2Mizen Cycle4CF 2020. Please help me help them by giving whatever you can using the ‘Give Now’ button. The more people that know about Cystic Fibrosis Ireland, the greater their impact, so please also spread the word by sharing my page with your friends and family. Thank you in advance for your generosity, it means a lot!

For more information Google everydayhero.ie and enter Denny Mulvihill to make a donation.

Who Would be a Politician

By Domhnall de Barra

Some people I have met thought I was a little harsh on our politicians, and those who aspire to high office, in last week’s column. Maybe I was but I was only pointing out the obvious; if you don’t tell everybody you will give them what they want, then they will not vote for you, so candidates have to make promises that they know in their hearts and souls they have no hope of fulfilling. To put the record straight, I have nothing but admiration for somebody who goes before the public with a view to getting elected to office. Canvassing is a real nightmare, having to trudge from door to door, listening to those who are for you as well as taking the insults of those who are not. I genuinely believe that they want to do good and have the public’s interests at heart when they start off. If they do get in to power they soon realise what is possible and what is not. We may think the country is run by politicians but, in actual fact it is the senior civil servants who call the shots. There was a programme on TV a few years ago called “Yes Minister”, a comedy that showed how a civil servant manipulated a British cabinet minister, who later became prime minister. Though it was definitely a piece of comic fiction it was probably much nearer the truth than most politicians would like to admit. The civil servants are the people tasked with managing the various departments, no matter which party, or group of parties is in power. They will soon make known what is possible and what is not. Politics is the art of appearing to please all the people all the time, an impossible task. The most of them work very hard at their job and despite the fact that some members of the public begrudge them their salaries, I do not think they get paid enough for the sacrifices they make. Apart from trying to run the country they have to be available to their constituents night and day and are for ever holding clinics at every spare hour they have. This is not counting the people who continually turn up at all hours on their doorsteps with their problems.  I heard Dick Spring talking once about a time when his father Dan, who was a labour TD in North Kerry for many years, had to get up from his Christmas dinner to answer the door to a supporter who had a problem. Their families suffer as well because they rarely have time at home. I certainly would not do the job for any amount of money so they deserve to be rewarded for their sacrifices. When I said “don’t believe a word out of their mouths” I meant it because they have no other choice but to offer the sun, moon and stars or otherwise they have no hope. The best approach is to look at your local candidates and decide which of them might be able to influence decisions that could favour your wish list. For many years people voted blindly on party lines, regardless of policies but that day is gone. The latest opinion polls show that there are three parties now neck and neck with Sinn Féin being the surprise package. Well,  it may be a surprise to some but not to me. Since the near demise of the Labour Party, there is nobody representing the ordinary working man, or so it seems. People feel they are being ignored and are genuinely looking for a change. Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael will attack each other but there is no real differences in their policies and a whole raft of the public are getting fed up with the same old, same old and are looking for an alternative. Sinn Féin are the party they are turning to despite the fact that they are offering the sun moon and stars, with all the other galaxies as well, with no hope of delivering on their promises. My old school master, Jim Kelly, used to say: “remember gentlemen, there is no such thing as free, somebody has to pay”, and he was right. It is impossible to have the type of give-aways that Sinn Féin propose with the state the country’s finances are in at the moment. It would be good though if they were in coalition with either Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael so that they might be able to get some of their policies adopted. There is no reason for those two parties to rule out being in government with Sinn Féin. As I said before, if they are good enough to govern in the North, they are good enough in the South as well. With only a few days to go it looks like we are on the brink of making history in an election in this country with neither Fianna Fáil or Fine Gael in pole position. Uncharted waters indeed and it throws up huge challenges for everyone. It is however in your hands so, please do take the time to cast your vote. It is a right that many of our forefathers gave their lives for. I still think that this is one of the best countries in the world. Yes there is much wrong with it but we have weathered a huge storm and, with the right political will, we can tackle the health, housing etc.  It won’t happen overnight so we have to temper our expectations with reality. This includes slowing down the mad headlong rush to put us all into electric cars, get rid of fossil fuels, remove cattle from farms and all the other measures that won’t make a blind bit of difference as long as the major powers like China and America continue to ignore the warnings. We don’t want a country where the most of  the land is either in forest or covered with windmills making it impossible for rural populations to survive. There has to be a better way.