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On November 10 von Metzradt visited Charleville Castle on the outskirts of Tullamore for a Burning Man decompression event, and it was at about 7 p.m. that evening the duck -- or lack of it -- was noticed.

Presuming it was a prank, von Metzradt let the matter lie. However, over a week on from the incident the bonnet of his red Ford Fiesta was still bare, even though he'd returned for a second visit to Charleville Castle.

Von Metzradt took to the Internet looking for the safe return of the unusual car ornament, and the story was also picked up as news locally. Eventually came the news everyone had been waiting for -- the duck had been returned.

Charleville Castle volunteer Ausra Jevelaygyte said she was taking rubbish out when she saw a car stopping by the castle gates and a man putting the duck ornament on a table at the gates. She said she didn't get to speak to the man before he left, but she immediately recovered the duck and brought it to the volunteers' kitchen in the castle.

"It looks ok," she said. "There's a little bit of dirt on it, but no damage."

"I'm very pleased," von Metzradt said on hearing the good news.

Offaly Independent

Empty Stores
LEITRIM has one of the highest rate of vacancies in commercial spaces around the country.
A recent survey by GeoDirectory pinpoints that 11 percent of commercial stock is vacant in Ireland, but the figure is higher in Leitrim, which along with Sligo has a 14 percent vacancy rate.

Counties such as Dublin, Galway, Mayo, Roscommon, Galway and Carlow are on 12 percent vacancy, while Longford is on 11 percent and Cavan has just nine percent.

Retail, a sector which has taken a particular hammering in the recession, dominates the empty space stakes.

Some consultants blame much of the surplus on the apartment building splurge which saw developers add ground floor retail to almost every single development, whether it was required or not.

And the forecast is that an economic recovery will not see empty shops taken up.

Around Leitrim, main streets have become hollow, with many once prominent buildings now boarded up. Some of the main sites on the regional town’s main streets were owned by banks, but these have been moving away and centralizing in bigger centers by using online and smartphone apps to service their customers.

The other reason given for the decline in business in provincial towns is the upgrading of motorways to bring shoppers locally to Dublin, Galway or even Belfast in less than two hours.

Leitrim Observer

Lack of Paramedics
A DISTRAUGHT mother had to drive her unconscious child to hospital while an ambulance man tended to him in the back seat of the car, TD (member of Parliament) Pearse Doherty said.

The TD for Donegal South West told Newstalk Radio that he had been contacted by health care staff after the incident which, he said, occurred last Tuesday.

“When a mother discovered her young son unconscious, she phoned the emergency services for an ambulance,” he said.

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Nster.com