Having failed miserably in The Cheltenham Gold Cup, The Grand National and picking the obvious winner of the Open Championship (sorry Padraig), I have never been much of a gambler. However, when it comes to the Stock Market I have for a long time now fancied sticking a few bob on a mix of shares and watching their share price rocket ! With on line gambling becoming more accessible, banks and brokers are giving customers to option to take such a flutter on line.

Here is the links to look into this in more detail

http://www.rabodirect.ie/investments/default.aspx

https://www.davydirect.ie/

https://online.goodbody.ie/ 

Press Release                                                                                     17 July 2008

Embargo: Thursday 17/7/08

Minister Curran announces almost €300,000 for community and voluntary organisations

Mr John Curran T.D., Minister of State (with special responsibility for Community Affairs and the National Drugs Strategy) at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is pleased to announce further funding of €295,000 for 9 community and voluntary organisations across the country. The organisations funded are involved in a range of activities, which address disadvantage in their communities.

The funding is awarded through the Programme of Grants for Locally-Based Community and Voluntary Organisations, which provided support through once-off grants for the provision of equipment and the refurbishment of premises.

Two new and improved Programmes have recently been launched, the first of which will continue to provide funding to local community and voluntary groups for the provision of equipment and the refurbishment of premises. The second Programme will provide funding to both local and national groups towards training costs. Applications for funding under both programmes are now being accepted.

Announcing this round of funding Minister Curran said:

“I am delighted to announce this funding today which I have no doubt will bring exciting results as it is put to good use in communities across Ireland. Since this particular Programme was launched funding in the region of €9 million has been approved, which is a very significant investment by the Government directly into local communities and I believe all sectors of our society will benefit as a result from this investment.  I wish also to express my gratitude to the community workers and volunteers throughout the country for their active involvement in bringing the benefits of this Programme to their communities.”

A full list of beneficiaries is available on the Department’s website at www.pobail.ie.

Issued by the Press & Information Office of the Dept. of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs

Tel:  01 647 3130 Fax: 01 667 0826  Ruairí Mac Unfraidh 087 795 6378

Email: eolas@pobail.ie Website: www.pobail.ie

Just to let you know, we now provide a full payroll service to organisations of all sizes.

- We cater for unlimited number of employees.

- They can be hourly, weekly, monthly etc.

- We fulfill all Revenue requirements (Payslips, P60’s P45’s P35’s, P30’s).

- Easy analysis by department if required.

Just drop us a line for further details and we can provide you with a very competitive quote.

Jason McDowell

McDowell & Co

Accountants

McDowell and Co Accountants, Main St Manorhamilton Co Leitrim, would like to remind you of the following key dates in JULY 2008 :

Date

14^th         PAYE/PRSI deductions for June to be paid.

                VAT – filing of intrastate reports for June.

19^th         Payment of May-June VAT and file VAT3.

21^st         Companies with year ending 31/08/2008 – prelim tax due.

                Companies y/e 31/10/07 pay balance of Corporation tax due and file CT return.

John Curran, T.D., Minister of State  (with special responsibility for the National Drugs Strategy and Community Affairs) at the Department of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs, is pleased to announce funding of over €370,000 for a further 69 applicant organisations under the Scheme of Community Support for Older People (CSOP).

This is the sixth tranche of funding under the scheme and brings the amount of funding approved to date in 2008 to €1.7m

The purpose of this Scheme is to encourage and assist the community’s support for older people through the community based provision of socially monitored alarm systems, and security equipment such as sensor lighting, window locks, door locks, door chains, smoke alarms and in the case of qualifying older people living on our offshore islands, interior emergency lighting.

Applications can be made throughout the year, thereby allowing applicants to benefit from the wide range of security aids available as the need arises.

Announcing the funding, Minister Curran said:

“I am delighted to announce funding to further 69 organisations under the Scheme of Community Support for Older People. The installation of this equipment will afford peace of mind and enhance the safety of many older members in our society. I wish to express my gratitude to the voluntary groups throughout Ireland for their active involvement in bringing the benefits of this Scheme to their communities.”

The full list of beneficiaries are available on the Department’s website at www.pobail.ie

Investing money these days in a banks deposit account can yield little or no return. Most banks currently offer rates of about 5%. Once you have paid DIRT on the gain, and compare that to todays leveles of inflation, you will see you might has well have left the money under your mattress !!

Here’s another example to highlight exactly the value of money on deposit.

In 1990 you put €1.00 in a deposit account. You leave it there until December 2007 and its risen to €209. However, taking into account inflation its real value is only €2.00 !!

The same sum invested into the Irish Stock Market, with dividends re invested each year, would have been worth €13,478. Allowing for inflation the shareholder would have €128.

That’s quite a difference and obviously with the stock market, there are ups and downs.

2006 was a hard year for investors with losses of about 30%.

But if you can hang on, and leave your investment there for a number of years, the benefits are obvious.

If you have a tax query or a general financial questions please post it here and I will answer it as soon as possible. Thanks Jason McDowell

With everyone being told to tighten their belts as the recession looms over us here is a quick and easy way of saving money.

Like death & tax’s, insurance is another cost we can’t escape !

But now with www.chill.ie we can soften the blow.

Within a few minutes of filling in a few basic questions you can save HUNDREDS of euros on your insurance bill. And it covers, house, life, car health, travel  etc.

It works just like a broker, except you get to see what the competition is charging. And it does work !!!

Let me know how you get on.