A FATHER-of-one living in Dundalk is doing a mammoth running challenge in aid of The Lily Foundation, a charity which supports people affected by mitochondrial conditions.

Stuart Rutherford is helping to raise funds for The Lily Foundation by running the equivalent distance of John O’Groats to Land’s End.
“I’m originally from Glasgow but I’m living in Blackrock now and working in The Fairways Hotel,” said Stuart.

“There are different measurements on the internet but I’m aiming to run/jog/walk around 874 miles or 1,400km for this challenge.
“I’ve done some monster runs for it. Last Sunday I did 50 miles to the border and back. I started the challenge at the beginning of June and will complete it on 21 July, my brother’s birthday.”

He added: “I’d like to say a massive thank you to the people of Dundalk who have welcomed me and I’d also like to thank the people who have donated for their boundless generosity.

“My next challenge will be a big one. I’m going to run for The Lily Foundation and the Maria Goretti Foundation which helps people affected by Autism.
“I’m going to do two laps of Ireland which is around 4,000km in a year. I plan to start that challenge on 1 January 2024 and am hoping to raise a significant amount of money.”

Sarah Moore is a UK-based Corporate Fundraiser for The Lily Foundation. Sadly, Sarah and her husband lost two young daughters to mitochondrial disease.
“We lost our 18-month-old daughter, Harriet in 1996 and our four-year-old daughter, Kimberley in 2002,” said Sarah.
“We had very little support. Very little was known then, even the medical people knew very little.

“It’s a cruel, cruel disease. The Lily Foundation helps to support people affected from initial contact to end of life and beyond that.”
She added: “Stuart is running in memory of my two daughters, Harriet and Kimberley, and since he has taken on the challenge has been contacted by a friend of his who’s Goddaughter has recently passed away.
“He is therefore dedicating his half marathons and marathons to these wonderful angels.”

The Lily Foundation is celebrating its 15th anniversary and supports over 1,000 families across Ireland and the UK affected by mitochondrial disease.
Mitochondrial disease, or ‘mito’, is the term given to a group of medical disorders caused by mutations in mitochondria, the tiny organelles that are present in nearly every cell in our bodies and which generate about 90 per cent of the energy we need to live.

Cells cannot function properly without healthy mitochondria, so when they fail the consequences can be serious and wide-ranging.

Mitochondrial diseases affect people in multiple ways, depending on which cells are affected.
This can make the condition hard to diagnose, as symptoms often resemble those of other serious illnesses.
For example, a person with mitochondrial disease may suffer from seizures, fatigue, vision and hearing loss, cognitive disabilities, respiratory problems or poor growth.

Any of the body’s organs and systems can be affected including the brain, heart, lungs, gut, liver and skin.
For more information please follow stuart_rutherford35 on Instagram and @Rutherfo2Stuart on Twitter.

During the Transparency of RTÉ Expenditure of Public Funds and Governance Issues meeting last week Deputy Peter Fitzpatrick discussed the issue with the interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch stating that the truth needed to be told to get people to trust tehnational broadcaster once again.

“First of all, I guarantee that nobody in this room has never made a mistake. If people made a mistake, they should put their hands up in the air and admit it. I have not seen that in the past week. Many people are badmouthing RTÉ. In fairness, they deserve it. The bottom line is that the witnesses were responsible for giving Ryan Tubridy €345,000 over the last five years. Let us call a spade a spade. Dee Forbes is being thrown under a bus here. I had my own business. She had to have some kind of allies and people she could sit down and talk to. Did the witnesses have any daily, weekly or monthly meetings?

“They talked about doing audits. There were findings back in March 2022. How many audits was RTÉ doing each week or month? If there are 1,800 people working for RTÉ, it needs to be on top of it.

“We have seven people in the room with seven big titles and responsibilities and, all of a sudden, only one person knows it all. I cannot understand that and just cannot accept it. I want to ask a few questions. Who uses this barter account? Is it used for going to parties? Have any of the seven witnesses ever used that account for themselves? These questions have to be asked. We need to get trust back in RTÉ. It is the biggest media company in the country.

“Are the witnesses trying to tell me that Dee Forbes ran everything, including all 1,800 people? I managed 60 or 70 people at one stage and if I didn’t have a good team behind me, I was in serious trouble.

“This is an opportunity for the witnesses to put their hands in the air. I am not going to say they are telling lies, but someone is telling lies. Something is seriously wrong here at the moment. There are a few questions.

“The problem is the executive board is making no decisions. It is putting everything on the long finger. It is a matter of four weeks until one report and so on. This is our money and, in fairness, Mr. Lynch has been given a job to do and he is the leader of RTÉ now. What is he going to do to change things?” asked Fitzpatrick.

In response Mr. Adrian Lynch, RTE’s Interim Deputy Director General said they had spent the last several days trying to establish all of the facts.

“In the timeline of events, when this was discovered in March, it was immediately acted on by the board. A report was commissioned. Once that was found, a statement was immediately put out to the public and since then, over the past seven days, we have been establishing the facts,” he explained.

Fitzpatrick went on to say he believed that a lot more people knew what was going on in RTE than had been suggested at the Oireachtas meeting.

“When Ryan Tubrity announced in March that he was stepping down from “The Late Late Show”, the people who I, along with most members of the public, thought might get his job did not even go for the job.
“I firmly believe, therefore, that an awful lot of people knew what was going on in RTÉ.

“The witnesses are telling me they did not know what was going on in RTÉ, yet a lot of high-profile people in RTÉ ; who are very ambitious and had the opportunity to take up Ryan Tubridy’s job; must have known something we did not know. There is something seriously wrong when a presenter has the opportunity to get the biggest job in RTÉ and does not take it.

“As we know, the job has been held by Gay Byrne, Pat Kenny and Ryan Tubridy. These jobs do not come around too often. Was the issue of Ryan Tubridy and these payments known before March of this year?,” asked Fitzpatrick.
Mr Lynch denied that Ryan Tubridy’s decision to step down from the Late Late Show had anything to do with the revelations that came out last week.

“From what I can see in terms of the timeline, there is no relationship between these payments and the decision to step down from “The Late Late Show”.

THE Meenan household in Greenacres was buzzing with excitement yesterday afternoon as friends family and neighbours gathered to welcome home Olympic hero James Meenan who won gold with the Irish Soccer team. He was part of the victorious team who came from behind against Morocco in the final to win 2-1 at the Special Olympics in Berlin, Germany. Earlier in the tournament James got Ireland off to a great start by scoring the team’s opening goal in the tournament during a 3-0 victory over Uganda. James, who plays with Newry SpeciaL Olympics team was instrumental for the boys in green as they navigated their way to gold in Berlin.

It was a second Olympic gold medal for 27-year old James who was one of the stars of the LA Special Olympics in 2015 where he claimed three medals including a gold in the 100 metres, bronze in the 200 metres and a silver in the 4 x 100 metres relay. On Monday afternoon he returned to his home in Greenacres behind a Garda Escort where he was greeted by neighbours, friends and family as well as local politicians, Ruairí O Murchú TD, Cllr Seán Kelly, Cathaoirleach of Dundalk Municipal District, Cllr Kevin Meenan (an uncle of James) and Cllr. Pearse McGeough.

His proud mother Eileen, Dad Liam and two brothers Kevin and Leo watched on proudly as James showed off his glittering gold medal to everybody in attendance. Speaking yesterday morning (Tuesday) Eileen was almost overcome as she spoke about her son’s achievements.

“The whole family is bursting with pride and we are so pleased that James received such a great homecoming. I’ve had people from all over Greenacres come up to me to tell me how proud they are of James and what a great boost it is for the street to see so many people down here to welcome him home. He’s a wee star and he just takes everything in his stride. He was up at 3am on Monday morning to catch his flight and then he had all the excitement of the homecoming on Monday afternoon but he still went to work this morning as usual although he did bring the gold medal with him to show off to his workmates in Vida Living,” laughed Eileen.

“He is such a determined guy. There was a worry with his hamstring going over but the team doctors looked after him very well and it would have taken a brave person to tell him that he couldn’t play. He was so looking forward to representing Ireland on the big stage and for him and his teammates to come home with a gold medal was just the icing on the cake. His two younger brothers are very proud of him and they spent all weekend putting out bunting and red carpet to greet James on his arrival back home. It’s been a fantastic week for our family and for Greenacres and we are all on cloud nine right now,” beamed Eileen.

CONCERNED residents in Haggardstown are calling for traffic calming measures to be introduced along the busy Dublin Road.

The Haggardstown Tidy Towns Chairman Shane McGuinness told the Dundalk Leader that he wants to highlight the danger of the very busy road.

“The situation as it stands is very dangerous because it’s very hard to cross the road from all of the new estates,” said Shane.

“Cars fly past Sextons and other junctions further up the Dublin Road so we are looking for the council to install traffic lights, speed bumps and zebra crossings.

“We set up the Haggardstown Tidy Towns committee three years ago and we have a lot of concerns around the speed limit on the Dublin Road.”

Shane added: “In particular, we are concerned about the speed limit of the road around Blackrock and Haggardstown.

“A lot of people have made contact with us via the Haggardstown Tidy Towns Facebook page to complain about the current speed limit.
“There are four junctions that need to be looked at including Greengates junction, Sexton’s junction, Jackie Murphy’s junction and the SuperValu junction.”

According to Shane there have been “some really close calls” along the Dublin Road and residents are keen to prevent an accident from occurring.
“A lot of children cross the road on their way to and from school but it’s very busy and very dangerous,” he said.

“We are considering holding a public meeting soon about this matter because we need to do something about this.

“We want to highlight our growing concern about the issue. We would like some councillors to get involved. Somebody needs to engage with us.”

If anyone would like to contact Shane about the proposed traffic calming measures, please send a message through the Haggardstown Tidy Towns Facebook page.

History was made on Friday evening at Weavers Park in Drogheda as Dundalk FC’s Patrick Hoban scored the goal that officially made him the club’s all-time record goalscorer. Having equalled Joey Donnelly’s longstanding club goalscoring record with a hat-trick against UCD earlier this month it was only a case of when and not if the Galway man would become the sole owner of the record.

And with the Lilywhites a goal down with thirteen minutes remaining, Hoban’s timing was as usual immaculate as he headed home the equaliser to confirm his place in the Dundalk FC record books. And to cap a magnificent evening for both himself and the club Hoban stepped up just three minutes later to slot home the winning goal via the penalty spot after winger Ryan O’Kane was hauled down in the box.

Speaking afterwards to Gavin McLaughlin from Dundalk FC, Hoban admitted that he coldn’t have picked a better place to break the longstanding record.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said. “Away from home to Drogheda in the derby? You probably couldn’t get any better really. It’s a great feeling. It’s probably something I’m not going to be able to appreciate probably enough right now because I’m in mid-season but it’s a great honour.

“Like I said before, when I equalled it against UCD, it is a huge honour for myself, for my family, for everyone who supported me in the town, and for the boys that I have been playing with over the years too. It is a great feeling and I just want to say thank you to all of them.

Joey Donnelly is considered one of Dundalk’s finest ever players making his debut in 1929 at home to Shelbourne. He would go on to play 519 times for Dundalk, scoring 142 goals which was a club record until that total was usurped by Hoban on Friday evening. Hoban took just 276 games over two spells with Dundalk to break the record having been signed from Mervue by Stephen Kenny back in 2013. After two successful seasons with Dundalk he moved to Oxford for the 2015/16 season before joining Mansfield a season later.

The Loughrea man returned to Oriel in 2018 and picked up where he had left off, scoring goals for fun as he finished the season as the league’s top goalscorer, helping Dundalk win the league and cup double in 2018. At the age of just 31, Hoban will hopefully be around to light up Oriel Park for a few more years to come and if he continues finding the back of the net it will be no time at all until we are lauding his 200th career goal for Dundalk.

A ‘cradle to grave’ suite of services for those living with autism in the State where universal design for society is central is the key message of a seminal report by the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Autism which was launched last week.

Dundalk TD Ruairí Ó Murchú was one of the TDs who attended the now disbanded committee’s meetings on a regular basis and who inputted to the final report which made 109 recommendations.

The committee said that the recommendations are ‘urgently needed to provide for greater cross-departmental collaboration, joined-up service provision, clear pathways and direct access to services, accessible information, comprehensive consultation with the autistic community and well-resourced public services.’

Several key issues were identified by the committee, including delays in Assessment of Need, poor access to assessments and services, the lack of inclusivity in education and a lack of employment supports.
There was significant engagement with a variety of stakeholders regarding the provision of services to the autistic community.

The key ‘whole-of-government’ recommendations made by the Committee are:
Enact legislation which requires the State to publish an autism strategy every three years, establish a committee or monitoring group featuring autistic people to participate in drafting and monitoring the strategy and require the Minister for Disabilities of the day to address both Houses of the Oireachtas annually to provide an update regarding its progress;

Initiate national autism acceptance campaigns to promote the participation of autistic people in all areas of social and cultural life along with targeted campaigns in key areas such as education, employment and health;
Initiate consultation with the autistic community and their families to establish how best to collect disaggregated data for the purposes of forward-planning;

Ensure that the needs of autistic people are taken into account when designing all public services and include the autistic community when designing autism-specific services;

Establish a dedicated cross-departmental unit in the Department of the Taoiseach to facilitate a whole-of-government approach to autism and to embed joined-up services;

Ratify the Optional Protocol of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) without delay;

Develop a long-term workforce planning strategy to address staffing issues in disability services, including recruitment and retention of staff;

Establish a ‘One Stop Shop’ programme where autistic people or those who think they may be autistic can receive information and can link in with the services that they require.
Provide adequate financial supports for families who access assessments and supports privately due to their unavailability in the public health system until such time as vacant positions within CDNTs (Children’s Disability Network Teams) have been filled.

The Committee also made recommendations across a range of sectoral areas, including Disability Services, Health, Education, Further and Higher Education, Employment, Social Protection supports, Housing, public buildings and Universal Design, and Alternative and Augmentative Communication.

Addressing An Taoiseach following the publication of the report, Deputy Ó Murchú said: ‘We know we need to make sure we do the workforce planning and deal with the work conditions but we must also look at the services we have and how we can provide the best bang for buck.

‘Overall, I would like to think that the recommendations will be considered during the budgetary process because we are absolutely failing our citizens and we really need to set a marker. What is happening is not good enough, so I request that this happens’.

Dundalk parkrun is setting up a new event for people affected by cancer called 5k Your Way, which is due to start on Saturday, June 24 at 9.30am.
It’s a free, fun and friendly 5k community event in the DkIT playing fields that people can either run, jog or walk.

“Participants have to register online before you first come along. You only have to register once and don’t forget to bring a scannable copy of your barcode,” said Dundalk parkrun member Martin O’Hanlon.

Originally from the Cooley Peninsula, Martin currently lives on the Dublin Road in Dundalk. He took part in the town’s very first parkrun in June 2015.
“Last Saturday, we celebrated our eighth anniversary. It started in Malahide in 2012 and started in the UK in 2004,” said Martin.

“Now it’s in 22 countries around the world and there are 139 events in Ireland each Saturday at 9.30am.
“The Dundalk Junior parkrun started over a year ago. I’ve volunteered at it on a few occasions.”

Martin added: “We are calling the parkrun event for people affected by cancer 5k Your Way. There are five of these events set up in Ireland now.
“There is one in Galway, Naas, two in Dublin and now in Dundalk. In Northern Ireland there is one in Belfast and Lisburn.

“It’s for people who are living with or beyond cancer. I’m an ambassador for it as I had surgery last October and now, I’m in recovery from cancer.”
He continued: “The beauty of being involved in a parkrun is that the level of fitness is helpful in recovery.

“I’d encourage people to come along. It’s starting at the end of the month and will be on the last Saturday of each month.
“However, people are welcome to come along to the regular Dundalk parkrun every Saturday morning.”

Martin concluded: “We are also hoping that participants will give us feedback but there is no pressure to do so. Participants will get an email time they take part so they can track their progress.

“There are physical benefits and psychological benefits. It can help to combat the fatigue associated with cancer. Socialising with others is beneficial too.”
For more information please visit the website www.parkrun.ie/dundalk

Dundalk boxer Amy Broadhurst has pretty much done it all in the amateur boxing game. A multiple national champion, Commonwealth and European champion as well of course as that special world championship victory last May in Istanbul when she became just the third Irish woman to win an amateur world title. The Muirhevnamór southpaw is hot property right now and lucrative contracts await as she enters the professional ranks in the near future. However, there is still one final box to be ticked in the amateur game and that is to turn her lifelong dream into a reality by making it to the Paris Olympics next year.

This weekend Amy travels to Krakow in Poland as part of a twelve strong Irish team as she tries to qualify for the Olympics in Paris next year. The 26-year old has a chance to fulfil her lifelong dream and if she does manage to qualify this weekend it will be the culmination of twenty years hard work given her first ever fight took place when she was just seven years of age. ‘Baby Canelo’ as she is known has spoken openly down through the years about how much she yearns to become an Olympian and despite all of her many achievements down through the years this you feel will be her crowning glory in her glittering amateur career should she pull it off.

It won’t be easy given the fact that there is no 63kg weight class in the Olympics meaning that Amy has to fight in the 66kg (Welterweight) section against naturally bigger girls. Ideally Amy would fight in the 60kgs section but Kellie Harrington has been selected for that weight class leaving the Dundalk boxer with no choice but to campaign at a higher weight. According to Amy’s dad and coach Tony his daughter is ready to turn her lifelong dream into a reality.

“We have been training hard and putting on more muscle to enable Amy to be stronger at the higher weight,” explained Tony.

She has to make at least the semi-final to secure qualification. It will not be an easy task as it’s an open draw so Amy could potentially get her hardest opponent in the first round. There is a lot of pressure on her as she’s been dreaming about Olympic qualification since she was a kid. But she is ready to perform and training has gone really well. She has been sparring in Italy in Germany ahead of Poland and she has been looking really strong. Amy travelled to Poland early on Tuesday morning and myself, my wife Sheila and eldest son Paul will head over on Thursday evening. Amy is due to fight on Saturday and then hopefully Monday if she wins her first one.

“She’s achieved brilliant things in the sport and has coped really well with the pressure but this one will be a bit tougher emotionally for her because of the expectation and the enormity of the Olympics. There is a mixture of nervousness and excitement there and she is ready to finally turn her lifelong dream into a reality. The fact that she has so much interest from professional promoters takes a little bit of that pressure off as she knows she has a career ahead of her no matter what but the Olympics means everything to Amy and she is determined to get it done this weekend,” stated Tony.

LOCAL SIPTU retained firefighters are demanding action in conjunction with retained firefighters across the State.

Paul Nugent from Knockbridge is a retained sub officer for Dundalk Fire Station and a national retained rep for Louth.

Paul is campaigning to highlight staff retention issues and a recruitment crisis in the Retained Fire Service.
The Retained Fire Service is a 2,000 strong part-time workforce which provides fire and first responder emergency services across the country apart from county Dublin, Cork City and Galway City where full-time fire services operate.

According to SIPTU, a lack of available crews means that adequate responses by the service are coming under increasing pressure and could collapse.
SIPTU maintains that in many counties there are less applicants for positions in the Retained Fire Service than vacancies.

“I started back in 2012 and there were around 14 guys in training. They were to go to three retained stations in Co Louth,” said Paul.
“There was one crew in Drogheda and one crew in Dundalk and two guys to go out to Carlingford to boost numbers there.

“Eleven years on and I’m the only one remaining from that panel. There is no work-life balance. There is too much of a commitment required.”
He added: “Since my wife and I had a baby, it’s become very stressful. It’s hard to attract people to the job.

“The retainer is €8,500 per year and you also get call out fees but the call out fees are not taken into account by banks for loans or mortgage applications.
“What will happen eventually if the system continues as it is, Carlingford, Ardee and Dunleer won’t have enough people.”

Paul said: “The older age profile of the service now endangers its effectiveness. We want increased structured pay and structured time off for staff that will attract young people to join the service.
“We also want further talks with key stakeholders that will conclude proposals, within an agreed timeframe for the restructuring of the Retained Fire Service to ensure its future operation.”

He added: “We are calling on members of the public to support the SIPTU Retained Firefighters in their campaign of industrial action.
“We would encourage people to raise the issue within their local community and with elected representatives.”

Speaking on the issue last week in the Dáil, Sinn Fein TD Ruairí OMurchú stated that ‘the dogs on the street’ knows that the situation with retained firefighters needs to be immediately addressed.

He said the government ‘lacks urgency’ in dealing with the industrial action by retained firefighters across the State, including in Dundalk, which started at midnight yesterday morning.

Deputy Ó Murchú said: ‘In November, my Sinn Féin colleague John Brady introduced a Dáil motion that sought the establishment of a Joint Oireachtas cross-party committee, to sit for four months, and that would have heard evidence from expert witnesses and stakeholders in order to identify the key issues impacting on the Retained Fire Service before bringing recommendations to the Dáil.

‘The government took the decision to vote against the motion, abandoning any attempt to resolve a crisis that is crippling the Retained Fire Service.

‘And now we are in a situation where retained firefighters, who have been highlighting the issues affecting the service for years to those in power, have, with reticence, started industrial action.
‘They don’t want to be here, they have tried everything else but the government has left them with no choice. They have had enough of being constantly under pressure for many reasons, of having to put themselves on the front line.

‘The government knows what needs to be done in relation to recruitment and retention. We are dealing with under-resourced, under-paid, dedicated professionals who have been working in an unsustainable system for years.
‘The government needs to immediately engage with the representatives of the retained firefighters to permanently resolve the problems the service has been facing for years’.

Harry O’Donoghue from the Alphonsus Road has finally won the big prize at the National Dog Show as his beloved Wire Fox Terrier Blackdale Regent took home the ‘Best in Show’ Prize at the Irish Kennel Club St Patrick’s National Show. The St Patrick’s Day show is the biggest day on the calendar for dog owners and usually takes place on St Patrick’s Day but was postponed this year due to bad weather.

87-year old Harry is well known locally, nationally and internationally for his skills as a dog breeder and exhibitor at dog shows. He has also judged at world famous dog show Crufts and has been involved with dog shows since 1953.
Down through the years Harry has won countless prizes both nationally and across the water but the coveted ‘Best in Show’ award at the St Patrick’s Day event had always eluded him until last weekend.

Harry, who founded the Pet Centre on Linenhall Street (now run by his son Adrian), entered his beautiful Wire Fox Terrier, Blackdale Regent, into this year’s show at the National Show Centre in Dublin. On Saturday he picked up second place in the Best in Show but he went one better during Sunday’s show as he fended off competition from over 2000 dogs to pick up the coveted ‘Best in Show’ award. The road to ‘Best in Show’ is an arduous one with entrants divided first by group, then by breed, class and gender. According to Harry’s son Adrian his father was delighted to have finally won the biggest prize of them all on the national scene.

“Dad has been entering dogs into shows for probably seventy years at this stage and he has won countless awards at these shows. He specialises in Wire Fox Terriers and he has picked up the Best Wirefox Terrier award probably dozens of times down through the years. When you win the best breed you then go forward and go into a competition where you are up against every other breed to decide which dog is the absolute cream of the crop.

“Dad loves this particular Wirefox Terrier Blackdale Regent and he is already a UK Champion but he really wanted to win the Irish championship this year and to finally get his hands on the title means the world to him. He has dedicated his life to dogs and has travelled far and wide bringing dogs to shows across Ireland and the UK. He absolutely loves what he does and this is the cherry on top of what has been and will continue to be his life long passion,” stated Adrian.