News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

A look at news from around Ireland

Two North Clare councilors last week requested that Clare County Council ask Eircom to remove telephone kiosks in Lahinch, which Councilor Bill Slattery claimed “are being used as public toilets and for other anti-social activity.”

The phone-boxes are located on Main Street and at the Liscannor Road Junction in the resort town. “It is obvious that the kiosks are not being used,” Councilor Richard Nagle stated. “Everyone has a mobile phone now.”
[Source: Clare Champion]

CORK

There is four times as much oil off the coast of Cork at Barryroe than was originally thought, a discovery warmly welcomed by business leaders in Cork after the announcement last Wednesday.

Studies carried out in March this year show that there is between one and 1.6 billion barrels of oil at the oil field, four times as much was originally expected.

While the actual retrievable amount of barrels of oil will be dependent on drilling, production and other costs, there is still expected to be significant amounts entering the millions.
[Source: Cork Independent]

DERRY

The number of couples getting married in Derry is on the rise, new figures reveal.

Provisional figures just released by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) reveal there were 527 marriages in Derry in 2011 with civil ceremonies accounting for almost one third (31%) of all marriages in the city last year.

In 2010, a total of 460 marriages took place in the city.

The latest figures further show that the average age of brides and grooms has come down for the first time since 2005.
[Source: Derry Journal]

DONEGAL

A link to our local heritage was unearthed recently with the discovery of a number of partially-completed millwheels.

The hand-carved stone wheels were found in a bog land area near Creeslough by local hill walkers. This area was where the wheels would have been manufactured many years ago.

The important local history site is where skilled masons travelled to this area of flat-faced granite rock slabs where they marked out the circle and painstakingly chiselled the rugged face until it revealed the wheel outline.

Some of the slabs discovered are still in this uncompleted state.
[Source: Donegal Democrat]

DOWN

The owner of a filling station in County Down has spoken of his frustration after fuel worth $12,300 was stolen.

John McCormick, who runs a garage in Crawfordsburn, said he had been left out of pocket after thieves made off with 7,000 liters of diesel.

He has appealed to the public to be vigilant.

It is understood to be only the second time in NI that a filling station has been targeted in such a crime.
[Source: BBC News]

DUBLIN

A Dublin mom has told of how her son survived a near-drowning accident at the National Aquatic Centre – one year before a four-year-old tot drowned in the same pool.

On the day that tragic Logan Joyce (4) was buried, mom Denise Mahon spoke out about the similarities between his death and the “secondary drowning” of her son Callum (8).

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Nster.com