Ireland's Eye: What's going on in the old sod

“The culprits will face heavy fines and the substantial fee for calling out the service,” he said.

O Longaigh appealed to those responsible to stop and to think of the people they are putting at risk. “They may have called us out for nothing, while there is a serious crash somewhere, where people need our help,” he added.

He said that, at Halloween, station officers will travel ahead of fire crews to check that calls are genuine, but he warned those making the hoax calls to think again.

Meath County Council director of service, Brendan McGrath, pointed out that it costs up to €1,000 a time to roll out a fire tender, money that could be used for other services.  
-Meath Chronicle

Indian summer

People all across Northern Ireland have been making the most of the glorious autumn sunshine.

Anyone who could took the opportunity to get out in the fresh air and feel the sun on their skin on Monday, while bookworms and dog walkers made the most of the mild weather in Ulster's parks and green spaces.

Women taking part in the Belfast Telegraph Runner event at Stormont over the weekend remarked how lucky they had been to get such dry and bright weather for the race.

Gemma Plum, a forecaster with Meteogroup, said the maximum weekend temperature of 21 Celsius was above average for this time of year, but things are now set to fall in line with more typical October weather.

“The week ahead looks to be quite dry with some cloud and just a few spots of rain.

“Today (Tuesday) there will be a maximum temperature of 17 Celsius, but as the week progresses this will drop down to about 14C.”
Unfortunately, the gorgeous autumn weather isn’t set to last, as the rain is set to make an unwelcome return next week.

Ms Plum added, “From the beginning of next week Northern Ireland will start to see persistent rain.”
-Belfast Telegraph
 
File sharing okay

A landmark High Court judgment has found that laws to identify and cut off Internet users illegally copying music files are not enforceable in Ireland.

The court found it was not possible for Internet service providers to stop people illegally downloading music despite claims from the record industry that it is losing €20 million a year.

In their action, five record companies -- EMI Records (Ireland), Sony Music Entertainment (Ireland), Universal Music Ireland, Warner Music Ireland and WEA International -- said it wanted Internet service provider UPC to operate a system that would cut Internet access from users illegally downloading music.

Mr. Justice Peter Charleton said f he could have granted the injunction to crack down on access to sites such as Pirate Bay, he would have done so. But he said Irish laws did not allow him to as they were not in full compliance with EU directives.

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Nster.com