Kerry Sex Problems
KERRY men are at serious risk from sex disease because they fail to wear condoms and are too embarrassed to get help for sexually transmitted infections.
A Health Service Executive (HSE) report also found that men’s mothers had the most negative effect when it came to sex education.
The HSE study found that almost one in five men in Kerry never use a condom when having casual sex. Embarrassment, drink and drugs were among the main reasons why so many men fail to practice safe sex.
Almost 40% of men who took part in the survey said that they had practiced unsafe sex in the past six months, and only one in 10 said that they felt at risk of contracting sexually transmitted infection as a result of unsafe sexual practices.
But what has most concerned the authors of the report is men’s failure to seek professional help about their sexual health.
Despite the high number of men having unprotected sex with inadequate education about the risks, many men feel too embarrassed to access sexual health clinics and many more are not even aware they exist.
Sex education also proved a problem among men, according to the report. One in four men said that their sex education was inadequate when they had intercourse for the first time.
And men surveyed said that the most negative effect on their sex education was their mothers. The most positive effect on their sex education was other sexual partners, followed by books or magazines.
The report claims that it is now clear that men should be provided with accurate and reliable information and advice about sexual and reproductive health matters so that they can protect themselves and their partners from crisis pregnancy and sexually transmitted infection.
Among the report’s recommendations are developing campaigns which “promote safe sex and condom use as ‘cool’ and which alleviate embarrassment with regard to using condoms.”
It also recommends that the cost of condoms be subsidized and an increase in the availability of condom dispensing machines.
As an incentive to take part in the survey, respondents were chosen across the HSE southern area in Kerry and Cork and each were given a *5 music or book voucher and were entered into a draw for taking part in the study.
The Kerryman
Vaccinations Down
THE number of children in Wexford vaccinated against mumps, measles and rubella (MMR) remains at dangerously low levels compared to other parts of the country.
The latest figures from the Health Protection Surveillance Center reveal that, despite a 95% uptake needed to ensure there will not be an outbreak, less than 84% of two-year-old children are vaccinated in Wexford.
The lowest rate in the country is inner city Dublin, where less than 80% of two-year-old children are vaccinated.
Wexford is at the next level up, less than 84%, and the south east in general has one of the poorest uptake rates for the MMR vaccine in Ireland, with Waterford also at less than 84%.
However, the figures are an improvement on the situation in 1999 when an average of just 76% of children were receiving the vaccine. The Health Service Executive has also defended the rate, saying it is rising all the time.
However, the Health Protection Surveillance Center, which tracks infectious diseases in Ireland, says that children are still being let down if they do not receive the vaccine.
It says that the country’s vaccination rate has been unacceptably low for too long and that there have been far too many outbreaks of diseases like measles, which caused three deaths in 2000.
New Ross Standard
Where’s Derry?
AN SDLP Assembly member is demanding an explanation following revelations that some tourists seeking bus tickets to Derry were told that no such place existed.
The visitors were trying to buy tickets to the city at Belfast’s central bus station, but were told there was no such place.
Clearly, one ticket seller at the station took exception to their asking for the older name of the city rather than Londonderry.
The transport holding company Translink says it is investigating, but SDLP Assembly member John Dallat says it’s a long-standing problem that should have been halted by now.
“There have been several other cases of foreign travelers, mostly students who have had similar experiences and the time has come to sort out this petty bigoted practice once and for all,” said Dallat.
“I do accept that the problem is perhaps not as bad as it used to be when they used to have someone standing at platform two in Belfast screaming at all passengers to the north west, ‘This train goes to Londonderry.
“That at least has stopped but there is a problem still in existence and it needs to be addressed.”
The Belfast Telegraph
Escorts for Sale
SEX is now for sale in Drogheda with the opening of a brand new female escort service in a local apartment.
Drogheda Escorts is now being advertised on the internet to local men who are interested in paying for sexual favors.
According to the advertising blurb, their “sexy Drogheda escort girls are only ever a phone call away and they won’t hold back when they meet you!”
The brand new website has been set up complete with a Drogheda Escorts gallery, where potential clients can view the personal details of the girls, including real recent pictures.
Customers can expect to pay about *100 to spend a half hour, or *200 for a full hour, with a girl for services rendered. A call-out charge is available on request.
Typical escort agency services such as dinner dates (three hours), all-night dates (12 hours), and all day and all night dates (24 hours) are available.
The Drogheda Escort service operates from “a luxurious Drogheda apartment” and all of the girls are “attractive companions who provide a full escort service.”
Some of the girls are Irish and some of them are foreign. One, for instance, is described as a “beautiful young girl.” According to the agency, she has an “exceptionally sweet nature” and “she is warm and always willing, friendly, charming and fun. She is somewhat mysterious and teasing, when she wants to be.”
The agency say that if any client books her, she will make them feel “very special many, many times!”
The Drogheda Escort service website says that all of their Drogheda girls are professional, highly-skilled, enthusiastic and positive and that they genuinely enjoy what they do.
A spokesperson for the DAWN Centre said that she did not understand why somebody would want to avail of these services.
“But Drogheda is a progressive town and that’s the way of the world, so I’m not really surprised that this has happened,” she said.
Drogheda Independent
Costly Tralee
RAPIDLY rising rents are forcing small businesses out of Tralee town center, according to two local businessmen who confirmed this week they are moving well-established operations from the town center to Manor West.
Dan Horan, whose fruit and vegetable outlet has been a feature of the town center for 19 years, is to move to a new outlet in Manor, while neighboring business, Seamus O’Sullivan Butchers, is also planning to move.
“Landlords don’t seem to have the interest of the town at heart. Businesses cannot continue to sustain the hikes in rent,” Horan said.
According to O’Sullivan, rental charges in the town center are “off the wall.”
“Landlords in Tralee are now looking at big rents in Dublin and think they should apply the same rate in Tralee,” he said.
Kerry’s Eye
Wow Wedding
ASHFORD Castle is known worldwide for its luxury, class and lavishness. But when an American industrialist and a Belgian fashion guru arrived there on Saturday, August 11 there was more bling than ever before!
By all accounts their wedding was fit for a queen, with the bride’s dress made from 2,500 diamonds and the flowers alone costing *250,000, including 25,000 roses flown in from Nicaragua.
The couple, Cindy and George Cofoed, had already been married in New York earlier in the year, but choose to come to the exquisite Mayo Castle to celebrate their wedding in true style.
Ashford was exclusively booked out for Saturday and Sunday, with a strong team of security in place. On Sunday, the wedding party left the grounds of Ashford in a convoy of 45 Rolls Royces, Mercedes Benz, and other such chic vehicles.
The sea of elegance made its way to Tuam Cathedral, where the couple were married, before returning to party the night away in Ashford Castle.
Throughout the evening, Cindy appeared in four different dresses, costing a total of *1.7 million, and a large marquee alongside the castle allowed the guests plenty room to enjoy the festivities.
Three camera crews one from a Belgian reality TV show and others from Holland and Belgium captured the spectacular event for posterity.
Western People