News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

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Louth

Disgraced doctor Michael Neary was struck in the head with a firearm during an armed raid on his home.

The controversial doctor was brought to hospital for treatment after the terrifying incident.

Sources say there is nothing to suggest that there is any link between his home being targeted and his past as a doctor at Our Lady of Lourdes Hospital in Drogheda.

Dr Neary (70) was struck off the medical register in 2003 having wrongfully removed the wombs of his patients at the Louth hospital where he began working in 1974.

Raiders escaped with a small amount of cash.
(Source: Evening Herald)

Mayo

Two 19-year-old men arrested following a police chase in the Knockmore/Pontoon area appeared in Castlebar District Court  last week. They were remanded in custody after they were charged with up to 13 offences, including burglaries and the theft of a car containing a shotgun.

Luke Wall (19) of Gurteenamuck, Knockmore, and John McDonagh (19) of 27 Muredach’s Terrace, Ballina, were apprehended last Sunday morning after landowners in the Knockmore/Pontoon area blocked off roads forcing the two men to abandon their car. The two men were quickly arrested and questioned in relation to a wave of burglaries in the Mayo/Galway region.
(Source: The Mayo News)

Meath

An armed robbery at the Bank of Ireland branch in Navan last Friday week and a second raid on a pharmacy in Johntown village the next day are believed to be linked.

At around 3.55pm on Friday 20th April, a lone male entered the Bank of Ireland at Market Square, brandishing what appeared to be a handgun. He was wearing a hoodie and ski mask to conceal his identity.

A man wearing a ski mask got away with about $400 from the Bank of Ireland at Market Square on Friday, April 20.

A second armed robbery, which occurred the next day in Johnstown village, is also being investigated. At around 4.55pm, a lone male entered Staunton's Pharmacy in Johnstown, and pointed what appeared to be a handgun at staff and customers. He demanded cash and drugs but appears to have been spooked and fled the scene empty-handed.
(Source: The Meath Chronicle)

Monaghan

The forensic scientist leading the search in Co Monaghan for the remains of one of the Disappeared, Columba McVeigh, has appealed for anyone with even the most “trivial” information to come forward.

Geoff Knupfer, who in the 1980s was involved in the search for two of the victims of Moors murderers Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, last week began overseeing “painstaking work” to find the remains of Mr McVeigh, who was abducted, murdered and secretly buried by the IRA in 1975.

Forestry workers last week cut down and cleared away trees at Bragan, Co Monaghan, where Mr McVeigh, who was 17 when he disappeared, may have been buried
(Source: Irish Times)

Offaly

Changes to laws relating to drunk drivers involved in fatal accidents will save lives, says one Birr native, who tragically lost her son after he was killed by a drunk driver three years ago.

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Nster.com