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Waterford welcomes the return of the Tall Ships from June 30th to July 3rd, 2011. See Page 33 for 50 Facts About The Tall Ships’ Races.

50 facts about The Tall Ships’ Races

June 30 - July 3, 2011 Waterford

1. Up to 500,000 visitors are expected in Waterford and along the Suir Estuary between Thursday, June 30 and Sunday, July 3 when the international fleet of up to 50 Tall Ships are in Ireland’s oldest city.

2. The Tall Ships Races are organised annually in European waters by Sail Training International, a registered charity established to develop and educate young people – regardless of nationality, culture, religion, gender or social background – through the sail training experience.

3. Presented by the Polish port of Szczecin, The Tall Ships Races are open to any monohull

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Waterford City was nominated to the Best Kept Town competition that is held across north and south of Ireland. It faced stiff competition from Malahide, Co Dublin and Coleraine, Co Londonderry. The awards ceremony took place in Farmleigh House, Dublin on Tuesday 21st June.

Although Coleraine won in the Best Large Urban Centre category, Mayor Cllr Mary Roche remained positive about the competition. "I consider it to be a huge compliment to be nominated for this competition", she commented. "It is no mean feat for a city that is relatively new to the Tidy Towns competition to score well enough to be nominated for this Best Kept Towns competition. It highlights the importance that communities across Waterford City place on the appearance of their local area.

"All entrants were marked against strict adjudication criteria that included cleanliness, the outward appearance of buildings,

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Pictured following a tour of the magnificent Bishop's Palace Collette Byrne (Director, Waterford City Council), Cllr. Sean Reinhardt, Cllr. Jim Darcy, Cllr. Gary Wyse, Mayor of Waterford City Cllr. Mary Roche, Cllr. Dick Roche, Cllr. Davy Walsh, Cllr. John Cummins and Eamonn McEneaney (Director of Waterford Treasures).

On Wednesday 22nd June, the Bishop's Palace Museum in Waterford City was officially opened by Dr Leo Varadkar TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport. The official opening took place following the €2.7m restoration and refurbishment of this prestigious historical building for which Healy Kelly Turner & Townsend acted a Cost Manager.

The Bishop's Palace Museum is at the heart of the regenerated ‘Viking Triangle' tourist hub of historical Waterford City. Waterford City Council, in conjunction with Bord Fáilte, are developing a number of initiatives

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The charming river village of Cheekpoint holds a week long celebration of the river starting June 26 with the arrival of the Inland Waterways Heritage Boats. Up to fifteen boats incluiding several full length barges will spend the week in Cheekpoint to help us celebrate the river and the Tall Ships. Events for later in the week are as follows:

Friday June 30

11 am – 1 pm. Guided Walk with maritime theme . Walk leader: Ray McGrath

2pm – 4 pm. River and Maritime Exhibition in the Reading Room, Cheekpoint. Curator: Andrew Doherty.

4.00 pm – 7.30 pm . Flotilla from Cheekpoint to Waterford to view Tall Ships and return to Cheekpoint by 7.30 pm. Boats of all kinds are invited to come to Cheekpoint to take part in this event.

8.00 pm. Blessing of the Boats

8.15 pm. Launch of Newfoundland Dory to the

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At last month's Council Meeting Cllr. Gary Wyse asked the City Manager if The City Council could look at the costs of Parking in the city in the days leading up to The Tall Ships to allow businesses to 'frontload' their week's business as many shops would be severely restricted in doing business over the four days of the event due to the cordon around parts of the city. Cllr Wyse received a response at the time from the City Manager that he would look at the parking charges leading up to the event.

Cllr Wyse has since received confirmation from The City Manager that all parking controlled by Waterford City Council including street parking would be dropped to •1 per hour for the three days leading up to the Tall Ships. Cllr Wyse said that this was a very positive

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Sinn Féin Senator David Cullinane has stated that the Minister for Health and Children must reject a leaked HSE report which recommended the reduction of sexual assault services, and introducing waiting lists for pregnant women and newborn infants. The report warned that unless these measures are approved, some regional hospitals in the north east could close. Speaking in the house recently, Senator Cullinane stated that the Minister needed to address the Seanad to clarify these matters. "There have been numerous calls for the minister for Health to address this house on a number of matters, and this must be among the most crucial of them. The public could be forgiven for thinking there had never been an election, as we are seeing the exact same tactics as the previous government of scare tactics and leaked reports. The tricks we saw

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Irish patients will benefit from reduced waiting times for referrals to consultant-led outpatient clinics when new recommendations published last week by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) are implemented.

The Authority has published the Report and Recommendations on Patient Referrals from General Practice to Outpatient and Radiology Services, including the National Standard for Patient Referral Information.

The implementation of HIQA's recommendations will mean that patients will benefit from improved access to diagnostic services and they will be able to easily find out how far their referral has progressed, when they can expect to receive an appointment, and get answers to any queries they may have in relation to their referral.

Timely, safe and equitable referral for patients depends on a number of key aspects including the quality of information provided in a referral letter. At present, there is no national agreement on

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At this time of year, the days are long, the sun will be shining, and holiday time is approaching. From Saturday afternoon barbeques at home, to basking on a sandy beach, adults and kids alike will definitely be making the most of it. The HSE's Public Health Department in the South East would like to draw your attention to a number of tips which should help make this a healthy, safe and enjoyable summer. The tips emphasised by the HSE are:

Al Fresco Dining, Remember Food Safety

Enjoying a barbeque on a balmy evening is one of life's little pleasures - but a few important things to remember:

- Germs on food can multiply quickly in the heat. Cold food (e.g. salads) should be kept in a cold-box or cooler right up until they're served, hot food should be served hot, not warm.

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by Jessie Magee

Irish maternity leave above EU average, but Dads miss out

Irish mothers enjoy significantly longer maternity leave than in other EU countries, but fathers here still have no official leave entitlement when their baby is born. Mums in the Republic get 28 weeks paid leave and the right to take a further eight weeks unpaid, compared to the EU average of 14 weeks minimum maternity leave. Nineteen European countries have paternity leave, excluding Ireland.

Proposals for an EU-wide 20-week fully paid maternity leave and two weeks paternity were rejected by member states this week, bringing to a halt ambitious plans put forward by MEPs last year.

Speaking from Brussels this week, Munster MEP Phil Prendergast expressed disappointment that EU ministers had not listened to the views of the European Parliament, or to a recent Eurobarometer survey in which 78 per cent

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Many victims of personal injury are so overwhelmed following an accident and often not feeling well that many do not seek to clarify the options available to them post accident. Indeed in a lot of cases it is only when they have amassed large medical bills and financial costs that seem endless that they begin to think they should clarify those options. On the other hand many only seek to find out options available to them many years later when the injury they thought to be a thing of nothing has now become a constant irritant or even a cause of major pain and discomfort, often prohibitive to certain leisure and work activities.

Whiplash injuries are those injuries usually sustained when you are seated in a vehicle and have been struck from behind by another vehicle. However similar injuries can also

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Has the government changed the old age pension age?

The Social Welfare and Pensions Bill 2011 passed through the Dáil recently without comment from the media. When enacted, this will make significant changes to the State pension entitlements of everyone who will reach the age of 65 in 2014 and later years.

Currently the State Old Age Pension (Transition) is paid to those who retire at age 65 subject to them having satisfied the contribution and other qualifying conditions. At age 66 they automatically transfer to the State Old Age Pension. The rate of both pensions is the same.

The new Act abolishes the State Pension (Transition) with effect from 1st January 2014. Existing recipients of the Transition pension at that time will continue to be entitled to the pension for the duration of their claim.

From 1st January 2014 there will be only

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Waterford news - 1946

Patrick o'reilly and michael Fitzgerald, executed at wATerford, january 25th 1923

Patrick O'Reilly and Michael Fitzgerald were attached to the Cork No. 1 Brigade, I.R.A. They were both from Youghal and had been operating in their Brigade Area up to their capture at Clashmore, Co. Waterford, by Free State troops towards the end of 1922. Patrick O'Reilly was 24 years old and was a painter by trade, he was something of an artist too as the paintings done by him in his cell at Ballybricken Gaol showed. Michael Fitzgerald was also 24 year old and had started life as a sailor. On their capture they were imprisoned for some time in Dungarvan, being later removed to Ballybricken Gaol. The war between the Republican forces and the Free State Army at this period had assumed a very tense atmosphere.

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Dis-ease as a teacher

Any diagnosis or disease is a symptom that your body is out of balance. It may indicate the presence of a harmful virus, bacteria or chemical, or a resistance to "going with the flow" in some area of your life. Every healthy cell is alkaline and is, I believe, full of love. Every sick cell is acidic and potentially lacking in love, forgiveness and kindness to the self.

If we look at disease in the body not just as an illness, but also as the greatest teacher, amazing things can happen: with a greater understanding of ourselves, we can choose to change certain areas in our lives and become healthier.

I recently saw a lady who was suffering from constant headaches. She had had 2 MRI scans and several blood tests, but according to them everything was normal -

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Recent crisis focuses attention on home care

The recent crisis in funding for the government's Fair Deal nursing home support scheme has seen an upsurge in interest in the alternative area of home care for the aged.

"While some people would like to live out their days in a nursing home, others would prefer to be looked after in the comfortable surroundings of their own home while it still remains possible to do so", according to Brian Egan, director of Bluebird Care Waterford/ Kilkenny, a private home care company that provides Care in the home to a high standard. Bluebird Care is a preferred provider of care for VHI Home Care and is a member of the Irish Home Care Association and has offices throughout Ireland and the UK.

"We are a provider of a wide range of home care and elderly care

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2010 winner was Waterford's Brianna Connaughton from Passage East

Simply Be.ie, Ireland's only dedicated on-line home shopping company for curvy women is calling for curvy ladies from County Waterford to enter into their search to find the Irish face of Simply Be for the Spring/ Summer 2012 catalogue. This year, for the first time ever, Simply Be is searching for a curvy lady from each of the 26 counties to fly their county colours at the final of the competition!

Simply Be Curvy 2012, which gets thousands of entrants every year, aims to celebrate the curvy and voluptuous women among us and in County Waterford while also giving the winner a fantastic platform to launch a career in modelling or fashion.

Every county will have a winner and out of that one lucky woman will become the ‘cover girl' for Simply Be's Ireland's

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