News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

She said: “I was fully committed with a cliff face on one side and a long paddle to America on the other, so I had to continue despite being severely ill – I had no choice.

Despite this Elaine is on track to paddle to the podium this coming Wednesday.

‘Shooter’ as she is affectionately known among her friends, is a well-known personality within Irish canoeing circles and has undertaken canoeing events on a global scale.
(Source: Belfast Telegraph)

Galway

A leading housing charity has said it is stunned by new figures which show that there are almost 19,000 houses lying empty across the county with an estimated current market value of well over €3.3 billion.

Housing charity Threshold say they are shocked that there are 15,113 empty houses in County Galway and 3,839 in the city at a time when there is such pressing needed for decent quality accommodation.

Latest census figures have shown a drop in 3.6 per cent in the number of vacant dwellings in the city area but a hike of 11.3 per cent in the number of empty houses in the rest of the county.

This means that one house in every nine in Co. Galway is lying empty, at a time when there is no money for the County Council or City Council to build new local authority homes.

House prices have continued to free-fall, with figures released by Ireland’s largest property website, daft.ie, showing a fall of 5.6 per cent in the second quarter of this year.

The average price of a new house in Galway city in the final quarter of last year was €215,000, while in the rest of the county asking prices averaged at €165,000, a reduction of €143,000 on the figure at the peak of the boom.

Taking these figures as rough guidelines, this means that there is now just under €3,320,000,000 worth of vacant houses and apartments in the entire county.
(Source: GalwayBay Fm)

Kerry

A mother of four who sent a stream of text messages to a man she had falsely accused of raping her was warned last week to keep away from him or she would end up back in jail.

Anne O'Sullivan (44), of Fern Walk, Pairc na Gloine, Kenmare, Co Kerry, spent the last week at Limerick Prison, where a district court judge had sent her to reflect on her actions.

Judge James O'Connor had remanded O'Sullivan in custody following her appearance on charges of harassing Raymond Downey (36), a married father of a young family.

Last week her solicitor Vincent Coakley told a special sitting of Killarney District Court: "Her week away has had an effect on her.
"It was a very hard lesson and she found it extremely tough. She accepts she has a serious alcohol problem and is willing to take steps to address that. She also accepts she may need psychiatric help."

O'Sullivan is accused of harassing Mr Downey on dates between July 1 and November 11, 2010 by repeatedly phoning and texting him. That was in breach of a circuit court order that directed her not to have any contact with the plumbing contractor.

​
Nster.com