The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

The Broadcasting Commission is to seek expressions of interest from those interested in operating the next regional radio station, which is to serve the South-West of the country.

The new station will serve counties, Kerry, Limerick, Clare, North-West Tipperary and South-West Laois.

The station is to be a mix of music and speech and is to cater for the 15-24 age group.

The closing date for applications is 1200 hrs on Wednesday, 19th April 2006.

Patrick Dowling, who was arrested on St. Patrick’s Day of last year in posesion of an Ingram sub-machine gun has been sentenced to five years in prison

Patrick Dowling(19), with an address of Dear Court, Carew Park, Limerick, had been ferrying the machine gun in a blastic shopping bag for members of the McCarthy-Dundon gang in the back of a taxi when he was intercepted by Gardai on the Childers Road.

In sentencing, Judge Carol Moran said that he could only imagine what horrors the gun was to be used for. and while he accepted that Dowling was not a member of the crime gang, they had trusted him with this weapon.

Dowling was to be offered €100 to move the weapon for the gang.

Michelle Collins (22) has cried foul after her application for local authority housing was deferred until October of this year.

According to Ms Collins, she is being put on the long finger by the council for a house in the Ballinacurra Weston area of Limerick because the Council are basing their decisions on her on false information given to them by the Gardai.

The Limerick Leader reports that Ms Collins, who is currently living with her grandparents on Hyde Avenue, is claiming that the will not give her a house in her desired location because they think she is involved in the ongoing family feuds and has participated in anti-social behaviour.

“That is not true. That is all rubbish and I have don’t have anything to do with anything like that.” Ms Collins has told the paper.

However, a spokesperson for Limerick City Council has said that they had deferred Ms Collins’ application until October on the advice of the Gardai. The council has the power under Section 14 of the 1997 Housing Act to refuse a house in an applicant’s desired area if it is likely to do harm to that community.

The spokesperson has said that Ms Collins is still on the housing list.

Michelle Collins’ name appeared on a list of individuals convicted of littering in 2004, which was issued by Limerick City Council.

The Nigerian man, Emmanuel Ashibougwu, who was convicted of offences relating to a Garda sting after he sold two kilos of heroin, whith an estimated street value of €300,000, to an undercover Garda received a seven year prison sentence today at the Circuit Court.

Judge Carol Moran suspended the last year of the sentence on the grounds that Ashibougwu would find it would be more difficult in an Irish prison because he was a black man and that he would encounter racism from other prisoners.

He also handed down a sentence of twelve months to his acomplice, Mohammed Kargbo, who acted as lookout while the deal betwen the Garda and Ashibougwu was underway. He backdated this sentence to the date of his arrest stating that he was “in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Two cars which were stolen during the weekend were dumped in the Canal Bank at Abbey bridge. One of the cars was submerged in the canal whilst the other was burnt out.

The cars were stolen from the carpark at the Kilmurry lodge hotel.

As expected, Fine Gael’s motion to remove Toireasa Ferris as “Mayor of Kerry” has failed. The motion was defeated after Fianna Fail councillors voted against it.

Three other motions relating to Ferris’ comments on the killing of Garda McCabe were passed.

The first of these was a motion was put forward that Kerry County Council as a whole would condemn the McCabe killing, this was approved by all members except the two Sinn Fein councillors.

The second was a Fianna Fail motion which was similar to Fine Gael’s no confidence one except that instead of calling for Ferris to resign her position, that she along with her fellow Sinn Fein councillor, Robert Beasley were to stand “censured” for their refusal to condemn the killing. This too was passed by all but Sinn Fein.

Sinn Fein put forward a motion that the Council should express sympathy with the McCabe family and all those who have suffered as a result of the conflict in Northern Ireland. This motion was passed.

Fianna Fail councillor Paul O Donaghue gave his reasoning as to why he would be voting against the no confidence motion on this morning’s Morning Ireland. Click here to hear the broadcast

Note: Realplayer required to hear Morning Ireland clip

Only one of the blogs from the Mid-West, FUSTAR, has made it to the shortlist of the Irish Blog Awards.

The Liemrick blog is nominated twice, firstly for Best Blog and secondly for Best Arts Blog.

The final decision on the winners will be revealed on March 11th at the awards ceremony to be held at Dublin’s Boswells Hotel. The ceremony is to be hosted by 2FM’s Rick O’Shea, who is a blogger himself, and the winners will be decided by jury decision.

The smiles at this opportune photo taken during the O2 ability awards belied the real problems which are now dogging the “mayor of Kerry” Toireasa Ferris.

The Late Late interview have also created problems for the Fianna Fail party. It was Fianna Fail who entered into a pact with Sinn Fein in Kerry County Council which resulted in Ferris being given the 12 month chairperson’s position of the Council.

But tomorrow, Ms Ferris will have to fight an emergancy no confidence motion which was tabled by Fine Gael councillors late last week.

The motion was tabled after Ms Ferris refused to condemn the killing of Garda Jerry McCabe, during an interview on the Late Late show, and in a subsequent interview on Radio Kerry.

Garda McCabe was killed in a hail of bullets from automatic gunfire before he had the chance of even getting out of his vehicle after the failed armed robbery of a post office in Adare, County Liemrick, by what later turned out to be members of the provisional IRA. McCabe, who was originally a native of Ballylongford, County Kerry, was assigned to protect a shipment of old age pensions and unemployment benefits being delivered to the post office when he was killed.

Ms Ferris is expected to survive the no confidence motion, thanks to Fianna Fail members within the council, however this will put them in an awkward position, considering that their leader, Bertie Ahern has stated that he would not go into government with Sinn Fein.

The question remains. If any Fianna Fail councillor in Kerry has aspirations of a ministerial position in the future, will how they vote tomorrow be remembered by the leader of a Fianna Fail lead government in the future. will the national leadership of the party seek retribution for what is effectively the endorsement of the killing of a Garda.

Fianna Fail need Sinn Fein in Kerry until the next local elections, as it is the republican party who have the balance of power in the chamber. It is for this reason that it is believed that they will vote in favour of keeping Ms Ferris where she is…for now.

But it could be risky. The locals, particularly around McCabes home town in Kerry may chose to make those who kept Ms Ferris in the position of council chairperson, pay for the way they vote tomorrow.

Update: RTE have decided not to stream the Ferris interview on their website.

Limerick city rock band Vesta Varro have reason to celebrate this weekend as their new single ‘Blue Mirror Boy’ has entered the Irish charts at No 33. The band, made up of Damien Drea, Keith Forde, Peter Forde, Shane Lee and Rod Smith, have been hard at work in the past 12 months, touring with such bands as Editors and The Thrills. To find out more about VV and listen to some tracks, visit their MySpace webpage. You can buy their single online from here.