The mere idea of walking over 2,000km sounds like a daunting task to most, but one man has decided to up the ante – by doing it in his bare feet.

Mayo native Eamonn Keaveney is undertaking a record-breaking trek around the country this summer and reached Sligo, one of his final stops, last weekend.

Eamon spoke to The Sligo Weekender during his stopover about his journey to date and what prompted him to take on a fundraiser that has now seen him on the road for over 100 days.

“It all came about when I was reading about world records and when I saw the longest barefoot journey, I thought to myself ‘I could top that’ I will concede that there are people who have walked virtually their whole lives barefoot, but it just hasn’t been recorded. The Guinness Book of Records require all sorts of evidence like GPS, videos and photos to confirm the exact distance, that the person did it and that they haven’t taken any lifts along the way or anything.”

Walking barefoot provides many challenges. While the inevitable pain and blisters immediately spring to mind, the 24-year-old teacher has encountered much broken glass along roads, with the journey also opening his eyes to litter problems that still exist in certain parts of the country.

“When you walk along the side of the road there is litter absolutely everywhere. There is a lot of glass, the big pieces are no harm because you can see them, but you feel the tiny pieces you wouldn’t notice on the ground. I don’t understand why people travel around such a beautiful country and then decide to toss their take-away bag out the window, you know it shouldn’t be there the minute you throw it away, it does no harm to hold on to it until you find a bin.”

The trip which began in his home of Claremorris is also due to conclude there today (Thursday), with over €17,000 raised in aid of Pieta House.

Donations are still open until the end of August and can be made by visiting www.give.everydayhero.com/ie/baring-my-soles.

ROMANCE was very much in the air at this year’s Mary from Dungloe Festival.

A 16 year-old member of Sligo Aero Club recently became one of the youngest people ever to have flown solo from Sligo airport . . . but has ambitions to go much higher.

John Gerard Killeen flew his first solo flight from the Strandhill airport on Saturday week last, July 30. He is the youngest person to have flown in Sligo in a number of years.

The minimum age that anyone is allowed to fly solo in the Cessna 172 aircraft he was using is 16 and John Gerard is not much beyond that, having just turned 16 on April 19 last.

With 9 hours 10 minutes flying time put in he was over the 6 hours minimum required, but he told the Weekender he didn’t expect to be taking the plane up on his own when he arrived at the airport that day for a lesson with his instructor Aaron Dineen.

“We were doing a circuit operation around the airport, which is basically take-off and landing. Then one time we landed the instructor got out and said, ‘away you go’”.

But he said he wasn’t nervous about taking the plane up on his own.

“I was okay, I was that focused that I didn’t think that much about it at the time. It took a while to sink in.

“It was a great experience to be up in the plane on your own. It is hard to describe unless you have done it”, he said.

For the full story see this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper – in shops now, or see our digital edition which is available on our homepage.

Easkey undertaker David McGowan has another aircraft for the glamping site he is developing in Enniscrone.

People in Enniscrone were “shocked and saddened” by the fire at the local Ocean Sands Hotel in the early hours of Saturday morning.

Public consultation on plan to deal with lead in water

Irish Water is urging all homeowners in Sligo whose houses were built before 1980 to check their internal plumbing for lead pipes and is seeking the public's on measures it plans to reduce problems from lead pipes. 

Public drinking water supplies are lead free but lead, which poses a serious health risk, can dissolve in drinking water from internal lead pipes which are common in older homes and buildings. 

Irish Water says it is confident that lead piping has been removed from the public water distribution mains but the utility estimates that approximately 180,000 homes in Ireland and hundreds of commercial and public buildings still have internal lead plumbing, including lead service pipes from the water main to the stopcock. 

Of the homes affected around the country, about 40,000 are thought to have shared backyard (common service pipes) which Irish Water will be targeting the replacement of over the next 5 years. 

Irish Water is issuing this advice as it launches an 8 week period of public consultation on its draft ‘Lead in Drinking Water Mitigation Plan’ which runs until September 21 next. 

Exposure to lead is a known serious health risk particularly affecting young children. In recent decades, lead has been removed from petrol and paint but people with lead plumbing in their home can be exposed to low concentrations of lead as it dissolves in drinking water. 

Because of the known health risks, the limit for lead in drinking water has been reduced to a very low level in EU Drinking Water Regulations (10 parts per billion). Sampling by Irish Water has shown that this limit can be exceeded (in some cases significantly) where water flows through lead pipes. 

Public side pipework, as far as a property boundary, is the responsibility of Irish Water but all pipes within the property boundary including those in the home are the responsibility of the property owner, except for those 40,000 served by common backyard mains where responsibility is shared. The best and most effective way of dealing with lead in drinking water is to replace all lead pipes and  home owners should seek the advice of a plumber if they are unsure what material the pipes in their home is made from. 

The Department of the Environment has established a grant scheme to assist low income households to replace lead pipes.

Outlining the options available to Irish Water to assist the public in reducing the health risk from lead pipes Managing Director of Irish Water, Jerry Grant said, “While full lead replacement is the best option, this has taken decades in other countries. For that reason, and following the experience of other countries who have addressed this problem much earlier than Ireland, we have identified an option to treat the water at the treatment plant in order to reduce the risk. 

"A food grade product called orthophosphate can be added to drinking water at our plants to coat old lead pipes in people’s homes and reduce exposure and consequent health risk until the pipes are replaced. This option is extensively used in Britain, Northern Ireland and widely across North America. 

"Before Irish Water can commence this practice in Ireland it is obliged under environmental legislation to consider the potential impact on the environment. This will involve individual assessment for each Irish water supply. 

"The ‘Lead in Drinking Water Mitigation Plan’ is Irish Water’s contribution to the overall national strategy for lead pipe removal. We are now asking members of the public to look at the plan and give us their feedback on our proposed approach. In the meantime, we are also urging all property owners in Sligo, especially those with young children, to check for lead pipes and to have them replaced if at all possible.”


Consultation on lead in water plan

Public consultation on the ‘Draft Lead in Drinking Water Mitigation Plan’ will run for 8 weeks until September 21 during which time the draft plan and associated environmental reports are available to view online any time at www.water.ie/lead and during working hours at the planning counters of the Local Authority offices. Comments and feedback can be sent to Irish Water by 5pm on September 21 by email to lead@water.ie or by post.

Winners for the Hawk’s Well Theatre’s iYeats Poetry Competition 2016 have been announced. This year’s judges were poets Moya Cannon and Colin Dardis.

The generosity of Sligo people helped a stranded German couple to continue their tour of Ireland on two wheels.

A solicitor for the family of a baby girl, who died just 16 months after her birth, has said no money would compensate for her loss but an apology from the HSE was “priceless”.