Latest news with #MaeveReynolds
Irish Independent
19-05-2025
- Sport
- Irish Independent
It's Costa del Cooley as Ace team sizzle!
Amidst the heat and excitement, Ace AC athletes shone brightly, collecting an impressive haul of medals and setting personal bests. The morning's action was dominated by sprint heats, semi-finals, and finals. U10 runner Maeve Reynolds, competing despite carrying an injury, battled through to win her sprint heat and Smirthi Prasad and Farrah Smith both impressed, reaching the later rounds and narrowly missing out on medals. Among the sprint medallists were Niamh Faulkner, who claimed her second gold of the championships with a commanding victory in the 100m. She had previously won the 200m on Day 1, marking a clean sweep in her sprint events. Daniella Adebola mirrored that achievement, completing her own golden double by winning the U19 100m following her 200m victory seven days earlier. Bronze sprint medals went to Cathryn Cumming (U10) and Caoimhe Carolan (U13) in their respective finals. U17 athlete Chloe Cooney, the current Leinster 1500m champion, decided to step out of her comfort zone and try the 400m for the first time in her life. She actually ran in the boys race and delivered a commanding performance, winning in 58 seconds and adding another gold to her club's medal tally! Ace AC's field athletes also had a day to remember. In the shot put Jaheim Humphrey (U17) not only secured a silver medal, but broke the championship record twice, culminating in a huge 11.42m final throw. An Ardee athlete did edge ahead with his final throw, but Jaheim's performance signals strong form ahead of the All-Ireland Schools competition, where he will represent Balbriggan CC. Aoife O'Connor also earned a silver medal, capping off a strong showing in the field for the club. The latter part of the day saw a series of middle-distance races, where Ace AC athletes dominated across the age groups. Saibh Jordan (U11) won her first individual medal for the club with a gutsy 600m run, claiming bronze in a large and competitive field. Cathryn Cumming returned to the podium with gold in the U10 500m, leading from start to finish with a powerful display. Her teammate Millie Roche ran very well, finishing seventh in the very large field. Maeve Reynolds also ran strongly in the same event. Caoimhe Carolan added to her sprint bronze with gold in the U13 600m in an impressive time of 1:46 and will be looking to secure a Leinster medal on this form. Ruairi Cooney's U12 600m race was split into two heats due to high numbers, with the winners picked on times. Ruairi finished second but missed out on a medal, due to it being the slower of the two heats. Felix Everettt and Tadgh Kelly continued their improvement with strong runs in the same race. Tayo Lawrence impressed in the Boys U14 800m, moving from fourth to second in the final 50 metres to grab a thrilling silver medal. His sister Sholah continued her strong return to fitness by winning gold in the U19 800m. Taylor Gregory secured silver in the U15 Boys 800m, while Lauren Faulkner added a bronze in the U16 Girls 800m. The U17 Boys 800m saw two Ace athletes medal as Daniel Hanley took silver and Liam Lynch bronze, with Killian Sheridan and Tadhg Forde Dunne also shining. The final medal winning performance came from Jamie O'Reilly, who stormed to gold in the U19 800m with another new PB, with Christian Kelly taking silver. Some of the other standout performers on the day came from Cathal Thompson, Hannah Black, Ollie Marron and Niamh Lynch.
Irish Independent
14-05-2025
- Climate
- Irish Independent
Leitrim Left in the Dark: Communities endure 40 or 50 power outages over past five years
Communities across Co Leitrim are being impacted by regular and reoccurring power outages with some households experiencing an accumulative month without power over a five year period. It has been claimed that homes and businesses in various areas are being serviced by an unreliable power supply resulting in 40 or 50 power outages over the past five years. During Storm Darragh some homes were without power for up to a week, while Storm Éowyn caused a two week outage in some parts of the county. However, the power outages are not limited to the affects of a storm. Cllr Maeve Reynolds said the issues impacting power supply in Leitrim have been ongoing long before the storms. 'In the Drumsna and Kilnagross areas, people are experiencing regular and sustained electricity outages, year after year, storm or no storm. 'These are not occasional disruptions, these are reoccurring outages. 'Some people have been without electricity for accumulative of a month over the past five years. 'It might have been two weeks with Storm Éowyn and seven days with storm Darragh, but there could be out on 40 or 50 power outages over the past five years,' said Cllr Reynolds. It is believed the lines most affected by the power outages run through heavily forested areas and there is a need to cut back forest vegetation growing near powerlines. Cllr Reynolds said the 'unpredictability' and 'a lack of continuity' of the power supply can cause great stress for people living in the area and those operating businesses. 'If your line goes through a mature forest, generally a Sitka Spruce forest, there is a whole host of reasons but if a forest is not being maintained or the trees are planted close to the power line, due to the shallow root system, there doesn't need to be a storm or heavy winds that knocks over a tree. 'If it is just one outage, it will be fixed sooner and the power might only be out for a couple of hours, but when there is a storm and everyone else is out too, they could be left out for days or weeks. 'It happens without warning and it is not just households, it is businesses too. If businesses are impacted they have to shut their doors and send staff home, while remote workers are unable to do their jobs,' said Cllr Reynolds. Cllr Reynolds has raised the issue at various junctures and three delegations from Leitrim met with Minister of State at the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine Michael Healy-Rae to raise the ongoing issues. However, no assurances were given for a resolution into the issue. In her latest motion to Leitrim County Council, Cllr Reynolds called for the Commission for Regulation of Utilities (CRU) to attend a meeting of Leitrim County Council. 'One of their biggest responsibilities is the protection of consumers and ensuring that electricity supplies remain safe and reliable. 'A reliable power supply is something that customers in Leitrim have not enjoyed for past number of years. 'The reality is that we are all so dependent on electricity and it has been government policy to encourage us to be more dependent on electricity especially for people who have air to water heating or those who rely on power for water supply, medical equipment or the basics of day to day life,' said Cllr Reynolds. Cllr Reynolds has questioned what is going to be done to address the repeated failures and what infrastructure improvements are planned for the county. She also believes it is important the trees within close distance of power lines are removed further back to prevent further outages due to fallen trees. Cllr Reynolds said some households who applied for the humanitarian assistance scheme still haven't been paid, nearly four months after Storm Éowyn. She said there needs to be scheme in place that streamlines compensating households. 'If we look at our neighbours like Scottish Power, they have a system in place that if there is a long outage of over 48 hours, there is a fixed fee of compensation for what you are paid. 'That would have made it a lot easier for households. 'If we knew there was a compensation process in place in advance, then at least people would understand they could go out and have a meal because they are going to be getting the money back. 'People just weren't eating because they did not know if they were going to be compensated for eating out for two weeks. 'If we could know that there is support and compensation in place for when inevitably this happens again, it would make the lives of people who are dealing with the aftermath of the storm a lot easier,' said Cllr Reynolds.
