January 16 2012 :
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January 16 2012 : The grave situation in the Emergency Department at Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar has been highlighted once more this week, as newly released figures revealed a shocking rise in the number of patients waiting on trolleys for a bed.
With more than 3,200 patients spending time on trolleys in Mullingar in 2011 - an increase of more than 3,000 since 2007 - it is easy to see why overworked and stressed staff are fearful that a major catastrophe is just around the corner.
Despite the difficult working conditions over the last four years, ED staff have continued to provide as good a service as possible to the people of Westmeath, but as the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation states, at present, the conditions in the department are not fit for purpose.
The closure of 41 in-patient beds and the moratorium on recruitment due to funding constraints have been cited as the main causes of the problem. At a time when billions of euro of taxpayers' money is being paid to bondholders who speculated on Irish banks and lost, it would be a tragedy of almost criminal proportions if a lack of cash led to even one death in Mullingar or any other hospital in Ireland.
Pensioners and tax
Around the country this week, there are senior citizens trying hard to make ends meet on their state pensions, and wondering to themselves: How am I going to afford to pay tax?
Most pensioners won't, in fact, be liable for tax, but the manner in which the state handled the announcement that it would be collecting taxes from those whose income is above a certain level was, plain and simply, horrendous.
Such is the confusion in the wake of last week's announcement that there are people now worrying - unnecessarily - about how they are going to be affected.
What is worse is that the announcement led to the impression that there was large-scale tax-dodging going on by pensioners, when the fact of the matter is that the revenue commissioners weren't even aware to whom the department of social welfare is paying pensions.
The least we can hope for now is that those pensioners who are liable for tax are treated fairly and sympathetically by the state that is at the root of the problem.
January 16 2012 : Reeling In The Showband Years
It's time to hark back to a magical era with the show Reeling In The Showband Years, which returns to the Greville Arms Hotel on Friday January 27, with RTÉ's Ronan Collins.
The smash hit show is back in Mullingar with The King Brendan Bowyer, and a galaxy of showband stars, including Tony Kenny, The Royal Showband, Lorraine McDonald, Eurovision stars Tommy And Jimmy Swarbrigg, and The Conquerors Showband.
Ronan Collins will once again act as host and compare, and as he is also a brilliant live performer, he will be singing his renowned tribute to Joe Dolan.
Brendan Bowyer - one of the biggest showband stars of all, was famous for The Hucklebuck, It's Now Or Never, Boolavogue, and many more - is one of the main highlights of the show.
Tony Kenny of The Sands Showband, who had a number one with Any Dream Will Do, will also be performing, while Lorraine McDonald will be doing her fantastic tribute to The Showband Ladies.
All this plus the big sound of The Conquerors Showband, one of the greatest showbands of them all, and Eurovision stars Tommy and Jimmy Swarbrigg.
The show's exciting finale is an all-cast salute to the showband era, as the whole cast joins up in a medley of songs from those unique years!
It promises to send you home with great memories of a magical and never to be repeated time in Irish popular music.
Tickets (€25) are available from hotel reception.
January 16 2012 : Secrets of Coolatore House
Traveller and broadcaster Manchan Magan talks to Paddy Dunning about the history of Coolatore House. A new 12-part series of Who Lived in my House? or Ce a Chonaigh i mo Theachsa? kicks off on TG4 on Thursday January 12 at 10pm and begins with Rosemount's Coolatore House, where the legendary singer Michael Jackson came to stay. Presented by Westmeath native Manchan Magan, Ce a Chonaigh i mo Theachsa? tells the extraordinary stories of our houses and who lived in them before us. In the first episode Manchan visits Coolatore, once an ancient regal Westmeath stronghold, and explores the house once owned by the man who masterminded Clinton's cigar defence, and where Michael Jackson spent seven months while the world thought he was having a sex change in Paris.
The reason most people like historic buildings isn't just their architecture, which can be replicated, it's knowing that others preceded us, and that lifetimes occurred in our homes. Ce a Chonaigh i mo Theachsa?' sets out to unlock the real stories hidden in our walls. Manchan takes us on a fascinating journey into the history of our houses. With the help of the experts, he examines the existing architectural evidence of those houses, speaks to neighbours, family members, historians, and delves into the national archives, libraries and Registry of Deeds to discover the colourful characters of the past who kept their front door keys under the mat of the same front steps a century ago or more.
January 16 2012 : Nw Flagship Sponsor - Westmeath GAA
Mullingar hotel on board for next three years
Annebrook House Hotel proprietor, Berty Dunne (right), with Westmeath GAA chairman Tom Farrell
The Annebrook House Hotel, Mullingar has been revealed as Westmeath GAA's new flagship sponsor, in a three-year deal.
The Pearse Street hotel, owned by businessman Berty Dunne, will sponsor Westmeath football and hurling teams at all grades, starting this year.
The Annebrook - which sponsored junior football competitions in Westmeath last year - replaces Kinnegad's Hilamar Hotel, which took over as chief sponsor from the Greville Arms Hotel in recent years.
The new deal was announced by Westmeath GAA chairman, Tom Farrell at a county board meeting in Cusack Park, Mullingar last night (Wednesday).
Mr Farrell said that a press conference is to take place in the near future, officially unveiling the new partnership with the Annebrook House Hotel.
"I'm absolutely delighted that they've come on board," Mr Farrell said. "It's a three-year option, and we'll give further details at the press conference.
"At this stage, I want to sincerely thank the Hilamar Hotel and [proprietor] Robert Bagnall for their tremendous service to Westmeath GAA over the last number of years."
The Annebrook House Hotel's name will appear on the front of jerseys worn by Westmeath football and hurling teams from this season onwards.
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January 16 2012 : Music Innovation
Peter Doran, a Mullingar musician who has written a number of songs, lined up the musicians, and booked the studio time for his next album, is hoping that a novel internet concept will enable his fans help him over the final hurdle. Like many singer/songwriters, the word struggling goes before the job description for Peter Doran, and that hurdle involves amassing the funding required to get his album beyond concept.
Peter is asking his fans to make online pledges to help meet the cost of this, his third album. Via the website pledgemusic.com/projects/peterdoran, fans can pledge as little as €10 - which will get them a full digital download of the new album they will have helped into being, along with a PDF document with lyrics and artwork, and some extra bits and pieces that the normal album buyer won't get. The system is tiered upwards, so, for example, someone who pledges €200 could find themselves one of just three proud owners of a piece of Peter's guitar.
"This year, my beautiful Martin acoustic was ruined in a car crash. I used this guitar heavily on both my previous records," explains Peter. For €500, he will write you a song; for €1m, fans can, he promises, have exclusive rights to his soul! To date, he has received 70 pledges, which have brought him 58% of the way towards his target. He has only 10 days from today (Wednesday) to reach the rest. The deal with the site is if he doesn't reach 100% within the target time, he gets nothing. If he gets more than 100% of what he needs, a percentage of the excess will go to Oxfam Ireland.
Peter loves what he does. Then again, he'd want to love what he does, for it's not easy being an independent artist - especially in a land that is recession-obsessed - not, mind you, that the word recession crosses Peter's lips over the course of his Westmeath Examiner interview. Growing up, from the age of 11, Peter's life was always going to be about music, as it was back then that his cousin Paddy Gavin got him into the electric guitar, and he was immediately hooked. Peter's next Mullingar gig is for 'Pledgers', and takes place on February 24 in the Kitchen Bar at John Daly's pub.
See peterdoran.com. To make a pledge in support of the new album, check out: pledgemusic.com/projects/peterdoran