News Ireland Tuesday update as told by Donie

Westlife’s Mark Feehily has split from partner who he was set to wed

   

WESTLIFE singer Mark Feehily has sensationally split from the partner he was due to marry next year. The heartbroken star announced last night that he had parted from his fiance Kevin McDaid after seven years together.

The family of Westlife’s Mark Feehily were said yesterday to be devastated by the split between the singer and his fiance, Kevin McDaid.

“It’s all off and it’s such a pity because Mark’s family really liked Kevin,” a family friend in Sligo told the Sunday Independent yesterday. “They thought he was a nice chap who was very good for Mark.”

Another source said the family were “deeply disappointed” as they were “incredibly fond” of Kevin.

It was to have been the showbusiness wedding of 2012, but instead, the couple went their separate ways over the Christmas holidays after seven years together. And yesterday there were unconfirmed reports that Mark has met someone new since the break-up — an Englishman who was described as “very nice, very mannerly and of independent means”.

But a spokesperson for Mark Feehily denied that the singer was involved with anyone new or that anyone else had been involved in the break-up.

The 31-year-old pop star had been engaged to Mr McDaid, 27, for nearly two years after popping the question on their fifth anniversary as a couple. But this weekend, friends close to Westlife comfirmed: “It’s all off”.

Storms across Ireland leave homes without power

The worst-affected regions were the north and north-west, with about 9,000 blackouts in Donegal and Sligo.

       
Severe storm-force winds have swept across Ireland, leaving some 15,000 homes without power

The Electricity Supply Board (ESB) said another 2,500 power losses were reported in Midland counties and another 1,000 in the south.

ESB spokesman Brian Montayne said homes hit by cuts could expect to be back on the grid by late afternoon. “But that very much depends on how safe it is for our crews,” he said.

“Hopefully by lunchtime, but again it depends on how the weather pans out for the rest of the day.”

Met Eireann said northern counties were hit by damaging gusts of between 62mph and 87mph.

Winds have been strongest in Connacht and Ulster, where they will occasionally reach violent storm force 11 between Bloody Foreland and Fair Head.

They are expected to moderate as the day goes on.

Gardai issued a traffic alert to exercise extreme caution in the face of storm-force winds and heavy rain.

They warned that driving conditions will be difficult across the country and urged motorists to cut speed, be aware of hazards such as fallen trees, branches and other debris, particularly on minor roads. Drivers have also been asked to turn their vehicles’ lights on. 

New courses in NUIG Galway focus on the prevention of heart disease

       

Pictured from left Professor Kieran Daly, the Chairman of Crof  Professor Gerry Loftus NUIG Galway and Neil Johnson chief executive of Crof.

A RANGE of new courses being developed at NUI Galway will be the first in Ireland on the prevention of cardiovascular illnesses such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

A partnership initiated by west of Ireland heart and stroke charity Croí, in collaboration with NUIG, HSE West and industrial partner Kerry Foods, is set to break new ground in medical education through the development of the new programmes.

Croí chief executive Neil Johnson told The Irish Times that the charity was born out of a need to upgrade cardiac services in the west in 1985, but with the successful development of services and the opening of a cardiac surgery department in Galway, they had moved into the area of prevention and health promotion, linking up with Imperial College London to develop initiatives and training programmes.

“Imperial College has designed the gold standard intervention programme. They identify people at risk of cardiovascular disease and invite them to participate in a prevention and lifestyle programme,” Mr Johnson said.

It had been demonstrated that this type of intensive intervention resulted in a reduction in cholesterol and blood pressure levels, early diagnosis of diabetes, weight reduction and a decrease in smoking, he said.

Imperial College has franchised the programme under the name My Action and it has been contracted by the NHS to provide the service in 15 locations in the UK. Croí approached the HSE West and MSD Ireland which committed to support a three-year My Action programme in Galway.

“We discovered at the end of the first cycle that our results actually exceeded those of the UK and subsequent programmes yielded similar results. Assessments of participants carried out one year on found we had again exceeded the UK outcomes,” said Mr Johnson.

For the past two years, Croí has been delivering the intervention programme in Galway. More than 800 people have benefited and the programme has demonstrated that it can reduce these risks.

“Going forward, one of our ideas was to develop a range of training programmes to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of health promotion and prevention,” Mr Johnson said. “The only masters programme in Europe is in Imperial College. Funding has been committed by the HSE, Croí, NUIG and the Kerry Group for five years to the development and delivery of a taught programme from certificate to masters level in preventative cardiology as well as continuing our prevention programme.”

Ireland’s Property websites find Irish house prices fell 18% last year

 

THE ASKING PRICES for houses in Ireland fell by as much as 18 per cent last year, two reports on the beleaguered Irish property market suggest.

Property website Daft.ie said the average asking price for homes was now €175,000 – some 52 per cent below the 2007 peak and down 18 per cent annually.

Asking prices fell 7.7 per cent in the last three months of the year, the sharpest quarterly fall in asking prices to date, Daft.ie said.

A similar report by property website MyHome.ie indicates that asking prices for residential property plunged 13 per cent in 2011. MyHome.ie’s average asking price for a home nationally is higher than that of Daft.ie’s, coming in at €236,000.

MyHome.ie, which is owned by The Irish Times, said asking prices were down 43 per cent since their peak in late 2006.

“It is unlikely that years down the line, 2011 will be remembered in the annals of Ireland’s property market. It is much more likely to be tucked away between the start and end dates of what will be regarded as the legendary Irish property market crash,” said Ronan Lyons, economist at Daft.ie and author of its report.

Both the MyHome.ie and Daft.ie reports pointed to sharper declines in the Dublin property market than outside the capital.

MyHome.ie said Dublin prices fell 14.7 per cent last year compared to a 13 per cent national average.

Daft.ie said asking prices in Dublin fell 8.9 per cent in the final quarter, compared to a 5.4 per cent fall in Cork city. However, Galway showed the steepest rate of decline, with asking prices falling more than 14 per cent in the final three months. Daft.ie also released figures showing the varying speeds at which homes are sold nationwide. In Dublin, about half of the properties put on the market through the site are sold within six months, while in Connacht and Ulster, it takes a full year for the same proportion to sell.

Mr Lyons said it was tempting to see large house price falls “as a bad thing”, especially for those in negative equity, but a fast rate of decline had some advantages in a situation where the decline was inevitable.

“If the size of the correction in house prices is determined by fundamental factors, then it is better for the prices to race to the finishing line than crawl there.”

Annette Hughes, director of DKM Economic Consultants, who wrote the MyHome.ie report, said prices would not stabilise until there was sustained economic and employment growth.

HOUSE PRICES IN NUMBERS

€236,000 The average national asking price – MyHome.ie

€268,000 The average asking price of a house in Dublin – MyHome.ie

61 Percentage decline in asking prices in central Dublin city, the steepest to date – Daft.ie.

41 Percentage decline in asking prices in Limerick city since their peak – the most modest falls of any city, according to Daft.ie.       

Amelie a Little bundle of bouncing joy arrives 35 seconds after the new year rings in

 

Caitríona Mitchell from Churchtown, Dublin, with baby Amelie Rose, who was born in the Rotunda Hospital 35 seconds into the new year and with Neil the happy father after midnight yesterday, making her the State’s first baby of 2012.

THE STATE’S first baby of 2012 arrived at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital yesterday a mere 35 seconds after the midnight chimes.

An emergency Caesarean section ushered Amelie Rose Mitchell into the world. First-time parents Caitríona and Neil Mitchell from Churchtown, Dublin, were delighted, especially since labour had begun almost 24 hours earlier.

Yesterday the proud father said matters had been progressing slowly, but when the baby’s heart rate sped up shortly after 11.30pm, the team at the hospital decided an emergency section was required.

An operation was arranged and the baby was delivered quickly, weighing in at a healthy 7lb 5oz.

The couple were “absolutely thrilled” and relieved at Amelie Rose’s safe arrival. “It’s a brilliant, brilliant start to the new year,” they said.

Amelie Rose was one of 30 babies expected to be born at the hospital yesterday. Although she was the first in the State this year, the record for the bounciest new year baby must go to Kyle Kennedy, born to Edel and Jeremy Kennedy from Kilmallock, Co Limerick. The bundle of joy arrived at the Mid-Western Regional Maternity Hospital in Limerick, weighing 11lb 1oz, just 45 minutes after midnight.

The other new year babies included a baby boy, Reece, who arrived at the Coombe Women and Infants University Hospital in Dublin at 17 minutes after midnight. Born to Jennifer Dowman from Dublin, the 5lb 5oz baby has five older brothers to go home to.

Over at the National Maternity Hospital, Holles Street, Elsie Ann was born to Nikki Mitchell and Ian Tumulty from Dún Laoghaire. Weighing 6lb 9oz, she arrived just 26 minutes into the new year.

In the southwest, Sophie Jane O’Donovan, 6lb 11oz, was born to Louise O’Donovan of Leith West, Tralee, at Kerry General Hospital 38 minutes after midnight.

Anna Finlay, daughter of Maureen and Mark Finlay, Oranmore, Co Galway, was born at University Hospital Galway at 12.41am, weighing 7lb 7 oz.

The first baby in the northwest was born at 12.52am to Agnieszka Kuczewska in Sligo General Hospital. The boy has yet to be given a name.

Grace O’Brien was the first baby of the new year born at Cork University Hospital. She arrived shortly before 3am to parents Deirdre and Andrew O’Brien from Carrigaline and weighed 6lb 8oz.

A boy born at Waterford Regional Hospital arrived two minutes and 16 seconds into the new year, making him the second new year baby. His parents did not want their names publicised.