News from around the 32 counties of Ireland

Kildare

Callous burglars have caused upset and anger after breaking into an Athy school, causing thousands of euro worth of damage and desecrating a special area.

Scoil Mhichil Naofa was targeted by burglars on 20 July between 1.40am and 2.40am. A plasma-screen television was taken and a special student area ransacked. “It was a violation really. It’s the second serious burglary in two weeks,” school Principal Mary English told the Kildare Nationalist.

“The caretaker contacted me in the small hours of the morning,” said Mrs English. “I was really upset because of the nature of it this time. That corner of the school was very significant.”

“It was devoted to the history of the Mercy Sisters in education in Athy. It held lots of little historical artefacts with which the children were fascinated. It had a plasma screen TV on which we had a continuous programme playing of the children telling the history of the school. There was a whole little focus of a nice aura around that space.”
(Source:Kildare Nationalist)

Kilkenny

Garda reinforcements were drafted in from other areas of the county on Saturday night to bring a forest rave under control.

Over one hundred people gathered at a remote part of woodlands at Reevanagh, Castlewarren on Saturday evening. Loud electronic music was heard blaring in the locality for a number of hours and at 9pm gardai from Kilkenny Garda Station attended the scene where they discovered a rave in full swing.

Revellers were searched under The Misuse of Drugs Act and a number of people were found to be in possession of drugs. One man was also arrested on suspicion of having drugs in his possession for sale or supply to others and a quantity of drugs were seized at the scene.
(Source:Kilkenny People)

Laois

Armed raiders thought they have had got away with an estimated €130,000 of jewellery and diamonds but they hadn't reckoned on the intervention of the owner, Gerry Browne.

Speaking to the Leinster Express, the jeweller recounted how he thwarted the armed thief as he tried to get away with a bag-full of jewellery and diamonds, having tied up two female staff.

"They were tied up at their hands and feet and were told to lie on the ground. One of our girls is pregnant," he said.
(Source:Leinster Express)

Leitrim

Thousands of homes across the country are still being built -- as a new report warns that 120,000 existing houses are unlikely ever to be sold.

New figures show developers started work on almost 11,000 homes in the last 15 months -- at a time when the property market has collapsed, more than 600 'ghost estates' lie empty and there is a glut of 300,000 unwanted properties.

A report into the property bubble says that of the 300,000 homes lying empty, as many as 120,000 homes are unlikely to be sold in the future. And most of these are in counties Roscommon, Cavan, Leitrim and Sligo.
(Source:The Independent)

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