Peadar Toibin TD Save Navan Hospital

Navan Town Councillor, Suzanne Jamal is like a spoiled child who has thrown her toys out of the pram, for many years before Mrs Jamal entered the political arena Peadar Toibin TD and his party colleague Councillor Joe Reilly had campaigned to Save Navan Hospital from the grim weepers in Fianna Fail. Mrs Jamal is a town councillor and her responsibilities are limited to bins and street sweeping, Peadar Toibin TD has been elected to the national parliament by the good people of Meath and is therefore the man to lead the campaign to Save Navan Hospital.

Mrs Jamal must not expect to get invited to every important meeting at Leinster House and would be better suited to tend to local matters over which she has some say. If Mrs Jamal wishes to raise issues in relation to Navan Hospital with The Minister for Health, she should use e-mail or a letter, just as the rest of us have to do.

Child Abuse increase

More than one half of all calls made to the Dublin Rape Crisis Centre helpline last year related to childhood sexual assault, a 30% increase over the past eight years.

The counselling service received more than 9,000 calls in 2010, 52% of these related to child sexual abuse cases.

Meath News The Courts

Gardai in Trim have charged a local man with the alleged possession of child pornography.

A 48 year old man was arrested in the Mornington area of the town and was charged under the Child Trafficking and Pornography Act 1998. The man was remanded to Cloverhill Prison and appeared at Navan Court 26th July 2011.

A 45 year old man, unemployed father of two children, from Slane Village in County Meath, was remanded in continuing custody when he appeared at Navan District Court 20th July 2011 on charges relating to child sexual crime.

A 52 year old Ashbourne man, Derek Leggett, of Tara Lawns in the town, was sentenced to three years for sending texts threatening to Rape a female work colleague.

FAS replaced by SOLAS

The Government has approved the establishment of a new education and training authority, which will be called SOLAS.






The new body will replace FÁS, which is to be disbanded.



Functions previously carried out by FÁS will now be taken over on a 50/50 basis by both the Department of Social Protection and Department of Education.



The Department of Social Protection will take responsibility for programmes such as the community employment schemes, while further education and training areas will go to the Department of Education and Skills.



There will be a much greater role for the VEC's, which will now take over the running of many courses currently provided by FÁS.





Minister for Education and Skills Ruairi Quinn said this morning its mandate would be to ensure the provision of high quality further education and training programmes to jobseekers and other learners.





SOLAS stands for Seirbhísí Oideachais Leanunaigh Agus Scileanna.

Household Charge

Details of the new household charge, which will be €100, have been announced.




It is expected a number of low-income households will be given a waiver from the charge.



Both the Taoiseach Enda Kenny and Environment Minister Phil Hogan had promised clarity on any household charge before the summer recess.



The service charge is to be a combined water and property tax and will be set in the region of €100 a year, until schemes for charging for water and a property tax are introduced.



The EU/IMF bailout dictates that an interim charge must be put in place for water, beginning next year.

Navan Hospital Campaign Continues

A firm commitment that elective surgery will be returned to Navan was given by Health Minister, James Reilly, at a meeting last week with a delegation from the Save Navan Hospital campaign.




He also said that A&E services at Our Lady's Hospital will remain on a 24-hour basis for at least six months or a year, as there is no capacity elsewhere to deal with the work currently carried out in Navan. However, the minister told the meeting that the hospital laboratory will close.



Following the meeting, campaign chairman, Deputy Peadar Tóibín, gave a cautious welcome to the government's commitment to retain emergency dept services at Our Lady's. "The minister committed to the continuation of the A&E in recognition of the hospital as a level three hospital for at least six months and possibly up to a year. He also committed to returning some of the surgery services that were cut from the hospital last September.



"However, the minister said that the laboratory at the hospital as it is currently constituted, will close," he said.



Deputy Tóibín said that senior HSE management said it was their aim to build extra capacity in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda and Cappagh Hospital, Dublin. When this capacity was put in place, it would be their aim to close services elsewhere in the region, including Navan.



"The Save Navan Hospital campaign is not convinced that the extra capacity that will be provided elsewhere in the system would be sufficient to deal safely with patients from Meath. As a result, we will continue to campaign robustly for the maintenance of services in Navan," he said.



Deputy Tóibín also requested that the HSE would "develop a structure that would improve the flow of communication between the HSE and the community group in order to prevent the system of management by rumour and leak, which currently prevails. To clear this up, the HSE has agreed to meet with the campaign group in mid-September.



"I am convinced that the pressure to 'rationalise' hospital services in Meath was based on money concerns and not patient safety. As a campaign, we will do everything in our power to ensure that patient safety is central to any future decision," he said.



Deputy Damien English said the meeting had been very positive. He said the minister had confirmed that elective surgey will be returned to Navan and he also hoped other services would return.



Deputy English said Dr Reilly had made it clear that the A&E was safe for the immediate future as there was no capacity anywhere else to deal with the level of cover it provides.



"The minister said he wanted to see elective surgery built up at Navan to take some of the pressure off the larger Dublin hospitals. He is sticking to his commitment to bring elective surgery back to Navan. He also wantes to see an increase in the work carried out in the orthopaedic unit," Deputy English said.



Meanwhile, Cllr Shane Cassells has called on the government to put the real plan for the north-east region - not just Navan - on the table so people can see where the government stands on the hospital.



"We have gone from a situation where, on 12th February of this year, the Fine Gael election team pledged on the front of the Meath Chronicle to have the new regional hospital open inside five years.



"Now, just 100 days after gaining power, the best they can do is pledge to keep the A&E in Navan Hospital open until Christmas," he said. "James Reilly and every other opposition TD stood on a stage in front of 10,000 people and pledged their support for Navan Hospital last October.



"Six months' grace is hardly anything to be singing and dancing about," added Cllr Cassells.

AIB Navan Fraud

AIB Navan fraud


Most customers of AIB Navan feel secure when using the AIB ATMs on Kennedy Road and Trimgate Street, the CCTV cameras positioned over-looking the ATM area gives customers the feeling that their transactions are safe and secure. However, this is not the case, AIB customers who have accidentally left their AIB bank cards in the ATM have found that their accounts can be accessed and their money taken, with AIB denying responsibility or compensation. To add insult to injury the CCTV cameras do not show whom has carried out what transaction, in other words if you leave your card in the ATM by accident, your account can be cleaned out and the Gardai have no way of identifying who accessed your account at the ATM. AIB are perpetrating a fraud on their customers by creating the illusion of safety and security, when in fact customers can be robbed in broad daylight and AIB simply deny any responsibility for the failing of their security systems.

AIB customers are being forced to pursue AIB through the offices of the Financial Services Ombudsman in order to have their rights ventilated, this is outrageous and unacceptable at a time when Bankers who have bankrupted our country are walking away with multi-million Euro pensions and bonuses, the bill for which is being paid by the hard pressed workers of Ireland.

If you feel that you have been cheated by any Banking institution please contact the Financial Services Ombudsman.

Navan District Court Slane man Child Porn Charges

Slane child pornography: A 45 year old, unemployed father of two young children from Slane Village in County Meath, has again appeared at Navan District Court on charges relating to Child Pornography. Inspector Smithers, of An Garda Siochana, told the Court that the Gardai were awaiting instructions from the DPP in relation to how the charges were to be dealt with.


The Slane man was remanded in continuing custody to Cloverhill Prison and will appear at Kells District Court in August. The man is being held in E-Wing of Cloverhill Prison.

Child Pornography Slane Child Pornography

A man in his mid-30s from Slane Village in County Meath, who is married with two children, has appeared today 20/7/2011 at Navan District Court, he has been charged with child pornography offences in Slane and remanded in continuing custody to Cloverhill Prison pending his trial.

Social Workers Mandatory Reporting Child Abuse

Social Workers want an easy life with basic hours and inflated salaries, rather than a difficult life with out of hour’s child protection services and a heavy work load. To suggest that people should be allowed to conceal the rape of children in order not to over burden social workers is simply to allow statutory agencies to replace the oppressive position held by the Catholic Church. How dare social workers try to black mail the Government at this important juncture in Child Protection history. If social workers, many of whom are poorly qualified and lack international best practice qualifications in child protection do not wish to be over worked or worked to their full capacity, it may be time for the Irish government to look to International Child Protection agencies and employ those better qualified to do the job.


SOCIAL WORKERS have expressed alarm that plans to introduce mandatory reporting of suspected child abuse could push over-stretched services towards breaking point.

Under realistic and overdue new laws, failure to disclose information on child abuse will result in sanctions such as fines or jail terms.

In addition, the national code on how to respond to child protection concerns – Children First – will be placed on a statutory footing. This will create a legal obligation for organisations, volunteers or professionals who work with children to report all suspected cases of child abuse and neglect.

The Irish Association of Social Workers yesterday warned the new laws could end up doing more harm than good. “As it stands, the child protection system is not functioning properly. There are significant numbers of children without social workers or care plans,” said association spokeswoman Ineke Durville.

This ridiculous statement by Ineke Durville, is a kin to suggesting that rapists should not be put in prison as we have an overcrowding problem. However, Minister for Children Frances Fitzgerald said yesterday she was confident the child protection system could cope and that placing Children First on a statutory footing would make social services more efficient. The Minister backed by the Fine Gael lead Coalition appeared to face down sectional interests in the need to protect children and other vulnerable members of society.

She also said the alternative to not introducing mandatory reporting was to tolerate a system where there had been on-going non-compliance with guidelines on dealing with suspected abuse or neglect.

The Government has moved to strengthen child protection measures in the wake of the publication this week of the report on the handling of child abuse complaints in the diocese of Cloyne.

The previous government opted not to introduce mandatory reporting on the basis that it could see leaders of the Catholic Church such as Cardinal Sean Brady behind bars for concealing the rape of children.

Navan Gardai Navan CCTV

Gardai's new weapon in battle against street crime

Dont forget your Meath Chronicle a Royal Gift for all your news and views

Surveillance society....one of the new CCTV cameras which have been erected in the centre of Navan.

Navan gardaí this week have an extra weapon in their fight against crime in the town.



The long-awaited CCTV cameras for the town, which were first applied for in 2007, have finally been activated and connected to the monitoring centre in the local town hall. A monitoring centre at the local garda station will be connected to the system within a short period of time. However, the delay is not thought to be a major problem and the cameras should connect directly to garda systems "by the end of the week, or at the latest the end" of the month.



At the moment, there is a working monitoring desk at Navan Town Council which has access to live feeds and gardai have been supplied with similar facilities.



The cameras have been installed at the Kennedy Road footpath outside the Navan Town Centre entrance, at the Trimgate Street and Kennedy Road intersection, on the island at Market Square, at the N3/Meath Chronicle intersection, the Church Hill/Ludlow Street junction, Railway Street roundabout, Trimgate Street/Railway Street intersection, at the Navan Garda Station roundabout on Kennedy Road and at the N3 shopping centre junction.



The nine-camera project had been expected to be up and running by Christmas but was delayed by a mixture of factors like funding being released and authorities signing their approval.



The project was led by Navan Chamber of Commerce, Navan Town Council and An Garda Siochana, and cost approximately €185,000 to install. Funding of €100,000 was been allocated by An Pobal, which administered the grants for the Department of Justice, and the balance was paid by Navan Town Council.



The application was first made for CCTV in 2007 and Navan was announced as one of the towns which had been successful in 2008.



The Garda Commissioner only signed off on the scheme in June of last year and Pobal had to make its evaluation of the work programme before issuing the contract.



Cllr Tommy Reilly said that while it is a good start, he was disappointed that laneways in the town centre have not come under surveillance.



"I welcome it with open arms for the town of Navan, but it's been a long time coming," he said. "It'll be a great asset to gardaí in crime-solving, as well as the town, which now has monuments, shrubs and statues to protect, so I hope it will act as a deterrent to antisocial behavaviour and vandalism.



"However, I am disappointed that Metges Lane, Bakery Lane, Preston Place and Trimgate Court and the alleys people come through from the Fair Green, where people park, to Trimgate Street, where they shop, has no coverage.



"Also with the laneways not being covered you have a situation where, if someone is attacked, they can duck down a lane and disappear. So while it's a good start, made by Dermot Ahern, by the way, hopefully there will be more to come and I hope Alan Shatter (Fine Gael's Justice Minister) can do the same. We need to get Trimgate Street revitalised and get people onto it," he added.



Navan Garda Superintendent Michael Devine said the locations for the cameras were chosen on the basis of them being "focal points" for people congregating, not necessarily for crime, and said that they were a "preventative measure", as well as being helpful with video evidence and public appeals.



"They should be functional in a few more days and we obviously think they'll be beneficial to the town, giving us significant coverage over the immediate town area," said Supt Devine.



Councillor Joe Reilly said "people need to know that the centre of the town is being monitored by CCTV".



He added: "It wasn't possible to do it everywhere but it can help identify people in late night incidents and can be useful for stopping shoplifting, but we have to balance civil liberties, like privacy, obviously. I know it is data protected so as long as it's not intrusive and it will help people if we balance the security of people shopping, for example, with their liberties and rights."

Navan Hospital Minister for Health Meeting

Efforts are continuing today to ensure that existing services at Navan General Hospital in Co Meath are maintained.




A delegation from the Save Navan Hospital Campaign has secured a meeting with the Health Minister Dr James Reilly this afternoon after he holds discussions with senior medical staff on the future of the facility.



Campaigners are looking for assurances from Minister Reilly that the current levels of service will be safeguarded, including the emergency department, and that surgery be reinstated after being halted last September.

Meath GAA a Royal Blessing

Dont Forget Your Meath Chronicle, all your GAA News and Views.

This could be a good week for Luke Comer, the Meath GAA sponsor, after he found the winning formula at Naas tonight with Tajweed.




Tajweed got his head in front at Naas this evening for the first time since winning a race at Redcar when trained in England by Mark Johnston.



Shane Foley got Tajweed home in front in the Derrinstown Stud Apprentice Handicap.



Purchased by Luke Comer for 11,000 guineas, the best Tajweed managed in the meantime was a third place at Galway last year.



Luke Comer is into his second year as sponsor of the Meath GAA football team and this could be the start of an interesting few days for the Galway native.



Apart from winning the race at Naas this evening, Luke Comer could be on a winner again on Saturday night when his native Galway come calling to Pairc Tailteann for the All-Ireland SFC second round qualifier, 7.0.



As sponsor of the Meath team he will be invited to attend, but the big question that remains unanswered at this stage is - who will he be shouting for?



However, he could remain in London for the weekend where his son Barry, a former Meath minor footballer, will be aiming to help London into the next round of the All-Ireland SFC when they tackle Waterford at Ruislip.



Perhaps the Comer family might be satisfied a win for London and either Galway or Meath with the pair drawn together in the third round?????

Sean Gallagher New Grange Hotel Navan Meath

Sean Gallagher may not have received the support of Louth County Council for his presidential campaign last night; however, he certainly got the support of the people of Meath who attended the Meathvec, Smartmove event in the New Grange Hotel last evening.


Special congratulations must go to Margaret Deegan, VTOS, Co-ordinator at Meath VEC and the entire management team at Meathvec for thinking outside the box on this inspired event.

Sean Gallagher while being the main act of the evening had a number of support groups that provided professional and much needed support to many people who are in search of work and careers guidance. The CV Clinics were a must for those trying to sell their abilities, experience and enthusiasm in the job market.

Recruitment and employer organisations who attended provided a wealth of information and guidance. The Panel was made up of the very capable David Beggy (Beggy Pub, Navan, Beggys Courtyard Bar Navan & Scanlons Kilberry), the impressive Deirdre Murtagh (Causey Farm) and the fire breathing Dragon from County Cavan, Mr Sean Gallagher a true inspiration to IRISH BUSINESS.

The New Grange Hotel provided a professional service making this event easy, accessible and truly enjoyable.