Farewell to a Irish & Australian legend: Jim Stynes is to receive a state funeral in Victoria
Jim Stynes, right, on left picture and his brother Brian at last year’s International Rules test between Australia and Ireland in Melbourne. and right pic. the smiling JIM STYNES who will be honoured with a state funeral in his adopted home of Victoria following his death from cancer at age of 45.
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The Dublin-born Aussie Rules legend passed away in the early hours of Tuesday morning following a long and public battle against the disease, which he was diagnosed with in 2009.
Stynes moved to the Melbourne Demons in 1984 as one of the pioneers of the AFL’s “Irish Experiment” to recruit GAA talent. In 1991, he became the only overseas-born player to win the prestigious Brownlow Medal, awarded to the “fairest and best” player in the league, and continued to devote himself to the game and charity work following his retirement in 1998.
As tributes from across the international community flooded in following the news of Stynes’ death, Victorian Premier Ted Baillieu announced that there will be a state funeralfor the man who was named “Victorian of the Year” on three separate occasions.
“There’s a certain deep sadness right across Victoria, Australia and other parts of the world today,” Baillieu said. The passing of Jim Stynes is really a moment in this state’s history which I think everybody will be very moved by.
Jim Stynes was, in many respects, the classic Victorian – a young man who came here from overseas with ambition and aspirations. He charmed everybody he met, he worked his butt off, succeeded, embraced the values and culture of our state and our nation and in the process, I think, won the hearts of every Australian and every Victorian and certainly every sports lover. I’m only too proud to be able to have this moment to say, on behalf of all Victorians, “Jim Stynes, we thank you for everything you’ve done for this state. Thank you for what you’ve done for the game of football and sport in general and thank you for reaching out.”
“PROUD TO BE IRISH”
Demons’ co-captain Jack Trengrove was among the AFL players to add their condolences, describing the impact which Stynes had on him and his fellow team-mates. Stynes became club president in 2008, not long before he was diagnosed with cancer, but insisted that continue on in the role despite his illness and only officially resigned the post last month.
“You just assume [because of] how much of a fighter he is that he would be around so you never thought this day would ever come,” said Trengove. ”He had an impact on so many people and me personally being able to speak to him and learn off him and realise how much of an impact he has had.”
Laois native Zach Tuohy, who currently plays in the AFL with Carlton, tweeted that “Jim Stynes doesn’t just make me proud to be part of this sport and country. [He] makes me, as he should make every Irish person, proud to be Irish!”
Australian cricket legend Shane Warne and Lance Armstrong, seven-time Tour de France winner and cancer survivor, led the tributes from the international sporting community to the former Ballyboden clubman.
“Very sad news with confirmation that Jim Stynes has passed away,” Warne tweeted. “Condolences to all the Stynes family & friends, he was an inspiring man!”
Armstrong said: “RIP Jim Stynes. We’ll miss you mate.”
Ireland’s Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, Alan Shatter, described the decision to honour Stynes with a state funeral as a “fitting tribute”. Shatter is currently in Australia as part of the programme of St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
“I was deeply saddened to learn of the tragic and untimely passing earlier today of Jim Stynes.”
“Through his immense sporting achievements in the AFL and as a Brownlow Medalist,and subsequently through his work with young people with the Reach organisation, Jim touched the lives of many people.
The decision of the Australian authorities to honour Jim with a State Funeral is an indication of the high esteem in which he was rightly held and a fitting tribute to man who devoted his life to the wellbeing of others.His death is a great loss which will be deeply felt by his many friends and admirers in Ireland and in Australia, but most of all by his wife and family to whom I express my deepest condolences.
Stynes is survived by his wife Samantha and his children Matisse and Tiernan, as well as his extended family in Australia and Ireland. A date for his funeral has not been announced.
Enda Kenny in New York urges US firms to invest in Ireland’s recovery
ENDA KENNY had just travelled from Wall Street, where he rang the bell to open the New York Stock Exchange. “As of now, Dow Jones is up 28 points,” he announced, provoking hearty laughter among several hundred business leaders at lunch in a Washington hotel.
Ambassador Michael Collins introduced Mr Kenny as “a man with a very big mandate and a very big mission and a very big message to deliver to you”.
“My message is the same everywhere,” Mr Kenny replied. “Invest in Ireland’s recovery.” He repeatedly quoted Bill Clinton at last month’s investment forum in New York. “You’d be nuts not to invest in Ireland,” Mr Clinton had said.
Ireland’s “effective” corporate tax rate is actually only 11.9 per cent, for a “headline” rate of 12.5 per cent, Mr Kenny said, offering the de rigueur assurance that it will not change.
Two dates figured in Mr Kenny’s speech: 2013, when the Irish Government will encourage the 70 million-strong Irish diaspora to “come home” for “the Gathering”; and 2016, by which time “Ireland will be the best small country in the world in which to do business . . . the best wee country to raise a family or grow old with dignity and respect”.
In the afternoon Mr Kenny spoke to an energy sector and utilities seminar
hosted by Enterprise Ireland to introduce 10 Irish businesses working in renewable energy to US utilities companies. He also addressed a joint meeting of Science Foundation Ireland and the Wild Geese Network of Irish Scientists. The Dublin and Washington-based groups announced a new partnership. Officials from the enterprise body and the science foundation said Mr Kenny’s presence raised their groups’ profiles and gave them greater credibility with US interlocutors. “You rarely get a Government as open as this one,” Mr
Kenny told the business leaders. He and his Ministers would be happy to meet with any investors who come to Dublin, he added.
When he took office, trust in Europe was at a nadir, Mr Kenny said. A year later, talk is no longer of defaults or the end of the euro zone, but of a growth and jobs agenda. He did not mention the referendum on the fiscal compact.
Ireland’s openness to international business would pull the country out of the debt crisis.
“We’re seeing businesses bet on Ireland every day,” the Taoiseach said. He mentioned a long list of US companies who’ve invested in Ireland in the past year, including PayPal, Pepsi, Abbott, Dell, Eli Lily, Mastercard and Twitter.
Mr Kenny said Ireland’s “unique” relationship with 40 million Irish-Americans and 70 million in the Irish diaspora worldwide “is more than a strategic asset; it’s part of who we are. Our task is to ensure this global family stays linked”.
The US “will be essential to our economic recovery. It is the engine of the world economy,” he said. “America’s success is good for Ireland, and Ireland’s success is good for America.”
When Ireland assumes the six-month presidency of the EU next January one of its first tasks will be “the removal of remaining restrictions” on trade between the US and Europe.
Before heading to the American Ireland Fund’s gala dinner, the Taoiseach stopped at the Irish-owned Dupont Circle Hotel for a photo opportunity marking the resumption of direct flights between Washington and Dublin, which stopped in the autumn of 2009.
Meanwhile today at the Oval office:
Enda Kenny is to meet Barack Obama at the White House today
Taoiseach Enda Kenny will meet US President Barack Obama at the White House later today.
- Enda Kenny was in New York’s Wall Street yesterday
Taoiseach Enda Kenny will meet US President Barack Obama privately in the Oval Office at the White House for the annual shamrock ceremony later today.
Mr Kenny will also attend a breakfast hosted by US vice president Joe Biden.
The Taoiseach will then attend the annual Friends of Ireland luncheon on Capitol Hill.
The event will be hosted by the Republican Speaker of the House of Representatives John Boehner.
The meetings are part of the Taoiseach’s five-day US tour during the St Patrick’s Day festivities. Mr Kenny will fly home to Ireland tomorrow.
‘Expert’s advise of the great benefits’ to health & the planet from a low carbon economy
It is not widely appreciated that there are many benefits to health that are likely to accrue from a low carbon economy, according to health experts
They believe that health professionals ‘are uniquely placed to guide the climate change conversation towards better policies that are good for the planet and for people.’
Professor Sir Andy Haines from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Dr Carlos Dora from the World Health Organization argue that the benefits to health of a low carbon economy ‘have frequently been overlooked’ yet ‘they offer the promise of accelerating progress towards both public health and climate goals.’
For example, shifting away from burning coal for electricity will not only cut carbon dioxide emissions and health damaging pollutants; one estimate suggests it would avert around 90,000 premature deaths annually in India alone.
And increasing active travel in cities will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, it also has the potential to cut rates of heart disease, obesity, depression, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, breast and colon cancer.
Furthermore, investments in active transport are generally excellent value for money, making many of these policies highly attractive on both health and economic grounds, say the authors.
The experts were writing in a special supplement on climate change and health published onbmj.com.
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