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Fire services from Manorhamilton, Sligo and Carrick-on-Shannon all attended the blaze, which is thought to have started in the kitchen. However, they were unable to save the family.

It is understood that Mr. McDonald bought the home a number of years ago and had substantially refurbished the property. He returned to his native north Leitrim to live following his retirement from his job as a bus driver in New York. Mr. McDonald was joined by his wife Josie and daughter Patricia, and the couple’s two other daughters lived in the U.S. and the West of Ireland.
[Source: Leitrim Observer]

LIMERICK

A victory for the working class man was heralded in Limerick Auction Rooms, after a Limerick Soviet five shilling note was returned back to its “rightful owners.”

The Limerick Trades Council had begun a campaign in the days leading up to the auction to keep the note from 1919 in Limerick.

Last Wednesday afternoon the council beat off competition from three other bidders to take home the note to the Mechanics Institute on Hartstonge Street.

Mike McNamara, president of the Limerick Trades Council, revealed after the auction that they were prepared to bid as high as $4,580, but after a few minutes of bidding, it was theirs for €1,830.
[Source: Limerick Leader]

LONGFORD

A County Longford mother has claimed child benefit cuts announced in the budget may force her family below the poverty line in the lead up to Christmas.

Bernie McCann, a mother of four from Drumlish, was last week counting the cost of financial adjustments announced by Finance Minister Michael Noonan.

Faced with a $13 cut to her monthly allowance, Bernie is also counting withdrawals made to care grants, as she also occupies the role of carer to her son Micheal, who suffers from a rare blood disorder.

“I am down [$50] (a month),” she said, as she glossed over the finer points of the budget with the Leader. “My oldest (son) was just taken off me (in terms of child benefit) as he has just turned 18 so it is a serious cut to our family.”
[Source: Longford Leader]

LOUTH

A concerned Dundalk mother has told the Democrat that she fears for the health of her children who have to run an assault course of discarded needles on their way to school.

The Barrack Street-based mother, who didn’t wish to be named for risk of reprisal, said that her children came home and told her of lethal needles that have been discarded in the area of Barrack Street.

Speaking to the Dundalk Democrat, the concerned mother said: “There are junkies in the area who are using and discarding needles in plain sight of children. I had to go and kick needles into the gutter. It’s desperate.”
[Source: Dundalk Democrat]

MAYO

Two men were still in hospital last Tuesday as a result of injuries sustained following a car crash near the Galway/Mayo border on Thursday night, December 6.

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Nster.com