News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

Cork

Cork is set to get it’s share of 75 new jobs over the coming 18 months after a major recruitment company announced it is to extend its operations here. Irish-owned professional recruitment consultancy, Premier Group, announced last week that it is rebranding three of its leading recruitment businesses; Premier, Verkom and Brunel to Morgan McKinley.
Source: (Cork Independent)

Derry

Police in the Strabane area made four arrests for suspected drink-driving offences last weekend. Chief Inspector Andy Lemon, the area commander, said that these were drivers who took a chance that they would not be caught. "My message to them is that it is a chance that is not worth taking. It is just not worth putting your livelihood and that of you family at risk.”
(Source: Derry Journal)

Donegal

House prices in Donegal are continuing to fall, according to two surveys out last week. The average asking-price in Donegal in the third quarter of 2010 was €183,000, a fall of €86,000 from the peak, according to Daft.ie.The asking price of a three-bedroom semi-detatched house in Donegal is €171,000 in the third quarter of this year, down 1.5% compared to the second quarter of this year, according to MyHome.ie. The fall for a four bed semi was marginally more at 1.82% with the average price now standing at €204,000
(Source: Donegal Democrat)

Down

A family near Newry Co Down had a lucky escape when their house was struck by lightning, blowing a hole in the roof and sparking a power shortage. The drama unfolded in Ballyholland when the bolt struck the house last week blowing the electric sockets out of the walls. Storms and heavy rain battered the area from around 3.30pm.
(Source: Belfast Telegraph)

Dublin

One of Ireland's best known and most respected medical figures, retired heart surgeon Maurice Neligan, has died at the age of 73. Mr Neligan worked for many years at Dublin's Mater and Crumlin Hospitals and performed Ireland's first heart transplant in 1985. He was also involved in the establishment of the Blackrock Clinic in the mid-1980s. Maurice Neligan was always an active campaigner for improved health services and a frequent critic of much health policy and many policy-makers.
(Source: The Evening Hearld)

Fermanagh

The family of troubled Fermanagh businessman Seán Quinn has said that they intend to repay all of the debt that they owe. The family owes €2.8 billion to Anglo Irish Bank and reports suggested that the nationalized bank has written down this sum to zero. A statement issued on behalf of the Quinn family last week said they had “not sought, or been offered, as part of any consensual restructuring of the family’s indebtedness, any write-off whatsoever of any of the debt due.
(Source: Irish Times)

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