Last night, the centre-piece of the Earagail Arts Festival launched at An Grianan Theatre in Letterkenny.

Amajuba- Like Doves We Rise sees four actors telling stories from their different stages of their lives in South Africa. And it is, by some distance, the most powerful dramatic piece I have ever seen. The performance runs until Saturday (July 16th), and I would highly recommend it to everyone. It’s well worth seeing.

I have no problem in emphatically endorsing this play, and recommending it to anyone who will listen. While not overly-suited to a family audience, this powerful play graphically illustrates the difficulties of life in South Africa in recent decades.

Last night was also my first chance to address an audience, as Mayor, during the Errigal Arts Festival. The festival contributes greatly to the cultural life of Letterkenny and Donegal, and takes up a huge amount of work year round. The success of the festival is a credit to the excellent work of the organising team.

The performance was attended by Her Excellency, Melanie Verwoerd, South African Ambassador to Ireland. I had the honour of welcoming her on behalf of Letterkenny Town Council, with Cllr Dessie Larkin and Michael McLoone (Donegal County Manager) welcoming her on behalf on the County Council.

The Errigal Arts Festival continues until Sunday, July 17th.

Last night (July 11th) I chaired my first monthly meeting of Letterkenny Town Council as Mayor of Letterkenny.

Most issues on the meeting ran smoothly, but there was one major issue which dominated the meeting.

Donegal County Council had proposed a re-alignment of a proposed road in the Killylastin / Windy Hall area of Letterkenny. As the road is featured on the Letterkenny and Environs Development Plan, the plan required the consent of Letterkenny Town Council before it could become official policy, and a part of the Development Plan.

The consultation of this proposal, and the treatment of the residents in the area affected, was without doubt the most poorly-handled issue I’ve seen in my time as a Public Representative. The families that will be most affected by any proposed change in the road were treated extremely poorly by the County Council.

This proposal was rejected last night at the meeting. Some councillors highlighted the treatment of the residents as their reason for the rejection.

This is a major issue, and was raised by every single councillor. Another issue which led to the rejection of the plan was the rezoning of land in the area from “Strategic Residential Reserve” to “Residential”. This would have meant opening further lands for development in one of the most densely-populated areas of Letterkenny. While this is not necessarily a bad thing, I was (and am) unwilling to support any proposal which would see more development in the Glencar Scotch area of Letterkenny without a proper Master Plan to outline how the development would fill the infrastructural deficit that exists in an area which has seen such huge growth in recent years, without any associated development in open spaces, green areas, community or sporting facilities.

Letterkenny Town Council has been criticised for the development of that area of the town. By reserving these lands as “Strategic Residential Reserve” we have shown a willingness to address these issues.

Pacificare, which employs several hundred in Letterkenny, has just been bought by UnitedHealth group, a large US medical insurer, according to this article from a San Francisco newspaper. The deal will create either the largest, or second largest (dependent on source) insurer in the USA.

At this early stage it is difficult to comment on what will happen. Many will be afraid that, as Pacificare is the junior partner in this merger, there staff will be more likely to lose their jobs. It must be said, however, that Pacificare has always shown a strong commitment to Letterkenny, and is currently advertising for job recruits. This deal will have been ongoing for some time, so we can take that as positive news. Pacificare’s Letterkenny employees have shown, time and again, to be among the most productive throughout the company. It’s also important to point out that none of the US news sources have mentioned Job losses or cost cutting as a reason for this deal.

Another important point to remember is that, while this deal has only been announced today, it must have been in the pipeline for some time. In recent weeks, PacifiCare has been aggresively recruiting new staff in the local press. This must be a good sign.

I’ll add more info to this as I find out. I am hopeful this will not lead to any job losses in Letterkenny, but we cannot be sure.

More info on this deal: Market Watch and Chicago Tribune

Update: According to CBS News, this deal still needs approval from the Government in the USA, but we don’t know when that will happen. It doesn’t look like it will be an issue though. This article also states that both companies have not said anything (yet) about any layoffs or down-sizing.

Update: The CEO of UnitedHealth, who are acquiring PacifiCare, has been quoted on this news website that the deal “complements what we’ve been trying to do for a number of years”. Again, no mention of job cuts. He expects the deal to be finalised either late this year or early 2006.

Update: According to Highland Radio’s sources, the employees at PacifiCare in Letterkenny have been told their jobs are safe

Update (July 8th): This article at Medical News Today states that “most of PacifiCare’s 10,500 employees will retain their jobs” (under “Acquisition Details”). Still no statement from the company. This article says the deal is worth $9.2 billion, as they include $1.1 billion of assumed debt.

Update (July 14th): Today’s Donegal Democrat features a new advertisement for staff at PacifiCare in Letterkenny.

Most of my posts today have covered the local issue regarding the take-over of Pacificare, but it would be remiss of me not to mention today’s horrendous attack in London.

The scourge of Terrorism has struck again. Our thoughts go out to the people of London, and the friends and families of those who have lost their lives in these senseless attacks.

The BBC has excellent, in-depth coverage of these attacks and their aftermath.

As yet, there is no news of any Irish people being killed in these attacks.

Update: It is now widely believed that a missing Irish man is among the dead

Update: Letterkenny Town Council, together with Donegal County Council, are opening an official book of condolence for the victims of the attacks, following a minute’s silence held before the July monthly council meeting

Tonight (July 7th 2005) I will be performing my first official act as Mayor of Letterkenny, and launching the programme of events for the Glencar Fun Week, which this year takes place between the 11th and the 14th of August. This was also my first act of Deputy Mayor, last year.

Once again, the Fun Week committee have excelled themselves and put together a great line-up of events, ranging from underage (and 40+) football competitions, to clay pigeon shooting, to a 5k charity walk. There is Live Music in the Glencar Inn and on the Gig Rig every evening, and a special kids disco on Friday August 12th.

The highlight of the Glencar Fun Week is the Saturday (August 13th). This day has events from 11:30 am until late at night, the centre-piece of which is the Fancy Dress Parade from the Ballyboe Green.

The Glencar Fun Week grows from strength to strength every year. Since the demise of the Letterkenny Folk Festival, the Fun Week has grown to become a central part of the summer for many people. For a festival like this to grow, at a time when many other larger festivals around the country are failing, is evience of the hard work of the organising committee. These types of community events are already very important, and will become much more important as Letterkenny continues to grow.

I am honoured to have been asked to launch the Fun Week, and wish them every success this year and in the future.

I received a letter in today’s post asking me to support the Donegal Action for Cancer Care Campaign in writing, ahead of there meeting next week with An Tanaiste, Mary Harney TD, Minister For Health, in Dublin.

As a politicican, there are many times when you must take hard decisions. This is certainly not one of those times. I fully support the campaign for the retention and extension of Cancer Care services in Donegal, as do my party colleagues.

This is a very important, very active campaign which rises above the sphere of party politics. An issue of this magnitude affects every family in this county, and deserves to be treated as such.

Highland Radio reports that moves are afoot to treat Donegal cancer patients in Belfast, rather than in Galway as proposed. This may be an improvement, but still amounts to (from Letterkenny) a 2 hour journey instead of a 3-and-a-half hour journey, and worse from other parts of the county. An improvement, but still not good enough for the needs of this County.

I’ve attended a number of Fianna Fail meetings recently, and this issue was (by some distance) the single most important issue discussed. Fianna Fail members, Councillors and TDs continue to work on this issue with the Government and with the Health Authorities. This issue is being kept on the agenda of the Minister for Health, Minister for Finance and the Taoiseach by the local Fianna Fail organisation.

Good news on the local economic front, as the numbers of people signing-on for unemployment benefit in Letterkenny continue to fall. As this Highland Radio news article shows, the number of people unemployed in Letterkenny in April of this year has fallen by 349, compared to this time last year.

Much has been made of the job losses in the last few years in the Textile industry. While we must not forget those who have lost their jobs, we also cannot forget the great economic growth in other sectors. Multinational companies, such as Sita, Pacificare and Pramerica continue to increase the numbers they employ in Letterkenny. This is a great reflection of many things, but in particular it shows the importance of a supply of skilled workers.

Letterkenny has benefitted hugely by having Letterkenny IT producing high-quality graduates in a number of sectors. But this shows that the most important thing needed to help those who have lost their jobs recently is an emphasis on re-training and re-skilling. We can compete on the world stage, but only when we have the right skills.

Another important thing to remember is that many of those who have lost their jobs are already very highly-skilled. This is where organisations such as the Donegal County Enterprise Board come in. The Enterprise Board runs a number of programmes which assist people in starting and running their own business. We need to examine this model, and see how we can add to it in and around Letterkenny.

(PS- If you’re looking for a job, here’s the listings for PacifiCare and for Pramerica. Sita are due to advertise their posts soon on their website)