Yesteryears: 30 years ago this country had 'a reward for cheats'

We go 30 years to our edition of June 5, 1993, for this week’s YESTERYEARS feature, in which the main front page headline read “A reward for cheats.” It related to a story about a then recently introduced tax amnesty by the Government, first proposed by South Tipperary Fianna Fáil TD, the late Noel Davern, who himself was coming under heavy fire within his own county over the controversial amnesty.
Then Opposition TD, the late Theresa Ahearn (FG) and local councillors slammed the move, described as a charter to reward tax cheats. Even Mr Davern’s Labour Party colleague in government, the late Deputy Michael Ferris (Labour Party), was lukewarm on the plan and said that while he would support it, he did not like it and said the amnesty was impossible to justify on moral grounds.

Yesteryears: County Tipperary grieves with loss of four young lives in road deaths

In another story that week, staff journalist Maria O’Brien reported that £700 damage had been caused to a Clonmel school in what Gardaí described as “vicious vandalism.” Two raids on St Mary’s Parochial National School on the Western Road, left the intruders empty-handed but a lot of damage behind. Principal of the school, Ms Audrey Duncan, described the scene as “very distressing for the children”. The piano had been overturned with most of the damage done to the window frames which were old and unusual. All the internal doors had been kicked in and locks on cabinets broken.

Also that week we reported on the retirement announcement of Cashel and Tipperary hurler, Cormac Bonnar. The then 34-year-old Limerick based schoolteacher listed “nagging and persistent injuries,” as well as the heavy commitment to training as the reasons behind his decision to step away from inter-county hurling. The “special partnership which he formed in the full-forward line with Pat Fox and Nicky English will always be remembered,” wrote Eamonn Wynne.

YESTERYEARS: Tipperary saw mixed and heated reaction to Northern Ireland peace agreement

Also that week’s front page informed readers that 14 jobs were being cut in Ardfinnan company, Moy Insulation. The redundancies involving male production staff were being blamed on the continuing recession in the building industry. Also, separately, Howley Plant Limited, Waterford Road, Clonmel, which employed between 40 and 50 people, applied for voluntary liquidation that week.

The National Irish Bank, we reported, were to open their first Tipperary branch at the former AIB premises at 5/6 O’Connell Street, Clonmel, by the end of that summer.