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Over 200,000 copies of the guide are being distributed across 23 countries and it is seen as a key marketing vehicle in promoting Irish hotels and guesthouses both at home and abroad.

Paul Gill, Chair of the Galway branch of the IHF, says that: “Survey after survey show that Irish hotels and guesthouses offer the most competitive prices in Western Europe. Our challenge is to ensure we get this message across to potential visitors both in the domestic market and overseas.”

“Visitors can expect to find outstanding value across all star ratings-whether they are travelling on a budget, opting for a stay in one of the country’s historic guesthouses or looking for a family-friendly hotel.”

Now in its 25th edition, the guide is regarded as the Ireland’s largest and most definitive guide to tourist accommodation.

It provides visitors with detailed listings for each business, including GPS navigation co-ordinates and information on local attractions.

In Ireland, the guide is distributed by Fáilte Ireland, Shannon Development and the Northern Ireland Tourist Board via their tourist information-office network and it is also available through car hire companies, Eason’s and other leading bookstores.

All the businesses listed in the guide can also be found on the Irishhotels.com website. A mobile app is also available for download on iPhone, Android and Nokia smartphones.

Answer: From January 1, 2012 couples must now pay a minimum of €35 per week towards their rent. The new minimum contribution by single tenants is now €30 (an increase of €6 per week).

A couple over 65 with an income equal to or less than the State Pension (Contributory) for their situation will contribute €35 towards their rent. A couple who both have State Pensions (Contributory) and no other income will also contribute €35 towards their rent.

Rent limits were reduced on January 1, 2012 for new claimants. The new limits will apply to existing claimants when their claims are reviewed or if they move to new accommodation.

The maximum amount of Rent Supplement varies according to the area in which you live. You can find out the limits for your area from the Department of Social Protection representative in your local health centre, from your local Citizens Information Centre or on citizensinformation.ie.

Note that income from working as a home help for the HSE (Health Service Executive) will now be taken into account in the means test for Rent Supplement.

Further information is available from Tuam Citizens Information Service which provides a free and confidential service to the public.

Their biggest decision will be, what to do with the tax free lump sum part of their package. This is a “good worry”, of course, and if they take proper, impartial advice and make themselves familiar with the technicalities of any account or investment fund they buy, their lump sum should be safe and a source of enjoyment.

The retirement endgame for someone in the private sector with a defined contribution pension — the kind that is based on the amount of money contributed into the pension fund over the years and the investment growth achieved — can be fraught with difficulties, notwithstanding their tax-free lump sum. Their choices are:

To cash in their fund, but pay top rate tax on the proceeds. For example, if their fund is worth, €150,000 (after taking the tax-free lump sum) and they pay 41% income tax, they will be left with €88,500.

To buy a retirement annuity pension income for life with the €150,000 and assuming a 5-year guarantee payment and a spouse’s two/thirds survivor pension, will receive an annual income of c€6,800 per annum.

Or, they may be able to transfer their pension fund into an Approved Retirement or Approved Minimum Retirement Fund, (ARF/AMRF) from which they do not have to commit themselves to an income for life, but can draw down annual income (ARF only) or interest from the assets in the fund (AMRF). The attraction of this option is that any money left in the fund when you die does not revert to the life assurance company as happens with annuity pensions. In other words, your estate/heirs inherit the fund.

ARFs are not suitable for every worker with a private pension fund. They are restricted to people with at least €18,000 of guaranteed pension income (including state or foreign pensions) or have €119,800 to purchase an AMRF or annuity. It is now more restricted to higher value pension holders who may want to keep working after their official retirement age, are happy to keep their money invested and/or don’t want to lock into a very low fixed annuity pension income.

The government also forces ARF (but not AMRF) owners to an “imputed distribution”, that is, to draw down 5% of the value of their fund every year on which they will pay income tax and USC. Add annual charges, typically 1%, and any other fees and it is absolutely necessary that the correct mix of investments is chosen by the ARF holder.

(The regulations surrounding A(M)RFs are long and complex so I have posted the reference to them in the pension chapter in my TAB Guide to Money Pensions & Tax on my website www.jillkerby.ie)

Retirees with larger pension funds have favoured the ARF since they were introduced a decade ago, and many self-administer them with an advisory firm. They are usually more aware of risks and rewards, “but nobody wants to lose their capital, not after building it up over a lifetime,” one advisor told me. “But finding returns that can produce a 6%-8% a year – to absorb costs, charges, tax, is not easy. Markets are volatile and fixed assets like cash or bond funds don’t pay those kind of returns and they are not immune from other shocks.”

All the major life assurers have ARF funds on offer and the risks vary. All good financial advisors are aware of them and can talk you through the pluses and minuses.

Most recently Canada Life has introduced a new ARF option, The Canada Life ARF with Lifelong Income Benefit, that is an interesting hybrid between an annuity pension for life and the ARF feature of a death benefit of the remaining value of the fund. It is available to people with funds between €25,000 and €1 million.

As with a traditional annuity, this ARF will produce a minimum guaranteed income for life by allowing a percentage of between 4% and 4.75% (depending on your age between 60-80) of the base fund value. This equivalent income is guaranteed, but could rise if there is better than expected growth from the investments that Canada Life will manage which they will lock-in for the client. Any fall in the fund performance is not passed on, but absorbed by Canada Life.

“The security of the fixed income for life, but still having access to the capital, especially after death, is a big attraction of this fund,” said the advisor, “but the capital can also be depleted, depending on the size of discretionary withdrawals. The other risk, he said, is if the government keeps increasing the amount they demand must be “distributed” each year.

“If the government decides in the future that ARF holders must drawdown, say 6% or 7% or 10% of their ARF, instead of 5% right now [for which customer’s funds are adjusted at point of entry now since 4%-4.75% is the limit of the income guarantee] then the extra amount that the government might demand is drawn down will affect how long your capital will last unless the fund manager can make it up each year with up extra fund growth.”

A hybrid ARF like this one — which has been imported by Canada Life from their Canadian operation — tries to address the fears about irregular pension income and the security of the capital, but it isn’t perfect, say advisors.

They all admit that getting a decent, safe return from a pension fund — especially when the retiree might live another 20 or 30 years — has never been such a challenge and priority in such turbulent financial times.

Getting it right, the first time, has never been so important.

HAVING fun: Michael Mullin is a very happy seven year old and is one of six children with autism who are part of the Sunflower Class at the Mercy Primary School in Tuam. He is pictured with his teacher Marguerite Hurson (left) and his mother Assumpta. Photos: RAY RYAN

MICHAEL was a happy toddler. He delighted his parents with his first ‘mama’, ‘dada’ and ‘ball’ and enjoyed lots of cuddles and kisses. But not long after his second birthday, the quiet little boy “turned to stone”.
“It seemed to us like it was out of the blue. We thought everything was fine. All of the children were good babies and Michael was no different – he slept, ate well, had his first words and was quiet,” recalls his mother Assumpta.
When told by her local public health nurse at a developmental check that Michael needed intervention, she was stunned and even angry at the suggestion that her son might need psychotherapy.
To his parents, Assumpta and Aidan Mullin who live in Clonee near Headford, the change in Michael seemed to happen overnight but looking back, Assumpta feels it started before that but in such a subtle way they didn’t notice.
When he was born in 2004, the youngest of four children, Michael was perfectly normal and reached all of the usual milestones such as sitting up, walking and learning his first words.
“The nurse drew my attention to his language at the check-up and that it wasn’t up to normal standards. She said he would need intervention. It was a bolt out of the blue,” said Assumpta.
However once Michael’s difficulties were highlighted the family noticed a rapid deterioration in their little boy.
He withdrew from life completely. He wouldn’t look at anyone and heart-breakingly, Michael became silent. He lost all of his early words. It was like the toddler they had known was disappearing before their eyes. Assumpta was scared, shocked, frustrated and desperately searching for answers.
“It was like he turned into a complete stone. You couldn’t touch or hold him. He lost all sense of attachment.”
Michael was referred to a HSE speech and language therapist but Assumpta says it was a traumatic wait.
“We were left in a state of limbo really by the health services. The child was getting worse all of the time and we had no one to turn to. We were on a waiting list but didn’t know what was wrong with him or when we would find out.”
The change Assumpta describes is any parent’s nightmare. They had believed Michael was fine and would grow and develop like his older brother and sisters but all of a sudden “he was falling into a big black hole and we were being dragged in with him”.
“Everything was falling down around us,” she recalls. “Michael was like a spinning top. He didn’t know where he was or where we were. He kept going around in circles.”
With huge support from her relatives and husband, Assumpta managed to keep family life together but she admits Michael’s condition and the unknown placed a huge strain on their lives.
“The child was unravelling all of the time. His mind was going somewhere else and it was getting worse and worse,” she explains.
Michael was initially diagnosed with global developmental delay – where there is no apparent psychological explanation for his developmental delay.

MICHAEL loves going to school and travels by bus to Tuam each morning. The school hopes to expand its occupational therapy room and is currently fundraising towards new equipment.

While he was continuing to be assessed by the HSE Assumpta was told about a woman who was doing great things for children with problems like Michael.
Assumpta had never heard of Karen O’Connor or had any idea what sound therapy was. She was willing to try anything that might help her little boy and made an appointment with her.
But when Assumpta met Karen it was the first time in a very dark year that she could try and lift her spirits.
“Looking back it was the most amazing lifeline we could ever have been given.”
After Karen’s initial assessment of Michael and listening to Assumpta’s story she told the distraught mother that there was a lot she could do for him.
“I was amazed by her positivity. You can’t buy the effect that that first visit had on me,” remarked Assumpta, who had found positivity extremely lacking from the public health services.
She wasn’t criticising them either and realises that they have their own process and methods of doing things but she summed up Karen’s intervention brilliantly.
“It was like giving us the key to the car,” explained Assumpta. The dramatic and positive changes in Michael as a result of sound therapy formed a base for further speech therapy and other treatments.
On January 2, 2008 Michael started the LIFT – an intensive 30-day programme of sound therapy. It wasn’t a day Assumpta was prepared for and she had no idea what to expect, all she knew was that she had faith in Karen and the anxious mother would try anything to help her child.
The LIFT involves two 15-day periods where the children listen to music for two hours a day with a ten-day break in between. It isn’t always easy at the beginning to get the child to wear the headphones but a little persistence goes a long way and eventually they are happy to leave them on.
While Michael was being treated by Karen, he was diagnosed with autism by the HSE’s Early Childhood Intervention Services.
“It was very difficult to come to terms with. You couldn’t help feeling that it was going to be a chain around your neck for the rest of your life. But of course it was nothing like that but yet you have to grieve for the child you thought you might have had and there really isn’t a timeline for that.
“You do get through it. You need a lot of people around you both family and professionals,” points out Assumpta.
Assumpta continued to bring Michael to the HSE appointments and the subtle changes in Michael became stronger all the time.
“Before we had a spinning top, now we had a child that you could work with,” explains Assumpta.
Assumpta attributes Michael’s transformation to a combination of things but says it would never have been possible without Karen’s unusual therapy.
Michael stopped being afraid of hairdryers and the hoover, he wasn’t afraid of everything any more and he started to interact socially for the first time in over a year.
In September 2008 Michael was fortunate to get a place in Stepping Stones in Tuam, a child development centre that only caters for children with a learning disability.
“It was the answer to our prayers. It’s an a la carte service once you’re in, the difficulty is actually securing a place,” Assumpta explained.
Each child has an individually developed programme that aims to promote their abilities and help develop new skills. Assumpta has un-ending praise for the centre and its team leader Helen Mulroy.
“It was an absolute life-saver and Michael loved it there,” adds Assumpta, who continued the appointments with Karen in conjunction with sound therapy at home.
“We had to start everything from the beginning with Michael. Now (aged 7 1/2) he’s such a happy boy. He loves to swim and go horse-riding. He’ll go on sleep-overs to relatives and isn’t afraid. He’s a great little man.”
Stepping Stones offers services for children up to six years old. Assumpta had to decide where Michael would go from there.
She was keen for him to stay in Tuam and in conjunction with the principals of St Patrick’s NS, Steve Lane and the Mercy Primary School, Mary Trayers, the Special Education Needs Organiser and other parents they successful formed the Sunflower class in September 2010 for children with autism.
“We haven’t looked back. He loves it and everyone is revelling in how he has matured,” says a proud Assumpta.
She had found the lack of affection from him extremely difficult to cope with but now Michael has a smile for her. He’s a tech whizz too and adores his iPad and even teaches his mother how to work her iPhone.
The Mullin family life changed dramatically five years ago and when it did they never thought it would be possible for it to change so dramatically again, but it has.
“Time is of the essence. When something like this happens with a child you have to react quickly. Luckily we discovered Karen just in time.”

Vets classify lamenesses into different categories of severity, by grading them with marks out of five. A “one-fifth” lameness is barely discernible, and at the other end of the scale, an animal with a “five-fifths” lameness is holding the leg in the air, without bearing any weight on it at all.

The first stage of treating any lameness is to attempt to localise the exact site of the pain. Since animals cannot talk, the only way of doing this is to carefully examine the leg from the tip of the toe all the way up to the animal’s body. Every part of the leg needs to be gently stroked and squeezed, until the animal lets you know that you have found the sore area.

In Ricky’s case, his shoulder and elbow were pain-free. But when I felt the area around his forearm and wrist, he pulled back from me, and gave a gentle hiss of disapproval. A cat’s fur and skin is normally smooth and flawless, like the surface of a snooker table, but I could feel a few scabs and rough areas beneath the fur in this part of his leg. I decided that I needed to clip some fur away, so that I could see the skin surface itself. Once I’d done this, I could see half a dozen puncture wounds on his forearm and wrist. Ricky must have been attacked by another cat.

Cats are territorial creatures, often using physical fights to resolve disputes. Cat bites can seem like insignificant injuries at first. The teeth are very sharp, and they make tiny puncture wounds, a few millimetres in diameter. However, the mouth of a cat contains thousands of disease-causing bacteria, and these are carried into the wound by the teeth. Within a few hours, the bacteria multiply rapidly, and the bite wound becomes swollen, red and painful.

I explained the cause of Ricky’s lameness to his owners, and they nodded knowingly to each other. There was an aggressive feral tom cat in the area, and he kept on attacking Ricky. The tom cat did not have an owner, and was too wild to be easily caught. He was definitely the cause of the problem.

Male hormones are the cause of most fighting behaviour in the cat world. If a male cat is castrated, the incidence of fight wounds reduces by over 80 per cent. Neutered cats like Ricky are much less likely to get involved in fights, but they still respond if they are challenged by aggressive interlopers like the visiting tom cat. Situations like this can be difficult to resolve. If Ricky has more fight injuries, his owners may need to consider using a cat trap to catch the  other cat, and then organise for him to be neutered. If that was done, there would definitely be fewer cat fights in the area.

In the short term, Ricky needed immediate treatment for his sore leg. I prescribed a course of antibiotics, to cure the bacterial infection that had been introduced by the cat bites. I also gave him an injection of potent pain-killer, which would help him stay comfortable for the first day, until the antibiotics had taken full effect.

I saw Ricky two days later, and he was already using his leg normally. Will he stay out of trouble now? Only time will tell.

A whopping 61 per cent of women reach for food when stressed and chocolate is the top snack to attack when under pressure.

According to the survey:

• Nearly 70 per cent of women eat when they get stressed compared to 48 per cent of men.

• More young people turn to food when stressed compared to older people.

• Only a quarter of men say they never eat for reasons other than hunger, compared to just four per cent of women.

• Chocolate is the first choice for stress relief among all ages.

Dietician Orla Walsh from the Dublin Nutrition Centre says the research shows that emotional eating is the single biggest cause of poor eating habits in Ireland.

“People are turning to chocolate, sweets, cakes and fast food, precisely the kinds of foods that are high in fat and low in nutrition. Poor eating behaviour leads to weight gain and obesity and the psychological aspects of this need to be fully investigated if we are to address the fact that six out of ten adults are either obese or overweight.”

The research from Safefood shows that thousands of Irish men and women who don’t believe that they are overweight are putting themselves at increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers.

Since the ‘Stop the Spread’ campaign was first launched last year more people know how to correctly measure their waist and more people are taking the time to carry out the task.

Dr Cliodhna Foley-Nolan, Director of Human Health and Nutrition with Safefood, says the next step is to move from increasing awareness among consumers to actually changing their behaviour.

The research also revealed that only one in four people has told their partner that they needed to lose weight, with women more likely to do this than men.

Similarly, 27 per cent of respondents claim to have told a friend they needed to lose weight, although this was more likely to be done by someone who is overweight themselves.

The ‘Stop the Spread’ campaign aims to alert people to the fact that being overweight is now the ‘norm’, and tackling the common excuses for excess weight around the middle such as middle-age-spread, height or genetics.

The campaign urges people to measure their waist to see if they are overweight. Having a waist size greater than 32 inches for a woman or 37 inches for a man is a clear indication that a person is carrying excess weight.