Athea & District Credit Union

The Credit Union will be

Closed on Saturday, October 1st.

for computer Maintenance.

Coffee Morning

In aid of Milford Hospice on Thursday, September 22nd starting at 9am in Con Colbert Community Hall. Please support.

Athea C.C.E. Classes

Music and singing classes will be held on Thursday nights at the Top of the Town, Athea.

6.30-7.30 Beginners Tin Whistle

7.00-7.30 Intermediate Mixed Instruments

7.30  Singing, all levels.

Limited spaces still available in all classes.  Please message CCE Athea Co. Limerick page if interested in a spot.

Please note: All students must have their own instruments for music classes. A folder will be needed for music and singing notes that will be handed out during classes.

For further info call 087 7527127

The Way I See It

By Domhnall de Barra

The rising cost of living is the talk of the day and the night. Everything seems to be getting dearer with the cost of energy going through the roof. Not only that but the cost of renting a flat or a house is prohibitive especially for those families who have students at third level colleges who are being offered sub-standard accommodation at astronomical  money. Heating, cooking, travelling and shopping are so expensive that people are opting to sit in the cold and cut back on food just to survive.  It is easy to blame the war in Ukraine but government planning has been absent for the past few years  leaving us as the only country in Europe without a gas reserve to fall back on. Despite this they intend to press ahead with a carbon tax in the next budget. At a time when people are put to the pin of their collar, it is obscene to saddle them with a further outlay especially when it is done by a government that is supposed to be helping them. This is a prime example of the tail wagging the dog. The smallest party in the coalition, The Greens, have been pushing this agenda and both Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael have given in to them despite opposition, not only from Sinn Féin and others on the opposition benches, but also some rural government back benchers who know that people will only put up with so much and will turn on them at the next election. I have nothing against a carbon tax in principle, especially if it helps to finance the  retro-fitting of houses throughout the country making them safer and  easier to heat but now is not the time to be adding to peoples worries and putting them in more debt. The Greens have no idea what it is like to survive in rural Ireland. We can’t all walk or cycle to work and public transport is confined to the towns and villages on the major roads. We might switch to electric cars if the cost of buying one was not so high. Even if we did all get electric vehicles there simply aren’t enough charging points to service them. There isn’t even one in Athea  to date and I’d say the same applies to most small towns and villages throughout the country. For the foreseeable future we are going to need fossil fuels, if only as a back-up. Despite this there is no guarantee that the proposed gas terminal on the Shannon Estuary will get the go-ahead because of objection from the Greens and others. Surely common sense will prevail and those in government with a conscience will ensure that we will have a reserve of gas going into the future. In an ideal world it would be great if we left no carbon footprint but it is not an ideal world and even if we did have one, it would make very little difference in the big scheme of things while some of the major nations in the world are still building plants powered by fossil fuels. We are a tiny island on the west coast of Europe so let us not bite off our nose to spite our face. Everything in good time when we are in a better position to deal with the consequences but now we need to concentrate on making life easier for people, not harder.

Social media is a great means of communication and information but it is wide open to abuse by those who think it is a good idea to shock people. Not a day goes by that I don’t get cartoons and videos, mostly harmless jokes, but some are not fit to be on the screen. One I received recently takes the biscuit. It was taken by somebody in Lisdoonvarna, at the match-making festival last week, on the public street, possibly just after closing time. There are quite a few people about, eating chips and burgers and just walking along and suddenly there are two people making love, oblivious to their surroundings. The woman is sitting on a window sill with her panties around her ankles and I don’t have to tell you what the man was doing. This went on for some time while young men nearby offered crude remarks and encouragement to the couple. It was, to say the least,  sickening and shows just how depraved some of us have become.. Animals would not do that; even a dog would go down a laneway but the couple involved didn’t seem to care who saw them. People will offer the excuse of being drunk or on drugs but that doesn’t wash. That excuse has been used in the past to justify men who come home from the pub drunk and physically attack their partners. “Ah sure, ‘twas the drink made him do it”. People do things when they are drunk that they don’t have the courage to do when they are sober; the drink or drugs just remove the inhibitions. The fact that the people who witnessed this event thought it was a great joke shows how standards have fallen. If it happened a few years ago somebody would have approached the couple and  asked them to stop or take it elsewhere but I suppose this is the world we now live in. There seems to be no shame anymore. I am not a prude and the last thing I want to do is to prevent consenting adults from enjoying themselves but, love-making is not a spectator event and should not be performed in public and it certainly should never be videoed and posted world wide on social media.