Page 3 - Simon Bourke News Today

While many of us have been bunkered down for the winter, protecting ourselves from the elements in the best way we can, Fidelma Kelly spent the time in her Rosslare home perfecting the plot for her latest novel, One More Time. Set in Italy and Ireland, Fidelma’s adopted home features heavily in her third novel; with a love rival from Broadway, a Christmas spent in Ferrycarrig and Kilmore, and a number of scenes in Ballyhealy all featuring.

A cognitively-impaired resident who had tested positive for Covid-19 was locked inside an activities room in an Enniscorthy hospital with no way of escape according to a report issued by the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA). Carried out at St John’s Community Hospital, Enniscorthy, on January 10 and 11, the HIQA report contained a number of non-compliances, among them an account of a resident locked inside a room while the hospital dealt with a Covid-19 outbreak.

A small Wexford community has pleaded with local vandals not to destroy a replacement for the defibrillator which was destroyed on Friday evening last. The defibrillator was installed by the house of Mick Connick in Coolree in 2021 after a concerted fundraising campaign across the surrounding areas. And there it remained until it was discovered in a nearby gripe on the morning of Saturday, April 20.

Hiding behind the couch was always the best option, secreting yourself deep beneath the window so that not even the nosiest of parkers could spot you. It was difficult when everyone was home, hard to find space, but we always managed, united in our determination to defy the authorities.

Those hoping to build houses in Rosslare Stand have been told not to apply for planning as their application will be rejected due to wastewater issues in the village. That was the message coming out of the April meeting of the Rosslare Municipal District (RMD) as councillors demanded an explanation regarding the ongoing water problems in the Strand.

While those in the hinterlands have, for many years, been the poor relations when it comes to high-speed broadband, some Wexford councillors are now fearful that the roles will be reversed, with the townsfolk the one’s left behind. At April’s meeting of Wexford County Council (WCC), TJ Malone, Chief Executive Officer, National Broadband Ireland Deployment, provided an update on the rollout of the super-fast service across the county.

As Wexford continues to bear the brunt of extreme weather events one councillor has suggested teaming up with the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to counteract issues such as coastal erosion and flooding. Councillor Jim Moore, who has witnessed the devastation at Seaview in Kilmore after repeated storms, called upon the council to utilise the expertise and knowledge of those at the EPA via one of its new research projects.

The chairperson of Ireland’s Climate Change Advisory Council (CCAC) will be among the speakers at a seminar on how Wexford can best deal with the impact of climate change in the county. Hosted by the Wexford Lions Club, the seminar will take place on Tuesday, April 23 at 7.30 p.m. in County Hall at Carricklawn and will see CCAC chair Marie Donnelly and chief executive of Friends of the Earth Ireland Oisin Coughlan address the audience.

The Still Pond in Enniscorthy has deteriorated to such an extent that the swans which once resided there have chosen to make their home elsewhere. At the April meeting of the Enniscorthy Municipal District (EMD), Councillor John O’Rourke asked why the council’s environmental department had yet to respond to his queries regarding the condition of what he described as once being a “fantastic amenity” for the town.

Over 150 officials from national and international governments, included Minister for Housing Darragh O’Brien, have attended the Enniscorthy Forum’s summit on “securing real progress toward sustainable buildings”. At the summit, leading building practitioners explored how to decarbonize buildings and create “more resilient, liveable communities” and discussed the “need to act quickly . . . to deliver high performance buildings in order to meet the climate challenge and deliver on ...