A Priestly Sunday Blog by Donie

Donegal priest Fr Ambrose still active at 100!

 100 years 

Fr. Ambrose O’Gorman, Ballyshannon who celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday (Saturday).  

Fr Ambrose O’Gorman of Kilmacrennan, Ballyshannon and Belleek, celebrated his 100th birthday yesterday (Saturday). Here, he reflects on a long and happy life.

Fr Ambrose was born in Kilmacrennan on April 28, 1912, just a fortnight after the Titanic sank. His father Michael, a native of Tubbercurry, Co. Sligo, was a sergeant in the RIC. In fact, he was the last sergeant to serve in the RIC at Lifford, where Ambrose started school at the age of 3 years and 2 days, and went on to make his first communion. The family moved to Strabane for a few years, then settled in Ballyshannon when Ambrose was 10.

Fr Ambrose remembers his father, who was left without a job after the RIC was disbanded, coming home and tossing a piece of paper on the table. “I’ve bought a house,” he announced, for the princely sum of €1,000.

The house was in Castle Street, just opposite the old Democrat office. Michael and his wife Noreen had seven children, five boys and two girls, and Ambrose was the middle child. His eldest brother was a doctor, two others served in the Army, while yet another brother Ben, also became a priest. Ambrose is the last surviving member of the family.

At one stage, the O’Gorman’s owned the house next door as well, Lipsett’s. This was where Tony Blair’s mother Hazel was born. Fr Ambrose remembers him and his siblings playing with Hazel and her sister Iris. “All the children played together. We’d often play on swings we’d made in the attic of our house. Hazel was good craic.”

He also remembers the British soldiers leaving Ballyshannon. “I can still see them crossing the bridge. I thought it was a very impressive sight but didn’t think much more about it. At the age of 10, we didn’t know right from left!”

He says life in those days was happy but physically demanding. “I remember people down the country having to get up to do a full day’s work milk the cows, feed the chicken and the cattle before they went to Mass at 8am.”

His mother, unhappy at the harsh ways of the brothers at the local national school, removed her boys to Creevy. “My mother, God rest her, took us out of the brothers’ school because we were being battered. She put is in the school at Creevy and we walked the three miles there. I wonder now how my youngest brother did it, he was only seven.”

Ambrose was drawn to the religious life fairly early on. “I don’t remember seriously considering anything else, although my mother’s people were farmers and I always enjoyed working with animals. But I never saw myself becoming a farmer.” He was an altar server during a parish mission and when he went to confession, the priest asked whether he would consider becoming a priest himself and that was when he made his decision.

So, Ambrose went off to Belcamp Secondary School in Dublin. He stayed for three years but it wasn’t a great success. “I enjoyed my stay there but perhaps I was not the material these priests wanted, so I came back to Ballyshannon. The local curate, Fr Neil McGrorty, came to my rescue. He wrote to the Salvatorian Fathers who accepted me and I went to the Place of Foundation in Abbots Langley, about 25 miles from London. I was more settled this time ‘round. I was twenty by then and knew this was what I wanted.”

In May, 1940 the newly ordained Fr Eunan O’Gorman (he reverted to Ambrose after Vatican II), arrived at Ballyshannon Railway Station, to a tumultuous reception. “There was a huge crowd there to greet me, it was wonderful, and very moving. There was even the brass band and everyone paraded through the town with me as Fr McGrorty drove me home. I still find it hard to believe that so many people turned out.” Fr Ambrose says that, when he looks back on his life, this is his happiest memory.

He returned to the UK, where he served for 40 years, mostly in Essex (Chelmsford, Basildon, Newbury Park) but with a short stint in Swansea Valley, Wales. He survived bombing raids in WWII and a plane crash in the 1960s, when he was flying back to London after visiting his mother.

As the plane tried to land in dense fog, he heard a big bang. The plane, a Viscount with about 85 passengers on board, had crashed. “I remember just after the bang and before the crash nudging the man beside me. I asked him what was wrong but he was a dreadful colour, so I didn’t ask any more questions! The plane burst into flames, but we all managed to get safely off. All I had was the new suit from Clery’s that I was wearing, and my breviary, because I had been praying. The fog was so bad that it took them more then two hours to find us, even though they had spotlights. We were all huddled in little groups and had to shout so that they could locate us.”

All through the years, he still retained his deep love of all things Donegal and was President of the Donegal Association of London in the 1980s. Having played for Ballyshannon in his youth, he keenly followed the progress of both Aodh Rua and the Donegal team. Despite being in his 90s, he travelled to Croke Park to see Donegal lift the Sam Maguire in 1992.

When he retired from the priesthood in 1992, his parishioners in Newbury Park bought him a house in Assaroe View, Ballyshannon.

Five years ago, he moved to Shannagh Nursing Home, Belleek, as his sight was failing. He’s in good company, as he is the fourth resident there to celebrate their 100th birthday this year! His fellow centenarians are Mary Jane ‘Lexie’ Carson of Garrison, Mary ‘Mae’ Falconer of Strabane and Ballyshannon and Anne Ferguson of Garrison.

At a Mass held in May 2010 to celebrate the 70th Anniversary of Fr Ambrose’s ordination, Fr Cathal Ó Fearraí observed: “He often says today that he doesn’t see much but, I can assure you, he misses nothing.” Never was a truer word spoken. Despite his advanced years, Fr Ambrose still has a sharp intellect and is full of energy. “He tells me everything that’s on the news and that’s happening in football,” Deirdre Gallagher, manager of Shannagh Nursing Home said. And he still assists at Sunday Mass in the Franciscan Friary at Rossnowlagh.

Tyrone Catholic priest apologises for displaying indecent images

A Catholic priest in Co Tyrone has apologised unreservedly after indecent images were inadvertently projected onto a screen during a meeting of parents at a primary school last month.

     

Fr. Martin McVeigh destroyed the memory stick with the images stored on it.

 The priest denies responsibility for the indecent images.

In a statement this afternoon, Fr Martin McVeigh said he wanted to assure parishioners in Pomeroy that he was not responsible for the presence of the offending images in his PowerPoint presentation.

The images were shown at a First Communion meeting at St Mary’s Primary School on 26 March. He said the memory of what he described as “this awful episode” would remain with him always.

“I deeply regret my failure to check, in advance, my presentation I had no knowledge of any offending imagery existing in it,” Fr McVeigh said.

“After the images were inadvertently shown, I immediately removed the memory stick from the laptop. In my shock and upset and in my concern to ensure that the images would never be shown again, I destroyed it later that evening.”

The priest added: “I appreciate that the incident was very serious in nature and caused much anxiety and distress, particularly to those who were present on the evening in question and I apologise unreservedly for the hurt caused.”

“I want to assure you, however, that I was not responsible for the presence of the offending images and in this respect I ask you to accept my innocence.”

The Archbishop of Armagh, Cardinal Seán Brady, has said he has accepted Fr McVeigh’s request to take sabbatical leave on the understanding that he returns to the parish on its completion.

Cardinal Brady also said the diocese would now work to ensure that procedures and policies were put in place for the proper monitoring and use of computers in parishes.

Sunday's all Ireland news by Donie

Astronomers find a new planet capable of supporting life like ours, it is what they call the ‘holy grail’ 

A planet capable of supporting life outside our solar system.

     The planet lies in what they describe as a ‘habitable zone’, neither too near its sun to dry out or too far away which freezes it.

And the discovery could help answer the question of whether we are alone in the universe, which has been plagued astronomers and alien fanatics for years.

Scientists found the planet, Gliese 667Cc, orbiting around a red dwarf star, 22 light years away from the earth. 

For more on this click here: http://donieconwayaddress.wordpress.com/science/

Ireland’s Nursing homes and security sector among the targets for Revenue Audits this year

   

Josephine Feehily, chairwoman of the Revenue Commissioners, with commissioner Liam Irwin (left) and commissioner Niall Cody when announcing details of Revenue’s annual report yesterday at the Chester Beatty Library in DubLin

Couriers, the security sector industry, nursing homes and solid fuel merchants will be targeted for audits by the Revenue Commissioners this year, the organisation said yesterday.

Launching its annual report for 2011, the Revenue said it increased its rate of audit activity last year by almost 20 per cent, yielding €520 million in tax and penalties.

The Revenue focused its audits on “shadow economy” activity in the construction industry, where more than 1,800 audits yielded €58.8 million. More than 600 audits of bars and restaurants yielded €16.9 million, while “white collar” professionals and landlords were also targeted.

Cash businesses in those sectors remain “top of our list for 2012”, said Revenue chairwoman Josephine Feehily.

The Revenue would also continue to target the evading of excise duty on diesel.

“Streetscape” operations carried out by Revenue last year – visits to every business on a particular street or in a particular town – revealed “several hundred” cases of employees getting paid off the books. The Revenue will this year launch a programme of on-the-spot fines for employees who do not register for PAYE or keep an up-to-date register of employees.

The Revenue secured more than 1,000 convictions in 2011 for failure to file an income tax return. Some 55 custodial sentences were imposed last year for tax evasion, 21 of which were not suspended. So far in 2012 there have been 15 further custodial sentences, with 10 people going to jail.

The level of outstanding tax debt stabilised in 2011 and is now beginning to decrease, Ms Feehily said. The Revenue increased the number of staff dedicated to debt collection and recovery last year, redeploying them from other areas of the organisation.

“Overall I would say last year was a year of really solid performance in challenging circumstances,” Ms Feehily said.

While tax and duty receipts were €831 million below budget targets, net tax and duty receipts in 2011 were up 7 per cent to €34.2 billion, a reversal of three years of falling returns to the Exchequer.

Ms Feehily said the Revenue had looked at the cases of 2,500 pensioners who had income in excess of €50,000 in addition to their Department of Social Protection pensions. Some 800 of these were new cases where the tax was not yet payable.

The process of examining the rest individually was “extremely labour intensive” and the Revenue was now writing to some of the pensioners concerned “inviting them to self-review” their tax position within 30 days. “We do expect the majority of this group to owe us €2,000-€3,000 a year.”

The Revenue has paid back €2 million to 7,000 pensioners who have overpaid their tax. The question of tax liabilities owed by pensioners arose this year after the Department of Social Protection sent records pertaining to 560,000 cases to the Revenue.

The moment Ned O’Keeffe was released by gardaí after 11 hours of interrogation over his bogus expense claims

      

O’Keeffe released without charge

Former Cork East TD Ned O’Keeffe was released without charge from Cobh Garda station

Gardaí were preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions after last night releasing former Cork Fianna Fáil TD Ned O’Keeffe who was questioned over alleged fraudulent claiming of mobile phone expenses while a member of Dáil Éireann.

Mr O’Keeffe, who retired from the Dáil last year after representing Cork East for 29 years, was arrested at his home at Ballylough near Mitchelstown in north Cork and taken to Cobh Garda station for questioning about expense claims totalling about €2,000.

Mr O’Keeffe was arrested at 10.30am yesterday under section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act. He was questioned on suspicion of tendering a false instrument, namely an invoice to claim mobile phone expenses from the Oireachtas.

He was released from custody at 10.30pm and left the Garda station with his son Kevin a solicitor. Mr OKeeffe didn’t comment but his son said “obviously the dramatic events of the day have taken Mr O’Keeffe by surprise.

“However during the course of the day he cooperated fully with the gardaí and assisted them in their inquiries and we have nothing further to add at this time”.

Meanwhile, gardaí searched Mr O’Keeffe’s home at Ballylough, and it is understood that they seized documents and records relating to Mr O’Keeffe’s expenses claims while serving as a TD.

It is understood gardaí obtained warrants to arrest Mr O’Keeffe and search his home at Midleton District Court on Thursday when they swore evidence before Judge Brian Sheridan.

A source close to Mr O’Keeffe, said he was surprised by the arrest but was said to be in good form as he was taken to Cobh where he was later visited by his son Kieran. An outspoken member of Fianna Fáil, Mr O’Keeffe was first elected to the Dáil in 1982 and held his seat until retiring in 2011.

The investigation follows a complaint by the Irish Daily Mail and it is understood the newspaper submitted documentation to the Garda.

Mater Hospital take-off: adult patients at the new Dublin hospital to check in like airport passengers

The €284 million Mater hospital development has a glass entrance, transparent lifts and open spaces. The idea is that outpatients can use its services with the ease of a modern airport.

THE FIRST phase of the new €284 million Mater adult hospital in Dublin unveiled yesterday will involve visitors to outpatients checking in like passengers at the airport.

The hospital’s main entrance, on the North Circular Road, and its outpatients department were on display yesterday and will be open to the public in six weeks as part of the first phase of the development.

A new emergency department, underground car park, operating theatres, intensive care unit, radiology and 120 single ensuite rooms will be rolled out in the second phase, between July and December this year. And final works will be completed in May 2013.

The glass-fronted entrance, with its escalator, glass lifts and wide-open spaces, had more in common with a modern airport than with the 151-year-old hospital from which it has grown.

The escalator leads up to the first-floor level, the “hospital street” where patients can avail of the self-service outpatients check-in. This will allow patients signal their presence using a barcode system and then relax in the coffee bar while monitoring a TV screen to see if they are called.

Coin-operated wheelchairs, much like those used in supermarkets, will also be available for patients with reduced mobility.

Brian Conlan, chief executive of the Mater hospital, said if the self-check-in facility works for outpatients it will be extended to the emergency department.

“The airline industry has paved the way for a lot of this,” he said.

The light-filled outpatients department will accommodate the running of 13 clinics at any one time. And the hospital has been designed so that if the new children’s hospital goes ahead there, the floors will be connectable and each speciality will match.

A floor above outpatients, one of the 120 spacious single rooms, was on display complete with ensuite bathroom and pull-out couch for relatives. The self-contained rooms will also feature a person-to-person nurse-call system so that patients can make contact with individual nurses on duty instead of buzzing the nurses’ station. The rooms will “automatically cut the risk of transmission of infection”, assistant director of nursing Celine O’Carroll explained. It will also be ideal for cystic fibrosis patients.

On the same level, a meeting room with ceiling-to-floor window looks northward over the city and down onto a roof garden which will be available to patients. The building has also incorporated artworks as well as a series of courtyards that lend it a sense of calm and space.

Saturday news Ireland update by Donie

Irish Banks taken to task for refusing to sell homes in ghost estates

     

THE head of the agency in charge of completing the State’s 2,000 ghost estates has sharply criticised banks for “stupidly” refusing to sell houses to local authorities.

Chief executive of the Housing Agency, John O’Connor, told the Irish Planning Institute’s annual conference that instead of selling the homes at reasonable prices, banks preferred to hold the properties as assets on their books.

In one case, a local authority had offered €140,000 for homes in one ghost estate, which was refused by the unnamed bank. A second offer some months later was also refused, even though the homes were unoccupied and deteriorating.

“There’s no point in leaving housing idle,” Mr O’Connor said. “One local authority offered to buy a number of unfinished houses to complete a development, but the bank wouldn’t agree to the price being offered.

“Six months later the local authority went back, and offered €100,000 per house and the bank wouldn’t sell. It’s very stupid to have an asset lying there.”

His comments were echoed by Declan Taite, a receiver with RSM Farrell Grant Sparks, who said there was often a “huge difference” in the prices people were willing to pay, and amount banks were willing to accept.

This was because accepting a lower price would impact on the bank’s balance sheet.

The latest figures show there are 2,066 unfinished developments across the country, made up of almost 37,000 units, of which 18,638 are complete but vacant.

Chris McGarry, planning and development advisor with State bad-bank NAMA, said it controlled about 12pc of all unfinished estates, about 250.

Some 28 needed urgent works, and 15 had been dealt with and work was due to start shortly on the remaining 13.

Mr McGarry said that most of its property portfolio was based in the Greater Dublin Area, meaning it was likely to be developed in the medium-term.

Oatfield Sweet’s factory in Letterkenny to close after 85 years with the loss of 17 jobs

One of Ireland’s most iconic confectionery brands in he last century, Oatfield Sweets,is to shut its doors after nearly 85 years.

       

A FAMOUS sweet factory, Oatfield Confectionery in Letterkenny, Co Donegal, which has been making sweets for more than 85 years, is to close, it has been announced .

The company was famous for producing boiled sweets, including its most famous product, Emerald Chocolate.

Production, which had been phased down, has been transferred to England. The remaining 17 staff have been given their notice. The announcement was made by the owners Zed Candy yesterday. There had been speculation about the company’s future in Ireland for some time. At its height of production, more than 80 workers were employed at the plant.

Letterkenny Chamber of Commerce president John Watson said it was a sad day for the town.

“Oatfield sweets is very much an institution in Letterkenny and part of the fabric of the town that will now be missed.

“The decision to move the manufacturing to the base in the UK is disappointing and a sign of the times as businesses continue to come under pressure to reduce costs.”

Labour Party senator Jimmy Harte claimed the owners could have done more to engage with the workers.

“Many families have had long links with the company and the loss of 17 jobs is a blow to the local economy. I would ask that they [the owners] now give the workers their entitlements, and I have spoken with Minister Joan Burton today to ask her assistance with any issues that the staff will require.”

Prostate cancer surgery ‘has little or no benefit’ in extending life of patients

• The study compared surgically removing prostate gland with ‘watchful waiting’

• Some experts now questioning whether disease should even be called cancer

New research into prostate cancer has revealed that surgery has little or no benefit in extending the life of a patient.

The study, which has not yet been published, compared surgically removing the prostate gland with ‘watchful waiting’ and found there was little difference between the two.

Experts are believed to be ‘shaken’ by the news because thousands of men could have gone through painful and unnecessary surgery.

A new study suggests that surgery makes little or no difference to 'prostate cancer sufferers'

 

One expert, who did not want to be named, told the Independent newspaper: ‘The only rational response to these results is, when presented with a patient with prostate cancer, to do nothing.’

The Prostate Intervention Versus Observation Trust (PIVOT), led by Timothy Wilt, started in 1993 and analysed 731 patients over 12 years.

It found that those who had an operation to treat the cancer had less than three per cent chance of survival compared with those who had no treatment.

The results were presented at a meeting of the European Association of Urology in Paris in February and were met with a stunned silence.

One urologist said that it definitely was not a finding the medics would be eagerly tweeting about.

Cancer of the prostate is the most common male cancer and affects 37,000 men every year with up to 10,000 deaths.

In half of all cases it is slow growing with suffers living for many years and often dying of another disease.

It is believed some specialists are now questioning whether the disease should be considered a cancer at all.

The surgery, known as radical prostatectomy, can often leave patients impotent or incontinent.

However a consultant urologist at Guys and St Thomas’ NHS Trust said he did not believe that nothing should be done.

He said that many older men would with a lower-risk would not normally be offered surgery in the UK and would be offered radiotherapy or ‘watchful waiting’.

Dr Kate Holmes, head of research at the The Prostate Cancer Charity, said: ‘Early data from the Pivot trial certainly suggests that surgery to remove the prostate does not provide any significant survival benefit for men with low to medium risk of prostate cancer.

‘However, these findings are from a large ongoing trial, and we look forward to seeing the full published results which could help men in future to make more informed decisions about treatment.’