Back: John Scanlon, Jim O Sullivan, Colin Mumbray, Thady Hunt & Jim Dunn.
Seated Front: Linda Mumbray, Lal Browne, Liz Dunn & Henry Moran
**ATHEA TIDY TOWNS ARE GOING FOR GOLD!**We are delighted to announce that Athea has once again been shortlisted in the Limerick Going for Gold Tidy Towns Category, along with 29 other groups from Limerick. There are two parts to this competition, a Radio interview together with a public vote and also a visit by the Judges.
The judges will visit anytime in August/ September and will judge the area inside the speed limit signs. We require the help and support of the residents by assisting us in the following ways;
- Ensuring boundary walls are washed and painted on all approach roads
- Ensuring the village as well as approach roads are kept litter free.
- Ensuring there is no weed growth on kerbs, flower beds etc.
On the day of our Radio interview, we will be interviewed together with five other groups. From these six, one group will progress to the grand final. Voting will take place online, and we will be sharing the link for votes as soon as it is forwarded to us. Voting will take place from 12 Midday to 12 Mid-night. We will let everyone know when we know our date for the interview.
This competition carries a prize fund of €10,000 which would be of huge benefit to us if we won, allowing us to continue our work on making Athea a better place to live, work or visit.
Thanks to everyone for their continued support.
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
The tragic death of Paudie Mullane, at such a young age, left us all in shock over the past few days. Anybody who ever met Paudie will remember a handsome young man with a ready smile and a good word for everyone. It is testimony to the popularity of the Mullane family from Knocknagorna that such throngs of people attended the funeral home on Sunday and again the Mass and burial on Monday. The village has not seen such crowds for a long time. It is hard to find suitable words at this time; all we can do is keep the family in our thoughts and prayers and hope they will get the strength they need to cope with their sad loss. May he rest in peace.
I am fed up with politicians trying to score political points by criticising President Higgins. He is a straight talker and won’t pull his punches for anybody. He was right when he said the housing problem in Ireland was a disaster. Anybody with a glimmer of a brain cell should be able to see that but some politicians don’t agree that he should voice that opinion. There is now another problem concerning a letter to The Irish Times by his wife Sabina in which she wrote that, in her opinion, there would be no end to the war between Russia and Ukraine until they both sat down and negotiated a ceasefire. A Fine Gael Senator was on the radio straight away demanding an explanation from President Higgins as to his input into the letter and stating that its contents were contrary to the government’s position which was total backing for Ukraine against the Russian aggression. First and foremost, Sabina Higgins has every right, as a citizen of this country, to voice her opinion. She is her own woman and it is an insult to suggest she could not have done so without the help of the President. Anyway what she said is right. There will be no end to the war without a negotiated settlement. That is the nature of things or do we think that Russia are just going to up sticks and walk away. Since then President Higgins has made a statement in which he thoroughly endorses the government’s position but that is not good enough for certain people who say he has explained nothing. It is time to let go of this and let the President get on with the great job he is doing as our representative world wide. There are more important things to be worried about.
Every program on radio and television is talking about the rise in the cost of living and how it affects every household. The pinch will not really be felt until the winter comes in and we have to use more heating. Those who are lucky enough to have their own turf will be better off than those who have to rely on gas, oil or electricity all of which have risen sharply in price in recent months and are forecast to rise even further in the near future. Can someone tell me why these huge rises are necessary. Everything cannot be blamed on the war in Ukraine and I noticed with amazement that utility companies have posted massive profits for the first half of the year. This is the product of the privatisation of our national companies that the government thought was such a good idea a few decades ago. Once upon a time the state owned and operated power plants, transport, housing, post offices, refuse collection and the likes and we were doing fine. Now that they are privatised the object of those companies is to make profit for the shareholders regardless of the damage to the ordinary citizens who use them. I don’t know what’s going to happen but things need to change and change fast if we are to have any hope of having a decent living in the future. We need to get back to basics and build enough houses, employ enough medical practitioners and get control of more utilities so that people have a chance to live a normal life without fear of going without heating or even a roof over their heads.
I was watching the Fleadh program on TG4 the other night. It was from the Ulster Fleadh in Dromore, Omagh and was a lovely program of the best Irish traditional music, song and dance highlighting the very best from the area and the province of Ulster. I could not help contrasting it with the program from the Munster Fleadh in Newcastle West a couple of weeks ago which left me less than satisfied with its contents. It failed to capture the great traditional spirit that exists in this neck of the woods and ignored some of the best exponents of our cultural heritage who live in the region. I am in no way criticising those who took part, rather it was the way the show was put together and how much more they could have done to showcase the Munster traditions from The Déise to West Clare and Tipperary to Sliabh Luachra. It is great that TG4 are doing the shows but maybe a little better research in advance would have resulted in better programmes.
ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH, ATHEA
Athea Parish Church Notices
Mass Intentions:
Fri. Aug 5th at 7pm – Bridie & Jack Stackpoole and her sister Bibi Sheahan.
Sat Aug 6th at 7.30pm – Conor Geaney. Michael (Mike) O’Connor. Jack & Mai Dalton and his brother Denis.
Readers: Patsy Hayes & Paul Curry.
Eucharistic Ministers: Mary Dalton & Mary Sheahan
No morning masses this coming week.
All masses can be viewed online via the following link https://www.churchservices.tv/athea
Athea Graveyard Masses: Holy Cross Cemetery on Thursday evening next Aug 4th at 7.30pm and in Templeathea Cemetery on Tuesday evening Aug 9th at 7.30pm.
Parish office hours: (Mon – Fri) 11am to 1pm.
Contact Siobhán on 087-3331459 or email [email protected] – outside of these hours please leave a voice/text message. The next baptism course will be on Tuesday 9th August.
R.I.P. We extend our sympathies to the Mullane family on the recent passing of their dear Paudie – may his gentle soul Rest in Peace.