No harm in knowing: The write entry!

RTÉ Short Story Competition

The RTÉ Short Story Competition, which was set up in 1986 to honour writer and broadcaster Francis MacManus, is open for entries for its 2024 contest.

One of Ireland’s longest established and most significant literary prizes, which recognises and rewards the best new Irish fiction writing for radio, the RTÉ Short Story Competition presents the winning author with a cheque for €5,000, while the second and third placed writers receive cheques for €4,000 and €3,000 respectively.

A further seven runners-up will receive €250 each.

Writers over the age of 18 living in Ireland, and Irish writers around the world have until Friday May 10 to submit their short story entries to the competition at www.rte.ie/writing.

This year’s entries will be judged by a panel featuring Neil Hegarty, who joins returning judges and authors Kathleen MacMahon and Claire Kilroy. Claire’s latest novel, Soldier Sailor has just been longlisted for the Women’s Prize for Fiction Prize.

Kathleen MacMahon encourages all writers to enter: “This is a wonderful opportunity for writers to have their work read out loud by actors and heard on radio by a wide audience. The quality of work we saw on the shortlist last year was an amazing testament to the robust health of Irish writing.”

For rules and all information about the competition, see www.rte.ie/writing. You’ll also find past winning and shortlisted stories there.

Micro credential courses

Have you heard of micro credentials?

Micro credential courses are small, accredited programmes awarding between 1 and 30 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) and provide awards at Levels 6-9 on the National Framework of Qualifications.

Minister for Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science Simon Harris TD has announced funding of €9.7 million to subsidise fees for 13,879 learners across 654 micro-credential courses.

The Micro-Credential Course Learner Subsidy offers a subsidy rate of 80 per cent for courses addressing skills in key priority areas, including renewable energy, sustainability, construction and planning, artificial intelligence, cyber security, ICT, and electronic engineering. Other courses will provide a 50 per cent learner subsidy rate.

The courses stand as independent modules designed to enhance participants’ employability upon completion. Some courses even offer the potential for “stackability”, encouraging learners to return for further qualifications, the minister said.

Courses approved are available from March 2024 to October 2025. Detailed information on the approved micro-credential courses funded under the HCI Pillar 3, Micro-Credential Course Learner Subsidy and how to apply can be found on the HEA website www.hea.ie.

Alzheimer’s Tea Day

Mark your calendars for a very special cup of tea! The Alzheimer Society of Ireland (The ASI) has announced the 30th anniversary of Alzheimer’s Tea Day is on Thursday May 2.

The 30th anniversary is a significant milestone as statistics show that at least 30 people in Ireland are diagnosed with dementia every day. There is an estimated 1154 people living with dementia in Westmeath.

Over the 30 years, Tea Day has raised €10 million to help support people living with dementia across Ireland, along with their families and carers.

With the number of people diagnosed with dementia expected to double in the next 25 years, the need for support has never been greater.

Register on www.teaday.ie to receive your free organiser kit, packed with everything you need to host a successful Tea Day event. Funds raised through Alzheimer’s Tea Day support critical services like the Alzheimer’s National Helpline, Daycare programs, home care, family carer training, social clubs, and Alzheimer’s cafés. Your contribution can truly make a difference in the lives of those affected by dementia.

Clutter

Studies have shown that excess clutter in our surroundings and ‘hoarding’ can contribute to feelings of stress and anxiety, according to Fiona O’Malley, CEO of Turn2Me.

Turn2me, founded in 2009 is a charity working to prevent suicide by providing mental health support. It helps around 10,000 adults living in Ireland every year with their anxiety, grief, and depression.

“Hoarding at home and in the office can negatively affect our mood and stress levels,” says Fiona.

“Studies also show that severe hoarding can result in an inability to perform necessary household functions; health problems due to unsanitary conditions [and] social isolation.”

By decluttering your home and donating items you no longer need, you create a sense of order and clarity in your surroundings. This, in turn, can help alleviate stress and promote a more peaceful state of mind.

Three reasons why decluttering and donating to charity shops can improve your mental health are that it creates empathy; it reduces climate anxiety and it creates a calm environment.

To avail of Turn2Me’s services or to donate, go to Turn2Me.ie.

Junior Eurovision Song Contest

Do you have a young person in your family who has a great singing voice? Are they between the ages of nine and 14 years this autumn? Well, this is their chance!

TG4 and Adare Productions are looking for the top 10 young singers or groups in Ireland to join them in studio and battle it out to represent Ireland in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest.

Auditions will take place throughout the country in spring 2024. The winner will go on to represent Ireland at the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2024, in Spain. With more than 7.5 million viewers across Europe, the show is a spectacular event.

To enter all they need is an amazing singing voice. Applications are open to solos, duets and groups of up to a maximum of six people. To apply, submit a 40 second clip of the applicant singing.

Apply now at www.tg4.ie/junioreurovision, or for further information contact: 083 1322683 or email: junioreurovision@adareproductions.ie.

Dog Control Stakeholder Group

Ireland’s newly established Dog Control Stakeholder Group is to examine the issue of restricting certain breeds of dogs, in line with actions being taken by regions in the UK, including Northern Ireland.

On Tuesday March 5, Minister for Rural and Community Development, Heather Humphreys, TD, appointed former deputy garda commissioner, John Twomey, as the independent chairperson of the group, which is made up of representatives from key government departments and interest groups and will make recommendations on strengthening the policy and legislation around dog control.

The group will meet quarterly and the first meeting is due to take place later this month.

Minister Humphreys said that as a dog owner, and someone from a farming background, she was conscious of the public concern about dog control.

“We have seen horrendous attacks by dogs on people, including children, in recent months, and the issue of sheep worrying in the countryside continues to be a huge problem for farmers,” she said.

National Spring Clean

The 25th National Spring Clean takes place this April, and the organisers are encouraging individuals and communities across the country to register now to ensure that the 2024 campaign is the biggest and most impactful to date. To support that ambition, National Spring Clean is also teaming up with two other An Taisce Environmental Education Unit programmes – Clean Coasts and Green-Schools – to host flagship Earth Day clean ups on April 22.

Volunteers can register individually or in groups to receive a free clean-up kit and take part in the annual event, which is operated by the Environmental Education Unit of An Taisce in partnership with local authorities and supported by the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment and Mars Wrigley.

To register, go to nationalspringclean.org.

Deposit Return Scheme

More than two million drinks containers were returned to participating shops and supermarkets nationwide during February, the first month of the new Deposit Return Scheme for cans and bottles.

Some 705k transactions were recorded in the month of February and Re-turn, the operator of the Deposit Return Scheme, recorded Thursday February 29 as the most active day in February, when just under 201,000 drinks containers were returned.

There are now 2,202 Reverse Vending Machines (RVMs) and 150 manual return points at 1380 deposit return locations.

Deposit Return Schemes are active across 15 European countries and, according to Re-turn, have successfully promoted positive recycling practices. Ireland’s rates of initial participation are strong when compared to our EU counterparts. Romania, with a population of 19 million, launched its Deposit Return Scheme on December 1, 2023. It collected 31,000 containers in its first month of operation and 2.24 million in its second month.

Prescriptions

Good news for those on long-term medication is that Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly has changed the rules so that the maximum legal validity of prescriptions is now 12 months, and not six.

This means that prescribers can now write prescriptions for patients that are valid for up to 12 months, and that from September, patients can ask their pharmacists to extend prescriptions from six months to a maximum of 12 months, if they have a prescription dated March 1, 2024, or later.

Scam video calls

AI technology is already able to mimic real people, and produce images – including video clips – that are completely computer generated.

That all means that a new scam threat coming our way is scam video calls, according to the cybersecurity experts at Smarttech247, which is organised Zero Day Con, the annual cybersecurity conference that took place in Dublin.

Already, in a case in Hong Kong, an employee was duped into joining a video call which they thought included a number of colleagues, but which were actually fake recreations. The hackers then tricked the person into making a series of payments to them worth a total of $25m.

Ken Sheehan, operations manager at Smarttech247, predicts organisations in Ireland will begin to face this kind of threat by the end of August.