Noel Dempsey, on behalf of the Government, is pushing through the Dáil new legislation on Drink/Driving. He is planning to reduce the amount of alcohol permitted in the blood by nearly 40% and there are many people who think that this is a step too far. He is in fact facing stiff opposition from backbench Fianna Fáil TDs, particularly rural based TDs such as Mattie McGrath, and it is felt in political circles that there are many opposition party TDs who feel the same way about it but, for political purposes, prefer to let the Fianna Fáil TDs make the running on this issue. Recent modifications to his plans, forced on him by opposition from his own TDs, have somewhat eased the opposition to him, particularly the proposal that if one is caught between the proposed new limit and the old one a fine and penalty points will be imposed, rather than an outright ban for any period.

The Drinks industry is, for obvious reasons, alarmed at this potential development. In general they feel that the industry is going through a hard enough time at the moment without adding new handicaps.  The Licensed Vintners association is up in arms and is challenging the assumptions accepted by the Government of the part that Alcohol plays in Road safety or lack of it.

On condition of anonymity a representative from Diageo in Cork said that this proposal was a retrograde step for the industry in the current climate and will only add to the deprivation and depression felt in many remote areas and could have the effect of making effective hermits out of elderly people living on their own. Diageo of course are best known for their Guinness brand but they have a huge international drinks portfolio otherwise. Their representative said that they had just invested heavily in moving to a new Cork Head office in the Atrium Building in the Blackpool Business Park, where the Atrium Business Centre is located, and he said that this move to Blackpool, to new State-of-the-art offices, was an act of faith by Diageo which is not being matched by the Government.

The GAA Hurling All Stars Team was recently named without as much as one Cork Player on the Panel—there was even a Dublin player named –Hard to imagine a Hurling All Stars Team with a Dublin player and no Cork player but that’s the situation. That is a far cry from the halcyon days of Cork Hurling when Cork more often than not dominated the game and, in fact until recently when Kilkenny caught up with them, had won more All Irelands than any other County.

This was the topic of discussion recently as we sat in the chair next to the life sized effigy of Jack Lynch sitting reading the paper in the Blackpool Centre

 (This fantastic Bronze Effigy was specially commissioned by the Love family to mark the opening of the Blackpool shopping and Business Parks with a tribute to somebody special to and highly regarded in the area). Minister Micheál Martin was visiting the area at the time and found the question interesting. There was a meeting of the Irish Marketing Institute in the area that day and Jack Lynch’s effigy and how life like it was became a topic of conversation among them—Dermot Walsh of the Atrium Business Centre, a member of the institute said he used to know Jack well and the likeness, apart from the bronze colour, was uncanny.

We wondered what Jack would have made of the current Hurling scene in Cork and, as a holder of 6 All Ireland medals, one suspects He would have had strong feelings on the matter.  One wonders, for instance, what Jack would have thought of Players refusing to train or play under the appointed coach?  We suspect not too much! What would he have thought about no Cork player getting an All Star award—again we suspect not too much and the opinion was offered that Jack, as he was a consummate Politician, would have seen a definite correlation between the two events, or non-events as it turns out.

Unfortunately, lifelike and all as the Effigy of Jack Lynch is, it is still only a statue, and the Blackpool Centres will never be given the answers, but the interesting questions remain!