NEWS ROUND-UP
Lions Club’s fundraiser
Sligo Lions Club is collecting donations for its Christmas food drop. If people wish to donate, via envelope or otherwise, they can call Michael Leydon at 087 2562532
The Lions Club thanks all those have generously supported to this worthy cause.
Arrest after alleged serious assault in town
Gardaí investigating an alleged serious assault that occurred in Sligo town on Saturday arrested and charged a woman as part of their investigation.
At around 6:45pm on Saturday, a woman in her early twenties entered a premises in Sligo town without a face covering. The woman was advised of her failure to wear a face covering.
She left the premises but returned shortly after and allegedly assaulted a female member of staff a number of times with an implement before fleeing on foot.
The injured female was taken to Sligo University Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
The woman, who presented voluntarily at Sligo Garda Station, was arrested by gardaí and detained at Ballymote Garda Station.
She has since been charged and will appear at Sligo District Court today, Thursday.
Probation Act for man who had cannabis
A man who was caught with €500 of cannabis has been given the Probation Act, at Sligo District Court Twenty-nine-year-old Stephen Lynch, Carrowkeel, Carraroe, pleaded guilty to the offence that happened at Slish Wood on February 2 last year. Defence solicitor John Anderson said the drugs were for the defendant’s own use. He had no previous convictions and had made an early guilty plea. Judge Kevin Kilrane said the amount was “above the norm.” The judge applied the Probation Act after €300 was handed over for Hope House.
New ASD class as St Mary’s looks to future
St Mary’s College, Ballisodare, will open a class for autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) students in September 2021.Principal Anthony Carty said: “This is great news for our school community. We will welcome our new students in a spirit of care, respect and joy. I am sure that students, staff and our parents will embrace this opportunity and be enriched as a result. Everyone has something to contribute to our school life.” This news comes after the announcement in December that the Department of Education will support St Mary’s College over the next five years.
“This initiative represents one aspect of our future development as a school,” said Mr Carty. “We will see increased student numbers, resources and additional school building as a result. Expressions of interest in our school are growing and we are hosting an online open evening on January 27. The future of St Mary’s College is looking bright.”
Win a coffee and pastry in Filan’s Centra
Each Thursday for the next few weeks, Filan’s Centra on Castle Street will be slipping a voucher for a free coffee and pastry into a copy of the Sligo Weekender. Make sure to pick up a copy in Filan’s Centra to be in with a chance to leave the shop with a free coffee and pastry!
‘Scrap wage scheme and PUP tax bills’
Scrapping Covid-19 related tax bills would provide vital household stimulus for those who need it most, according to the Sligo-Leitrim Labour Party.
Hundreds of thousands of workers who either lost their jobs or suffered a pay cut because of Covid-19 are now having tax bills sent to them by the Revenue, and local Labour representative
Nessa Cosgrove is backing the Labour Party call for the government to scrap these. A statement from the party branch said: “Workers who have already experienced a drop in wages and unemployment now face a double hit with TWSS and PUP tax bills. “Money allocated to doomed Staycation Subsidy Scheme and the unused Covid Loan scheme could be redirected to support workers and the economy.
“The Revenue Commissioners are chasing small sums of income tax from workers hardest hit by the pandemic while in the US we see the Democrats prepared to stimulate their economy with $2,000 stimulus cheques for those earning under $75,000.”
Nessa Cosgrove, who was a General Election candidate in 2020, said: “Serious consideration should be given to this once-off gesture of solidarity for the hundreds of thousands of workers who have now been hit with wage subsidy scheme and PUP tax bills. “These are the workers who were hit hardest by the pandemic. They lost their job, had their pay cut and have faced huge uncertainty through no fault of their own.
“It is not too late for Minister Donohoe to do the right thing and in doing so design a waiver capped to ensure that any benefit goes only to low and middle income earners, and not those at the higher end of the income distribution.
“Hundreds of thousands of tax bills are being generated, creating a huge amount of paperwork for officials and regular PAYE workers who are used to having their income tax taken at source. “Figures provided to Labour’s finance spokesperson shows that a total of €458 million is outstanding, with 165,000 of the 400,000 workers who had wages paid under the temporary wage subsidy scheme levied with tax bills of less than €200. 15% of workers impacted owe amounts ranging between €500 and €1,000. And Revenue figures show that for those who only received the PUP, a total of €57m is owed by 99,700 people which is an average of €571 per person.
“Workers need a break, and the Minister must consider scrapping these tax bills. The full cost of the small break that the binning of the TWSS and PUP tax bill would represent for workers in this toughest of years is small compared to the effort of collecting it. Capping the amount of relief would ensure it is targeted at the lowest paid workers. “What we are proposing is, in essence, the conversion of this tax liability into a family and local stimulus as a form of ‘helicopter money’ for low and middle income workers. “The Democrats in the United States are backing a $2,000 stimulus cheque scheme but in Ireland we’re sending tax bills to those who lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts.”
Warm welcome for David Durkin in Ballyshannon
A warm welcome was extended to former Sligo GAA star David Durkin on his first day as inspector at last Friday’s sitting of Ballyshannon District Court.
The Tourlestrane native is no stranger to Donegal, having served there for 23 years. Leading the welcome, senior Sligo-based solicitor Gerry McGovern said that the Inspector had previously worked in Donegal Town and Letterkenny.
“He comes with a lot of experience and was very well known in Sligo as a famous Gaelic footballer and gave long and loyal service to the county and to his club Tourlestrane.”
David Durkin was also a key member of the great Sligo GAA team of 2002 who could and should have beaten Armagh in an All-Ireland quarter-Final.
And, he won a number of Sligo club titles with Tourlestrane.
Mr McGovern said the solicitors in Donegal had a good relationship with the gardai and he always found Inspector Durkin to be a very sensible officer who does his job well, is approachable and the solicitors wished him well in Ballyshannon. In welcoming Inspector Durkin to the court, Judge Kevin Kilrane said he had a tough act to follow as the departed Inspector Denis Joyce was a very experienced and very effective officer who was never excessive and dealt fairly and appropriately with due diligence.
He had retired recently, and it fell on Inspector Durkin to take up the mantle.
The judge said he knew Inspector Durkin well down the years as a sergeant and he always impressed the judge as a balanced and fair man. He was lucky to be taking over a very “united station” in Ballyshannon where gardai worked together harmoniously which is a very important part of policing.
This has not always been the case in every garda station in the country.
The judge said he wished the new Inspector well and hoped he would stay in Ballyshannon.
Judge Kilrane said it was important to have a rapport with the community and the community garda can best operate when the senior officers are there on the ground among the community to hear what the community has to say.
Inspector Durkin thanked the court for its kind words. He said he had been in Donegal for 23 years and was glad to back in Ballyshannon.
The Inspector acknowledged the good work of Inspector Denis Joyce in south Donegal and he would try to continue in that vein to ensure the smooth running of prosecutions.
He was looking forward to working with the solicitors while doing his own job and added that he would be an open door in respect of all aspects of the court.
Aldi to recruit 18 employees in Mayo and Sligo
Aldi Ireland last week announced that it is seeking to recruit 18 new employees for its stores in Mayo and Sligo. This sinclude 16 permanent positions. Aldi is recruiting more than 1,050 new store employees across the country throughout 2021, which include 700 permanent positions and 350 temporary jobs to support busy key trading periods.
Aldi said it has witnessed a surge in sales and customer footfall in the last 12 months, with sales growing by 15.2% and with over 1.4 million households shopping at its stores. It recently extended the opening hours of its 145 Irish stores in the run up to Christmas, opening its stores between 8am and 11pm for the first time.
Store assistants earn up to €14.10 per hour. Aldi was the first supermarket to introduce The Living Wage Technical Group’s recommended living wage rate of €12.30 as its minimum, entry level of pay.
Niall O’Connor, group managing director of Aldi Ireland, said: “We need the very best people to join the Aldi team to help us continue to deliver the highest level of customer service and lowest grocery prices in Ireland.”