TERAPROOF:User:johntynanDate:15/08/2013Time:22:33:47Edition:16/08/2013ExaminerLiveXX-1608Page:3
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Irish Examiner Friday 16.08.2013
Help on hand as Brennan brothers roll in to offer expertise by Audrey Ellard Walsh The napkins will be folded meticulously and the toilet roll will definitely be hanging the “right way round” in Coachford later this month. Flamboyant hotelier and TV personality Francis Brennan and his brother
John will be in town to film an episode of At Your Service. The stars of the RTÉ show have been offering advice to the owners of Breathnach’s Bar and Gala shop in Coachford, Co Cork. And now they’re due back to film the launch of the new and improved enterprise. The programme, in
which hoteliers John and Francis give astute advice and assistance to businesses, has been tracking the owners’ plans for the bar and supermarket to boost business. For owner Mary Cronin, the process began in late January when her mother saw an advertisement in the newspaper.
Filming for the show began in late March when the Brennan brothers and their film crew came to Coachford to see Breathnach’s Bar and supermarket. “Our initial thought was that we would use rooms to make a B&B upstairs as it was a hotel long ago. We had rooms which hadn’t been touched since
the 1940s and a third floor on the building which wasn’t used at all. So that is what our thoughts were,” Mary explains. “Why I got involved really was to see if we could enhance our business because business has gone bad,” she added. The Brennans are heading to Coachford on
Monday, Aug 26, for the launch party for the new-look business. “All that’s left to finish is painting the frontage of the building. Then the Brennans will come back and see the progress and I’ll get my telling off on whatever I have done and whatever I haven’t done,” Mary declared. Local musicians and
friends of Mary’s will perform céilí music and there will be a barbecue and children’s activities in the hopes of showing off what the area has to offer. Fans of the show will have to wait until January to find out if Mary’s plans and revamp efforts met with approval from the Brennan brothers.
Francis Brennan: To visit Coachford later this month.
End failed dual-funding for RTÉ, says TV3 boss by Seán McCárthaigh The head of TV3 has called on the Government to end the “failed dual-funding mechanism” which allows RTÉ to earn revenue from both advertising and the TV licence fee. David McRedmond said he failed to understand how Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte still supported such a funding model for the State broadcaster. The TV3 chief executive highlighted how the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland had recently recommended a rebalancing between RTÉ’s public and commercial funding in its five-year review of public service broadcasting. Speaking at the launch of TV3’s autumn schedule in the station’s state-of-the-art Sony HD studio in Dublin, Mr McRedmond said RTÉ has still suffered a deficit in 2012, despite receiving around €1bn in State funding over the past five years. He also pointed out that regulatory authorities had forced RTÉ to disengage from anti-competitive practices in relation to advertising, while its dominance in transmission services was also now under investigation. “The current dual funding model serves no-one, including RTÉ and the independent sector,” he said. The country’s largest independent station, which employs 250 staff, aims to build on its growing share of the market with a range of new shows and reformed schedule that includes 2,252 hours of home-produced programmes. TV3’s new director of content, Jeff Ford, said the
Autumn highlights ■ The Great Irish Bake Off: An Irish version of the successful BBC show presented by Anna Nolan. ■ Celebrity Apprentice: Celebrities including banker, Nick Leeson; Fair City actor, Maclean Burke; author, Amanda Brunker and singers, Frances Black, and Mikey Graham, try to avoid being fired by businesswoman, Caroline Downey. ■ Keith Barry: Brain Hacker: The Waterford mentalist hosts six one-hourly shows of magic and illusion. ■ Midwives: Six-part fly-onthe-wall documentary on staff at the National Maternity Hospital in Holles St. ■ Ireland’s Black Widows: Documentary series on famous female killers in Ireland. ■ At Home with the Healy-Raes: A one-hour special on life with the famous Kerry political family. ■ GUBU: Two-part documentary to mark the 30th anniversary of Charles Haughey’s most controversial political period. ■ Ireland by Night: Documentary series on people who work while the rest of Ireland sleeps. ■ Sinn Féin: Who Are They?: Two-part documentary on the party’s transition from armed struggle to mainstream politics. ■ This Island: Environmen-
At TV3’s autumn schedule launch were, from left, Xpose’s Lisa Cannon, Karen Koster, Aisling O’Loughlin and Glenda Gilson. Left: Jeremy Kyle with Lucy Kennedy, who joins Martin King in an afternoon show. Right: TV3 CEO David McRedmond. Pictures: Brian McEvoy
schedule aim to strive a balance between informative and entertainment shows which aimed to live up to the station’s mantra — “We entertain.”
Among the new faces on the station is Today FM presenter, Anton Savage, who will anchor the first hour on the station’s popular daybreak show, Ireland AM, which is being extended by 45 minutes to run from 7am to 10.45am. Mr Savage said that his section of the show would focus on more news analysis in response
to audience wishes. Meanwhile, broadcaster Lucy Kennedy will team up with TV3 presenter, Martin King for a new afternoon show, Late Lunch Live, although the programme will not go head-to-head with RTÉ’s Today show hosted by Maura Derrane and Daithí Ó Sé. The Morning Show presented by Mr King and Sybil
Mulcahy has been axed, with the latter moving to join Elaine Crowley as co-presenter of Midday. TV3 is also introducing a lunchtime news bulletin which will go out at 12.45pm. Mr Ford confirmed that TV3 would explore the possibility of working with Pat Kenny following his surprise departure from
RTÉ to join Newstalk. “He’s such a fantastic broadcaster that anyone would be interested in working with him,” said Mr Ford, who confirmed he
had no contact with Mr Kenny to date. Mr Ford also confirmed that Tallafornia wouldn’t be returning to TV3, although a spin-off to its sister station, 3e, “remained possible if the right idea is found”. One of the highlights for the new season on 3e is Ireland’s first animated adult comedy series, Newsbag, made by the award-winning
Keith Barry will host six one-hour magic shows. talist, Dick Warner explores the beauty of Ireland’s coastal inhabitant, scenery and wildlife. ■ Things We Love and Hate: Two one-hour shows featuring upcoming Irish stand-up comedians. ■ Prison Families: Series featuring how four families cope with a relative in jail. ■ The Park: A four-part documentary on a year in Killarney National Park. ■ Pressure Point: A new daily quiz show where five contestants undergo the pressure of three fast-paced general knowledge rounds. ■ Fact Or Fancy?: TV3’s new dating show which challenges one girl to find her ideal date from the studio audience over three rounds of questions. ■ Tales of Irish Castles: Series on Ireland’s famous castles hosted by Simon Delaney. ■ The Lie: New game show based on the ability to spot a lie with a top prize of €10,000.
Brown Bag production company. Popular foreign shows returning for a new season include Downton Abbey, Dallas, Dancing on Ice, Ant & Dec’s Saturday Takeaway, X Factor, The Cube, The Graham Norton Show, and I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out of Here. TV3 also said it had sold 22 series to 28 countries last year.
Drinking large amounts of coffee could be shortening your life, study shows by John von Radowitz A coffee habit of more than four cups a day could be shortening your life, research suggests. Drinking large amounts of coffee was found to raise the chances of men and women up to the age of 55 dying from any cause. Consuming more than 28 cups a week increased their death rates by more than half, while having no effect on older people. Younger people in particular should avoid heavy cof-
fee drinking, the US investigators warned. The research was based on data from a large scale American lifestyle study of 43,727 individuals aged 20 to 87. Over an average period of 16 years, around 2,500 deaths were recorded, just under a third of which were due to heart and artery disease. Participants who consumed higher amounts of coffee were also more likely to smoke, and had less healthy hearts and lungs.
The risk of death from all causes rose by more than 50% for both men and women younger than 55 years of age who drank in excess of 28 cups of coffee a week, the equivalent of four a day. Coffee contains a complex mixture of thousands of chemicals and is a double-edged sword that can have both good and bad effects on health. Recent research has shown coffee to be a major dietary source of antioxidants.
The beverage may offer potential benefits by reducing inflammation and boosting brain function, scientists — whose findings are reported in the journal Mayo Clinic Proceedings — said. At the same time, coffee stimulates the release of adrenalin, inhibits insulin activity, increases blood pressure, and raises levels of homocysteine, a harmful chemical linked to heart disease and dementia. Lead author Dr Junxiu Liu, from the University of South Carolina, said: “All of
these mechanisms could counterbalance one another. “We hypothesise that the positive association between coffee and mortality may be due to the interaction of age and coffee consumption, combined with a component of genetic coffee addiction.” Co-author Dr Carl Lavie, from Ochsner Medical Center in New Orleans, said: “There continues to be considerable debate about the health effects of caffeine, and coffee specifically, with some reports suggesting tox-
Zoo under fire as ‘African lion’ is exposed as a dog A Chinese zoo’s supposed “African lion” was exposed as a fraud when the dog used as a substitute started barking. The zoo in the People’s Park of Luohe, in the central province of Henan, replaced exotic exhibits with common species, according to the state-run Beijing Youth Daily. It quoted a customer surnamed Liu who wanted to show her son the different sounds animals
made — but he pointed out that the animal in the cage labelled “African lion” was barking. The beast was in fact a Tibetan mastiff — a large and long-haired breed of dog. “The zoo is absolutely cheating us,” the paper quoted Liu, who was charged 15 yuan (€1.85) for the ticket, as saying. “They are trying to disguise the dogs as lions.” Three other species housed incorrectly
included two coypu rodents in a snake’s cage, a white fox in a leopard’s den, and another dog in a wolf pen. The chief of the park’s animal department, Liu Suya, told the paper that while it does have a lion, it had been taken to a breeding facility and the dog — which belonged to an employee — had been temporarily housed in the zoo over safety concerns. Users of China’s
A hearing aid dispenser has been suspended for six months after a professional misconduct hearing found he was dishonest. Donal Keane, 53, who is based in the Republic but was licensed to practise in
the UK, was told his behaviour fell “far short” of the standards expected from a healthcare professional and had the potential to undermine public confidence. A Health and Care Professional Council (HCPC) hearing in Belfast learned that Mr Keane deliberately diverted profits from his for-
mer employer into a company he had set up. The qualified audiologist had carried out tests on a number of people on behalf of Hidden Hearing Ltd but kept profits from hearing aid sales for his own firm Leinster Hearing. He also amended documents in a bid to conceal his actions.
Coffee can have both good and bad effects on health. physical activity levels, body mass, smoking, alcohol consumption, diabetes, raised blood pressure and choles-
terol, and family history of disease. Coffee consumption had a bigger impact on death rates of younger women, who are less likely to die early than men. Compared with non-coffee drinkers, men under the age of 55 who drank more than 28 cups a week had a 56% increased chance of dying. Women in the same age group who consumed this much were more than twice as likely to die as those who drank no coffee.
MTV star sees cash pile increase
by Gordon Deegan
A Tibetan mastiff was in the cage labelled ‘African lion’. Twitter-like Sina Weibo service mocked the zoo. “This is not funny at all. It’s sad for both the zoo
and the animals,” said one. “They should at least use a husky to pretend to be a wolf,” said another.
Hearing aid dispenser diverted profits from his employer by Lesley-Anne McKeown
icity and some even suggesting beneficial effects.” Although the results showed a link with all-cause mortality, coffee-drinking had no significant effect on death rates from heart and artery disease alone. The researchers said while younger people should avoid too much coffee, more work was needed to explore its long-term effects in different populations. The scientists took account of a range of risk factors for early death and heart disease, including
Christine Mills, chair of the three-person panel, said: “The panel find that fitness to practise is impaired.” She added: “The dishonest behaviour falls far below what the public expect from a professional.” Ms Mills said the sixmonth ban had been imposed as a deterrent to
other professionals but acknowledged striking Mr Keane off the register would mean a loss of experience. “This is an appropriate and proportionate sanction given the acceptance that his actions were in error and that he should not have taken business from Hidden Hearing,” she said.
The cash pile at the media firm owned by Ireland-born MTV Europe presenter, Laura Whitmore increased more than fourfold to £117,350 (€137,628) this year. Accounts recently filed by the presenter’s Laura Whitmore Ltd to Companies House in the UK, show the firm’s accumulated profits increased almost fivefold from £20,648 to £94,468 in the 12 months to the end of Mar 31 this year. In what was a lucrative year for the Irish TV personality’s firm, cash increased from £26,982 to £117,350. The firm also had debtors dipping marginally from £13,660 to £12,083.
Laura Whitmore: The cash pile at her firm quadrupled. The Co Wicklow-born presenter works mainly with MTV but has also had stints working on ITV’s I’m a Celebrity … Get me out of here that attracts millions of viewers. The 28-year-old studied journalism at Dublin City University (DCU) and worked as a researcher for Newstalk for a period. In 2008, Whitmore entered the Myspace/MTV Pick Me competition and beat 3,000 other hopefuls to win a coveted MTV news role on the international music channel. Whitmore is currently an Ambassador for the Prince’s
Trust in the UK and the youth charity helps vulnerable young people overcome obstacles in their lives. On her work with the charity, Whitmore recently commented: “I was lucky growing up. I grew up in a single parent family, but was always encouraged to achieve my goals, however far-fetched they seemed. Not all young people have such a stable home-life.” The sometime DJ faces being photographed anytime she ventures out to socialise in her adopted London home, but has insisted that she would prefer a quiet beer to a party girl lifestyle.