Man Dies after Portlaw Assault

Gardai in Tramore have begun a murder investigation following the death of a man in Portlaw this afternoon.

Emergency services were called to a house in the Coolfin Estate this afternoon at 2.45pm.

A local man was taken from the area by ambulance personnel and brought to University Hospital Waterford with serious injuries, but was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

It is understood that the man was involved in a row with a man in his 20’s who is also from the Portlaw area.

Gardai arrested the man and are detaining him for questioning at Tramore Garda Station. Gardai are investigating if an implement or weapon was used during the course of the row.

Local Sinn Fein Councillor Declan Clune has said that "The community is in shock - both men involved in this would be well known. They are from respectable families and the whole town is devastated by this - especially coming up to Christmas." Fianna Fail Councillor John O’Leary has said ‘It is a sad day for Waterford’.

Gardaí have also commenced door-to-door inquiries to determine if anyone heard or saw anything suspicious in the hours before the man's death.

A post mortem examination will be conducted tomorrow

Work Starts On Making Waterford Priest A Saint

A Waterford priest may be on the path to Sainthood after over 100 people came together in Clonmel recently to talk about him and his short life.

Popular priest Father Colm O’Brien served in Saints Peter and Paul Parish in Clonmel for eight years after he was ordained in 2000 at Saint Paul’s Church in Waterford before he was transferred by the then Bishop of Waterford and Lismore William Lee to the Parish of Tramore and Carbally in the summer of 2008, but he was to die after battling cancer on September 16, 2009. Father Colm was just 36 years old at the time.

Fr. Colm was born in Waterford City on 20 January 1973, the son of Thomas and the late Josie O’Brien, living in Belvedere Dive and attended school at Saint Paul’s Primary and Secondary Schools in Lisduggan.

From an early age Father Colm always showed signs of wanting to be a priest and once he had completed his secondary education he began his priestly studies at the former Saint John’s College Seminary in Waterford City, completing his final year of studies at the National Seminary at Maynooth College after Saint John’s was closed due to declining numbers entering the college to study.

The current Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Alphonsus Cullinan recently said that many people had been impressed by the character and holiness shown by Fr Colm O’Brien.

Bishop Cullinan said the question of promoting his cause for beatification and canonisation has arisen.

Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan called the meeting to explore whether the live of Fr Colm was marked by the “heroic virtue” which would justify the Church calling Fr Colm a ‘Servant of God’.

To become a Saint the Bishop in a given Diocese usually initiates the investigation.

Any Catholic or group of Catholics can request that the bishop open a case. They will need to name a formal intermediary, called the “postulator,” who will promote the cause of the saint. At this point, the candidate is called “a servant of God.”

A formal investigation examines “servant of God’s” life. Those who knew the candidate are interviewed, and affidavits for and against the candidate are reviewed.

Also, the candidate’s writings – if any exist – are examined for consistency with Catholic doctrine. A “promoter of justice” named by the local bishop ensures that proper procedures are followed and a notary certifies the documentation.

The proceedings of the investigation, called “Acta” or “The Acts,” are forwarded to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints in Rome. The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints is large, with a prefect, a secretary, undersecretary and a staff of 23 people. There are also over 30 cardinals and bishops associated with the congregation’s work at various stages.

The Congregation for the Causes of the Saints appoints a “relator” (one of five who currently work for the congregation) who supervises the postulator in writing a position paper called a “positio.” The positio argues for the virtues of the servant of God and can be thousands of pages long. The congregation examines the positio and members vote “yes” or “no” on the cause. “Yes” votes must be unanimous.

The final decision lies with the pope. When he signs a “Decree of Heroic Virtue,” the person becomes “venerable.” Then two stages remain: beatification and sainthood.

Throughout most of Catholic history, the canonization process was rigorous. One of the key figures in the investigation in the Vatican was the “devil’s advocate,” who functioned like an opposing attorney by challenging the candidate’s holiness. This is the origin of the often-used English phrase referring to someone who takes a position to challenge another person to prove a point more fully.

In the early ‘70’s, Pope Paul VI revised the canon of the saints to exclude those whose historical existence could not be verified. For example, St. Christopher, the protector of travelers, was removed, although many Catholics still have a St. Christopher medal in their automobiles.

In 1983, then Pope John Paul II who would later become a Saint himself changed the waiting period from 50 years to five years after a candidate’s death, one of a number of new rules he brought in.

Speaking after the meeting in Clonmel Bishop Cullinan said “it was a wonderful meeting, celebrating the holiness, goodness, simplicity and faith and it was a beautiful sense of grace on the night”, adding “he was a person who touched a lot of people. He would arrive late to almost everything because he would stop to talk to everybody from the car to the house and he couldn’t get from one end of the street to the other without having several conversations”.

Bishop Cullinan is appealing to people who knew Fr Colm O’Brien to send their accounts to info@waterfordlismore.ie marking the subject line ‘Fr Colm O’Brien.

Fr Colm was buried with his mother who died some years before him in the grounds of the Sacred Heart Church in Ferrybank.

 

Changes in Rose of Tralee Competition

 

 

 

          Waterford will only be represented in the Rose of Tralee Festival every two years after organisers decided to give the Festival a revamp.

          Organisers recently confirmed that under revamped rules, the heats which took place in recent years to select who will go forward to represent their county in the televised stages of the competition will no longer take place.

          Instead each county will get to take to the stage on a bi-annual basis with only Kerry, Cork and Dublin contestants selected each year.

          Organisers have said that to ensure that every ‘Rose’ enjoys the ultimate positive experience during her year as her regions ambassador festival organisers had decided to revamp the selection process by removing the regional qualification process and raising the age limit at which point entrants can enter.

The Executive Chair of the Rose of Tralee International Festival, Anthony O’Gara, said: “Moving from the Regional Festival (staged from 2004 to 2015) to bringing all our Roses directly to the Rose of Tralee International Festival for the past three years has been generally very positively received. There is one challenging aspect to the new format that does not sit well with any of us and that we want to address, the selection of 32 Roses from 66 for the TV Selection. Regardless of how sensitively we handle that, it is not in-keeping with our ethos or our tradition. Our focus is to celebrate and respect the passion and emotion, and indeed the time and financial investment that every Rose, her family and centre invest with us.”

The Rose of Tralee International Festival will celebrate its sixtieth year running in August 2019.

Waterford has won the competition on three occasions. Orla Burke won in 1977 and six years later Brenda Hyland was the winner. In this year’s competition Kirsten Mate Maher became Waterford’s third winner of the competition and the third mixed race winner following on from Rose Luzveminda O'Sullivan from Galway in 1998 and London Rose, Rose Clare Kambamettu in 2010.

 

 

Man Dies Following Portlaw Assault

A man has died following an assault in Portlaw this afternoon.

It is understood that the man is in his 50’s and that Gardai are investigating an assault.

Emergency services were called to a house in Portlaw at 2-45pm.

A man was taken from the scene by Ambulance to University Hospital Waterford where he was pronounced dead shortly after his arrival.

Gardai arrested a man in his 20’s at the scene and are detaining him at Tramore Garda Station under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984.

 

Man Dies in Waterford Gas Leak

A man has died after a gas leak in a house in Waterford City.

The incident happed in the Connolly Place area of the city this evening.

Fire crews, the Gardai, the National Ambulance Service and staff from Gas Networks Ireland were quickly on the scene.

Early indications suspect that man died from Carbon Monoxide poisoning.

It is the second explosion in the city in 48 hours.

On Sunday evening a man was rushed to University Hospital Waterford after an apparent gas explosion at his house in the Ballytruckle Road of the city to be treated for serious burns.

The injured man was later removed to the burns unit of Cork University Hospital.

The body of the man who died this evening will be removed to University Hospital Waterford for a post-mortem.

The scene will be preserved overnight for a technical examination tomorrow.

Man rescued of South East Coast

The Irish Coast Guard helicopter based at Waterford Airport and an RNLI crew at Youghal combined earlier today to get a small fishing boat with one person on board towed to safety after it got into difficulty of the coast of Youghal.

The Alarm was raised just before lunchtime when the fishing boat began to take water on board.

The Lifeboat crew managed to get a pump on board the small boat before towing it back to shore.

The Helicopter crew remained on the scene for the duration of the operation and returned to Waterford once the sole occupant was back on land.

Waterford and Lismore To Get Second Permanent Deacon

The number of priest working actively in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore has dropped dramatically since the turn of the Millennium and are expected to drop even further in the next decade, but the Diocese is to get a second Permanent Deacon in the coming weeks.

Dunhill man Brendan Gallagher is to be ordained a Permanent Deacon by the Bishop of Waterford and Lismore Alphonsus Cullinan at the Sacred Heart Church in Dunhill at 3pm on Sunday October 1.

Two years ago Brendan was accepted as a candidate for the Permanent Diaconate Programme in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore in a ceremony where the chief celebrant was Bishop Cullinan, assisted by Mgr. Nicholas O Mahony who is the Vicar General of the Diocese and also the Priest in Charge of the Parish of Dunhill and Fenor with the last number of years.

Just over twelve months ago Brendan took the next step on his journey to become a Permanent Deacon when he was instituted an acolyte and as a Lector at a ceremony at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Waterford with Bishop Cullinan again the principal celebrant.

As a Lector Brendan became in a position to instruct adults and children in faith and prepare them to receive the Sacraments. He can speak about the Liturgy and minister to the sick. He can assist priests and deacons on the altar and in Eucharistic ceremonies.

In 2001 the Irish Episcopal Conference received permission from the Holy See to proceed with the restoration of the Permanent Diaconate on the Island of Ireland.

Eight years later the Bishops appointed a national training authority to approve and monitor formation of suitable candidates to be Permanent Deacons, and the first ordinations took place in the following years.

The first responsibility of the deacon is to be an effective visible sign of Christ who came to serve rather than to be served.  Although the ministry of the deacon may be exercised on a part-time basis, he remains at all times a deacon and he is called, in his life-style, to reflect this.

Other duties of a Permanent Deacon include:

• Assisting the priest at the celebration of the Eucharist
• Bringing the Eucharist to the sick at home and in hospitals
• The formation of altar servers and of acolytes
• Presiding at Exposition and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament
• The celebration of Baptism
• Celebrating marriages (with the appropriate delegation)
• Presiding at funerals

• Proclaiming the Gospel at the Liturgy
• Preaching the homily
• Participating in sacramental preparation programmes
• The formation of readers
• Facilitating study of and prayer with the scriptures

• Facilitating the development of lay ministry
• Visiting the sick
• Visiting prisoners
• Visiting the bereaved
• Youth ministry, and the facilitation of peer-ministry among young people
• Promoting awareness of the social teaching of the Church
• The promotion of justice and human rights

He receives his mission from the Bishop of his Diocese, and will be assigned to work as a member of a team, normally under the leadership of a parish priest.  He is called to minister in close co-operation with priests and with members of the lay faithful who are entrusted with various ministries.  

Permanent Deacons are not intended to replace lay ministers.  In many places, they play a key role in the development and co-ordination of lay ministry.  Neither are deacons intended to be “mini-priests,” making up for a shortage of vocations.  The Vatican Council is quite clear that, alongside the diaconate, the role of the ordained priesthood must continue to be fostered, because without the priest there is no Eucharist and without the Eucharist there is no Church.

The first Permanent Deacon in the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore was ordained in 2015, when Dr. Lazarus Gidolf was ordained in St. Oliver’s Church in Clonmel by Bishop Alphonsus Cullinan in front of a large gathering of Priests including Very Rev. Fr. Pat Fitzgerald who is the Diocesan Director for the Permanent Diaconate as well as Parish Priest of the Saint Paul’s Parish in Waterford City, Parishioners and members of the Indian Community as well as members of Lazarus family and friends.

Brendan Gallagher will be known to many through sporting circles and was for many years very involved with Ladies Football in the county and was for a time the Chairman of the Ladies Football County Board.

Search Takes Place For Missing Youghal Woman

Gardai have concluded searches for a missing woman in Youghal today.

Gardai along with soldiers, the coast guards and members of the Irish Search Dogs Organisation took part in search of disappeared forty five year old woman Tina Satchwell.

Members of the Garda Water Unit also carried out dives close to the shore in Youghal Harbour.

Ms. Satchwell went missing from her home in Grattan Street in the East Cork town on March 20.

Searches were also carried out at the Golf Links road where a section of the road was closed off during the operation.

Gardai have said that they are following over 200 lines of inquiry.

Ms. Satchwell is originally from Fermoy in North Cork is described as five foot six in height and of medium build with shoulder length hair and having blue eyes. It is understood that she moved to Youghal two years ago.  

She was reported missing by her husband on March 24, four days after he arrived home to find her missing after he had gone on a shopping trip in Dungarvan.

Anyone with any information on her disappearance is being asked to contact Midleton Garda Station on (021) 4621550.

It has not been confirmed if the search will resume tomorrow.

Hogan to referee All-Ireland Hurling Final

Fergal Horgan will be in charge of proceedings in this years All-Ireland Hurling Final between Waterford and Galway after the GAA confirmed today that he will be this years referee.

Horgan will become the first Munster referee to take charge on All-Ireland Final day since Waterford’s Michael Wadding was the man in the middle when he took charge of the 2010 final between Tipperary and Kilkenny.

It is the third time that the Knockavilla Kickham’s Clubman has taken charge of an All-Ireland Final, but his first in the senior grade. Previous to this years final he was also the man in the middle for the 2014 All-Ireland Minor Final and Intermediate Final twelve months later.

He has taken charge of a number of big games this year including the Munster Final Clash between Cork and Clare and the All-Ireland Senior Hurling Club final between Cuala and Ballyhea.

However he will be most remembered for his most recent inter county game that he refereed as he sent Waterford’s Tadgh de Búrca off against Wexford in the new Pairc Ui Chaoimh following a consultation with his linesman.

He is the first Tipperary referee to take control of the biggest game of hurling of the year since Seamus Roche was the man in the middle in 2005 when Cork beat Galway 1-21 to 1-16.

Cork’s Colm Lyons is the standby referee and linesman while Paud O’Dwyer will run the other line. Limerick’s Johnny Murphy will be the fourth official.

Kilkenny Referee Sean Cleere will be the man in the middle for the minor game between Galway and Cork.

The Tipperary man’s other experience of being in Croke Park on All-Ireland Final day was 21 years ago when he played in goal for the Tipperary Minor team when Tipperary beat Galway 2-14 to 2-12. The captain of that Tipperary team will William Maher, who was appointed a selector with the Waterford Senior hurling team in 2013 after Derek McGrath was first appointed as manager. Previous to this he helped guide Tipperary to win the All-Ireland Minor Final twelve months earlier.

Mount Melleray Abbey Has A New Leader

The Cistercian Community in Mount Melleray has a new Abbot.

Dom Richard Purcell was recently elected as the community’s leader after he filled the same position at Mount Saint Joseph Abbey in Roscrea in County Tipperary, a position he held from 2009, serving first for six years and then on his reappointment in June 2015.

Dom Richard is a native of Rathgar in Dublin, he received his first abbatial blessing from the them Bishop of Killaloe Most Reverend Willie Walsh.  

The new abbot at Mount Melleray entered Mount St Joseph Abbey in 1997, having completed a degree in music and French at UCD.

Dom Richard previously studied Music, French and Italian at UCD. He completed Philosophy studies at Maynooth and Theology studies in Oxford.

On completion of his studies in Oxford, he returned to Saint Joseph’s where he took up the position of bursar. He was ordained in 2007 and became Prior of the Community while retaining the title of bursar.

The Constitution of the Cistercian Congregation does not allow a monk to become an Abbot until he is thirty five years of age and is seven professed.

When he was first elected as Abbot at Saint Joseph’s he failed to reach the requirements to take up the position. 

However after he was voted as Abbot in the North Tipperary Monastery proceedings were suspended while the necessary dispensations were sought from Rome.

Cardinal Rode the prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Like and Societies of Apostolic Life issued the dispensation for Dom Purcell to Dom Eamon Fitzgerald, himself a former Abbot of the Mount Melleray Abbey.

The monastery at Mount Melleray was founded on 30 May 1832 at Scrahan on land owned by Sir Richard Keane in Cappoquin by a colony of Irish and English monks, expelled from the abbey of Melleray after the French Revolution of 1830, and who had come to Ireland under the leadership of Fr. Vincent de Paul Ryan. It was called Mount Melleray in memory of the motherhouse. On the feast of St. Bernard, 1833, the foundation stone of the new monastery was blessed by the Most Rev. William Abraham, Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.

Two Injured In Dungarvan Stabbing Incident

Two people, were brought to University Hospital Waterford in the early hours of the morning to be treated for non-life threatening Injuries following a stabbing incident in Dungarvan.

The Emergency services were called to the scene in the Thompson Lane area off the town, an area between the towns Main Street and the Quay.

The scene of the incident was examined and investigations are on-going.

One person has been arrested by Gardai and was brought to Dungarvan Garda Station for questioning.

Gardaí are appealing for anyone with information to contact them.

Gardai in Dungarvan have appealed for anyone with information to contact them in Dungarvan on 058 48600, the Garda Confidential Line on 1800 666 111 or at any Garda Station.

€15,000 of Public Money on Entertainment

Independent TD for Waterford John Halligan is one of five TD’s that form the Independent Alliance Group in Dáil Éireann spent more than €15,000 of public money on entertainment in 2016 it has been announced.

The Independent Alliance is chaired by Senator Feargal Quinn was founded in January 2015 by five Independent TDs Michael Fitzmaurice, Tom Fleming, John Halligan, Finian McGrath and Shane Ross.

Sean Canney, John Halligan, Finian McGrath, Kevin (Boxer) Moran and Shane Ross are the current TD’s in the group.

The figure of €15,000 is contained in the latest report for the Standards in Public Office Commission on public spending for 2016.

The report states that the majority of the spending was on events for TD’s staff and on catering for events in their constituencies.

The report also shows that Independent TD’s spent over €63,000 last year getting specialist and technical advice to help them in parliamentary work.

None of the political parties in the Oireachtas are reported as spending on entertainment. Parties in the Oireachtas are funded under different rules when it comes to spending on entertainment.

The report states that over €8 Million was spent by politicians and political parties of public funds in 2016.

Relic of Indian Saint to Visit Waterford

A relic of Saint (Mother) Teresa of Calcutta is to visit Waterford.

The Knights of Columbanus recently received the relic from the Sisters of Charity and it is currently touring Ireland and will visit the Roman Catholic Cathedral in Waterford City on Thursday July 20, arriving at 7-30pm and will leave for a visit to the Cathedral in Enniscorthy on Saturday July 22 at 4pm, arriving at the Co Wexford venue at 7-30pm that same evening.

The relic, a muslin cloth bearing the blood of Saint Teresa encased in a cross has been touring Ireland since June 8, starting at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Armagh, and has since made its way down the West Coast of Ireland into Munster taking in parts of Leinster before arriving in Waterford.

Agnes Gonxha Bojaxhiu was born in Skopje in Macedonia on August 26 1910, she was the youngest child of Nikolle and Dranafile Bojaxhiu. Her father, who was involved in Albanian-community politics in Macedonia, died in 1919 when she was eight years old. She left home in 1928 to join the Sisters of Loreto in Rathfarnham in Dublin where she learned to speak English with the view of becoming a missionary.

In 1929 she moved to India where she began to work with the poor and the needy. After she arrived she began her novitiate where she learnt Bengali  and taught in a nearby school near her convent. She took her first religious vows in May 1931, and chose to be named after Therese de Lisieux

She took her solemn vows in May 1937 while she was a teacher at a Loreto convent school in eastern Calcutta. She served there for nearly twenty years.

Although she enjoyed teaching at the school, she was increasingly disturbed by the poverty surrounding her in Calcutta.

She began missionary work with the poor in 1948. She founded a school in Motijhil, Kolkata, before she began tending to the poor and hungry. At the beginning of 1949 Teresa was joined in her effort by a group of young women, and she laid the foundation for a new religious community helping the "poorest among the poor".

In October 1950, Teresa received Vatican permission to form the diocesan congregation which would become the Missionaries of Charity which she founded in 1959 and quickly became throughout the world as Mother Teresa. Just over sixty years later her order had over 4,500 Religious Sisters working in 133 Countries across the world.

In 1979, Teresa received the Nobel Peace Prize for work undertaken in the struggle to overcome poverty and distress, which also constitutes a threat to peace". She refused the conventional ceremonial banquet for laureates, asking that its $192,000 cost be given to the poor in India.

In March 1997 Teresa resigned as head of the Missionaries of Charity, and she died on 5 months later at the age of 87 and was canonised by Pope Francis in Rome in September 2016, becoming Saint Teresa of Calcutta.

According to a biography, during her early years Teresa was fascinated by stories of the lives of missionaries and by the age of 12, she was convinced that she should commit herself to religious life.

By 1997 the 13-member Calcutta congregation had grown to more than 4,000 sisters who managed orphanages, AIDS hospices and charity centres worldwide, caring for refugees, the blind, disabled, aged, alcoholics, the poor and homeless and victims of floods, epidemics and famine.

Hundreds March For Cardiac Care in the South East

Hundreds of people from across the South East have protested outside the gates of Leinster House over what they claim are inadequate cardiac facilities in the south east, and have called for improved facilities at University Hospital Waterford.

Many people in the South East region have called for 24/7 cardiac care at the hospital but to date, both the Government and the HSE have failed to respond.

The Unit at University Hospital Waterford is open Monday to Friday from 9am to 5pm and those that suffer a heart attack outside of these hours is transferred to Cork University Hospital or to Hospital’s in Dublin.

Two weeks ago, Thomas Power, a County Waterford man got a heart attack on a Sunday and was being transferred to CUH in an ambulance, died on route outside Dungarvan despite best efforts to revive him.

Campaigners have said that if facilities were available in Waterford he would have survived.

Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin said at Leaders Questions in the Dáil today that  the sister of Mr Power spoke to a number of politicians today and gave a heart-rending account of the devastation his death had caused.

Mr Martin said a report in 2012, which was accepted by the HSE, had recommended a second cath laboratory for Waterford University Hospital but it never happened.

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar expressed his sympathy to the family of Mr Power but said he could not comment on individual cases.

The Taoiseach who has Dungarvan connesctions pointed out that additional hours had been provided to the cath lab and that extra money had been invested by the HSE. A tender had also been issued by the executive for a mobile cath lab for the area.

 

Hundreds of people staged a vigil outside University Hospital Waterford on recently calling for 24-hour cardiac care for the region.

Health Minister Simon Harris said last month that he is open to a further review on the issue of cath labs in the South East.

“I commissioned an independent clinical review in relation to the cath lab situation in Waterford the minister said.

“I followed the recommendations in full, in terms of the allocation of additional resources, and I’m now putting in place a mobile cath lab.

“As Minister, I’ll always stand by clinical recommendations. I am open, though, after the improvements that Professor Herity has made, of taking course to have a further review on the issue,” he said.

Halligan Reappointed a Minster of State

The Taoiseach Leo Varadkar today appointed his Ministers of State, which included Waterford TD John Halligan who was reappointed as Minister of State for Training and Skills.

The new appointments as expected included Carlow/Kilkenny TD John Paul Phelan who was appointed Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform.

The New appointments in full are:

Minister of State for Local Government and Electoral Reform - John Paul Phelan (Carlow/Kilkenny)

Minister of State for Housing and Urban Development - Damien English (Meath West)

Minister of State for Financial Services and Insurance - Michael D’Arcy  (Wexford)

Minister of State for European Affairs - Helen McEntee (Meath East)

Minister of State for Food, Forestry and Horticulture - Andrew Doyle (Wicklow)

Minister of State for Public Procurement, Open Government and e-Government - Patrick O’Donovan (Cork)

Minister of State for Community, Natural Resources and Digital Development - Seán Kyne (Galway West)

Minister of State for Mental Health and Older People - Jim Daly (West Cork)

Minister for Trade, Employment, Business, EU Single Market and Data Protection - Pat Breen (Clare)

Minister of State for the National Drug Strategy and Health Promotion - Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central)

Minister of State for Defence - Paul Kehoe (Wexford)

Minister of State for the Diaspora and International Development - Ciarán Cannon (Galway East)

Minister of State for Equality, Immigration and Integration - David Stanton (Cork East)

Minister of State for Disability - Finian McGrath (Dublin Bay North)

Minister of State for Training and Skills - John Halligan (Independent Alliance – Waterford)

Minister of State for the OPW and Flood Relief - Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran (Independent Alliance – Longford/Westmeath)

Minister of State for Tourism & Sport - Brendan Griffin (Kerry)

Minister of State for Higher Education - Mary Mitchell O’Connor (Dun Laoghaire/Rathdown)

Former Minister Dies Aged 80

Former Fine Gail TD for Waterford and Minster for Agriculture Austin Deasy has died following a short illness. He was 80.

He served as a TD for Waterford from 1977 until he retired in 2002 to be replaced by his son John who has been returned in each General Election since he was first elected.

He was born in Dungarvan in 1936 and was educated locally and then at University College Cork after which he became a teacher where he taught at Saint Augustine’s College in Dungarvan.

He joined Fine Gael in the mid 1960’s and was elected a member of Dungarvan Town Council.

Former Taoiseach Liam Cosgrave nominated him to the Seanad before he was elected a TD in 1977.

In 1982 Garret Fitzgerald appointed him to the Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture where he remained until the Government fell in 1987.

He resigned from the party temporarily in 1988 when the then Fine Gael leader Alan Dukes when it was decided that Fine Gael would not oppose economic developments purposed by the minority Fianna Fail Party, but returned to the Parties Front Bench when John Bruton took over as leader in 1991.

Mr. Deasy died earlier today at University Hospital Waterford.

Fine Gael leader Leo Varadkar who has strong Dungarvan connections has expressed his condolences to the Deasy family following the news.

Mr. Varadkar said Mr. Deasy was "well loved and respected by the people of Waterford whom he was proud to represent". 

John O’Shea to be released by Sunderland

Ferrybank man John O’Shea who is currently preparing for a World Cup Qualifier against Austria on Sunday with the Republic of Ireland is one of the biggest named players who will not have his contract renewed by Sunderland for next season.

The Black Cats were relegated last season and are currently without a manager after former Everton and Manchester United manager David Moyles left the club has decided not to renew the contracts of a number of experienced players as they try and get back to the Premier League as quickly as possible.

Along with O’Shea, other players to leave the North East club include Victor Anichebe, Sebastian Larsson, Joleon Lescott as well as Steven Pienaar.

O’Shea who made 28 appearances for Sunderland last season jointed the North East Club in 2011 after he had spent nine successful years with Manchester United.

His current contract expires at the end of the month and will have to look for a new club if he wishes to prolong his career if the next manager wishes to offer him a new deal.

The Ferrybank man who captained the Black Cats for four of the six seasons he played for the club, represented the club on 182 occasions, scoring three goals.

A recent report in a British newspaper suggested that O’Shea was hoping to stay with Sunderland, but that there was interest elsewhere if he was not retained including from midlands championship outfit Wolverhampton Wanderers.

A Changing Church

Priests and Parish Pastoral Council members from across the Diocese of Waterford and Lismore gathered in Clonmel during the week to hear plans outlined for the years ahead as changes take place owing to the declining number of vocations in the Diocese.

In the last three decades nearly all parishes have seen changes happen with the amount of priests working in parishes cut and some parishes have been left with no priest living and working in the parish, and are instead administered from neighbouring parishes.

In the future lay people could be asked to play an even greater role in most parishes that they are currently asked to.

Lay people could well be asked to carry out prayer services at funerals where there is no priest available to administer and could also be asked to carry out other functions like the distribution of ashes to the faithful on Ash Wednesday and to bless throats on the feast of Saint Blaise.

Parishes could also be brought together with one priest working as a moderator alongside different Pastoral Councils.

Parishes could also be administered by a Permanent Deacon or a lay person directed by a Priest from outside the Parish.

In the future where it is not possible to have a mass celebrated in a given church, a lay parishioner could be appointed to lead the people in a prayer service.

The last number of years has seen the number of Priests working in the Diocese significantly drop with Priests who are members of Religious Communities already working in a number of Parishes across the Diocese.

Two years ago the then newly appointed Bishop of Waterford and Lismore, the Most Very Reverend Aphonsus Cullinan was able to bring three priests from India to the Diocese to work in parishes in Clonmel, Carrick-on-Suir and Waterford City, but it is understood that there is no plans to bring any other priests in on Temporary Missions.

There are currently five parishes in the Diocese that do not have a working priest.

In West Waterford the Parish of Tallow is without and priest with the Parish Priest of nearby Ballyduff Upper travelling to Tallow to celebrate mass in the town.

Modeligo and Affane became the first parish not to have a priest and is administered from nearby Cappoquin and recently the Parish Priest of Clashmore and Kinsalebeg retired and the Parish Priest of Ring and Old Parish was appointed as a moderator working with other priests in the area to ensure that parishioners can attend mass on a Saturday evening or Sunday morning in their own parish.

In the east of the county there are two parishes currently without a Parish Priest.

Dunhill and Fenor is currently administered from Tramore while Butlerstown is administered from the Saint Paul’s Parish in Waterford City.

Currently all Parishes in County Tipperary that are part of Waterford and Lismore have at least one priest working in them.

The Diocese of Waterford and Lismore has four Diocesan Priest’s that were ordained since the turn of the Millennium with a further ten priests working that were ordained in the previous decade.

In the same time (1990-present) over 40 priests of the diocese have died, while an number of others have stepped aside from active ministry while a number of men have decided to be laicised.

At present priests are obliged to offer their resignation to their Bishop once they reach the age of 75, but because of the shortage of priests in the Diocese some ask or are asked to remain in active ministry as long as their heath allows them to do so.

At present the Diocese also has a number of priests in the double digits who are currently retired, but many are helping out in parishes at weekends as well as covering when priests are sick are on holiday.

In the Diocese there is currently at least one priest who has only taken time away from his ministry during the weekdays in recent years so that parishioners in his care can attend weekend masses without having to call on often what is often much in demand priests to stand in for him.

The then Bishop of Waterford and Lismore the Most Very Reverend William Lee began the process for preparing parishes for what lies ahead some years ago when he gathered parishes at a meeting in Dungarvan and it was explained to those that attended that  the parishes would have to be clustered into groupings and that the amount of masses on offer in each parish could have to be cut and the times of some masses would have to be changed so that they fell in such a way that allowed a priest from a neighbouring parish to come and celebrate the mass if needed while also celebrating mass in his own parish.