This article is from page 86 of the 2008-10-21 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 86 JPG
SCARIFF native Margaret Hoey, could teach us all a thing or two about recessions, depressions and upswings.
Margaret celebrated her 105th birth- day, and enjoyed cutting her cake to share with family and friends while doling out a dose of common sense about the budget which was an- nounced the same day.
On hand to help her blow out the candles were five children, 15 grand- children and 11 great-grandchildren.
The secret to her long life, she be- lieves is to “forget about yourself and live away”.
The spry pensioner like watching sport on TV, particularly hurling and rugby and she keeps abreast of cur- KS) 01 MEAN BEAD BuCe
Margaret’s take on one the harshest budgets in her lifetime is that there was too much money being flung around anyway.
Margaret has lived through world events that most have only read about in the history books, including the hard times that the State suffered
during the Anglo-Irish economic war of the 1930s. Born in 1903, the year St Patrick’s Day was made a na- tional holiday, she has lived through the sinking of the Titanic, the end of British rule in most of Ireland, the roll-out of electricity, two world wars, the advent of television, eight Irish Presidents and the rise and de- cline of the Celtic Tiger.
The native of Poulnagower, Scar- iff, believes that much of the coun- try’s current woes stem from the fact that “everyone is too well paid..the salaries and wages are too high for a
small country and the borrowing is too much for people these days with their big empty homes. We just can’t afford it. The good days didn’t last long, it wasn’t permanent,” she said.
Sr Christine Murphy of the Carrig- oran nursing home where Margaret is currently resident, described her as “‘a true lady and an inspiration to Oe