Carlowpeople.ie - Lifestyle RSS Feed

STRAIGHT TALKING: Unfair CAO points system can be improved upon

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

IN JUST A few short weeks, thousands of young people will be heading back to school or going online to check out their muchanticipated Leaving Certificate results. Wednesday, August 18, is D Day, with the future hopes and plans of so many riding on getting the grades and points required for places at thirdlevel colleges.

Forever putting life into wildlife

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

HERE'S A MAN who could smile for Ireland. He has more dimples than a golf ball and blue eyes that twinkle as mischievously at 60 as they ever did. Meet Don Conroy, artist, novelist and all round entertainer. 'Uncle Don' has made his name on children's television and the youngsters appear like magic around him whenever he ventures forth. They love his stories and his cartoons and the way he puts the life into wildlife. Here is a man apparently born to draw and paint. The fifth in a family of five raised in Donnybrook in Dublin, he was just six months old when his father died. His mother made sure that there were always pencils and crayons to hand to keep the younger children occupied.

AIDAN WRITES: The Church brought this on itself, Bishop McDaid

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

To be honest, Your Grace, I'm not altogether sure should I congratulate you or commiserate with you. Either way, I wish you well on your elevation to the rank of Bishop of Clogher within the Church in Ireland. In most walks of life and in most professions, promotion is something of which to be proud; something you wished for or worked towards for the best part of your career.

Peugeot 508 oozes quality

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

PEUGEOT has unwrapped the first official photographs of its new 508 saloon and SW models, ahead of their international unveiling at this October's Paris Motor Show.

Q&A: What happens if a business partner dies?

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

Q I recently set up a company with a friend. We were both made redundant and went into business quite quickly and I now have a few concerns. What would happen if either of us were to pass away? I don't want to fall out with his family, or vice versa, should something like this happen. A Congratulations on setting up your new business. Redundancy is a difficult situation and it sounds like you and your friend have taken a positive step forward. I understand your concerns, as this is certainly an issue that needs to be addressed very early on in the life of the business – by you and your friend.

PLATFORM: Signs of economic recovery – from my recruitment company

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

IS OUR ECONOMY turning the corner? That is the question I am most frequently asked as I speak to various chambers of commerce, business associations and companies around the country. Sadly, the best answer I have given is: sincerely hope so. know it sounds weak but it would be worse to tell people recovery is underway if I have seen no evidence of it. However, for the first time I am beginning to see hard evidence of the initial steps of a recovery.

THE WAY I SEE IT: Vatican thinks it knows best

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

HHAS ANY organisation or institution ever been so much in the media spotlight as has the Catholic Church of late? It's doubtful. By this stage most columnists worldwide have had their say. It is also the perfect organisation about which someone can have a good rant. And strange as it may seem, it continues to grab the headlines.

COMMENT: Real change will save lives on our deadly roads

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

WITH THE August Bank Holiday looming we can expect to see the usual appeals to drivers to be extra careful and to behave responsibly on the roads in an effort to avoid the tragic loss of life that typically marks holiday weekends. If recent events are anything to go by, the message is badly needed. But there isn't much evidence that it's getting through to those who most need to hear it.

IFA honour for Peadar

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

PEADAR Jordan from Milltown has been awarded Honorary Life Membership by IFA President John Bryan at the July Executive meeting of Carlow IFA.

More farmers register their calves on-line

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

FARMERS are making more use of on-line animal registration following the removal of requirement to maintain the on-farm herd register known as the blue book for those farmers who use agfood.ie to register calves and to make movement notifications.

Welcome for agri vision report

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

AGRI AWARE, the farming and agri-food educational body, has welcomed the positive position that the '2020 Report: A Vision for Irish Agri-Food & Fisheries' has set out for the country. The report shows the significant contribution that the sector makes to the country and the potential for greater export led performance in the next decade.

ON THE MONEY: Financial papers reveal shocking incompetence

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

THE DEPARTMENT of Finance released 54 documents to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. These documents deal with the leadin to the decision of the Government to guarantee all the liabilities of the six major banks. The decision by the government to guarantee more than €400bn of liabilities means that we are going to lose about €30bn which is being given to Anglo Irish Bank and the Irish Nationwide Building Society.

MY WORLD: Pac-Man game was the iPad of its day

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

AWAVE OF excitement added a certain zing to the air last Friday morning as the eagerly awaited iPad took its place on Irish store shelves. Unapologetic for my ignorance when it comes to most things technological, this new arrival didn't start my heart pumping any faster.

SPARE PARTS

Tue, 27 Jul 2010 13:56:23 +0100

PEUGEOT has presented its e-HDi technology, a new-generation diesel stop & start system. The new e-HDi stop & start technology turns off a car's engine when stationary, which in turn delivers improvements in fuel efficiency Pand CO2 emissions of up to 15 per cent. To be deployed from late 2010, the PSA Group aims to sell one million vehicles equipped with e-HDi by 2013. One in five cars could be sold online by 2015. Up to 20 per cent of all UK car sales will be conducted online within five years, according to Gforces, a web management company for the automotive sector.

Lots of interest in small-scale solutions for managing farm forests

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

THE recent 'National Forestry Demonstration of Small-Scale Harvesting and Extraction Options' attracted an attendance of over 400 to the event. Many of the visitors were small farm forest owners seeking practical and workable solutions to managing, thinning and improving their small farm forests.

Grain growers hedge their bets on world markets

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

MORE and more tillage farmers are turning to commodity markets to protect their incomes against greater volatility in grain prices.

STRAIGHT TALKING: More must still be done to save lives on Irish roads

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

THERE can hardly have been a person in the country whose heart didn't go out last week to the people living in the tight-knit community of Inishowen in Co. Donegal after the appalling traffic accident which robbed them of seven young sons, and also took the life of a pensioner. 'It was like a scene from hell' was how one person described it, and you can just imagine what a harrowing sight must have been encountered by the Gardaí and emergency services personnel when they first came on the scene of the worst fatal road accident in the history of the State.

IVAN'S ONES-TO-WATCH

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

All roads lead westward to Ballybrit for another unmissable Galway Races., right. Dermot Weld is synonymous with festival winners – topping the trainers' table each year. My top Curragh contact at Rosewell Lodge says that Majestic Concorde is primed for success. This seven-year-old has multiple entries including the Galway Plate. Despite being hampered, he finished fourth in the Hurdle last year and ran really well to be third in the Chester Cup in May. He demands an each-way investment wherever he runs.

AIDAN WRITES: Tribalism exists, Garrett, but what can be done about it?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

FFAIR PLAY to you, Garrett, you appear to be in the news more now than when you were taoiseach of the country. In your game, I guess, you need to jump on any opportunity that comes your way. But I have an issue with something you said recently. Well, it's more to do with how you appear to view rural Ireland.

ON THE MONEY: A new value-for-money rail framework is needed

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

TThe €300mLuas Green Line extension from Sandyford to Cherrywood is now completed and the Government is reviewing its transport infrastructure plans. The original plan was to spend almost €40bn on Transport Infrastructure, mostly roads and rail, between now and 2013. The Department of Finance, which is co-ordinating the review, is trying to cut this spending to €23bn. This means that almost half the planned projects have to be taken out of the plan.

Q&A: Do I need financial advice and where should I get it?

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

QI have been working full-time since leaving college five years ago and have managed to save enough for a deposit on a house. I need to figure out the best mortgage and I also want to look at life insurance and a pension. Are these straightforward or do I need professional financial advice?

MY WORLD: Those little white lies are everywhere

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

TTHE OTHER evening the young lad came home from crèche in an awful tizzy. Alvin, his chipmunk teddy, had fallen into a fish bowl and was in serious need of a drying out. I asked him how he had ended up in the water and he claimed another classmate was to blame. But we had our suspicions.

PLATFORM: We need a common-sense debate about immigration

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

COUNTY Meath's Mosney Centre has been the subject of considerable controversy. This former Butlin's holiday camp has been home for up to 800 asylum seekers for the past five years. The Department of Justice want to relocate 109 single men and women to vacant Dublin accommodation at Hatch Hall. The Reception and Integration Agency intends to save €1.8m annually by reducing the capacity there to 650.

THE WAY I SEE IT: Valuing truth to free ourselves

Tue, 20 Jul 2010 08:57:46 +0100

IT WAS announced recently that the Government has saved more than €110m in social welfare fraud so far this year. That's an incredible amount of money in any man's language. And I imagine that's only the tip of the iceberg. Because if that's the amount of fraud that has been detected, and knowing that like any other public service those who are charged with the task of detecting fraud are under-resourced and lacking in manpower, then there's a hell of a lot more of it going on. And we might ask ourselves: 'why is there such fraud going on?' And I even ask myself, how can people be so dishonest that they would fraudulently claim social welfare, and not in the least bit be bothered about it.

Tricks for a trouble free ride

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

IF YOU have been using a car, you should already be well aware of the essential maintenance that your car requires to keep it running efficiently with no breakdowns. Preventive maintenance can give you a car that is trouble free and rides that are smooth. The first thing to do in this essential maintenance routine is to check the various fluids that go to making your car ride a smooth affair.

Taking good care of your car is childs-play

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

GOING BY the book. Be Up to date and follow your car's maintenance schedule in the vehicle owner's manual and make necessary repairs promptly. Start saving money for car maintenance as well as for repairs as you would saving money for gas. If you think you're saving money by skipping an oil change, think again. Missing even one oil change can accelerate premature engine wear and cause engine damage. The manual contains a maintenance schedule.

Managing surplus grass through the summer

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

THE prolonged periods of dry weather during May and June have left grass scarce in some areas. Rather untypically, the lowest rainfall and highest soil moisture deficits have been in the western half of the country. Growth has been restricted on lighter soils, whereas the heavier soils continue to produce good grass covers.

Increasing water flow

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

RECENTLY the weather has been very hot and dry. At the same time, many dairy farmers are now milking a lot more cows than in the past.

SPAREPARTS

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

A NEW online system has been launched for buying and selling current, slow moving and obsolete vehicle parts.

STRAIGHT TALKING: You're right, Kermit – being green is a difficult business

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

One of the greatest television stars ever – the inimitable Kermit the Frog – once sang about how 'It's Not Easy Being Green'. Back on 'Sesame Street' in the 1970s, it was a song about he was unhappy about blending in with so many other things, but these days it could sometimes be adopted as a motto too when trying to be even a little bit conscientious about environmental matters.

PLATFORM: Referee and fans would thank the GAA for introducing video

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

HE SCENES at the end of the Leinster football final in Croke Park last Sunday were ugly. The shameful sight of Martin Sludden, the referee, being physically assaulted brings the GAA into disrepute. The so-called Louth fans who tried to physically assault him have done a huge disservice to themselves, their team and the sport.

OCCASIONAL COLUMN: I'm confused, Brian. Do you think we're fools too?

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

DEAR BRIAN, – Now that you've skived off back to Offaly for a few months on summer holidays, I thought you might have a bit more time to read my letter. Who knows, you might even find the decency to reply.

Q&A: I'm saddled with credit card debt – what should I do?

Tue, 13 Jul 2010 09:27:17 +0100

Q I have been silly with spending lately and have put a lot on my credit card. I am shocked by the amount I owe. The interest repayments alone are so high and I don't know how I am going to work my way through the debt. What can I do? A Credit card debt is one of the most expensive debts that you can have and that is why the repayments are so high.