TERAPROOF:User:marywhiteDate:23/08/2013Time:08:29:19Edition:23/08/2013FriEchoFri230813Page:6 Zone:EE

Friday, August 23, 20136 NEWSEE - V1

O’Leary aiming to takeEuro seat for Sinn Féin

VernonMountcould bea hub fortourismBy ANN MURPHY

THE notion of developingone of Cork’s best knownold houses as a touristattraction has been raisedat a lecture series whichwas launched last night.Vernon Mount house is in

the 99-hectare area beingearmarked for the TramoreValley Park masterplan,which covers the formerCork city landfill site, andthe woodland area aroundthe old Georgian house.However, the house is in

private hands and the localGrange Frankfield Partner-ship last night launched alecture series at DouglasLibrary to highlight what avaluable asset the housecould be to the local area ifdeveloped as part of themasterplan.The house sits above the

South Ring Road, acrossfrom the former city dump.It is a listed building con-

taining important murals by18th century artist Nath-aniel Grogan.The Tramore Valley Park

Masterplan was developedby architect firm BradyShipman Martin.Last night, the firm’s

David Bosonnet said thehouse could be the equival-ent of Westport House inMayo for Cork.He said: “We drew up the

masterplan for the TramoreValley Park and VernonMount house is in themiddle of it. It is falling intoa state of disrepair.“A protected structure like

Vernon Mount could have avery good role to play in themasterplan — it could bethe equivalent for exampleof Westport House, whichhas a wide range of activit-ies going on in the groundsthere.”The building is owned by

US-based Jonathan Moss,who had been a director ofa team which failed tosecure planning permissionfor a residential and hoteldevelopment on the site.Last night, Mr Bossonet

said that a café or restaur-ant at the location wouldalso be a valuable attractionfor the area.However, nothing can be

done without the support ofthe house’s owner.The Grange Frankfield

Partnership is hoping thelecture series will raiseawareness locally and high-light to the owner the valuethe house would have in thefuture of the area aroundthe Tramore Valley Park.The Vernon Mount Lec-

ture Series is being suppor-ted by Cork City Library.

SINN FÉIN has a realchance of taking aEuropean parliamentseat in Ireland South,would-be candidateChris O’Leary has said.

The Cork city councillor isone of two candidates to havealready put their names for-ward ahead of a party selectionconvention on September 14 tochose the party’s candidate forthe 2014 European parliamentelections.The other is Muskerry-based

Gaelgoir Liadh Ní Riada,daughter of famous composerSeán Ó Riada.Party leader Gerry Adams

appointed Ms Ní Riada as SinnFéin’s Irish language officerlast year, and she currentlyworks for the party in Leinster

Famous composer’s daughter second candidate to signal interestHe said the public view of

European politics as a “gravytrain” would be challenged bySinn Féin.He pointed to his own record

of challenging spending wastein City Hall, saying:“People should not be elected

just to be on a gravy train. Mycredentials on this have beenset out at local governmentlevel. We want people to go toEurope who will challenge thewhole austerity regime. Wedon’t want people who take theattitude that they shouldn’trock the boat.”At the last European elec-

tions for Ireland South, BrianCrowley (FF) topped the poll,followed by Seán Kelly (FG)

and Alan Kelly (Lab).Mr Kelly was later elected to

the Dáil, forcing him to give upthe European seat to his col-league Phil Prendergast.

The sitting MEPs are expec-ted to seek to run again, andFine Gael senator DeirdreClune has already thrown herhat into the ring to get on theFine Gael ticket with MrKelly.Sinn Féin went with

Kerry-based Toireasa Ferris in2009 and she polled more firstpreference votes that AlanKelly, but eventually lost outto Mr Kelly on transfers.However, the election is

likely to be shaped by the out-come of a constituency bound-ary review that is currentlyongoing — a review that wasnecessary after Ireland lostone of its 12 European Parlia-ment seats.

By RONAN BAGNALL

House. From Coolea, Ms NíRiada has produced and direc-ted numerous documentariesfor RTÉ and TG4.It will be the first time since

1994 that the party has had acontested selection conventionfor the EU nomination in thesouth of Ireland.Nominations for candidates

will close 72 hours in advanceof the convention, so other can-didates may still come for-ward.Cllr O’Leary said he was

confident that, whoever wasselected, Sinn Féin could takea seat in the Ireland South con-stituency.

Cork city councillor ChrisO’Leary. Picture: Richard Mills

We’re still boozers:Alcohol spend risesdespite recessionPEOPLE in Ireland arespending more moneyon alcohol despite thechronic financial crisisthat continues to gripthe nation, newly-re-leased official figureshave revealed.While many reined

in their spending onthings like clothing,transport and commu-nication last year,people were lessthrifty with booze.Figures from the

Central StatisticsOffice (CSO) showedaround 6.36 billioneuro (£5.44 billion) wasspent on alcohol – up1.2% from the yearbefore.That accounted for

around 7.7% of totalpersonal expenditureof €82.63 billion ongoods and services.While spending on

alcohol, as calculatedby the CSO at currentmarket prices, in-creased each year from2009, spending on to-bacco was down in2012.It dropped by 2.4%

from €2.2 billion in2011 to €2.14 billionlast year.The CSO report on

National Income andExpenditure 2012showed total personalexpenditure in 2012was €105.69 billion.Taxes on personal

income and wealth ofaround €23.06 billion

accounted for just overa fifth of that.The remainder was

spent on everythingfrom food, beveragesand tobacco, to cloth-ing and footwear;housing, fuel andpower, to transportand communication;recreation, entertain-ment and education, tohousehold equipmentand miscellaneousgoods and servicessuch as medicalproducts — around€4.25 billion.While personal

spending on goods andservices rose slightlyeach year from 2009 to€82.63 in 2012, it re-mained significantlylower than its mostrecent height of €94.16billion in 2008, beforethe country wasplunged into cripplingrecession.The Central Statist-

ics Office (CSO) figuresrevealed overallgrowth in the Irisheconomy, with grossdomestic product(GDP) at currentmarket prices up 0.8%from 2011 to 2012.In constant prices,

GDP – the value of allgoods and services inthe economy — grewby 0.2% between 2011and 2012.The gross national

product (GNP) of thecountry was higher by1.8%.

ROB GIVES e90,000,000 EUROMILLIONS THUMBS UP

World 50k walk gold medallist Rob Heffernan at the announcement yesterday at Irishtown Sports Stadiumin Dublin that tonight’s EuroMillions jackpot is an estimated e90 million. Picture: Gareth Chaney Collins