News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

“Additionally, the Tralee bypass will upgrade access to Co Kerry and allow Tralee to benefit from the removal of unnecessary through traffic whilst improving the travel experience for tourists and businesses alike,” Mr Varadkar said.

The project had been listed as one of the demands of former Independent Kerry TD Jackie Healy- Rae, along with Kenmare Community Hospital, as a condition of supporting the last coalition government in its final months.

The 13.5km project is expected to take 21 months to complete and will connect four of the five national routes (N21, N22, N69 and N70) that terminate in Tralee.
(Source: Irish Times)

Kildare

A Newbridge youth was in a critical condition at Naas Hospital last weekend, following a stabbing in the town in the early hours of last Saturday morning.

The incident, which occurred at around 5.20am in the College Farm area, resulted in the 18-year-old local youth being taken to hospital with two major stab wounds, apparently inflicted by a kitchen carving knife.

Gardaí are investigating the assault which left the victim in a very serious condition, although he has now been declared off the danger list.

It’s understood the incident arose after four people, all believed to be local, went to the home of a fifth man (a Polish national). One of the four was apparently carrying a snooker or pool cue, which someone inside the house mistakenly took to be a firearm of some sort.

In the fracas that followed, one of the local youths was stabbed twice. The four then ran from the area but the youth who had been stabbed fell in the roadway and an ambulance was then called.
The injured youth currently lives in the Newbridge area and it’s believed there may have been some history involved in respect of the Polish man whose home he and his associates visited last Friday night.
(Source: The Kildare Nationalist)

Kilkenny

Kilkenny College is planning on embarking on a e1.5 million expansion complete with an auditorium and purpose built classrooms for both art and music.

The development of an arts and music centre will mark the final stages of the schools on-going development plan. The school has been expanding constantly since it moved into a green field site on Castlecomer road in 1985 and is now the largest boarding school in Ireland.

The new centre will cater for the needs of the 14 staff and 300 pupils studying music and art. The new building, which will cost between €1.2m and €1.5m, will contain an auditorium, purpose built classrooms, arts and crafts rooms and 13 individual studios for music practice. Kilkenny College, which has its own orchestra, has a long tradition of promoting music and places to practice are particularly important.
(Source: Kilkenny People)

Laois

Prephistoric human remains, believed to be the result of a human sacrifice, have been found in the Cul ma Mona bog between Abbeyleix and Portlaoise. It was discovered on the Bord na Mona land by an employee operating a milling maching last Wednesday evening.

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Nster.com