HSE clinical psychologists to provide free antenatal class in Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital

The HSE's primary care psychology service in Co Louth is inviting new parents, pregnant women, partners and family members to attend a free class on Monday 27th Jan 2014 from 6-7.30pm in St Theresa's building, Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital. Drogheda. The class will provide an insight into the important elements of helping babies develop lifelong physical and emotional health.

(Access to St Theresa's building is via Hardman's Gardens beside the Lourdes Church).

New Oireachtas Smartphone App free from the App store.

 This App provides contact details of all TDs and Senators along with details regarding constituencies; details as to what is happening in the Dáil, Seanad and Oireachtas Committees and allows the user to follow the business live on video or audio streams. The user can also keep updated on all news from the Houses of the Oireachtas with links to a full listing of press releases and tweets.

In this digital age, 75% of all Irish web and social media activity in now mobile. The App will allow members of the public to access all public Oireachtas sittings. Up to now these could be accessed through the  oireachtas website on www.oireachtas.ie but the App will be much easier to navigate. It is available, free, on iTunes and Android.

The delivery of this App on budget and on time is also very good news.

€40 million in sports capital funding. Online applications open on Fri 17th Jan

Applications open this Friday, Jan 17th for the 2014 Sports Capital Programme which this year will allocate €40million to local sports clubs to improve and develop facilities such as changing rooms, pitches and floodlights, as well as improving funding for regional facilities.
All sports clubs considering applying or re-applying for funding through this programme should know that there has been a fundamental change to the application process for 2014. The application process for grants will now be carried out through a new online registration system.
Applicants must register online by 7 February 2014, and the deadline for applications is 28 February 2014.
This new process will be quicker and easier then before for sports club and I would encourage any clubs requiring assistance to contact my office.
Local clubs who are interested in applying should consult the Department of Sport's online guide to registration, available at: www.dttas.ie/sport/english/sports-capital-programme.'

New working group on Junior Cycle Reform to meet for the first time on Friday 17 Jan

The  announcement that a new working group on Junior Cycle Reform will meet for the first time this coming Friday, 17 January 2014 is very welcome.
 
The working group is comprised of many important stakeholders, including teacher unions the ASTI and TUI, management bodies, the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment, the Department of Education and Skills, and, very importantly, parents.
 
I have supported Minister Quinn in his actions to reform the current Junior Cycle and greatly support the inclusion of parents in the new working group, due to meet Friday.
 
Through my work on the Education Committee, many groups and individuals have agreed that we need to reform the Junior Cycle, but the way in which we do that has been up for debate for many months. By setting up this new working group, representatives from all of the above groups will be able to come together, air their concerns and have those concerns addressed.
Minister Quinn has committed to the reform of the Junior Cycle and to consultation with all of the relevant partners. He has made it clear that this reform will be phased in from this year over several years, and will allow schools, teachers, and students the time to adjust to such changes.

Co Louth schools represent the wee county in style at the Young Scientist Exhibiton 2014

I was delighted to visit the BT Young Scientist Exhibition in the RDS on Thursday last. I met up with many students from Co Louth and thoroughly enjoyed hearing about their projects. I was very impressed by the standard of all the work presented and great credit is due not only to the students but to their teachers who guide and encourage them in their work.

Aoife McDonnell from St Louis Secondary School Dundalk with her project on Lipoprotein Lipase and it's activity in bovine milk.

Conor Ryan, Stephen Woods and Stephen Lynch from Bush Post-Primary School who scooped the Irish Patents Office Special Award, a Highly Commended and a Display Award for their project on "Mooboots".

Mohammad Beshr and Tiernan McGurk from De la Salle College Dundalk with their project on the extraction of caffeine from beverages.

Alex Cahill and Shane McQuillan from De la Salle College Dundalk with their project on the prevalence of racism and sectarianism in the border region.

Cian Murphy and Ronan O Shea from De la Salle College Dundalk who presented a project on Creating a Seal for Food Products.

Ellie Loughran from Our Lady's College Drogheda with "Spiral Patterns in tree cones in Ireland".

Ellen Edwards and Eimear Magee from St Louis Secondary School Dundalk who developed a game, Invaders and Defenders, about viruses and bacteria.

Do looks matter? In the case of food, that's what Irene McDonnell and Miriam Mulholland from St Oliver's Community College Drogheda wanted to find out.

Kayleigh Brady, Roisin Keating and Nicola Belton from Bush Post-Primary School with their project "Virtual Stoning - a new trend in social media sites"

Does your caffeine intake affect your sleep pattern? Yes it does if you are under 30! That's according to St Louis Secondary School students Caoimhe Kerley, Melissa Lawrence and Ciara McQuillan.

Megan Crilly and Dara Goss from St Vincent's Secondary School Dundalk with their project on the effects of Yoga on Blood Pressure and Heart Rate.

Aoife Begley from St Vincent's Secondary School with her project on Slip or Non-Slip Tiles which was awarded a Highly Commended in the Chemical/ Physical/Mathematical Sciences category.

Home Brewers Beware! Aiveen O Callaghan, Alibhin Sally and Grainne Smyth looked at the effect of hot press temperature variation and bottle storage conditions on variations in alcohol concentration.  They were awarded a Highly Commended in the Chemical/Physical/Mathematical Sciences Category.

Congratulations also to Sarah Begley from St Vincent's Secondary School who achieved a Display Award for her project entitled "Does restless leg syndrome really exist"?

Launch of Samaritans Ireland Impact Report

I was pleased to attend the launch of Samaritans Ireland Impact Report 2012 / 2013 in Dublin on 18th December. The report documented that Samaritans Ireland received more calls from midnight to 6am than at any other time during the day over the past year.
If you are interested in reading the findings of the report, a copy can be found at the following link:
http://tinyurl.com/pojdlew.

I was delighted to meet some volunteers from Drogheda Samaritans Brianne McHugh, David Hepburn and Ruth Gallagher on the day.

Time to tackle that CAO form

It's that time of year again when Leaving Cert students begin to turn their minds to the CAO application form.
Some important dates for the coming weeks:

Jan 20th at 5.15pm        Closing date for the CAO Early Bird  online application.
                                      Cost of €25.
                                      After the February 1st deadline this increases to €40.

Also the final date for the standard early €115 fee for the HPAT aptitude test. For this you need a CAO number which you get by CAO application. You can register for HPAT until Feb 1st by paying a late fee of  €70 in addition to the €115. HPAT tests will take place around the country on Sat. March 1st. You must apply online for HPAT as they do not accept  paper applications.

Feb 1st at 5.15pm           Standard closing date for normal CAO applications for first year

undergraduate places. Restricted application courses must be listed on CAO form by this date.

When you register with CAO, you will receive a CAO identification number which will allow you to return to your application anytime, to list or amend course choices until the initial closing date of Feb 1st.

Some helpful resources on the web:
www.cao.ie
www.examinations.ie ( for exam information, sample papers, marking schemes and chief examiners' reports)
www.qualifax.ie (for course information)
www.careersportal.ie (for advice on careers and courses)