Royal Windsor land title sponsor

DRESSAGE at Royal Windsor Horse Show has been given a boost with the announcement that Al Shira’aa is on board as headline sponsor.

The Al Shira’aa CDI4* Dressage Grand Prix and Freestyle to Music will take place on Thursday and Friday, May 10th-11th respectively, with both classes set to attract the world’s best horse and rider combinations.

2018 will mark the 75th anniversary of Royal Windsor, which takes place from May 9th to 13th in the private grounds of Windsor Castle, the only time of the year that the grounds are open to the public.

West Waterford Hunt raise €600

THE West Waterford Hunt raised €600 for the Emily Byrne Fund at their children’s hunt on December 30th last in Knockanore.

A cheque, representing the cap for the day, was presented to Kevin Moloney, chairman of the Emily Byrne Fund Committee.

The West Waterford Hunt would like to thank the landowners and all who helped and took part for their great generosity and wish Emily and her family the very best in 2018.

Minister Ring hails jobs creation

MINISTER for Rural and Community Development Michael Ring TD said that strong Enterprise Ireland (EI) and IDA regional job creation statistics showed a significant increase in job creation in regions.

However, the Minister emphasised the significant challenge that still exists in creating sustainable rural jobs. Enterprise Ireland, the Government agency which supports Irish exporters, announced that 64% of the 10,309 Enterprise Ireland- supported new jobs created in 2017 were outside of Dublin, mainly in rural regions.

The highest rate of growth of any region (including Dublin) was the south east, with a 9% increase in jobs supported by the IDA. Other mainly rural regions performed strongly including the west and mid-west which each had a 5% increase in IDA supported jobs.

Minister Ring said: “I am delighted by these figures which reflect an increasingly positive overall trend of increased job creation in our regions. Figures from the CSO in September showed that four out of every five jobs created in the previous 12 months were outside of Dublin.

“However, there is no room for complacency. The Action Plan for Rural Development, which I launched last year, is committed to ensuring that the economic recovery is felt throughout Ireland and the creation of rural jobs is vital in order to achieve this.”

Fall in numbers

FIGURES from the Western Development Commission show a fall of 40% of people working in farming, fishing and forestry in the West of Ireland since 1996.

€28m IT upgrade for DAFM

THE Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine is to spend €28m on computer systems. Some 77 contract staff will manage the upgraded payments and data system. Meanwhile, Sabeo Technologies will provide support for the Animal Identification and Movement System (AIMS).