News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

The judge said although the only sentence for murder was life, taking into account Cunningham's plea of guilty, co-operation and other mitigating factors, he had determined the minimum period he should serve in jail was 11 years.
(Source: UTV News)

Dublin

A Christmas Eve pub brawl is being blamed for the emergence of a new feud in Dublin. Since the bar fight, shots have been fired at a house and a pipebomb thrown at another home.

The discovery of a deadly pipebomb outside a west Dublin home on New Year's Eve marked a new escalation in the row.

It was discovered in the ESB box of a house at Kilcronan Avenue, Clondalkin, at around 2pm on the Saturday.

It is understood that the occupants of the house were entirely innocent and the pipe bomb was intended for someone else.

A Defence Forces team was called to the property by gardai and the scene was made safe at 3.15pm. It was the 55th viable explosive made safe last year - the highest number of call-outs the army has dealt with in over 30 years.

Sources say that the discovery of the pipebomb is "directly linked" to a vicious Traveler feud that erupted during the festive season.

"The origin of this is a huge brawl that broke started outside a pub in Rathfarnham on Christmas Eve between two rival Traveler factions," explained a source. Gardai also believe an incident in which shots were fired at a house in Kilcronan Avenue just two days before the pipebomb was discovered -- is also linked to the new feud.

In that incident the shots were also discharged at the home of people who have no involvement in the feud. The new feud is the second Traveler dispute that detectives in Clondlakin are dealing with.

In the nearby Old Castle estate, gardai are desperately trying to keep a lid on a separate row that led to officers seizing two firearms just days before Christmas.

Sources say that this feud centers around a bitter dispute over €30,000 prize money from an illegal bare-knuckle fight.

"One side says that they are entitled to the money while the other say they are not. This is a very entrenched situation between factions that were formerly very close to each other and apart from what has been happening in Clondalkin, there have been other violent incidents linked to it in Tallaght and Navan, Co Meath," explained a source.
(Source: The Evening Herald)

Fermanagh

Anglo Irish Bank has "discontinued" its legal action against the Quinn family's Swedish property group - after the group's bankruptcy made an action against it pointless.

The "notice of discontinuance" was filed by the bank two days before Christmas and affects the Irish case dealing with the battle for control of the €500m (£417m) international property empire assembled by the Co Fermanagh family. Sources stressed that the notice only related to Quinn Investments Sweden (QIS), which was originally listed as one of the defendants in the action.

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Nster.com