Woman airlifted to University Hospital Waterford following accident in West Waterford

One person was airlifted to University Hospital Waterford in the early hours of Monday morning after a rescue involving the Rescue117 Helicopter based at Waterford Regional Airport, the Ardmore Coast Guard Unit, the life boat based at Helivick and Gardai.

The search took place in the Mine Head area of Old Parish between Ring and Ardmore after a local woman who had not returned home was reported missing.

At approximately 7am this morning the injured missing woman was found in undergrowth after she had sustained injuries after a fall.

The injured woman was winched aboard the Helicopter and was flown to Waterford where was transferred to hospital to be treated for her injuries.

Search on the Waterford/Tipperary border ends successfully at 4am.

A major search and rescue took place in the Knockmealdown Mountains along the Waterford and Tipperary County Boundary late on Saturday night and into the early hours of Sunday morning.

Five members of one family were rescued as a result of the agencies that worked together in the search.

Gardai called out the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association on Saturday evening after getting reports of the family getting lost in the area. The family of two adults and three children all under the age of 12 were reported to be in an area known as The Vee and Bay Lough between Cappoquin and Clogheen.

Along with the South Eastern Mountain Rescue Association and Gardai, the Irish Coast Guard, Tramore Cliff and Mountain Rescue Team and the Waterford based rescue 117 Helicopter took part in the search.

The family were found at about 4am after a search of the area. All five were reported to be safe and well when found.

Last June another major search took place in the area when a couple in their 50’s had to be rescued after they became trapped in what was described as an “impenetrable jungle” of rhododendron plants.

That search took five hours to complete after the couple who were experienced hill walkers got into difficulty while descending a steep hillside that leads to a lake in the area.

The pair were quickly found but rescuers struggled to get through the last 400 metres of shrubs to assist the stranded pair.

Once reached the rescuers on that occasion decided to call in a rescue boat and bring them to the edge of the small lake and get them into the boat and across to safety rather than to bring the pair back up the hillside through the dense growth.

Gardai in Dungarvan continue to investigate town fire

Gardai are in Dungarvan are investigating the cause of the fire at a commercial premises on O’Connell Street.

The Fire broke out at around 10am this morning and was attended to by fire personnel from Dungarvan and Cappoquin fire stations who quickly brought the fire under control.

One person was transferred to University Hospital Waterford to be treated for burns. The casualty’s injuries are not thought to be life-threatening.  

Earlier today, Gardai would not confirm if they believe the fire was started suspicious.

The area around O’Connell Street was closed to all traffic while the emergency services worked at the scene but has since re-opened.

It is the second major fire in the town that Fire units have had to deal with in recent months.

Last June, fire fighters were called to a blaze that broke out at the Glanbia premises on lower Main Street.

That fire broke out before normal business hours and no one was injured.

In June’s fire, as well as the Glanbia premises, the adjoining Shaw’s Electrical store suffered damage and the nearby St. Augustine’s Roman Catholic Church on Friary Street which backs onto the Glanbia site was dampened down as a precaution.

Pope Francis appoints Fr. Aphonsus ‘Phonsie’ Cullinan Bishop of Waterford and Lismore

Pope Francis had appointed Fr. Aphonsus ‘Phonsie’ Cullinan as the new Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.

The appointment by Pope Francis is the seventh appointment made in Ireland since he was elected head of the Catholic Church in March 2013 after Pope Benedict XVI stood down.

Previous appointments made by Pope Francis are Brendan Leahy (Limerick), Eamon Martin (Armagh), Raymond Browne (Kerry), Denis Nulty (Kildare and Leighlin), Francis Duffy (Ardagh and Clonmacnois) and Kevin Doran (Elphin).

In the coming weeks and month’s, Pope Francis is expected to elect new Bishops in the Dioceses of Clonfert, Cork and Ross, Raphoe as well as Meath as Bishops John Kirby, John Buckley, Philip Boyce O.C.D. and Michael Smith will have celebrated their 75^th birthday, the age that Bishops are expected to hand in their resignation to the Vatican.

When appointments are made in these dioceses it will mean that Pope Francis will have elected 11 Bishops in the current 26 Dioceses on the Island of Ireland.

Bishop-elect Cullinan is a former school teacher who since he became a priest has gained a wide range of Pastoral Experience working in Parishes, schools, third level colleges and in hospital chaplaincy. Fr. Cullinan is also known in Limerick for his work with the Travelling Community.

Fr. Cullinan is a priest in the Diocese of Limerick and was born in Lahinch in Co. Clare in 1959, one of a family of ten of which he has four sisters and five brothers.

His family moved from Lahinch to Limerick City and attended the Salesian College where he received his early education.  He moved to the John F. Kennedy National School and later Crescent College Comprehensive for his secondary education.

In 1978 he entered Mary Immaculate College in Limerick where he studied to be a Primary school Teacher, graduating in 1981 and for six years taught at Castleconnell in County Limerick.

Fr. Cullinan moved to Valladolid in Spain where he taught English for two years before returning to Ireland and entering Saint Patrick’s College in Maynooth from 1989 to 1995 where be completed a Licentiate in Theology.

Ordained by the then Bishop of Limerick Jeremiah Newman in 1994 at St. St. John’s Cathedral in Limerick and was appointed curate of Saint Munchin’s Parish in Limerick from 1995 for a year.

From 1996 to 2001 he was chaplain at Limerick Regional Hospital from where he moved to Rome for three years to study Moral Theology. On returning to Ireland he was appointed Chaplain at Limerick Institute of Technology until 2011.

In 2011 Fr. Cullinan was appointed Parish Priest of Rathkeale, a position he held till his appointment as Bishop of Waterford and Lismore.

The news that Fr. Cullinan was to be the new Bishop of Waterford and Lismore was made after the 10-30am mass this morning at the Cathedral of the Most Holy Trinity in Waterford.

Present for the announcement were Bishop-elect Cullinan, the Apostolic Nuncio to Ireland, Archbishop Charles Brown, the retired Bishop of Waterford and Lismore – William Lee and Monsignor Nicholas O’Mahony the Diocesan Administrator of the Diocese since Bishop Lee stood down due to health reasons on October 1, 2013.

Speaking following the announcement, Fr Cullinan said he was “honoured and humbled and excited to have been nominated as bishop of this Diocese”.

“This is an historic city and Waterford and Lismore is an historic Diocese with a Christian heritage going back to the earliest days of Christianity on this island and I am very proud to be called to do something to continue that wonderful tradition,” he added.

Waterford & Lismore includes County Waterford, and part of Counties Tipperary and Cork. There are 85 churches across 45 parishes catering for a catholic population of 152,107.

Fr. Cullinan is one of three new Bishops announced today by Pope Francis across the world.

Pope Francis appointed Bishop of the Diocese of Shinyanga, Tanzania, Msgr. Liberatus Sangu. Bishop-elect Sangu, was born February 19, 1963 at Mwazye, Diocese of Sumbawanga. After his primary and secondary education in local schools, he studied philosophy at the Major Seminary of Our Lady of Angels Kibosho, in the Diocese of Moshi, and theology at the Major Inter-diocesan Seminary St. Charles Lwanga Segerea, in the Archdiocese of Dar-es-Salaam. He was ordained to the priesthood on July 9, 1994.

The Diocese of Shinyanga (1956), is a suffragan of the Archdiocese of Mwanza, has a population of 2,440,000 of whom 745,000 are Catholics. There are 28 parishes. There are 55 priests (41 diocesan and 14 religious), and 20 seminarians. The Diocese of Shinyanga, has been vacant since 2012, following the death of the Ordinary, Msgr. Aloysius Balina.

Also appointed today was Francisco Eduardo Cervantes Merino who is to be Bishop of Orizaba (Mexico).  Bishop-elect Cervantes Merino, was born October 13, 1953, in Ocatán Merino Palafox, in the Federal District of Mexico City, was ordained priest on 24 March 1979 and was incardinated in the Diocese of Tuxpan.

He completed his ecclesiastical studies at the Seminary of Jalapa and earned a Licentiate in Pastoral Theology at the Pontifical Lateran University in Rome. He also obtained a Licentiate in Educational Psychology at the Scuola Normale Superiore of México.

He is currently Pastor of the Cathedral and Vicar for Pastoral Care.

Co Waterford Garda suffers minor injuries

Gardai have detained a 21 year old in Waterford on suspicion of endangerment after a member of the Garda Síochána yesterday.

 

The incident occurred in the Lismore Park area of the city about 4pm when Gardai were performing routine patrols.

 

While carrying out their duties, Gardai identified a vehicle that is understood to have been involved in a number of incidents in the area.

 

A male member of the force attempted to stop the vehicle but the driver did not stop, knocking the garda to the ground.

 

The Garda was taken to University Hospital Waterford to be treated for minor injuries and has since been released.

 

Gardai followed the vehicle and arrested a 21 year old driver and have detained him on suspicion of endangerment as well as other offences.

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.