Seaplanes To Operate From April 2011

Harbour Flights To Operate From Cobh In April 2011

On Tuesday 1st December in the Quays Bar & Restaurant, Cobh it was officially announced that Harbour Flights Ireland had received planning permission and will commence their commercial Seaplane operations in Cobh from April next year.

Harbour Flights Ireland is an innovative company that will be the first company to introduce commercial sea plane operations in Ireland.

Mayor of Cobh, Finbarr O’Driscoll was one of many guests present and expressed his delight of what the future is bringing. He commended Harbour Flights’ courage and commitment to this project and finished by saying “Where there is a will there is a way”. Also in attendence were John O’Keeffe, retired from the Dept of the Marine, Jack Hickey (Naval Service), and David O’Sullivan from Cork’s 96 & 103FM

Emelyn Heaps (also a published author – see below) spoke of Cobh’s terrific tourist industry and how the Seaplane service can add a new aspect. It’s been a three year long dream of Emelyn’s to have bases all over Ireland which will mean that all parts of Ireland will be accessible for tourists and business people alike.  He ended by saying thank you to the people of Cobh for their support throughout without which none of this would have been made possible.

Cronin Millar Consulting Engineers which is based in Cobh and run by Adam Cronin, will be providing all the professional and technical services and advice in relation to the development of the infrastructure required for the Irish Seaplane operation.

Today, December 1st An Board Pleanala has also upheld the granting of planning by Galway City Council for Harbour Flights Ireland Ltd to development their sea plane service in Galway Harbour.

Further Information please contact:
Emelyn Heaps   087 2745370
Stewart Curtis  086 8167018

Published Author – Emelyn Heaps

Heaps of Trouble by Emelyn Heaps – Devilment in Dublin 8

An engaging account of growing up in Dublin during the 1950s and 1960s, Emelyn’s story is set against the lively backdrop of Everybody’s toyshop in Inchicore. Blunt and unfailingly candid, Emelyn peppers the tales of his troubled childhood with hilarious depictions of his mischievous escapades.
Emelyn didn’t have the easiest time growing up: his alcoholic father was constantly at loggerheads with his mother; his early school days at the infamous Goldenbridge Convent were made even more difficult by dyslexia; and his beloved only sister, Catherine, was killed in a tragic
explosion, which also left Emelyn with excruciating injuries.

But it wasn’t all bad – not for Emelyn and his friend Naty, at least. They entertained themselves by terrorising the neighbourhood with a mixture of fireworks and a homemade exploding mixture of sodium chlorate and sugar. On one of their first guerrilla attacks Naty and Emelyn cleared the Black Lion pub with five bangers, creating mayhem and causing one old-timer to question, ‘Is it the bleeden’ Germans again?’ The Workman’s Club on Emmet Road was a regular target where bangers were dropped onto the laps of unsuspecting drinkers while they were relieving themselves. Even CIE didn’t escape the boys’ antics as they tossed fireworks into the 21A bus with sniper-like precision and then took to their heels to avoid the irate conductor.

The heartbreak of his sister’s death and how it turned his family upside down had its brighter side when ‘compo’ was in the offing and Emelyn’s account of the resulting court case is in turn distressing, sad and comic. Desperate to avoid the confusing terror of the classroom, Emelyn ‘mitched’ from school and spent the summer holidays in familial bliss on his Uncle Matty’s farm in east Cork – a place he describes as his saving grace and the only thing that kept him from becoming a complete ‘Dublin gurrier’.

Emelyn the entrepreneur comes into his own in his late teenage years as he attempts to gather enough money to buy ‘the machine’ – a twin cylinder, four stroke motorbike that went like the clappers. Wonderfully madcap, unflinchingly honest and never bitter, Emelyn’s story is like Angela’s Ashes but without the rain and the misery.

Emelyn Heaps is a native of Dublin and now lives in County Clare. At 19, he married and purchased 40 acres of mountain land in Cork. Later he sold the farm, divorced and spent time developing light aircraft. He emigrated to the West Indies in 1988, returning to Ireland in 2001 to build a new life in County Clare in tourism. His hobbies include writing, golf and horse riding.

ISBN: 978-1-84889-041-1 • Price: €12.99/£11.99 • Pb • 198 x 128 mm • 256 pp
For further information, photographs, images or interviews with the author please contact:
Gillian Hennessy: Tel: 021-4347717 / e-mail: gillian@collinspress.ie
Con Collins: Mob: 087-2513922 / e-mail: con.collins@collinspress.ie