What a week it’s been...
Two of the Green Party councillors have stepped down leaving the future of the party in jeopardy.
A woman has admitted to being ‘the worst mother in the world’ after having had sex with her son aged 14 and letting her family of six children live in horrendous squaller. AND, a judge believed that six years was enough punishment for this crime.
Galmoy mines has told workers in Kilkenny, it is to close the mine two years before time as a result of failing business.
The Taoiseach proposed more spending cuts of up to €2billion which are bound to affect us all in some way.
And an 81-year old Kilkenny priest has pleaded guilty to stealing huge sums of money from a Florida parish at the opening of his trial in Florida yesterday.
The list of bad news is endless these days. It looks like the death-knell is being sounded for the Green Party. This week our big interview in Talking Politics is with Green councillor Malcolm Noonan who gives his opinions on the goings on of the Green Party and more importantly his personal stance on issues coming up to the local elections. It is a tough time to be a Green I think and there are not many Greens out there at the moment who are in agreement with how the ministers and TDs are carrying out their business in the Oireachtas.
The unthinkable story of a woman who let her children live in dreadful conditions and who raped her eldest son is one of those stories that makes you question how something like this could happen under the noses of social workers who were visiting the house on a regular basis. Once again it highlights the complete lack of protection for vulnerable children in our society. It is unthinkable that innocent children could be left in the care of this person and nobody did anything about it until recently.
Job losses seem trivial when you hear stories like that, however, everyone’s situation is relevant and many people are having a very hard time making ends meet at the moment. The generous bank manager is not the man we once knew and many are suffering as a result. Galmoy mines and its closure will have a big effect on the economy of north Kilkenny and as local Councillor Mary Hilda Cavanagh has said - there is urgent need for re-training resources to be pumped into this area sooner rather than later.
It would appear that the Government is in freefall at the moment and nobody knows quite what to do. Everyday the bad news get worse and the numbers of people affected grows. People across the world are looking towards Barack Obama and hoping that something that he says or does can have a positive effect on us over here.
His inauguration was a momentous occasion and anyone that could watch the event did so. His inauguration as president of America spells revolution and with his presidency comes enormous expectations, particularly from Americans.
I for one welcome Barack to power and hope that his term of office will signal out some positive news for war-torn countries as this will have a positive knock-on effect on all of our economies.
Finally on a lighter note - if you want to forget all the doom and gloom - why not take a trip out to Castlecomer and bring the kids to the pantomime that is taking place there until Sunday this weekend. It certainly will raise your spirits and you will be treated to an evening of fabulous entertainment by the young and not so young members of the Deenside Players - well worth a trip!
