Latest news with #SeanMcHugh
Agriland
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Agriland
Texel ram makes €40,000 at sale in Blessington Mart
The 2025 Texel Premier Sale has broken all records, with Sean McHugh and family claiming the new Irish record for a Texel ram at €40,000. The previous record price of €38,000 had been in place for 19 years before the sale at the weekend. In addition, this year the sale had its biggest ever entry of rams in the premier sale, according to the Irish Texel Sheep Society. The sale took place on Friday (August 8) and Saturday (August 9) in Blessington Mart, with James Porter of the Saltcotes flock in England taking on the difficult job of judging. In a statement, the Irish Texel Sheep Society said: "The ram trade had big anticipation due to the high standard that was on offer, so it was no surprise the record was broke on Saturday." The record-breaking ram, Speenogue Iron Man, was owned by Sean McHugh from Lifford, Co. Donegal. Speenogue Iron Man. Source: Irish Texel Sheep Society The ram, which had stood in second place in the Irish Sired class the day before, was sired by Silver Hill Helpful, who was bought by McHugh in Blessington last year for €6,000. The home-bred dam of the ewe which Silver Hill Helpful was bred from was purchased for €1,200 in the Derrylahan sale. Speenogue Iron Man was sold for 40,000gns in a five-way split between Brian Divilly, Ronan Gallagher, Darragh Niland, Michael Gilmore, and Sean Farragher. The sale began with the shearling ewe class, for which the Irish Texel Society said there was "no shortage of big powerful shearling ewes". Pat and Barry Farrell came out on top with a full sister to last year's champion, who went on to do the same as her sister and claim the overall Female Champion title. She was sired by Hilltop Golden Eye, who is out of a Teiglum ewe that has bred the Female Champion for the Farrells for the last three years. This year's Female Champion later went on to sell for an Irish record at auction of €10,000 to Alan Blackwood. Other noteworthy winners included the son of Auldhouseburn Fancy Pants from the flock of Irene Donnelly in the Novice class. Auldhouseburn Fancy Pants. Source: Irish Texel Sheep Society He was shown under the guidance of Donnelly's brother, Anthony Donnelly and claimed the Reserve Male Champion and Reserve Overall title. He later sold for €20,000 to Fintan Hackett and Alan Glendening. Overall, the averages were the best the sale has seen, according to the Irish Texel Sheep Societywith hogget ewes averaging €1,766, up from €972, and with a 92% clearance. Hogget rams €1,461, up from €1,072, saw a 97% clearance; ram lambs €2,005, up from €1,627, had 86% clearance; and ewe lambs €1,297, up from €1,062, achieved an 86% clearance.
South Wales Argus
01-07-2025
- General
- South Wales Argus
Welsh communities urged to connect with local wildlife
Wales Nature Week, taking place from July 5 to 13, is a national celebration of biodiversity, wildlife, and habitats, with a programme of events including guided walks, nature festivals, and workshops. Evelyn Gruchala, nature recovery volunteer coordinator at Swansea Council and Gower National Landscape, said: "As we face the ongoing nature and climate emergencies, there has never been a more important time to support local wildlife and safeguard the green and blue spaces that underpin ecosystem resilience and our future wellbeing." In Gwent, there is a range of activities including a swift talk and walk in Monmouth on July 3, an Alfred Russel Wallace Day in Usk on July 5, a noticing nature walk on July 7 in Pontypool Park. On July 9, there is forest therapy in Ebbw Vale, a guided insect safari in Abergavenny and a dragonfly event at Beaufort Hill Ponds & Woodlands. On July 12, Parc Bryn Bach will host a Go Wild! event, with Newport Wetlands hosting a bumblebee ID course and guided walk. The wetlands will host a dragonfly ID course and guided walk on July 13. Many activities are free and open to all ages. Sean McHugh from Natural Resources Wales' Wales Biodiversity Partnership support team said: "Wales Nature Week is a fantastic opportunity for people of all ages to get involved and make a difference for nature. "As we're in a nature and climate emergency, caring about nature has never been more important. "Nature is for everyone, so please celebrate Wales Nature Week any way you can, whether that's by attending an event, raising awareness with friends and family, or simply enjoying a summer stroll." A full list of events is available on the Biodiversity Wales website.
Yahoo
28-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
VARA Is Focused on Consumer Protection for Tokenization Efforts in Dubai, Senior Official Says
Crypto regulation has come a long way. No longer is it a pass-off game between various government bodies: Digital assets now have dedicated overseers in a lot of regions. One of the pioneers in the space is Dubai's crypto regulator, the Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority (VARA). What sets VARA apart is its ability to effectively communicate guidelines and regulation to crypto firms, according to its senior official. "Set and forget does not work for crypto, it's all about feedback and open channels," said Sean McHugh, senior director of market assurance at VARA. "Since we are exclusively focused on crypto, it allows us to get a little deeper into the tech and our rules are written for the modern-era." Dubai has become a crypto darling, emerging as one of the preferred choice for non-native crypto firms to set up shop and gain access to the region and beyond. "Dubai is seen as a great jumping off point. We've seen a lot of [crypto] firms from Europe and beyond coming here and the reverse is also true, we see a lot of companies from other side of Asia come here. It's a strategic move and the regulatory clarity helps them," McHugh added. Real world tokenization, or RWA, is gaining lot of traction in Dubai and for good reason. The region's real estate agency, the Dubai Land Department (DLD), recently started a pilot to register and transfer property deeds on the blockchain. The tokenization initiative is being fostered by VARA and the Dubai Future Foundation (DFF). The integration of real-estate into blockchain could bolster the city's massive property market. DLD expects tokenized real-estate to jump to 60 billion dirhams ($16 billion) by 2033, accounting for 7% of Dubai's total property transactions. McHugh, speaking to CoinDesk at VARA's office, believes that real estate is just the beginning. "It's very popular, not just in Dubai, but beyond. Dubai has the ability to get things done quicker," he said, adding that they are also seeing a lot of precious metal tokenization projects. VARA, with its nimble approach to regulation, is closely watching the space, he said. "Whether it's real estate, precious metal, or some other asset, a big part of my focus on this is customer protection. So, especially when you get to fractionalization it brings in a lot of new capital and retail investors, that need to be protected," he said. "We ask a lot of questions when it comes to RWA projects, what is the token? what exactly do I own? What does it trade and who is the liquidity provider? Cause for investors (institutional or otherwise) they need a liquidity event to get out. And these are the type of things we drill down with each project," McHugh emphasized. The Donald Trump administration has openly advocated for crypto in the U.S. and in the opinion of industry leaders pushed other regions to follow suit. That's not necessarily the case in the UAE, especially with VARA, which was created three years ago, long before the U.S. President became an open proponent of digital assets. McHugh believes that interagency cooperation will be key for global crypto regulation, but does not see any particular agency leading the charge. "I don't think we'd see some super regulator, regional or otherwise. I think each agency is focused on its own customers," he said, adding that memoranda of understanding (MoU) and open communication between governing bodies is the way to successfully watch over crypto. Whether it's exchanges, Web3 or RWA, the future of crypto in Dubai looks bright and McHugh, who was the former chief compliance officer at Citadel, said he feels that one of the main reason for that is the pro-business and start-up nature of the city.
