The Corkman Newspaper is out every Thursday in all the local newsagents, and contains much more than just the online version

The Japanese-owned firm employs just under 500 people in the Millstreet-based plant, and managing director Brendan O’Shaughnessy said yesterday that the earthquake has affected the company’s bottom line this year.

Accounts just filed by Alps Electric (Ireland) Ltd show the firm’s revenues increased by 10% from €58 million to €64m in the 12 months to the end of March last year. [the above is an excerpt from an article in the Irish Examiner - 3rd February 2012]

The Corkman Newspaper is out every Thursday in all the local newsagents, and contains much more than just the online version

The Corkman Newspaper is out every Thursday in all the local newsagents, and contains much more than just the online version

The Corkman Newspaper is out every Thursday in all the local newsagents, and contains much more than just the online version

Joanne O’Riordan and Nadine Spillane were pictured on the RTE news yesterday (Jan 12th) at the stand for their project s “No Limbs, No Limits”, while Joanne was interviewed by Ryan Tubridy on his radio programme on RTE, and discussed their project. Tubridy introduced her with: “… one of my favourite people I met in recent times, the very wonderful Joanne O’Riordan“. Here is the audio:

Results – Highly Commended: One of Millstreet Community School’s other projects at the Young Scientist were highly commended in the Social and Behavioral Sciences (Intermediate) section. They were Shane Dineen, Colm Barrett, Andrew Roche, with their project: Improving access to roads and services during severe winter months in the Millstreet area: A spatial network analysis approach, Millstreet Community School;

Video: Nadine and Joanne were featured by BT Young Scientist on youTube, and describe their project:

Links:

Irish Examiner: Project shows there’s no limits for Joanne

The Corkman Newspaper is out every Thursday in all the local newsagents, and contains much more than just the online version

Health Minister - Dr James Reilly

Before Christmas the Corkman had us worried that Millstreet Hospital may be in danger of closing because small nursing homes were losing money all around the country:

NURSING homes in Kanturk, Macroom and Millstreet could face closure following comments by Health Minister James Reilly that such facilities with less than a 50 bed capacity are ‘difficult to maintain.’A survey of community hospitals across North and Mid-west Cork shows that the facilities in Kanturk, Macroom and Millstreet all have a capacity of less than 50 beds. [read the full article from the Corkman]

This week the Irish Times reveals that Minister Reilly said that he would look at alternative means of keeping such local hospitals open:

Dr Reilly told The Irish Times that where community nursing homes were not financially viable and local people wished to retain them or take them over, he would be happy to look at how they could remain in operation.
He said different combinations of measures could be examined. He said communities might fundraise to address any infrastructural problems and, in parallel, the Department of Health or Health Service Executive could invest money to extend the number of beds on the site to make them viable. He said another option might be for a local community to take over the community nursing unit from the HSE and establish a legal trust to operate it. He said the State could then allocate money from the Fair Deal nursing home scheme budget per bed in the unit.
Existing community nursing units are facing difficulties as a result of HSE budgetary problems, the moratorium on recruitment and a requirement to invest in infrastructure to allow them to meet new standards. [read the full article on the Irish Times]

Only time will tell, but we will follow this story and see where it leads us.

See more photos at:

• Irish Independent
• WhatWears.ie

The Corkman Newspaper is out every Thursday in all the local newsagents, and contains much more than just the online version