The Aussie soared after the Reserve Bank decided to leave interest rates on hold.

The move surprised the markets and saw the currency reach a new high against the embattled Euro.

At 3pm today (Tuesday) the Aussie was buying €0.8236, US$1.0787 and £0.6824.

The Aussie dollar has not dropped below 70 euro cents since August 2010.

In December 2008, the Australian dollar was buying just 49 euro cents. The currency has appreciated by almost 81 per cent against the euro since then.

In October 2008, the exchange rate was just 38.73 pence. The Aussie dollar has appreciated by over 78 per cent against the pound in just over two years.

Richard Donovan in Sydney, after becoming the only man to run seven marathons on seven continents in less than five days. (Pic: PA)

An Irish ultra runner has revealed a bottle of beer helped him become the only man on the planet to run seven marathons on seven continents in less than five days.

Galway man Richard Donovan broke his own record by completing his final run in Sydney last night to make a total time of four days, 22 hours and three minutes.

The 45-year-old admitted sleep deprivation, running, and travelling through different time zones and temperatures took its toll on his body.

“I was absolutely wrecked. I wasn’t even able to keep down water,” he said.

“We came to desperate measures in Sydney and I chanced a beer.

“I had one bottle of Heineken during the race for some carbs and one at the end of it.

“It was the first time something stayed down in days.”

Mr Donovan, a father-of-one, began his epic quest in the extremes of Antarctica last Wednesday, running the first 26-mile leg in -20C at the Russian Novo science base.

He has since ran 183 miles and flown 27,055 miles.

His round-the-world marathon took him from Antarctica to Cape Town, South Africa, to Sao Paulo, Brazil; Orlando, USA; London, UK; Hong Kong and finally Sydney.

His last record stood at five days, 10 hours and eight minutes.

Mr Donovan completed the endurance challenge on a shoestring budget out of his own pocket to raise awareness of the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa.

Money raised through online donations at www.worldmarathonchallenge.com will go to Irish aid agency Goal.

Travelling alone and flying economy class, he said the hardest part was concentrating in airports and catching flights while fatigued.

But the Galway man, who is an experienced marathon runner at both Poles, commended race organisers and supporters in each city, which included the Brazilian air force, athletics chiefs and former Olympic Games officials.

“I have a lot of training behind me as an ultra marathon runner so I have a certain amount of experience of moving while dead on my feet and that helped the mental and physical and emotional management,” he added.

“I never contemplated I was not going to finish.”

Mr Donovan, who was inspired to attempt the challenge in 2009 after the failed bid by British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes, revealed he has no desire to set himself another record.

“I plan to lie down on a beach tomorrow and the day after and leave here on Thursday so I’ll be back in Ireland on Friday,” he said, speaking from his bed in Sydney.

The ANZ job ads index jumped by six per cent in January.

The number of jobs advertised in Australia in January rose by the most in almost two years, new figures show.

The ANZ job ads index increased six per cent in January, easily reversing a 0.9 per cent decline in December, marking the largest rise in job ads since February 2010. It’s expected this will undercut the need for the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) to cut interest rates.

According to the index, internet job ads rose by 6.4 per cent in January, while newspaper ads fell 2.6 per cent for the month.

Speaking to the Sydney Morning Herald, ANZ head of Australian Economics and Property Research Ivan Colhoun said that if this month’s job ads data can be sustained over the coming months, any rise in unemployment should remain “very modest”.

“Against this local backdrop and that of a persistently weak – but not worsening – global economy, we have forecast that the RBA will need to cut interest rates by 25 basis points in the first quarter, most probably in March,” he said.

ANZ is also predicting that the RBA will its cash rate unchanged at 4 per cent when it meets tomorrow.

Alan Hurley, from Ballymacoda, Cork, is raising a few laughs in New Zealand. (Pic: PJ Ahern)

A Cork comedian has won the New Zealand Comedy Guild Award for Best Newcomer.

Alan Hurley, from Ballymacoda but based in Auckland for the last 18 months, was selected by his peers to receive the award following a series of side-splitting performances, which included a routine aired on New Zealand television.

Alan spoke to the Irish Echo about his delight of receiving the award.

“I was delighted by it. Really shocked that I got it, when I went up to give my speech I was completely speechless, which is ironic considering it is my profession to stand up on stage and tell jokes. I was really dumbfounded.”

He continued, “I awoke the next day with a fuzzy head and a hint of confusion before I realised I had won. I only went in to work that day because they have really good coffee in the office.”

Alan works as a civil engineer in Auckland and is a graduate of University College Cork (UCC).

His stand up career got off to a bumpy start, when he entered a comedy competition in UCC, singing some self-penned comedy songs.

He was, unfortunately, too drunk to win, to sing distinctly, or even play in tune.

However, upon realising that there was actual prize money for the winner, he sobered up in time for the next year’s competition, winning it with some straight stand-up and thus began his stand-up comedy career.

In December, he appeared on a comedy special called AotearoHA: Next Big Things on New Zealand’s TV3.

Hurley is the second Irish comedian to win the award, after Dubliner Alan McElroy triumphed in 2010 and follows in the footsteps of previous winners, Sarah Harpur, Urzila Carlson, Rhys Matthewson, Jim Brown and Andrew Holland.

It has proved to be an educational transition to the comedy circuit in New Zealand, as he swiftly adapted to the local style of humour compared to the Irish wit.

“Performing in New Zealand is a lot different to performing in Ireland. Besides having to talk slower, a lot slower, I had to trade a lot of my Irish references for international references. In New Zealand, the humour is a lot dryer and very stop/start. You perform a joke and immediately they want to know what the next one is,” he said.

“Some of my material is about the expectations of the traveling Irish. In one bit I talk about how I was asked for ID in a bar in Hamilton and the barmaid said, she didn’t think I looked very Irish after looking at my passport, what was she expecting, for me to be walking in the door eating potatoes?”

Alan is currently organizing gigs for March when he returns to Cork for a break.

Figures released by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC) show that Irish citizens were granted 3,100 primary 457 visas up to December 31 last year.

This is 68 per cent higher than the figure for the same period in 2010-11.

The four-year 457s are temporary residence visas offered to skilled workers and their dependants who are sponsored by an Australian company.

Primary visa grants refer to people who applied for sponsorship for their own behalf, while secondary applicants are those attached to partners’ applications.

The top three citizenship countries for primary visa grants from July to the end of December 2011 were the United Kingdom (24.8 per cent), India (17.6 per cent) and the Republic of Ireland (9.2 per cent).

The number of primary visa holders in Australia at 31 December 2011 was 68,320 – an increase of 14.5 per cent compared with the same date in the previous year.

Overall, the number of 457 primary visa applications lodged from July to the end of December 2011 was 36.7 per cent higher than the same period in 2010.

Although application lodgements tend to ease in December due to the holiday season, the number of primary applications lodged in December 2011 was still 20.9 per cent higher than in December 2010.

Offshore primary visa lodgements for the period were 43.4 per cent higher than the same period in 2010, reflecting a continued strong demand for temporary skilled workers.

New South Wales emerged as the most nominated position location for migrants.

It held 34 per cent of 457 primary visa grants during that period, followed by Western Australia (23.4 per cent) and Victoria (19.7 per cent).

These states were also the top three nominated locations for primary subclass 457 visa grants in the last programme year.

Following this trend, Irish citizens made up 2,240 of the 457 visa holders in NSW as of the end of December, followed by 1,280 in resource-rich Western Australia and 1,090 in Victoria.

The number of subclass 457 visa holders granted a permanent residence visa in December 2011 was 5.2 per cent higher than in December 2010. The majority (96.3 per cent) were in the skilled stream and 3.7 per cent were in the family migration category.

There was little change in the top three industries for primary visa grants, with construction (13.6 per cent), other services (12.7 per cent) and health care and social assistance (12.2 per cent).

Patrick Crilly, 25, sued The Bumble Group, who employed a security guard working at the Moore View Park Hotel in Waterloo.

Mr Crilly is a steel an metal fabricator from Cookstown, in Tyrone.

The Daily Telegraph reports that Mr Crilly has been living in Brisbane since a security guard grabbed him and punched him on the lower jaw under the chin, causing him to fall to the ground.

When his head hit the ground, he fell unconscious and began vomiting.

The court heard he lost hearing in his right ear, suffered balance problems and bleeding on his brain.

The security guard received a suspended jail term following a conviction for assault occasioning bodily harm.

District Court Judge Leonard Levy ordered The Bumble Group, trading as My Security, to pay Mr Crilly $200,000 in general damages and $100,000 in other damages.

The Telegraph reports that Judge Levy said Mr Crilly had done nothing to provoke the assault and “he was an entirely innocent victim”.

Mourners gathered to remember Subakette founder Mick Daly. (Pic: Supplied)

Well-known Irish businessman Mick Daly was laid to rest yesterday at Castle Hill Cemetery in north-west Sydney.

Hundreds of friends, relatives, work mates and members of the Irish community packed into St Bernadette’s Catholic Church for the funeral mass.

Concelebrant Fr Tom Devereux, Sydney’s Irish community chaplain, said that it was one of the largest gatherings of mourners he had seen.

“This is what happens when someone who is clearly loved by the community, dies,” he said. “The community comes together.”

Mr Daly’s coffin was adorned in green, white and orange flowers and Brusna Town, one of his favourites songs, was played as his remains were carried from the church.

Mr Daly, originally from the village of Knocknagoshel in Co Kerry, passed away on January 27 at the age of 63 after a long battle with illness.

During his many years in Sydney, Mr Daly built a large pipe-laying business, Subakette, employing many young Irish workers along the way.

Among the mourners were many former employees and colleagues of Mr Daly as well as his wife Alice, children Bart, Michael and Olivia and grandchildren Ronan and Owen.

Meath woman Madeleine Le Surf has received the Medal of the Order of Australia. (Pic: Manly Daily/Martin Lange)

A Meath woman living in Sydney has been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in recognition of her services to the community of Manly.

Madeleine Le Surf, 72, who is originally from Kells County Meath, began volunteering when her son first started going to school in Manly 45 years ago, but decided to keep it up after her son graduated.

“In those days the mothers automatically got together at the school and worked together,” she said.

“But when my son left school I did some community services, and I also formed the caring service down at our church. We are ministers of the Eucharist so we take communion out to people every Sunday — we are all working together for the good of the people in our parish.”

Mrs Le Surf has also been an organiser of the Parish Christmas Luncheon for the elderly since the 1980s.

She established the Manly Soup Kitchen in conjunction with local churches in 1988, and has also been a member of Manly Hospital Pastoral Care since 1995.

In 2000 Mrs Le Surf was recognised as the Manly Citizen of the Year, and in 1997 she received the New South Wales Premier’s Award for her outstanding contribution to the community.

Mrs Le Surf , who worked as an aged care nurse before moving to Australia 51 years ago, said she doesn’t think of volunteering as “work”.

“It has been good being able to go out and visit all these people and be able to help them a little bit,” she said.

“Back in Ireland in my early days that was what we were brought up to do, to share with other people less fortunate than ourselves, and I have met some absolutely wonderful people doing caring service and community work in general.

“I go to the hospital every Sunday and I meet some wonderful people there. It is nice to bring them a little TLC, I have always liked doing something for somebody.”

Although she became an Australian citizen some 40 years ago, Mrs Le Surf said she enjoys visiting Ireland regularly.

“I went back last year and I am hoping to go next year, too. I have cousins in Kells and Navan and some of the women I did nursing with live there, so we all have a good old chat about things,” she said.

Mrs Le Surf added that she has always been passionate about caring for the elderly and that she is looking forward to going to Government House in May to be presented with her Medal of the Order of Australia.

“It feels good because I have met some wonderful people through my work and we all enjoy working together. It is quite an honour to be presented with anything like that,”  she added.

Avondale nursing home, Kilkenny.

Gardaí are investigating whether two former directors of an Irish nursing home were properly vetted before they were hired to work with elderly people in Melbourne.

Miriam Holmes, who is accused of “reckless abandonment” of residents in her care at the Avondale nursing home in County Kilkenny had until recently been managing the Plumpton Villa facility in Glenroy.

Ms Holmes’ daughter Hayley had also been working as a clinical care co-ordinator in the 90-bed nursing home.

The pair left for Australia while the Health Information and Quality Authority (HIQA) secured a court order to shut down the Kilkenny nursing home in July 2011 amid concerns over the health and safety of patients.

The two women have not been seen in Ireland since boarding a bus heading for Dublin Airport on July 22 last, the day after the Avondale home was closed.

Gardaí are also investigating a number of serious allegations that the pair stole several thousand euro, medication and public service cards from residents there.

The Irish Independent reports that officers are now in the final stages of preparing a file for the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), and that it was not yet clear if the pair had been vetted before they were re-employed in Australia.

The head of the company Craigcare, which runs the Glenroy home, confirmed that Miriam and Hayley Holmes had worked at the Plumpton Villa facility.

However chief executive John Gillett added that the home had received clearance from both Irish and Australian authorities to employ the women, and that the pair had been working in Glenroy for “several months”.

He said that the company had employed the services of an immigration lawyer and that the relevant authorities in both countries had carried out checks.

“We received clearance from both the Australian Federal Police and the relevant authorities and also the Irish police and authorities that both these candidates were okay to be employed by us,” he said.

Mr Gillett added that he was “saddened” that the company’s good name had been brought into the matter.

Sources close to Craigcare indicated that the employment of both women was recently terminated due to “operational issues”.

Chief Supt Mick McGarry said that Gardaí would look for the voluntary return of the pair if they are found to have committed a crime.

He added that if the women do not return of their own volition, Gardaí would go to “whatever length it takes” to extradite the pair.

Tumble Circus perform as part of the Jacksons Lane Postcards Festival in London in July, 2011. (Pic: Jane Hobson)

Roll up, roll up, the circus is coming to town — and it’s Irish.

Tumble Circus sees Belfast-based Dubliner Ken Fanning and his Swedish co-star Tina Segner take their act to the stage for their third Australian tour in three years.

Described as a circus of the absurd, the latest show “This is what we do for a living” sees the pair blend humour with acrobatics, hazardous aerial tricks and flying hula hoops.

“There has to be a lot of comedy of course, because we’re Irish,” said Ken.

“But we try to weave narratives into our stories to create a modern circus.”

According to Ken, who teamed up with Tina after a chance meeting on Dublin’s Grafton Street 15 years ago, Australia is one of the best places for contemporary circus enthusiasts to try their luck.

“Australia has some of the pivotal circus companies, and has a 30 year history of contemporary circus so the audiences here have a very high regard for what we do,” said Ken.

“We were working with Lunar Circus in Western Australia in the early days there was no other new circus company touring in Western Australia, and the audience really didn’t know what to make of us.

“But then in Ireland there is no real tradition of contemporary circus, there are only one or two other companies besides ourselves and they are also very small, and we are better known over here because we have been coming to Australia every summer for the last 12 years.”

The pair have just finished a stint at a circus festival in Carindale where they spent a month performing, teaching and training.

“We have just had one of the best times of our lives at the festival in Western Australia where we spent a month teaching kids how to perform,” Ken said.

We have been teaching these kids for the past 10 years and now that they are young adults, and are probably better than us, they are ready to start their own circus careers. It’s a phenomenal legacy we have left and we are very proud of them.”

Ken added that the pair are really looking forward to performing across Perth and Adelaide, before heading to France to work on their new material.

“We are in Perth at the moment, and then it’s then off to Adelaide, then we can go home for a bit before we head to France to rehearse the new show,” he said.

“This show is just me and Tina, but sometimes we do bigger shows with five or six other people. Circus training is a very long process because you have to perfect the skills. We started the process of learning our new show a year ago and now we can’t wait to put it all together with a director.

“We have our own big top back in Ireland to do shows in so were a proper circus but a small one — and a modern one,” he added.

For more information on Tumble Circus see http://tumblecircus.com/