News from Ireland - news from around the 32 counties

What's going on around Ireland

The president was joined by dignitaries from both sides of the border, including Northern Ireland Executive Ministers Jonathan Bell, Nelson McCausland and Jennifer McCann and Minister of State in the Republic Fergus O’Dowd.

Located in Castle Saunderson Demesne, near Belturbet, and bordering counties Fermanagh and Monaghan, the new scouting facility has entrances from the North and the South.
[Source: Irish Times]

OFFALY

There are 386 vacant commercial units or premises in Offaly, according to figures released by GeoDirectory.

The figures represent an average vacancy rate for commercial units in the county of 11 percent, and are accurate as of June 2012.

The highest number of vacancies recorded in towns in Offaly was Tullamore with a vacancy rate of 11 percent or 156 units, followed by Birr where 113 vacant commercial units were identified – a rate of 11 percent.
[Source: Offaly Express]

ROSCOMMON

“A model student" and an "excellent footballer” are just some of the phrases that have been used to describe Boyle teenager Eoin Lavin who died following a car collision on August 19.
 
The 17-year-old former Abbey College student died in the early hours of Sunday morning when the car in which he was a passenger left the road and ended up partially submerged in a water-filled ditch.

The crash occurred at Carrowreagh on the Frenchpark to Boyle road at approximately 1 a.m. when the car collided with a ditch. Mr. Lavin was pronounced dead at the scene.
[Source: Roscommon Herald]

SLIGO

IT Sligo student Lydia Concannon is about to embark on the opportunity of a lifetime after being selected to take up the first annual Yeats Design Residency at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin.

It is part of a new innovative partnership between the national theatre and IT Sligo, bringing together two of W.B. Yeats's greatest passions – the Abbey Theatre and Sligo.

Lydia (22), who has just completed the four-year honors BA Performing Arts program at the IT Sligo, is set to begin the six-month residency in a couple of weeks. The course allows for specialism in theatre design or acting.
[Source: Irish Independent]

TIPPERARY

New figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO), show that there has been nearly an 85 percent drop in crime around Thurles, though the Premier County is the third worst in Munster for the number of burglaries committed.

The figures show a dramatic decrease in reported crime in the Tipperary Garda (police) Division since 2007, according to the CSO. Since the recession began, there has been an average fall of 43 percent in reported crime across the county. The steepest fall in reported crimes was in the Thurles district, which saw a decrease of 84.9 percent over that period.
[Source: Tipperary Star]

TYRONE

Work has begun on the provision of Cookstown's first "Puffin" crossing . . . after safety fears for pedestrians in the area were first highlighted in the Courier.

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Nster.com