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

A look at news from around Ireland

‘Both sides of the road are destroyed with it. I don't drive so I walk down the village and pass by it all the time. The amount of rats it is attracting is just horrible.”

Paddy Donnelly of Louth County Council confirmed the litter warden had attended the site and was investigating the matter.

“The procedure in cases like this is that the litter warden would respond to it and then when we would have a team available in the area we would send them in to clear it away,” said Donnelly. “Obviously there will be an investigation to see where this is coming from, but it is very difficult to know because people travel from far and wide so it is very hard to establish whether it is local or someone coming from outside the area, but certainly investigations will be carried out.”

Drogheda Independent

Nice Robber
A POLITE robber told a shop worker “thanks and God bless you” as he stole her purse, Judge Flann Brennan heard.

Mervyn Doyle, 36, of Dundalk, walked into Costcutters on Clanbrassil Street on December 17 shortly before it closed. The shop gave out leftover food to people at the end of the night and Doyle went into the premises looking for it.

When he was told there was no more left, Doyle went behind the counter and stole a woman's purse. 

The woman suffered a panic attack and froze, and it later emerged that Doyle had said, “thank you, God bless you” as he committed the crime.

The victim was physically uninjured in the incident and Doyle took cash out of the purse, which he threw away nearby.

Dundalk District Court also heard about an incident nine days before that when Doyle wandered into the kitchens of the China Kitchen on Park Street and stood around until Gardai arrived and arrested him.

Brennan was told Doyle has 55 previous convictions, mostly for theft and traffic offenses.

Solicitor Frank McDonnell said his client, a father, had been battling his addiction to alcohol for a while and during that eight-day period in December, he “fell foul of the drink again.”

McDonnell said Costcutters does “great work late at night where they make food available to people who are down on their luck,” and Doyle had gone in looking for some.

The solicitor said there was no violence whatsoever involved in either incident, and the woman whose purse was stolen had been reimbursed.

Doyle is now back on an addiction course and is trying to deal with his problem, though “he continues to struggle with alcohol from time to time.”

He has previously completed community service, and Brennan adjourned the case to June 20 so the probation service can assess whether he is still suitable to do 100 hours.

The Argus

Crazy on Dog Poitín
A CROSSMOLINA man was rushed to Mayo General Hospital after he drank some poitín which was meant for a sick dog, a sitting of Castlebar District Court heard.

Alan Traynor appeared before the court after he was arrested for intoxication in a public place and threatening and abusive behavior in the A&E department of Mayo General Hospital on April 2.

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Nster.com