News from around the 32 Irish counties

SLIGO

Ending weeks of intense speculation, it was confirmed last week that revered poet and legendary songwriter, Leonard Cohen, is to perform at an open air concert at Lissadell House, County Sligo, on Saturday, July 31st.
 (Source: The Sligo Champion)

TIPPERARY

St Mary's Famine Museum in Thurles is expected to close in May as a result of a recent spate of vandalism, despite the fact that it is a financially viable visitor and tourist attraction. The decision is expected to be taken at a Vestry meeting of the Church of Ireland community to be held early in May and will bring the curtain down on Thurles' main tourist attraction which saw visitors coming from all over the world.
 (Source: The Tipperary Star)

TYRONE

One of Tyrone's greatest cultural treasures, a 450-year-old silver chain of office used by the O'Neills, may soon return home after gathering dust in the vaults of an Edinburgh museum for more than a century. The whereabouts of the priceless ceremonial chain has been at the heart of an international mystery which has obsessed historians and O’Neill enthusiasts for decades. However, local historical sleuths have managed to track the item to a museum in Edinburgh where it languished as part of a trove of other valuable artifacts from Tyrone.
 (Source: Belfast Telegraph)

WATERFORD

A decline in vocations has been given as the reason taken by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart to lose the landmark Grace Dieu retreat centre on the Tramore Road. Nine jobs will be lost when the centre closes in September 2011, it was confirmed by the Centre’s director, Fr. Michael Serrage.
(Source: Waterford News & Star)

WESTMEATH

Fresh forensic evidence may clear an Athlone man of a murder for which he has spent almost twelve years in jail. John Earle, now 44, was jailed in England in 1998 for the murder of 67-year-old Peter Halliday in Northumberland. The incident gripped the North East of England after the corpse of Halliday was found on a local beach, having been dumped in the North Sea days earlier. But now the sentence could be quashed after the UK's Criminal Cases Review Commission (CCRC) referred the case to the Court of Appeal, which will review the new evidence, which follows advances in DNA testing since the original trial
(Source: The Westmeath Independent)

WEXFORD

Parts of the Guillemot Lightship have been removed by Wexford County Council on health and safety grounds. The Council sent contractors down to Kilmore Quay last Thursday to make the ship 'safe', by removing parts of it that were considered likely to fall or be blown off by strong winds. Niall McGuigan, Director of Environment Services with Wexford County Council, said they had to make the ship safe as it had become a public health hazard. 'Certain parts of it were damaged. We knew it had become dangerous and couldn't allow it to remain that way,' he said.
(Source: The Wexford People)

WICKLOW

Wicklow Town Council will take over the management of the contract to restore the Murrough to its former beauty. The appearance of the scenic area following works on the Wicklow Sewerage Scheme and Port Access Road has caused plenty of local criticism.
(Source: The Wicklow People)

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