News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

Whats going on in your home county

Antrim

Police leading the enquiry into the suspected murder of a resident at a nursing home in Randalstown have insisted that they have not been dragging their feet. Last week, officers confirmed that they were treating the death of 56-year-old Seamus McCollum as murder - almost six months after the Belfast man died at Maine Nursing Home. Since then an investigation into the former Muckamore Abbey resident's sudden death has gathered pace, and detectives have questioned many of the staff and visitors to the privately owned home for people with learning disabilities. The PSNI has stressed, however, that they are not following a specific line of enquiry 'at this stage.’
(Source: Antrim Guardian)

Armagh

A young mother living alone with her four- year-old son was left shocked and traumatized recently after an audacious thief sauntered into her Newry home in the early hours of the morning. The Chequer Court resident told The Examiner how she had emerged from an upstairs room after speaking with her mother on the phone, only to find the intruder at the top of the stairs, adjacent to her sleeping child’s bedroom.

Terrified but protective of her young son, the woman demanded to know what he was doing in her home. When the intruder claimed that he had mistakenly entered the property believing it to be the home of a couple he knew, the frightened mother frantically rang police, who arrived as the man was still trying to make his getaway.
(Source: Crossexmainer.co.uk)

Carlow

A Carlow company has established a Hollywood following after its latest product stormed the American markets. Local manufacturer Oglesby and Butler is making waves among celebrities and TV executives with its line of gas-powered tobacco vaporizers, specifically their Iolite and WISPR products. The compact tobacco burners have been described as a cleaner way to smoke and are proving a hit stateside. The burners are set to appear in an upcoming comedy show and have already been featured on the HBO series, Bored to Death.
(Source: The Carlow Nationalist)

Cavan

While Cavan has often recorded the largest jump in Traveler numbers for any county in the country, the latest census figures don't reveal any changing attitudes towards Travelers in the community itself. "What is significant is that Travelers are now more willing to self-identify,” says Bernard Joyce, the county's regional community development officer for the Irish Traveler Movement. Nevertheless, despite the Travelers’ enthusiasm for self-identification, the greater Cavan community seems reluctant to reevaluate its opinions of the minority.
(Source: The Anglo Celt)

Clare

Kilkee Chamber of Commerce secretary Paul Williams has expressed shock at Clare County Council’s instructions that the chamber not collect rubbish strewn around the resort last Easter weekend. The directive, based on health and safety concerns, was issued despite the fact the chamber claims that the council provided no cleaning service in the resort town for the duration of the Easter Bank Holiday weekend.
(Source: The Clare Champion)

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Nster.com