Sligo County Council are to call on the Minister for Health and the HSE to respond to a request for a staffing review at Cregg House.

The request has been considered a matter of urgency concerning staffing levels at the residential centre which were recently highlighted by the INMO (Irish Nurses and Midwives Association) who held a lunchtime protest outside the facility.

“It is now a matter of public knowledge that the Intellectual Disability Services facility at Cregg House is severly understaffed”, said Cllr Declan Bree, who put the motion forward at Monday’s County Council meeting.

‘‘As far back as June of last year HIQA asked for an urgent review of staffing levels in Cregg House. However to date the management has failed to comply with the request.”

See this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper for more on this story. In shops now.

Sligo University Hospital has this week been hit by the twin problems of an overcrowding crisis and an outbreak of vomiting bug.

The level of overcrowding was particularly bad on Tuesday and yesterday, Wednesday. On Tuesday there were 33 people on trolleys, the third highest number in the country that day, while yesterday morning there were 32, again one of the highest figures nationally.

The situation in Sligo was highlighted on RTE’s Morning Ireland by the consultant in charge of the Emergency Department in Sligo, Fergal Hickey.

He referred to the situation where there were ambulances lined up at the entrance and patients having to be moved in and out of cubicles as people waited to be treated.

Mr Hickey said: “We had to move patients in and out of cubicles to see another patient. It is an ordeal the patients have been forced to endure.

“It is complicated in our hospital by the fact that we have an outbreak of Norovirus (vomiting bug) so we have even fewer beds than normal. which means it is increasingly difficult to get a bed for a patient that needs one.”

For more on this story, pick up a copy of this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper. In shops now.

No fewer than four Miss Irelands will be taking to the catwalk for Ireland’s largest fashion show, in aid of Sligo Cancer Support Centre and Sligo Rovers.

The Radisson Blu Hotel will play host to the fashion show on Wednesday, April 27 and already over 100 models have now signed up to take part.

They include the reigning Miss Ireland, Sasha Livingston, and three of her predecessors – Rebecca Maguire (Miss Ireland 2012), Aoife Walsh (2013) and Jessica Hayes (2014). All four models will be wearing outfits from the So Amazing brand.

For more information on this event, see this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper – in shops now.

SLIGO will have a prominent role in the Paul Clements book ‘Wandering the Wild Atlantic Way’.

The former BBC journalist spent late 2014 and early 2015 along the western coastline of Ireland in what he describes as “bite sized chunks”, with Sligo forming a large part of that.

For Paul, writing this new book was in many ways going back in time 25 years when he first did this journey for another book he wrote at that time.

“I hitchhiked the coastline of Ireland about 25 years ago. So I always had this idea that I wanted to retrace my footsteps. The Wild Atlantic Way was a ready made route for me. I also thought it would be interesting to see how things had changed in Ireland,” Paul said.

When Paul made his way to Sligo in March, he tried to take in as much of the county as possible and he met some interesting people along the way.

For more on this story, see this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper. In shops now.

Up to now it has been her amazing voice that has kept her in the competition, but this Sunday night, Sligo singing sensation Kelesa Mulcahy needs your vote!

The talented 33-year-old has made it through blind auditions, through face-to-face song battles and even thrived in the live shows held in Dublin’s Helix theatre last month, but now the public have their say and they can ensure the mother-of-one will make it through to the Voice of Ireland semi-finals.

Kelesa impressed the judges when she first performed in the blind audition, surprising judge Kian Egan, who was a long-time friend of the singer but had not expected her to be there when he turned his seat around.

In the end Kelesa went with Team Kian and through two more rounds, he has kept her in the competition, believing that she has what it takes to be crowned the 2016 Voice of Ireland.

Kelesa will be performing on Sunday night, April 10 with a chance to go forward to the semi-final a week later. Each of the judges have three singers left in the competition.

Whichever of their singers has the highest public votes will automatically go through to next week. It will then be up to the judges to decide which of their remaining two team members they save, and which they send home.

When she last competed, on Sunday, March 20, she was told by two of the judges to push herself harder in the next round.

The singer has been in rehearsals this week in Dublin ahead of Sunday’s live show. Her supporters have organised for a bus to take them to the show in the Helix to shout on their support.

And one former Voice of Ireland finalist, Laura May Lenehan, has wished Kelesa the best of luck in the competition too.

The Voice of Ireland live show starts at 6.30pm on Sunday evening on RTE ONE. Full voting details will be revealed on the show.

A Sligo man who is waiting on a second kidney transplant has said that while you are on dialysis your life is “on hold”.

44 years-old Brian Stewart from Sea View Park in Sligo town is back on dialysis for the second time in his life after the failure of a kidney that he had received.

That transplant had given a new lease of life for 10 years but now he is back to a regime of having to be hooked up to a dialysis machine at Sligo Hospital for four hourss, three days a week.

Brian, who spoke to the Sligo Weekender while actually on dialysis, said: “After this you would be fairly fatigued.”

See this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper for Brian’s story – in shops now.

The Macalla 1916 Suite, a major orchestral work by Sligo-based composer Michael Rooney to commemorate Easter 1916 comes home to Sligo on Saturday night, April 2.

Commissioned by Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, the suite will be performed at the Knocknarea arena at IT Sligo by over 60 of the finest young traditional and classical musicians from Ireland and Britain.

The world premiere of Macalla 1916 was in London on March 4 while it is now on tour of Ireland.

Bus Éireann’s Expressway provided a specially wrapped coach and driver for the tour.

The performers launched their tour in the RDS in Dublin last weekend at special event for 4,000 relatives of those who lost their lives during the Rising – which was attended by President Michael D Higgnins and An Taoiseach Enda Kenny.

Since then they have played to audiences at Wexford Opera House, Cork City Hall.

Their tour continues this week up until April 3, to the Lime Tree Theatre in Limerick and Garage Theatre in Monaghan, and after Sligo to the Millennium Forum in Derry on Sunday night.

Tickets (€25, €12.50 children) for Saturday night at available through www.hawkswell.com

Sligo-Born Munster rugby star Cathal Sheridan is one of the new ambassadors of a campaign encouraging fans and players of the game to speak about and look after their mental health.

Called “Tackle Your Feelings”, the campaign has seen national and international rugby stars come forward to tell their own personal story of the issues they’ve faced off the pitch. It is being led by the Irish Rugby Union Players’ Association.

At his announcement as a new ambassador, the 27-year-old spoke of his battle with negative thoughts and emotions for almost a year while recovering from injury.
You can read more about Cathal and the campaign in the sports section of this week’s Sligo Weekender newspaper – in shops now.

The An Post Yeats Tour of Sligo is an opportunity for the charity Acquired Brain Injury Ireland (ABII) to raise vital funds for their work rehabilitating people with brain injury and warning the public of the danger.

The tour – which comprises 60k, 100k and 160k routes – takes place over the May Bank Holiday weekend, but earlier this month members of ABII were welcomed into the Mayor’s parlour at City Hall by Mayor of Sligo Cllr Thomas Healy to kick-start their fundraising efforts.

ABII will not receive funding directly from the entry fees from the cycle, but they are hoping that many of the cyclists taking part will fundraise in advance of the cycle. Fundraising cards are available from the ABII office at 2 Race Court Manor, Tonaphubble, Sligo or by calling 071-9153472 or e-mailing toboyle@abiireland.ie The ABII will also be holding a monster raffle.

“ABII depend heavily on fundraising to maintain the service and we are delighted to have been chosen as the charity to benefit from the An Post Yeats Tour of Sligo cycle this year,” said Teresa O’Boyle, the Local Services Manager for ABII.

“Being the chosen charity for the An Post cycle involves us coming up with creative ways of optimising on this opportunity to our best advantage to raise as much funding as possible for the local service in Sligo, Leitrim and west Cavan.

“One of the strategies we have decided to pursue is to sell raffle tickets for prizes.  We have secured fantastic raffle prizes from  businesses, services and organisations all over Sligo and Leitrim.”

She continued: “Often referred to as a ‘Hidden Disability’, brain injury affects every person differently however unfortunately and very often, brain injury changes people’s lives and the lives of their families significantly. Our services provide rehabilitation to those directly affected by brain injury and also provide support to their families.”
The raffle tickets will also be available from the ABII office and on the day of the tour.

TextAhead of the An Post Yeats Tour, there is another charity cycle, a 40km Lough Gill event, taking place this weekend which will also benefit the ABII. The cycle is on Sunday, April 3 and starts from Sligo Racecourse.

Registration is at 9am (entry is €20) and the cycle starts at 10am.