Adelle O’Sullivan, Caoimhe Ahern and Joe Murphy, members of Athea Branch who will be competing at the Munster Fleadh Cheoil in Thurles this weekend. Glen O’Donnell and Paddy Mullane will also be competing. Best of luck to them all.
Community Centres Investment Fund
Under the Community Centres Investment Fund 2024, community organisations will be supported with grants of between €10,000 – €100,000 to develop and enhance their existing community facilities.
- Grants of up to €100,000 available to upgrade existing Community Centres
- Wide range of works eligible for funding including Refurbishment of Kitchens & Toilets, Upgrades to Windows & Doors, Energy Efficiency Upgrades & Improving access for people with disabilities
This may be of interest to local parishes who want to upgrade their community centres
Enjoying a special moment with the English Greyhound Derby winner De Lahdedah who was been honoured at Tralee Greyhound Track on Friday night were Denise and John McAuliffe,3rd left, from Athea with their son in law Kevin O Connor wife Shauna and baby Ronan.
Photo Moss Joe Browne
The Way I See It
By Domhnall de Barra
Who would have thought it at the start of the year. The line-up for the All-Ireland hurling and football finals is now decided and we are going to have new champions in both codes. Hard to believe that Dublin, Kerry, Mayo and Tyrone won’t be in the football and hurling followers will have to do without an appearance from Limerick, Kilkenny, Tipperary or Galway. We are so used to seeing these teams in contention for major honours on a regular basis over the years but this year is proving different and it is good for the sport. Two Munster teams, Clare and Cork, are in the hurling final and we might have ended up with an all Ulster football final as well. I must admit I preferred the straight championship on a knockout basis with semi-finalists taken from the four provinces. I know that there isn’t an even spread throughout the country and people want to keep the provincial championship but there could be a knockout system that could keep teams from different provinces apart. Anyway, it is what it is and I am looking forward to both finals.
Football is not coming home. England were defeated by Spain in the final of the European Championship on Sunday night. Truth be told, they were beaten by a better team. Spain were far ahead of any other side and won all their games while playing with great skill and ball control. The England team was full of so called “stars”. In reality they, in general are overpaid journeymen who have an exaggerated opinion of their own ability. Apart from Harry Keane at his best, and he is a long way past that, how many would feature in the top ten in the world in their positions? I know there are many in Ireland who wanted to see England beaten. I find this hard to understand because these same people have no problem supporting English premier clubs week in, week out. I suppose the English don’t help themselves in how they celebrate a win. They are bad winners ! I remember after they won the World Cup in 1966 that it was hard to listen to them for years. That is a long time ago and I was hoping they would bridge the gap on Sunday night but they simply were not good enough. There is no point in blaming the manager. He wasn’t the one to make a bad pass or miss a vital tackle. The players must take responsibility for what happened on the pitch and anyway, wasn’t it great to get as far as the final?
The media is full of the attempted assassination of Donald Trump at the weekend. This is not what politics should be about but, in recent times, some very inflammatory language has been used with talks of bloodbaths and civil war. There are some very impressionable and unstable people out there who are just waiting for an excuse to do something crazy but the big problem in the States is that these people are entitled by law to carry firearms. This is not the first time political figures have been a target by people who were able to get through the heavy security that surrounds major events. How many people have to die, especially schoolchildren, before Americans get the message that guns for everyone is lunacy. We all know about the mass shootings at schools but do we realise that 40 people a day are killed by guns in America. The gun lobby is too powerful and is able to buy a lot of political favour but at some stage common sense has to prevail otherwise many, many more senseless killings will occur. Donald Trump survived but another American lost his life in the attack. Another senseless killing.
Some bad news from the Abbeyfeale notes today is that Canon Tony Mullins is leaving the Abbeyfeale district to take up a position with the bishop. Fr. Tony, a native of nearby Ardagh, is a very well liked clergyman and has a great rapport with his parishioners. He is very down to earth and uses a lot of common sense. He is also has a great singing voice that he uses to great effect and always seems to be in a good mood. He will be sadly missed in our community and we wish him well in his new position.
Monday night saw another example of thuggery and intolerance in Dublin when there was violence at a site being prepared for asylum seekers. Security personnel were attacked and injured as well as some policemen and two Garda cars were damaged. Mattresses and other items were set on fire and Molotov cocktails were thrown. This is obviously an orchestrated attempt by the hard right to once again try to prevent our government fulfilling their international duty. They post disinformation on social media about immigrants much like what Donald Trump says when he slams Biden’s administration for , as he puts it, “opening the door side to rapists and murderers”. There is absolutely no evidence that asylum seekers have been involved in any anti-social behaviour, never mind rape and murder but that does not stop people becoming alarmed when they are fed false stories. To make matters worse, there was a local representative on the radio on Tuesday morning, blaming the government for lack of consultation with the local residents beforehand. This is simply not true because there is evidence of many meetings between local councillors and the government where they were told exactly who were being housed. These representatives should be out there calming matters down and reassuring the local residents, not fanning the flames.
Those arrested should face the full rigours of the law.
Athea Community Council
Lucky Numbers Draw
15/07/2024 No’s Drawn: 4, 10, 12, 17. No Winner
Lucky Dips
B & A Ambrose, Lr. Dirreen
John Ma, Athea
Patricia Cleary, Templeathea
Faye, Penny, Beau, Upper Athea
Sellers Prize: Lal Browne & Ellen Quille
Next Draw: 22/07/’24 Venue: White’s
Jackpot €21,700