Paul Hopkins

The Fact OfThe Matter

PAUL HOPKINS PAUL HOPKINS Our wastefulness gives us food for thought

Hands up those who remember real fried bread? Not the limp, half-hearted specimen that shu es unashamedly these days around the plate of a Full Irish but the genuine article fried in the fat left over from the Sunday roast.

In those days real men (and women) knew their fried bread and that it would put hairs on their chests (well, perhaps not the women). In those days too, there was little, if any, wasted food in the house of my upbringing. Even that left-over Sunday roast would taste better the next day, chicken bones made for great soup, and you’d never be a sandwich or two short of the picnic as long as you had a scrap or two in the larder. Soured milk was a delicacy and good for you.

What little we had we valued and nowt went to waste.

Research recently released from NUI Galway and Teagasc (the agriculture and food authority) says around a third of food that comes into Irish homes is being binned. e news comes as cost-ofliving pressures are making it more di cult for a growing number of families to eat healthily.

In this time of rapidly rising food prices, Fruit and vegetables were tfe most likely to be wasted, according to the study which divided those polled into three groups. e rst group, called ‘All Waste’, were people who wasted food in every way by cooking too much and throwing away leftovers. ey also disposed of food before it was even cooked and tended to buy and serve more food than needed. e second group, ‘Staple waste’, were more watchful but still ended up more likely to waste fruit, vegetables and bread. e nal group, ‘Overcooks’, were the least wasteful — cooking too much food but rarely throwing it away. e researchers point out that the UN Environmental Food Waste Report estimates that, globally, between 8% and 10% of all greenhouse gas emissions come from food waste alone.

We in this neck of the woods live in a world where we are inundated with a mass of food choices everywhere we go, from Michelin-starred restaurants to fast-food outlets, to the questionable gourmet TV dinners for two, common at your local supermarket, bottle of wine thrown in for good measure. And we occupy a world where increasingly our children become obese and lethargic as they wolf down fast-food after junk-food like they were never going to be fed again in their little fat lives. e Dating Game, a study by Emily Broad-Leib, director of the Harvard Food Policy Clinic, nds that inconsistent and confusing food-dating is leading to gross wastage and that change is urgently needed.

Trying to decide whether that pint of milk left in the back of the fridge is any good? You’ll probably want to check the date. Unfortunately, it probably says ‘sellby,’ which is not exactly informative. ‘Sell-by’ date hasn’t gone by? You might pour a glass and still have it come out all lumpy. ‘Sell-by’ date went by a few weeks ago? You still might toss some perfectly good milk down the sink. e Harvard study says we tend to xate on misleading dates, assuming that anything past the date has gone bad — which is not necessarily the case.

According to Safefood, the all-Ireland body, food waste can be reduced by putting food away as soon as you get home. Check use-by dates to see what should be used rst and items such as chicken breasts bought in bulk should be stored in the freezer.

In another report, the UN says one billion people go to bed every night hungry. Not peckish nor snack-happy but tummy-aching hungry. at UN report also backs up the Irish research, saying that every year a third of all food for human consumption, around 1.3bn tonnes, is wasted, along with the energy, water and chemicals needed to produce it and dispose of it. e UN says Europe and the US have nearly twice as much food as is required by the nutritional needs of their populations.

And here’s another stat from that report: an estimated 20 to 40% of fruit and vegetables are thrown away before they ever reach the shops — mostly because they do not match Tesco’s and Aldi’s and Dunnes’ “excessively strict cosmetic standards”. One billion people in the world who are starving could be lifted out of malnourishment on less that a quarter of that wasted food.

A damning indictment.

‘Toss good milk down the sink...

e old Dunamaggin Legend of little Jenny Butter eld

Leave Kilkenny City. Go out to old Kells, turn right in that historic village, and go a couple of miles towards Dunnamaggin. Stop in the tiny spot known as Breens Cross. ere, cast your glance east. You will see, on the skyline, a column of chestnut and lime trees - ancient when I was a lad. e Trees of Cloyninnie. Look at the second one from the right. Not many alive now know the old legend attached to that tree.

For, underneath its sheltering branches, and long mixed and mouldered and melded into the moss and roots and the good sweet clay, lies the body of a once beautiful young girl.

Her name was Jenny Butter eld. is mysterious name still resonated in the memories of local people, back in the 40’s and 50’s. Jenny had drowned, long before even that time, in an old deep pond down at the back of Condon’s house. It was almost hidden completely by reeds and rushes. When summer mist or winter fog was on the land, it was totally shrouded.

Jenny had been as shy as she was beautiful. Her mother died giving birth to her. A stepmother appeared when she was emerging from happy childhood - owering towards what would have been great beauty. is new person was of an evil nature, and jealous of the young girl’s innocent winsome charm. And if that wasn’t enough to grieve and gripe her - Jenny’s closeness to her father put the cap on it. e nal explosion of rage - which had long been threatening - erupted over a small thing. A pair of shoes.

Small shiny black dancing shoes, with silver buckles. ey had been bought for Jenny by her father, on the Christmas past. Her birth-mother, it was said, had made him promise to get them for her when she reached fteen; and her birthday was just before the Festive Season.

On that fatal mid-summers day that was to end in her doom, Jenny - in the age-old way of sweet young girls - was dancing and pirouetting around in her room, wearing the dancing shoes - instead of being downstairs drudging away - as ordered. e new mother came back from Dunnamaggin village earlier than Jenny expected. A thrashing of savage power and intensity resulted. at night, painful and aching all over, the young girl climbed out of her bedroom window, and went, by the light of the yellow summer moon, through the orchard, and down to the waiting shining water.

Old word has it that there was no mirror in the house - so she could seldom see the lovely features that so griped and enraged her father’s new wife. e mirror of the water beckoned Jenny - as it did the fabled Narcissus. And, just like him - lured her to her doom.

How anyone could have ascertained this chain of circumstances has never been explained. It was probably conjectured up in kindness by the neighbours, at a time when taking one’s own life carried a terrible and unjust stigma. Our forebears of those days had a great compassion.

As to whether Jenny fell in - or threw herself in - only God will ever know. And He, I am told, is just - and forgiving.

Searches were mounted all over. e father walked the country, half-mad with grief. All in vain.

A cold hard winter came early that year, and the locals went skating and sliding on the ice-covered pond. It was on Christmas Day - a year exactly since she’d received the promised and loved present - that a young girl ran, screaming - “Jenny Butter eld was looking up at me - from under the ice!” And so she was. But unseeing.

When the ice was smashed, Jenny was lifted out, and tenderly placed on a topcoat laid on the frozen grass. She was still wearing the silverbuckled dancing shoes. ere wasn’t a sign of decomposition. “She looked as if she was in a peaceful asleep” said old Kate Collins of Baurscoobe - who was eighty years old when I was a child. Kate also said that instead of the usual ‘morti cation of the esh’ one expects in such a sad case - a strange fragrance of apple and wild rose blossoms enveloped the little darlings body - right up until she was interred. e cold and inhumane regime that passed for religion in those grievously damaged days allowed no mercy or pity be shown to the despairing father. His beloved girl was denied a plot in consecrated ground.

So he asked the farmer who owned the land on the sunny side of Cloyninnie if Jenny could be buried there - as many a time she had happily collected blackberries and mushrooms around that wild and beautiful place. { is man was an ancestor of the good Brennan Clan of Loughsullis, some of whom are - thankfully - still with us to this day. And they know of this old legend.} His answer was, of course - ‘yes.’

And there, in that sheltered spot, Jenny was laid, placed so that she would eternally face God’s bright shining sun. And she was - and is - as close to Heaven as any of us will ever be.

Many times when we were children, we used to see, at night, from our high bedroom window, pale orbs of yellow light shimmering around - and leaving - the old pit, and drifting over the bogs and elds towards Cloyninnie. A lot of people testi ed to seeing these phenomena. ‘ e lights of Cloyninnie,’ we called them. Nobody was ever surprised or bothered by them. ey nearly always occurred in high summer, when the night mists hung low over the curlew-calling bogs - or around Christmas, when the cold frosts and fogs of winter rendered frigid the night air.

But my sisters and I were never afraid, because we knew it was only the sad restless spirit of little Jenny Butter eld, on her way to lonely Cloyninnie. e old ruins of her house are long gone now. e scented orchard Jenny drifted through like a wraith, on that moonlit night so long ago, is no more. And the ancient pit has long been lled in.

Almost everything to do with Jenny Butter eld has been erased from the face of the earth. Bulldozed - wiped out. As if she was never in this world.

Only our fading memories, and that tree in Cloyninnie, still exist. Second from the right, on the Dunnamaggin side.

It’s still a leafy green home to the happy crows and the singing thrushes of high summer, and stark as a black skeleton in the cold days of winter.

But it is her guardian - her sentinel: her only memorial.

And underneath it, sweet Jenny Butter eld lies in her eternal sleep.

Ned E

Disclaimer

e opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the author do not necessarily re ect the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints of e Kilkenny Observer.

Chaos is likely to continue at Dublin Airport

Passengers who arrive too early at Dublin Airport will be put in holding area to avoid the continuing queue chaos. Scan machines that could cut Dublin Airport queues in half still 18 months away

The trade union Siptu blames lower pay for delay in replacing staff as Dublin Airport says it will add extra security lanes at peak times

The Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) will limit access to terminals at Dublin Airport at busy periods to two-and-a-half hours and three-and-a-half hours for short and long haul flights as they attempt to avoid further travel chaos over the bank holiday weekend.

In order to access the terminals passengers will be asked to present documentation to indicate departure times.

Chaos at the airport saw more than 1,000 people miss their flights on a recent Sunday.

An urgent plan – requested by Transport Ministers Eamon Ryan and Hildegard Naughton – was expected to be revealed by DAA chief Dalton Philips to the Oireachtas Transport Committee.

Meanwhile, the airport will head into a busy June with staff levels at just 70% of where they were before the pandemic.

The DAA has said it will "work with all passengers who missed a flight to ensure that they are re-imbursed for out-of-pocket expenses incurred as a result of missing their flight, such as re-booked flights, extra accommodation, transport costs, etc”.

However, it appears that the cost of missed events, or accommodation that was unused due to travel delays, will not be covered.

New era is looming as inflation hits record 8.2%

Consumer prices in Ireland are an average of 8.2% higher this month compared to a year ago, according to an estimate by Eurostat.

Six of the 19 Eurozone countries had a lower annual increase than the estimate of 8.2% for Ireland while 12 countries had higher rates. e 8.1% annual in ation in the Eurozone soared past the previous record of 7.4% reached in March and April.

Energy prices jumped 39.2%, highlighting how the war and the accompanying global energy crunch are making life more expensive for the eurozone’s 343 million people.

In ation is now at its highest level since record-keeping for the euro began in 1997.

Ireland’s Central Statistics Of ce (CSO) will provide further details of in ation next week, following up on the gures from Eurostat.

Speaking from Brussels, Taoiseach Micheál Martin warned of a “new era” of higher fossil fuel prices.

Cost of living concerns are set to be among the main issues raised in the Dáil this week, with Sinn Féin tabling a motion to provide a payment to workers earning less than €60,000. e Bill being tabled by Claire Kerrane TD would provide €200 for every adult with an income less than €30,000 and €100 for every adult with an income between €30,000 and €60,000.

Deputy Kerrane said that previous social welfare increases introduced in last year’s budget were now “totally irrelevant”.

“We know that there are far too many people out there, workers and families, people on social welfare and people who are going to work everyday paying their taxes and they are struggling to make ends meet,”

Speaking on RTÉ’s News At One, Paschal Donohoe said the Government had already intervened a number of times to provide relief for people struggling with rising costs.

Deputy Donohoe said that the amount provided by the Exchequer has been “equivalent to entire budgets that I’ve done in the past”.

Meanwhile, spending watchdog the Irish Fiscal Advisory Council urged the Government to be aware that the in ation crisis could impact big ticket spending plans in areas like health and defence.

Minister Donohoe referenced this factor when he said: “I do need to get the balance right that what I do now, doesn’t create further di culties and challenges for us tomorrow which of course Sinn Féin doesn’t care about.”

Our young scientists are back in reality

After two years of virtual exhibitions, the wait is nally over as Ireland’s biggest and brightest showcase for young STEM talent returns to an in-person event in Dublin between January 10 and 14, 2023. e live event will once again bring science and technology to life with amazing student projects, spectacular exhibits, in uential guest speakers, and immersive displays.

Now in its 59th year, the BTYSTE 2023 will throw open its doors to students, from across the island of Ireland, blazing a trail with their creative takes on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). e exhibition brings together the best and brightest of the STEM community in Ireland in a massive celebration of science, technology, and curiosity.

As one of Europe’s longest running science competitions, the BTYSTE is proud of its fantastic alumni, many of whom have gone on to do remarkable things – from setting up tech unicorns, to breaking new ground in scienti c discovery, to building the minds of future young scientists. e exhibition gives students and teachers the chance to work on projects that move science and technology beyond the classroom and into the real world. Applications for the BTYSTE 2023 will close in late September and BT Ireland is encouraging students across Ireland to get their thinking caps on to be in with a chance of featuring at the exhibition.

Participating students will be in the running to win over 200 prizes across all four categories and age groups. e overall winners will take away the top prize of €7,500 and go on to represent Ireland at the prestigious European Union Contest for Young Scientists, where Ireland has won 16 rst place prizes over 32 years.

Soon, you can kiss and cuddle your new virtual baby!

ey will cuddle you, play with you and, of course, resemble you. ey will require minimal resources and will cost next to nothing to bring up.

But the one catch with these 'ideal children' is that they are, in fact, not human, but a virtual creation which an Arti cial Intelligence (AI) expert predicts will be commonplace in 50 years.

Catriona Campbell, one of the UK's leading authorities in AI and emerging and disruptive technologies, made the prediction in a book just published.

In 'AI by Design: A Plan For Living With Arti cial Intelligence', she argues that concerns about overpopulation will prompt society to embrace metaverse-hosted digital babies. It is a demographic transformation she calls the 'Tamagotchi Generation'. "Virtual children may seem like a giant leap from where we are now,” she writes, "but within 50 years technology will have advanced to such an extent that babies... in the metaverse are indistinct from those in the real world. "As the metaverse evolves, I can see virtual children becoming an accepted and embraced part of society.” e metaverse is an immersive digital world, seen as the future of the internet, which will be more physically interactive. Ms Campbell says technology such as high-tech gloves might reproduce the physical sensations of cuddling, feeding and playing with one's o spring.

She cites concern about the environmental toll exacted by the world's increasing population, which is nearing eight billion.

Many researchers believe that declining fertility rates will cause the world's population to fall in the second half of the century, and some argue that technological advances will ensure that the next generation's environmental footprint is smaller than our own. Ms Campbell argues that consumers will be attracted to environmentally friendly digital children.

Referring to the virtual pets that became a craze in the late 1990s and early 2000s, she said: "We're already well on our way to creating the Tamagotchi Generation which, for all intents and purposes, will be 'real' to their parents. On the basis that consumer demand is there, which I think it will be, AI children will become widely available for a relatively small monthly fee. " is development, if managed correctly, could help us solve some of today's most pressing issues, including overpopulation.”