Wexford Chronicle

‘For the birds’ as hotel gets €71k bill

THE Riverside Park Hotel in Enniscorthy has been hit with a shocking energy bill of €71,000 for one month — equating to an increase of 350% on the same period, pre-pandemic, in 2019.

Owner Colm Neville said the bill for the same period three years ago was €21,000 and it was for a similar amount of business and similar amount of energy used.

“It’s like three-and-a-half times, or 350% basically, in those three years,” he told the

Irish Independent. He said the bill is related to electricity and gas use rather than oil and that investment was made a few years ago in air to water heat pumps which are very efficient.

“Therefore you would have imagined that our energy bills might be even better than some,” he added.

He said every business is affected and he emphasised that it’s not just the energy.

“That’s the energy impact in one month but before the

increases that are coming in October, we were anticipating €350,000 in the year and if it’s gone from €21,000 to €71,000 there’s €50,000 grand a month,” he said.

“It obviously hasn’t been at that level of charge since January, February or March so in the last couple of months it’s gone bonkers,” he added.

“So it’s adding up to about €350,000 in one business in the year and if anyone thinks that sort of surplus is sitting there

in profits of the likes of the Riverside they’re for the birds; it’s just not there.

“It’s as much of a threat as Covid ever was really, to be honest, but I think they’re [the Government] going to know that although I’m not sure what can be done but something has to be done.” he said.

He added it’s a “totally proportionate” problem for businesses across all sectors.

Continued on next page

Hailey Lombard on her first day in St Kevin’s National School Tombrack Ferns

news in brief

Hospital appeals as A&E under pressure

Manage M ent in Wexford general Hospital is urg ing members of the public to consider all available care op tions before attending the emer gency department.

the hospital continues to be extremely busy with high numbers of patients attending, many of whom are presenting with complex needs and require admission.

the hospital wished to remind people that there is a range of care pathways available to patients who do not need emer gency care including phar macists, gP, gP out of hours services and minor injury units.

Luxury house sold

a luxury georgian home on the outskirts of Wexford town overlooking the River Slaney which was on the market with a guide price of €2.5m has gone under the hammer for an undisclosed amount.

alma House, featuring eight en-suite bedrooms with 11 bathrooms in total, a swimming pool, gym, sauna, a two-bed gate lodge and enclosed walled gardens, was sold in a private treaty sale by John Keane auctioneers to a couple from outside the county.

Fishermen well-plaiced to monitor fish stocks

ESRI Ireland, the digital mapping specialist, and Inland Fisheries Ireland are calling on sea anglers in Wexford to help conserve Ireland’s fish stocks.

Through a new app, anglers can gather and upload information from any device about the fish they catch and release along Wexford’s coastline.

Inland Fisheries Ireland can then identify patterns in the species, volumes and weight of fish caught. With more anglers collecting data,

this will help to build a better picture of the state of fish stocks off Ireland’s coast. The solution also enables Inland Fisheries Ireland to meet its EU data collection requirements.

Esri recently announced that its digital mapping system is being used by Inland Fisheries Ireland to help safeguard fish populations and protect marine ecosystems.

Inland Fisheries Ireland has greater control over and confidence in the accuracy

and consistency of the data collected. The EU is particularly interested in data on cod, pollock, sharks, rays, sea bass and highly migratory species such as tuna.

Sea anglers of all experience levels can sign up via the Inland Fisheries Ireland website, and they will also find a quick and easy video guide on how to use the app here. September is one of the busiest periods for sea angling around the Wexford coast, so it’s a great time to start recording your catch.

Hotel hit with €71k energy bill

Continued from previous page

He said businesses usually try and battle things that are “somewhat in your control” and decisions are made to try and keep businesses afloat but added: “then, there are things like this that are taken out of your hands so what can do here.”

He said lights can be turned off and heating can be run a little later into the year but the overall cost savings from that would be miniscule compared to the hike in energy prices that businesses are facing.

“this increase is phenomenal,” he said.

He said the cost-saving measures than businesses can apply would have some impact but “nowhere near the impact that’s needed to counteract what’s happening on the input cost side.

“Some businesses won’t be able to continue because they won’t have the money to,” he said.

“Something really does have to be done but I honestly don’t know what that can be but I just know something needs to be implemented to address this.”

House prices rise 6% but slowdown on the way

HOUSe prices across the county have risen by a further 6% over the last six months, it has emerged.

However, one market in par ticular has seen a dramatic increase since January of this year.

In the last six months of 2021 a two-bed apartment in Co Wexford was being sold for, on average, €121,334; but between January and June of this year that figure rose to €131,667, an increase of 8.5%.

Meanwhile, during the same period, three-bed semis rose from €216,667 to €225,000 (3.85%), while four-bed semis went from €251,667 to €265,000 (5.3%. nationwide, Dublin continues to be the most expensive place to buy property with the average price in Dublin 4 a whopping €928,333.

the cheapest counties are Longford (€140,000), Roscommon (€153,750), tipperary (€161,667), Cavan (€163,333), Leitrim (€165,000), and Mayo (€173,333).

Overall house prices across Ireland have increased of 6.4 per cent n the last six months. In the three-bed category among the highest increases were galway city (12.9%), Clare (11.5%) Carlow (11%) and Waterford (10.8%.

In the four-bed category the highest increases were in Roscommon (10.4%), Wicklow (10.3%), Clare (9.8%) and Limerick (9.8%).

the survey was carried out by the Institute of Professional auctioneers & Valuers (IPaV) and its chief executive Pat Davitt said, despite a wide spread rise in prices, there was a noticeable change in the level of increases in the latter two months.

“In the first four months the overall increase would have been of the order of 10 per cent but changes during May and June brought the six months fig ure to 6.36%.

“In the latter two months the practice of increasing reserves — where the price expecta tions of neighbourhood sellers tend to escalate when a property achieves a particular level — had almost disappeared.”

He said in the period ahead the level of price increases is likely to slow further.

“In the next six months we would expect prices to ta per to about the 2% mark with some of the more expensive areas experiencing no increases at all.”

He added increasing inter est rates “are bound to dampen sentiment”.

Warning as avianflu kills wild birds

HUNDREDS of wild birds have been found on beaches along the Wexford coastline by walkers as a deadly avian flu runs rampant through their populations.

It comes after a large increase in reports of animal remains, with dogs also at risk of exposure to the disease. The local authority has called on people not to go near birds that are exhibiting flu like symptoms.

It has asked for sick or

fallen birds locations to be reported to the council offices.

Wexford County Council has put a system in place for the safe disposal of the animals’ remains.

The council said: “High Incidence of Bird Mortality in Co Wexford. Please do not approach, move or handle in anyway. Report to Avian Influenza Hotline on 01 6072512 and to Wexford County Council on 053 9196000, extension 5.”

Mary Rose Browne, teacher Mrs Kelly and Wren Lavery- Murphy in St Kevin’s National School Tombrack Ferns

Warning to get jabbed as ‘Twindemic’ nears

A l EA d I n G pharmacist is warning people “really need to worry” about getting their flu vaccines as soon as possible, over fears the health service will buckle under what is being branded a ‘Twindemic’

It comes as the 2022 Winter Health Index from lloyds Pharmacy shows the Twindemic — a combination of Covid-19 and the Winter flu — is not being taken seriously by the Irish public.

Three in five Irish adults claim they are not concerned about winter flu season but the HSE’s draft winter plan reveals plans are being made for as many as 17,000 hospitalisations, with 700 possibly in ICU, according to the Sunday Independent.

The concerns follow the latest trends seen in Australia, where the winter flu, combined with Covid-19, led to a difficult winter for the health service.

And this year, Australia saw the flu virus affecting all age groups, and not just the elderly.

Research commissioned by Lloyds Pharmacy shows 71% of Irish adults aged 35 to 44

intend to either not get the flu vaccination or are still unsure.

Rebecca Barry, Supervising Pharmacist with llyods Pharmacy said: “It is often observed that winter flu difficulties experienced in Australia are replicated across

Europe in the months that follow.

“People really need to worry about getting their flu vaccines due to the noteworthy stress the health system in Australia has been under due to the Twindemic. They shouldn’t be

complacent. “It is so important that members of the public get vaccinated as the health service here will be swamped otherwise.”

Ms Barry added flu season normally “raises its head” here in november and december.

Consumers saving less due to price rises

Consumers are now saving less and spending more due to the cost of living crisis, it has emerged.

The stark news is revealed in the latest Bank of Ireland savings and Investment index, which tracks household attitudes towards savings and investment.

The findings reflect the impact of rising prices, and the back to school costs faced by many households.

The latest figures show that the savings and Investment index has dropped to its lowest level since the survey began, with a significant drop in the number of consumers who feel that they are saving enough. While more people are saving, the data reveals they are savings less.

The index for “do you save” rose six points to 96 but the index for “savings amount” dropped 12 points to 78, its lowest ever level.

When asked whether it will be a good time to save in six months, that score dropped to 85, the second lowest level since 2019. The

Beach clean-up clears 63 tonnes

ClEAn Coasts received a huge boost of support from volunteers and communities across Ireland for the Big Beach Clean weekend, which took place between September 16 and 18.

This year, a record number of over 500 clean-ups were organised by volunteers who removed over 63 tonnes of litter nationwide.

The Big Beach Clean is an annual call to action that runs as part of the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC), operated internationally by Ocean Conservancy and invites communities and volunteers

around the country to remove litter from around the coast after the bathing season ends.

So far, data collected from the International Coastal Cleanup have informed policy in a number of areas, leading to laws banning the use of plastic grocery bags; prohibiting smoking-related litter; encouraging the use of reusable bags; prohibiting mass balloon releases; and prohibiting foam food and beverage takeaway containers.

For more information on Clean Coasts in Ireland, visit: www.cleancoasts.org

Young Scientist deadlines

ADITYA Kumar and Aditya Joshi scooped first prize for Ireland at this year’s european union Contest for Young scientists (euCYs), which took place in Leiden, netherlands, from 13-18 september, with their project entitled: ‘A new method of solving the Bernoulli Quadrisection Problem’.

To celebrate their brilliant achievement, BT Ireland have extended the entry submission deadline for this year’s BT Young scientist & Technology exhibition 2023.

The new deadline for completed submissions is monday 3rd, october, at 5pm.

This new deadline will allow many young people to showcase their sTem skills at the most prestigious exhibition in europe.

Participating students will be in the running to win over 200 prizes across all four categories and age groups.

The overall winners will take away the top prize of €7,500 and represent Ireland at euCYs in Brussels 2023.

www.btyoungscientist.com

figures contrast sharply with consumer attitudes during the pandemic, when the savings Index reached a peak.

The survey results continue to suggest consumers may be trying to save in the face of uncertainty but they are struggling to do so, given the rising cost of living.

“Rising inflation is having a significant impact on how people view their finances,” said Kevin Quinn, Chief Investment strategist at Bank of Ireland.

“so much so that despite the challenges presented by Covid and the russia-ukraine war, the impact of rising prices is possibly the most significant in the past three years in terms of how people view saving and investing.

“For some the environment is proving challenging enough that they have scaled back on their savings,” he added.

Irish people are also far less confident about retirement, with this part of the index dropping from 125 in november 2021 to 107 in August 2022.

Childcare pay deal

‘a turning point’

THE Government has approved a new pay agreement for early learning and childcare workers, which will see wages rise for an estimated 73% of those working in the sector.

The new pay deal came into effect on September 15th.

The deal will provide new minimum hourly rates of pay for various roles in the early years services sector, ranging from €13-an-hour for early years educators and schoolage childcare practitioners, to €17.25-an-hour for graduate managers.

Karen Clince, founder and CEO of Tigers Childcare, called it a well-deserved turning point and watershed moment for her and her staff.

“I am elated and somewhat emotional for my colleagues – the vast majority of whom will see their wages rise,” she said. “It is a well-deserved turning point and recognition of the vital role they play caring for and educating the most important and vulnerable in our community — our children.”

Participants of the women’s race in the 102nd Jones Engineering Dublin City Liffey Swim. Pic: Jason Clarke

Call for tax relief for renters Pension fears rise for rural dwellers

N ATIONAL housing charity Threshold has called on the Government to introduce a tax relief on rents paid by private tenants in Budget 2023, to help alleviate cost-of-living pressures and soaring rents.

This is one of several measures the charity wants to see in Budget 2023 to improve the private rental sector, to alleviate the financial burden experienced by renters and to ensure they can access a home where they can live with dignity.

Threshold has previously welcomed increases in the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP) and the extension of notice periods for tenancy terminations.

However, the charity has warned immediate actions must be taken by the Government to protect against rising rent costs, exorbitant energy bills and the cost-of-living crisis.

Threshold’s CEO, John-Mark McCafferty said: “Private renters must be a priority in this year’s Budget. Renters are one of the groups hit hardest by rising inflation and are at greater risk of poverty in comparison to owner occupiers having sustained unrelenting rent increases since 2014.”

Farm due to be sold by vulture fund is saved

AN 82-acre site of agricultural land and units which was due to be auctioned off by a vulture fund has been taken off the market at the last minute following a public campaign by the landowners.

The family farm, at Corlican, Killurin, Co Wexford, was set to be auctioned by Wilsons Auctions with a guide price of €900,000 on Wednesday, September 14).

However, Wilsons subsequently confirmed the lot had been taken off the market and was not due to be sold in the immediate future.

This comes after landowner Paddy Kinsella and his son Paul urged prospective buyers not to bid on the lot, stating, “We the Kinsella family explicitly ask any interested parties not to bid on our land at this auction or any other as it is done so without our consent.”

The issue dates back to 2007 when Mr Kinsella took out a loan with Ulster Bank to purchase a Wexford service station and retail premises. Following the economic crash, he says he

had issues paying the loan and entered into negotiations with Ulster Bank over the debt of some €2m.

The loan was subsequently purchased by Promontoria Aran Ltd as part of a compiled loan book with other loans.

A receiver was appointed and following years of negotiation

Mr Kinsella agreed to hand over

the deeds of the service station at Rocklands, Wexford, against the debt.

The service station is now trading under new owners. After lengthy legal engagement with the agents appointed by the receiver, last month the Kinsella family learned their land and home-place was listed for public auction online.

It is now understood the family has 70 days to commence negotiations and reach an agreement with Promontoria Aran Ltd.

Paul Kinsella said he had been advised not to discuss the issue publicly but confirmed he and his father were now preparing documents to present to Promontoria Aran Ltd.

Council to probe mica-pyrite cases

WEXFORD County Council (WCC) has confirmed it has received two reports relating to mica-pyrite cases in houses across the county.

Of those complaints, one has been forwarded to NABCO, the co-operative building association, for further investigation.

Having met and spoken with one of the families affected by this issue, Councillor Joe Sullivan said they had been hit by a bill of €5,000 to confirm their home had been built using defective materials.

“They have to get a written

report confirming its mica which will cost them €5,000.

“That’s on top of paying their mortgage and having the house falling in on top of them, they’re looking for assistance from the statutory bodies and they’re not getting very far,” said Cllr Sullivan.

Director of Services Liz Hore responded by saying WCC was currently gathering information regarding one of the reports and planned to meet with the Department of Housing to discuss and “get clarity regarding the full supports going forward”.

Wexford author eyes prize

A BOOK set in New Ross in the 1980s has been shortlisted for one of literature’s greatest prizes, the Booker Prize.

Author Claire Keegan –who grew up in Clonegal near Bunclody – has been named on this year’s six-strong shortlist for her novella Small Things Like These, which, at 116 pages, is the shortest book in terms of pages in the prize’s history.

Keegan, who was brought

up on a farm in Ireland, published her first volume of short stories, Antarctica, in 1999 and it went on to win the Rooney Prize for Irish Literature.

Her other acclaimed works include Foster and Walk The Blue Fields. Keegan is up against some very established authors for the prize, including American author Elizabeth Strout. The winner is announced on October 17.

PEOPLE outside Dublin are less likely to have a pension, according to a new survey commissioned by Pensions Awareness Week .

The national survey showed a regional disparity between pension savers, with 63% of people in Dublin holding some form of pension product, a figure that drops to 54% for those living outside the capital.

The research surveyed more than 1,000 people nationally in late August and early September 2022. It was conducted by Behaviour & Attitudes (B&A) on behalf of Pensions Awareness Week 2022 (PAW22) ahead of the event which runs all this week.

The survey also found that more than two in five people in Ireland without a pension have either delayed starting one or delayed their planned retirement date due to the cost-of-living crisis.

And another 4% have actually cashed in their pensions to deal with soaring energy and other costs. See: www. pensionsawarenessweek.ie

Final call for ladies to boost business

THE deadline for early-stage female entrepreneurs in rural areas to apply for the latest cycle of the ACORNS business development initiative is this Friday (September 23), so budding businesswomen need to get their skates on.

This is the 8th year of the Government-backed ACORNS programme, which is supported by the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, under its Rural Innovation and Development Fund.

A total of 50 new entrepreneurs will be selected from those who apply.

The ACORNS 8 programme is completely free to those selected to participate and will run over six months from October 2022 to April 2023.

More than 350 female entrepreneurs have taken part in ACORNS to date and a significant portion are still actively involved.

Any woman with a new business based in rural Ireland can get more information and register at www.acorns.ie.

Caoimhe and Nicola on their day at school in Courtnacuddy National School Enniscorthy

opinion&comment

Only a joker thinks the king will really come up trumps

Britain’s royal family are unusual celebrities in that they do nothing. They don’t sing or dance, play football, run a restaurant or host a cookery programme.

If I had been writing this thir ty years ago, I might have said they were unique, but nowa days it is not so very uncommon for people to become famous on the strength of no actual achievement - by appearing on a dating show, for instance, or spending the summer in a house along with a group of young men and women as vacuous as themselves.

But the fame that comes from Love Island, and the like, is limited and short-lived. The ‘celebrities’ go from guest spots on talk shows to walk-on roles at nightclubs and end up turning

on the Christmas lights in small English towns. Even that taw dry glamour soon fades .

For Britain’s royal family it is very different. If there was such a thing as a fameometer it would show them at the top. Their celebrity status has en dured for more than a century.

Britain (specifically England) has had monarchs for much longer than that, of course, but the kings and queens who ruled before Victoria had some hand in the running of the country. Their status depended on how well they did the job. Not so, the modern monarchs.

They are, to be sure. actors in the greatest soap opera of our time. The Windsors: Shocking Saga of a Dysfunctional Family, is more entertaining than The Crown, the fictionalised ver sion of their story. But that is an accidental achievement. They were born tinto their roles and have little choice but to play along.

In any case, it wasn’t the soap opera stuff that brought thousands of Britons to central London where they queued for hours to file past Queen Eliza beth’s coffin. And it wasn’t the soap opera that had millions glued to their television sets to

watch her funeral.

I found the whole thing baf fling. The long. long farewell; the ceremonies, the silences, the reverential mourners in wellmannered queues. Strange, but also touching. The people really did pay their respects.

Some of those who queued all day to view the coffin seemed to regard the wait as a penance, ‘offering it up’ for their late queen. “It was the least I could do after all she did for us,” said one woman, who undoubtedly spoke for many.

That’s a sentiment that might have been applied to Elizabeth I, who thwarted the Spanish Armada and brought stability to the country after the reck lessness of her father, Henry, and the fanaticism of her sister, Mary.

But Elizabeth II? She lived a long time and caused no harm, but what did she actually do for her people? Their adulation

seems to have been generated not by what she did but by who she was - by a belief, incredible in the twenty-first century, that members of the royal family are somehow superior to ordinary mortals whom they honour by their presence.

For her loyal subjects - and isn’t that, itself, an incred ible term to be using in 2022?

- what mattered was not the queen’s actions but that she could trace her ancestry back to George I, Duke of BrunswickLüneburg and, at a stretch. Wil liam I, Duke of Normandy.

The same goes for the many royal devotees in Ireland. What else would bring them onto the streets to cheer these royal personages ? And what else explains the belief that these titled beings, who have no ac tual power and tend to organise their own lives rather badly, can somehow be of benefit to our country as well as their own.

Former Taoiseach John Bru ton believes they can. He con cedes that the new King Charles “is a human being”. He told the Irish Independent: “His visiting Ireland as a human being, pay ing tribute to other human be ings in this country is personal ... and the personal trumps the political a lot of the time.”

Thousands of people visit Ire land every year “as human be ings’ ‘. Nobody believes they are paying us a tribute. Charles has been here many times as a prince and I have no doubt he will come again, as a king. Crowds will turn out to greet him; they will cheer and wave flags. But he won’t sort out the problems caused by Brexit and the Northern Ireland protocol. He won’t give us more houses or cheaper gas.

Because in the real world the personal does not trump the political - even if the person in question is called King Charles.

Michael Wolsey

the Bee sanctuary of Ireland

ninenottomiss

Nestled deep in the southwest corner of Wicklow on the border with Wexford there is a field. Nothing unusual there, this is farming country after all. Ah yes but this field is a bit different. It is full of sunflowers. A field full of magnificent 8ft tall sunflowers in Ireland in september!

Are you mad? A field full of sunflowers! Is this for the cutflower industry? Nope. these flowers will not be cut and sold. they are being grown for food. Food? Are sunflowers edible? No… well not by humans anyway. they are being grown to provide food for bees and other pollinators.

Ah ok… so it’s somebody with an apiary and trying to produce loads of honey. No… there are no artificial beehives or honey production here. so, what is going on?

this is the Bee sanctuary of Ireland. this is 55 acres of the Wicklow countryside being planted with field after field of wildflowers to feed all our wonderful wild pollinators – bumblebees, solitary bees, wasps, hoverflies, and butterflies. It is ponds and wetlands, unkempt and uncut hedgerows, copses, brambles, nettles, thistles – a wild and re-wilded haven for all our biodiversity. A refuge not just for bees but all manner of biodiversity – birds of prey hunt overhead, squadrons of dragonflies and damselflies patrol their territories, hedgehogs, stoats, squirrels, deer and all manner of birds and invertebrates.

A story of family, grief, and the ways we come together when all seems lost. Molly Black has disappeared. she’s been flighty since her parents died, but this time - or so says her hastily written note - she’s gone for good. that’s why the whole Black clan - from Granny perched on the printer to Killian on Zoom from sydney — is huddled together in the dublin suburbs, arguing over what to do. Former model lady V presumes Molly’s just off taking drugs and sleeping with strangers - which is fine by her. Cousin Anne, tired of living in Molly’s shadow, is keeping quiet, and cousin Bobby is distracted by his own issues.

am i B eing unrea S ona B le? Fridays, BBC One, 9.30pm

A newHIs new comedy thriller, with daisy May Cooper and selin Hizli, revolved around a budding friendship. Nic is grieving a loss that she can’t share with anyone whilst stuck in a depressing marriage. Only her son, Ollie who she adores, keeps her going. But when Jen arrives in town her life is lit up with laughter and through this kindred soul her dark secret starts to bubble up. “Female friendship at its naughtiest and most intoxicating. that is until everything unravels. A twisted comedy thriller about two mums, marital angst, maternal paranoia and a dead cat.” sounds fun.

WHeN hospital psychiatrist dr. suzanne Mathis (emily deschanel) shelters a mysterious cult escapee (Madeleine Arthur), her world is turned upside down as the strange girl’s arrival threatens to tear her own family apart. this creepy new series has already had people googling, ‘Is it true?; all over the place. the answer is yes and no. It was based on a book, by daria Polatin, which claimed to be based on a true story. But the cult portrayed was all made up. either way, it will likely still scare the pants off of you and have you running to the safety of the nearest Catholic church.

NOW the planet needs to be saved and the nice old bit of mince is soon to be a thing of the past, you can always knock this together and do your bit. A really rich vegetarian slow cooker Bolognese that’s perfect for serving with spaghetti or made into a veggie lasagne, pasta bake or cottage pie. It makes six generous servings, keeps well in the fridge for a couple of days and can be frozen for 4 months. the ingredients listed are all suggestions, but feel free to lob in some of your own favourites.

musIC of the week moVIe of the week

the brainchild of Paul Handrick and Clare-louise donelan, this not-for profit venture is their brave response to the Biodiversity Crisis and the Climate emergency. this is leading the way. Imagine a network of sanctuaries like this across the county and across the country. Imagine if these sanctuaries were interconnected by wildlife corridors. there is hope and a beacon has just been lit deep in the heart of Wicklow.

Re NOWN ed Irish songwriter, John spillane, has released the second single from his upcoming album, In Another light, recorded live with Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra.

‘Princes street’ was recorded live at the Right Here Right Now Festival at Cork Opera House in 2021. It was performed live by John spillane and Pauline scanlon with the Cork Opera House Concert Orchestra, conducted by John O’Brien and orchestrated by Kevin Codd. two-time Meteor award winner John spillane is a musician, songwriter, performer, recording artist, storyteller, poet . . . and dreamer.

rÓ i S e & F rank Cinemas Nationwide

Róise & Frank has been a hit on the festival circuit screening at the Galway Film Fleadh and winning numerous awards including Best ensemble at dublin International Film Festival. shot in Ring, Waterford, during the summer of 2019, Róise & Frank tells the story of the recently widowed Róise (Bríd Ní Neachtain) who is struggling in the aftermath of her husband Frank’s passing. Róise has distanced herself from the world and those dearest to her. But when a stray dog appears out of nowhere a rejuvenated Róise comes to believe in the reincarnation of her husband.

tHe alternative social media app BeReal provides the opportunity to connect with friends in a realistic and authentic way. Young people can use their daily BeReal moment to be honest with their friends about how they’re feeling, creating deeper connections amongst friends without the filters, glitz and glam of typical social media. Once a day, BeReal notifies all users that it’s time to post on the app, with a 2 minute timer on the clock. BeReal is an alternative to the hyper-curated social media we’re used to. No getting the perfect shot, these photos are rough and ready and the real you. (Pictured: Caoimhe Byrne @therealcraic)

sHeIlA Hayes (pictured), Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation liaison nurse manager for Waterford, is urging people ‘to go Up the Hill for Jack and Jill’ during the month of October to highlight how every day can be a challenge for Jack and Jill families. the foundation, which this year celebrates 25 years providing specialist in-home nursing care and respite support for children with life-limiting conditions, supports a total of six families in County Waterford. taking part in Up the Hill is simple – pick a hill, make a date, grab some friends, and go. B e real app www.bere.al/en

book of the week

AriesMake a bargain, or promise. Push for a long-term dream and vision. Use your charm and creativity. Make a move leading to lasting benefit.

TAurusReplenish your reserves. Compute expenses to find painless twigs to prune. Align on solutions for longterm growth.

GeminiFocus energy for a personal project for long-lasting gain. Research and consider expert financial opinions. Explore and innovate.

C A n C erReview options for the way of least friction. Gentle, steady pressure works better than force. Determine the best direction.

LeoA community effort gains momentum. Long-term goals seem within reach. Work together to exceed expectations. Recruit friends to help.

Vir G oPlay the game you’ve been practicing to win. Forge ahead, and anticipate changes. Stay light on your feet, and have fun..

Libr ASet into place structures to support your next adventure. Balance and weigh your options. Make long-term decisions and preparations.

sCorpioGo for big financial goals with a partner’s support. Teamwork goes the distance. Clarify your vision to inspire greater gain.

sAG i TTA riusCollaborate to determine next steps with your partner. Discuss possibilities, and align upon which to greenlight. Compromise and negotiate terms.

C A pri CornPick up the pace as demand for your work rises. The moves you make now can have lasting personal benefits. You have an extra advantage.

CHARlIe McGettigan is best known for securing a eurovision hat trick for Ireland when he and Paul Harrington performed Brendan Graham’s song Rock ‘N’ Roll Kids in 1994. His wonderful new memoir, Forever a Rock ‘N’ Roll Kid: A Journey through Music, song and stories, takes the reader back to Ireland in the 1950s, avoiding the cliched golden oneliners where sweetness and light prevailed. Instead, Charlie has opted to tell a ‘warts and all’ story of Irish life in what in his opinion are laughingly called ‘the good old days.’

AquA riusCollaboration flowers. Pull together for common gain. Have fun with family, friends and someone you love. Share your heart.

p is C esWork together for home and family. Work out who will do what, and get going. Handle household routines, and make a long-desired improvement.

A sea of sunflowers at The Bee Sanctuary of Ireland (Photo Justin Ivory)

Paul Handrick of the Bee Sanctuary of Ireland (Photo Justin Ivory)

book of the week TV of the week App of the week

sTreAm of the week reCIpe of the week eVenT of the week

Slow cooker veggie Bologne S e www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/slow_cooker_ veggie_48578s order l

devil in ohio Netflix

jack and jill hill challenge www.jackandjill.ie e

T here’S B een a li TT le inciden T Alice Ryan

Forever a rock ‘n’ roll k id Charlie McGettigan

john S pillane

Princes Street from the album In Another Light.

HorosCopes

WILDLIFe with Justin Ivory

We take a look back at extracts from old newspapers to see what was in the news this month in years gone by