News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

What's going on around Ireland

MAYO

Even Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Enda Kenny has admitted it. After all, you don’t need to be a Covey to know that Westport is the “Best Place to Live in Ireland.” The Islandeady native admitted it to The Mayo News last Monday. He even repeated the view of the outgoing Cathaoirleach of Westport Town Council, Clr. Christy Hyland who, unsurprisingly, said: “There is nothing else for us to win at this stage.”

The Taoiseach was responding to news that Westport had beaten off serious competition, from four other shortlisted places, to win The Irish Times Best Place to Live in Ireland award.
[Source: The Mayo News]

MEATH

A warning that thousands of people could take to the streets of Navan again in protest at proposals to slash services at Our Lady's Hospital has come as cost-cutting plans come under consideration by the HSE.

A draft cost-containment plan for the Louth-Meath Hospital Group, which is being considered by the HSE, outlines a number of cost-saving options, including the closure of A&E in Navan from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m., cuts to orthopaedic surgery and the closure of one of the hospital's theaters.

However, while the HSE acknowledges that a number of options are under consideration, nothing has been finalized.
[Source: Meath Chronicle]

MONAGHAN

Being a League of Ireland fan is a bit like being Charlie Sheen's AA sponsor. You expect to be let down on a regular basis and that's just what happens.

When Monaghan United fell off the wagon and joined Sporting Fingal, Galway United, Kildare County and Kilkenny City in the ranks of the deceased, no one who follows domestic soccer was all that surprised. Monaghan came from an area with a negligible soccer tradition, had very little support and never belonged in the Premier Division in the first place.
[Source: Irish Independent]

OFFALY

A convicted burglar had been charged with dealing heroin two months before he knocked an 83-year-old woman unconscious in a handbag mugging.

June 21, Offaly man Trevor O’Shea (35) of Bulfin Park, Birr was given a two-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to dealing drugs in Dublin city center in 2010.

Dublin Circuit Criminal Court heard that O’Shea was charged in January 2010 after gardai (police) arrested him with over $25,400 worth of heroin and $492 worth of cocaine.
[Source: Offaly Express}

ROSCOMMON

Connacht Gold is to set up a new dairy demonstration farm in Co. Roscommon, the Farming Independent has learned.

Negotiations on the venture are said to be at an advanced stage, but exact details of the initiative have yet to be finalized and a timeline for having cows on the ground has not been set.

The plan was given the green light by the Connacht Gold board two weeks ago and Teagasc has confirmed that it will be involved in the project in a consultative capacity.
[Source: Irish Independent]

SLIGO

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