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

A look at news from around Ireland

"It felt like I was being told the only way that I would get my entitlement was if I had cancer. What level of illness do I have to have before I am eligible for the invalidity payment that I am entitled to?" he asked.

"I paid my stamps for decades, and would love to be working. The reality is that I simply can't.”
A spokesperson for the Department of Social Protection would not comment on the case.

The Corkman

Anti-Social Behavior
RESIDENTS near Watery Hill steps, Donore Road, have reached their wit’s end with constant rubbish dumping, drug dealing and antisocial behavior including public sex that has become a constant feature of the steps.

David Campbell has been cleaning up the steps for the past year and a half, and says he is frustrated beyond measure at the lack of cooperation from Drogheda Borough Council, which he says has ignored several calls from residents and his local TD (member of Parliament) Fergus O'Dowd to improve the area.

“There is absolutely nothing being done to make this area any better, and I for one am completely fed up doing the work for them,” says Campbell, who has lived at the top of the steps all his 30 years.

“They come and pick up some litter every now and again, but this is not enough to make the steps clean and safe enough for the elderly, students or more importantly tourists who should be using them.”

As well as constant fly tipping, graffiti and littering, Campbell says young people are drinking and having sex on the steps after the nightclubs empty at the weekends, and he can see drug deals taking place after midnight most nights of the week.

“We were promised CCTV, and there is no sign of that, and a resident at the end of the steps was ordered by the council to erect a fence to prevent dumping, and that never happened either,” adds Campbell.

“Of course all this makes it impossible for many elderly or young people to use the steps, but what annoys me most, is that we want to attract 350,000 tourists to the town, yet we expect them to walk from the bus station to Millmount on badly lit, filthy steps, past beer cans, condoms and drug dealers.”
 
Drogheda Independent

Mom Gives Son Drugs
A WOMAN has appeared in court accused of supplying ecstasy and cannabis to her son in prison.
Brenda Reddy is charged with possession of the class A and class B drugs, possessing them with intent to supply and supplying the drugs.

The offences allegedly occurred on September 15 at Magilligan Prison, where the 42-year-old’s son is a serving prisoner.

A police officer told Derry Magistrates Court the street value of the drugs is around £200, but the prison value “would be considerably more, somewhere in the region of £2,000.”

He revealed that police were called to the prison after Reddy allegedly passed a tightly wrapped package to her son.

She was arrested and police discovered a second package “of a similar nature” when they searched her. During interview, the court was told the woman “made full and frank admissions” to supplying the package to her son. However, she claimed “she acted under duress.”

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Nster.com