TERAPROOF:User:jackiebolandDate:03/07/2009Time:23:05:39Edition:04/07/2009ExaminerLiveXX0407Page: 9Zone:XX2
9NEWSIrish ExaminerSaturday 04.07.2009
XX2 - V1
O’Keeffe tellsparents: I won’thelp those who
didn’t vote for me■ Rathcormac classroom campaign snubbed
by Conor RyanPoliticalCorrespondent
FRUSTRATED parentsfighting to get their chil-dren out of prefab class-rooms have been told bytheir local Fianna Fáil TDthey do not have his sup-port because they did notvote for him.Aggrieved Cork Eastdeputy Ned O’Keeffe saidhe never felt welcome inthe parish of Rathcormacand he preferred to helphis own supporters.“(If they) want me tosupport them they shouldsupport me,” he said.He was speaking to theparents’ council of ScoilBhríde in Rathcormacwhere there is a campaignto replace prefabricatedcabins with permanentrooms.But he told Cork’s C103radio that if Rathcormacwanted to rise up thepecking order it should re-consider its voting alle-giance.“I’ll prioritise, as apolitician, my own areaand the areas I think areright and are necessary andwhere I get my supportfrom. Because I won’t bein Dáil Éireann if I don’tget that support.“I have to look at my sit-uation and I will not be in
Dáil Éireann representingmy political party if I don’tget support and I would bevery far down the list if Iwas to depend on Rath-cormac,” he said.Parents’ council chair-person Claire O’Flynn saidthis attitude was not ac-ceptable and Mr O’Keeffewas just smarting becauselast month’s county coun-cil result was not to his lik-ing.“I am sorry, he is a Fian-na Fáil representative uphere. Years ago he got hisvotes here in Rathcormac.Just because this timearound in the local elec-tions he didn’t get the
votes because we had a lo-cal man running; the localpeople are going to sup-port the local man. Whatis wrong with him?” shesaid.On the same radio showFine Gael TD for the areaDavid Stanton said theparochial nature of MrO’Keeffe’s politicking wasat odds with his own.“I am elected to supporteverybody and that is whatI do. I can only speak forwhat I do and if somebodycomes to me and theywant assistance, advice orhelp or they want to adviseme about their point ofview I will engage withthem and listen to them,”he said.However, Mr O’Keeffetook a cynical view of hisFine Gael counterpart.“I am delighted he is go-ing to work for everybodyand if (he does) we’ll haveno problem at all in eastCork and I wish him wellin that. But it is importantto get elected,” he said,adding that schools werenot built by politicians andit was up to the parents’council to get their housein order.“I haven’t ever been topof the list in Rathcormacand if Rathcormac wantme to support them theyshould support me,” hesaid.
Ned O’Keeffe: never “top ofthe list in Rathcormack”.
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Janet O’Regan demonstrating her home tanning service with Kellie Forde of Lockdown Models. Picture: Darragh Kane
Corkwoman’s tan-tastic recession busterby Claire
O’Sullivan
PRAISE be therecession!This downturn is notwithout its devastatinghuman impact but none ofus can deny it’s firmlyhanding back the powerto the consumer.One woman who hasturned the belt-tighteningto her advantage is JanetO’Regan, who wasinitially devastated whenshe found her workinghours as an officeadministrator in Cork citywere being cut.But with her recession-
busting business plan inplace, she is nowstruggling to get a day off.A long-time fan of thespray-on tan, she’d longthought that the salontreat was “outrageouslyoverpriced” and it wouldbe much easier if thetanner could just come toyour home.And so she set up amobile tanning companywhere she is selling tans toclients in the privacy oftheir own home for —wait for it— the princelysum of 20, a saving ofmore than 30.In business just a coupleof months, there has been
an overwhelming responsefrom the public.“I always had thoughtthat if I set up a business,that’s what I’d do and Idid my market research soI knew that it would workbut I’m still shocked at thedemand,” she said.Hugely popular withbusy mothers and entirefamilies in advance of awedding, she says girls arealso holding tanningparties.Others are getting“tanned up” before theirsummer holidays andhairdressing chains havecalled her so staff can geta bronzing on Thursday
nights for the comingweekend.“The whole process
takes just 20 minutes andthat includes putting upthe pop-up tent that I useto protect surroundings,”she says.Spray tanning can lastfor up to seven days if theperson exfoliates inadvance and moisturisesregularly afterwards, Janetsays.“The big thing Isuppose is the price. Ipriced it for the recessionand people have reactedcorrespondingly. There isso much stuff pricedoutrageously — evenstill,” she said.Janet can be contactedat [email protected]
Drug dealer loses claimover 171k stash in home
by Elaine Keogh
THE man convicted ofkilling a Slane Castle game-keeper nearly 20 years agoyesterday lost his battle tohave more than 171,000cash — most of it believedto be the proceeds of drugdealing — returned to him.The 18 bundles of cash
were seized when gardaíraided the Drogheda homeof Michael Hodgins, 38, in2005, where they also foundcocaine and amphetamines.The money was in a
locked briefcase hiddenunderneath the bath in hisPearse Park home.In Dundalk Circuit Court
yesterday, Sgt Tom Quinnsaid: “I firmly believe it’s theproceeds of drug dealing.”Hodgins claimed it was
money he had saved fromworking as a bricklayer anddoorman since he was re-leased from prison in 1998,having served time for themanslaughter of Timothy
Kidman. He was jailed for12 years in 1990.He told Judge Michael
White he had made themoney from “nixers,” andnot declaring his income tothe taxman.After he was sentenced to
nine years for drug dealingin 2006, he began to try andhave the cash returned.He lost his case in the dis-
trict court and appealed tothe circuit court.The court yesterday heard
that gardaí found 16 bundlesof 10,000, one of 5,000and another of 6,500 — atotal of 171,500.Sgt Quinn told the court
Hodgins had been registeredas unemployed for a year be-fore his arrest and the gardaíbelieved he was “right at thetop of the league” of drugdealers in the north east.While in Garda custody
Hodgins had told him howhe would buy 1oz of co-caine for 1,000 and thenmix it with other materials
before selling it on for atotal of 10,000.Defence barrister Peter
O’Keeffe said Hodgins“worked as a bricklayerduring the height of theconstruction boom”.He showed the court a list
of names drawn up byHodgins detailing where thecash had come from. Twopeople on the list gave evi-dence yesterday.One of them was Shane
O’Brien, best man at Hod-gins’s wedding, who said hegave him 30,000 cash torenovate his mother’s house.Asked by the state solicitor
Gerald Daly why he wouldgive money upfront forwork he replied: “I’m an al-coholic and knew I’d drinkit.” He said he paid Hodginsshortly before he was arrest-ed and the work was neverdone, the court heard.Another man Brendan
Carragher said: “Mickyworked with me and for mefrom 2001 up to a month
Study:Googleusers
ignore adsby Kevin Cronin
ONLINE informationmight extend to infinity andbeyond, but most of us onlylook at the top four resultsin a Google search, accord-ing to a new study.More worrying for
Google, most users ignorethe ads on the right-handside — casting fresh doubton the effectiveness ofonline marketing.The National E-learning
Laboratory (NELL) andEnterprise Ireland conduct-ed an eye-tracking test torecord the vision move-ments of 27 people, chartingthe eye’s path over the web-page to see where their gazelingered the longest.Abi Reynolds, manager of
the Centre for Research andInnovation in Learning and
Teaching, explained that thetest subjects had to sit infront of a computer whichprojected an infra-red beamat them from inside thescreen.As part of a calibration
process, the respondentswere asked to look at differ-ent points onscreen so thesoftware could pick up theirgaze. It then recorded eyemovement like a form ofheat-mapping.The research showed that
people’s attention was fo-cused on the top four resultsonly, with most ignoring thesponsored links on theright-hand side of page.“Our studies show that if
a website fails to deliver orlive up to the users’ expecta-tions, they won’t waste time
hanging around,” she said.Ms Reynolds identified a
new phenomenon of “webrage” to explain our impa-tience with websites.“Research has shown that
if users can’t figure it outwithin the first eight sec-onds, they’ll get frustratedand leave,” she added.Damien Mulley, from
Mulley Communications,said: “For those that hadconsidered advertising onGoogle as effective, this sur-vey shows it’s not perfect.While people may still clickon your ads, the vast major-ity won’t.”Ms Reynolds maintained
that Google is still king ofthe internet, but that this re-port sheds new light on us-er’s behaviour patterns.
Google: Most users ignore the ads on the right-hand side.
Shane O’Brien, left, andBrendan Carragher, topleft, gave evidence forMichael Hodgins, above.
before he was arrested.” Hesaid he always paid Hodginscash for work done.In giving his decision,
Judge White said, excludingthe 30,000 from ShaneO’Brien, it was said that141,500 was accumulatedfrom his work as a doormanand a bricklayer: “I don’tfind it credible, that thatsum could be accumulatedand left in such a way.
“The scale of evidencetips towards it being theproceeds of crime and pro-ceeds of drug dealing.”He found the 141,500
was the proceeds of crimeand must be forfeited to thestate. In relation to 30,000claimed by Mr O’Brien hewould treat it as a separateclaim and ordered it to beheld until a later date so thestate can investigate.
Have you come upwith a new businessor idea as a resultof our changingeconomiccircumstances? Or have youany tips on how to beat therecession?Mark your submissions“recession busters” andemail us at . . [email protected]
How are you survivingthe recession?
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