Archive for the ‘Banking Advice’ Category

by Paul Bratcher Photography

Saint Patrick’s, Toombeola – Gate to Cemetery & former Priory


Image by Fergal Claddagh
TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. [A picture of this castle is to be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/ ] From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

People often use the metaphor of a bank account to explain the ebbs and flows of a relationship; they call it an emotional bank account. You unwittingly open an emotional account with everyone you meet and just like a real bank account you can make deposits and withdrawals. Unlike a real bank account there is very little logic to these deposits and withdrawals. This is because the value we put on some thing we do for someone is often very different to the value they put on it. Also when someone does some thing negative the value we put on that can vary greatly from person to person depending on their perspective.

For example if a man buys a single red rose for his partner he may not value it as much as paying for her car repair but she may think the rose means much more. Even though the car repair cost many times more the rose had a higher value for the lady because it was a symbol of his love for her. This whole system revolves around personal values and therefore finding out what people value is essential for a relationship to grow or be sustained.

Using this emotional bank account can be a very good way of assessing whether your relationship is worth fighting for. You have a general idea of how much the relationship is over drawn, how much pain and damage has brought you to where you are now. By thinking about what your partner does for you and what value you attach to it you can determine how much needs to be done to rescue the situation. If your partner is unwilling or unable to see the deficit they are very unlikely to go the extra mile to repair the damage. You may also feel that your relationship is so much in the red that your partner does not have the capacity to make up the difference.

If you go through this exercise and come to the conclusion that your relationship is too damaged for it to be rescued then you are probably better to write it off.

Breaking up is very painful but can be less so if you can convince yourself that to rescue it would be futile. Decide whether your relationship is bankrupt; if it is save yourself a lot of pain and move on as quickly as possible. This exercise can also be useful for someone who had no say in the end of their relationship; if you come to the conclusion that you could not have rescued the situation then it is easier to accept what has happened.

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by Earthworm

Advice on applying for Cash Advance Loans

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At times like this, a quick injection of extra cash or an advance on next month’s salary constraint be the only way to cover additional expenses.

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You will also rapture to be at least 18 oldness old again a UK resident. You must have a bank account into which your regular specie is paid by direct debit. Combined with a good certainty rating, all of these should embody sufficient to enable you to apply successfully for a cash advance loan although, as in all capital loan agreements, supposition is not guaranteed. However, if the lender accepts your application the funds will appear as paid double time into your account and available for you to access within a very short juncture – often that same day, or at antecedent within 24 hours.

And herein lies the comeliness of important advance loans. Thanks to the advent of Internet consumer finance the days of providing reams of paperwork and documentation to further for a loan are over. Everything rap be done from the benefit of your own home and online. Rather than having to wait days or even weeks for a response the entire process is normally completed within 24 hours, making important advance loans a ready and easy reaching to access a little extra money when you markedly need it.

Cash mention loans are the delightful accession to pay for unexpected bills or monetary outgoings; particularly mid-month when your bank invoice may be looking a little depleted. They are not the answer to every financial problem, but they do take away the additional fee of certainty card interest charges and proper bank loan fees if you only want to borrow a insignificant number of money for a short period of time.

by cambodia4kidsorg

When you have a certain level of wealth, you really need a professional who understands your unique needs and offers customized advice accordingly. If you are also on the lookout for something similar, you may want to use some services offered in private banking.

Private banking is actually a combination of different high quality services. For instance, a private bank can offer investment advice. They make use of different methods to manage your investments and finances in a much better way. They sometimes make use of discretionary management and sometimes help you with advisory mandates. Whatever the method, they always offer regular reports to help you get information about the current value of your investment.

Today, financial markets fluctuate on a great speed. It is due to this particular reason that you need to react to the situation almost immediately, or else you will lose a lot. You can expect great success by making use of the services like discretionary asset management. Here, your personal relationship manager sits down with you and determines your specific investment goals and expectations. While doing so, they always consider your investment horizon, risk tolerance, anticipated cash flows, and income needs. Once done, an investment strategy is defined for you, which is often adjusted according to the ever-changing marketing conditions. Usually, the investors who opt for this type of service come with long term investment point-of-view and ask a banker to take care of their investment portfolio.

On the other hand, you can find some people who prefer to make their decisions on their own. For these clients, a private banker comes up with active advisory services. When you have fixed objectives, you can make use of some private banking to get tailor-made solutions. These advisory services are usually available for a variety of instruments, including bonds, equities, commodities, investment funds, foreign exchange, and structured products. Here, you are free to make your own investment decisions, but your banker provides you with all essential details and info. Since several private banks manage teams of professionals all over the world, they let you know when they think the time is right to buy, sell, or hold.

What sets a private banker apart from others is that they always keep your personal and professional situation in mind. This puts them in the best position to find a right strategy to help you manage your portfolio. Not only this, some of these institutions can actually help you with private financing, which is much better than mainstream finance options.

The fact of the matter is that private banking is something much more than traditional banking services. It’s all about getting services that are exclusively designed keeping your unique circumstances in mind. It doesn’t matter if you have short-term investment goals or you need to manage your portfolio over a longer period of time, you can always get in touch with a private banker to find out more about the best strategies for yourself.

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by niznoz

In response to President Bush’s 0 billion bailout plan for the failing banking sector Grimes said, “A plan to again help the banks and not meet any of the real needs of the homeowner or borrower. I think it’s a joke! Why can’t the government be honest with us and call a spade a spade.  I’m sorry I meant a recession!!”

Continuing in the no-holds-barred style of speech that has made him both a popular radio host and public speaker Grimes continued, “Executives of these failing banks need to be stripped of their retirement, salary, stocks and assets.  Why shouldn’t they feel like the folks they took advantage of?  They have committed a crime!  If they were big time drug dealers, the system would strip them down to nothing.  Let’s cut the lavish lifestyles of these criminals, and let them pay the price for their misdeeds. Why are tax payers picking up the tab for these crimes? These people are no better that drug czars!”

President Bush’s recent proposal to fund a bailout of Wall Street with taxpayer funds has many in the country up in arms. Callers to Grimes’ popular WeTalkRadio247 show are largely an urban and minority audience seeking advice on things like first time home buying, foreclosure avoidance and real estate investments. Like many throughout the country, and congress, they are angry. “My callers want to know why a bank executive is getting relief, but a homeowner facing foreclosure is not. It’s crazy and someone needs to say so.”

In addition to minority advocacy, Grimes tours the country with state and private organizations offering advice to industry professionals on how to survive, and even thrive, in a down economy. Yes, he’ll even call it a recession. Grimes is an advocate of using Internet tools as a form of education and communication. This passionate educator is the author of books like The Brand You-nique Way to Niche Marketing: The Podcast, and transmits a weekly show aimed at educating minority and urban home buyers.

While Grimes agrees that a down economy can be a good time to buy, he warns potential buyers that getting into a home right now involves more than just a down payment. On the Fox TV broadcast he said that we are in a “credit crunch” that has made criteria and documentation more stringent, that banks want to see cash reserves, and that they want buyers to “put more skin in the game.” The vocal entrepreneur has acknowledged that homebuyers also have an ownership role and responsibility for understanding their loans, but he’s adamant that the solution requires education and co-operative that the current administration does not seem willing to provide.

“We need to offer help and education to homeowners and potential homeowners,” Grimes emphatically stated. “The president’s plan does NOT do this! It only offers help to the criminals, the dealers, who got us into this mess to begin with. Let’s find a way to help the homeowner, the person who is working hard on a daily basis to put a roof over their kids’ heads.”

Banking and real estate advice! Find out how you can put cash down on a house in this free video on insider banking and finance advice. Expert: Levi Culbertson Bio: Levi Culbertson is a 2000 appointee of the United States Air Force Academy. Following the appointment, he moved to Marshall, MN where he was employed in property management by Robert L. Carr. Filmmaker: Nili Nathan
Video Rating: 5 / 5

by Velo Steve

Non-conforming business financing, also known as creative financing, is available to business owners who are unable to secure funding from traditional lenders, such as commercial banks. Non-traditional financial companies typically provide this type of financing for start-up and operating expenses for any business.

Most non-conforming business financing options provide leasing for computer, construction, medical, and heavy equipment. With this funding method, entrepreneurs can obtain the necessary equipment needed to start or maintain their businesses. Most leases are for three to five years, which is about the lifespan of most computers and other advanced equipment. Therefore, instead of purchasing equipment that is obsolete within a few years, leasing allows businesses to obtain new machines once current leases are expired. Most leased equipment is also tax exempt.

Financial companies may also offer non-conforming business financing in the form of loans. These loans may not require as much financial documentation as traditional loans; therefore, they are much easier to obtain. Because these loans are few application requirements, borrowers tend to be individuals with poor credit histories. This makes non-conforming business loans have much higher interest rates than typical funding methods. Most of these financing options are unsecured loans, which means that the lender relies on the borrower’s signed promise to pay instead of collateral. Funding may be used for any general business purpose unless specified otherwise. Common non-conforming business financing options include construction, land, hard money, and purchase loans.

Non-traditional banking is usually offered by independent financial companies to assist businesses and individuals with matters that traditional commercial banks do not offer. While these companies may provide many of the same services, such as ATMs and checking accounts, as banks, they mostly deal with the selling of mutual funds, annuities, stocks, and bonds. These companies may also offer debt and credit counseling to individuals. To compete with these companies, many banks now offer many of the same services.

Many Internet-based financial companies also provide non-traditional banking. Some companies focus on one aspect of non-traditional banking, such as stocks, while others encompass all aspects. There are many sites available that allow stockholders to access stock reports and buy and sell shares for affordable monthly fees. These sites may also provide in-depth reports on the progress of shares owned by an individual and give beneficial advice on how to manage those stocks.

For individuals and businesses in financial crises, non-traditional banking can provide the financial counseling needed to restore credit ratings. Non-traditional bankers may also provide seminars or other helpful resources to help people manage and improve their debt situations. Some companies may provide these services free-of-charge to members, while others may charge one-time or monthly payments to compensate for the financial advice.

Other services provided by banks and other financial companies that may be considered non-traditional banking are online bill pay and opening new accounts via the Internet.

www.BankingInterviewSuccess.com Testimonial by Ted on my method to master the most difficult investment banking interview questions so that you can land your finance internship and kick-start your investment bank career. Many more examples of banking interview questions when applying for a job in investment banking coming… If you found this insider information helpful, make sure to get my free report, “5 Reasons Why Good Candidates Fail Investment Banking Interviews”. It’s free and it contains 5 of the biggest causes for why great applicants fail to land their dream investment banking job over and over. Just go to http See you there!
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by Metropolitan Police

Instruction


Image by sheilaz413
A member of 20088 gets some musical advice from his instructors.

20088, comprised of 5 seven-year-olds, claims itself as China’s youngest rock bank. Along with a growing fan base, the band has also performed at a few BOCOG functions.

Investment banking may be the most competitive position to apply for after graduation from University. It is not unusual to have 500 to 1,000 resumes for only 25 to 40 vacancies. How well you do on your investment banking interview determines whether or not you make the short list for those few vacancies. Here is some advice on how to stand out from the crowd so you will be selected for an investment banking position.

Show interest and dedication

Investment banking is a job that averages 80+ hours of work each week. Candidates who show the motivation and desire to put in the necessary hours will easily make the short list. No company wants to spend the time and money to hire and train an applicant that will get burned out on the hours and quit in less than a year. If you are able to stress that you are willing to do whatever it takes to get the job your resume will end up in the short list.

Be prepared

The majority of the questions you will be asked in your interview will be technical in nature. This will range from calculation of formulas to solving case studies. Since this is the meat of your interview questions, you should focus most of your preparation on how to answer these questions. Spend time reviewing how to calculate formulas and practice several different case studies. Companies want to see how well you can solve problems. Your ability to answer these questions correctly will be a determining factor on whether or not you will be considered for the position.

Are you a good fit?

You will be asked several questions about why you want to be an investment bank. Your answers will allow the company to measure whether or not your expectations for the job meet the requirements of the job. If they are not a good fit then you will never be selected for the job. Another question is what are you long term goals as an investment banker. The company is trying to gauge how serious you are about the position and working for the company long term. Companies want to hire people that will be with them for a long time instead of somebody who are there for a short period to get experience and then move on to other opportunities.

Do you have the right character?

Make sure you answer every question in your investment banking interview factually and truly. If you stretch your answers because you think that is what the interviewer is expecting in your answers, you lose credibility. If you are willing to lie during an interview, you will probably do much worse in dealing with the bank’s clients. No company wants to hire someone who is of questionable character. Do not risk your chance of being hired because you embellish your answers.
Investment banking is a one of the highest paid positions in the financial industry. For this reason many people attempt to enter this position after university. Follow this advice and you will succeed in your quest to be hired as an investment banker.

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by Fergal Claddagh

Supposedly in 2011 this was meant to be the year where new rules and regulations would see a huge influx of discounted properties and bank repossessions hit the Spanish property market. However the reality on the ground is somewhat completely different according to Spanish Hot Properties Managing Director Nick Stuart

“It seems that some Spanish banks are going to be taken dragging and screaming to actually sell their properties for less than the debt outstanding on them and only severe pressure from the Bank of Spain will really make these Banks do what they don’t want to do. I recently went and had a look at a few bank repossession from Cam Bank and I have to say only one was a real deal and the rest were a total waste of time. Los Arqueros Golf would be a prime example where we could help a client buy a brand new and better home for 50,000 less than the bank repossession that was on offer” explained Nick.

Some banks who have no choice but to comply with the stringent new rules are refusing to budge on the debt price to individual property buyer but are prepared to sell their debt to Investor groups but this won.t necessarily help the individual property buyer according to Nick. His view is that an investment company may try and buy 100 Million worth of debt for 40 Million but that saving wont be passed onto the clients directly as they will then hold on to the asset and look to sell for a profit.

So what advice would Nick give to Spanish property buyers at this time looking at Spanish bank repossessions. “My advice would be to look at the really good ones but not limit yourself to just bank repossessions because there is real value to be had out there is resales and more importantly key ready property with big discounts direct from the developer with up to 100% mortgages” advised Nick.

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by Lancashire County Council

When you are applying for a car loan or any form of loan for that matter it is always advisable to seek some kind of Loan Advice before committing to any one company. You can seek independent loan advice from a specialist company who deals with this or you can seek advice from a finance company. The best finance companies should be able to offer you some form of guidance, therefore take advantage of any expert advice offered before making your final decision

What should you look for when applying for a loan?

When you are applying for a loan you should consider the following:

- How much you can afford to spend on repayments

- How long do you want to borrow the money for?

- Interest rates

- Are you in a stable job?

- Your credit rating

- Do you have the funds for a deposit?

- Do you have all the required documents?

- Have you factored insurance in to the cost?

You should make sure you have thought about and prepared for everything in the above list before applying for a loan. Therefore if you have not considered everything on the list above, your car dealer should be able to help you and guide you through the process.

What do you need to apply for a car loan?

If you are planning on applying for a car loan, then you are going to need to tick everything off the following list.

- Good Credit

- No CCJ’s

- Full time stable employment

- Full UK driver’s license

- Proof of address (last three to six months)

- Bank statements (last three to six months)

- Three to six months’ payslips

- Registered on Electoral roll

- Address information for past five years

If you don’t have any of the above then it is a good idea to acquire them, for example if you don’t have sufficient bank statements you can order them from your bank branch or over the phone. If you are not registered on the electoral roll contact your local council and register as soon as possible. Check with credit reference agencies such as Experian to make sure your credit file does not have any adverse information on it. If you have adverse information on your file that is an obvious error you can contact the credit reference agency to enquire about having it removed. Any adverse credit will lead you to get declined and multiple failed credit applications reduce your credit score. Therefore make sure your credit is in good standing before making any kind of finance application. Remember; make sure you take on board any loan advice from the company before you sign on the dotted line.

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by World Bank Photo Collection

Slide34


Image by cambodia4kidsorg
I involved people in the planning – by guest blogging on colleague’s blog and soliciting strategy advice.
I incorporated social media tools/sites.
-Key- Message has to be personal – video feature my kids shaking out their piggy bank
-Asking your contacts to support campaign or forward to others or blog about it.
-Use of social media tools – certain sites have large communities focused on Cambodia or poverty reduction for children. I had been participating in those for a while – so I turned to them. A number of them contributed or supported campaign.

widgetfundraising.org

When it comes to getting refinancing mortgage advice most people will often turn to the bank that they have their current mortgage through. However over the last few years many things have changed when it comes to mortgages and arranging such has become a great deal more complicated. Therefore it is far better if you seek the advice you need from a professional who has being dealing with mortgage lenders for some considerably time.  

But of course with so many mortgage brokers around today how can you determine which one is best to use?   Below we look at three questions that you should be asking the broker you are considering using. 

Question 1 – Will the broker work for you on a full or part time basis?  

This is one of the most important questions to be asking. Ideally you should be looking to use a broker to provide refinancing mortgage advice who is going to work with you on a full time basis. Along with providing assistance when you need it they will also be much more up to date with all aspects of mortgage refinancing including any changes in legislation or the
guidelines of the lenders.

Question 2 – How long have they been working as a mortgage broker and how much business do they carry out each month?

When it comes to getting advice with regards to mortgage refinancing then of course choose to seek it from a broker who has been running their business for no less than 5 years. This will ensure that they have been dealing with a variety of different situations. But along with them having been in the mortgage broker business for at least five years choose one that has been able to obtain funding for at least 8 to 10 mortgages every month.

Question 3 – How many lending institutions do they work with and which of them are their top three?

Today you have the choice of working with one advisor who works with just one bank (lender) or you can work with an advisor who is working with many banks (lenders).   The main advantage to opting for using the second type of broker when it comes to obtaining refinancing mortgage advice is that they will have a larger amount of options for you to select from.  Also they will be able to work more at ensuring that they not only get the best deal possible for you but also will ensure that the mortgage you apply meets your specific needs.

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by alancleaver_2000

Saint Patrick’s, Toombeola – Site of the Priory


Image by Fergal Claddagh
This bed of ferns covers the site of the actual priory. It was about 20m away from the Church building and was big enough for a community of eight. The standard of the stonework in the Church is not very good and the castle of Ballinahinch has very well cut stone. It is hard to imagine that the priory may have been a far better structure than the Church was but, apparantly it was! A picture of Ballinahinch castle can be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/

TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

“Cut back bank card debt and eradicate it before it assumes a horrifying form” – That is actually the gist of the story. So, how do you reduce bank card debt? Nicely, you reduce credit card debt by preventing it from growing and by paying off what it’s currently. Simple, isn’t it?

Not really. If it was that straightforward to reduce credit card debt, then we wouldn’t have had so many people with bank card debt associated problems. We would have been in a place to reduce bank card debt issues and finally get rid of them (or cut back them considerably).

There are every kind of advice available on the proper manner to reduce credit card debt, however nonetheless nothing a lot appears to change. The problem nonetheless appears to persist and actually, worsen. However, it’s not that difficult to cut back bank card debt.

As we just said, there’s a lot of recommendation accessible on the finest way to reduce credit card debt and the one factor you should do is put that advice, on the greatest method to scale back bank card debt, to practice in real life. Well, nobody however you’ll benefit should you cut back credit card debt.

So step one to reduce back credit card debt is to prevent it from taking dangerous proportions. The two most essential methods of implementing this step are – stability transfers and use of cash.

Steadiness switch is often treated because the number one measure to reduce bank card debt. This is really one thing that may assist cut back bank card debt by slowing down the pace at which your bank card debt is getting built. It additionally offers you reduction when it comes to the APR being 0% for preliminary 6-9 months (and therefore helps scale back credit card debt sooner).

To scale back credit card debt using this mechanism, it’s essential transfer your balance from your present bank card(s) onto another bank card that has a decrease APR than your current card. Thus you scale back credit card debt by stopping it from increasing so rapidly.

The other safety measure to cut back credit card debt is to use money as an alternative of card (as such, hard earned cash is difficult to get out of pocket as in comparison with only a bank card). So that you reduce credit card debt by not adding extra to it. That’s the simplest technique to reduce bank card debt.

Nonetheless, you may cut back bank card debt provided that you stick with your resolution to scale back credit card debt; otherwise it’ll fail miserably.

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by Earthworm

235-365 year2 Monday Fracture Clinic


Image by johngarghan
Take a photo every day in 2010
Monday morning is not a good time to visit the fracture clinic, think about it. You have Fridays, Saturdays and in our case Sunday’s emergency cases waiting to see the specialist, in fact this Monday the clinic is over subscribed because next weekend is a bank holiday so there are next weeks appointment too. So take my advice if your going to have an accident don’t on the weekend. BTW that is the queue to get into the waiting room, I must say the staff at both hospitals are special. Update on the patient, her ankles are fine but she is bored stiff with daytime television.

This Time Last Year
www.flickr.com/photos/johngarghan/3849367289/
A great sporting moment well at least if you English

We may be months away from the tax returns deadline but with the credit crunch now in full swing, it has never been more important to have all your financial records organised. Andy Hardy, Development Director at TaxCalc.com, offers his Top Tips on how to stay on how not to get caught out by the taxman.

Related_____________________________________________

HMRC gives extra 24 hours for self assessments
Family businesses urged to take action on new tax rules

____________________________________________________

Keeping good records is vital in business. It may seem like a challenge, particularly when you are first starting out, but keeping your records organised will bring many advantages to your business, including:

•    Helping you to avoid paying too much tax and makes filling in your tax return much easier
•    Helping to avoid interest and penalties by enabling you to pay the right amount of tax at    the right time
•    Generating information which can help manage and grow your business
•    Making it easier to get a loan
•    Helping you to budget for tax payments
•    Helping HMRC check that the correct amount of tax is being paid
•    Helping you support claims for some reliefs or capital allowances.

Therefore it makes sense to do it properly and to make things as easy for yourself as possible. Here are my top tips on keeping your financial records organised:

Set up a system
It doesn’t matter whether you use a special account book or use a software package as long as you set up some kind of system to keep all your information together.

Keep all your records
Bank statements, receipts, bills, invoices and bank books are all vital for keeping proper accounts but make sure you update them regularly, rather than letting them pile up.

Review and organise the clutter
Many people stuff their bank statements into a drawer without ever reading them. Do not do this, you should always ensure that you check each statement for accuracy. Keep receipts and mark them off as they appear on your bank statement. In addition, it is equally important that you keep all bills so you can check they’ve been paid and that the payment has been received successfully.

If you’re self-employed you will need to keep hold of your statements, receipts and other relevant documentation for tax calculation purposes (see top tip below for time periods). If you are not self employed, I recommend that once you’ve checked all is correct you destroy and get rid of unnecessary and untended paperwork, which will slow your business down in the long run. Remember to shred paperwork that contains personal information to protect yourself from identity theft.

Keep your records for as long as required
There are time periods for which you must keep records. For example, by law you must keep records of all your business income and expenditure for five years. This is because not only may you want to look back on them but HMRC may wish to see them if there is any uncertainty regarding your tax affairs.

Be efficient
By taking a few moments to record all your ongoing projects it will be easier to raise an accurate invoice and will save you time in the long run. Always ask for a purchase order number and quote it on your invoice. Raise the invoice immediately after the job has finished and be very clear about your payment terms.

Reassess your suppliers
Many companies become too familiar with suppliers and forget to ask them for bulk loyalty discounts. What effect would a five or 10% reduction in costs have on your profits? Take another look at the market place and discover what new suppliers are charging to see if you are getting a fair price.

Sort out your tax return – before the deadline!
Rather than waiting until the deadline, complete your return as soon as possible. The tax year runs from the 5th of April each year, and accounts are due the following October. If you want to work out your tax yourself, you can submit your return by the 31st January on the following year.

Commercial software like TaxCalc contains links to wizards and calculators which will calculate the more complicated entries for you from your figures, making the whole process much less complicated.

TaxCalc also has the added benefit of allowing users to have complete control of their data and prepare returns offline. This means that if HRMC’s site crashes again, as it did in January this year, TaxCalc users will not be affected.”

In addition, TaxCalc’s Secure Internet Filing confirms instantly that the return has been received by HMRC, that the data has been captured and that the calculations agree. Tax Refunds, if they are due, are also paid more quickly if the return is filed online.

by red5standingby

Toombeola – Church Gable


Image by Fergal Claddagh
TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. [A picture of this castle is to be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/ ] From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

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by SimonQ錫濛譙

HARRY CLARKE – St Michan


Image by Fergal Claddagh
HOW SAINT MICHAN GOT HIS NAME
(Or: why the city of Dublin has two names in Irish)

Here is the story of the life of St. Michan of Dublin.
He was a companion and friend of St. Aonghus of Tallaght. Michan was not baptised with the name Michan. His name is a secret lost in a sad tale of the jealousy of Saint Aonghus. It is known only to the bishop of Glendalough who swore to Saint Aonghus that he would never divulge it to anybody other than his successor. And sadly, that secret died with Bishop William Piro, who was the last Bishop of Glendalough, and none but his ghost can ever choose to let it be known again.

The monk that we now know as Saint Michan was very wise and was known by the families of Leinster and Meath for his great holiness and wisdom. He spent long hours of every day in prayer. Wherever he was he brought the gentlest of peace and the calmness of joy. The young monks in Tallaght were always encouraged by his gentle ways and many of them suggested that he, rather than Aonghus, should be the Abbot. The elder monks prophesised that he would be the father of a great community of saints. This irked Aonghus who was a jealous of both his friend’s sanctity as well as his great renown.

But the monk was a quiet man of simple life and had no desire to take his friend’s place. To avoid a split in the community he left the confines of the monastery and embraced the life of a hermit. The monastery at Tallaght had lands all along the River Poddle to where it meets the Liffey at a place called an Dubh Linn or the Dark Pool. It was his friend Saint Aonghus that suggested this remote place for the holy monk to live his life as a hermit. An old elm tree stood near the Dark Pool and marked the end of the monastery’s lands. Saint Canice of Kilkenny had planted it to mark a boundary dispute with the monastery at Finglas in the time of Saint Maelruain. It was here that the holy monk chose to live as a hermit. To prevent further divisions within the Tallaght monastery, and again on the advice of his friend, the holy monk took a vow of silence until the death of Saint Aonghus. Aonghus was happy with this plan. With the holy monk’s name held secret and his voice silent he would never again be considered for the position of abbot. In time both the holy monk and his name would be forgotten and the unknown silence would help him to vanish without a trace.

They travelled together Glendalough where the holy monk took his vow in secret with Saint Aodhán of Glendalough. In the monastery chapel took the vow in the fashion of the Romans. But Aonghus was a Gael, and he knew the customs of his people well. He demanded under the solemn bond of his ancestors that the holy monk would not utter a word as long as Aonghus was alive . Should any word issue from the mouth of the holy monk before the day after Aonghus’ funeral he would surely die, and die in mortal sin at that. Such a fearsome outcome ensured that the saintly monk would never utter a word and lose the crown of salvation. And although the holy monk knew that this condition was unjust and unfair he could not utter a word of protest without dying in miserable sin.

With Aodhán’s blessing they travelled in silence back to the monastery in Tallaght. And, in the dead of that same night, when all the monks were rising to go to the church, the holy monk slipped silently away and walked alone to the Dark pool.

There were many Gaelic herdsmen with their families living in this area. Their huts and dwellings were scattered along the southern bank of the river Liffey. They were simple folk. They made their homes by weaving the river mud with the strong reeds that grew along the edge of the Dark Pool. At night they would gather together and light a fire on the slope above the Dark Pool where they would sing and tell stories. They often asked the holy monk whether he too would come to join in with them and maybe tell them a tale – but he shook his head sadly and went quietly on his way each time. As we have already said; he was a man of great wisdom and had many fine tales to tell!

To avoid the temptation of breaking his vow and incurring the wrath of the unjust bond, he decided to avoid human company altogether. He decided to build a refuge to the wild north of the river Liffey in the place we now know as Oxmanstown. There were still large tracts of forest in Fingall further north. In wintertime hungry wolves would stray from the forests and pick off the sheep that grazed on the slopes of the river. Nobody would live there; only strong, healthy herdsmen armed with bows and slingshots ever ventured beyond the river’s natural protection. Every morning the armed herdsmen would bring their sheep over on small boats not unlike the currachs of the west. The little boats were flat but sat high in the water. They made from wattle and leather. The work of bringing the sheep on and off the little rafts was slow and could not be done whenever a wolf appeared. One man suggested tying the little boats together and making a walkway over the river at low tide. It was a far faster way and easier way of getting all the animals and herdsmen back home safely every evening.

They bound the boats together with cords of strong woven reeds and tethered it to the two old elm trees that faced each other across the bank. They had been planted by Saint Canice almost two hundred years earlier to mark the natural boundaries between the grazing lands of the rival monasteries of Finglas and Tallaght. But the trees had got sick and died and only their strong stocks remained. Every evening, when the last sheep was safely home, the herdsmen would untie the pontoon from its northern post and they would drag the boats back to the safe side. That prevented wolves from crossing by night!

Every evening they begged the holy monk to come back with them but he quietly and stubbornly refused. Soon enough they stopped asking – the man is mad – they would say – leave him to his sad fate at the hands of the wolves if that is what he wants why should we stop him? And they would cross the wattle bridge and then haul it upstream so nobody could cross until they refloated it the next day. The river floods would protect them from any wolves.

One evening, when the herdsmen were gathering their sheep to bring them back over the wattle bridge, a large, black wolf appeared walking slowly towards them from out of the dark woods. The men were frightened, and hurried to take refuge behind the spiked wooden fence they the holy monk had built around his hut; they drew their bows as they awaited his attack, but, the holy monk had noticed something and walked straight out the gate of his fence, and slowly, walked towards the wolf . The men called him back and marvelled at the madness of the holy monk.

The wolf drew nearer, and when he was quite close the holy monk knelt on the ground and held his two arms open towards the great beast. It was like a mother calling her child as it takes its first steps.

The wolf lowered his head, fixed his eye on the eyes of the holy monk and stealthily began to creep towards the man with the outstretched arms.

The men behind the fence were silent. Fear gripped each throat as they watched the wolf approach the old man kneeling before him.

As the distance closed between them the men waited with baited breath for that giant leap that would kill the holy monk. One man fixed an arrow to his string and was taking aim when another held his hand. Do not bother, said the man beside him, “whatever sin has condemned this man to silence is weighing too heavily upon him. Let him die as he wishes and may the Son of Mary be the one to judge him for his deeds.” The man lowered his bow and they watched.

The wolf lay about five feet from the holy monk and both were as still as the statues in the great churches of Rome. The men blessed themselves and lowered their eyes to pray for the poor old man and his foolish death. But each one kept a silent eye on both man and wolf, praying that God would bring about a miracle.

And indeed he did!

The wolf made no sudden pounce. He rolled over on his side and slowly sidled his big body closer towards the holy monk until his big head was resting on the holy monk’s thigh. The wolf made no protest as the holy monk gently lowered his hand against the big black wolf’s head.

The wolf growled in a plaintiff whine which the holy monk echoed and for five long minutes they growled softly together in a song that clearly both of them understood and sounded more like the gurgle of a pigeon than the snarl of a wild wolf. Years of silence had taught the holy monk that the language we all understand is in the eyes and not on the tongue.

Suddenly there was a loud cry from the wolf and the men’s mouths fell open in horror and fear as the wolf suddenly sprang from his peaceful bed and rolled over. He was howling violently and baying. The holy monk stood up and they could see that he was holding the broken shaft of an arrow in his hand.

The men were amazed. At first they thought that the crafty monk had stabbed the wolf. He had lured the beast into a sense of safety and then killed the creature. Fear and panic rose among the men as the wolf rose uncomfortably to a standing position. A wounded wolf is a greater threat than a healthy one. The passion of anger is as easily understood by every creature as is the language of the eyes. Slowly he raised his great head and stalked back towards the holy monk.

Again, the holy monk knelt gently on the soft turf and held his arms for his son the wolf to come back to him.

The men, realising that there was some special understanding between the wolf and the holy monk decided to sneak off quietly and return to the safety of the southern shore. They began to make their way back to the wattle bridge driving their sheep and the wolf and the holy monk sat together in the wide meadow; the holy monk tore a strip from his tattered rag of a garment and bandaged the wolf’s wounds with it. The wound was a deep one, so, the holy monk brought the wolf home with him and nursed him carefully till he was well again. Then he set him free to return to the forest.

On their return to the safety of the southern bank the men told their families that the holy monk had removed the arrow from the wounded beast. Nobody had ever seen the like of that before and from that day on they called him ‘The Keeper of the Wolf’ or ‘Maol Chon’ in their own tongue.

The holy monk was now a saint in the eyes of the Gaels. The children told stories about his miracles and everybody who was sick got better if they saw him across the river. Not a story was told nor a song sung that did not have some mention of his great works. But in all the stories there was one thing in common. Maolchon had no miraculous powers unless in the presence of his companion wolf.

And the Gaels soon found that they did not have to bring the sheep home to the south in the evening. For no other wolf dared to cross the demesne of Maolchon’s wolf. It was safe to graze the richer pastures of the northern bank. Now that the flocks were protected by a big black wolf they named that wolf “Cú na Lag” in their language, and it means “The Watchdog of the Weak.”

The Gaels no longer had any fear of wolves. But a greater menace was at hand.

One day a great wooden boat with colourful sails appeared on the river near the spot of Saint Patrick’s Well. Trinity College occupies that spot today. It wasn’t difficult to guess the intent of the sailors and the Gaels took flight up the little hills above the Dark pool where the Cornmarket is today. But the bows and slings of the Gael were no match for the fiercesome swords of the Norsemen and the battle was swift.
Maol Chon was in the forest where his friend Coonalog, as he named the wolf, returned to hunt wild animals as God intended and not the tame sheep of the Gaels. Coonalog smelt the blood and howled but Maolchon did not understand his companion’s distress. The wolf rushed back towards the river with the, now elderly, monk running as fast as he could behind him. Coonalog stopped and placing the holy monk on his back carried him swiftly to the forest’s edge. And what a sad sight greeted them there.

The invaders had gathered the surviving men, the elderly and the sick on the top of the hill below the Dark Pool. Their plan was to cut their throats and, they would be tied to the wattle bridge, set alight and floated out to sea as was the custom of the Norsemen.

The Captain of the Norsemen was a man called Thoric, a man of great strength and savagery. and Thoric stopped as they descended towards the Dark Pool. His companions assumed that he was reconsidering the bridge problem but something else had caught his eye. Over to the north he saw a man in tattered clothing sitting on the back of the most savage looking wolf he had ever seen as if he were a pony. One of his scouts called to him and said – “great captain this is the man who befriended the wolf that our scouts told us about, shall we begin the slaughter for it is getting late and the tide will turn before we finish our task?”

But Thoric held up his hand for silence and they all turned their eye to the forests to the north. The sheep on the slopes gathered and walked to the forest’s edge bleating loudly. And even more amazingly, from out of the forest behind them, came many wolves, from the west of the forest came ten grey wolves, from the north came ten russet wolves and from the east ten white wolves all answering the summons of the sheep.

Thoric looked on in amazement as a further nine black wolves strolled in single file out from the small compound where the holy monk lived. Now the wolves were forty in number and each one looking more fierce than the next.

Coonalog let out a howl and the four packs bounded towards the wattle bridge, crossed with the speed of wolves and quickly surrounded the hill above the Dark Pool. The ten grey wolves of the east by the Chapel of Mannahin. The russet wolves of the north chose the side of the Dark Pool. The white wolves of the east took the side of the Well of Saint Patrick and, the black pack of Coonalag, being larger and faster than all other wolves, appeared to the south with the hills of Saint Manchan behind them.

An uneasy fear arose among the Norsemen. They shuffled to hide behind their bound captives as the growling pack crawled slowly up the hill from every side.

About five feet from the hapless circle of people the wolves stopped and lowered themselves onto the grass. Forty pairs of steely eyes stared up at the frightened people. But, the herdsmen remembered that day when Maolchon and the wolf had done this very same dance and suddenly they were not afraid. Thoric, realising that something was not as it should be, placed his sword on the ground and began to walk backwards. His men quickly followed suit.

As he stood back Maolchon howled towards heaven and Coonalag returned the cry with an echoed song from the hill of the Dark Pool. The sheep began a chorus of bleating and returned to the pastures. The wolves backed away and walked silently, in single file, back towards the wattle bridge and silently back into the darkness of the woods.

Coonalag was the last to cross and was met by Maolchon on the northern shore. Maolchon was holding a chalice studded with many golden rings. They stood together, man and wolf, under the shadow of the Elm of Saint Canice as Thoric approached.

“Tell me man of God,” he called to the man on the northern bank, “what word did you speak that both you and the wolf know and understand?”

Tears welled in the holy monk’s eye when, after almost twenty years’ of silence, he realised the price of answering.

“Peace!” the holy monk replied and, no sooner had the word escaped his lips, but he smiled, and realising that everything was just as it should be, he fell to his knees, and uttered a quick confiteor and an Our Father, before he collapsed dead.

Thoric rushed towards the bridge but Coonalag howled and the Norseman froze in his steps. The forest gave up a great howl and the meadows sang in a chorus of sad bleating as the soul of the holy monk departed this world. Great sadness filled the hearts of these animals and they prayed in their own way that God would rescue the poor monk from the dreadful bonds of Saint Aonghus’ jealousy.

And a great wind rose which blew down the Elm of Saint Canice and with a large crack it fell open-armed to embrace the body of the holy monk and entombed him warmly with its branches in the soft silt clay of the river bank providing its own holy wood, blessed by the holy Saint Canice no less, as the timber of his coffin.

A robin flew out of the forest and sat atop the sinking timbers. The howling and bleating ceased for God always sends a robin when the soul of a saint comes home to Him.

Thoric approached and lifted the chalice from where it had fallen. it was studded with rings and, upon each of these rings was written the word ‘peace’ in every language of the known world.

Thoric picked up the chalice and admired it. It had been a gift and a prayer from Saint Aonghus to his friend and rival when he left the monastery of Tallaght.

And as the heavy tree entombed the gentle monk in the earth from which he had come Thoric asked his name.

“We called him Maol Chon, the Keeper of Wolves,” one of the Gaels replied.

And Thoric muttered the word “Michan” to himself as he tried to copy the word the Gael had whispered – “together we will build a town in the place that you have always called the Dark Pool, or Dubh Linn. And the entire world will call it by that name – but we will not. Amongst ourselves, we will call it the ‘Town of the Wattle Crossing’,” or, ‘Baile Átha Cliath’ in the language of the Gael.

“Now let us build a church with a crypt in the river silt was to the honour and memory of Michan’s name.” The Norsemen built a tower to Michan’s honour and the Gaels planted a yew tree to Michan’s memory. And it stands in the graveyard behind that church to this very day.

As for Coonalag; he returned to the forest where he lived as a wolf only hunted wild animals who had a better instinct for survival than kept sheep have. Coonalog lived many years until his body was found curled in the porch of St Dualach’s Church in Kinsealy. From there he was buried at the place where the forest’s edge met the farm of Saint Dualach, in a place that would bear his name to this day; Coolock.

On his death the truce between wolf and farmer died too. The Norsemen built a city that spread over into Oxmanstown. They cut back the forest and, forgetting the truce of the wattle bridge, they resumed hunting wolves from soon drove them from the area. And the time of peace between man and wolf was over and soon forgotten. Even among the wolves, the legend of Coonalog and his man-friend Saint Michan was soon forgotten forever.

And sad as it may seem that the rigours of Aonghus’ jealous bond caused the death of Maolchon or Michan as he was now called, it isn’t as it seems at all. Aonghus had died ten years prior to Thoric’s arrival and Maolchon’s spoken word did not cause his death but caused his entry into eternal life. The robin told us what the monks of Tallaght never said.

Michan’s work on earth was complete. The reward of eternal life was given to the man who shouted the word ‘peace’ over the wattle crossing. And that word inspired a city where Irish and Norse lived, traded, worked and prayed together for many centuries to come. His silence had made him the abbot, or father, of a great community of saints just as the older monks had prophesised.

And ironically enough, the Elm of Saint Canice made for him the finest coffin and his noble heart of a man, who lived his life under a great injustice, is buried beneath the present courts of law! On the anniversary of Michan’s death; Thoric cut down the southern elm and had it made into planks. It was from this wood that the first quay in Dublin was built.

And the chalice – well, ask the benchers in the Courts of Justices and they might tell you, but the story goes, they melted it down to make cuff-links for the justices in the times of great change in the reign of Queen Bess when the peace between strong and weak was shattered forever and the city was only called by one name!

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by Fergal Claddagh

Saint Patrick’s, Toombeola (26)


Image by Fergal Claddagh
TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. [A picture of this castle is to be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/ ] From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

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by flipsockgrrl

carnival2_FL_096


Image by Metropolitan Police
The annual Notting Hill Carnival will once again take place this August Bank Holiday. If you are going along, read our advice to help keep you safe. Visit www.met.police.uk/nottinghillcarnival/ (Pictures from previous Notting Hill Carnival).

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by pm107uk

Saint Patrick’s, Toombeola


Image by Fergal Claddagh
TOOMBEOLA ABBEY
The wild outpost of the Irish Dominicans!

Variously spelt as Tombeola, Toombeola and Tonbeola – this priory was situated on a sparsely populated isthmus where the Owenmore River enters the sea just north of Roundstone.

fr. John O’Heyne, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominicans of the Seventeenth Century”, makes little reference to this priory other than the following tract;
In the same County of Galway there was an abbey of ours in the barony of Ballinahinch, founded and erected by the Chieftain O’Flaherty, the ancient lord of the barony till the time of Cromwell the usurper, by whom he was deprived of all his estates. In this abbey, called Tombeola there were generally eight religious; but from the beginning of the reign of Elizabeth it was not inhabited and the Protestants removed all the walls and the church itself to build a castle in the neighbourhood. [A picture of this castle is to be found at www.flickr.com/photos/feargal/4826309832/ ] From the time that Galway convent was erected into a priory, the provincial neglected to assign any religious or even a prior to this friary, but it was left as a district for Galway, fifteen leagues distant. That certainly tends to the great detriment of the Order and the Catholic people, very much in want of ministers of the Gospel. For the place is mountainous and boggy and is as an island in the extreme west of the kingdom, so there is not frequent recourse to it of religious, and moreover the whole barony is very populous and there is hardly one Protestant there. If liberty of religion should be established, Galway convent would have abundant support from the beneficence of the citizens, and besides it has for its district the baronies of Clare, Moycullen and Eaghnanivar. So that three or four religious could live in Tombeola for the salvation of that almost abandoned people.

fr. Ambrose Coleman, O.P., in his appendix to O’Heyne reports:
SITUATED about ten miles to the east of Clifden, in the county Galway, in the barony of Ballynahinch. It was probably founded in 1427, when the fathers of Athenry abbey obtained the privilege from Martin V. of making two other foundations. This may account for the absence of a special brief of foundation in the Bullariuvi.

It appears from O’Heyne and also from the fact that there is no notice taken of it in the seventeenth century, to have been abandoned after the suppression. However O’Heyne’s advice that three or four religious should live there was acted upon not many years afterwards, for in the Lords’ Committee Returns of 1731, there is a notice of " another [friary] at Tombola, in the parish of Moyrus, lately erected. Their number at present small but in an increasing way."

There were three fathers there in 1767.

Rosaleen Bermingham of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland wrote in a letter to Mr. Stephen O’Flaherty (a local man whose family are still in Tombeola) in 1971:
In A.D. 1427 the same Pope (Martin V) at the solicitation of two Dominican Friars of Athenry – William Ryedeymer and Richard Golber – authorised the friars of Athenry to found two subsidiary establishments of their Order in Connaught, there being a want of religious persons to instruct the natives of that Province in the Catholic Faith. The two Dominican monasteries founded in pursuance of this authority were (the learned author of “Hibernia Dominicana” considers) the monastery of Tombeola, situated on the west bank of the Owenmore (or Ballinahinch) river, where it flows into the sea at Roundstone Bay in Connemara; and the monastery in Ballindown on the shores of Lough Arrow, in the county of Sligo. These two monasteries were erected, the one at Tombeola in 1427, with the assistance of O’Flaherty, and that at Ballindown in 1507 by Thomas O’Farrell, with the assistance of McDonough, O’Flaherty and McDonough being the Chieftains of the respective localities. The Monastery with its Church at Tonbeola, was deserted by the Friars at the beginning of Queen Elizabeth’s reign (1558-9) about which time it was demolished by Teig-na-bullie-O’Flaherty who used the stones thereof to construct his Castle of Ballinahinch, situated upon a small island in the lake of Ballinahinch.
I do not know “Hibernia Dominicana” but I doubt if there is much more history of Toombeola to be found.

A handwritten note to the letter gives the names of the last friars to be stationed in Toombeola. There were Thomas Magcoghegan, Luke Coln (who died in Portumna), Dominic McGrath and John Tully. The names appear to have been preserved locally.

According to local lore the last of these, fr. John Tully, O.P. endeavoured to escape the arriving soldiers by swimming across the Owenmore (Abhann Mór) river but he was shot in the water and died. The local people buried his body at the roadside on the east bank of the river roughly opposite the site of the priory. Traces of the grave were obliterated by various roadworks over the last twenty years but its site is remembered, so much for honouring a man who died for his faith!

fr. Thomas S. Flynn, O.P., in his work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1536-1641”, tells us that Toombeola was founded under the patronage of Saint Patrick in 1427, (note that fr. Flynn adheres to the spelling more consummate with the local pronunciation). It was a time of observant reform within the Dominican Order and many foundations sprung up in the west of Ireland. Unlike their Conventual brothers, the Observants tended to build in isolated areas such as Toombeola. Fr. Flynn gives c. 1570 as the date of suppression and quotes Gwynn & Hadcock’s “Medieval Religious Houses: Ireland” by repeating the story of the settlers removing the stones of the priory to build a castle.
Despite the claim that it was abandoned in 1570 it remains on the list of communities for the General Chapter of 1571. In this list it is referred to as Bealach. However, in 1574, a list of Religious Houses in Connaught, complied for Queen Elizabeth, omits any mention of the community or the premises.

fr. Hugh Fenning, O.P., in his “The Undoing of the Friars in Ireland”, refers to Tombeola only once stating that the Galway community professed novices from Tombeola in the first half of the eighteenth century. In his other work, “The Irish Dominican Province, 1698-1797”, fr. Fenning tells us that:
1720: The Provincial Chapter ordered the provincial to appoint superiors to the destitute convents of Cavan, Clonmel, Castlelyons, Thomastown, Tulsk and Tombeola
1721: fr. Colman O’Shagnussy, O.P., was prior of Tombeola. O’Shagnussy was of Limerick origin but his family had become disposed during the Williamite war. He went to the continent as a soldier. He entered the Order in Leuven and transferred to Athenry where he became prior. He later served as prior of Limerick and some believe that he also served a time as prior of Galway.
1730: at a General Chapter of the Order a fr. Burke of Tombeola was granted the honorary title of Preacher General.
1738: presently administered by Martin Mulchrone of Borrishoole. Of the sons of this convent John Glinn is in the country, William Costeloe is in Spain. There are three of four others in the place. They are destitute.
1756: Thomas Burke did a survey of Dominican foundations in Ireland for his “Hibernia Dominicana” and visited all the sites but appears to have overlooked Tombeola. Burke attributes the destruction of the monastery to the local chieftain whereas O’Heyne claims it was the Protestants [sic].
1761: fr. Edmond Fitzgerald, O.P., prior of Sligo, was appointed prior of Tombeola. The appointment was perceived by some to be a punishment for not supporting fr. Michael Hoare, O.P., as Provincial. Fr. Fitzgerald did not move to Tombeola but stayed on in Dublin with occasional visits to the west. He commenced work with the Discalced Carmelites with the approval of the Dominican Vicar-General. In 1763 he resigned as prior of Tombeola and was assigned to Dublin.

What is foreclosure?

Banks can take possession of or even a sell off a mortgaged property if the borrower fails to meet  his or her payments.   This legal procedure known as foreclosure is very serious in that it can stay on your credit report for seven years and could affect your chances of obtaining credit in the form of credit cards, loans and hire purchase agreements in the future.

Foreclosure Prevention  

Having your home foreclosed can be devastating and incredibly stressful.  Ideally, it is better if you can stop going down that road by obtaining as much knowledge as you can about foreclosure and about how to prevent it from happening in the first place.  Here are some useful suggestions about foreclosure prevention in the first instance.

Read the Terms and Conditions

When buying a home, always make sure that you understand what is stated in your mortgage documents and if you are unsure of anything always ask questions BEFORE you sign anything. Be aware of the different mortgage rates that are available and also make sure that you understand the terms and conditions of those rates.

Have Savings

Always make sure that you have at least six month savings put aside for a rainy day, such as losing your job, or becoming ill, as you should be able to have the funds to pay your mortgage until you get back on your feet.  You may wish to consider mortgage payment protection insurance. Shop around the various banks to get quotations and the best deals.

Buy a Home you Can Afford

Make sure that you buy a house that you can actually afford.  One of the biggest mistakes is to buy a property that is outside of your budget. 

Foreclosure Options

Contact your lender

If you do run into difficulties, please, please, please, contact your mortgage lender straightaway if you are having trouble making payments as the earlier they are informed, the more options you will have to help remedy the situation. Keep them informed about the hardship you are experiencing and be honest about what you can afford.  Banks would want to see proof of your situation so keep records of your medical documents, pay decrease information or redundancy notices.

Get Advice

Talk to a housing advice counsellor to get support and to find out what options are available to you. Or look up foreclosure websites. There are many foreclosure prevention programmes on the internet that enable you to take charge of your situation, without paying enormous fees to professionals.

Re-modify Your Loan

Find out if your mortgage lender is able to re-modify your loan without extra costs.  There are different types of loan modification programmes, so speak to your lender about which options are available to you.

Lender Mitigation Service

Speak to the Lenders mitigation department for assistance as they will be able to discuss options that are available to you.

The following are more drastic options.

Sell Your Home.

If you have some equity and the luxury of time you may wish to hire a real estate agent who specialises in distressed property.  If you follow this option, make sure that your outstanding loan and other associated costs are covered in the sale price.

Short Sale Your Home

If you are in negative equity in that you owe more than your home is worth, then you may wish to consider a short sale on your home. A short sale is when you get the mortgage lender to accept less than the stated mortgage. Speak to a short sale specialist to advise you on this process.

Offer your Bank a Deed In Lieu of Foreclosure

This option enables the lender to take control of the Deed and cancel the mortgage.  One of the benefits of this approach is that it does not get reported as foreclosure to the credit agencies. Deed in Lieu of Foreclosure option was once popular with lenders as it enabled them to sell the property and keep any profit if there was any built in equity.  Today, fewer banks will accept a deed in lieu.

 You Can File for Bankruptcy

If you want to save your home, you are behind with payments and you have exhausted other options, filing for bankruptcy will temporarily hold off the sale of you property whilst the bankruptcy process is being investigated. Both bankruptcy and foreclosure will damage your credit score.  However bankruptcy is the preferred option to repair a poor credit score.  The reasons are as follows:-

A foreclosure will affect your credit rating for several years as you will not get rid of your other debt, and could make obtaining a mortgage very difficult in the future.  Whereas bankruptcy, although will damage your credit score, will allow you to be free from debit enabling you time to rebuild good credit a lot sooner.

Related Banking Advice Articles

by Fergal Claddagh

The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism


Image by Earthworm
Naomi Klein brings us up to speed on how the economic agenda of the neo-cons came to be the mantra of American foreign policy and is now coming home to roost. I wanted to pour myself a stiff drink from the opening chapter where she describes what was really happening in New Orleans post Katrina. Her account of how the ideas of one man—Milton Friedman— in what was known as the Chicago School of economics (from the University of Chicago) was exported to South America, then Africa, then the Eastern block and Russia, South East Asia and finally to Iraq, is enraging, heart breaking and illuminating. She answered so many of my questions that she has forever galvanized my understanding of the last 35 years, just as Howard Zinn opened my eyes to the 200 years prior to that.

Much of what I knew already about the policies of the World Bank and the structural adjustment programs of the IMF was just the beginning of her tale. So much more was going on from the Ford Foundation sponsoring students from South America to study with Milton Friedman, to the banks freezing all loans in order to force Allende’s government to buckle to corporate takeovers of state factories, to the support of strongman dictatorships by the US, to Amnesty International erasing all mention of why people were being disappeared and tortured (so as not to offend corporate donors). Yes, why indeed? Why did we simply accept that South American dictators enjoyed such activities just for kicks? Turns out that most of those tortured and disappeared were leaders in the socialist party. Capitalism is not the preferred economic system of a democratic people. All over the world the neo-cons were having to fight democratically elected socialist governments and the tactics they used resemble war and now is war in Iraq.

The underlying thesis of Ms. Klein’s book is that the preferred strategy for forcing a country to embrace capitalism is to shock them with such severe economic hardships that the populace is too stunned to realize what is going on and when they do come to, they find out that their infrastructure has been sold dirt cheap to mult-national companies and that contracts have been made for so far into the future that the new governments are unable to stop the resulting rise in unemployment, 25% say, or the putting out of business of local businesses. Wal-Mart anyone?

I have long been looking for a way to explain the flawed thinking of free market ideology and now that I know it was just an extremist economic theory involving the desire for an unobtainable pure system, I can compare it to another extremist ideology. That of breeding the perfect race. It just isn’t possible and to do so would be to hack off all the parts that offend the ideal. We know where that got us in the racial cleansing department. It is my sincere hope that one day the phrase "free market" will be as abhorrent as the word eugenics.

Meanwhile, having been mauled by such free market extremism, the victim’s best bet is to play dead until the Grizzly bear moves on. In South America where the victim was left for dead, a new socialism is being born as countries are now banding together to make their own trade agreements and to keep prices stable. (Fluctating prices is how money is made on the free market by speculators/investors). And as long as profits are to be more easily made elsewhere, the beast will move on. That’s how South East Asia was tripped up. The Asian Tiger countries took the advice of free market advocates to allow capital to move freely and, on rumor alone, it did move, leaving these countries with no money in the till. Then when they said well that didn’t work let’s restrict capital again, the IMF swooped in and said oh no, no, no you can’t do that if you want to be part of free trade, you’ll scare off investors, you must take money out of public services. Ms. Klein makes a correlation between the 20% rise in girls sold into the sex trade in Thailand and the implementation of IMF structural adjustments.

Meanwhile with all this destruction going on, in the new world of post 9/11 war, terrorism and global warming, a whole new market has evolved in security and reconstruction. And we thought the defense industry was bad. Now the stock market can cheer on death and destruction because its good for more than half of all businesses.

The world was caught by surprise by such unfettered greed because, before we always had the example of the Soviet Union and communism to tame the beast. With the fall of Russia, capitalism could roar on. This could have been a very depressing story, but Ms. Klein ends her tale by describing how people learned from this experience and are fighting back by decentralizing power, localizing it in essence, and making laws that their people will now know to make stick. May it be so.

First it needs to be stated that no one has a crystal ball which predicts the future. These thoughts are just opinions and should be taken as such not as legal or tax advice. We will try to show the political positions of the countries that are not in favor of the tax haven offshore jurisdictions and the position of the tax haven countries. The countries most outspoken against offshore banking and offshore corporations are Australia, UK and USA.

Today there is a great outcry from these and other countries about the tax saving benefits afforded to citizens of certain countries by going offshore. These countries claim that their constituents are cheating them out of billions of dollars of taxes by going offshore. The offshore jurisdictions that are considered the tax havens say that is a nice allegation but we are not your collection agency and do not ask us to change our bank and corporate privacy laws because your constituents do not want to pay taxes, this is your problem not ours. The actual amount of taxes that are avoided unlawfully is a figure that one can only take a guess at. Many people set up offshore structures to do business outside of their home country and are not in violation of any laws the way they conduct their business affairs. Many people live in other countries and need to own offshore bank accounts, offshore corporations, offshore real estate, etc. Many people use offshore privacy to protect themselves from identity theft, kidnapping, blackmail, and possible extortion.

Let me use an analogy to make a point. In Latin America there is an organization of five states called Mercosur. Mercosur consists of Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Venezuela, and Uruguay. Mercosur also has associate members which are as follows: Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Columbia and Ecuador. The Mercosur countries engage in free trade and easy border controls with no passports, just national identity cards for border crossings. Mercosur recently issued a statement that they would in the future strive to resist any further attempts to get them to spend more resources on narcotics enforcement that stems from the UN. The UN says its member countries must enact certain kinds of laws to control narcotics and states these laws and insists on enforcement policies. The Mercosur spokesperson stated that this was an irrational policy since it has not worked for over a quarter of a century and it was severely draining the resources of their countries. Essentially they said they were sick and tired of the United States which is the nation driving these policies through the UN, making their problems, the problems of other countries and they were going to collectively attempt to legalize narcotics in their own nations to free themselves from this heavy burden of narcotics enforcement. This has already begun to happen in Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina and Venezuela with the abundant legal availability of cocoa leaf. The cocoa leaf has cocaine alkaloids (real cocaine) and is commonly used as a chew like chewing tobacco leaf or made into tea leaves. Street cocaine is perhaps 30 times as potent and is diluted with harmful substances like turpentine, ether, etc. Cocoa leaf is a natural plant product used for centuries as a stimulant by people living in the high altitudes of Bolivia, farm workers etc. One can now see coca tea being sold freely on the internet but I would strongly advice you not to order any because you may get charged with narcotics importation, seriously because it can be lab tested to contain cocaine. So my point is a lot of countries have said ok enough is enough when it comes to narcotics. It is not working leave us alone, take care of your own problem. So Mercosur countries are now worrying about their own problems more and less about the narcotics issues in the USA and other nations. I think you will see more of the same type of thinking when it comes to offshore banking, offshore corporations, offshore foundations, offshore stock brokerage accounts etc.

Offshore jurisdictions have to go through all sorts of compliance that is not needed in say the USA or the UK. One offshore formation agent went to the USA and was able to open eight USA bank accounts in one day. In Panama a bank account can take five days after you collect and submit the reference letters and documents. In the USA and UK no bank reference letters are required to open a bank account, neither are any professional references required. In the USA and UK they do enforce money laundering protective measures strictly. One can buy USA corporations or UK corporations without any of the due diligence requirements that are required from offshore jurisdictions. So the playing field is not exactly level yet these countries are screaming for more controls not on themselves but on other countries. It seems that the offshore jurisdictions will scream enough is enough if any further controls are imposed on them and resist them. Of course one wonders what further controls they could come up with that they haven’t already imposed.

Let’s look at history a little to see how things deteriorated in the past regarding offshore privacy and offshore banking. Most of the older offshore tax havens are also tourist destinations such as Cayman Islands, Nassau, Bermuda, Grenada, Belize etc. These countries usually have little if any natural resources and need to bring in everything they consume. While some of them avoid income taxes instead they impose taxes on goods imported. These countries got heavily involved in tourism as a way to keep their economies moving. A cruise ship docking at these ports usually carries 2500 people. Each person probably spends an average of 0 a day when in this ports buying t-shirts, duty free liquor, tobacco, jewelry etc. many spend a good deal more. That is 0,000 per cruise ship. These jurisdictions get from 3 ships per week, to 40 ships per week docking there. The money from the cruise ships exceeds what would be earned from their previous offshore banking and incorporation activities. Remember a bank that controls hundreds of millions of dollars of deposits can only have 50 or so employees. A thriving cruise ship port can have thousands of employees working in the shops, restaurants, as tour guides, taxi drivers etc. So more jobs are at stake in the tourism business. We also have to take into account the resorts these countries have which create even more jobs and generate revenue in the form of a hotel room tax built into the rates. These countries also charge a head tax on every person coming into their country. Bottom line is there is much more money in the tourism business than there is the offshore business for the government of these jurisdictions. The governments of these countries don’t make much off of a bank account for instance, actually nothing. They have no income or capital gains tax. The offshore corporations would pay a few hundred dollars a year in taxes but that was it. The banks would pay a few thousand dollars a year for their licenses. So these countries sold out on offshore privacy to protect their tourism. If they did not do so the countries allowing tax free importation from these countries of tourist bought items might go away. Tourists returning from these countries by ship or air might find themselves stuck in long lines while they are searched and interrogated by authorities of various affected countries which would quickly and seriously discourage tourism to these countries. Other countries like Switzerland, Lichtenstein, and Luxembourg sold out due to pressure from the EU. But now we are seeing a reversal in position regarding the EU, not much of a reversal but at least a sigh of OK enough is enough.

In recent months the USA was exposed by the New York Times Newspaper in a scandal whereby they were monitoring SWIFT wire transactions for some years. SWIFT is a private company that enables banks to communicate with each other securely including sending wire transfers. SWIFT machines require a separate terminal and line so as to make them most secure. The USA served a court order on the SWIFT people in New York to turn over all the data they requested and gag ordered them to not mention what was going on. It went on for two years. This got the EU nations most upset. While they have not actually prosecuted the SWIFT people for violating the banking laws of the various European nations affected, there was serious talk of it. Whether or not obeying a USA court order to violate the banking laws of other nations is a viable defense has never been tested in any court, yet anyway. The EU position on this was they must get the USA to understand their banking laws call for privacy. This of course is not exactly giving ground for more privacy invasive laws which is what we mean by a reversal.

Today the most privacy oriented jurisdiction in the world is Panama. Panama has 400,000 corporations registered there. Panama requires corporation formation agents to be lawyers and their know your client rules are strict and call for criminal penalties if not followed. Panama banks follow tight anti-money laundering laws as well as know your customer laws. Panama does still allow for anonymous bearer share corporations which do not require the entry into any registry of any ownership names or identities. The anonymous bearer share corporations combined with Panama bank secrecy laws make for the best privacy in the world today. Panama foundations are also anonymous with no owners, beneficiaries or protectors names appearing in any registry or database. Panama is also in no tax treaty with any other country and is fairly unique in this regards. Of course one can ask the question if Panama can sustain their practices under pressure from other nations.

First off Panama does follow the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) practices. Secondly Panama does not exactly have a lot of tourism, actually it has quite a small amount of tourism and most of their tourism comes from Latin America not the EU or USA. This means there is no meaningful tourism that can be taken away. Panama is a small country and 15% to 20% of the workforce is employed by the international banks. Panama has 400,000 corporation registered there who each pay 0 in annual corporate taxes. This comes to 0,000,000 dollars and this is for a country of 2.9 million people. Also consider these corporations are paying for resident agents, nominee directors etc. Then we get into Panama Foundations which also collect 0 in annual taxes each year plus nominee council member fees. Panama will and has resisted attempts to compromise banking secrecy and corporate secrecy.

Again let us look towards history to see what we can learn, this time focusing on anonymous bearer share corporations. The issue with anonymous bearer share corporations is that when the international wires are monitored it is impossible to tell who the natural persons are behind the bearer share corporations sending or receiving the wires. The British Virgin Islands used to offer anonymous bearer share corporations. A few years ago they gave in to pressure from the UK and stopped issuing new bearer share corporations but they did make allowances for the existing bearer share corporations to remain anonymous for 10 years. After that time they would need to dissolve or operate in a non-anonymous mode. If we want to look on the dark side we can consider Panama doing the same if international pressure ever built up sufficiently to force a change. So of course those owning an existing bearer share corporation would be unaffected for ten years and these corporations would probably go up significantly in value on the secondary market. We have absolutely no indications subtle or otherwise that anything is going to change in Panama.

It is also a possibility that some other nations may enter into the bank secrecy arena in the near future and some other nations may return to bank secrecy as well. Only time will tell. Nothing we see gives any inkling of an idea that Panama will reverse on its position of bank and corporate privacy and it appears that things may have already sunk to an all time low and offshore banking and corporate privacy may actually soon start to improve, first with the wire transfer system and later on in other areas.

For more information, please visit:

http://www.panamalaw.org

email at: panamalegal@hush.com

by SpringFamily

Working in banking either conjures up two images, one of tellers sat behind a counter at Barclays telling you how little money you have or the mysterious suited people who have banking jobs behind the scenes. Banking is a very lucrative business sector that offers very high salaries and great bonuses. But with these highly tempting positives come a lot of hard work and many long hours that may conflict with your personal life.

When it comes to deciding where to work within this sector, then there are plenty of business and companies to work for. You can work for commercial banks, building societies, investment banks, broking firms and financial advisors.

Roles within the banking sector also differ wildly and are not always clear cut. Banking can be roughly split into two camps, retail banking and investment banking and these areas can also be found within the same companies and organisation. High street banks will have both corporate and investment banking operations.

Retail banking is the financial services you will find in your high street banks and are offered to small business and individual customers. These services include safe keeping of money, transferring funds between accounts, providing loans, exchanging foreign money, providing advice, mortgages, insurance and stock broking.

Working within retail banks will involve managing staff, advising customers, authorising overdrafts and loans and creating and developing local business links. These roles tend to mix banking, marketing and human resource management.

Investment banking involves providing financial services and advice to commercial, industrial and government organisations.

Your role will deal with aspects of corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, stock exchanges, arranging loans for corporations and government bodies, financing large projects, negotiating loans and credits and other tasks.

Investment banking employers will include large international banks as well as large UK based clearing banks, medium sized and small boutique investment banks.

The finance and banking sector have been hit hard in recent times and have been getting some negative press. But you can be assured they will be looking for some hard working experienced employees that can help them make it through these tough times.

This article was written on behalf of Martin Ward Anderson who offer recruitment services for banking jobs and banking operations jobs

by johngarghan

Atlantes


Image by flipsockgrrl
The "Atlantes" porch was formerly the entrance to the head office of the Colonial Bank of Australasia, constructed in 1880 at the north-east corner of Elizabeth and Little Collins streets. In 1918 the Colonial Bank amalgamated with the National Bank of Australasia and in 1932 the old building was demolished. On advice of the Royal Victorian Institute of Architects, the bank presented the porch to the University of Melbourne. In 1972 the University re-erected James Gilbert’s "Atlantes" as a pedestrian entrance at the south-east corner of its new underground carpark. The porch is classified by the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).

Whether you are seeking an off shore banking account in Costa Rica or planning on buying property, you can use the advice of a Costa Rican law firm.  Many businesses and commercial investors are taking advantage of the beautiful climate as well as natural beauty in Costa Rica by purchasing real estate.  Before you purchase real estate in Costa Rica, you will need to deal with a real estate law firm in Costa Rica. 

There is a lot of undeveloped property in Costa Rica, making it an ideal place for any commercial investor.  Because of the low cost of living as well as the climate and beauty, many people seek to have vacation homes as well as retirement homes in Costa Rica.  A real estate law firm in Costa Rica can help you find the perfect investment property for you.  You can then use the law firm to help you start your business in this country, including getting an off shore banking account. 

There are tax advantages to having an off shore banking account in Costa Rica.  This is why so many investors are looking to this part of Central America to make investments.  Because the price of the land is relatively low and can be developed for luxury condos, businesses and even single family residences, investors are seeking out this country in which to invest in both commercial and residential real estate properties.  There has never been a better time than right now to invest in Costa Rica real estate. 

A real estate law firm in Costa Rica can help you get started when it comes to buying property.  They know the law and can even advise you on your off shore banking account.  They will be able to take you every step of the way when it comes to your real estate purchase in this country.  If you are planning on setting up a business in Costa Rica, then your real estate law firm in Costa Rica will also be able to help you get your company chartered in accordance with Costa Rican law. 

Off shore banking is a possibility in Costa Rica.  A tax law consultant in Costa Rica can help you understand how to set up an account and what type of tax advantages are afforded to you.  If you are an investor who is serious about setting up a business in this part of the world, or if you just need to find an investment property for yourself, you need the advice of someone who is well versed in the real estate, tax and business laws of the country.  You can entrust your affairs to a real estate law firm in Costa Rica that will help you with your endeavors. 

Investing in Costa Rica right now is ideal as the country is relatively untouched and not overrun by tourists.  As this is a blue zone area in the world, where people tend to have a longer life span than in other parts of the world, you can expect to find many people choosing to retire and live in Costa Rica.  The time is now to invest.  If you are seeking an off shore banking account or simply want to buy property, you should seek the advice of a real estate law firm in Costa Rica.