Searmanas bronnta céime do Lauren... ar Oileán Thoraí!
Is beag imeacht a chuaigh ar aghaidh mar a bhí muid ag súil leis le bliain anuas.
Imríodh cluichí ceannais na hÉireann i bPáirc an Chrócaigh agus í iomlán folamh agus sioctha fuar i mbéal na Nollag.
Seinneadh ceolchoirmeacha sna Stáit Aontaithe leis an ghrúpa agus an lucht éisteachta ar fad i mbolgáin zorbála.
Cuireadh Oireachtas na Samhna ar ceal den chéad uair le 80 bliain go fiú.
Ach b’fhéidir den chéad uair riamh, reáchtáladh searmanas bronnta céime ar Oileán Thoraí amach ó chósta Dhún na nGall nuair a bhain bean óg de bhunadh na háite a céim amach le déanaí.
“Níorbh é an cineál searmanais a raibh mé ag dréim leis!” a dúirt Lauren Ní
Bhaoill – a fuair a céim i gcúram sláinte agus oideachas na luathóige ó Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Leitir Ceanainn – de gháire.
“Ach bhí sé galánta. Rinne an coláiste iarracht iontach, bhí muid ag amharc air ar an ríomhaire glúine, agus rinne mo theaghlach iarracht iontach lá deas a dhéanamh dom.
“Bhí cóisir bheag againn leis na balúin mhóra agus gach rud, agus rinne siad an-iarracht an lá a dhéanamh chomh speisialta.”
Is beag áit sa tír a bheadh chomh hálainn faoi choinne searmanais dá leithéid, mar is eol do dhuine ar bith a leag cos ar Thoraigh riamh. Ach le cúrsa iarchéime san oideachas idir lámha anois ag Lauren i gColáiste Naomh Muire Bhéal Feirste, agus í bunaithe i dToraigh de dheasca na srianta taistil atá i bhfeidhm, caithfidh gur beag áit a bheadh chomh suaimhneach deas don obair sa bhaile. Cad é mar atá an chianfhoghlaim ag dul di féin?
“Ag an tús, bhí sé iontach aisteach – fiú ag iarraidh aithne a fháil ar na mic léinn eile.
“Ach d’éirigh mé cleachta leis i ndiaidh cúpla seachtain.”
Agus ba mhór an difear idir sin agus an saol ar an oileán naoi míle ón tír mhór.
“Tá sé galánta. Nuair a bheifeá críochnaithe ar líne, rachfá fá choinne siúlóid bheag, tchífeá daoine eile ag siúl agus thiocfadh bheith ag caint leo – tá tú cineál ag déanamh dearmad ar an saol aisteach atá ag tarlú ar an taobh amuigh.”
Ní muintir Thoraí amháin a bhain sólás as saol níos ciúine le bliain anuas – ó thús na paindéime, tá fianaise ann go bhfuil beocht á cur ar ais i mbailte beaga agus i gceantair thuaithe ar fud na tíre.
Deir Lauren: “An chéad dianghlasáil, bhí sé foirfe, tháinig achan duine a bhíonn ar shiúl ar ais abhaile, agus bhí sé galánta.”
Ach le maolú na srianta de réir a chéile, tharla go raibh ar chuid mhaith acu filleadh ar na gnátháiteanna oibre ar fud na tíre.
Beidh ar Lauren féin Toraigh a fhágáil go luath chun cleachtadh teagaisc a dhéanamh – “níor mhaith liom smaoineamh air!” a deir sí de gháire –imBéalFeirste.
Ach dá mbeadh an rogha aici, an mbeadh fonn uirthi fanacht i dToraigh sa todhchaí?
“Dá mbeadh post ar fáil, léimfinn air!” a dúirt sí.
“Tá mé ag iarraidh imeacht agus an saol mór a fheiceáil fosta,achnuairabheidhméag iarraidh socrú síos, is sa bhaile a bheinn ag iarraidh sin a dhéanamh. Is bean Thoraí atá ionam – níl áit ar bith níos fearr!”
ONCE again, Elon Musk is at the centre of a market mania. Two weeks ago, the Tesla CEO put a firecracker under the share price of GameStop, the ‘meme stock’ beloved by the amateur investors on the Reddit forum Wall Street Bets, when he tweeted his support for it.
This week, Mr Musk opened not just his mouth but his wallet when Tesla disclosed it had invested $1.5bn in Bitcoin, driving the price of the cryptocurrency up 20pc to nearly $50,000.
The dramatic move has focused public attention on Bitcoin – not for the first time – and has market participants and commentators asking whether cryptocurrencies should now be regarded as investment assets.
Ordinary investors are certainly curious. One portfolio manager at a major Dublin wealth manager said she was fielding three or four queries per day about Bitcoin.
Rory Gillen, the founder of investment advisory firm Gillenmarkets, said his clients are asking about cryptocurrencies all the time, but he remains a firm sceptic having watched Bitcoin crash after skyrocketing in 2017.
“We write about it in our newsletter week in and week out,” he said. “I don’t see it as a real asset. I need a bit more than supply and demand.
There is no limit to the number of cryptocurrencies, so why would Bitcoin be considered exclusive?”
Proponents of Bitcoin, however, see something different in the cryptocurrency movement: an alternative to a financial system that locks out or exploits small investors and preserves privileges for large institutions.
“It’s rooted in a form of financial activism,” said Dr Paul Ennis, an assistant professor in UCD’s Quinn School of Business who studies cryptocurrency. “The original objective is not to get rich but to level the playing field. My trepidation is that the people getting into it now don’t understand what makes it valuable.”
According to Dr Ennis, that value is ideological and cannot readily be expressed in dollars, which is bad news for speculators looking for a ‘safe’ asset.
“It’s easy to forget how volatile it is,” he said, pointing out that Bitcoin crashed alongside financial markets in 2020. “It still needs someone like Elon Musk to drive it on.”
That unpredictability – Bitcoin’s volatility in the last three months was 72pc versus just 6pc for the euro – has attracted the attention of regulators and central bankers.
Former ECB vice-president Vitor Constancio took to twitter himself this week to attack Bitcoin investment.
“Authorities are condoning the continuation of the public being misled by technological buffs that have no idea of what is money,” he wrote.
ECB president Christine Lagarde has likewise slammed Bitcoin as a vehicle for money laundering and argued for regulating it like any other financial security.
However, the head of Oxfordbased think-tank Euro Intelligence, Wolfgang Munchau, hit back at the old guard in a report yesterday.
“It will not be up to them to decide whether or not it is money,” he said. “That question will be settled by those who use it.”