News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

Meath
Navan man Johnny Finnegan last week set off on his year-long volunteering expedition, after he and Offaly woman Carol Leonard came out on top in the RTE series 'Do the Right Thing’.The voluntary work will bring them to Ghana, India and Thailand, where they will be working on sanitary facilities, working with homeless children and then with endangered turtles.“The first four months will be spent in north and central Ghana,” Johnny, from Ardmulchan, explained. “We will be building latrines, and then showing people how to use them.”
(Source: The Meath Chronicle)

Monaghan
A 29-year-old Co Monaghan publican who was the driver of a car involved in a three-car pile-up outside Carrickmacross in December which killed three people, including a pregnant woman, appeared in court last week charged with dangerous driving causing death, and driving with excess alcohol. Kevin McArdle, of Longfield, Carrickmacross, who was the driver of a silver BMW involved in the crash on the Carrickmacross bypass at Monaltybane, Carrickmacross, appeared before Judge Sean MacBride at a special sitting of Carrickmacross District Court.
(Source: Irish Times)

Offaly
Nine year old Walsh Island girl Siobhan Phelan has danced her way through to the semi-finals of Sky 1's "Got to Dance." Siobhan made a big impact with her performance and her Mum, Sinead wasn't far behind. Siobhan wanted to impress Kimberly but her Mum had her eye on Adam. Siobhan donates every dance prize she wins to a range of charities, including The Shoebox Appeal in Africa, Chernobyl and Haiti. If she won the GTD prize money she says she would definitely donate some of it to charity.
(Source: Offaly Express)

Roscommon
The threat to 24/7 emergency services at Roscommon County Hospital remains unchanged following indications from the Health Service Executive last week that it could not guarantee that services would not be reduced. The HSE provided an update last Thursday to local public representatives last week on reconfiguration proposals for hospital services in counties Galway and Roscommon. During a three and a half hour meeting the HSE indicated that it could not guarantee that emergency services would not be reduced from a 24 hour service to a 12 hour service in the future.
(Source: The Roscommon Champion)

Sligo
Two British airlines have been in contact with Sligo airport management to explore the potential for maintaining the air link to Dublin. This follows last week’s government announcement that the crucial PSO subsidy is to be withdrawn from Sligo and three other regional airports. This threw the future of the twice-daily Aer Arann flight into jeopardy after the mid-July cutoff date. Isle of Man airline Manx2.com has confirmed they wish to talk to the four regional airports hit by the planned scrapping of the PSO contracts.
(Source: The Sligo Weekender)

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