ByEoinRyan
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ByDanielDoyle
ByAodhanTomkins
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ByMatthewSharkey
AGE FRIENDLY IRELAND NATIONAL OLDER PEOPLE’S COUNCILS CONVENTION HELD
BY MEATH AND KILKENNY OLDER PEOPLE SUPPORT GROUPS
Old people across Ireland took part in the Age Friendly Ireland National Older People’s Councils (OPC) Convention in Kilkenny which addressed the technology gap experienced by older generations. Among these issues are online banking, living cashless, and automated customer service helplines.
The event was hosted by the Kilkenny Age Friendly Programme and Kilkenny County Council in partnership with Age Friendly Ireland in Meath County Council for the over 800,000 people aged 65 and over living in Ireland. The Meath Age Friendly Programme launched in 2011 and is led by Meath County Council with the support of Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service.
“This is the only conference of its type in Ireland that harnesses the collective voice of older people and brings that wisdom directly into local government, and to the multiple stakeholders involved in the Age Friendly strategic re-
“Older people are not a homogenous group, and it is essential that we hear from the collective voice so that older people themselves can co-design solutions to challenges,” Chief Officer of Age Friendly Ireland Shared Service
sponse to demographic change,” Meath County Council Chief Executive Kieran Kehoe said. “There is a huge value for local government officials having this direct connection to the citizen voice.”
McGuigan said there are technological solutions to help older people stay independent such as telecare which includes person-
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al alarms, pendants/ watches with 24-hour monitoring and smart home packages.
“Safeguarding is an issue when payments can only be made online and older people must rely on neighbours, friends and family members to make their payments and access their personal information,” Chair of the National Network of Older People’s Councils Ita Healy said.
“At the recent NGO forum meeting, the safeguarding element was flagged especially for domestic abuse victims as cash is often essential for them to get away from their situation. People in all walks of life need the choice to use cash when and where they want to”.
OVER 600 ASSAULTS OR THREATS TO CAUSE SERIOUS HARM AND ALMOST 2,500 THEFTS IN MEATH LAST YEAR
Over 600 assaults or threats to cause serious harm were reported and investigated by an Garda Síochána last year across 16 garda stations in county Meath.
Almost 2,500 thefts were also reported and investigated by gardaí with
Navan having 997 theft reports alone. Increases in robbery (85%), damage to property (36%), assaults (28%) and drug usage (28%) also saw large increases. Laytown (110), Ashbourne (69) and Kells (57) also reported high levels of assaults to their respective stations.
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“This has to be responded to because it’s quite frankly a disgrace and I am not going to let Navan go the same ways as other towns in the region,” Senator Shane Cassells said.
“Until we have a properly resourced garda service in Navan and the rest of the county, it will only get worse,” Mayor of Navan Cllr. Eddie Fennessy said.
This growth in theft and criminal damage is notable across the country leading to the highest crime rate in Ireland in the past ten years. Public disorder was the third most common crime with 504 incidents being on record. Approximately one in eight garda stations experienced the worst crime rates seen over the past 10 years in 2023.
Catheirn McGuigan said.
EMERALD PARK OPENS €22 MILLION PARK EXPANSION
Tír na nóg has opened at Ireland’s Emerald Park formerly known as Tayto Park, a new €22 million fully themed land based on the Irish folktale of the same name.
The new land includes Europe’s longest intertwining family and thrill coasters, ‘Na Fianna Force’ & ‘The Quest’ and ‘The Celtic Dreamer’ a 56-seater wave swinger ride. ‘Na Fianna Force’ is the largest and reaches heights of 32 metres and speeds of up to 90 km/h.
The project took seven years to complete, started by the later founder of the park Raymond Cole. Emerald Park commissioned a local Blacksmith, An Gobha located in Bohermeen, Navan, Co. Meath where they crafted over 70 spears, 70 shields, 5 bows, and 120 arrows for
this project. The coasters were engineered and designed by a Dutch manufacturing company, Vekoma, who are also a supplier for The Walt Disney Company.
ByMattewSharkey
“We are thrilled to unveil Tír Na nÓg after seven years of dedicated work and innovation,” General Manager of Emerald Park, Charles Coyle said. “We look forward to welcoming guests to explore and im-
merse themselves in the magic of our first immersive land – Tír Na nÓg.”
Emerald Park opened 14 years ago and employs 150 full time and 600 seasonal staff.
MEATH RENT PRICES CAUSE ISSUES FOR RESIDENTS
ByMatthewSharkey
A Residential Tenancies Board (RTB) report found that recently added properties to the local market cost average prices of €1,490 a month.
The average prices in Meath were €1,462 for recent properties at the end of 2022 which is an increase of 1.9%. In the same report, the national average price is €1594 whereas the average price in Dublin is €2,090.
According to Daft.ie in their Q1 2024 rent price report there was a rise of 5.2% in rent prices compared to the same quarter last year.
Currently on Daft.ie there are 43 available properties to rent, with the cheapest being a 2-bed house for €900 per month in Navan and the most expensive being a 4-bed house for €3500 per month in Ratoath.
Speaking on the issue, Meath East TD Darren O’Rourke said “Month on month, year on year, rents continue to rise for new and existing tenants and inside and outside rent pressure zones. We need government to dramatically increase investment in and delivery of genuinely affordable homes to rent and buy.”
“Those improvements in availability now look to have finished, at least for now. This suggests, thus, that further pressure on open-market rents this year is likely to be upward, rather than downwards,” Associate Professor in Economics at Trinity College Dublin Ronan Lyons said. Rent prices have been a problem for Meath residents, which is compounded by the demand for affordable housing and the cost of living crisis.
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MENU CYCLING IN CIRCLES
I was listening to someone reminiscing about what Irish customers used to eat in bygone days and they mentioned when it was once customary in Ireland to have a simple glass of orange juice listed as a starter. When I was beginning my career, this was actually the case on my first ever menu in the early eighties. It was listed along with the other fixed choices of starters on every menu around namely pate maison with Melba toast, egg mayonnaise, buttered whole sweet corn, half of a grapefruit, prawn cocktail, vegetable soup, smoked salmon and a melon wedge or cocktail. The anaemic bread rolls and butter packs would be in a basket and you might
get a few slices of soda bread thrown in.
The main courses were just as set in their ways nationwide, there was sirloin or fillet steak Diane or with pepper sauce, darne of salmon with hollandaise sauce or simply a lemon wedge, bread crumbed deep fried fillet of frozen defrosted plaice and tartare sauce, a half roast duck or chicken, breadcrumb stuffing and gravy, chicken Maryland, a gammon steak with pineapple or a mixed grill. You seldom saw a steak cooked rare back then, a few mediums at the most. These mains then would always be garnished with a leaf of lettuce, a quarter of an unripe tomato and a couple of slices of cucumber and onion.
The sides were frozen chips, lumpy mash, croquette or baked potato, sliced buttered carrots, cauli -
flower Mornay, sautéed mushrooms and onions, battered onion rings, not very al dente frozen bought broccoli florets and maybe cabbage that could be on the reheated whiffy side. There could be a turnip puree either and any green beans or peas would be from frozen too. Finally on the dessert trolley often wheeled to your table was a sherry trifle, apple tart, black forest gateau, meringue nests, fresh fruit salad, banana split, a jelly and crème caramel with ice cream and cream on everything. The table wines would be Blue Nun or Matteus Rose but you could of course splash out on a big Bordeaux or Burgundy red but you would
pay top punt. The coffee was mostly instant but you could have an Irish one with whiskey or really show your class and go for a French version made with cognac. So all over Ireland this would have been your standard fare except in the high end places.
Fast forward to today and it has come full circle with another all Ireland wide menu. The regular starters these days will be some sort of spiced prawns, Caesar salad, garlic mushrooms, black pudding, chicken wings, potato skins, goat cheese with beetroot and a deep fried brie. Mains are still steaks, a chicken breast, salmon, hake or cod sometimes in batter, im-
ported farmed sea bass, a spicy sizzler platter, a curry, a burger, a pasta dish and maybe a pork belly or rack of lamb. A couple of specials will add a bit of welcome variety.
The sides are invariably chips, baby boiled, champ or gratin potatoes with vegetables much the same but cooked a bit better from fresh. Desserts now are usually a choice of crème brulee, Pavlova or meringue roulade, sticky toffee pudding, a cheesecake, an apple pie, ice creams or sorbets and a chocolate option like a lava cake or brownie. There are of course the vegan and vegetarian choices now and all the allergen compliance. Portions
have generally doubled though and the average customer is much more discerning.
The real difference is that eating out is not such a big deal. We are not far off the States now where all three main meals are eaten outside the home or bought in. I still cannot adapt to eating on the hoof never mind between meals so I am firmly in the past on that one. We are creatures of habit and the fact that menus are still so uniformly widespread even today shows we have not changed that much at all in our taste. As the saying goes the more it changes the more it stays the same.
ByDanielDoyle
