April 2025
Can’t wait!
Tens of thousands of golf fans are getting ready to descend on Royal Portrush for the Open.
This Championship will have added zing given the success of Rory McIlroy at the Masters in Augusta. Aficionados can’t wait to see the Hollywood super star in action at the famous links course.
Preparations are at an advanced stage. Hotels, new and long established, and guest accommodation are ready for the influx of visitors. It’s reported that some homeowners willing to rent out their properties stand to enjoy a bonanza. This is the third time the picturesque 36-hold course will host the Open Championship. Last time was 2019 when Shane Lowry from County Offaly took the Claret Jug.
Rory and Shane are good friends but when they tee off in July, they’ll park their friendship as they embark on intense competition for golf’s much coveted prize. As well as the Claret Jug, the victor will also receive in excess of $3 million in prize money and millions more in downstream endorsements and sponsorships.
We can’t wait!
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Move over Rory
And if you think Rory’s the bee’s knees, then wait until you hear about the golfing prowess of May Hazlet.
The Aghadowey teenage sensation won both the Irish and British Ladies’ Championships at the age of seventeen in 1899. Over her illustrious career, she claimed five Irish Championships and three British titles.
May won her first competition at 7. Florence, her sister, was also an accomplished golfer. May was honoured with a blue plaque at Royal Portrush Ladies Clubhouse – a long-overdue recognition of an astounding athlete.
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Satisfying the Opposition
The SDLP Opposition on the Hill has been making much of the cost incurred in sending Executive Ministers and their staff on overseas trips. In the past year, the cost stood at £220,000.
As we go about putting our best foot forward and presenting a strong business case to the world, you might think £220K isn’t a lot. If you’re not in the race, then you don’t stand much of a chance of taking any of the shrinking number of Foreign Direct Investments, or so the argument goes.
Staying in five-star hotels is a bit of a stretch. And do we really need so many civil servants and advisers to accompany Ministers? There’s scope here to shave a bit off the cost of international travel, but it’s important we get the balance right. A small concession on the number of people involved in ‘flying the flag’ in important international markets might be enough to satisfy the critics on Opposition benches.
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Kneecap embarrassment
The Kneecap rappers say they’re being smeared. No, really?
This is after a litany of appalling foul-mouthed remarks the west Belfast group made about Tory politicians which I will refrain from repeating.
Suffice to say Kneecap has attracted generally hostile press and media coverage for the comments made by the trio. If that was their objective, then they succeeded. Kneecap has since apologised to the families of two murdered MPs. The group says that words which expressed support for Hamas and Hezbollah were taken out of context.
There is nothing remotely redeeming about this group. Instead, there’s lots to support the view that they are well beyond the Pale and a source of embarrassment to many of us.
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A taxing problem
Cross-border co-operation is some way off realising its potential.
A report by the ESRI and Shared Island acknowledges successes since the Belfast Good Friday Agreement, but says more progress is needed in education, health, agriculture and the environment.
The report calls for a substantial upscaling in north-south co-operation and expanding collaboration in skills provision, labour market access, energy security and foreign direct investment. What this reference to hotly competed FDI means will require some clarification. Given the vast difference in Corporation Tax rates north and south of the border, there’s little doubt where potential investors will wish to locate their operations. A 12.5% CT rate will win out every time.
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Big shoes to fill
On May 7th, 135 Cardinals will face the difficult task of electing a successor to Pope Francis. His will be big shoes to fill. The Pope touched the hearts of millions, and millions mourned his passing at the age of 88.
The mysterious workings, intrigue and political manoeuvring of Conclave in the Sistine Chapel would be a guaranteed best-seller. The only problem is that all the Cardinals who must be under eighty years of age to be eligible to vote are sworn to secrecy.
The new Pope has to win by a two-thirds majority. A slender 51% won’t cut it.
Whatever the outcome, the challenges he will face will test him to the limit. Will he continue along the path of Francis or lurch to the right, and that’s just for starters.
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Two security alerts
You might well ask what the heck is going on with two viable devices removed in security operations in Ballyclare and Rathcoole in one weekend.
Are these lethal items the property of paramilitaries or Organised Crime Gangs, or is there any difference between the two nowadays?
These are weapons capable of inflicting great harm and have no place in our community. Worryingly, their presence also says that in spite of great advances, we still have some distance to travel to build a society that is free from thugs and gangsters.
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Walk on the wild side
A Church of Ireland Rector from Fermanagh who walked bare foot to Dublin’s Saint Patrick’s Cathedral last month raised a few eyebrows on his marathon Lenten pilgrimage.
The affable Rev Stephen McWhirter from Rossorry on the outskirts of Enniskillen made the gruelling trek with just the clothes on his back, a sleeping bag and a wooden staff that belonged to his father. He had no credit card and not as much as two cents in his pocket.
As he made his way through Fermanagh, Cavan, Meath, Kildare and Dublin, he was fed and watered by well-wishers. If there was anything to renew your faith in humanity it was the generosity he encountered along the way.
The Rector raised thousands of pounds in the process. Mind you, he needed a week to put his feet up after arriving at the Cathedral on Palm Sunday. Walking back home was not on the agenda.
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