Connacht Tribune
Using the power of nature for bees and humans
Lifestyle – Dara Scott’s passion for bee-keeping began when he was living in New Zealand. Since then, the Galway man has moved from deep-sea exploration to developing a seaweed-based supplement to keep honeybees healthy and productive. It’s become a leading product in a niche market. Now his company is branching out into a bodycare range that’s also based on natural products, as he tells JUDY MURPHY.
When physics graduate Dara Scott took a year out from his career in 2002 to travel to New Zealand and work on organic farms in return for bed and board, he discovered honeybees. It was the beginning of a fascination that was to ultimately change his career path – although that didn’t happen immediately.
“Everywhere I went I could the see beehives,” he says of his New Zealand experience. It was different to Ireland where hives are generally not visible and it piqued his interest.
Dara, who was born in Galway City and whose family later moved to Moycullen, studied at GMIT and NUIG, and joined Bayer Ireland after college. Based in Dublin, he was involved in research, development and quality control in the area of medical instruments.
But it wasn’t for him, so he left to go travelling throughout Asia and on to New Zealand where his growing fascination with honeybees left him determined to get into bee-keeping. That’s what he did, gradually, while also continuing to work in his specialist scientific field.
After his ‘gap year’ Dara went on to spend almost a decade working with the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, which is based in Cape Cod in the USA. It’s the world’s leading, independent, non-profit body dedicated to ocean research, exploration and education.
Dara was responsible for managing its underwater robot, Jason which at the time, was the deepest ocean robot in the world capable of travelling to depths of 6,500 metres (four miles).
Based out of Hawaii and Seattle, the job required a lot of travel – mostly to the Pacific region – because the ocean there is deeper, he explains.
The intensive nature of the contract work meant that when he was off, Dara could return to Ireland for lengthy periods.
That was when he followed his passion for honeybees, having begun keeping them after returning from New Zealand in the early 2000s. Dara had attended a meeting of the Galway Beekeepers’ Association. Its chairman, Professor Breandán Ó Cochláin, took the younger man under his wing.
“He kindly took me out and I learned by watching him,” Dara recalls of Professor Ó Cochláin who taught Physical Chemistry at NUIG. And the professor also gave Dara his first hive. That happened when he was called to deal with a swarm in the city and Dara accompanied him.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Significant state investment is required to address ‘shocking’ inequalities that leave cancer patients in the West at greater risk of succumbing to the disease.
A meeting of Regional Health Forum West heard that survival rates for breast, lung and colorectal cancers than the national average, and with the most deprived quintile of the population, the West’s residents faced poorer outcomes from a cancer diagnosis.
For breast cancer patients, the five-year survival rate was 80% in the West versus 85% nationally; for lung cancer patients it was 16.7% in the west against a 19.5% national survival rate; and in the West’s colorectal cancer patients, there was a 62.6% survival rate where the national average was 63.1%.
These startling statistics were provided in answer to a question from Ballinasloe-based Cllr Evelyn Parsons (Ind) who said it was yet another reminder that cancer treatment infrastructure in the West was in dire need of improvement.
“The situation is pretty stark. In the Western Regional Health Forum area, we have the highest incidence of deprivation and the highest health inequalities because of that – we have the highest incidences of cancer nationally because of that,” said Cllr Parsons, who is also a general practitioner.
In details provided by CEO of Saolta Health Care Group, which operates Galway’s hospitals, it was stated that a number of factors were impacting on patient outcomes.
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Galway 3-18
Cork 1-10
NEW setting; new opposition; new challenge. It made no difference to the Galway minor hurlers as they chalked up a remarkable sixth consecutive double digits championship victory at Semple Stadium on Saturday.
The final scoreline in Thurles may have been a little harsh on Cork, but there was no doubting Galway’s overall superiority in setting up only a second-ever All-Ireland showdown against Clare at the same venue on Sunday week.
Having claimed an historic Leinster title the previous weekend, Galway took a while to get going against the Rebels and also endured their first period in a match in which they were heavily outscored, but still the boys in maroon roll on.
Beating a decent Cork outfit by 14 points sums up how formidable Galway are. No team has managed to lay a glove on them so far, and though Clare might ask them questions other challengers haven’t, they are going to have to find significant improvement on their semi-final win over 14-man Kilkenny to pull off a final upset.
Galway just aren’t winning their matches; they are overpowering the teams which have stood in their way. Their level of consistency is admirable for young players starting off on the inter-county journey, while the team’s temperament appears to be bombproof, no matter what is thrown at them.
Having romped through Leinster, Galway should have been a bit rattled by being only level (0-4 each) after 20 minutes and being a little fortunate not to have been behind; or when Cork stormed out of the blocks at the start of the second half by hitting 1-4 to just a solitary point in reply, but there was never any trace of panic in their ranks.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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GARDAÍ and the IFA have issued a joint appeal to all road users to take extra care as the silage season gets under way across the country.
Silage harvesting started in many parts of Galway last week – and over the coming month, the sight of tractors and trailers on rural roads will be getting far more frequent.
Inspector Conor Madden, who is in charge of Galway Roads Policing, told the Farming Tribune that a bit of extra care and common-sense from all road users would go a long way towards preventing serious collisions on roads this summer.
“One thing I would ask farmers and contractors to consider is to try and get more experienced drivers working for them.
“Tractors have got faster and bigger – and they are also towing heavy loads of silage – so care and experience are a great help in terms of accident prevention,” Inspector Madden told the Farming Tribune.
He said that tractor drivers should always be aware of traffic building up behind them and to pull in and let these vehicles pass, where it was safe to do so.
“By the same token, other road users should always exercise extra care; drive that bit slower; and ‘pull in’ that bit more, when meeting tractors and heavy machinery.
“We all want to see everyone enjoying a safe summer on our roads – that extra bit of care, and consideration for other roads users can make a huge difference,” said Conor Madden.
He also advised motorists and tractor drivers to be acutely aware of pedestrians and cyclists on the roads during the summer season when more people would be out walking and cycling on the roads.
The IFA has also joined in on the road safety appeal with Galway IFA Farm Family and Social Affairs Chair Teresa Roche asking all road users to exercise that extra bit of care and caution.
“We are renewing our annual appeal for motorists to be on the look out for tractors, trailers and other agricultural machinery exiting from fields and farmyards,” she said.
For more, read this week’s Connacht Tribune.
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Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Or purchase the Digital Edition for PC, Mac or Laptop from Pagesuite HERE.
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The Connacht Tribune Live app is the home of everything that is happening in Galway City and county. It’s completely FREE and features all the latest news, sport and information on what’s on in your area. Click HERE to download it for iPhone and iPad from Apple’s App Store, or HERE to get the Android Version from Google Play.
Families queue up for school’s offer of free house
West has lower cancer survival rates than rest
Galway minors continue to lay waste to all opponents
Gardaí and IFA issue a joint appeal on summer road safety
Marathon Man plans to call a halt – but not before he hits 160 races
