Wexford Chronicle 10-4-20

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thechronicle April 10, 2020 t: 0539102441, www.thechronicle.ie

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April 10, 2020

wexford

thechronicle April 10, 2020 t: 0539102441, www.thechronicle.ie

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20,000 copies

Average price of house hits €202k

The price of the average threebed semi in County Wexford rose by 9.5% to €202,500 in the past year up to the outbreak of Covid-19 according to a national survey carried out by Real Estate Alliance.

This was the highest rise in the country, according to the Q1 REA Average House Price Survey, with increased commuter demand driving prices in the north of the county especially.

Prices for the average threebed semi in Gorey remained static in the opening quarter of 2020 at €230,000, and average time taken to sell rose from eight weeks to 10.

The market remained unchanged this quarter in Wexford Town, with the average price remaining at €175,000, and time taken to sell static at eight weeks.

The Q1 REA Average House Price Survey concentrates on the actual sale price of Ireland’s typical stock home, the threebed semi.

Ellie Connor at the launch of National Banana Day on April 15.

Fyffes is inviting mums, dads and little ones to compete in a fun-filled series of ‘banana-bingo’ word challenges via their Facebook page on the day

It gives an accurate picture of the second-hand property market in towns and cities countrywide to the start of the current crisis, which has seen a sudden slowdown in activity according to REA. Average house prices nationally returned to growth with an increase in activity in the first three months of the year up the outbreak of Covid-19.

The price of a three-bedroomed semi-detached house across the country rose by 0.14% over the past three months to €235,028, after an annual decline of 0.63% in 2019.

“There is no doubt that we saw a stronger market in Q1 up to the start of the current health crisis, with increased first-time buyer activity and higher transaction levels than in the second half of 2019,” said REA spokesperson Barry McDonald.

“We are suddenly in a time of uncertainty, and a pause button has been pressed on activity, but the fundamental issue of a lack of supply remains.”

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04| NEWS

COVID-19 OUTBREAK Don’#t forget to wash your hands

April 10, 2020

Spring has finally sprung but national clean-up brushed off

National Spring Clean ambassador Sarah McGovern with Jude (8); and Robyn (6) at the launch of the National Spring Clean 2020 earlier this year

COVID-19 OUTBREAK Don’#t forget to wash your hands

The county’s Tidy Town groups and other local organisations will have to wait a little longer to bring some sparkle to the county.

An Taisce’s National Spring Clean has been postponed until after April 19 due to the Covid-19 crisis and volunteers have been asked not to carry out clean-ups planned before this date but to postpone them until after.

This situation will be reassessed closer to that date

so please keep an eye on the Spring Clean website www. nationalspringclean.org for updates.

Registrations for this year’s campaign are still being taken online at www.nationalspringclean.org for clean-ups to take place once the current restrictions are lifted.

The National Spring Clean campaign Ireland is largest and longest running antilitter campaign and is supported by Local Authorities

who help co-ordinate cleanup activities for communities within their counties.

Over the past 22 years, through the National Spring Clean: • Over 80,000 clean-ups have been organised 38,000 tonnes of litter have been removed • 8kg of litter per participant has been collected • 12 million hours of work have been put in by volunteers

Google is watching what you do

If anyone was wondering whether the global technology giants were really watching our every move, the answer would appear to be yes.

Google has released information harvested from our devices which use its software, such as Google Maps on smart phones, to show the extent to which Covid-19 restrictions are changing our usual movements.

The latest report reveals how visits and length of stay at various locations have been altered when compared to before the restrictions were introduced.

Under its ‘Retail & recreation’, which includes shopping centres, cinemas and restaurants but not grocery stores and pharmacies, the county has seen a 89% fall in visits.

‘Parks’ and public spaces have recorded a drop of 79%, while ‘Workplace’ has seen a fall of 53% and 76% for ‘Transit stations’.

Grocery stores and pharmacies, unsurprisingly, have seen the smallest drop at 40% while ‘Residential’ has increased by a dramatic 27% as people stay indoors inline with Government advice.

Warning issued over new Covid-19 text scam A disgraceful text scam praying on local resident’s fears over coronavirus has emerged.

Local gardai are urging anyone who receives a very convincing text scam pretending to be from the Coronavirus contact tracing team to delete it immediately.

The text informs people: “Someone who came in contact with you tested positive or has shown symptoms for Covid-19.”

The text then “recommends you self-isolate or get tested.”

It then asks people to click on a link - Covid-19anon.com/ Alert – the link will expose your phone to a phishing scam.

These type of scams works by using an email, text or Whatsapp to try and steal user data, including login creden-

tials, bank card numbers, and usernames. It occurs when a phisher (scammer), pretends to be a trusted source to get the victims to open the link.

Local gardai say anyone who needs to be contacted by the tracing team will be contacted by phone and not by text.

“This is a scam,” a Garda spokesperson said. “Delete the text and don’t follow the link.

“For all information on Covid19, follow the Government guidelines on gov. ie or HSE.ie.

“A member of the public health team may phone you and ask about people you have been in contact with.

“This is called contact tracing.

“Your GP can also advise you further,” the Garda source said.

Travelling at this time ‘is madness’ An infectious diseases consultant has said it is “absolutely ridiculous” that people are even considering leaving their principal place of residence to go to a holiday home during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Prof Paddy Mallon, who works at St Vincent’s University Hospital in Dublin, said we are at a critical stage in the country in how we manage the Covid-19 pandemic and it is now “make or break”.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Sean O’Rourke, he described the decision to

travel as “madness” and said he hopes the authorities come down “very heavily” on people who ignore the advice and put their countrymen in danger by travelling from an area where there is a lot of cases, to an area where there is a low number of cases and poorer health infrastructure.

It comes as videos showed a long tailback of traffic on motorways be fore the easter weekend after gardaí were given additional powers to restrict movements in light of the Covid-19 pandemic.

April 10, 2020

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06 | news in brief What to do if you have symptoms ANYONE with symptoms of coronavirus who has been in close contact with a confirmed case in the last 14 days should isolate themselves.

This means going into a wellventilated room alone, with a phone, calling your GP and following the advice gtiven.

ALONE, the organisation that supports older people has launched a national support line and additional supports for older people . It will be open every day from 8am-8pm on 0818 222 024. Hours may be extended to meet the demand.

Post offices are open as usual and An Post is working to ensure the continuity of mails, parcels and post office services.

Special arrangements are now in place for post office customers unable to collect pensions and other regular welfare payments. A nominated temporary agent may collect the payment on their behalf, on production of necessary ID and documentation – details at the Post Office or anpost.com.

Contact us today

t: 01 901 5565

April 10, 2020

Calling all animal lovers! Shop to it:

Supermarket sales up 23%

The ISPCA has issued an appeal for funds after the animal chairty saw a significant drop in its fundraising.

“ISPCA is greatly concerned to already see a shortfall in fundraising income due to the COVID-19 crisis,” the organisations has said.

“Our vital services are dangerously stretched at a time when many of our fundraising activities have been cancelled or postponed.

“But our life-saving work cannot stop. That’s why we’re

launching an EMERGENCY APPEAL to help ensure all vital animal welfare services continue during this unprecedented crisis and beyond.”

As essential frontline workers, ISPCA Inspectors are responding to emergency calls to the National Animal Cruelty Helpline and our dedicated team of animal carers are expertly caring for hundreds of vulnerable animals in our rescue centres.

Many more vulnerable animals will need to be rescued

and cared for at our centres and for a longer period of time before they can be lovingly rehomed. Generous donations from kind hearted animal lovers are critical at this time.

“Please make a kind donation to help the ISPCA today so we can continue to save animals facing cruelty and abuse.”

To make a donation or to report animal cruelty in confidence by visiting our website www.ispca.ie

Shoppers in the county have certainly been stocking up when doing their weekly shop with grocery sales across the country up massively since the Covid-19 crisis kicked-off.

Purchases are up 23% on the same time last year, and by 16% when compared to the previous week, according to the latest data from the week ending March 15, 2020.

Shoppers have splashed €363m - just €3m below last year’s Christmas spend - and equates to an average spend of €214 in this week per household compared to an an average weekly spend of €176 in 2019.

Hand sanitiser continues to fly off the shelves, with an enormous 2412% growth when compared with the same week last year, and 67% growth from the previous week - with a total spend of €188k on hand sanitiser alone - this is despite shortages across Ireland. [elementor-template id=”20940”] Panic buying also continues

to impact toilet roll purchases, with sales growing by 181% to reach €5.4m (outpacing the same week in 2019 by €3.5m).

Other products in the category seeing a lift in sales versus last year include soap (552%), disinfectant liquids (348%), rubber gloves (306%) and vitamins and minerals, sales of which are up by 224%.

Pasta sales are up by 199% when compared to the same week in 2019 - with shoppers also stocking up on ambient pasta sauces which were up 125% year on year.

Meanwhile, Irish shoppers bought €4.3m worth of breakfast cereals - a week-on-week growth of over €1.3m. Other ambient products seeing a sharp uptick in sales when compared with 2019 include rice (123%), canned vegetables (126%), ambient soup (166%) and baked beans (142%).

Although alcohol sales are also showing growth of 18%, this growth is as yet behind the growth in other categories.

Gardai have launched a new operation to protect victims of domestic abuse throughout the Covid-19 crisis.

The coronavirus emergency has created an unprecedented situation in which many abusers and victims are forcibly locked up together while the new restrictions are in place.

One leading campaign group, Stop Domestic Violence in Ireland (SDVII), has warned this has created a “ticking timebomb” and warned of a sharp rise in violent incidents in homes across the country over the coming weeks and months.

In an effort to protect victims, the Garda National Protective Services Bureau (GNPSB) this week launched ‘Operation Faoisimh’, which they described as “a proactive initiative … designed to ensure victims of domestic abuse are supported and protected in this extraordinary time”.

Chief Detective Superintendent Declan Daly of the GNPSB said: “I am conscious and aware that victims of Domestic Abuse can feel afraid and concerned at this time and I wish to assure those experiencing such abuse that An Garda Síochána are available and willing to assist you in this difficult time.

“The Covid-19 outbreak has not diminished our service and we are committed to your protection. If you are a victim of abuse or you know of a family member or friend who is a victim of such abuse, that information is important to us and I ask that you make contact with An Garda Síochána.

“If you require urgent assistance or support, please call 999 or 112, we are there to listen to help and to protect.”

Gardai confirmed there has been a a year on year increase of 16% in the reporting of do-

mestic abuse incidents.

The force said they have not “currently recorded a significant increase in domestic abuse incidents” since the Covid-19 measures were put in place.

However, SDVII said they have experienced a significant increase in calls to its helplines over the past fortnight.

SDVII founder Priscilla Grainger said she has personally spoken to “dozens” of women, and some men, who are living in a nightmare situation, locked up indefinitely in close quarters with their abusers.

Ms Grainger said the problem is exacerbated by the fact that a significant proportion of domestic abusers are addicts, many of whom are now stuck at home without access to pubs, drugs or the bookies.

Anyone who requires help can contact Stop Domestic Violence in Ireland on 086 869 7022, or visit the website: www.stopdo-

Garda operation to help domestic abuse victims

April 10, 2020

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April 10, 2020

Update on Available Supports to business and Information on Upcoming Webinars To reserve places on the webinars contact us on 053 919 6020 info@leo.wexfordcoco.ie LEO is here to support businesses during COVID-19 Our 31 Local Enterprise Offices have responded to COVID-19 by adapting many of their business supports so they can be availed of remotely.

For information on the supports available, go to http://localenterprise.ie/response If you want to be kept updated over the coming weeks on changes and supports available go to https://www.localenterprise.ie/Wexford scroll down the page and enter your details into the sign up box.

Update on Covid-19 supports available:

Business Continuity Vouchers which are worth €2,500 can be used by companies and sole traders to develop short-term and long-term strategies to respond to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Micro Finance Ireland Covid 19 Loans The Covid-19 Business Loan from Microfinance Ireland is a Government-funded initiative to support small businesses through the current period of uncertainty, aimed at protecting jobs and allowing businesses to continue to trade.

If your business has less than 10 employees and you have been impacted by Covid-19 and cannot secure bank finance, the MFI Covid19 Business Loan may be an alternative funding solution.

The first 6 months are interest free and a moratorium on repayments for 6 months.

For further Information please email: info@leo.wexfordcoco.ie.

Please note that applying through your Local Enterprise Office entitles you to a reduction in the interest rate on your loan. Terms and conditions apply.

Mentoring. Clients work with an experienced mentor to identify solutions to areas of exposure within their business. With advice and guidance from their mentor, clients develop strategies that are more robust, which address issues and maximise potential opportunities around Covid-19 challenges.

Trading Online Voucher Scheme. This scheme is a matched-funding opportunity with up to €2,500 available and funding can be used towards eligible costs such as digital marketing strategies, e-commerce websites or app development.

TRAINING For the week of Monday 12th April Sign up at https://www.localenterprise.ie/Wexford Creating Online Opportunities for Business 15/04/2020

The Coronavirus is affecting business and consumer behaviour on a massive scale and we know that businesses are under threat and experts are predicting changes across industries. But, this is also likely to boost digital media platforms as people have to now spend more time at home and are using online platforms to communicate with friends and loved ones. This online course will help participants to create online opportunities using online platforms for customer engagement, interaction and sales.

Trainers: Fiona McGuire, Join The Dots Online Venue: Online Date: 15/04/2020 Time: 09:30 - 13:00

Smart Sales and Marketing Beyond Challenges 16/04/2020

This workshop will support and help business owners/managers to adapt their sales and marketing efforts now in a way that will help their business to grow and reach their ideal clients post COVID-19.

The items for focus will include and may not be limited to the following: Smart sales and marketing assessment The online value Recession proof revenue routes Market diversification The new sales pitch Growth strategy beyond COVID-19 Your revised sales and marketing strategy Workshop and business practicals will be included in real time Trainers: Mags Boland, Bofin Consultancy

IMPORTANT CHANGES TO TRADING ONLINE VOUCHER up to €2,500 grant available

Important chances have now been made to the trading online voucher to facilitate businesses strengthening their online presence during this time of uncertainty.

The previous requirement of 50% equal spend to received the voucher has now been reduced to to 10%.

You can now use the voucher for subscriptions to low cost online retail platforms in order to setup your online shop.

For those who have already received a voucher they may now apply for a second if they require to upgrade the ecommerce capacity of their website.

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April 10, 2020

Comhairle Contae

053 919 6000 www.wexfordcoco.ie customerservice@wexfordcoco.ie

Loch Garman

Carricklawn, Wexford Y35 WY93

Wexford County Council – Comhairle Contae Loch Garman

COVID-19

Community Support Helpline Assistance will be provided for medical, food and fuel needs

053 919 6000 c o v i d s u p p o r t @ wex fo rd c o c o . i e

Lines open: 9am - 5pm 7 days per week Please help us locate you by knowing your Eircode.

You can Google “Eircode Finder” or use the direct link below:

https://finder.eircode.ie

Thank you to all Volunteering Groups who have pledged their support.

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April 10, 2020

opinion&comment

Stand by people who stand by us

W

ho does o u r society v a l u e most? If we are to judge by acclaim, it is health workers and gardaí, farmers who keep our food coming and retail workers who keep the stores stocked.

But these people are not the country’s highest earners. Even well-paid doctors are far from top of the salary scale; farmers and retail workers are near the bottom.

If we judge by rewards, the people society values most are financiers, executives of large companies, IT moguls and those who know how to play the stock exchange.

Of course the rich, like the poor, have been with us always.

But the gap has increased hugely in recent times, creating a strata of super-rich who live not in Monte Carlo or Hollywood, but right here in our own country, physically close but separated from most of us by a chasm of wealth and privilege.

Michael Wolsey It was not always so.

It is some 50 years since I started my first job as a trainee reporter on a weekly newspaper in County Down. One of the perks was that I got to drive the small company van to cover stories. If the timing was right, I could sometimes hold onto it for my personal use. My editor, the redoubtable Annie Roycroft, had her own car, a modest little second-hand model, known as a Baby Austin. She also owned a small semi-detached house.

The owner of the newspaper drove a Jag and lived in a detached home with sea views.

His adult son, who worked on the newspaper, also lived in

that house with his young wife.

They were hoping to start a family and were saving for a home of their own.

So the proprietor was better off than the editor and the editor was better off than the junior reporter. The proprietor’s family were wealthy but it was wealth on a recognisable scale. In football terms, they were in the top division, along with local bank managers, school principals and the like. But we were all in the same league and promotion was always a possibility.

By the time I joined The Irish

Press in the late 1970s, I had a car and a house of my own.

The proprietor was Vivion de Valera, son of Dev and a retired Army major. He had a better car and a bigger house than mine but there was nothing about his lifestyle that was wildly different from that of, say, a shop owner or a senior civil servant A decade later, I moved across the Liffey to Independent Newspapers (INM) and discovered a different world. Senior management there weren’t just playing in a higher division, they were in some other league with rules

and rewards of its own.

Tony O’Reilly, who ran the show, had a large estate and several houses in Ireland, and a private jet to take him to his other homes in America and France and to companies he controlled in Australia, India and South Africa. The de Valeras had a lifestyle that differed only in scale from my own.

Tony O’Reilly and his sons moved in another stratosphere.

And it wasn’t just the controlling family who flourished. Editors began to number their salaries in six digits, key figures in the company earned even more; bonuses and share options could add millions to the personal wealth of individual managers.

Journalism was a well paid job in those days and my colleagues and I were all living comfortably, but there was no longer any real correlation between those who worked for the company and those who ran it.

INM was not unique in this regard - not even unusual. Banks were telling us they couldn’t retain managerial talent unless they paid seven-figure bonuses.

Web site whizz kids became millionaires by selling off donothing companies with silly names. Consultants were paid fortunes for telling fat cat moguls what decisions to make.

This happened everywhere and those who should matter most to our society - the health workers, the farm workers, the shop workers - got left behind.

First they couldn’t afford to buy houses, then they couldn’t afford to pay rents. Society was being driven by the wealthy and we no longer seemed to know who really mattered.

Well, we know now. Financiers won’t save us from the coronavirus. Knowledge of the stock exchange isn’t any help on the the intensive care wards and consultants aren’t much use on the supermarket checkouts.

When this crisis is over we will, of course, still need people to run companies and keep the economy moving. We will need them more than ever.

But I hope we have learned to value the people who stood by us when we the crisis came. We must never again let them be left behind.

April 10, 2020

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April 10, 2020

We’re here to help!

Citizens Information Centres (CICs) are here to help during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic providing you with information and advice on a range of areas of concern: • Employment and income supports: new COVID-19 Pandemic Unemployment Payment, Short Time Work Support, employment rights during the COVID-19 restrictions, enhanced Illness Benefit or Supplementary Welfare Allowance • Mortgage, loans and rent:

information on various measures to support domestic households and businesses impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic (liaising with MABS) • Housing: information on supports to protect tenants impacted by COVID-19 • Utilities: information on measures in place to help you remain connected to your electricity and gas supplies during this period • Education: providing you with updates as these become available

• Immigration: employment permits, advice for English language students • Travel: information about holiday cancellations and other related issues, HSE advice if you are arriving in Ireland from another country, information if you are planning to travel to another country • Older people: information on supports for older people during the coronavirus pandemic

• Other general queries: unrelated to COVID-19

National phone service: 0761 07 4000 Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm (this may revert to 8pm in the near future) Log on: www.citizensinformation.ie We are here to help you access all of your rights and entitlements and your queries will be treated in the strictest of confidence.

We regret we are not in a position to provide a drop in service at this time.

April 10, 2020

Buying?

Selling?

Contact us today t: 01 901 5565 Buying?

Selling?

Contact us today t: 01 901 5565

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COVID-19 OUTBREAK Don’#t forget to wash your hands

COVID-19 OUTBREAK Don’#t forget to wash your hands

thechronicle April 10, 2020

Wexford asked to dig deep for 65 Roses Day The people of Wicklow are being asked to support people living with cystic fibrosis and their families by donating online at 65rosesday.ie on April 10.

The annual fundraising flagday is the largest fundraising event of the year for Cystic Fibrosis Ireland and collections have been cancelled due to Covid-19.

Donations can also be made after April 10.

Among the well-known faces to lend their support to this very worthy cause, and encouraging the public to rally behind it, is local TD, Verona Murphy who recently attended the national launch of the fundraising campaign.

Ireland has the highest incidence of CF in the world and some of the most severe types.

There are almost 1,400 people living with CF in Ireland and the number is increasing each year as a result of improvements in treatment and care.

According to recently-published statistics from the Cystic

Cystic Fibrosis Ambassador Ciara Murray with Fergal Smyth, CFI, with TD Verona Murphy. Picture was taken before current restrictions

Fibrosis Registry of Ireland, there were 52 people with CF registered as being from Wicklow in 2018.

People can support 65 Roses Day by: Donating online at 65RosesDay.ie Texting Fight CF to 50300 for €4 More information on how you can support Cystic Fibrosis Ireland on 65 Roses Day, please call Brendán on LoCall 1890 311 211, email fundraising@ cfireland.ie or visit 65RosesDay. ie People can find the appeal on Facebook at facebook.com/ CysticFibrosisIreland and on Twitter at twitter.com/cf_ireland. The campaign hashtag is #65RosesDay

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April 10, 2020

insideback

Removing Mick now is a disgrace

I

t is said that bad news can be effectively buried if it is released at a time when there is other stuff going on that will overshadow it.

A fuss won’t be made, feathers won’t be ruffled and any discontent or ire will dissipate quickly.

The Football Association of Ireland (FAI) definitely took advantage of this truism when they announced last week that Mick McCarthy’s tenure as Republic of Ireland first team manager (his second spell in the post) has come to an end and Stephen Kenny has taken over.

Personally I’m outraged at this.

Mick was meant to stay in position until after the Euro 2020 tournament.

That tournament will now take place in 2021, and we are still in with a chance of qualification if we progress past Slovakia (who we meet in a play-off later this year) and then either Bosnia or Northern Ireland.

Stephen Kenny could have taken over at that point.

The FAI are not renowned

Stephen Kenny and Mick McCarthy in conversation be fore the latter’s removal as manager of the Republic of Ireland manager for the logic or quality of their decision making.

Niall Quinn might be in charge now that John Delaney has thankfully been shown the door but the organisation is still deeply in disgrace and

well in debt to the footballing community here in terms of trust, accountability and confidence.

In my opinion, the decision to dispense with McCarthy at this juncture represents two

steps backwards after the step forward of bringing in Quinn.

There’s an argument that it doesn’t matter, we don’t really have the players at the moment so why not just put Kenny in now and get on with it.

I don’t subscribe to that argument. Mick McCarthy is one of the best man managers around, proven to be capable of getting more out of a squad than the sum of its parts.

By that logic he should have

been left in position until the journey to the Euros had been fully played out.

There’s also a question of respect.

With all that Mick has done in the game, at club and international level, as a player and as a coach, he deserves nothing but the best of treatment.

Removing him before he has the chance to complete his work is a shoddy way to treat a living legend.

The FAI made a huge mistake by announcing Stephen Kenny as manager-elect when they appointed Mick.

It was a fudge.

McCarthy was by far the superior candidate and should have been given the position without any straitjacket applied to his tenure.

Ousting him now to allow Kenny take over as scheduled just compounds the error.

Doing it all under the COVID-19 blanket just rubs further salt into the wounds.

- Brian Quigley

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thechronicle April 10, 2020