The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

A reliable source tells us that three unarmed men tried to rob the Edward Street Post Office during the week.

The tree men are said to have entered the post office donning baleclavas and demanded cash.

The nice lady behind the till refused, prompting one of the men to remove his balaclava proclaiming, “Do you know who I am?”, to which she replied “no, but the Guards might” as she pointed at the CCTV camera.

The men promptly left the post office empty handed.

Christ, the notoriety of Limerick criminals is turning them into divas.

The five men who were convicted of murdering crime boss Kieran Keane, and attempting to murder his nephew Owen Treacy have had their appeal adjourned until February.

The adjournment was made so that all the relavent documentation could be seen by the three judge appeals court.

The men are Desmond Dundon (23) of Hyde Road, Limerick; David Stanners (34) of Pineview Gardens, Moyross; James McCarthy (27) of Delmege Park, Moyross; Christopher Costelloe (23) of Moylish Avenue, Ballynanty Beg; and Anthony McCarthy (24) of Fairgreen, Garryowen.

The EU Governmental report on the investigation of extraordinary rendition flights throughout the the European Union has called on the Irish Government to either put a random search procedure in place or issue an outright ban on all CIA flights going through Shannon Airport.

The completed report is now working it’s way through the ratification process within the EU Government, but is expected to be passed as a resolution despite the opposition of the right-wingers in Europe.

The Irish Examiner has more

A “clerical error” by RTE resulted in half of the supporters for Limerick hopeful Richie McCoy having to watch his performance on a small TV in a hotel after they paid for tickets to the Helix and travelled to Dublin to see him perform.

In all 80 friends and purchased tickets weeks ago and made the trip to the Helix on Sunday, where only 40 were allowed in.

McCoy was only notified by the cock-up minutes before going on stage to perform his act.

If that wasn’t enough, he was insulted by one of the judges after he performed his own composition, “A Man Through It All” which he wrote in dedication to his father.

Linda Martin, in her comments, described the song as “Depressing”

I guess when winning the Eurovision Song Contest and being the face of a bunch of Dublin Loan Sharks are your only claim to fame, I have no doubt you are familliar with depression Linda.

Tonight’s CrimeCall on RTE 1 featured a reconstruction of the last known whereabouts of 29 year old Teresa Warren.

The Gardai would like to hear from anyone with information.

A printable missing poster can also be found here.

Earlier in the week, Simon asked, at irishelection.com why the Green party had left out Limerick in their plans for tram systems in cities other than Dublin.

So we decided to ask the Limerick East Green Candidate, Trish Forde-Brennan to look into it for us.

We received the following response:

Dear Limerick Blogger,

You have invited me to comment on “Why Limerick has been excluded from the Green Party’s grand plan for light rail in smaller cities? “I am happy to do so. From this a conclusion has been drawn that Limerick does not count, that Limerick is not relevant in the national scheme of things.This is not so.

The GP[Green Party] is very much in favour of infrastructural development of the various rail networks. In Cork and Galway this will demand a light rail solution. Limerick on the other hand is blessed with four existing hard rail routes which however are not being utilised to their potential. The Green Party wants to see these being optimised by the opening of new stations along these routes (and the re-opening of old ones). It is not that Limerick is being ignored -far from it; our policies will result in a vibrant local rail network for Limerick.

It is our intention of holding a launch in Limerick which will give details of a regional transport policy and specifics will then be given in relation to Limerick.I am hoping that this will coincide with my official launch as the candidate for the Green Party, Limerick East.

In terms of the city, we believe that the time has come to commit to developing a proper public transport system and focus on how to do it as opposed to offering reasons why it is not possible. For those who believe that it is time to prioritise meaningful investment in infrastructure and that public transport in integral to that , please do track the political parties in the run up to the general election.It is the Green Party who has been calling for such investment and for the need to plan now for the future instead of waiting till we are at crisis point.

Limerick does not suffer from traffic jams to the extent that Dublin and its commuter belt does. But will that be the case in ten years time for those of us who live in Raheen,Corbally and Castletroy and further afield? Equally, we need to look at how Limerick will need to address the implications of identifying and generating employment and enterprise for the city,county and the region as we face a changing environment. As a Green candidate I am committed to Limerick and to making it fit for the challenges we must soon deal with. Limerick city and county needs Green
T.D.s!!!

So there you have it. The reason the Greens did not include a tram system for Limerick in their manifesto because there is already a rail network surrounding the city which could be redeveloped.

If we are going to be going all environmentally friendly and all that, why not have a Limerick equivalently to the DART using existing lines?

Like we give two hoots what Arsenal Football club do.

If you want to go renaming stadia, rename Landsdowne Road if it tickles your pickle, but I can’t see this going down well here in Limerick.

The thought of repeating such a suggestion would sully the whole site, so I will just link to it.

Be prepared to feel dirty after reading it though.

Read the story.

The pressure is mounting on the Minister for fudge Dick Roche to address the issue of Limerick’s desire for a boundary extension.

On the one hand he has John Fitzgerald to contend with. According to this morning’s Irish Examiner, the former Dublin City Manager charged with addressing social exclusion in Moyross and Southill, has told Limerick City Council that he will be seeing the extension of the city’s boundary to include the districts of Cahirdavin and Moyross.

Mr. Fitzgerald’s aim is to encourage commercial development on the north side of the city, which would mean more jobs for the area. This would be easier to do if these suburbs were under the jurisdiction of one local authority.

The construction Industry Federation is also sticking in it’s oar in the debate on the boundary extension.

According to the CIF, the number of houses constructed in Limerick City has fallen in recent years,most notably falling almost 60 percent last year, because there just isn’t enough land to cater for the demand. The opposite is true of County Limerick, where the number of houses being constructed has increased by 20.5 percent.

The lack of a boundary extension means that Limerick City Council has to put it’s local authority housing in small areas in the centre of the urban sprawl that is Limerick while the private sector builds around the edges of the city. This means that local authority tenants are “ghettoised”.

A boundary extension would allow the City Council plan it’s distribution of housing better.

Those of you who frequent the StyleTreaty blog, may be familliar with the name Mary T, who gets her fair share of mentions there.

But we can reveal that the mysterious Mary T is in fact a connoisseur of interior design, and has a blog of her own on the subject.

It is like the StyleTreaty but it is for your home rather than yourself, and it aims to bring to the reader information on what is available here in Limerick to make that house a home.

I suggest you go check it out.

The link is also added to our list of Limerick Links.

Live 95 FM have managed to hold on to the licence for Limerick city and county despite a poor performance at the oral hearings late last year.

The awarding of the licence, in principle, is subject to contract negotiations between the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and Live 95FM.

The areas in which Live 95 FM outperformed Heart FM in their application will become clear at a later date, but for now, management at the UTV owned station can breathe a sigh of relief.