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Concerns over potential sale of St Mary of the Angels

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By Sean Moriarty

There's huge concern this week about the future of much loved care facility St Mary of the Angels when it was revealed that national disability and mental health service providers St John of Gods faces debts of €32.5 million.

St John of Gods runs the Beaufort facility which provides living and education facilities to Kerry adults with special needs - but shocked members of the St Mary of the Angels Parents and Relatives Association have hit out saying action must be taken to avoid the move.

“St Mary’s is as much a part of Kerry as the National Park,” chairman Jack Fitzpatrick told Killarney Advertiser.

“It was gifted to St John of Gods by the Franciscan Sisters, this was done to protect the future of the service in Kerry and now there is a risk it could be sold. St John of Gods, like every charity in the country are severely underfunded and that is why they find themselves in this situation. The title [of the property] is with St John of Gods and following the full letter of the law they could sell it.”

St Mary of the Angels has been run by St John of Gods since the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood Religious Order handed over the facility in 2005.

The national charity revealed earlier this month that it faces massive debts and that it may have to sell some of its assets.

St John of Gods said last September it would be ceasing the majority of its services due to its financial funding crisis and that it would transfer responsibility to the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Two years ago the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood Religious Order sold a 110-acre farm adjacent to the care centre.

The land was bought by legendary London-Kerry construction supremo Dan Tim O’Sullivan who has direct family connections to the care facility. He made the move to prevent it from falling into the hands of developers.

The farm was originally donated to the Franciscan Missionaries of the Divine Motherhood Religious Order by the Doyle family in the 1960s after their only daughter joined the Order.

The Order decided to sell the land to fund the retirement of its nuns with the sale of the farm which was handled by Killarney auctioneer, Tom Spillane in July 2019.

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Chamber’s emphasis on cyber security

  Businesses in Killarney have been fully briefed on what measures they need to taketo ensure greater cyber security to protect their companies. Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce hosted […]

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Businesses in Killarney have been fully briefed on what measures they need to take
to ensure greater cyber security to protect their companies.

Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce hosted a very informative breakfast
briefing in the International Hotel at which they keynote speakers were cyber security
experts Mike Dennehy and Ger McAuliffe from progressive local company Tricel.
The opening question at the event was how will a business operate tomorrow if it
loses access to its data today?
Mike and Ger recommended that all employers to include IT training as part of the
induction programme for new entrants, organise monthly awareness training for all
employees and to conduct monthly spot-checks to ensure everything is going
according to plan.
It was essential, they pointed out not to give the same level of access to all
employees to reduce risk and to devise a disaster recovery plan in case it is needed.
Companies have also been advised not to allow the public to use their private wi-fi
network and, instead, to set up a public or guest network.
Chamber thanked the experts from Tricel for their engaging talk which certainly put
the spotlight very firmly on the need to enhance cyber security measures.

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Win tickets for Killarney for Palestine sold-out INEC show

Killarney for Palestine has announced a fundraising competition that will give Killarney Advertiser readers a chance to win two tickets to the sold-out Night for Palestine concert in the INEC […]

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Killarney for Palestine has announced a fundraising competition that will give Killarney Advertiser readers a chance to win two tickets to the sold-out Night for Palestine concert in the INEC on December 19.

The event, which features Amble, Beoga and Clare Sands, has already reached full capacity, but the group is offering two tickets along with a €250 Gleneagle Hotel Group voucher, which can also be used at the Brehon.
To enter, supporters are asked to make a minimum €5 donation to the group’s Chuffed campaign, which is raising funds for urgent medical support for a displaced family in Gaza.

The link to the campaign is:

http://chuffed.org/project/154575-urgent-medical-relief-for-mohammad-basyouni-his-kids

After donating, entrants must email proof of donation to:
killarneyforpalestine@yahoo.com
The competition runs on the group’s Instagram page @killarneyforpalestine, where full instructions are listed. A winner will be chosen at random and announced on November 29.
Killarney for Palestine says all proceeds from the INEC event will support Aclaí Palestine, a community gym based in Aida Refugee Camp, Bethlehem.

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