News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

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He was “the youngest of three remarkable children born to Michael and Ellen Houlihan of Reineen, Castleisland,” Co. Kerry, Ann Houlihan told the congregation at St. Kevin’s Church on Dublin’s Harrington Street in today.

She was speaking at the end of a funeral Mass for her uncle journalist Con Houlihan (86) who died at St James Hospital at the weekend following a long illness.

“We thought him the gentlest of giants, the uncle who coaxed me from behind the sofa with bananas when I was terrified of his mountainous presence. We would migrate top his orbit at pitches and race tracks around Kerry, never realizing he was already an institution.”
[Source: Irish Times]

FERMANAGH

A $310,000 facelift for Enniskillen town center is on the cards with the hope that environmental improvements will help encourage High Street investment.

Fermanagh District Council has formally committed itself to taking the lead in the $310,000 Enniskillen main thoroughfare spruce-up scheme.

The money has yet to be awarded by the Department of Social Development (DSD) and, at last week’s council meeting members were informed that, due to the delay on the part of DSD in coming forward with the funding, the original economic appraisal for the scheme had to be updated at the cost of an extra $9,000.
[Source: Fermanagh Herald]

GALWAY

The parents of the young Tuam man, who was subjected to a vicious attack last weekend, have said that they are now more hopeful that their son will make a recovery from his serious head injuries.

Shane Grogan (22) remains unconscious in the Beaumont Hospital but his parents Joe and Joan have told The Connacht Tribune that they are much more positive about their son’s condition than they were immediately after the attack.

Shane and his girlfriend were returning home in the early hours of August 5 following an enjoyable day out at the Galway Races when he was attacked.

He sustained serious head injuries after a piece of concrete curbing is understood to have been thrown at him.
[Source: Galway Bay FM]

KERRY

NAMA is now in control of $234 million worth of land, houses and other property in Kerry according to figures contained in the agency's 2011 annual report.

Kerry comes ninth in the list of Irish counties containing the most NAMA-controlled property. All properties controlled by the agency are valued at November 2009 levels, which coincide with the President's signing of the NAMA Bill into law.

Other figures released by NAMA show that the agency is currently involved in enforcement action in relation to 43 of the properties it controls in Kerry.
[Source: The Kerryman]

KILDARE

Kildare Co. Council has no hope of collecting the remaining 45 percent of unpaid household charges within the next few months and is facing a total loss of $2.7m in government funding as a result.

Community grants and services, including repairs to elderly persons’ homes, are likely to be hit as a result.

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Nster.com