Waterford Today | Waterford's free weekly newspaper

Fine Gael’s Waterford TD Paudie Coffey has welcomed the announcement by Minister Phil Hogan TD of an investment for the Waterford Mobile Library unit following representations he made to Minister Hogan.  Deputy Coffey has said that this investment which will service many rural areas that are not currently covered at the moment will benefit from increased literacy and more social inclusion.

“This announcement by Minister Hogan will give rural Waterford a lot more accessibility to the Library Service and will improve literacy around county. The levels of literacy are a big issue not only in Waterford but right around the country, and it is something this government are committed to addressing.

“This announcement is part of an overall government strategy which is designed to improving literacy levels in the country and the ?250,000 investment announced by Minister Hogan will also help to

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From Left: Michael Walsh, Waterford City Manager; Máire Henry, Head of Department of Architecture WIT; Cllr. Pat Hayes, Mayor of Waterford; Conor Doyle, President of Students Union WIT; Paul Quirke, Capitol Projects Manager WIT; Fergus Galvin, Director of Services for Corporate Affairs Waterford City Council

Photo: George Goulding

Work has started on transforming the former Waterford Treasures Museum into a home for the Department of Architecture at Waterford Institute of Technology.

Máire Henry, Head of the Department of Architecture is looking forward to bringing her 320 creative students and staff into the City centre where they will continue to educate high quality architects of the future using the city and region as a laboratory for many of their projects. “We are very grateful to the City Manager Michael Walsh and his

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Irish holiday makers unaware of emergency number

Irish people holidaying abroad this summer are being asked to remember three digits - 112 - the number to call for emergency services anywhere in the EU. The free hotline has been in place since 1991, but a recent Eurobarometer survey revealed a widespread ignorance of the number in all member states, particularly in Ireland. Only 18 per cent of Irish people could identify the 112 number, compared to an average of at least one in four EU citizens.

In a bid to improve awareness of the live-saving phone line, MEPs have called on member states to publicise the number in doctors’ surgeries and pharmacies, schools and universities, airports and train stations. A resolution passed by the European Parliament also set a target whereby 80 per cent of Europeans should recognize the number by 2020.

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Labour T.D. for Waterford, Ciara Conway is praising the Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald’s commitment in the Dáil to enforce provisions in the law for aftercare services for children in state care, as well as the need for a child’s wishes to be taken into account in court.

The Minister re-iterated the government’s stance on the issue during the debate on the Childcare Bill, which is moving through the Dáil, and is at the report stages.

“At the moment there’s a situation where youngsters who’ve been in the care of the state for years can suddenly find themselves without any supports when they hit their eighteenth birthday,” according to Deputy Ciara Conway.

“But as we all know, a change in the calendar date doesn’t suddenly mean you have the knowledge and wherewithal to look after yourself as an adult.

“That’s why it’s vital that

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A free mobile hearing clinic will be available at the Waterford Garden Show, The WIT Sports Campus, Carriganore, Waterford on Friday 22nd and Saturday 23rd July. The state-of-the-art mobile hearing clinic, conducted by leading healthcare specialist Hidden Hearing, is providing hearing screenings free of charge.

The mobile clinic is a fully-functional modern facility equipped with the latest audio technology. The clinic will visit every county in Ireland during the year, covering busy locations in various towns around the country.

Discussing the mobile clinic service, Hidden Hearing Marketing Manager, Dolores Madden said: "We are delighted to be coming to Waterford with our mobile hearing screening clinic. The main issue with regard to hearing loss is that those who initially notice a problem with their hearing will leave it up to ten years before they take action. The mobile clinic makes it easier than

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Busan Sandcastle Festival, South Korea

Our resident TEFLer Fiona McCullagh from Abbeyside, Dungarvan is in her fourth month in South Korea teaching English as a foreign language. After graduating from DCU in 2010, she decided to travel and work abroad with some friends.

Fiona's 12 month contract sees her based in Uiwang, south of the Korean capital, Seoul. She teaches young students English and in return the school provides her with a competitive monthly salary and free accommodation.

June had lots of travel in store for Fiona as she spent time in Busan which is a large city on the coast, as well as travelling to various parts of Hongdae, Han River and Itaewon. She even had the opportunity to meet up with a college friend in Busan and Hongdae

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The Waterford branch of the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers' Association (ICSA) through Vice President for Munster, Edmond Phelan, has described plans to impose planning and consent conditions on a wide array of land reclamation and drainage activities by farmers as, "an outrageous assault on property rights and the concept of freedom to farm, which will result in many land improvement projects being shelved. This is bureaucracy gone mad." Mr Phelan, who is a farmer from Fenor, was referring to plans to severely restrict a farmer's right to improve their land without getting official consent.

Following an ECJ decision, the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government in conjunction with the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine are preparing a draconian regime to be introduced by statutory instruments which will require either planning permission from a local authority or a

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Waterford Today have 2 Family passes and 2 pairs of tickets to give to our lucky readers. To be in with a chance to win simply answer the following question:

For how many years has the Dublin Horse Show been held?

Answers on a postcard clearly marked "Dublin Horse Show Competition" to Waterford Today Newspaper, 36 Mayor's Walk, Waterford.

The Discover Ireland Dublin Horse Show is taking place from the 3rd-7th of August. It is known as a Dublin institution for displaying the excellence of the Irish Breeding and showcases the talents of its competitors. The FEI Nation's Cup will see Ireland battle against the best show jumping countries in the world. There are 12 international competitions including the Power & Speed Championship, the Land Rover Puissance, The Longines International Grand prix and

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The Courts Service Annual Report 2010 indicated a 12% increase in applications for guardianship of children. Most of the applications were from unmarried fathers and the figures show that the vast majority of fathers who applied to the court for guardianship were successful - of the 2,783 applications, only 68 were refused. These figures indicate that more unmarried fathers are becoming aware of their lack of legal rights in respect of their children.

Since its foundation in 1976, Treoir has advocated for the rights of unmarried parents and their children and our main activity is providing a National Information Centre for parents and those involved with them.

We are aware that many fathers who are not married to the mothers of their children do not know that they have no automatic guardianship rights in relation to their child. Even if the father's

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Irish Water Safety has appealed to the public to stay vigilant around water in this warm weather and not to become another drowning statistic. This appeal targets all but more particularly males who accounted for 85% of recorded accidental drownings in 2010. Half of all those who drowned accidentally were aged 45-65.

On average in Ireland there were 150 drownings each year in the decade to 2010, during which Irish Water Safety developed a range of educational and promotional campaigns to raise awareness about water safety which obviously is attaining a desired goal.

Speaking about the reduction in drownings, Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government - Phil Hogan, T.D said: "112 lives lost to drowning in 2010 represents a 23% reduction compared to 2009 when 145 drowned. This reduction is a positive indication that the monies invested by Government, local

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Volunteers needed on final Build It Week. Irish NGO, Haven, will visit Waterford, in an effort to recruit volunteers, to take part in the organisations last ever trip to Haiti, in its current format.

This final recruitment drive has seen the Haven team travel all over Ireland during the month of June, asking the public to support Haven at home or to take on the Build It Week challenge and travel to the country left devastated by an earthquake last January, 2010.

The NGO is appealing for 100 new recruits to sign up and take part in this life changing trip at the end of October, 2011, to help build houses for some of the poorest people in the western hemisphere.

Haven, will hold an open meeting in

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The Euro is facing into a period of great uncertainty. As a result, many investors are looking at different ways to protect their wealth. Most investors deposit their money in a foreign bank denominated in a foreign currency and assume that by doing so, their original investment is safe.

When considering switching Euro savings to a foreign currency investors should be aware that they run a currency risk. This means if the value of the foreign currency falls versus the Euro, they will get back fewer Euros than originally deposited. As falls in currency values can be quite steep, this is an important consideration.

Those wishing to convert their Euro to foreign currency generally do so in the so called safe haven currencies which are as follows:

US Dollar – It is the most widely held currency in the world. On average, two

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All too familiar calls to the ISPCA phone lines are callers looking to re-home Terrapins that have become too big for their accommodation. Zippy a Red Eared slider was lucky as his owners cared enough about his welfare to secure a good future for him in a suitable environment.

Unfortunately there are many who insist on keeping these exotic species in small cramped dirty aquariums with little thought to their needs and the work involved in keeping them. The ISPCA are appealing to the public to be vigilant when choosing a new pet. They are tiny when sold in pet shops and people do not realize the size they will mature not to mention their life span which can be anything up to 30 years. Please research any pet you intend to take home and promote responsible pet ownership. Zippy has

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national internship scheme

Question: I graduated from college last year and am claiming Jobseeker's Allowance as I have not been able to find a job. I heard that the Government had announced a scheme that would help people get work experience. Is this true?

Answer: You may be referring to the new National Internship Scheme which the Government launched recently. The scheme will provide work experience opportunities for 5,000 unemployed people in the private, public or community and voluntary sectors.

Participants in the scheme will be offered an internship of between 6 and 9 months with a host organisation. Under this scheme, if you take up an internship you can keep your social welfare payment and will get an extra €50 per week.

The scheme will run for 2 years so applications for internships will continue to be accepted until June 2013. Individual internship

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Q. "Do I love you because you are beautiful, or are you beautiful because I love you?" wondered Prince Charming in Rodger and Hammerstein's "Cinderella." What psychological truth was he getting at?

A. Just as familiarity breeds fondness and likeness begets liking, love tends to see loveliness, says David G. Myers in "Social Psychology, Tenth Edition." Studies show that the more in love two people are, the less attractive they find the rest of the opposite sex. "The grass may be greener on the other side, but happy gardeners are less likely to notice," add Rowland Miller and Jeffrey Simpson. Or as Myers puts it, to some extent beauty really is in the eye of the beholder.

A striking example of this was Henry James's description of novelist George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans): "She is magnificently ugly--deliciousl hideous.

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