Latest news with #DanLinehan
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Donal Hickey: Plant passport check — don't bring plants and seeds home from abroad
Think of rhododendron, Japanese knotweed, and giant hogweed… just three of the many non-native plants brought into Ireland and which are now an environmental nuisance, to say the very least. All three, along with many others, are targets of ongoing eradication programmes which, in some cases, are battling against the odds. Like many invasive species, they grow prolifically and damage many of our native plants and the environment in general. Giant hogweed cordoned off ahead of treatment Such imported plants, as well as invasive, non-native animals, are described by the National Biodiversity Data Centre as the greatest threat to biodiversity worldwide after habitat destruction. Rhododendron at the Vee, County Tipperary. Picture: Dan Linehan Rhododendron, for example, takes over native woodland such as oak, and prevents the growth of young saplings, with severe impacts in places like Killarney National Park. Japanese knotweed can grow through concrete and damage buildings. Hogweed can cause burns and skin damage, and destabilise riverbanks. A plant passport is a document containsing vital information required for the trade of seeds, cuttings, plants, and trees between businesses in the EU And, with people travelling abroad more often and to far-flung, destinations, the risks of exotic, though unwelcome, plants being brought here grows. Ireland continues to participate in the #PlantHealth4Life campaign — a European project to raise awareness of the critical role plant health plays in protecting food, biodiversity, and the environment. It's all about encouraging people to become active plant health ambassadors. The 2025 campaign is supported by our Department of Agriculture, and celebrity garden designer, Diarmuid Gavin, is the plant goodwill ambassador for Ireland. The #PlantHealth4Life campaign urges travellers not to bring back any plants, flowers, seeds, fruits, or vegetables from outside the EU, as these items may harbour plant pests or diseases detrimental to native flora. Additionally, consumers are advised to buy plants and seeds online only if accompanied by a valid phytosanitary or plant health certificate. Picture: Maxwells Louise Byrne, our chief plant health officer, says everyone can contribute to protecting plant health. People should travel wisely and avoid bringing plants and seeds home from abroad. 'Practice responsible sourcing of plants with plant passports from reputable operators. Monitor plants in your garden and in the wider environment for pests and diseases. Empower the next generation by teaching children about the importance of plant health,' she adds. Travellers are asked not to bring back any plants, flowers, seeds, fruits, or vegetables from outside the EU, which may harbour plant pests or diseases detrimental to native flora. Additionally, consumers are advised to buy plants and seeds online only if accompanied by a valid plant health certificate. Good plant hygiene practices in home gardens and outdoors spaces also prevent the spread to neighbouring plants and natural habitats. Diarmuid Gavin says our gardens are frontline defences: 'Every seed we sow responsibly and every pest we spot early is a step toward protecting Ireland's natural environment. This campaign reminds us that plant health begins at home, and we all have a role to play.' Perhaps the greatest example of destruction which can be wrought by an imported plant is the blight that caused the Famine. The blight is believed to have been brought to Europe on potato shipments from the Americas. Read More Responsible gardening for peak plant health
Irish Examiner
4 days ago
- Business
- Irish Examiner
International buyers ensure Kinsale property values continue to soar
When it comes to lifestyle locations, Kinsale is a leading contender not just in the Irish context, but also internationally. Its experience now over half of a century as a top visitor destination has embedded itself deeply into not only 'brand awareness' but also into a new generation of locals and recently arrived residents, with a knock-on impact on the town and hinterland's property market too, for better and for worse. Few other Irish spots, coastal or inland, have the attributes that cosmopolitan Kinsale has: it ticks location boxes, but is also stunning scenic thanks to an up-and-down topography, with a mix of harbour, river and rugged coastline and cliff-ringed variations among its valleys and backwater hideaways. Add in blessed with proximity to an international airport and port city (Cork) with third-level college and strong employment base; beaches for sea-swimmers, surfers and saunas, a wide array of leisure activities and sports from the traditional and inclusive to the rather more exclusive, with upper echelons typified by the arrival of super-yachts at the marinas, and helicopters at the Old Head of Kinsale. Influxes of cash, be it dollars or euros, keep shops, cafes and crafts, galleries and gourmet restaurants afloat too, increasing year-round, and the consequent cash-rich culture and presence of High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) has of course been widely remarked upon. The Dock, Kinsale, Co Cork. At the top of the Munster market in terms of top house sales and values, Kinsale continues to attract local, national and overseas buyers. Picture: Dan Linehan Given international uncertainties, wars and tragedies abroad, from the Ukraine to the Middle East, Iran and the Gulf to the Gulf of America (we mean this more in terms of US political divide than the attempted rebranding of waters around Mexico!) to climate change, raging forest fires, rising sea levels, and soaring temperatures in the Mediterranean and other traditional playgrounds of the rich and famous, the allure of a more temperate, even-handed, politically stable locations such as Ireland are only going to grow in appeal to the internationally mobile. That's even more so in the case of a place like Kinsale where, at the very upper end of the market where internation capital is swilling around hot-spots like Scilly/Ardbrack and Compass Hill/Sandycove, fears are being expressed about 'becoming a Trump-like copycat of America's despicable wealth culture, which seems to be permeating within Kinsale itself as well as elsewhere within our country,' to cite one letter writer to this newspaper after the virtual demolition of a period seaside home bought for many millions of euros. While that's not typical of the wider market, Kinsale is well used to the knock and rebuild culture evident since native and overseas buyers eyed Kinsale up after the depressed 1980s: there's never been so much wealth around as right now, it's clear. Kinsale already tops the Munster market in terms of top house sales and values, with a fistful in the c.€5m league in the past three years: this threshold will be breached for sure in the coming months or year when Coolmain Castle on 36 acres with water frontage west of Kinsale and the Old Head moves to new hands. Priced at a far from Mickey Mouse sum of €7.5 million, Coolmain Castle came to the international market this April, after 36 years in Disney family hands, offered via agents Hodnett Forde and Lisney, rightly making waves beyond Irish shores. Coolmain indeed is a world-class property, and the eventual selling price will reflect that. The big question is: 'Who will be the buyer?' Bigger than Disney? A golfer? An under-the-radar billionaire seeking Irish seaside sanctuary? 'Coolmain Castle has attracted significant international interest and a handful of viewings have taken place so far,' says Trevor O'Sullivan of Lisney Sotheby's International Realty. He says Kinsale 'has been a hub of activity in 2025 once the spring selling season kicked in, with the brighter days and longer evenings. With the current Trump administration in power, we are noticing a large increase in overseas and predominately American buyers. In fact, some weeks we receive up to five calls in a week directly from American buyers looking to move to Ireland to buy a permanent home or buy a holiday home for three months of the year.' Kinsale, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan Lisney alone had two significant Kinsale €1 million+ closings in the past six months or so, one historic in the heart of town (Fisherman's Hall), the other at Garretstown: 'both properties attracted significant overseas interest and also interest from Cork/Dublin,' says Mr O'Sullivan. The dozen+ Kinsale hinterland property market priced in excess of €1m is about to be added to by two more major listings west of the town along the coast (think Kilbritain/Coolmain area), hints Lisney Sotheby's IR colleague Eileen Neville. As they are prepped, Ms Neville reports 'renewed interest from both European and US buyers in Kinsale. Early this year, following Trump's election, enquiries surged as Americans explored relocation and investment options. While the introduction of tariffs temporarily dampened momentum, activity has picked up again now that those measures are on hold. 'Kinsale's coastal charm, vibrant community, and relative value compared to US and some European markets continue to attract buyers seeking long-term homes and summer residences,' Ms Neville adds. Yankee dollar 'US dollar buyers continue to be prolific,' says estate agent Brendan Bowe who opened his third Cork office in Kinsale a few years back just as prices further ratcheted up, and he reports 'a welcome increase in supply over last year, it definitely seems to be on the rise.' Typically, Q1 of any year is quiet, he says, with preliminary 'scoping' from overseas with activity then getting more real in Q2', but this year 'we saw boots on the ground in Q1, the American buyer has really been quite prolific. Mr Bowe adds there's been an uptick too in European buyers, partly due the ongoing war in Ukraine and Russian aggression spooking those living closer to Eastern Europe. While the Irish Examiner has tracked the purchases such as those by US billionaire James Berwind who so far has spent over €20m on a handful of Kinsale homes, especially around a Sandycove headland, 'there are fantastic Irish buyers too, from the wider Cork area and beyond, as well as those in the diaspora who have done very well and may be looking to return home. It's not just big billionaire and business names and the occasional celebrity (local rumours of a certain U2 band/family member buyer have resurfaced this summer!) that are doing the deals. 'There's an extraordinary strength and calibre of buyer now that goes unremarked upon, from company vice-presidents to financial controllers and cloud retailers, we don't realise how well connected these people are in the world of law, finance and venture capital — they have such a global reach and network,' says Brendan Bowe: 'There are opportunities here for them and their families, and of course the ability to remote work has been a game-changer.' As other local estate agents attest, Non-Disclosure Agreements (NDA's) are increasingly common, but this being Ireland, and Kinsale being Kinsale, news of who's bid or bought locally soon leaks out, via a presence in bars and restaurants, or in marinas or at Cork Airport when private jets flit in and out. Then, there's the Old Head of Kinsale Golf Course when serious old money rubs shoulders with cyber currency kiddos working on their handicaps and social networking: 'The Old Head has been phenomenally good for Kinsale, but then, Kinsale has been very good to the Old Head too,' says Mr Bowe, noting a small number of internation members have bought locally thinking 'it's time to have a pad or a pied a terre in Kinsale ... and some of them don't even play golf it's just 'their club'.' Kinsale, Co Cork. Picture: Dan Linehan
Irish Examiner
7 days ago
- General
- Irish Examiner
'We need closure at some point': West Cork marks 40th anniversary of Air India disaster
Families placed wreaths on the water at Ahakista on Monday morning after a moving ceremony to mark the 40th anniversary of the Air India explosion which killed 329 people. A bomb placed on board Flight 182 by militants exploded off the Kerry/West Cork coast on June 23, 1985, with the plane plunging into the Atlantic. The flight was due to stop over in London's Heathrow before travelling to India for stops in Delhi and Mumbai. Passengers were primarily from Canada, but others on board came from India and Britain, as well as other countries. More than 80 of them were children. More than 30 relatives travelled to West Cork for the ceremony organised by Cork County Council — including Narayana and Padmini Turlapati who lost two sons on the flight and have travelled to West Cork regularly since 1985, and Sanjay Lazar, whose parents, three-year-old sister and unborn sibling were lost in the tragedy. Family members of the late Indira Kalsi place flowers in the sea at the Air India memorial service. Included were Lily Thurral, Rajiv Kalsi, Amarjit Dhanjal, Anita Kalsi, Balbir Kaur, with locals Mary Jo Crowley and Kevin Healy. Picture: Dan Linehan Mr Lazar, who has written a book on the tragedy, told the Irish Examiner he escaped the tragedy because he remained at home to study for exams. He recalled receiving a call to travel to London to meet with his father, but on arriving there, he discovered his family had been killed. He then travelled to West Cork to wait anxiously for news of their remains being found. However, only his mother's body was found. He said he found out after an autopsy on his mother's remains that she was four months pregnant with his second sibling. He saw photos of naval officers holding a cabbage patch doll, which he says was his sister's. 'I have been struggling to get it for the last 40 years but it has not been possible. That is all I have — memories and this beautiful memorial,' he said. 'It was difficult. Ironically, I joined Air India the next year — flying for 38 years as a cabin crew member. I became a lawyer because of this. 'I have been an advocate for this case. I came here about four or five years ago and suddenly got an epiphany here. I feel close to my family here. I felt my dad was telling me I had not done enough. I was a trade union leader in India and I felt he felt I did not use my voice enough to promote against terrorism or speak for justice so I gave up my job.' He has now published a book called On Angel's Wings about the bombing. Sanjay Lazar. Picture Dan Linehan 'I am glad the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) are still pursuing the matter. We need closure at some point. I would like to see it before I die. I want the people who did it to say they did it. That's all. There is no revenge, there is no vengeance. It is about answers and we all want answers. And I want a memorial like this in India and a learning centre where we teach people what radicalism and terrorism is about.' Two men accused of murder and conspiracy relating to the crash were found not guilty in March 2005. It was alleged the bombing was plotted by Sikh extremists in Canada as revenge on India for its storming of Sikhism's Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984. Speaking to the Irish Examiner in Ahakista, Canadian minister for public safety Gary Anandasangaree said people were still looking for answers. 'Ultimately, the challenge is that as time goes, the ability to complete and charge and go through a legal process becomes more elusive. The frustration is clear. 'If any of us are in the shoes of a family member, what would we want? We wouldn't want answers, we would want people held to account for what happened. That has not happened in this case. 'We don't have the level of closure the families would rightfully desire.' During the ceremony, Indian minister for petroleum and natural gas Hardeep Singh Puri described the explosion as a 'stain on humanity' and said it had left scars which had not healed in 40 years. Taoiseach Micheál Martin laying a wreath at the Air India 182 memorial service. Picture: Dan Linehan Taoiseach Micheal Martin said: 'We feel the tragic scale of the loss, when we see the faces and read the stories on the memorial here before us. Especially moving are the simple descriptions, 'student' or 'child' — so many young lives taken far too soon. While the scale of this tragedy is of international significance, we should not forget that it is an intensely personal tragedy. "The loss and grief felt by you, the families and loved ones of the people who died that June morning in 1985, is deeply personal. One only needs to come here, on any year, and listen to you speak, witness you placing flowers into the sea, or laying wreaths, to understand how powerful that grief remains.' Read More Air India Flight 182: Cork photographer recalls taking iconic image of 1985 bombing tragedy
Irish Examiner
22-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Examiner
Company outlines how reduction of paramedics in air ambulance service poses safety risks
The company which provides a life-saving air ambulance service for the State raised serious concerns about flight safety risks after the HSE's National Ambulance Service (NAS) introduced changes to the medical crewing model on the aircraft. The crew changes included rostering just one paramedic to work some of the shifts on the aircraft, which operates from a base near Millstreet, in Cork, to covering the south west and beyond. In an explosive email, a senior official in Gulf Med Aviation Services (GMAS), which provides the aircraft and pilots for the service under contract to the NAS, said since the changes: he had seen a marked deterioration in how the medical staff on board the helicopter perform their aviation tasks while tasked to work shifts on the helicopter; he had seen "workflow and cognitive errors" in the aviation-focused tasks the medical crew need to perform safely as part of the helicopter crew; and how the 'low levels of motivation, concentration, and attention to the task' that appear to have resulted from the recent medical crew changes is 'evident and impactful'. Malta-based GMAS went so far as to formally ask NAS officials for 'an intervention at the earliest opportunity' to address the issues, which were flagged in February. The HSE has insisted, however, that the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) is safe and working effectively, that the crewing model is safe for both patients and crew, and that there are no outstanding matters of concern in relation to the contract. The revelation comes just weeks after the Irish Examiner reported how the HEMS covering the south was at risk of being grounded in a row over NAS moves to cut the number of paramedics rostered to work on the aircraft from two to just one. Farm safety minister Michael Healy-Rae described any such move as 'reckless'. The crewing changes were being advanced despite internal reports warning HSE and NAS management that a solo paramedic crewing model poses a risk to patients, to the paramedics and pilots, and poses a flight safety risk. The Irish Examiner reported last March how one internal report warned that if the NAS couldn't provide two paramedics for each of the HEMS aircraft, then the service should be stood down on those days. The HEMS is currently operating several shifts with just one medical crew member on board. The National Ambulance Service provides two dedicated HEMS responses in Ireland - one based in Cork, operated by GMAS, and the other in Athlone operated by the Air Corps - with medical staff on both aircraft supplied by the NAS. File picture: Dan Linehan A senior manager also warned that a single patient safety incident such as a drug error, an in-flight patient emergency, or in the worst-case scenario, a crash, would bring the crewing issue 'sharply into focus'. Concerns were also expressed in March that the NAS was recruiting emergency medical technicians (EMTs) to replace the second paramedic on the aircraft. Qualifying as an EMT takes just five weeks. EMTs cannot perform any of the major 'interventional skills' required to help critically ill patients, including intubation – the placing of a tube in a patient's airway – and the intravenous administration of powerful painkillers, which are often required of patients who need an air ambulance. The NAS provides two dedicated HEMS responses in Ireland - one based in Cork, operated by GMAS, and the other in Athlone operated by the Air Corps - with medical staff on both aircraft supplied by the NAS. In 2022, GMAS won the competitive tender for the delivery of the Cork-based service, taking over from the previous charity provider in February 2023. It is understood the company won the tender again earlier this year. GMAS has an aviation safety management system (SMS) which underwrites the approval of its HEMS service here by its regulator, TM-CAD, the civil aviation directorate in Malta. The National Ambulance Service said it takes concerns raised around the safety of its services very seriously. File picture: Larry Cummins But earlier this year, concerns were emerging from within the service about changes the NAS was making to the medical crewing model on board the aircraft, which included reducing the number of paramedics rostered to work the aircraft from two to just one on certain shifts. In his letter to NAS officials in February, the GMAS official said the HEMS base in Cork had been operating for about two months with a limited medical team on the helicopter. 'It is important that as the operator of the service, we ensure our SMS processes are robust and commensurate with the acceptable risks that prevail during intensive HEMs operations,' he wrote. 'As we understand it, the advanced paramedics are generally spending seven shifts on the helicopter operation within a five-week period. The complex mix of other duties away from the HEMS operation further reduces their capacity to cope. 'As a result, Gulf Med is experiencing workflow and cognitive errors in the aviation centric tasks required of the paramedics that are critical for them to safely interface with the aviation side of the operation. In addition, the low levels of motivation, concentration, and attention to the task that appear to have resulted from the recent changes is evident and impactful.' The company said safety is the number one consideration for all aviation operations and the regulations demand that due attention is given to the management of changes. 'In this case, the HEMs Rathcoole unit has seen three new HEMs paramedics very recently trained and allocated to the helicopter,' the GMAS official said. 'These individuals were trained and certified in a multi-practitioner role (two medical crew on board) and had barely consolidated before being rostered in the single practitioner role on the helicopter. The risks involved in such a change are self-evident. 'For example, a paramedic returning from a significant period away from the unit is often required to mount a HEMS mission in the first few minutes of arriving at the base. This is not a safe practice.' It said like most safety critical activities, all that has to happen for a serious incident or an accident to occur, is for the good people involved to do nothing. The Gulf Med official said he felt they were at the point where something needs to be done to improve: the recent experience of all staff on board the helicopter to match the risks involved in the operation; the mental capacity of junior members of the team to cope with the HEMs role; and a reduction in the disruption and changes that are clearly affecting the motivation, concentration and attention to detail that is necessary to remain safe. GMAS did not respond to requests to comment. Any issues relating to a contract like this, and which are being raised for resolution, must be raised by the relevant company through a formal contract management framework which has been established through the relevant public procurement process. In a response to queries from the Irish Examiner, the NAS said it takes concerns raised around the safety of its services very seriously. 'Any concerns or issues raised in relation to the HEMS are escalated through our agreed contract management process and dealt with expeditiously,' it said in a statement. 'Currently the HSE and Gulf Med Aviation Services are satisfied that services are safe and working effectively. 'The crewing model for the HSE's HEMS is safe for patients and staff. Since its inception in June 2012, the HSE HEMS has operated a successful crewing model consisting of one specialist paramedic and one EMT. 'In September 2024, the HSE commenced a feasibility study to examine the need for physician-delivered HEMS in Ireland. The preliminary results of the trial have not supported any change to the HEMS crewing model, hence the trial period has been extended into 2025.' The HSE said both of its HEMS continue to operate normally, with further support, if required, provided through the Irish Coast Guard's search and rescue aviation service.
Irish Examiner
09-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Examiner
‘The moment we grasped East Cork really is one of the best places to live'
James Colbert, auctioneer, reflects on some of the reasons why East Cork's popular is steadily rising In 2006, my now wife and I bought a house in Whitegate, East Cork. Having spent majority of my life in Midleton which was growing rapidly, it was once stated that I would get a nose bleed if I went over the Cork Road Bridge so a move to the 'country' was a bit strange but it was 2006, things were a plenty and this would only be for a year max before we flipped it and moved on. A stepping stone. Enter recession. Lower Aghada. Pictures: Dan Linehan 14 years later and it's 2020, we have grown to love the area and can see our future here. The drive from Midleton is about 15 minutes door to door for me as I have an office on Main Street, Midleton. My wife, not so much as her office is on The South Mall, Cork City — or Town as she calls it, which always confuses the kids, you can take the woman out of the city! Her drive is a little longer and at the start, when the recession hit and we were not moving anywhere, I always feared for my safety when she would negotiate the traffic each evening and morning. Back in those days there was no easy access via slipway off the Lakeview Rounabaout or the fancy new roadway into the tunnel, was there even a tunnel back then? I googled it, there was, opened in 1999. Anyway, getting back to my safety, on that journey home from 'town' my wife would grip the steering wheel tight and think of ways to torture me. She would remember our wedding and smile as she passed Little Island bristling with stores like Harvey Norman, JYSK, The Range, Costa plus many more. She would smile and recall that I'm good for lifting things when she reached Mideton which is abundant with shops like Hurleys SuperValu, Lidle, Aldi (I still cant tell the difference), four-screen cinema, Tesco and here's the jewel in the crown, the only McDonalds between Douglas and Dungarvan! She would finally loosen the grip on the wheel entering Farsid/Rostellan as the water views start on your right-hand side. The manicured entrance to the quiet village, which the locals obsess over and the heron sits upon the fiesta waiting for the owner to return from work with a snack. The evening sun glistens across the harbour and you can barely make out the cathedral in Cobh. From here until Whitegate it is just head-turning beauty and you can't help but relax. I am safe for another day, plus we have bought a site in the area and we are going to build our dream home, what can possibly go wrong? Enter Covid. Lower Aghada in East Cork, where well developed amenities and greenways make the area very popular with local residents. I'm sure when the kids look back at the pandemic in years to come, they will ask why we complained about staying at home, watching Netflix and doing online quizzes but they were unsettling times riddled in anxiety of the unknown not to mention the countless deaths. The dream build fizzled away when we finally returned to normal as prices spiked and a renewed cost came back a whopping 110% above what was previously quoted. It did, however, make us all sit up and realise what we had on our doorstep and no place stood prouder than East Cork. As my great late father once said 'If you can't be with the one you love, then love the one you are with' — and that is exactly what we did. Walking within our 5-mile radius each day along the People's Walk which stretches from Whitegate with its well-equipped Euospar, past the tennis courts to L.A. (Lower Aghada) which has or favourite restaurant Rosies, right down to Rostellan Woods which is home to mountain bike trails and Aghada GAA pitch. All the while admiring the picturesque scenery over the lapping water and that's just the walks! We also had Whitebay Beach, Corkbeg Pitch & Putt and the popular dipping point Guileen, mirroring an old English seaside village with its thatched roofs. It was a tough time that was made all the better by living in East Cork. Of course, there are great spots all over this island and areas that are beautiful to 'visit', but the majority of us 'live' in areas, so as an auctioneer you can't help to look at what the amenities available are. East Cork was always the bridesmaid when it came to the marriage of luxury home buying. The lure of West Cork or Town (she got me) would usually prevail but things they are finally changing. Capri Lodge, which we closed in January just gone, went for €1,100,000; it was a record for the town of Midleton and that has opened up the floodgates with a number of homes since selling for close to the million mark. However, it's not just about price and East Cork never tried to compete with The West. We are who we are and the area has proven time and again that it is comfortable in its own skin. We liked that we had an area not commonly mentioned every week in the papers, it kept the townies and the Yanks at bay, but the secret is now out. Waves break on the beach at the front strand beach. Former railway station and the car parking area at the newly opened Youghal to Midleton Greenway at the front strand beach at Youghal, Co Cork. Picture Larry Cummins The recent greenway, which travels from Midleton past Mogeely, Killeagh and into Youghal, is as good as any. The train network operates from Cork and services Little Island, Glounthaune, Cobh and Midleton. Youghal and Cobh are as pretty a seaside town as you will get and while Youghal prices have not YET grown, Cobh is becoming one of the more popular destinations in Cork, especially for Americans. It has over 112 cruise liners a year and whereas before the passengers would be whisked off to tours of the City, they now favour to stay put and take in all the town has to offer like the The Cathedral, Titanic Museum and Spike Island Tour which was voted one of the best attractions in Europe recently. When searching for a home you have to take a lot into account. What are the local job opportunities? Sporting facilities? Places to eat? Road access and networks? East Cork is thriving on all accounts. The new Waterock development will see almost 2,500 new homes built with a new town. Carrigtwohill remains one of the best IDA sites in the country with tenants the likes of Stryker, Gilead, Abbvie and Merck. The world famous Ballymaloe House is nestled on the road to Ballycotton ideal for the foodies. Midleton's revamped Distillery is awash with visitors, the luxurious restaurant Cush opens next week, Fota Wildlife park is accessible via train and it's sunnier in East Cork! Not sure about the validity of that last one, but it certainly feels it. House purchase demands have changed over the past number of years and instead of the south-facing garden and unobstructed views, people now look for more substance when buying a home. They want communities, open spaces for their kids to play, neighbours and most importantly a healthy lifestyle. Of course, the house still matters and even better if it doesn't need work, seeing as costs are still rising but when it comes to healthy living, there is no better place than the area we love and now call home. Enter East Cork.
