GALWAY PHARMA GIANT SETS UP EURO HQ
One of the top pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the U.S. is to set up its European headquarters in Galway, it was announced last week in New York.
The Galway Advertiser reports that Delcath Systems, Inc. which is primarily involved in the production of cancer-fighting drugs and the delivery of chemotherapy, announced that the company will base its European operations in Galway and that it has formed Delcath Systems Limited an Irish company under which it will establish its European operations.
The Galway headquarters will open in the next three months and initial recruitment has already commenced, with posts in a variety of disciplines, such as sales and marketing, to be advertised and filled before the end of the year.
As part of the establishment of its European operations base in Ireland, Delcath Limited will receive financial support from IDA Ireland, which has been successful in attracting foreign investment to the country.
WATERFORD DENTIST SINKS INTO DEBT
A company owned by Carlow dentist Jim Madden has been placed into "share receivership" over a debt of €85 million, the Carlow Nationalist reports.
Anglo Irish Bank this week appointed Kieran Wallace and Barry Donohue of KPMG as "share receivers" to Dr. Madden's company, Euro Care International, the company that owns Whitfield Clinic in Waterford City.
Whitfield Clinic has 40 inpatient beds and employs 160 people. It was opened in 2006 at a cost of €74 million.
The "share receivership" means the hospital itself is not in receivership so any debts it owes cannot be walked away from under its new controllers.
Whitfield Clinic was developed by Madden and his wife Mary in 2006.
The couple had similar ambitious plans for a primary care centre at Dublin Road, Carlow, where patents would be able to get scans, blood samples and MRIs, but this remains at the planning stage.
In an interview in 2006 Dr Madden expected the proposed Carlow clinic to provide complementary services to Whitfield in Waterford and to open in 2008 at a cost between €55 million and €60 million.
The couple's daughter, Aimee, was chief executive of the hospital in Waterford before the receivers appointed Philomena Shovlin, a former CEO of St Vincent's Private Hospital in Dublin, as interim manager to run the hospital.
They also added a number of directors to the board of the company.
LONGFORD LOCAL WAS HERO ON NIGHT TO REMEMBER
Killoe is planning to erect a memorial to James Farrell, whose heroism when the Titanic sank features regularly in films and TV shows based on the tragedy, the Longford Leader reports.
Born on a small family farm in the townland of Clonee, the 26-year-old Farrell purchased a ticket to travel on the RMS Titanic in the spring of 1912. Katie Gilnagh and Katie Mullan from the nearby townland of Rhyne also purchased tickets and all three were placed in third-class steerage aboard the ill-fated ship.
"Katie Gilnagh and Katie Mullen were alerted to the impending disaster by James Farrell who then accompanied them to a barrier that led to the upper deck. This is recorded in Walter Lord's landmark book, 'A Night to Remember,'" said local researcher John Devaney about a work that was made into a movie in 1958.
"Having ensured the women's safety, Farrell then led them to Lifeboat 16 and they were among the last to board. Katie Gilnagh's shawl had blown off and the final act of kindness from Farrell was to give her his cap to cover her head," The last sighting of the Killoe man was of him kneeling beside his suitcase saying the rosary and it was eight days after the sinking when his body was recovered from the sea. He was still clutching his rosary beads."
On April 24, nine days after the Titanic sunk, James Farrell's body was sealed in canvas, given a brief religious service and consigned to the sea.
Having been rescued, Katie Gilnagh settled in New York and later married. Her picture also appeared in a 1953 Life Magazine account of the tragedy. She died on March 1, 1971, on Long Island, at the age of 75. Katie Mullan also lived in New York for the rest of her life. She married Martin Kearns and they had four children. She died on Nov. 1, 1970.
MEATH STAR POWER DESCENDS ON SLANE
French superstars Gérard Depardieu and Catherine Deneuve will be in County Meath this week as cameras roll on the fourth installment in the Astérix and Obélix franchise, "Astérix and Obélix: God Save Britannia."
The successful French franchise, which has an estimated €50 million budget, will be filming at the Boyne in Slane, as well as in Drogheda, Co. Louth, at locations all around County Wicklow, and then on the limestone plateau of the Burren, Co. Clare, in the country's Southwest.
It will be the first 3D live action feature to be filmed in Ireland and will be shot on 3D digital. The Irish production company Octagon said in a statement that it was "delighted" that its French partners will be spending five weeks filming in Ireland.
The 67-year-old legend Deneuve has been an international star since the mid-1960s. In 2010, she criticized derogatory remarks her bulky co-star Depardieu, 62, made about another major French actress Juliette Binoche. Recently, Depardieu saw Binoche in a Parisian market and apologized, something that will likely lessen tensions on Irish film sets in coming days.
CLARE SPIELBERG DROPS IN
The Burren, which is eagerly awaiting the descent of the cream of French filmmakers this week, last month had a more casual visit from entertained director and producer Steven Spielberg
He delighted the owners of a tearoom with a special pilgrimage to sample their cheesecake en route to the recent royal wedding in Monaco, the Irish Independent reports.
He drove 40 miles to An Fear Gorta, tea and garden rooms in Ballyvaughan, Co Clare, after landing at Shannon Airport in his private jet from New York.
He had only a few hours before he was due to jet off to Monaco to attend the wedding last month of Prince Albert and Charlene Wittstock.
Alan Clarke, 26, who runs the cafe with his partner Jane O'Donoghue, also 26, said they were delighted when the Oscar-winning film director and producer rang the night before to reserve a table for lunch the following day.
"He walked in on a busy Saturday and said, 'I'm back for the cheesecake'," Clarke reported. "When a Hollywood director walks in like that it's a bit surreal."
Spielberg discovered the tearoom in 2009 when he was staying with a group of fellow Americans who rent holiday homes.
"We were so overwhelmed that this man was coming to sample our food," he said.
This time he told them he would be back as the Burren is one of his favorite places in Europe.
Unfortunately, the cake had sold out as he was leaving, but he did get a carrot cake to take away.
— Compiled by Peter McDermottpmcdermott@irishecho.com
