Search Results for 'Brigadier General'

It has to be the year of the Shark, that’s John ‘Shark’ Hanlon from County Carlow. He bought a horse called Hewick. He didn’t pay dearly for it (not even a thousand euro) and then won the Galway Plate last summer. He added another win at Sandown, and between the two he pocketed half a million euro. Not bad for a year’s work. But just last October he won the American Grand National at Fair Hills in New Jersey with a $160,000 dollar first prize. Now he is 33/1 to take the Cheltenham Gold Cup in March. D’ya think, maybe.

Speaking to the Athlone Advertiser this week, former Minister of State, Kevin ‘Boxer’ Moran, has stressed the implementation importance of recommendations forwarded to the Government from the findings of the Commission on the Defence Forces.

I suppose the hurling final was the event of the weekend. But the result was disappointing, in that the gap between Kilkenny and Tipperary was 14 points, which did not indicate a very close game. Nonetheless, it is always exciting to see hurling played at a very high level, which this was, and the prowess and skill of the combatants on each team was not in doubt.

A special meeting dedicated to serving Defence Forces personnel to discuss their present public service pay conditions predicament is expected to be convened in August.

Malachy Hand, Fianna Fáil candidate in the upcoming local elections for South Roscommon, Athlone LEA, hosted a meeting at Coffey’s Lounge, Lecarrow, on Monday evening at which Jack Chambers, TD, Fianna Fáil Frontbench Spokesperson on Defence, addressed the present Defence Forces crisis.

The problem of retaining personnel in the Defence Forces has “reached crisis point”, according to Galway West Independent TD Noel Grealish, who also alleged the root of the problem lay in the Department of Defence, and not within the army itself.

A great grandson of Galway's World War I fighter ace Major Robert Gregory, Robin Murray Brown, read WB Yeats' famous poem An Irish Airman Foresees His Death in Belfast last Sunday. St Anne's Cathedral was filled to capacity for a service to commemorate the centenary of the Royal Air Force (RAF), which succeeded the Royal Flying Corps in which Major Gregory flew. Major Gregory joined the war effort in 1916 and was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry. He was also awarded the Legion d’Honneur — France’s highest honour.

Well, so much happened in the last week, and most of it during the weekend.

Dublin-born Phil Tomkins, an ex-elite forces soldier, now lives in the North of England but is a regular visitor to Ireland, being no stranger to either Moate or Athlone.

Brigadier General Peter O’Halloran, a resident of Athlone, has been appointed Assistant Chief of Staff of Óglaigh na hÉireann.