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Pictured is principal of Holy Family JNS River Valley Swords, Mark Cunningham, who retired from his teaching career last week. The entire school including the senior school and the teachers' orchestra turned out to pay tribute to him. As popular Mark is a Mayo man and a keen football supporter, some of the teachers decided that it would be good fun to present him with the Sam Maguire Cup, all dressed up in the Mayo colours - perhaps a fore taste of what's to come in September. He took it all in good spirits and promised to keep in touch with his beloved school in the future. See story on page 5
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27th June 2017 • Volume 24, Issue 23 • Leader House, North Street, Swords, Co. Dublin. K67 P5W4. • Tel: 01 8•400•200 • info@northcountyleader.ie • www.northcountyleader.ie
Disappointment For Farrell Pictured here are Lee and Ella O'Keefe from Holywell in Swords during the Neurofibromatosis Fighter Campaign.
Heroic Swords Boy’s Devotion To Sister Ella O’Keeffe is a brave little four year old girl from Swords, who is waging a courageous battle against a rare life limiting medical condition. Ella, from Holywell in Swords is suffering from Neurofibromatosis (NF), a genetic condition that causes tumours to grow in various types of nerves, affecting 1 in 3000 people in Ireland. To support people affected with NF, the association launched, the NF Fighter Campaign was launched recently. The aim of the Fighter Campaign is to raise awareness of the condition and also asking people to nominate their ‘NF Fighters’, or family members for a well deserved award. Ella’s mother Louise wants to nominate her son Lee who helps his sister every day and explains why she thinks he should be chosen for the ‘NF Fighter Award. Louise told the County Leader, “Lee doesn’t get as much time with me as he would like. A lot of my time is taken up with Ella between therapies and hospital appointments. This is why I’ve nominated him for the ‘NF Fighter Award’, because I would like to see him get some recognition for his amazing help and support. He is only 9 and most kids his age would not have the responsibilities that he has.” “Ella was born with a rare, more severe form on NF which presents itself in many ways. She has a form known as ‘micro deletion’, whereby a chromosome is missing which causes the NF. Aside from the regular NF mentioned above, Ella’s conditions range from autism to
By Rachel Wallace curvature of the spine, severe gastrointestinal issues, multiple allergies, hyper mobility syndrome, joint abnormalities and significant motor delays.” She contuinued, “Ella needs to attend specialists in each department for all the conditions she has, she also needs regular occupational therapy and physiotherapy. This is all hugely important in helping her to progress. Ella is now finally starting to use some words, as she attends a specialised autism play school called Jonix in Kinsealy, which has been fantastic for her.” The Neurofibromatosis Association of Ireland (NFA) provide a comprehensive range of services including a 24-hour Helpline, but its primary aim is to inform sufferers and their families of the disorder and supporting them. In light of Ellas’s initial lack of supports post diagnosis, Louise and another parent Laura Egan, came together and formed a support group called ‘RARE.’ “There is very little support available to parents post diagnosis. Not enough is known about rare conditions by many professionals and getting appointments with specialists can be difficult. I did however contact the NFA and within a couple of days, had the information I needed. She concluded, “We are providing family fun days out and more importantly offering support and raising awareness as much as possible. You can find us on Facebook or email rarechromokids@gmail.com.”
When new Taoiseach, Leo Varadkar announced the names of the Government’s new junior ministers last week, there was disappointment locally that Malahide based Fine Gael TD, Alan Farrell was overlooked for one of the posts. Despite the fact that Farrell modestly claimed that he had no expectation of being promoted, he did allude to the fact that he would have welcomed one of the positions. Given the fact that he was one of the first Fine Gael TDs out of the traps to support the new leader in his battle with Simon Coveney for the leadership of the party, many believed that a junior ministry was ‘in the bag.’ Not alone that, but his swift support was clear and concise and would have been viewed as a critical component in luring others to support Varadkar. One would have thought that the experience he picked up during his time as a TD would have made him a contender. He has served with distinction on various Dail select committees, a member of the Public Account Committee, a member of the Committee on Justice & Equality, Head of Ireland’s delegation to the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly and Co-Chair of Fine Gael’s Brexit Committee. Despite the fact that Farrell polled well at the last general election to retain his seat, the only one in his constituency, whilst a major heave against his party was taking place, Varadkar
By Patrick Finnegan passed him over. Add this to the fact that the new Taoiseach was quick to exclude all new TDs – those elected in the last General Election for the first time, from promotion and Farrell’s promotion
Taoiseach, Enda Kenny, may have gone against him. Farrell was accused of breaking Dáil privilege when he called on two Sinn Féin TDs to make a statement about the 1983 murder of prison officer, Brian Stack. The incident in the Dail occurred on 7th December last, when Farrell called on TDs Dessie Ellis and Martin Ferris to make statements regarding Stack’s murder. Both men refuted that they had anything to
Alan Farrell TD
prospects are getting better. It looked like his boat had just come in. However, party members that the County Leader spoke to, all made reference to the fact that Farrell’s outburst in the Dail last December, much to the annoyance of the then
do with the affair and accused Farrell of breaching Dáil privilege by naming them. The Dáil Committee on Procedures held a vote to determine whether Farrell had done exactly that and determined that he had not broken Dáil privilege or
defamed Ellis and Ferris. Despite this, party members we spoke to claim that senior party insiders were furious with Farrell and they claimed that this demonstrated poor judgement. The County Leader contacted Farrell to comment on the Taoiseach’s decision to overlook him and he was upbeat in his reply. He said he looks forward to working with his colleagues who have been appointed as Ministers, and Ministers of State, in the best interests of everyone in North County Dublin. “While disappointing for myself, I am delighted for my colleagues who were recently appointed to Cabinet, and to the position of Minister of State. I am steadfast in my commitment to ensure the needs of every community in the North County are heard, and understood. Given Taoiseach Varadkar is a Fingal man, I remain very hopeful that his priorities will be our priorities for the North County,” he concluded. Political pundits in the North County will insist that constituencies with cabinet ministers, either senior of junior statistically fare better than those without them when it comes to major infrastructural projects and jobs being distributed. The hope was that the appointment of Farrell as junior minister would go some way to fulfilling this and delivering Metro North in a more beneficial time frame, but this was not to be.