Hill walkers rescued near Mount Melleray after five hour ordeal

Two hill-walkers were rescued in the Knockmealdown Mountains over the weekend close to Mount Melleray Abbey after they got trapped in what has been described as a forest of Rhododendron plants at an area known as Bay Lough on the Waterford/Tipperary County Boundary.

Rhododendron is a purple tree like plant, not native to Ireland but was introduced to Ireland sometime believed to be in the 1800’s and planted in Mountainous areas.  

The Walkers who are in their fifties and experienced hill walkers had to endure a five hour ordeal before they were rescued by the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association.

Those that took part in the rescue on Sunday have described the conditions they had to endure before reaching the couple.

Jimmy Murphy a volunteer with the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association earlier today reported how it took the team two hours to battle through just 400 metres of land to reach the couple.

Rescuers have described the weekend rescue as one of the most difficult they have undertaken. It was Horrendous Jimmy Barry told the BBC earlier today, “I have been a member of the mountain rescue for 15 years and it was probably one of the most dangerous exercises or rescues I’ve been on” he said.

Mr Barry described how the rescue team had to crawl through the Rhododendron carrying their gear while trying to locate the couple at the same time.

“We kept going,” Mr Barry said and “Two hours later we finally reached the two people inside the middle of the rhododendron forest, and then the fun began, because we had to decide how we were going to get out of it.”

The couple had got trapped while walking through the Knockmealdown Mountains which had a dense covering of Rhododendron Plants in the area. The couple were attempting to reach a nearby lake but were unable to do so after they found it impossible to get through the plant.

To avoid a risky and arduous trek back up the slopes Cahir River Rescue and Gardai responded to help complete the last leg of the journey, transporting the two along with Mountain Rescue personnel across Bay Lough by boat to safety.

O'Ryan, Geoghegan, Tobin and O'Sullivan to lead Councils.

Ballymacarbry based Councillor Michael J. O’Ryan was elected Cathaoirleach at the inaugural meeting of the Comeragh Municipal District Council in Dungarvan recently.

Cllr. O’Ryan who took his father Kieran seat on Waterford County Council in 2009 and was elected to the newly formed Waterford City and County Council in May with the highest quota of first preference votes across the five electoral divisions.

Cllr. O’Ryan was purposed for the position of Cathaoirleach by fellow Fianna Fail councillor John O’Leary who was also elected to Waterford County Council for the first time in 2009 and was seconded by another Fianna Fail Councillor Mary Butler who was elected for the first time in May at the first time of asking.

John O’Leary was elected Leas Cathaoirleach. The Kilmeaden man is currently Vice Chairman of the Waterford County G.A.A. Board.

He was purposed for the position by Mary Butler and was seconded by Fine Gael’s Sean Power from Rathgormack.

Meanwhile Damien Geoghegan who served as the last Mayor of County Waterford was unanimously elected Cathaoirleach of the Dungarvan/Lismore Municipal District Council.

Fellow Fine Gael Councillor Pat Nugent was unanimously elected the bodies Leas Cathaoirleach.

It means that all leadership positions on the council and its sub division are now filled.

Long Standing Fianna Fail Councillor James Tobin supported by his fellow Fianna Fail Councillors and those from Fine Gael plus Labour sole member of the new City and County Council John Pratt was elected the first Cathaoirleach of the new combined councils.

The Kilwatermoy man, a former Chairman of Waterford County GAA Board beat off the challenge of Sinn Fein’s John Hearne and Independent Davy Daniels collecting seventeen of the available votes when the new council met for the first time at the former Waterford City Council Chambers.

First time Councillor Jason Murphy (FF) was elected Leas Cathaoirleach of the new Council beating Siobhan Whelan (SF) and Joe Kelly (IND) in a contest for the position.

Tramore based Councillor Lola O’Sullivan (FG) has become the first Mayor of Waterford City Metropolitan Area, purposed for the position by her cousin John Cummins who served as Waterford City’s last Mayor.

Cllr O’Sullivan beat Mary Roche in a contest for the position collecting eleven of the eighteen votes. Two members of the Metropolitan Area abstained in the vote.

Passage East man John Carey was elected as the Metropolitan Area’s Deputy Mayor.

Lola O'Sullivan is elected Mayor of Waterford Metropolitan District

Waterford Metropolitan District has elected its first Mayor.

 

Fine Gael Councillor Lola O’Sullivan was elected to the position today at the bodies first meeting at the council chambers in Waterford City.

 

The Tramore/Waterford City West Councillor beat independent Mary Roche in a contest for the position eleven votes to five.

 

Fellow Fine Gael Councillor John Carey who serves in the Waterford City/East Electorate division was elected unopposed as Deputy Mayor.

 

Councillor O’Sullivan was elected after she received the support of fellow Fine Gael Councillors, John Cummins who was the last Mayor of Waterford City Council, and John Carey who has served as Mayor of County Waterford in the past along with Jason Murphy, Adam Wyse and Eamon Quinlan from Fianna Fail, Breda Brennan, John Hearne, Pat Fitzgerald and Jim Griffin of Sinn Fein and Independent Councillor Eddie Mulligan.

 

Mary Roche a former Mayor of Waterford City received backing from independents Davy Daniels, Joe Conway, Blaise Hannigan and Cha’ O’Neill.

 

Two independent Councillor’s Joe Kelly and Sean Reinhardt abstained from voting.

Lucky escape for motorists and pedestrians

Motorists and pedestrians had a lucky escape in the North East Cork Town of Fermoy this morning after a rigid truck carrying building rubble overturned on the approach to the town centre.

The incident occurred around 8-15am when the truck tipped over on its side approaching MacCurtain Street while making its way down a steep decline from on the Cork Road.

The building materials which the truck was carrying spilt onto the footpath, which would have been a hive of activity in the minutes that followed as pupils would have made their way to two nearby schools, Gaelscoil de hÍde and Bishop Murphy Memorial National School.

No serious injuries were reported as a result of the accident, but the driver of the truck was treated for shock.

The cause for the truck turning over on its side is not currently known, but Gardai in the town are carrying out and investigation.

Former Labour Town and County Councillor not backing Conway in Deputy Leader contest

A former Labour member of Waterford County Council and Dungarvan Town Council has said that he will not be backing Ciara Conway in her bid to become Deputy Leader of the Party.

Billy Kyne, a member of a famous political dynasty served the people of Dungarvan and the surrounding areas on both bodies for a quarter of a decade up to his retirement ahead of the recent local elections.

He has said that he will be backing Joan Burton in the election to become party leader while he is backing Alan Kelly a former MEP for Munster and current Junior Minister in a four way race to become Deputy Leader. The former Town and County Councillor had made his mind up those he was backing in both contests ahead of Ciara Conway announcing on Monday that she was standing for Deputy Leader.

In 2011, Billy Kyne showed an interest in running for the Dáil after Brian O’Shea announced that he was not seeking re-election, and contested a challenge with Ciara Conway to see who would run in the election. Former Waterford City Councillor and then Dungarvan Town Councillor Ciara Conway were the two elected to run for Labour on polling day.

Deputy Conway invited her former Town Council Colleague along with former County Councillor Ger Barron to her press briefing in Dungarvan on Monday where she announced that she was to stand in the contest for Deputy Leader but both the two now former County Councillors opted not to attend.

Oireachtas members and Union Officials meet ahead of Bausch and Lomb talks.

Fine Gael Deputy Paudie Coffey and his Labour counterpart Ciara Conway as well as Fine Gael Senator Maurice Cummins and Sinn Fein Senator David Cullinane met with SIPTU officials today at the Tower Hotel in Waterford to discuss the treat of job losses and wage cuts at one of the counties largest private employers Bausch and Lomb.

The company which manufactures Contact Lenses last week announced that it was seeking 200 redundancies amongst its 1,100 work force and were looking for the remainder of the staff to take a 20 per cent pay cut or the plant could be forced to close.

Workers were told €20 million in savings had to be made just to keep the facility open and according to management, payroll costs are running 30 per cent more in Waterford than at its base in Rochester, New York, and these costs need to be lowered to keep the Waterford base viable.

Speaking on his way into the meeting today, SIPTU Official Alan O’Leary said he wanted TDs and senators to seek more time to discuss the management plans and that the June 17 deadline for the conclusion of cost-cutting talks be put back.

SIPTU represents about 900 of the workforce at the factory and said that it was unfair that the staff were given just two weeks to either accept or reject the deal put to them by the company.

Mr. O’Leary added that they were looking for the local politicians to engage with government officials as it was their understanding that Valeant the Canadian owners of the Bausch and Lomb were engaging with management in Waterford as well as the IDA and the Jobs Minister Richard Bruton.

The SIPTU official added that they were hoping to achieve is to reduce the number of people affected by the redundancy and come up with a range of measures to deal with this cost issue of €20 million.

The 20 per cent pay cuts envisaged by Bausch & Lomb are “unsustainable for workers” Mr. O’Leary said but added “We’re not going to rule anything in or out at the moment. The stakes are pretty high he added but we don’t want to end up having no agreement because the impact of that would be catastrophic for the southeast.

SIPTU have also said that they want to know when the Government first became aware that jobs at the company were under threat.

Union Officials and Management at Bausch and Lomb are set to begin discussions tomorrow.

Ciara Conway to Stand for Deputy Leader of Labour Party but is not interested in a Cabinet Position.

Ciara Conway has declared her intention to run for the deputy leadership of the Labour Party.

The Dungarvan based TD however says that should she be elected as Deputy Leader that she would decline any offer of a Cabinet or Junior Minister Position if chosen by her fellow labour party members.

Ciara Conway was elected to the Dáil in the 2011 General Election after long serving Labour TD for Waterford Brian O’Shea decided to retire from politics.

She was part of the so-called ‘gang of eight’ (TD’s Derek Nolan, Ged Nash, Ciara Conway, Aodhan O Ríordáin, Arthur Spring, Michael McNamara and Dominic Hannigan as well as Senator John Gilroy) who tabled a motion of no confidence in Eamon Gilmore hours before he announced his intention to resign as party leader.

On Tuesday morning last on Morning Ireland she declared an interest in running for the position of Deputy Leader, but as the week advanced she seemed to distance herself from running for the position.

Outlining her intention to stand for Deputy Leader of the Party, she said that it was not her intention to accept any ministerial position if elected, but that she would expect to attend all meetings of the Labour Ministers. She added that she did not want to be “compromised by the vested interest of Cabinet or Ministerial position.

In declaring her intention to run for the Deputy Leader Position, she declared that “This government has done some powerful things to restore Ireland’s integrity in the world. We have achieved much, and there is every reason to believe that the future of the Irish economy is bright”.

She added “But a high price has been paid – in many instances by those who cannot afford to pay it. And we have made mistakes. We should have acted much more quickly than we did to recognise the need for a new approach to medical cards. We should have ensured that serving and former Gardai raising genuine concerns about issues of malpractice were immediately, rather than belatedly, respected.

We need at all times to be certain that the tough decisions necessary for recovery are tempered by decency and humanity. Even in hard times we must strive to reduce inequality in our society, rather than allow it to increase”.

Those with an interest in standing for the Leader or Deputy Leader positions of the labour party have until noon on Tuesday (June 3) to declare their intentions.

Already Deputies Joan Burton and Alex White have already declared that they are to stand for the leader’s position.

Cork East TD Sean Sherlock, the Minister of State at the Department of Enterprise, Jobs & Innovation and Department of Education & Skills with responsibility for Research & Innovation, Cork South West TD – Michael McCarthy, and Alan Kelly A former MEP and Current TD for Tipperary North who is Minister of State at the Department of Transport, Tourism & Sport with responsibility for Public & Commuter Transport along with Ciara Conway have all stated their intention to run for the Deputy Leaders position.

Deputy Conway has already backed Alex White in the leadership battle. Dublin North TD Aodhán Ó Ríordáin is believed to be supporting Ciara Conway in her bid to become deputy leader.

Arthur Spring, a nephew of former Labour Party Leader and Tánaiste is expected to declare his intentions about the leadership of the Labour Party.