Dun Laoghaire

YOUR COMMUNITY • YOUR PAPER April 19, 2012

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Council invited to splash out on pool€1.5m sought for ‘urban beach’ plan at East Pier

� BAIRBRE NI BHRAONAIN

DUN Laoghaire Harbour Company has offered Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Coun-ty Council an opportunity to be partners in a proposed “urban beach” project on the East Pier if the council invests €1.5 million in the scheme.

At a council meeting, Dun Laoghaire Harbour Com-pany’s CEO, Gerry Dunne, presented a detailed plan to councillors to build a “bade-schiff” – or floating swimming pool – in Dun Laoghaire har-bour, at a cost of €3 million.

The idea would ensure the provision of a beach environ-

ment on the East Pier in Dun Laoghaire, complete with lounging area and heated swimming pool.

However, while most coun-cillors liked the idea, they wanted greater detail before any commitment could be made, financial or otherwise.

Full Story on Page 6

Gilmore girls:Ready to greet the TanaisteLAURA Fitzsimons, Steffi Phillips and Principal, Liz Caffrey were standing by, ready to help give An Tanaiste, Eamon Gilmore a great Rockford Manor welcome when he visited the school recently.

The Tanaiste had been invited to the school to make a presenta-tion to Ciara McConnell, a Rock-ford student who represented Ireland at the European Youth Parliament in Istanbul. He also took the opportunity to listen to the school choir, and to encour-age the students to keep striving for academic success.

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OPINION: Why Ireland should ratify the Fiscal Compact Treaty See Page 4

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2 DUN LAOGHAIRE GAZETTE 19 April 2012

SCHOOLS Eamon Gilmore pays visit to Rockford Manor

Encouraging students to striveA

N TANAISTE, Eamonn Gilmore, was a special guest of honour at Rockmore Presentation Sec-ondary School recently, where he addressed the

school assembly, congratulating the school on some of its recent, impressive achievements, and discussing the importance of students maximising their education.

The Tanaiste had been invited to the school to make

a presentation to Ciara McConnell, a Rockford student who represented Ireland at the European Youth Parlia-ment in Istanbul.

Tanaiste Gilmore also took in the dulcet tones of the extremely successful school choir, who recently claimed the runners-up berth in the Turner-Huggard Cup in the Feis Ceoil, for which he congratulated them.

Margaret Timoney, Julianne Knowles and Tanya Putz. Pictures: Margaret Brown

An Tanaiste, Eamon Gilmore, with Ciara McConnell

Tom Jeffers Sandra Joyce

Imane Hachadi and Amy Livingstone

Teachers Cathy Keane and Emmanuelle Toulliou

Follow the last day of a Quare Fellow

THEATRE: BEHAN CLASSIC SET TO RUN AT THE MILL

A NEW production of Brendan Behan’s, The Quare Fellow, is on at the Mill Theatre in Dundrum this May.

This production is by Both Sides Theatre Company, which was set up nine years ago with performers from various different drama groups and from both sides of the Border.

Those involved in the theatre company hail from counties Cavan, Monaghan and Ferman-agh.

The Quare Fellow established Behan’s rep-utation in Ireland and abroad, and was first pro-duced by Carolyn Swift and Alan Simpson for Dublin’s Pike Theatre in 1954.

The play is a critique of

capital punishment and the eponymous “ quare fellow” refers to the con-demned man, who is never seen.

The play is set in Mountjoy Prison, and begins and ends with a prisoner singing the Behan-written song, The Old Triangle.

ExperiencesBehan drew on his own

experiences in the play, and is set in Mountjoy in the 24 hours preceding an execution.

The play runs from Monday, May 7 to Tues-day, May 8, and begins at 8pm in the Main Audito-rium of the Mill Theatre.

Ticket prices range from €12 to €15, and can be obtained from the box office at 01 296 9340.

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19 April 2012 DUN LAOGHAIRE GAZETTE 3

Councillor Victor Boyhan (Ind) was among those who refused to approve the

additional expenditure needed to cover the council’s €1.7m overspend

€1.7 million overspend is approved by councillors� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

C O U N C I L L O R S approved a controversial €1.7 million overspend at a recent council meeting of Dun Laoghaire-Rath-down County Council.

Shock was expressed by some council mem-bers at the overspend, but it was still agreed to cover the capital overspend by the council.

The areas in which the spending exceeded that approved by councillors were in Transportation (€1,077,445), Environ-ment (€512,569), Agri-culture (€261,569) and Miscellaneous Services (€331,547).

Councillor Victor Boy-han (Ind) was among the dissenters who refused to approve the additional expenditure needed to cover this overspending.

He said: “This is unau-thorised overspending that must never happen again.”

At a Dun Laoghaire-Ra thdow n counc i l meeting on April 10, Cllr Boyhan, Cllr Melisa Halpin (PBP) and Cllr Hugh Lewis (PBP) voted against the measure to extend more funds to the council’s petitioner,

Owen Keegan, county manager.

Fine Gael, Labour and FF councillors present at the meeting voted in favour of the manager’s proposals to approve the overspend.

Cllr Boyhan said: “I am concerned about the unauthorised expendi-ture that has now been brought to councillors’ attention.

“The total indebted-ness of the council, on foot of loans outstanding at December 31, is €171.7 million, and the county manager said that most of this indebtedness relates primarily to hous-ing loans.”

He demanded to know when and how the man-ager expected this debt to be addressed.

At the council meeting, the manager’s financial report was presented to the council, and details of how the money was used over the past year were revealed.

The county manager said that €516,000 was used to create a pensions reserve.

Cllr Boyhan called on the manager to explain, firstly, why this matter was not brought to the attention of councillors before the decision was

made, and, secondly, who had made the decision.

He went on to say that the practise of seeking councillors’ approval after the fact “amounted to poor corporate gov-ernance, which would not be tolerated in the private sector”.

When contacted by The Gazette, a council spokesperson said that: “The draft Annual Finan-cial Statement 2011, and accompanying Manag-er’s report, was presented to the council ...

“The report outlined that additional expendi-ture was incurred, which was more than offset by additional income, result-ing in an overall modest surplus on the coun-cil’s revenue account in 2011.”

The council’s spokes-person gave the example of the road grants, which were allocated after the council’s budget was adopted. Most of the additional expenditure arose because the roads grant allocation exceed-ed that budgeted for.

Finally, the spokesper-son said that the council “operates robust budget-ary control measures, as is evidenced by the fact it maintains a balanced budget each year”.

BEAUTYPAGE 16

Manicures: ‘You’ll love Lancome’s luxurious new Vernis in Love range’

DLRCC This must never happen again – Boyhan

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Why I will be voting Yes on the Fiscal Compact

TREATY Minister Joan Burton gives us her view

Joan Burton: “Voting Yes will show Ireland is willing to play its part in building a more financially stable Europe.”

WHEN I speak to big multina-tional employ-

ers, many in Blanchard-stown in my own constit-uency, they tell me that one reason they continue to locate in Ireland is because they believe the country is committed to the European Union.

We have punched well above our weight when i t comes to attracting foreign direct investment here.

One of the reasons companies like PayPal, Google and Facebook come here is because they see Ireland as a committed member of the eurozone.

I believe that voting Yes in the referendum will show that Ireland is willing to play its part in building a more financially stable Euro-pean Union.

StabilisingVoting Yes will help

stabilise the euro and boost investor confi-dence in Ireland.

To vote No would bewilder American and other foreign compa-nies that are planning their European invest-ments.

It could threaten the hard-won business opportunities we are

building in China and elsewhere.

There is a big advan-tage of staying the course with Europe.

For starters, collective action to boost growth and investment offers a much better prospect to restore the health of national budgets than sole reliance on auster-ity.

Our previous experi-ence of such joint Euro-pean action through the Regional and Social funds was entirely posi-tive.

Our roads and col-leges are the legacy of those funds that we con-tinue to enjoy today.

Ireland is not alone in its current troubles. Bank debts and unem-ployment haunt many European economies.

Inside the tentThere is more to be

done to help belea-guered countries.

I believe we are far better off making that case along with like-minded Governments inside the European tent than being a lone voice outside.

This Government has put painstaking effort into rebuilding Ireland’s reputational capital in Europe, in the

USA and the emerging global powerhouse that is China.

There are some indi-cations that this effort is bearing fruit, notably in the confirmation by leading international companies that Ireland continues to be as much a magnet for inward investment as it was a decade ago.

A No vote would upend that process. Countries don’t have friends, they have inter-ests.

That is particularly true of a small coun-try that has success-fully chosen to base its development and pros-perity on being a trad-ing nation.

It is in our interestIt is in our interest to

be inside every Europe-an Council, committed to national budget disci-pline as one significant – but far from exclusive – part of a strategy to promote growth and job security in every corner of Europe.

It is entirely contrary to our interests to take a reckless gamble now that would leave Ireland isolated, perplex our friends and exasperate those who are currently funding our State till we

restore our capacity to do so ourselves.

Plugging the gapWe are current ly

borrowing €50 million a day to plug the gap between what we raise in taxes and what we spend.

There is no escape,

one way or the other, from fiscal restraint in our present situation.

To pretend otherwise is dishonest.

Voting Yes gives Ire-land an insurance pol-icy in terms of access to a special European assistance fund if need-ed.

A No vote may give the appearance of inde-pendence.

But it could require Ireland to negotiate emergency funds that might have tougher conditions attached.

It will be up to every voter, every family and every community to

consider very carefully how they cast their vote in the referendum on 31 May.

For the reasons I have explained, I will be voting Yes.

Joan Burton TD Minister for Social Protection

JOAN BURTON, Minister for Social Protection and newly-appointed Director of Elections for the Yes campaign, tells us why Ireland should ratify the Fiscal Compact Treaty and why it works for us

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Ready to help, lickety split: Pat’s not yet the

retiring type when there’s a job to get on withDUN Laoghaire man Pat Stanley (right) joined Mary Daly and Jim Behan to help launch the Trade and Tourism Show, organ-ised by the national representative body, Active Retirement Ireland.

With his new pals, Pat, a member of the Dun Laoghaire Active Retirement Associa-tion, took a moment to have a colourful break before the launch, which was held

to raise awareness of the show at Citywest Hotel, Saggart. At the trade show, which was held earlier this week, a wide range of events and businesses were on hand to cater for the often overlooked retiree market.

Pat’s, and the other active retirees’, message was for companies and retailers to be more aware of the power, and value for businesses, of catering for the “grey euro” market.

� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

DUN Laoghaire-Rath-down is to receive a total of €55,000 from the Department for the Environment, Commu-nity and Local Govern-ment this year to target graffiti and litter.

Minister Phil Hogan released the grant allo-

cation figures for all councils in the country on Friday, April 13.

Dun Laoghaire-Rath-down County Council was allocated the sec-ond-highest amount, after Dublin City Coun-cil, which is to receive a grant total of €90,000.

The provis ion of €2,150,000 in grants is being doled out to local authorities, with

€900,000 of this total coming under the head-ing of the Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti Awareness Grant Scheme, which is for public education and awareness initiatives in relation to both litter and graffiti.

Up to €750,000 will go towards a new Litter Enforcement Scheme, and a further €500,000 is being allocated spe-

cifically for the Tourist Season Anti-Litter Grant Scheme.

These grants to city and county councils come under the Aware-ness Scheme, and cover a broad range of meas-ures engineered to raise public awareness of their environment and promote anti-litter and anti-graffiti initiatives at a local level.

The Litter Enforce-ment Scheme is intended to support the enforce-ment activities of local authorities through such measures as the deploy-ment of mobile CCTV equipment to catch fly-tippers and illegal dump-ers.

The 2012 Anti-Litter and Anti-Graffiti Aware-ness grant for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown is

€35,000, while the 2012 Tourist Season Anti-Lit-ter grant allocation for Dun Laoghaire-Rath-down is €20,000.

The €500,000 pro-vided under the Tour-ist Season Scheme is intended to encourage local authorities to strive to ensure that key tourist attractions are well pre-sented during the peak summer season.

DLR to get €55k boost to target graffitiFUNDING Schemes to target local litter, dumping, fly-tipping issues

Respected film editor’s talk at IADT� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

THE National Film School of Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design (IADT) hosted a talk given by Tony Law-son as part of their Lec-ture Series.

The highly-respected and experienced film edi-tor has worked on such classic films as Stanley Kubrick’s, Barry Lyndon, and Sam Peckinpah’s, Straw Dogs, and Lawson has also collaborated extensively throughout his career with Nicolas Roeg.

He is one of Britain’s foremost film editors, and has also edited all of Neil Jordan’s films since 1996, including his latest work, Byzantium, which is in post-production.

Lawson was born in London in 1944 and, from the mid-sixties onwards, he freelanced as an assistant sound edi-tor and assistant editor on features.

In 1971, he got his big break on the film, Straw Dogs, and impressed the director, Sam Peckin-pah, who used his talents twice more in the Seven-ties. Next, he worked for two years with the noto-rious Stanley Kubrick on Barry Lyndon.

On editing, Lawson has said: “One of the things editors should be looking for is conflicts and con-trasts – cut from a wide shot to a close shot, loud to soft, bright to dark ... all those kind of things.”

He has said that he sees film as a highly collabora-tive process, although it’s certainly possible to iden-tify different directors’ films, and suggests that “a director can get to what he wants more easily, more fully, if the people that he surrounds himself with either understand him, or they understand each other, essentially”.

The lecture series is being run in association with Bord Scannan na hEireann/The Irish Film Board.

TWO writers from Black-rock, and one from Dun Laoghaire, are among those selected for the shortlist for the 41st Hen-nessy Literary Awards, this year.

Maire T Robinson, of Blackrock, is in the Emerging Fiction catego-ry with her book, Another Breakfast For You.

Susan Lanigan, of Dun Laoghaire, has also gone forward in this category with her novel, Infinite Loop. Finally, Barbara Tarrant, of Blackrock, is in the First Fiction cat-egory for Baby.

The judges include New Irish Writing page editor, Ciaran Carty, and acclaimed novelists, Giles Foden and Deirdre Pur-cell.

Each category win-ner will receive a trophy and €1,500, while the New Writer of the Year receives an additional €2,500. Previous winners include Dermot Bolger, Joseph O’Connor, Patrick McCabe, Colum McCann, Frank McGuinness, Anne Enright, Hugo Hamilton and Neil Jordan.

The Hennessy Literary Awards are due to take place on April 24 at the residence of the French Ambassador to Ireland.

Shortlist places for local writers

ARTS: FINAL GLORY FOR DLR TRIO

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‘Previous winners include Joseph O’Connor, Frank McGuinness and Neil Jordan’------------------------------------------


Company asks council to splash out on floating pool� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

[email protected]

DUN Laoghaire Har-bour Company (DLHC) is looking for Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council to invest €1.5 million in a new project on Dun Laoghaire pier.

The company pre-sented a proposal to go into partnership with the council to develop an urban beach on the East Pier.

Gerry Dunne, chief executive, DLHC, pre-sented the scheme to the council at a meeting on Tuesday, April 10.

Dunne said that the badeschiff (urban beach) model that DLHC hopes

to create is based on one in Berlin.

Several focus groups were consulted by the company about the idea of an urban beach area, and all were in favour of it, he said.

The badeschiff is a “floating” swimming pool in the sea. Berlin has had one for 12 years, where it has proved highly attrac-tive to visitors.

However, Councillor Melisa Halpin (PBP) said she couldn’t understand why the council should get involved with such a pool project when there was already an unfin-ished baths project that the council had commit-ted itself to completing by 2010.

She also said that the

potential commerciali-sation of such a project was not to be welcomed, and that the one in Berlin turned into a nightclub at night.

In response, Gerry Dunne said that the urban beach project on the East Pier would be a public amenity, and not a commercial enterprise.

RelaxingHe said the one in Ber-

lin was much larger, and was used for a different purpose than that pro-posed for Dun Laoghaire, which would be for relax-ing and bathing only.

As far as alcohol was concerned, Dunne said the onus would instead be on the consumption of sandwiches and burgers.

In answer to a question relating to parking provi-sion, Dunne said that a maximum of 350 people could use the facility at a given time, and that there was ample parking for half that number of cars.

Other councillors, such as Cllr Niamh Breathnach (Lab) wanted more time to consider the DLHC proposal, and said that such details as who would run it, and more, had to be ironed out in advance of any commitment for so large an investment.

The swimming pool, or badeschiff, is filled with heated water, but how to accomplish this both efficiently and with clean water was a concern raised and talked about by Gerry Dunne.

The water would be heated by a closed-loop heat pump, which would use the temperature of the sea, and the mini-mum temperature raised for the pool would be 26 to 27 Celsius.

The council heard that, because the bade-schiff would be using sea water, it would cut down on the cost, as well as fulfill DLHC’S intention to recycle the existing barge.

The council also heard that the badeschiff model is very popular in many European countries, including Paris, where a beach atmosphere is cre-ated in the city centre.

The badeschiff is not a new idea, as Gerry Dunne outlined, showing slides

of Kingstown Harbour, as the harbour was known in 1888, where it possessed a floating swimming pool.

Potential charges for the use of the facility, including the lounging areas and pool, were esti-mated at around €15 for an adult and two children, and €5 for a student, for a two-hour slot.

The badeschiff is part of the Harbour Master Plan, and will be open from April to September, if it proceeds.

The projected revenue for a full year would be €670,000, which will be pumped back into the scheme. It is hoped that a second stage of the urban beach project would also include a winter facility, including sauna facilities.

THE Siansa Gael Linn final will include a young traditional group from Booterstown, called Na Fatai Fanacha.

The group is from Colaisti Eoin and Iosa-gain, Booterstown, and will be performing in the National Concert Hall at the Siansa Gael Linn All-Ireland final on April 29.

The young musicians in the final are Cathal O Crocaigh, Fionn Mac Muiris, Conor Leavy, Sean Og Mac Chinneide, Philip Og Denmead, Doireann Ni Ghlacain, Martha Ni Chianain and Padraig Og Mac Aodhagain.

PreliminaryThe competition start-

ed last December, and the eight finalists have quali-fied through two prelimi-nary rounds of the com-petition since then.

The prize fund for the event is €4,500. The win-ner will receive €2,500 and the Gael Linn trophy; those in second place will be awarded €1,250, while the group in third place will receive €750.

These groups will also have their winning per-formances released on CD.

The Siansa Gael Linn Grand Finale will be broadcast live from the National Concert Hall on RTE Raidio na Gaeltachta on Sunday, April 29 at 7.30pm, and will be presented by Aine Hensey.

A limited number of tickets for the event are still available from the National Concert Hall; telephone 01 417 0000, or see www.nch.ie.

Na Fatai Fanacha in Gael Linn bid

MUSIC: FINALE

DLRCC Call for €1.5m investment in ‘badeschiff’

The concept of a floating pool in Dun Laoghaire is not a new one, as this old print of Kingstown’s Floating Swimming Bath in 1888 shows



Serving up top tips for a healthy lifestyleT

HE Gazette needed little persua-sion to tuck into a number of deli-cious foods at Rathdown School,

Glenageary, recently when it called by to examine the school’s Health Week initiative.

The week was held to raise awareness amongst the students about healthy

eating, keeping fit and maintaining an overall positive mental attitude, with the importance of physical and mental health alike highlighted for all.

Throughout the week, guest speakers spoke to students about various related topics, while the students also organ-ised a number of events.

For example, the school’s first-year home economic students invited students from sixth-class junior school into the kitchen to see what healthy treats they were making – just one of a number of tempting ways to raise the students’ awareness of staying healthy in every way.

Aisling Duffy and Sophie Hopkins show The Gazette some delicious, freshly-baked – and healthy – food. Pictures: Geraldine Woods

Visiting sixth-class students enjoyed sampling the nutritious foods

Lorraine Callaghan, head

of Home Economics Dept Carly Jacobson

SCHOOLS Health Week at Rathdown School, Glenageary

Susan Coyle and Blathnaid Howe

ENTERPRISENEWS

Are you looking to Start Your Own Business but are unsure of how and where to begin?

Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Enterprise Board is running a ‘Start You Own Business’ course which begins on Tuesday, 8th May 2012. This 8 week programme will be held in Nutgrove Enterprise Park, Rathfarnham and will run from 7 to 10pm over successive Tuesday evenings.

Specialist trainers will teach course participants how to research a business idea, assess its com-mercial viability, pick an appropriate business structure, identify sources of funding and explore effective sales and marketing strategies. All course content has been carefully chosen to support any new product or service-led business.

The course contents include:- Generating & Refining Business Ideas, Legal Issues for Your Start-Up, Preparing a Business Plan, Marketing Your Small Business, Researching Your Market, Small Business Finance, Finance & Taxation Issues and Managing Your Finances.

Participants on this training programme will also have the option of availing of FETAC Level 6 certi-fication at no extra cost and will receive a free copy of the “Starting Your Own Business” Workbook written by Ron Immink & Brian O’Kane and pub-lished by Oak Tree Press.

The training programme fee is only €150. Places can be booked via www.dlrceb.ie/training or by calling (01) 494 8400.

Get Your Business Up & Running in 2012 – 8 Week ‘Start Your Own Business’ Training Programme


OpeningShining amenity to enjoyE

VEN the sun was keen to see the official opening of the Metals Project in Dun Laoghaire recently, as it beamed down on

the large number of local people and politi-cians attending the unveiling of the new civic square at Marine Road.

Opened by Phil Gaffney, chairman, Iarnrod Eireann, and An Cathaoirleach, Councillor John Bailey, many local politicians were also in attendance, with all admiring the attractively-designed area, replete with newly-planted trees and a state-of-the-art playground, making the Metals Project shine as a particularly fine amenity for all the community to enjoy.Gallery continues on Page 10

Aofie Farrelly, Janine Gunning and Councillor Maria Bailey. Pictures: Geraldine Woods

An Cathaoirleach, Councillor John Bailey, lets Bryan

Kavanagh try on his chains of office

Caroline Vaughan and her mother, Eva Rosie Campbell and Eddie Sweeney Donn Brennan and Noel O’Neill

COMMUNITY Public space, the Metals project, is launched

Gillian Fitzgerald Ferry Sweeney

TAKE TWO


Public space, the Metals project, is launched

Great piazza shines as a new local facility

Cllrs Sean Fitzpatrick, Gerry Horkin, Richard Humphreys, An Cathaoirleach John Bailey, Pat Hand and Jim O’Dea

with (front) Carrie Smyth, Lettie McCarthy, Maria Bailey, Marie Baker, Jane Dillon-Byrne and Niamh Breathnach

Nancy Forsyth, Dan Hurst, Betty Doyle and Gillian Fitzgerald of the Forum for

Older People

County Manager, Owen Keegan, with Cathoirleach John Bailey, Phil Gaffney,

chairman, Ianrod Eireann, and Dick Fearn, CEO, Ianrod Eireann

Councillors Maria Bailey and John Bailey at the newly-unveiled plaque

19 April 2012 GAZETTE 11

12 GAZETTE 19 April 2012

Taoiseach Enda Kenny with former Irish Rugby international Mick Galway, Michael Dawson from One4all,

founder of the Soul of Haiti Foundation and TV3 presenter Aidan Cooney, help kick start Haiti Week 2012

Gearing up to go in Cycle4HaitiCALLING all cycling enthusi-asts. Make 2012 the year you give something back by taking part in the Cycle4haiti challenge this May.

There are just three weeks left until the third annual Cycle-4haiti charity which aims to raise €300,000 for the Soul of Haiti Foundation.

The cycle will take place dur-ing the May bank holiday week-end, beginning on Saturday, May 5 at three locations – Dublin, Sligo and Tipperary.

All three will then meet at Ath-lone for an overnight rest to start again on Sunday, May 6 for fur-ther 85kms to finish line in Eyre Square, Galway.

Anyone interested in taking part from Dublin still has time to register at www.cycle4haiti.com, and there is also information on training events across Ireland in the run-up to the cycle.

Some of the large number of teams taking part from Dublin include Rowdy Riders, MRFC, Topbuzzers, Team Smiles, Glo-bal Diagnostics, Kellogg’s, TBA, Team Slattery and The Cycle-paths.

ROG meets dog, asks you to get involvedIRISH rugby legend Ronan O’Gara was on hand with TV star Sinead Desmond to launch the Pedigree Adoption Drive, which will run through to May 31.

Recent statistics released by the Department of Environment, Com-munity and Local Government, have shown that 1,058 dogs were abandoned in Dublin City in 2010 with 79% of these dogs finding new homes.

This is a slight drop on the previ-ous year’s figure when 80% of aban-doned dogs were re-homed.

On a national level, statistics have shown that, on average, 44 dogs are abandoned and a further 10 dogs are put to sleep every day in Ireland.

In order to help curb these shock-ing figures, Pedigree has once again launched the Pedigree Adoption Drive.

Now in its fifth year, the Pedigree

Adoption Drive continues to raise awareness of animal welfare.

To find out more on dog adop-tion, from how the adoption proc-ess works, from training to everyday care, visit www.Facebook.com/PedigreeIreland

Joining Jamie to run 10k for Calcutta’s poorTHE 2012 Calcutta Run was launched by Irish rugby star, Jamie Heaslip in Dublin last week.

The run is being held once more to raise money for the homeless in Dublin and Calcutta.

The 10 km route is from Blackha-ll Place, through the Phoenix Park and back to the start.

There will be a great post-race party and barbecue waiting for all of the participants at the finish line.

Now in its 14th year, the popular fun run has raised more than €2 million for the Peter McVerry Trust and GOAL since 1999.

The 2012 Calcutta Run will take place on Saturday, May 26. People can register at www.calcuttarun.com.

DIARY

SNAPSHOT The stories of the day

Time to get on your bike Time to get on your bike TaoiseachTaoiseach

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EVENT A breathtaking display of piano music

Tinkling the ivory in this jubilee event� BAIRBRE NI

BHRAONAIN

THE 25th anniversary of the Dublin International Piano Competition takes place in May.

The prestigious com-petition is a member of the World Federation of International Music Com-petitions and is ranked in the top five piano compe-titions in the world.

This year, 60 pianists from four continents, all under the age of 30, will compete in Dublin from May 4 to May 15 for the acclaimed title and gen-erous monetary prize.

Artistic Director and co-founder John O’Conor said, “We have received tremendous support since the foundation and the 25th Dublin Interna-tional Piano Competition

promises to be our most exciting to date.”

The competition has been running since 1987 and takes place in Dublin every three years.

To date there have been eight competitions.

The first two prelimi-nary stages of the four stage competition is open to the public and will be held in The Royal Dublin Society, from Friday May 4 to Thursday May 10.

The National Concert Hall will host the semi-final and final, both of which will be recorded by Radio Telefis Eir-eann and offered to the European Broadcasting Union for transmission throughout Europe.

This event is esteemed throughout the world and attracts enormous attention.

Some of the contestants in this year’s Dublin International Piano Competition

The semi-finals will take place on Saturday, May 12, and Sunday, May 13, in the National Concert Hall.

All twelve semi-final-ists must perform one of the five specially com-missioned Irish pieces of music for this year’s competition.

After this, four finalists will compete for the title in the final concerto per-formances taking place on Tuesday, May 15, with the RTE National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland under the baton of James Cavanagh.

Steinway and Sons are providing all of the pianos for the 2012 com-

petition and, over the 12 days of the competition, 60 hours of music will be performed in total.

T he compe t i t i on affords young pianists the opportunity to com-pete at an elite level. In addition, it offers Irish contestants an oppor-tunity to hold their own on home ground.

The competition’s first phase will go on for four days after which 24 competitors will be selected to go forward to the second stage of 40-minute recitals over two days.

The Dublin Interna-tional Piano Competi-tion is adjudicated by

illustrious international members of the music profession, chaired by John O’Conor.

The winner of this year’s competition will be offered a number of international engage-ments, including debut recitals at Carnegie Hall in New York, the Wigmore Hall in Lon-don and other prestig-ious venues around the world.

To find out more infor-mation about the event and for ticket details, you can go online at www.dipc.ie.

Tickets for the RDS rounds are €5 per ses-sion, or €12 per day.

They are available at the box office in the RDS Concert Hall on the day before each event.

Tickets for the semi-finals in the National Concert Hall cost €10 per session, or €30 for all four.

Choir Balcony tick-ets are €7 per session and are available online at www.nch.ie or at the NCH Box Office 01-4170000.

Tickets for the finals in the National Concert Hall are €45 and Choir Balcony tickets cost €20.

All are available from the National Concert Hall Box Office.

Petmania reminds sponsors MANY people and dogs braved the harsh weather on Easter Monday to take part in the Petma-nia National Dog Walk 2012.

Walkers are now reminded to return their sponsorship cards before Sunday April 22 to claim their walker rewards.

For those that regis-tered to take part, but who were unable to make it on account of the weather, Petmania are urging them to take their four-legged friend on a 5KM walk over the next few days and col-lect the sponsorship, which could get walkers a number of rewards.

Walkers can collect a €10 Petmania Store voucher if they reach €50, while getting to €120 will get 10% off Allianz Pet Insurance, €200 will get a free bag of breed specific 12-15kg Royal Canine Dog Food, €400 will get a €40 voucher for Petmania Grooming Studios and €800 will get a fabulous break for two adults and one dog at Harvey’s Point Hotel in Donegal. This break includes two nights B&B plus one evening meal, and is worth €400.

Sponsorship cards can be returned to any local Petmania store, or online by debit or credit card at www.petmania.ie

CHARITY

GazettePETSPETSBrought to you by Miriam Kerins of

the DSPCA

THE FACTS: WHAT TO CONSIDER WHEN YOUR CHILD ASKS FOR A HORSE

Horseplay can cost, so bewareS

o your little dar-l ing thinks it would be “fun” to saddle up and

ride her own pony. Ah, bless. I mean, you’ve scrimped and scraped your few euro together, sacrificed your monthly manicure and sent her to horse-riding lessons every Sunday morning for the past six months. But it’s backfired. Now she’s begging you until you’re a t breaking point. What’s a hassled mam to do?

Should you buy her a pony, I mean; it’s nice for her to have an interest in ani-mals. Right?

To be honest, as a mam I would want to make sure my child had a “passion” for horses, rather than just an “interest”.

You see , having raised two children to

adulthood, I know that an “interest” is nearly always just a passing phase, that will fizzle out and become so last year; kinda like that whole major Blondie look you had going on when you were 14. (Or was that just me?).

So mammie dearest, before you take your daughter horse shop-ping next Saturday, keep the following guidelines in mind.

Riding lessons for at least six months to a year.

This will give your daughter the oppor-tunity to learn from a professional who will be familiar with her abilities and who can be available in case she requires help. It will also give her an insight into grooming, han-dling, safety, etc., as well as the obvious, riding.

What type of horse does she want? Can you afford it?

A mare or a gelding should only be consid-ered. A stallion will be far too difficult for her to handle and can prove dangerous.

Remember there is no such thing as a bad horse and all horses need training; patience and quality t ime is the key. Personality is important. Ask your daughter to have her instructor give her a selection of horses to ride over the course of her lessons, and have her list the things she l ikes/disl ikes about individual ones.

Does she like the quiet, laid back animal or does she feel the need for something a tad feistier? Would a pony be better suited to her needs?

Horses can cost and be time-consuming, so weigh up the pros and cons before buying

What type of riding is your child inter-ested in?

Competit ive show jumping? Trail riding? Does she just want a companion animal?

Where will she keep her horse?

Do you have a boarding stable on your land? If not, is there one locally? Can you afford the rent?

Remember mam, if WW111 breaks out every t ime you ask your daughter to clean her bedroom or do her homework; is she really likely to give a commit-ment to this horse?

She’ll need to give the animal two hours a day, five days a week – minimum. Half an hour to groom and tack up, at least one hour to ride (remember a happy, healthy horse is the one that is ridden at least five times a week), another half an hour to cool him down and settle him back into his stable.

Monthly Budget?Boarding! Do you

have a stable at home? Do you need to rent stables? There will be a cost for feed, hay, stall bedding, etc.

What happens i f your horse becomes ill? You’ll need to have

access to an equine vet. They cost money. You’ll have recurring expenses like a farrier, vaccina-tions, worming, tack and other supplies such as grooming brushes, first-aid kit, a good quality shampoo, etc.

Worst Case Sce-nario?

When you take own-ership of a horse, or any animal, you give an undertaking to care for him for the entire duration of his life-time. However, what if something happens to your daughter and she can no longer ride her horse; or you lose your job and can no longer afford his upkeep.

You can’t just aban-don him and hope for the best. Abandonment is cruel and punishable by prosecution.

Horses can live until they are 30 years old so, in the event you can no longer take care of him, it’s your responsibility to find him a new home in an environment best suited to his needs, with an owner you can trust implicitly.

Remember, finding that special new owner can take time and lots of research.

For more informa-tion, contact your local equine vet or log onto www.dspca.ie or email me at [email protected]



Slim down yourbulging wardrobes� LAURA WEBB

SLIM down bulging wardrobes while helping a good cause, as Enable Ireland and TK Maxx join forces to raise a quarter of a million euro for charity this month.

Give Up Clothes for Good, is Ireland’s larg-est charity drive, which aims to raise €250,000 throughout April. Dub-liners are being asked to drop their unwanted quality clothing, acces-sor ie s and house -hold items to any TK Maxx store. Donations received throughout the month of April will go on to be sold in Enable Ireland shops to raise funds for vital services for children with disabil-ities across the country.

A recent survey car-ried out by TK Maxx

revealed over half of Dublin shoppers have clothes, shoes and acces-sories in their wardrobes that they have not worn in over a year.

This revelation expos-es city slickers to have the highest quota of unworn cloths in Ire-land. Dubliners were also exposed to be the worst impulse buyers in the country, with a third of residents admitting to splurging on a whim.

The research was conducted in support of the Enable Ireland/TK Maxx initiative, Give Up Clothes for Good.

The survey, which was carried out by Amarach Research, found that over 40% of Irish adults exper ience buyers ’ remorse. It also showed 20% of Irish women have more than six pairs

of trousers and of shoes that they have not worn in over a year. This sug-gests there are many top-quality items perfect for the cause. Each bag filled with clothes could potentially raise up to €30 for Enable Ireland, so every donation makes a difference.

Fionnuala O’Donovan from Enable Ireland commented: “We are delighted to be work-ing in conjunction with our partner TK Maxx on Give Up Clothes for Good this year.

“We are confident that the Irish public will really get behind the campaign with their generous donations of clothes and homeware.

“We urge the Irish public to clear out their wardrobes and cup-boards and part with

items that they may not have worn or used for a time.

“We will put your gifts and donations to good use in the Enable Ire-land shops to support our work for children with disabilities and their families.”

Founded in 1948, Enable Ireland provides services for 3,541 chil-dren and 219 adults. The charity also supports people with disabilities and their families in 15 counties.

TK Maxx is Enable Ireland’s biggest retail partner. Since the part-nership began back in 1997, the retail giant has raised over €900,000 for Enable Ireland.

Give Up Clothes for Good donation bags are available in all TK Maxx stores but any bag can

CHARITY Enable Ireland and TK Maxx join forces to raise €250,000 for charity

Pictured are Chloe Monaghan, aged 6, with RTE 2 Children’s presenter, Diana

Bunici, at the launch of Give Up Clothes for Good

be used, from supersize carrier bags to bin bags. For the nearest store, or to find out more, visit www.tkmaxx.ie

Enable Ireland can-not accept any electrical

goods, furniture or any items that are broken or require repair due to health and safety regula-tions.

There is an added incentive to this year’s

initiative, as those doing their bit by bringing in a donation will be given a chance to enter a draw to win €1,000 TK Maxx gift card via www.tkmaxx.ie

GazetteBEAUTYBEAUTY

TAKE in summer’s scent through an explo-sion of fresh smells with Emporio Armani’s new fragrance, Diamonds Summer for women.

The spring/summer season is when great smells come to life, from flowers to newly cut grass. It’s also the time when people find their own signature smell by choosing the right fragrance. One fragrance for Gazette Beauty this season is Emporio Armani’s Diamonds Summer for women. The fragrance is a musky, floral scent that gives a sense of freshness to the air. Hints of raspberry and green apple sorbet turn it into something that is good enough to eat.

What’s even better about this fragrance is that it is also available for men – Diamonds Summer for Men. This scent awakens the senses with its crisp, fresh mint and iced lemon aroma.

Each Emporio Armani Diamonds Summer is enclosed in a special limited edition bottle which sparkles – exquisitely faceted to assert the audacity of a true summer scent, loud and full of delight, and Emporio Armani Diamonds Summer for Men comes encased in a bottle inspired by ice sculptures radiat-ing light and a sparkling energy.

Discover a delicious new scent for summer with Emporio Armani

Falling in love with Vernis in Love’s bright, block colours

Love Rose Manicure

GAZETTE Beauty has never been one to shy away from a manicure, or let nails go unnoticed, so when we saw Lancome’s new range of striking nail colours we knew we had to put our hands up and take notice.

Bright block colours are the way forward this summer, so why not accentuate that fact with even bolder nails. Lancome’s new Vernis in Love range claims to reinvent nail polish application by making it simpler, faster and more stunning than ever. The collection takes chic neutral colours and com-bines them with captivat-ing brights – just like our summer wardrobe.

Innovative

Its innovative pat-ented brush, a grooved stem, allows the nail polish to flow directly to the centre of the brush. The round base and flat bristles allows the nail contour to be perfectly followed and a uniform coat of varnish to be applied in just a single stroke. The fluid texture creates a smooth, streak-free finish and a flawless film of colour.

“The bottle is a fan-tastic shape and size, which fits perfectly into the palm of your hand. The stem of the brush is the right length, which allows you enough time to place the brush into the bottle pick up your polish and apply it to the nail plate without it running down the stem causing drips and flood-ing the nail plate,” said Glenis Baptiste, celebrity manicurist.

The col lect ion is

availabel in 20 stun-ning shades and has been divided into three colour universes to suit three different moments of the day.

JOLIS MATIN: All the beauty of an awakening dawn in Paris is captured in fresh and featherlight shades for luminous, natural colour.

BOUDOIR TIME: Deep , v ibrant and euphoric shades, perfect for early evening cock-tails with friends.

TONIGHT IS MY NIGHT: A Parisian night, infused with promise, is mirrored by intense and magnetic shades.

Here are two stunning coloured manicures by Lancome to try at home:

French Rose Manicure

1. Apply a drop of the darker Bleu de Flore


polish to the base of the nail. Paint a neat cres-cent, paying particular attention to the outer borders, as if “framing” them with a rose petal. The brush should be held at an almost vertical angle.

2. You now need to per-fect the inner and outer borders using the branch-wood stick wrapped in cotton wool.

3. Next, apply Rose Boudoir to the centre of the nail to create a colour contrast, using the flat of the brush.

4. To finish off, apply a top coat to achieve uni-form shine. This will also allow you to even out the surface texture.

Love Rose Manicure

with contrasting on

trend shades “Aqua-

marine” blue and

“Rouge in Love” red:

1. Apply a block of red all over the nail (2 coats for sufficient coverage).

2. Next, apply a coat of Aquamarine on top so that only a “comma shape” of red remains visible.

French Rose Manicure

Edited by Laura Webb

Indulge in a little bit of chocolate for your skinEASTER brings out the best in chocolate, so why not indulge in it for a bit longer with Organique’s Chocolate collection.

Ok, it’s not the edible kind, but anything that smells and looks like chocolate must be good, right? Organique is an award-winning interna-tional cosmetics compa-ny. The Chocolate collec-tion uses real cocoa butter that aims to relax and firm skin, calm irritation and stimulate blood circula-tion. Not only does it do this, but it also moisturises and contains anti-cellulite elements.

The chocolate pigment of the product is also known to give a natural bronzing effect that leaves skins looking healthy with a lasting glow. The collection is packed with

endorphins to stimulate the release of serotonin – also known as the happy hormones. Any sweet smell from these products will instantly put you in a better mood after a long day.

In a bid to help people get the spa experience at home, the chocolate col-lection from Organique includes:

Organique Chocolate Sugar Peeling 200ml, RRP €40: Perfectly clean-ing and soothing the skin, this sugar-peeling product is the ideal way to prepare your skin for treatments. Its sugar crystals gently remove excess oils and dried skin, while its shea and cocoa butters will leave skin moisturised and elastic.

Organique Chocolate Bronzing Body Butter

200ml, €49: What bet-ter way to indulge after a long day than covering your skin in chocolate! Suitable for all skin types, the shea butter content of this product intensely moisturises and soothes the skin while the cocoa extract contains firming and anti-cellulite proper-ties.

Organique Chocolate Endorphine Serum, RRP €27: This serum is easily absorbed into the skin to leave it feeling strong, firm and moisturised. The high cocoa content stimulates, nourishes and firms the skin, while also helping to soothe irritation.

Enjoy this treatment at top spas nationwide or visit your local Organique supplier to try these fabu-lous products for your-self. Organique’s Chocolate collection which uses real cocoa butter

WE all have difficulty remem-bering to take our tablets, especially if we are required to take a variety of drug treat-ments. Around 20-30% of elderly patients take three or more medicines daily and, to ensure optimum treatment-outcomes, good compliance is important.

Non-compliance is a major health issue, resulting in sig-nificant increase in the risk of disease and mortality. If you, or someone you know requires help with your medicines, then have a chat with your pharma-cist. They can give you appro-priate advice and prepare your medications in a suitable way (for example the blister packing of medication) helping you to ensure that you never forget to take your tablets.

With Thanks to the Staff of Lucan Village Pharmacy

Helping to manage your medicines



GazetteMUSICMUSIC

Spiritualised reach for the light and the heart

Spiritualised’s Jason Pierce: Sweet Heart Sweet Light is an impressive and enveloping work of genius

� ROB HEIGH

IT’S BEEN almost a quarter of a century since I was first intro-duced to Jason Pierce. At that time, he was J Spaceman, co-lead singer and creative force behind the psych-pop noise of Spacemen 3.

Their epic t rack, Revolution, six minutes of drone and a guitar phrase that made you think that it was The Stooges from another planet, was a signature tune that would appear in DJ sets from that day to this.

It’s fine to be nostal-gic, but we all grow up, and so J became Jason and, in the course of the Nineties, made what was one of the most inven-tive and epic records of the decade, the pharma-ceutically-inf luenced Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space. Record of the year it came out, record of the decade for me, and still one of the most life-affirming and soul-ful records ever made in the genre.

That was, until now, and Pierce has returned after a decade that has seen his health becom-

ing the creative fodder for his output.

Having technically died twice during a bout of pneumonia, and hav-ing been diagnosed with acute liver problems that led to him being housebound for a year in which he was treated with cutting-edge, but untested, drugs.

The focus and clarity that such life-threaten-ing experiences bring has led to Pierce once again making one of the most impressive and uplifting records of his

REVIEW: NEW RELEASE FROM ENDURING ROCK ‘N’ ROLLERS

career. While Ladies And

Gentlemen was driven by a broken heart, Sweet Heart, Sweet Light is shot through with the sound of a body and soul being rebuilt after the most harrowing of experiences, and it is such an emotional and powerful record that at times it can be over-whelming.

Once again, using a combination of the p sych t ropes tha t Pierce has relied upon throughout his career,

gospel choirs and a canny understanding of what makes a good pop melody, Sweet Heart is a record like very few that will be released this year, for the simple reason that it is utterly heartfelt and created with uplift in mind.

Lead single, Hey Jane, recalls the Velvet Under-ground, but the constant here is the archetypal Spaceman template, where the naive melody is almost lost and over-whelmed by layers and layers of sonic coating,

which builds to a monu-mental conclusion, or breaks down to a sweet heartbreaking minimal-ism that is just as effec-tive and just as involv-ing.

It is no accident that the first Spiritualised album was called Laser Guided Melodies; it’s a motto that Pierce still holds close to his creative heart and this album strikes as another incredible summation of his talents at a time of hardship, and salvation is close at hand.

FRESH from inducting duties at the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame last week, Green Day have announced that they are to release three new albums between Sep-tember and January 2013, entitled Uno!, Dos! and Tre! “We are at the most prolific and creative time in our lives. This is the best music we’ve ever written, and the songs just keep coming,” said the band. “Instead of making one album, we are making a three album trilogy.”

Three-vival: Trio of albums on way from Green Day

WHAT a week in the rock world: an age-ing rocker is shunning the limelight while a deceased one is asked to appear!

Axl Rose refused to show up for last week-end’s Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame induction of Guns N’Roses after refusing the invitation - and the induction - via Facebook.

It seems the frontman wanted to distance himself from the awkward situation of being faced with old band members and fans’ calls for a reunion at the ceremony.

In a lengthy statement, the prickly singer said: “People get divorced. Life doesn’t owe you your own personal happy ending espe-cially at another’s or, in this case, several oth-ers’, expense.”

No reunion then. Is the Rose beginning to wilt? After a

string of disastrous gigs a couple of years ago, including one at The O2 where he threatened to walk off stage amidst booing and heckling, I wonder if Rose is just a thorn in some fans’ side these days?

Time will tell if he’ll redeem himself at this summer’s gig, again at The O2 on May 17. With Thin Lizzy supporting, and another Academy-Award-worthy Axl outburst a pos-sibility - it’ll certainly be interesting!

Another reunion that will definitely NEVER happen is that of the original line-up of The Who. But try telling that to the organ-isers of the London Olympics. They contact-ed The Who’s manager asking if Keith Moon could perform at the opening ceremony this summer. Bill Curbishley replied saying they could find the legendary drummer at Golders’ Green crematorium...where he’s been since 1978. There are no words!

FastTunes with Radio Nova’s Dee Woods


Interview: Chantal Fay, senior consultant, Bond Personnel Group

CHANTAL Fay is a sales and market-ing graduate with more than 11 year’s recruitment experience.

She joined Bond Personnel Group Ltd five years ago and, as a senior consultant, she recruits for positions at all levels across various industries, including sales, customer service, IT and telecoms, finance, hospitality and engineering.

She is a preferred supplier for numer-ous organisations, from small and medium businesses to large multina-tionals, based locally and countrywide, and through her professional approach

she has established many enduring cli-ent relationships.

Chantal is also the go-to person for jobseekers who are searching for a new position, or in need of advice to veer their career in the right direction.

Applicants can be assured that they will receive full guidance and support through every step of the recruitment process, resulting in increased success rates.

Putting her clients first, Chantal’s work ethic matches Bond Person-nel’s company motto: “Our word is our Bond”.

Q&A

Fay’s way helps Bond

Q: When you were a kid, what did you want to be?A: A ballerina.

Q: What was your first job?A: At 15, after school

and at weekends, fold-

ing clothes and sweep-

ing floors at a local

department store.

Q: And your first pay cheque?A: It would be the

equivalent of €1.96 now

... Seems like peanuts,

and it’s not even that

long ago!

Q: When did you start your present job?A: January, 2007.

Q: What is the best thing about your job?A: It always gives great

satisfaction when you

helped someone find

their dream job, or an

employer find their

perfect employee.

Q: What part of your working day do you ‘delegate’?

A: I am a bit of a con-

trol freak and perfec-

tionist, so I like to do as

much as I can myself.

Q: What sport do you follow?A: Football and the Six

Nations’ rugby.

Q: What sport can you play?A: I’m not the sporty

type, although I

recently started jog-

ging (again), and have

signed up to run the

5K John Davis Run at

Malahide Castle in aid

of Our Lady’s Chil-

dren’s Hospital this

May.

Q: What is your guilty music/TV or movie pleasure?A: I have seen all epi-

sodes of Doc Martin.

Q: Who best repre-sents modern Ireland – David Norris or Jedward?A: David Norris.

Q: What music/pic-

tures/movies do you have on your iPod/iPad?A: The likes of Rod-

rigo y Gabriela, Paolo

Nutini, Jack Johnson,

Caro Emerald, Cold-

play, etc.

Q: Who do you follow on Twitter/Facebook?A: Lots of industry-

related people and

companies.

Q: What was your last Tweet/status update?A: Undoubtedly some-

thing positive that is

happening on the jobs

front.

Q: Describe your dream meal?A: A table full of tapas/

meze and a good glass

of red wine makes me

very happy.

Q: Who would you rather have dinner with – Enda Kenny or Dame Edna?A: Enda Kenny. I would

tell him what I think

should be done differ-

GazetteBUSINESSBUSINESS Supported by AIB

WHAT’S THE BEST WAY TO SORT OUT MY DUAL MORTGAGE TYPES?

Q – What is the best way to sort out insurance

for both commercial and domestic mortgages?

My current lender is desperate to get me to talk

to their in-house consultant. Tom – Artane

A - Life cover on your home loan is mandatory,

unless ill health precludes you taking it out (some

lenders will waive cover if the premiums are loaded

... higher because of the greater risk). Over-50s

could also ask their lender to waive it but, ordinarily,

it is prudent to take out on your home, especially if

you have dependents. Residential investment prop-

erties do not have to have life cover attached, but

most lenders look for it. Commercial properties are

the same – some coercion can be applied by lenders

for borrowers to take out life cover on commercial

loans. You should always ask for a quotation, and

check with an authorised adviser. You can always go

back to your lender and say you have now put cover

in place, but cheaper and hand them the policy.

Life cover should really be a simple exercise. Confu-

sion reigns when advisers start to add in the bells

and whistles that complicate the cover. Here are

some of the issues:

• Mortgage protection/decreasing cover – only

covered at the time of death for the outstanding

balance ... This is the cheapest type of cover. Curtail

the term of the policy to the term of the loan.

• Level term cover – for when you are not repaying

capital and the outstanding amount owed never

decreases. This is more expensive than decreasing

term, but is convertible (you can tinker with the

term or amount during the life of the policy – with

decreasing term you cannot);

•Dual life/joint life – dual life means even after the

first party has died and the policy has paid out, it

will also pay out the same amount again when the

second party dies.

� Contact John with your money questions at

[email protected] or visit his website at

www.moneydoctor.ie. John Lowe, Fellow of the

Institute of Bankers, is founder and managing

director of Money Doctor

Chantal Fay, senior consultant, Bond Personnel Group

ently in this country.

Q: Where do you enjoy spending money frivo-lously?A: I rarely splash out,

but when I do it is

always on nice clothes

or accessories – you

have to treat yourself,

sometimes.

Q: How many pairs of shoes do you own?A: I’d have to go home

and count them, but

I’d say I have collected

about 20 pairs over the

years.

Q: What was your worst holiday experi-

ence?A: Six years ago, we

went camping in

France. Thunder, light-

ning, rain, hailstones –

we had it all. After the

third night, I insisted

on checking into a

B&B

Q: What do you plan to do when you retire?A: That’s a long, long

time away, but I hope

to be healthy, sur-

rounded by people I

love and have invested

enough money in my

pension to enjoy my

well-deserved time off.


Classic casa on sale in Mulberry Drive

Number 1, Mulberry Drive, is on sale for €370,000

SHERRY FitzGerald are bringing No 1 Mul-berry Drive, Castleknock, Dublin 15, an extended double-fronted, five-bed family home with a south-west facing rear garden and patio area, to the market for the asking price of €370,000.

The property is situ-ated in a cul de sac and is presented in showhouse condition throughout. Upgrades that have been carried out to the property are a light-filled kitchen/dining room, a large utility room and solid oak tim-ber flooring, all ensuring a quality finish throughout.

The accommodation comprises entrance hall with a feature hardwood staircase with understairs storage, solid oak timber floor, and decorative cov-ing. The living room also features solid wood oak timber flooring, as well as a timber surround fire-

place with cast iron and tiled inset, bay window, and double doors to the kitchen, dining and fam-ily rooms. There is also a playroom with oak timber floor and a bay window.

The kitchen-cum-din-img room is a large open plan kitchen/breakfas-troom space, which fea-tures a fully-fitted oak shaker-style kitchen with granite worktops, inte-grated oven and grill, gas hob, extractor, dishwash-er, plumbed for American style fridge freezer, fea-ture breakfast island. The kitchen also has a tiled floor, recessed lighting and feature skylight Velux windows with black-out blinds.

There is also a utility room with fitted work-top and shelving, stain-less steel sink, and which is plumbed for washing machine and dryer.

Upstairs, the master

CASTLEKNOCK: A FIVE-BEDROOM HOME IN CASTLEKNOCK

WITH property rent-als at a premium, and getting away from it all becoming a more attrac-tive proposition all the time, there is good news for those looking to do just that.

Private Villa Rent-als have announced a range of seven-day deals on their range of qual-ity holiday properties to suit any budget, in qual-ity villas with pool facili-ties in Portugal, Greece and Lanzarote.

The company, which has been running for 30 years, is fully-bonded agency and is run by highly-experienced pro-fessionals in the field.

Villas start as low as €525 per week for

Get away from it all with PVRFOREIGN RENTALS: HOLIDAY-MAKERS AND OWNERS’ OPPORTUNITIES

a three-bedroom with pool in Vilamoura, Portugal, ranging up to €10,000 per week for a super luxury property in Quinta Do Lago.

There is also a great

se lec t ion o f v i l l a s throughout Greece, Cor fu , Zante , and Mykonos.

Potential renters can choose from three to seven-bedroom villas

Vista Golfe Vilamoura in Portugal is one of the properties for rent

GazettePROPERTYPROPERTY

from a wide selection of properties – plus they have a villa in Vilamoura that will accommodate up to 20 people. A selec-tion of villas in Greece even come with your

own personal cook.Private Villas also

provide a service to owners of foreign prop-erties, and can act as an owners personal online marketing, sales and service team, handling every facet of the vaca-tion rental marketing process - creating list-ings, reaching a network of travellers, and offer-ing a seamless booking process with full travel-ler support.

For more informa-tion on properties and overseas rental service, contact Brian Nevin on 01 5543641, or email [email protected]. You can also visit www.privatevillas.ie for more information.

bedroom boasts an attrac-tive bay window, wall to wall fitted sliderobes, feature bay window, semi-solid oak floor. The master bedroom has an en suite, which is fully tiled, with WC, WHB and an electric shower.

The other bedrooms all feature solid oak timber floors and most feature fitted wardrobes.

The main family bath-room is also fully tiled, with a WC, WHB, a fea-ture jacuzzi Vogue bath, and an electric shower.

Outside, the garden enjoys a sunny south-west-facing orientation and a high degree of pri-vacy. The front garden is bordered by trees and flowers and also offers off-street parking.

Mulberry Drive is in close proximity to Castle-knock village, with its growing choice of shops and restaurants, along with having Mount Sack-ville, Castleknock College and Castleknock Com-munity College close by.

For more information, contact Michelle Curran at Sherry FitzGerald on 01 820 1800.

Get rid of all your electrical clutter for goodWe all have those discarded items that hide in cupboards and sheds — the kettles, toast-ers and lamps that have come to the end of their lifecycle but that, for some reason, we have trouble parting with.

Now, there is an opportunity to have a clear-out, when WEEE Ireland, the Irish compliance scheme for electrical and bat-tery recycling, hold two free recycling events in April in association with Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council.

The collection events will take place at the Nutgrove Shopping Centre from 10am to 4pm on next Saturday, April 21, and at Dun-drum Village Centre car park from 10am to 4pm on Saturday, April 28.

These free WEEE Ireland events allow people to get rid of any household electri-cal equipment and batteries in a safe and environmentally friendly manner.

Anything in the home with a battery or a plug can be recycled at these collections.

Waste collection specialists from WEEE Ireland will be there on the day to help you send your toasters, vacuum cleaners, fridges and every other electrical item imaginable to a better place.

As a consumer of electrical items, you are entitled to bring your waste electrical equipment to your electrical retailer when purchasing an item of similar type, i.e. on a one-for-one, like-for-like basis.

Waste batteries can be brought back to any battery retailer that sells similar bat-teries, even if you don’t purchase anything. All WEEE and waste batteries can also be brought to your local civic amenity site free of charge.

For further information on all future recy-cling events in Dun Laoghaire Rathdown, or to find your nearest civic amenity site, please log on to WEEE Ireland’s website www.recyclefree.ie.

RECYCLING: DLRCC TO HOLD TWO FREE EVENTS

WEEE love electrical waste


GazetteMOTORSMOTORS

I HAVE a habit of comparing the cars I test to other models before I even finish

my first sentence. There’s every chance it doesn’t please the manufactur-ers one little bit, so, in an effort to change my ways a little, this week I’m holding off on the com-parisons until paragraph two at the very least.

When BMW first launched their 1 Series, there were more than a few comparisons made with the Mazda3 – doubt-less Mazda were happier about this than BMW.

While such compari-sons can be flattering, they can also take away a little of the character and individuality of a car.

So it is very encourag-ing to see how the Maz-

da3 has been given so much presence in its lat-est design.

I recently took the Maz-da3 Sports SE for a week and got a taste of what it had to offer.

When I first set eyes on it, I was gobsmacked by how attractive the rear of the car was.

The light clusters have an aggressive, swoop-ing design with lines that

are closely followed by the rear bumper that sits proud of the boot, leaving a kind of shelf at the back. Along with the boot spoil-er, all of this makes for a very eye-grabbing look.

The design of the body-work suggests that glass was at a premium when they were putting this car together. They really have gone minimal with the side and rear screens – which makes the look that little bit more men-acing.

At the front end, another set of beautifully-designed lights add to the flared wheel arches and rally car-like air scoop that finished off the exte-rior’s menacing look.

Mazda say that this new front bumper design improves aerodynamics,

either way – it looks the business.

This model carries a few nice touches as standard, including 17” alloys, auto-matic air con, bluetooth, cruise control, rear LED lights, sports seats and sports trim, heated seats, rear spoiler, side skirts, front fogs, all topped off with a five-star Euro NCAP rating.

I was not looking for-ward to being squeezed on all sides by the sports seats in this car, but the seating afforded my larger-than-normal frame with a comfortable amount of room.

This car is labelled as a sports model – and it doesn’t let the name down.

Under the hood is a 1.6-litre diesel engine twinned

with a six-speed manual gearbox – all of which provides a drive that you could describe as,well, a little mad.

You can scoff at a company’s press release when they claim to have “Mazda’s agility and handling carried over, with improvements to ride quality and stabil-ity. Changes to suspen-sion, a more rigid body, optimised dampers and stiffer wheel contribute to improved handling,” but, I must admit that, whatever they have done, this car is a blast. And they haven’t skimped on comfort.

As I said, the seats are a delight, and are heated for the winter months.

The overall trim has a far better level of quality than I was expecting, but

certain points of contact do let it down.

For all the fuss made about improved handling, stability and control, they could have come up with a more inspired steering wheel. For me, the wheel speaks volumes about a car and how we feel about what we drive.

In this case, it’s just a bit limp. It has a plastic feel and it’s very thin in your hands. I think a special edition car, like the Maz-da3 Sports SE, should have spotted this as a potential let-down.

That aside, we are talk-ing about a sexy, fast and practical (five doors) car that comes in well under €24,000. Compared to some of its peers, this is a very attractive prospect indeed.

New presence for Mazda3 The Mazda3 Sports SE 5-Door Hatchback got a sport make-over which includes improvements to handling and stability

TOMTOM HAVE RELEASED NEW APPS: SAT NAV giants, TomTom, have released the latest version of its app for iPhone and iPad. The update includes the addition of TomTom Places, and fully inte-grates TomTom navi-gation with social media applications.

TomTom Places provides a naviga-tion-based search facility, helping driv-ers to find nearby shops and restau-rants and choose the best places to go.

According to Ger-ard Hinds, Director Mobile at TomTom: “Searching with Tom-Tom Places whilst on the move is a big time-saver.”

The TomTom navigation app for iPhone and iPad is now available for pur-chase from the Apple App Store for €59.99. Existing customers can download the update for free.

RoadRoadSignsSigns

GIVEN how expensive everyday motoring is becoming, it comes as no surprise that many manufacturers are doing everything they can to offer more value to their customers.

This month sees Ford announce a package of special offers that should keep their showrooms busy for a while.

The package comprises a special 4.9% low finance offer for models across the range; fuel vouchers of up to €1,300 on Mondeo; a “no worries” for three years package and extended warranty, roadside assistance and free servicing for three years on selected models, including Ireland’s top-selling car – the Ford Focus.

“This package is designed to show customers that there is still some very good value in the market,” said Eddie Murphy, chairman and managing director of Ford Ireland.

“With fuel prices becoming an even more weighty burden for motorists, our offer of a voucher for 400km worth of fuel for anyone who test drives a

Mondeo is sure to strike a chord. “Equally, we have been hearing back

from customers that access to good value finance is an ongoing problem and, to rectify this, we have worked with our finance house, Ford Credit, to provide an attractive 4.9% low APR loan rate available for deals on all of our passenger models.”

Ford is giving more value with special offer to customers

� Engine: 1.6L (115ps) Diesel� Economy: 4.3L/100km (65mpg)� CO2 emissions: 115g� Road Tax Band: A� Price as tested: €23,645� Price range: €19,795 - €23,895

SPECS: MAZDA3 SPORTS SE 5-DOOR HATCHBACK

Cormac Curtis reports

A Titanic event in

heart of Belfast� LAURA WEBB

THE sky was alight at Belfast’s Slipways, when a cutting edge digital experience presented a light show to thousands as part of the Titanic Bel-fast Festival 2012.

Northern Ireland tour-ist board and Belfast City Council joined forces to mark the centenary of one of the world’s most famous ships – Titanic. The Titanic festival saw a number of events com-memorate the 100-year anniversary of the ship’s sinking.

But the must-see Titan-ic Belfast at the Slipways is not just open for the festival, it is open all year round for all to visit. The six-floor building is locat-ed in the heart of Belfast, right beside where the famous ship was con-structed, definitely some-thing worth taking a trip to.

One event during the festival, which officially ends on April 22, was a light show on April 7, which took place at Bel-fast’s Titanic Quarter.

Before heading to the show that night, there was a pre-event in the original Titanic drawing rooms, where engineers worked on plans for the doomed ship.

A number of local talents entertained the crowded room, which looked just as it was 100 years before. Informa-tion about the room was available to see across the walls allowing everyone to take in some knowl-edge of what went on all those years before.

One talent that shook the room – in all the right ways – was Silhou-ettes, the band behind the ad soundtrack for the Northern Ireland Tourist Board.

After a great set, we left the drawing room and went outdoors towards the slipway at the water-front.

Crowds led the way and, on the way out, we received much-needed plastic ponchos to keep the rain away. Ear plugs were also provided in case the noise got a bit too much for the kids – thankfully, there was no need to use them.

Fire-breathers enter-tained while the crowd waited for the spectacu-lar show to begin. There was also a bunch of performers wandering through the crowd on stilts dressed in Victorian clothes.

World’s biggest

What was being touted as the world’s biggest light show was about to begin.

The slipways went black and then blue spot- lights lit the new Titanic Belfast visitor attraction. Music filled the air and the show began.

The introduction to the show was a bit long, but once it kicked into overdrive and it was defi-nitely a sight to see. Col-ours gleamed on the side of the visitor centre and, to the surprise of many, an explosion of fire-

works filled the air. Kids shouted with delight and the crowd “wowed” at every firework that shot into the sky. Each stage got better than the last and the show finished with a spectacular array of lights.

The Titanic projec-

tion show was produced by Culture Creative and designed and creatively directed by seeper.com, will use 3D motion graphics , synchro -nised pyrotechnics and bespoke sound design - all inspired by the RMS Titanic. It aimed to cre-

ate an unforgettable 40 minute audio-visual performance to celebrate Belfast’s culture, heritage and bright future.

Check out discover-northernireland.com for further information on the tourist attraction – Titanic Belfast.

Enjoy unspoiled Mediterranean landscapes and enchanting towns on the historic island of SardiniaSARDINIA, the second largest island of the Mediterranean, has successfully escaped mass tourism and offers a unique combination of unspoilt Mediterranean landscapes, historical sites, enchanting towns, history, traditions and, last, but not least – superb cuisine.

This wonderful city of Alghero maintains a year-round economy outside of the busy summer months. To the north of the marina is the fine sandy beach of Alghero, which provides good bathing opportunities and is just a short stroll from the historic centre.

Go with Concorde Travel this April and stay at the two-star Bouganvillea Apartments, Alghero, on a self-catering basis from €383pp; Stay at the three-star Hotel La Playa, Alghero, on a B&B basis, from €560pp, or at the four-star Hotel Punta Negra, Alghero, on a B&B basis, from €682pp. If five-star is for you, stay at the Hotel Carlos, Alghero, on a B&B basis, from €696pp or the Hotel Villa Las Tronas, Alghero, on a B&B basis, from €1050pp.

FastTravel

GazetteTTRAVELRAVEL22 GAZETTE 19 April 2012

The Titanic festival saw a number of events commemorate the 100-year

anniversary of the ship’s sinking

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

‘The slipways went black and then blue spot-lights lit the new Titanic Belfast visitor attraction. Music filled the air and the show began’- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -


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The five-star Hayfield Manor in Cork’s university district and their luxurious spa (right)

Edited by Mimi Murray


A perfect pampering for mothers-to-be� ELIZABETH CAROLAN

BEING a mother-in-waiting can be tough. The morning sickness, head-aches, growing pains and hormones are enough to derail the best of women. So, it is no wonder mum- to-be pamper pack-ages have become more prevalent in recent years around some of the best hotels in Ireland.

I recently sampled Hayfield Manor’s spa package, which is new to the hotel, but has really taken off and is proving to be very popular.

The five-star hotel is located in the univer-sity district of Cork city, which is really pretty and mostly Georgian.

We arrived on a sunny Saturday and the hotel

was buzzing with tour-ists. Our executive suite was drenched in light and sunshine and was tastefully decorated with lots of nice extras like a Nespresso machine, fairly standard in hotels nowadays, but always a welcome sight.

The outside jacuzzi is out of bounds for preg-nant women, but my husband made good use of it, whilst I swam a few laps.

It was almost time to start the pampering and the spa is conveniently located just off the pool area. I was asked what dessert I would like fol-lowing my treatment (part of the package) but passed on this lovely offer, instead looking for-ward to dinner in Perrotts

Garden Bistro.The mum-to-be pack-

age includes a pedicure and leg massage, a facial and a back neck and shoulders massage. It lasts around two-and-a- half hours and really is very relaxing.

Soothing Elemis prod-ucts are used, which are perfect for pregnant women as the scent in not particularly overpow-ering. I certainly enjoyed it and so did baby, as it became very active dur-ing the treatments, kick-ing away happily.

After over two hours of bliss the relaxation room allows you to prolong the experience with some herbal tea and fresh fruit.

I was so relaxed after-wards that I really wished we had ordered room

service, as I was practi-cally falling asleep dur-ing dinner and all I could think of was my bed.

Dinner consisted of fish and chips for me and Turbot for him, before making a hasty retreat to the room.

I was sleep-walking by the time I got into bed, the sign of a really excel-

lent treatment. I would highly recom-

mend this trip for any weary pregnant ladies. After all,, it could be the last me-time you get in a long, long time!

For more details on Hayfield Manor’s Spa Treatments and rates go to www.hayfieldmanor.ie.

An executive suite at Hayfield Manor


Goes swimminglyAmr Waked and Ewan McGregor can be seen discussing the finer points of salmon fishing, and how best

to create this timeless sport back in dry, dusty Yemen in Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, while, right, run

as she might, Amanda Seyfried is still trapped in a pretty duff movie, in Gone

GoingOUT

GazetteENTERTAINMENTENTERTAINMENT

Our first film’s tale seems a little bit fishy in Yemen, but it’s tasty enough, compared to our second film’s offering

�THE PAVILION THEATRE 01 231 2929Comicbook with Maeve Clancy

COME along to The Pavilion and find your inner (comic) artist, courtesy of Maeve Clancy. The Dublin-based artist and writer, who produces comics, illustration and animation in a variety of ways, will be hosting a great 1.5-hour workshop for eight to 12-year-olds on producing comics, with her whirlwind of a workshop covering everything in comic book design, from devising the initial concept to a completed four-page book. Ink this midday event in your diary for Saturday, April 21, priced €10.

MILL THEATRE 01 296 9340 Encore! Showtime 2012

FRESH from clearing away the comic cooking calamity of the Faulty Towers Dining Experience, and The Mill promises an equally entertaining upcoming event, courtesy of the Encore! School of Performing Arts. There’ll be nothing Faulty about this highly-polished production, which features a wide selection of work and shows from the school’s many talented young performers, running right through from Friday, April 27 to Saturday, May 5. For full list of dates for the great shows, see www.milltheatre.ie.

CIVIC THEATRE 01 462 7477Tea Chests and Dreams

REGARDLESS of the year, one things remain universal – the hopes, nerves and dreams surrounding moving house, and (re)making a home, where “moving in” also means “moving on”. Dermot Bolger’s tender new play examines the process; how we begin again once the last box is unpacked, and, each night, an audience member’s experience will help to enrich the deep tapestry of the play. Axis: Ballymun’s production plays at 8pm on Friday, April 20 and Saturday, April 21, with admission €16/€12 conc.

DRAIOCHT 01 885 2622Baglady

FRANK McGuinness’s rarely-performed play has an extra poignancy in the current economic climate, given the social exclusion that some citizens continue to face. Here, True West, in association with Eska Riada, take a “baglady” (as memorably played by Maria McDermottroe) – someone you might walk past in the street – and reveal the person inside, stripping away the layers of alienation to find the isolated woman inside. Catch this moving play at 8.15pm on Wednesday, April 25, with tickets costing €15/€12.

� KATE CROWLEY

OH, TALK about tough choices. Faced with not exactly stellar choices of new films opening this week, what’s a gal to do?

I feel like taking a leaf from Brucie’s book (For-sythe, that is), and asking all my lovely readers to start shouting what they’d like to know about, this week: Salmon Fishing in the Yemen (Obi Wan Kenobi goes fishing), or Gone (Charles Blonde-son vigilante thriller).

What’s that? One from the top? Higher? Lower? Cuddly toy? Fridge freez-er? Coffee maker? Teddy bear? Higher? Lower? What? Oh dear, this’ll never work – I can’t decide with both of you shouting at the same time.

Tell you what – as nei-ther of them is particularly great, I’ll do a quick run-through on both.

In Salmon Fishing in the Yemen, Obi Wa- sorry, Ewan McGregor

stars as Fred Jones, a man who knows a thing or two about fish. This proves especially handy, as he’s soon dispatched by ’Er Majesty’s Government to Yemen – not a coun-try especially known for its wonderful salmon expanses, on account of it being a desert country.

A rrrich local sheikh’s passion for fishing soon sees Fred working with similarly fish-friendly locals (oh, including Har-riet, AKA Emily Blunt), whose fish-whispering ways are able to work wonders, with both gov-ernments reaping kudos

from the watery wonder of salmon fishing in Yemen.

If everything kept going so swimmingly, your inter-est might go paddling towards the expert but, like a rock thrown into a pool, there’s soon an almighty splash or two – in the form of Harriet’s just-found, had-been-missing boyfriend, as well as some meddling militants.

However, Fred’s pretty much fallen hook, line and sinker for his new life, so can he overcome all the obstacles in the project’s path and end up with a fin-tastic outcome for him and his fishy friends?

Short of me walking off to Cineworld with a tin of red paint to start sloppily painting “Date movie” all over the posters until the Gardai show up, it’s pret-ty obvious that this film expects to reel you in with its gentle plot, mild melo-drama and lovely shots of Yemen’s dusky desert landscape.

There are certainly worse things to splash out on at the cinema, so three stars it is.

Charles Bronson would turn in his grave with the maverick-vigilante-seeks-justice-or-retribution-or-vengeance-or-whatever genre that keeps stag-gering on, like one of the Walkers in television’s The Walking Dead.

Why? Because here comes another Bron-sonite, in the pretty form of Amanda Seyfried. Poor old Mandy, as Jill, is having a tough time, in Gone.

Why, not only had someone abducted and tried to kill her a year ear-

lier (where she learned he’d killed others, too), only for the police to dis-believe her (on account of her having had mental health problems, previ-ously), but the would-be killer’s only returned and snatched her sister, in what seems like a warm-up to having another stab at her? Err, yes.

With no one to turn to, Jill’s soon out of control, living on the edge, as she tracks down the kidnap-per-killer. And kills him, and saves her sister, and now the police know that she was right all along. The end.

There you go – I’ve just saved you all your hard-earned clams by going straight from A to Z with this one, as even the least demanding bumpkin who’s never seen one of them-tharr Talkies afore would feel short-changed with this violent, nonsen-sical, one-star flick.

(You owe me some Moonshine, Jethro.)

FILM OF THE WEEK: Salmon fishing in the

Yemen �� (12A) 106 mins

OUR VERDICT:THESE two tales couldn’t be much more different; however, the first, main film seems plausible enough, concerning attempts to grow a previously overlooked indigenous sector in a country’s economy, and – wait, come back! It’s also a decent enough date film, or for McGregor’s fans. However, the second film will probably make you wish that you’d gone fishin’, or something else, instead ...

Director: Lasse HallstromStarring: Ewan McGregor, Amr Waked, Emily Blunt, Kristin Scott Thomas, Yemen, lots of fi sh, more Yemen

t


GazetteGAMINGGAMING

� SHANE DILLON

SEEING as I randomly step aside to look at tech and internet-related con-tent, what better time than to look at an inter-esting story featuring Facebook?

Many readers may have noticed the somewhat eyebrow-raising news last week (at the time of writing) of Facebook’s one billion dollar acqui-sition of Instagram, the popular 18-month-old photo-sharing app that has 30 million users – but which doesn’t actually make any money. Yet.

With a cheque for one billion dollars on the table, it’s no wonder that Instagram’s two found-ers sold up, with Face-book now adding the tiny company to its roster of services.

No doubt the com-pany has a strategy in place to monetise as much as possible of the current 30-million-plus users, as well as to grow and develop revenue streams through bring-ing hundreds of millions

more users to the app’s charms.

With a Dr Evil-ish price tag of “One Beel-yunn Dollars!”, it has to.

Still, industry pundits have been busy chat-tering about the deal, with various amounts of head-scratching going on, given that, for many of Instagram’s users, you take your photo, and then post it to Facebook (or other sites) – and that’s it. A distinct termination of “the engagement proc-ess’”

Currently, anecdotal evidence suggests that users aren’t expecting to, or looking to, somehow “monetise” their Insta-gram usage through, say, seeing a cool pic taken by their friends/some-one, and then buying a poster of the picture. Or a keyring with it on it. Or a cup, a jigsaw, a t-shirt, and so on.

How then, is Facebook to create one billion dol-lar’s worth from some-thing that, before selling, made zero dollars in rev-enue, and had no adver-tising? (And that’s just to

start with – it has to make one billion dollars just to break even with the deal, let alone add to Face-book’s coffers.)

Let’s look at this from another point of view. Facebook has an inte-grated suite of methods, primarily based around advertising, designed to pick up on what you’re generally interested in, or which seems most likely to suit you as an individ-ual, and encourage you to follow the ad, click-through and, ideally, pur-chase something.

TrendThis kind of advertis-

ing, and tangible monetis-ing of product, is a natural fit for Facebook, which follows the user’s own data trail to suggest goods and services of interest to them – a similar trend for YouTube, also a young company with enormous worth, which also tracks, and then suggests, similar targeted advertising.

However, Instagram presents a more challeng-ing landscape to strip-mine for value, whether

in the short-term or long-term.

For example, users’ pics may be helpfully filed with one or several identifying tags, such as ‘london’, ‘red’, ‘bus’, ‘routemaster’ and so on – which could suggest to Facebook (now) that, say, the user is a London-er, interested in public transport – in which case are they (say) aware of a special and unique Face-book/Instagram-only travel card deal offering 10% off public travel, Monday to Thursday?

A rejigged Instagram /Facebook delivery sys-tem – or “advert”, in other words – could thus be triggered, generating rel-evant charges and data for both Facebook/Insta-gram and London Trans-port, in this example.

However, on the other hand, many millions of Instagram users don’t tag their pics with anything – they simply take, or later edit, a photo and either post it online somewhere (again, not necessarily through the Facebook platform), or simply

download to their own hardware, cutting out the middleman – now Face-book – altogether.

Although such eco-nomic theories and prac-tises are sound, it still seems like an awfully high price to have paid for something with, cur-rently, no fiscal worth, in the present day.

Still, while Instagram currently – and one would expect this to change very sharpish – generates no revenue, Facebook has something in abundance that does. It’s called “You”.

With hundreds of mil-lions of its users to draw upon, and no doubt major plans under way to integrate Facebook and Instagram together in mutually beneficial ways, you, the Instagram user (whether current or future) can be relied upon to start generating payback for the $1 bil-lion deal in the very near future.

Perhaps Instagram’s future under Facebook looks like a pretty pic-ture, after all ...

Although there are several photography apps available, Instagram has worked its way to the forefront as a genre leader, with users sharing

photos that can be simple point-and-shoot shots, or have one of a large number of filters applied. For instance, this Pacman Ghost figure (made

of Post-it notes - the author’s own creation) has had basic shots (far left) presented in alternative, filtered form (subsequent shots); all of this

image-sharing interest among the app’s current 30 million users led Facebook to acquire the tiny company for one billion dollars.

Even more value Forza moneyFORZA Motorsport 4, , the terrific Xbox 360 racing game that’s left plenty of competitors in its wake, has been enjoying a number of great DLC (downloadable content) packs recently, adding to the already hefty oomph under than particular fran-chise’s bonnet.

Even though I’m someone who, more or less, thinks “car” and doesn’t get much further than a mental picture of Del Boy’s banana-yellow Reliant Regal, I’ve been pretty impressed by Forza’s ever-grow-ing stable of top-notch motors, which have added greatly to the already huge amount of content available on the premium racer for the 360.

For instance, take the 2013 SRT Viper, above – now you can, just one of a number of cutting-edge cars available to test drive, courtesy of a DLC pack. With such packs proving a pretty reliable cash cow for developers, and considering that these packs of stunning vehicles to race (and race badly, in my case) are as close as you’ll get to the real thing, these seem like a great way to park your Xbox points in the 360’s Marketplace.

Bytesandpieces

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� [email protected]

ULTRA-marathon man extraordinaire Gerry Duffy has signed up for the ARC Men’s mini-marathon 10km on the May Bank Holi-day, Monday, May 7, in Dublin’s Phoenix Park at 10am.

An incredible story, Duffy was 50lbs over-weight when he started running in 1995 and has gone on to take up the triathlon and complete

three Ironmans (3.8km swim, 180k cycle, 42km run).

In 2010, with his friend Ken Whitelaw, Duffy set himself the challenge of running 32 marathons in 32 con-secutive days – a feat described in his book, Who Dares Runs.

He followed up last June by winning the UK Deca-Enduroman after completing ten Iron-man distance (25.5km swim, 102km triathlons)

in ten days – he swam 38km, cycled 1,800km and ran 420km. His total t ime was 160 hours, 10 minutes and 37 seconds and he fin-ished 19 hours ahead of the runner-up.

Duffy is appealing to runners of all standards to join him, not only in helping raise much-needed funds for ARC Cancer Support, but in encouraging men to look after their health by keeping fit and hav-

ARC MEN’S MARATHON: TRIATHLON RECORD BREAKER SIGNS UP FOR PHOENIX PARK

Ultra-runner Gerry Duffy is preparing for the mini-marathon on the May Bank Holiday in support of ARC

Ultra-runner Duffy supports mini marathon

ing regular check-ups. ARC House is locat-

ed in Eccles Street, Dublin – opposite the Mater Hospital – and its counselling and sup-port services are on offer free of charge to

men and women living with cancer, as well as to their families, friends and carers.

T he cha r i t y was recently named as the Bay and Paypal Char-ity of the Year and also

support the Flora wom-en’s mini marathon on Monday, June 4.

To register online, go to www.arcchallenges.com. Chip timing and prizes for the first three men and women are all

on offer while walkers are welcome, too.

Entr y fee i s €22 online or €30 on day. Contact Mairead on 01 8307333 or [email protected] for more information.

GazetteSPORTKING OF EGYPT KING OF EGYPT James McGee hails James McGee hails defining moment in defining moment in his tennis career: his tennis career: Page 29Page 29


GazetteSportSport

Great IrelandPhoenix Park hosts 11,000 great athletesL

AST Sunday,11,000 athletes of all abilities from all over the world converged on Phoenix Park for the

2012 SPAR Great Ireland Run. On a great day for running, Ethiopi-an Kenenisa Bekele was the first home in the men’s race, recording a course record of 27.49 for the 10 kilometres, with Olympic marathon qualifier Mark Kenneally (Clonliffe Harriers AC) winning the national title in a time of 29:23, while Britain’s Gemma Steel was first placed woman in a race that saw DSD’s Linda Byrne as the first Irish lady home in sixth place. There was also a well-attended chil-dren’s and junior’s event on a day that was a celebration of athletics.

Ed McGinley, from Annadale Striders, and Thomas Fitzpatrick, Tallaght AC, in action

Daniel Branigan in action during the SPAR Junior &

Mini Great Ireland Run 2012

Joy Warner, from Bray, Co Wicklow, and Sarah Lamb, from Dublin

Former Ireland and Leinster rugby star, Shane Byrne,

with wife, Caroline, and twins Kerry and Alex, age 9

Linda Byrne, Dundrum South Dublin

Former Dublin footballer, John O’Leary, and Leinster star, Eoin O’Malley, lend their support to Emilian Kiba and Edelle Monahan from the

Jack & Jill Foundation. Pictures: Stephen McCarthy / SPORTSFILE


in association with

WHEN James McGee looks back on his pro-fessional career, one pic-ture will tell a thousand words.

The Castleknock man produced a truly inspired weekend’s work in Cairo to help Ireland maintain their place in Group II of the Davis Cup, complet-ing the job in the fifth set of the final rubber of the tie with what he told GazetteSport was “the best shot” of his life — a diving volley that slipped over the net.

The rest of the Irish team duly broke from the stands of the Gezira stadium to mob McGee, leading to a pile-on and a rendition of “Ole, Ole, Ole”.

Once done, though, McGee remained on the Cairo clay, draped in the Irish flag, exhausted but soaking in a seminal moment in his career.

“I was actually on the ground praying. I had blessed myself before that match point. I was obvi-ously nervous – everyone was. At that point, I was just thinking: ‘Oh my God,

I am bloody wrecked!’“You always have it in

your head. You’re playing for yourself but also for bigger things. It wouldn’t be something I’d do in every match but the occa-sion was there. It was such a big moment, not just in my match, but in my career. It seemed natural almost to bless myself.”

Closing out the epic win was not just the end of an amazing weekend but a two-month run of

hardcore grind on the not-so-glamorous ITF Futures tour.

Since representing Ire-land in February against Hungary, McGee has spent just one night in his

own bedroom, taking in tournaments in Morocco, Turkey, Spain and Bah-rain.

Finding form took time. “It was only the last tournament in Bahrain, I ended up not drop-ping a set all week and it was a great confidence booster and I went on to play three unbelievable matches to win it.”

The Castleknock man had to take on a bigger responsibility as Irish

number one, Conor Niland, fell victim to a hip injury, losing his rubber before pulling out of the second singles ties.

McGee defeated Karim Maamoun before work-ing well with Sam Barry in the doubles to put Ire-land in pole position.

Barry looked well set to close out the match but a five-set Egyptian surge meant, late in the day, McGee was forced back to the court.

He played controlled tennis to generate a big advantage before the ref-eree deemed the light too dull to continue against Sehrif Sabry. It broke his momentum.

“I left the court two sets to one up and was disappointed we had to leave the court because I had all the momentum. My opponent was clearly tired and all I hear is the ref saying we had to stop due to bad light.

“Everyone was pat-ting me on the back at the hotel but, in the back of my head, I was disap-pointed. I was fairly nerv-ous I didn’t get a great night’s sleep because you’re still in the match.

“The next day, I had a good warm-up but Sabryt came out playing incred-ible tennis. I don’t think he actually missed a ball in that fourth set.”

It once again left the game on a knife-edge, with the partisan Cairo crowd baying for blood, filing the stadium with

Blessed moment for king of EgyptJames McGee capped a draining two months with a beautiful crowning moment to rescue Ireland in the Davis Cup, writes STEPHEN FINDLATER

James McGee takes a moment to savour the moment on the Cairo clay

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‘You’re playing for bigger things; a big moment, not just in my match but in my career.’-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

FastSport

CATRIONA Jennings became not only the fourth Irish athlete to achieve the ‘A’ stand-ard women’s marathon qualification time for the London Olympic games but also the fourth with a connection to the greater Dun-drum area.

The Rathfarnham athlete ran 2:36.14 in the Rotterdam Marathon, almost 45 seconds inside the ‘A’ standard.

As such, she leaves Athletics Ireland with a tough decision over who to take to the Games, which get underway in late July.

She joins DSDAC duo Linda Byrne (2:36:23) and Ava Huthinson (2.35:33) and former DSD runner, Maria McCambridge, (2:36:37) in achieving the Olympic standard.

Byrne also became the Irish 10km cham-pion by finishing sixth in the Great Ireland run at the Phoenix Park but now has the third quickest of the four qualifying times, which she set first back in October in Dub-lin.

Hutchinson is the quickest with her 2:35.33 in Houston in January, while Linda Byrne ran 2:36:23 and only last month Maria McCambridge ran 2:36:37 in Rome.

They all now face a nervous wait for Ath-letics Ireland to decide which way the axe falls with May 13 the cut-off date for qualify-ing times with the three marathon entrants to be named a day later.

In their selection document, the governing body states that where more than three ath-letes attain the A-standard in the one event, selection will be based firstly on quality and consistency of performances in 2011 and 2012; secondly, on statistical data (ranking/performance lists, etc); and thirdly, on his-tory of performances at previous champion-ships.

Jennings won the women’s mini marathon last June and then recorded a 2:43:08 in her marathon debut in Dublin last October.

“I knew that if I did the proper work that I could make it,” she said. “I put in eight weeks of very solid training and I was very hopeful coming here.”

Marathon conundrum as Jennings qualifies incessant whistles and

screams. He bounced back in

style, breaking serve early in the set to lead and was poised for victory.

“I had a smash right on top of the net to finish it. I just aimed too close to the line, missed it by an inch. Two of the Irish guys on the team are already run-ning on the court to cel-ebrate and the mark was literally just an inch wide on the clay; I just looked at them and said ‘I missed it’.”

Sabry fought back, got a break and the game was back on a knife-edge, on serve at 5-4.

But McGee defied his nerves to win another couple of match points, the last of which he took a moment to bless himself.

A McGee drop-shot looked to be too deep, offering the whole court to hit into. But the Dub-liner predicted the line of flight perfectly.

“I just leaped from one side of the court to the other and, at full stretch, the ball just tipped onto my racquet and went over the net.”

The delicate nature of the touch was directly contrasted by the rau-cous celebrations, mark-ing a beautiful end to two months of effort.

“It was a huge adrena-line rush. Because I’ve been on the road so long, I’m not going to lift a rac-quet for ten days and just live a normal life!”


GazetteSportSport

FastSport

Wesley just miss out on AIL win over TrinityOLD Wesley came within a whisker of beating Division 2A champions, Dublin University, in the last game of this year’s All-Ireland League cham-pionship in College Park last weekend.

In a game with never more than one score in it, Old Wesley led on two occasions and were unfortunate not to come away with the win.

Both teams had a lively start to this match and the Students opened the scoring after just three minutes with a penalty goal, but went on to rue a more difficult attempt by Barry McLoughlin going wide.

With both teams eager to run the ball it made for an entertaining opening quarter. Old Wesley came nearest to scoring a try when the opposi-tion defence was stretched, but they were denied the points by a dropped pass.

Trinity extended their lead to 6-0 with another penalty goal on 30 minutes.

Old Wesley had a fine start to the second half when some good handling saw play brought deep into the Trinity 22. Following some good forward pressure, Jamie Boyle powered over for a try which was easily converted by McLoughlin to take a 7-6 lead.

Trinity responded immediately, bringing play into the Wesley 22. Wesley withstood the attack but were deemed offside allowing Trinity regain the lead with an easy penalty goal.

The students continued to exert pressure, looking to run at every opportunity. However, the Old Wesley defence stood firm. Whilst the college back line looked the more potent on the day the Old Wesley pack dominated in the set piece.

Fifteen minutes into the second half Trinity were dealt a yellow card for a late tackle, open-ing some options for Old Wesley. A fine break by Ian Cassidy brought play into the 22. From the resulting play the Wesley pack drove over but the referee deemed the ball to be held up. Trin-ity were in trouble from the scrum, conceding a penalty which McLoughlin converted with ease.

Minutes later, however, the tables were turned when Old Wesley substitute winger Ken McLoughin was yellow carded for a deliberate knock on. Trinity converted the penalty to regain a two-point lead. With the game approaching its conclusion, McLoughlin was short with a long-range penalty, and Rory Stynes went wide with a drop goal attempt.


FOUR intense days of rac-ing at the ISA Mitsubishi Youth National Champi-onships in Dun Laoghaire harbour, involving 380 sailors across seven classes with 10 nations compet-ing, concluded on Sunday with world-class racing.

It yielded plenty of suc-cess for local sailors with some of the most exciting racing in the Laser Radial boys’ class. All three top boats were within one point of each other going into the last race. ISA Academy Sailors Finn Lynch (National YC) and Robbie Gilmore punched the line in the last race.

Lynch pulled in front and controlled the fleet well to win the last race and overall event ahead of Norway’s Tomasgaard and Robbie Gilmore.

In the Laser Radial girls’ class, another local Sophie Murphy (Royal St George YC) leapfrogged Britain’s Georgina Povall and Ellie Cumpsty to take “first girl” and secure her place on the Irish team for the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Worlds this July.

In the 420 class, the French continued their dominance winning by 15 points and, overall, there was a tremendous inter-national showing.

Patrick Crosbie and

Grattan Roberts (Royal Cork YC) were the first Irish boat coming in at eighth place, with 84 points, and taking the Irish 420 slot for the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Worlds this July.

In the Topper class, where the sailors battled changeable conditions, Liam Glynn (Ballyholme YC) took the Topper title with a large 12 point lead ahead of Britain’s William Thomas.

In the Laser 4.7 class, Erica Ruigrok (Rush YC) was the top Irish with a third overall and first girl overall.

In the Optimist Cham-pionship class after the

final two races, Peter Fagan, from the National Yacht Club, took first, and Michael O’Suilleabhain from Kinsale YC was sec-ond.

Announcing the Irish team for the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Worlds, Niamh McCutcheon, ISA President said: “The ISA is delighted to confirm the team for the Youth Worlds where 64 nations will compete, at the conclu-sion of the national trials. We are equally proud of the exceptional standard of the team and their com-mitment to representing the very best of Irish youth sailing on the world stage. We wish them fair winds

and excellent sailing.”Brian Craig, chair-

man, Dublin Bay 2012 said: “The nationals give the organisers a fantastic opportunity to test out all systems for the Four Star Pizza ISAF Youth Worlds in July, both on the water and ashore, as we have a lot of the same teams in place for both.

“We were also fortunate to have had good mix of weather, including some difficult onshore winds, which tested the teams in boat retrieval on the water. We have also learnt the race lengths and time and distance for the fleets, which has been very use-ful.”

Harbour hosts national field

SAILING: 380 SAILORS FROM 10 NATIONS COMPETE IN REGATTA

Competitors prepare for action in the Mitsubishi Youth National championship last weekend

Avoca la viva: Men’s team claim double after league winAVOCA completed the double last Satur-day when they added the Neville Davin Cup to their men’s Division Two title they completed a fortnight earlier. They did so with a penalties’ victory over Weston at Serpentine Avenue after regular time had ended 3-3.

The Blackrock club were 3-0 up with 20 minutes to go, but Weston recovered to level, forcing extra time and penalty strokes, before Avoca prevailed in the sudden death shoot-out, 7-6.


in association with

a CLUB NOTICEBOARDCUALACUALA will be hosting Division Two,

Group 1, at Thomastown on Satur-

day, May 5.

The U-14A footballers will take on

Raheny, Kilmacud Crokes and Castle-

knock.

All support from around the club

will be warmly welcomed.

The U-14B and U-14C football-

ers will play their fixtures at Fingal

Ravens and Kilmacud Crokes respec-

tively, as we launch a three-pronged

attack on the Feile.

Good luck to the Dublin U-21 foot-

ballers and the senior hurlers who

will be in double-header action in

Portlaoise next Saturday in the

U-21 All-Ireland semi-final and the

replay of the Division 1A hurling

play-off. Shame it clashes with a

full programme of Saturday juvenile

games.

There were good wins for the

minor A footballers at the weekend, a

draw for the B team and a defeat for

the Cs. Great to have so many teams

in action at this level.

Great wins also for the U-13A and

B, U-14 A and U-15A hurlers in recent

days.

The U-16As just got pegged back to

a draw by Ballyboden in the closing

minutes to prevent a clean sweep

among the older juvenile boys.

Good luck to all those playing in

the Mick Holden memorial golf clas-

sic this coming Friday at Glen of the

Downs. Details on the website if you

want to grab a late start.

The Academy was back in full swing

on Saturday. If you have or know of

any boys or girls born in 2004, 2005

or especially 2006, now would be

a great time to get them involved

ahead of the summer highlight of the

Mini All-Irelands.

Tickets are flying out the door for

the Luke Kelly tribute concert at the

club in a couple of weeks. Get them

while you can.

FOXROCK/CABINTEELY

THIS weekend is an important one

for the club as Dublin Feile takes

place.

We have a record three teams

taking part.

The Feile is being hosted by Naomh

Mearnog and St Sylvester’s on Sat-

urday, with the semis and finals

taking place in Parnell Park on Sun-

day.

We wish the three teams the very

best of luck.

We would like to wish both Hannah

Foster Ryan (U-14As) and Sinead

Goldrick (senior) a speedy recov-

ery as both of them suffered arm-

breaks in the line of duty.

The U-13As and U-12As had good

wins last weekend to keep the teams

on top of their respective tables.

The U-13As beat last year’s cham-

pions, Crokes in a very competitive

match while the U-12s beat league

leaders Scoil Ui Chonaill.

NHL DIVISION 1A PLAY-OFFDublin 2-20

Galway 0-26

(AET)


DUBLIN survived the sending off of both Ryan O’Dwyer and Alan McCrabbe when Niall McMorrow earned them a dramatic reprieve to snatch a draw in a pul-sating Allianz Hurling League Division 1A encounter at O’Connor Park, Tullamore, last Sunday afternoon.

The Dubs had both Ryan O’Dywer and Alan McCrabbe straight red-carded in the first period of extra time, yet, despite their numerical disadvantage, they rose to the challenge with late points from subs Daire Plunkett and a Niall McMorrow 65 which earned Anthony Daly’s men a replay.

It was just reward for a Dublin side that r e fu sed to buck l e

despite a number of calls going against them all afternoon.

In normal time, Dub-lin led by three points, 2-15 to 0-18, head-ing into injury time before three Joe Can-ning points (two frees) forced the match into extra-time.

Canning had a rela-tively quiet opening 35 minutes but once he was liberated from full-forward, he prospered further out in the field.

Two minutes into e x t r a t i m e , R y a n O’Dwyer was shown red by referee Barry Kelly.

Canning added two points (one free) to edge his side two clear and, when Alan McCrabbe followed O’Dwyer off the pitch following his red card just before the half-time interval in extra-time, Dub-lin looked in real, real trouble.

Galway led 0-24 to

2-16 with the second period of extra time to play before Danny Sut-cliffe and James Regan exchanged scores. Then Jonathan Glynn and McMorrow (free) did likewise, leaving the Dubs chasing a two-point deficit in the final minute.

The Dubs were not done, and Plunkett and McMorrow’s interven-tions snatched a draw for Daly’s men.

ReplayThe replay will take

place this Saturday at 4pm in Portlaoise, after the meeting of Dublin and Cork in the Cad-bury All-Ireland Under-21 football champion-ship semi-final at 2pm.

In normal time, the opening half was very tight, but the deadball accuracy of Paul Ryan had Dublin 0-9 to 0-7 in front at half-time.

Ryan converted six frees and one 65 in the

opening 35 minutes, but it was the brilliant reflexes of goalkeeper Gary Maguire, who pulled off a superb dou-ble-save to deny Cyril Donnellan in the sev-enth minute, and two minutes later foiling Damien Hayes who was in pole position to raise a green flag for Galway.

Four minutes into the second half Conor McCormack angled a drive to the net to cata-pult Dublin into a 1-10 to 0-8 lead.

But it was the Tribes-men who responded the better, and they had nosed in front by a point before Ross O’Carroll struck for Dublin’s sec-ond goal in the 57th minute.

Heading down the concluding minutes the Dubs were clinging determinedly to their lead before the accuracy of Canning reeled them in and forced a highly dramatic extra-time.

HURLING: DUBLIN EARN ANOTHER CHANCE IN DIV 1

Ballyboden’s Paul Ryan scored nine in the draw against Galway that earned Dublin’s hurlers a play-off replay

Late scores net Dubs NHL replay

WANDERERSCONGRATULATIONS to the Under-

12s who had a great win v Round

Towers on Saturday last. Good per-

formances from all the team and, in

particular, Conor Casey at full back,

and Ann, Alannah and Jordan, who

also had fantastic games.

Best wishes to our men’s junior

teams this weekend in their respec-

tive champonships.

Eddie Downey’s Junior As are

away to Thomas Davis’s on Kiltipper

Road, Sunday 11am throw-in. John

Durkan’s Junior Bs are at home to

Robert Emmets at 3pm. All support

welcome.

NAOMH OLAFCONGRATULATIONS to Naomh Olaf

player, Niamh Donnelly, on winning

a schools’ All-Ireland with Colaiste

Iosagain.

Commiserations to our Interme-

diate hurlers who suffered a two-

point defeat to Commercials at

Rathcoole on Saturday with a final

scoreline of 0-12 to 1-7.

This was a very under-par per-

formance for Olafs but, hopefully, we

can regroup for the vitally impor-

tant championship match against

Ballyboden in two weeks time.

Our junior AHL6 hurlers went down

to a very experienced Erin’s Isle side

by 7-11 to 2-13 on Sunday morning.

As Olafs were short several play-

ers, this was a credible perform-

ance away in Finglas, with Olafs

taking 15 scores against Isle.

Feile Atha Cliath will take place next

weekend, and is being jointly hosted,

by St Sylvester’s and Naomh Mear-

nog, with the finals taking place in

Parnell Park on Sunday, April 22.

ALL OF YOUR DUN LAOGHAIRE SPORTS COVERAGE FROM PAGE 27-31 APRIL 19, 2012

Ga

zetteSPORTRIDING THE WAVE: International regatta sees best of youth on the water P30


WHITECHURCH Boxing Club broke new ground this month when Sean Mari picked up the club’s first ever male national champion over the Easter Holidays, picking up the Boy 1 27kg title at the National Stadium with a whirlwind 12-9 victory over Connacht’s Jor-dan Muldoon.

Mari had opened the championships with an impressive 10-7 win against talented Jason Ryan of Munster.

An outstanding display of calm and con-trolled boxing under immense pressure came when the young Dublin pugilist got the nod 8-7 after losing the opening two rounds in his semi-final bout against Ulster representative, Rory Baird.

A huge following travelled from the club to support the Dublin Champion on finals’ night and they made their presence felt.

A tight opening round left Mari 4-3 ahead, a one-point gap that was maintained by the end of round two. In the final session, Muldoon frantically tried to bridge the gap, but some well-placed single shots meant that, at the final bell, Mari was champion of Ireland and his Whitechurch supporters and club-mates could celebrate.

This success means that Sean joins White-church BC clubmate Megan Felton as Nation-al Champion; Felton having won Girls 2 hon-ours last year.

For club coach and PRO, Philip Hollowed, it is a big step for Whitechurch who were only formed three years ago in 2009.

“He was also the only male U-11 champions from Dublin to do so. Because of his weight, he didn’t get any fights in the Dublin champion-ships so we were hoping he would get at least one fight in the All-Ireland championships.

“As it turned out, he got three, so he did it

the hard way so it was really satisfying to get through a quarter, semi and final.

“It will be a great boost for the club’s profile and, hopefully, the first of many finals to come. He’s been with us since the start and has been progressing pretty well, his clubmates bringing him on with sparring and things like that.

“He eats, sleeps breathes boxing, so I’m delighted for him. He’s one of those kids if you mention any fight from a few years ago, he’ll know the fight or who was involved, so he’s very much in tune with what’s happening.”

Mari was one of three Dublin champions the club picked up this season, along with Marco Evans and Joshua Evans, while Marco and Luke Boyle were also successful at Lein-ster level.

The emergence of the club, meanwhile, has been further capped by the involvement of two Whitechurch members in a Dublin selection to box against Leinster in Athy this weekend.

Massive Mari win Massive Mari win for Whitechurchfor WhitechurchNew ground broken by Whitechurch BC as Sean becomes club’s first male All-Ireland champion

Sean Mari celebrates his All-Ireland 27kg Boy 1 boxing title at the National Stadium following victory over Connacht’s Jordan Muldoon

PHAROAH-NUFF:McGee’s run leads to Egyptian glory P29

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