News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

What’s going on around Ireland

CLARE

The average consumer debt in the county has increased five-fold over the last four years with judgment claims filed against Clare debtors jumping from $1,175,701in 2008 to a current figure of $7.234 million.

An indication of the hardship Clare people are experiencing is also reflected in the dramatic rise of credit union’s taking defaulters to court.

Of all the credit unions in the country, Scariff-based Derg Credit Union has registered the highest number of judgments against customers this year, with 46. St. Francis Credit Union, headquartered in Ennis, had the third-highest with 33 judgments over the same period.
[Source: Clare Champion]

CORK

Cork City has one of the highest suicide rates in the country, according to preliminary estimates released last week by the C.S.O.

The Mahon-based body found that there were 61 deaths by suicide officially recorded between 2009 and 2011 in Cork City, with a total of 210 in the city and county. However, one expert in the area believes the real figures may be even higher than those reported.

Professor Ella Arensman, director of research, National Suicide Research Foundation, U.C.C. says she wishes that the C.S.O. didn’t release preliminary figures which are almost always an under-representation of true figures. “The actual figures are always higher,” she said. “We have to be careful for 2010 and 2011 with the C.S.O. figures.”

"Anything you get with suicide rates is two years behind,” according to Pat Buckley, founder of Let’s Get Together Foundation, based in Midleton. “You can’t get last year’s stats on suicide, but you can get stats on everything else,” he said.

Mr. Buckley believes suicide figures are hugely underestimated with many deaths listed as accidental poisoning, crashes and accidents that are actually suicides.
[Source: Cork Independent]

DERRY

Derry enjoyed “exceptional” global media exposure in the Clipper Round the World yacht race, a new report has found.

An independent evaluation of media coverage of the 2011-12 race has revealed that the Derry-Londonderry yacht featured in 2,091 news items. The report states that the news and media reached a cumulative audience of 285 million people with an estimated “public relations value” of $13 million. It further states that an audience of 630 million viewers will see the Derry entry on the “Against the Tide” documentary to be aired on the Discovery Channel, representing an estimated P.R. value of $54.7 million.
[Source: Derry Journal]

DONEGAL

Buncrana’s Scoil Mhuire was agog last Monday with the news that its video has gone viral on YouTube with more than 22,000 hits across 56 countries in just two days.

Teacher Katrina McGonagle, who coordinated the “lip dub” of both teachers and students singing along to the Undertones’ hit “Teenage Kicks,” said she was absolutely amazed at the response to their school video.

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Nster.com