More and more Irish are escaping recession to explore new lands.

Imagine leaving your usual nine to five office job in rainy Ireland for a job teaching kids in the African sunshine or trekking up Mount Everest with wildlife enthusiasts.

This may just be a mid morning daydream for most but an increasing number of Irish people are making this a reality.

Rosie Plummer a spokesperson for Irish Travel group I-to-I this week said, “The number of people availing of their job placement service has increased by nearly 50% due to the economic downturn”. I-to-I offers many opportunities to people to travel abroad including working with children, helping the environment and helping communities. I-to-I also offers the opportunity to train as English language teachers work either temporary or long term jobs in countries such as South America, Japan, China and many more. From as little as 20 hours of TEFL training a person can then jet off to a country of their choice and

experience new cultures and life styles. There are many different countries that people travel to and lots of different reasons why people go. Teaching English is just one of the reasons out there.

John Nolan a mechanic from Cork explains that he wants to travel because he wants to try something new and go somewhere with better weather “getting work as a mechanic is more difficult now because of the recession and the weather’s not getting any better so I am leaving here in December and I don’t know if I will come back’. John has a temporary job set up teaching in a small school in Barcelona. He says,

“I’ve been there on holiday before I’m just not coming home this time”.

He mentions that after Barcelona he will travel and see where his training will take him. The recession is definitely a turning point for people leaving in this country. New graduates and tradesmen are finding it more difficult to find jobs whilst current employees are finding it difficult to keep their jobs.

John and Denise Horgan from Limerick recently took the plunge and moved to India. John had come to the end of his contract with an engineering firm in Shannon and because of the economic downturn was not renewed. After looking at job after job he applied for one in India. Speaking about the move John says, “It was a difficult decision but the job pays well and it gave me the opportunity to explore new places I would never have seen otherwise”. The climate is an added benefit as Denise adds “The weather is a lot better here, we love walking and cycling and those are difficult things to do on a rainy day in Ireland.”

While finding a job may seem the simple part it is easy to get caught out in the excitement of setting out on a new adventure. Emma and Gavin decided to move to Abu Dhabi in September. While Gavin had no problem transferring to an IT job,  Emma had trouble finding a teaching job there. She recalls

“I kept finding jobs and being promised jobs but things were different when we arrived here and those jobs didn’t exist”.

She recalls the first couple of months as being hard. “It was tough we had to live on one income, we thought it was all arranged, we sold our house, we sold our car we left everything behind but I had no job when we got here” She is now looking for a job in the tourist industry and hopes to find one by the new year.

Research by I-to-I and similar groups focus more on the individual but families are also moving away. In February Elaine and John Kavanagh moved with their two young kids to Lanzarote.Their 4-year-old daughter is now attending a local Spanish school, which caters for families. The school ends at 13.30 and they have an after school club which is open until 16.20. Here the children are fed and play games so working parents don’t have to hurry to collect their kids. As for regrets they have none what so ever. As Elaine says, “I have absolutely no regrets leaving Ireland, my life is so different here, and we are always out and about. The main thing about Ireland was that we had a big mortgage, the crèche fees were huge and we had no lifestyle, the older girl never got out as it was always raining. I also feel its so much safer here, children can be children, also people tend not to worry so much about the materialistic things in life, like big houses big cars the latest fashion, here anything goes. 

Moving with young kids is one thing but moving with older kids can be quite a different story. 15-year-old Ciara Hickey from Leixlip moved to Bangkok with her family. The reason for moving was because of her father’s job. Working in a company that manages travel distribution computer systems for airlines and travel agencies, gives him and his family a chance to travel. Over the years Ciara has lived in Singapore, England and Canada and spent the transition periods in between in Ireland. About moving this time she says “I wanted to leave Ireland because I was just getting bored of it and needed something new because I hadn’t stayed in Ireland for more than three years at a time before”. While she has had great opportunities to travel and explore the world she says the worst thing about moving is “I miss my friends and family back home in Ireland”. There are many more Irish young people settling in to life in Thailand. Thirteen year old Karen from Cork remembers the day her parents told her her family were moving

“I was upset, I didn’t want to leave my friends I would have done anything to stay”.

Months on she is happily settled into her new school and laughs about the fact that she was scared to move. She still talks to her friends on Bebo and is coming back to visit them for Christmas. She says the biggest challenge was moving school. “I didn’t know what school would be like, I was worried about the language but my parents found me a school for kids who’s families move from lots of different countries”. The school caters for families who have moved from a range of countries including UK, US, Australia and Ireland. English is spoken in the school, which also makes the transition easier.

So what will happen in future months, will the economic downturn and bad weather continue to influence peoples decisions to leave the country or will all these people decide to come back. It is difficult to tell but with the weather and economy the way it is it become more and more tempting to explore new horizons.

Moving to Thailand was a difficult decision for Naomi to make.Now taking a gap year before college Naomi has returned home to Ireland for a while before she decides what to study in college. Here she talks about the challenges she faced, the countries she’s seen and all the things she has done along the way.

Naomi left Midleton when she was just 16. After being offered a job in Thailand for an aviation company her father moved her whole family over there, including her three young

brothers. He took the job because he it meant he didn’t have to travel as often as he did when they lived in Ireland. Talking about the decision to leave the country Naomi remembers how she really didn’t want to leave. “No I didn’t want to go but my dad told me that it wasn’t permanent and that we would come back to Ireland twice every year which made it much easier as I started to realize that it was an opportunity for me to experience something completely out of my comfort zone and started to look at it as a kind of challenge”.

It wasn’t long before Naomi and her family settled into their new home in Bangkok. Life is a lot different there and it took a lot to get used to. Thailand is still considered a developing country, which means that anIrish family living there would have a lot more than living

in Ireland. Naomi compares life there to life at home. ‘The people are unlike any other nationality I have ever experienced, they are quite spiritual people, and very hard working but always quite content with life even though they could live under a bridge with nothing but a rug to lie on to call their own. Overall Bangkok was just so different to anything you could ever experience, we have luxuries we wouldn’t have dreamed of in Ireland like the maid and driver, we have a pool and meals cost a quarter of the price they would over here’

While there have been advantages there have also been tough times too. Naomi recalls that in the beginning she found it very hard to adjust to being away from friends and family especially with a seven-hour time difference. He friends would be coming home from school back in Ireland when it would be bedtime in Bangkok.

Living in a country with a new language can also be challenging. For Naomi this language was important in her every day life. Whether she was just going to school or out for a day shopping with her friends she needed to know the basics to get her around. Luckily for Naomi the family’s maid taught her the words she needed to know. Naomi says

“eventually I learned enough Thai to get me around in a taxi in a restaurant and shopping”

Language, culture and lifestyle changes aside Naomi tells of the impact the new country had on her life. Seeing people in a country with so much poverty has had a great impact on her. Also difficult was the fact that she was used to one way of living and teenage lifestyle is so much different there. She says, ‘the biggest challenge for me was dealing with the amount of poverty around me, in Ireland teenagers are in a kind of security bubble, where they are protected against fully seeing the full effects of poverty”. This was a lot different to what she was used to. People can be seen begging on the streets of Cork everyday but Naomi explains situations where kids and disabled people had to beg to stay alive.  “I wasn’t really ready for what I was going to see around me for my there, the children as young as 5 begging in the busiest parts of Bangkok on the stairs of the sky train and people with disabilities dragging their cups around after them while they pull themselves along the pavement because they cant afford wheelchairs.

The country is also overridden with stray animals. Naomi explains that in Buddha religion they don’t believe in killing animals so

“there are hundreds and hundreds of stray dogs roaming the streets starving to death, injured, and full of diseases”.

Living with a maid and a pool and a driver and a lot more advantages that you are not used to from back in Ireland can make you feel guilty about seeing the poor and starving on the streets. Naomi clearly found this difficult and explains feeling ‘helpless’ because there is just so many people and animals around that need your help and so little you can do.

While the locals and animals are living tough lives it is not always easy for immigrants either. While seen as more well off and living better lifestyles people from Ireland or any other country living in Thailand also face every day challenges. Naomi remembers a few times that scared her  “The only time I was ever really nervous in Thailand was when the coup happened we were given a curfew to be back in our compound and school was cancelled for 4 days. Traveling can also be dangerous and it is essential to always travel in groups. Clearly a lot different from walking down an Irish street on your own this took a lot of getting used to.  In her own words Naomi explains “there are such a diverse amount of people, some are friendly and harmless but in some cases there can be people who would be ready to steal your bag or even you”

Difficulties and challenges aside there have been some good times also.  Moving to Thailand has given Naomi the chance to travel and explore other countries along the way including China, Singapore and Cambodia. It is clear that Naomi has benefited a lot from her experiences and she finds herself more open minded. “I would have been a different person if I didn’t move”. One of the best things that Naomi remembers is when she went with twelve other people to work in Cambodia for five days. While there she visited and worked in underprivileged schools and went to two orphanages, a school for children with aids and a playschool that was situated in a junkyard. She remembers, “there was a lot of emotional moments on the trip but we brought these kids clothes, school supplies, toys and shoes all the things they don’t have. Cambodia was the best thing that happened to me due to my move because it allowed me to do what I could to help these children. Just handing those two year olds baggy t-shirts or teddy bears and seeing their smiles was just the most amazing thing that has ever happened to me”.

Naomi is not the only young person to have moved to Bangkok in recent years and through living there and going to school she has made friends from all over the world. She says ‘In my  group alone there was Irish, English, South African, Korean, German, French, Japanese, American. It gave me a different perspective of the world and also now it makes it so much easier for me to travel as I know people from every corner of the world”

Asking her if she has any regrets about moving away from Ireland and if she likes Thailand she replies “I love Thailand and always will, I’m not too sure what kind of person I would be now if I have never moved”.

When asked about poverty and children who are living in poor conditions where would you think of? Would you think of Africa, Asia, South America? What would you say if I told you the answer could well be Egypt? A tourist attraction for its pyramids and great pharaohs the country is affected by poverty more than you could possibly imagine.

This week I met with Seamus Regan who is at the end of this month travelling as a volunteer to build houses and assist the less well off peoples of Cairo, Egypt. Seamus is just one of 8 volunteers who will be spending 2 weeks in the region helping the locals with whatever building maintenance that they need done.

The volunteer trip is organised through an International Organisation called The Samaritan’s Purse. This organisation is best known for its annual Christmas shoe box appeal. Seamus got involved with the organisation through his local Baptist Church in Swords just over two years ago.

Seamus is no amateur when it comes to this kind of work. Two years ago he spent a couple of weeks volunteering in Romania. The group of 14 volunteers were sent to Caluj where they spent their time renovating an orphanage. Seamus explained why it was necessary to do such work. He said that before they arrived there were difficulties in the orphanage. “They had a problem with washing the kid’s clothes

and hanging them out. When they would come out the following morning the clothes would be gone”. He also told how there were problems with wild dogs and rabies in the area and how the kids couldn’t be left out without supervision. Since there were only two full time staff they “couldn’t split the time between looking after the kids both inside and outside and running the building. Seamus recalled his trip to Romania and how he got there. Going to Romania they travelled through Hungary airport in Budapest and then drove 6 hours to Romania.

He remembers the big difference between the Hungary side of the border and the Romanian side. “It was like walking through a wall you have a lot of flash cars to horse and carts and trucks going through Romania. There is very little industry and poor houses.”

The group soon learnt about how buildings were structured in Romania. The general rule of tomb in Romania is that on the one piece of land that the parents own has usually been owned before by the grandparents and the great grandparents. One the first ground floor there are the grandparents. Then you extend into the roof and there are the parents and the roof and you have the kids. There are 4 or 5 story buildings all constructed on single floor foundations. There are a lot of problems with buildings collapsing and people being killed.

Because of this there was a list of things that the people wanted done. Seamus remembers the list “It was very short because their expectations from people is very little, they have no social security in Romania. No one gives them anything or does anything for them. If they want something they have to go out and do it themselves or it doesn’t get done.

Seamus talked about how the orphanage was run. They pick these kids up off the street, they bring them home, they wash them they give them clothes and they feed them. As a sideline for this they are a Christian organisation so they bring god into their lives or people that respect him in them.

I asked Seamus how he felt when leaving Romania. His answer reflected the experiences that he had had whilst there. He remembers that he felt like they didn’t do enough and they didn’t know if what they did was any good because there was no one there to follow it on.“After we had come home we heard that another team from Iceland had gone out and finished

some of projects we had started so that was good to know”.

When asked if the work was tough Seamus joked “no I do it every day, it is what we do”.We did general construction. We floored out the attic so the kids could dry their clothes somewhere safe. We build a wall around the site so that the kids could go out to play and have a somewhere to build playground. We spent a couple of days in the park with the kids and had a few parties and showed them a good time.

The main thing that he felt that he learnt from the whole experience is “we have too much here at home. In that we loose the worth of the things that we have. We loose the worth of the people around us who care for us and treat us well”.

His best memory of the trip is “some of the times we spent in the park with the kids. Just playing around and enjoying the time together.The thing that shocked him and other volunteers most was the situation in Romania at that stage. The inflatation was running at about 50% so whatever you could afford today you won’t be able to afford next week. Their wages are about 120 a month which is hardly half a days wages here for a tradesman.

Seamus has good advice for anyone considering such work. He says “go ahead, give it a go. These people have absolutely nothing in their lives and anything that can be brought to their lives is worth while”.

Published – East Cork Journal, Thursday, September 4th, 2008. 

Leaving school there’s college and then a job. It is likely that you will remain in that same area of work for the rest of your life. This week I met one woman who made a change in her career path. After working in a pub for many years she decided that she had had enough. She opened up a Holistic Health Centre and is now involved in many community activities.

At the age of 21 Mary O’Farrell was in her own words “marched into the bank” by her father to get a loan to buy a pub. After nine years the loan was paid off. Shortly after this Mary knew that this was not what she wanted to do with her life. Owning a pub in your twenties maybe a dream job for a young person these days but Mary recalls “I felt like I had no goal to work for and I automatically lost interest in the job.” Of course it was a big decision to change her life after so many years but she knew she would really like to study massage. It took 16 years for this change to happen. At first Mary decided to rent the pub for a few years while she was training in holistic therapies. She rented a room in another premises in the town and was practicing massage there whilst travelling at weekends to Dublin where she learnt psychotherapy and qualified as a nutritionist.

Mary said: “when id all that done I decided I was definitely not going back into the bar so I decided to sell the licence.” She sold the licence to the bar and renovated the building. She has been running the Holistic Centre in the current premises since 2000.

It all seemed perfect. Mary had changed her life and was now living her dream. She was running her own business and got enjoyment out of the work she was doing. Unfortunately a year after this Mary got very sick. She was diagnosed with a condition that affected her senses and muscles especially those in her neck and head. She suffered a complete burnout and it took her a couple of years to recover. Mary was advised not to keep working in massage as it was doing to much harm to her health. It seemed like her dream career was doomed but this is not how Mary saw the situation she recalls “I had had this plan in my head that when I retired that I would cut down a little bit and open the place up to all the other therapists.” This is exactly what she did in Easter 2002. There was just one therapist to start with but now there are 26 working out of the building.

At this stage I was curious as to whether Mary had any regrets leaving the pub since things hadn’t worked out as she had planned. When I asked this question I was faced with a very confident and certain “absolutely not” from Mary. She said that she has been asked that question many times. At the beginning she said she found it very difficult as she missed the noise of the people.

“The house was so quiet after closing down the pub. But now there is a great buzz around the house again and they are here until late at night so it’s great again.”

I was also curious how Mary would compare her life now with working in a pub. Mary’s answer was interesting, she said that when she went up to Dublin to train as a psychotherapist she realised that she was in fact doing psychotherapy every day in the pub. She said “all you have to be is a good listener I was a good listener listening to all their little worries and troubles.” She also added “I loved the pub it was a great education, I loved working in it because I am big into people but I really love what I am doing now.” Mary is now trying to further educate herself so that when people come in she knows what they are talking about. “Sometimes people don’t know what they are looking for and I just have to sit down and talk with them.”

Opening up her business to other therapists has given Mary more time on her hands to participate in other activities. Mary got involved with the Irish Guide Dogs Association a few years ago. She remembers spending years thinking that she would love to have a dog. Then one day her Sister in Law saw a sign for puppy walking and it all began from there. She took on a puppy called Grace for 12 months and when Grace failed to graduate as a guide dog after her training Mary was “thrilled to get her back.” She has continued to do work for the guide dogs. For about a year after getting Grace back she was taking puppies at the weekends and now she is heavily involved in the fundraising side of things. She adds that she would encourage people to get involved in the Irish Guides Association as she gets “a great buzz out of it.”

Mary’s community involvement doesn’t stop here. She is social secretary and treasure for the Midleton District Lourdes Invalid fund. Since she was a child she had wanted to get involved in this. She “loves helping the invalids” and “enjoys the fundraising.”

Mary is also a lector in the church, a member of the parish choir and head co-ordinator of the Eucharistic chapel in Midleton.In the past she was also involved in cooking for Meals on Wheels but now she focuses all her energy on organising the tours in the summer and the Christmas Party.

Mary’s life appears especially hectic so I asked her to describe a typical day in her life. She responding with “Busy busy busy” and laughed. She added that she “looks forward to coming down the stairs every morning for the simple reason that there’s no two days alike.” She said that there are usually messages on the phone in the morning and they lead her from one thing to another. “There’s a lot of things going on in my life,” she smiled.

I ended the interview with a final question. Just making sure that she hadn’t changed her mind I asked if looking back she was glad she made the change from working in the pub. The answer was the same as before and as confident as ever when she replied

“Absolutely no regrets what so ever.”

Published – East Cork Journal – Thursday, November 22nd 2007.

Green fields surround the secluded house in the middle of the countryside. All that can be heard is the echo of guitars and the clash of cymbals. The room is tiny. It can only barely fit all the gear that the band need. It is the one place that they have the freedom to practice. No neighbors to complain and no one to disturb them. It may not be the perfect place but for DeadNight this is home.

Local band DeadNight was formed earlier this year when five young guys decided that they wanted to combine their talents and to make themselves known. The members of the band are all aged 16 and 17 and some of them have been in bands before.

I met with DeadNight’s bass guitarist earlier this week. Steve is 17 years old and from Midleton. He had been in bands before when he was younger and feels that being able to play with other talented musicians gave him the experience needed to be part of DeadNight. While it may all seem like fun and games for the band they have come across many difficulties in their short time together. With two of the band members studying for the leaving cert. it is often difficult to find time.

“I’m in school all week and my only day off is Sunday, it is the only day that we all have free to practice and sometimes one day a week doesn’t feel like enough time” comments bass guitarist Steve.

The other problem that the band has and it is a problem that most underage bands encounter at some stage is that they cannot be in pubs after 9pm at night. Of course it is the law and because of this there can not be any exceptions but sometimes it just doesn’t seem fair that the bands can’t play at night. There are underage gigs organized but as DeadNight say “There are monthly all ages gigs called Freak house organized by another school goers but we still have had problems getting more regular gigs in pubs”. This makes it difficult for y

oung people to get practice out in the real world in front of pubs full of people. One local pub owner realizes this but says “unfortunately it is the law, if I could I would have young people playing in my pub, it would give them good experience and would bring me more business. No one would loose out as strict rules could be enforced regarding alcohol”. As a father of two teenagers this pub owner is aware that DeadNight are not the only group that encounters this problem. He talks about his own family and how the same law will affect his children too.“My son has just turned 14, he plays the guitar and wants to play in a band, hes too young yet but in a couple of years if he joins a band  I wont even be able to let my own son play in my pub”.

So it all may seem unfair but hope isn’t lost for these young people. Earlier this year three Cork girls came up with the idea to organize underage gigs. Having been in bands themselves in the past the girls knew all too well how difficult it is to get a chance to play in public.

They knew it would be a challenge but they all have reasons for being committed to the idea. All three girls have lost close friends and family to cancer so they came to a decision that they would organize the gigs and give all the profits to the Irish Cancer Society.

Local girl Vikki Peters is one of the organizers of the charity gigs and explains how she came up with the idea. “It all started when I wanted to get my head shaved for cancer but my mum said no way! So I rang my friend Amy and later that night we were discussing the idea when Sinead joined in the conversation. My uncle Dave Philp died of prostate cancer last October, Amy’s best friend, Linda Kelly died of Leukemia last March at the young age of 17 and Sinead’s granddad died of lung cancer before she was born”. The girls decided to host a gig in memory of the ones they had lost and give all the proceeds to cancer research.

This took place last July and over 2,500 euro was raised. Bands traveled from all parts of the country including Clare, Wexford, Dublin and of course Cork.

The next gig is to take place on the 25^th November. There will be 5 bands playing at  the gig including DeadNight .Other organized activities which will take place during the gig include leg waxing which was a great success at the last gig.

“We want to raise the same amount as last time if not more. We also want to have as many people there and to make sure its one that will never be forgotten. But most of all, we want to make Uncle Dave, Linda and Sollies Granddad proud” comments Vikki.  

So for Dead Night plans for the future include preparing songs so that they can hopefully record their first album in the coming months. And for the organizers of the ICS gigs they hope that the event will be even bigger this time and as much of as success. The gig will take place in Cruiscin Lan on the 25th November. It is a very worthy cause and a good opportunity for the young musicians to showcase their talent. 

Published – East Cork Journal – Thursday, October 11th, 2007. 

Most of us are now used to doing some little bit of recycling as part of our daily lives. Although when it comes to waste disposal we no longer have much choice other than to recycle, there are a few things that can be done to make life so much easier.When undertaking your weekly grocery shop there are several things that you can do to cut down on packaging.

While it seems easier to just pick up a packet of peppers with a yellow, green and red pepper in it is a lot more environmentally friendly to buy the peppers individually. You are saving on packaging and also saving the time it would take to recycle the packaging.

The same applies for most fruit and vegetables including potatoes and apples. The majority of supermarkets offer the choice to buy these products unwrapped so why not save on the packaging. Local markets in particular The Farmer’s Market in Midleton sell their fruit and vegetables unwrapped we don’t question their reasons for doing this, so why don’t we don’t the same in supermarkets.

Oranges come with their own skin which people don’t eat. This skin acts as packaging to protect the fruit. For this reason we don’t need to then wrap the orange or  other fruit in further plastic packaging.

Excess packaging doesn’t just stop at fruit and vegetables it is seen on every single shelf in a supermarket. Another example of over packaging can be seen when it comes to buying juices.

While it may seem more convenient to buy a pack of small juice cartons for the kids to take to school it is a lot easier and cheaper to buy a big carton and transfer the juice into a recyclable flask for the kids. And if you want to go one step further buying juice in a glass bottle is even better and can be recycled a lot faster than a juice carton.

Everyone remembers when we used to be able to get milk in a bottle. It was delivered to the door and the bottles would be returned to the milkman and recycled. However this tradition has been long forgotten. Using bottles worked in the past and there is no reason why glass shouldn’t still be used. Pubs and clubs still send empty bottles back to suppliers. The public should have the same option when its comes to alcohol, juices, milk and other minerals.

The biggest offenders can be seen in the confectionery isles. The consumers are faced with shelves full of instant mixes for pancakes and muffins. Some of these come in 400g plastic bottles. If you look closely you will notice that the mix only fills about a third of the bottle. . This results in a lot of wasted plastic.

So here are a few products to bear in mind when it comes to packaging.

·      Buy your fruit and vegetables unwrapped.

·      Avoid biscuits that are wrapped individually within a larger packet.

·      Buy sauces like Ketchup in a glass bottle. These are cheaper and also easier to recycle.

·      When given a choice between recyclable packaging like glass or paper choose this option over  plastic.

And if you are still not convinced consider this. Excess packaging is said to add an extra €720 to the average family’s annual food bill. We are paying for packaging, which we are then in turn paying to recycle.

Published – East Cork Journal – September 27th, 2007.

When subscribing for an Internet broadband connection do you consider whether or not your network is encrypted? Though it may seem as one of the simplest things, it is often one of those things that is often taken advantage of and people consider their broadband to be secure and that no one would be able to hack into and use their connection. Sure why would anyone want to do this?

Well how would you feel if you could go out and sit in your car and download 10 movies a night at someone else’s expense? This may be a recent problem in the town but it is ever increasing one. In one housing estate alone if you are to sit in the middle of the parking area you can find at least six or seven unsecured networks. So the choice is yours, just pick any network and have instant access to the Internet. 

So why would you want to consider securing your network? I recently conducted a survey where  I travelled to several different areas both inside and outside of local towns and through my research I found that the majority of the networks I was able to see with just a few clicks of my mouse were unsecured. This means that people can easily use your Internet connection to access the Internet. The problem is not just restricted to housing estates it concerns several businesses in the town too.

It may seem like a little problem and sure why not be generous and share your network but the issue with having an unsecured network is that the generosity goes far beyond sharing with neighbours. In one incident I was told of a household that had to pay an extra  €25 as they had exceeded their download limit for the month and this was not due to their personal use.

While most internet providers allow you to set your own password when you first sign up to their network some don’t explain the procedure and it is easy to forget how important it is to have a password that will protect your connection from being used by others. All you have to do is contact your Internet provider and they will guide you through the process free of charge.

Although it may take some time to set up and protect your Internet connection it is certainly worth it. And if you have any doubts just consider the fact that you could be throwing your money down the drain by letting others download songs and music at your expense.

Published – Imokilly People – Thursday, April 19th 2007.

As a young person in Midleton it is often difficult to find something to do with friends. There is only so many times that you can go to the cinema in the same week without getting tired of it and other than that there is not much to do in the town.

Despite the fact that the population of Midleton is rapidly growing the services in the town for young people still seem to be years behind. The problem of finding something to do is especially difficult if you are under age. There are many pubs in Midleton, but if you are under 18 there is not enough to do on a Friday night. 

I conducted a survey amongst a group of people aged 15-18. I did this to try and find out what their feelings were and also to see what services they would like in the town. When asked if they were happy with the services for young people in Midleton, 100% of the group I asked said that they were not happy. This answer was to be expected and after this I asked a list of questions in order to investigate what the group were unhappy with.

First I had to find out how often the young people in the group socialised with their friends. 67% of the group said that they go out at least twice a week and the others said that they go out every night. This was a clear indication that this group of young people were a good group to ask about the services in Midleton. I followed this by asking if any of them ever used Fat Alberts the pool hall when it was open, I thought that maybe since its closure young people had less places to spend their time but only a small minority of the group stated that they ever used this facility.

While the new cinema in the Market Green is said to be the answer to all young peoples problems most of the group said that the cost of the cinema was far too expensive for them to go there on a regular basis. I was curious as to what facility these young people would value most if it was in Midleton and 83% of the group questioned 

indicated that they would make the most use out of bowling facilities if they were available in the town. While this would be costly to set up it is not like the young people are asking for a 10 story casino and golf course. Surely something could be done to facilitate the young people’s needs. There are currently plans to set up a Youth Café in the town but as Maureen McCarthy organiser of the organisation responsible for this said “this is a long way from being possible”. These plans for the Youth Café have been set up by a group of parents and students who have formed an organisation in order to try and tackle the problem of under age drinking in the town. This is a growing problem in the country with young people in Ireland and statistics from drinkaware.ie which aims to tackle this problem show that

“32% of 15 and 16-year-olds had binge drunk three or more times in the previous month’’.

This is one problem which became clear when conducting my survey. While I had not asked any questions in relation to underage drinking many of the young people indicated that this was a problem in the town. They also showed that it was in some part a due to the lack of facilities for young people in the town. Of those surveyed many clearly showed the extent of the problem with one 15 year old saying; “most of the local young are more concerned about going out drinking than doing anything legal, because there is nothing for young people to do at night.” I think that this is all that needs to be said to show that there is a problem in the town.

Many of the young people also said that they didn’t like going to places like Bartizan because they “didn’t like the people there”. This is also a problem in the town. No matter what services and facilities there are in the town there are going to be groups of young people that don’t like other group’s young people. We are talking about 15-18 year olds and they cannot understand that they should just be friends with everyone. This would be the ideal but it is certainly not the reality. This shows the need for many different facilities in the town. This way more young people could be catered for and hopefully this would mean less young people on the streets at night.

Something needs to be done to help the young people of Midleton and it has to be done fast in order to tackle the problems in the town. Already several young people are being arrested on a regular basis in places like Tesco for being drunk and causing trouble. Do we really want this to be the Midleton of the future? If not action needs to be taken before it is too late.