With 47 percent of the vote, the image of King John’s Castle by Phil Ahern is the winner of the banner contest for June.
The banner will be activated later. Well done Phil.
Entries for the July banner are now being accepted. send your entries to editors@limerickblogger.org
A six year old girl had to be taken to the regional hospital following a shooting incident in Southill this afternoon.
The girl was playing in the front garden of a house when she was hit with a shot from a pellet gun on the corner of Collins Avenue and Southill.
It is believed that the occupants of two cars were firing the pellet shots at each other when the child was hit by a stray pellet.
It is not known at this time if the exchange of fire between the two vehicles was feud related.
The child’s injuries were luckily not serious and she has since been discharged from hospital.
Jaysus, local politics is fairly dirty, Between Fianna Fail councillors removing stuff from business premises without permission, Labour councillors throwing their rattlers out of the pram and leaving the party, and now someone sending out letters in an effort to ruin the future prospects of a Fine Gael Councillor in the City.
Letters, calling for the resignation of Fine Gael councillor Kevin Kiely, which were sent to the Limerick Leader newspaper are now the subject of a Garda investigation. One was said to be on headed paper from the City Council.
The official whose name was at the bottom of the letter denies sending the letter which looks as though it was designed to damage Cllr Kiely’s prospects of being elected Mayor in June.
A 15 year old boy has appeared at the District court charged with the murder of a man last September.
The boy, who cannot be named due to his age, is accused of murdering 33 year old Patrick Coleman on 2 September 2007.
Mr. Coleman died after he was attacked near his home in Carew Park. He was making his way home after leaving a nearby public house where he watched the All Ireland final between Limerick and Kildare on television.
The court was told by Detective Garda David Nolan that he arrested the boy at 0717 hrs, and also stated that he made no response when informed of the charge.
Free legal aid was granted to the boy, and he was remanded in custody to Trinity House in Dublin until the next sitting of the Children’s Court on June 3. Judge Tom O’Donnell stated that bail was a matter for the High Court.
If Councillor Kieran Walshe of the Laour Party, or should that be formerly of the Labour Party, thought he would garner any sympathy from his former party colleagues by resigning this week, he was sorely mistaken.
Cllr Walshe resigned after claiming that the party was full of “cliques” and closed shop opperations this week, just days before the party decides on who it will put forward for nomination to run in next year’s local election.
This follows the selection of Cllr Joe Leddin to be Deputy Jan O’Sullivan’s assistant, thus giving the impression that he would eventually succeed her as Labour TD for Limerick East, or should that be Limerick City, the new constituency which should be in place by 2019, which is the most likely time Cllr Leddin would “succeed” deputy O’Sullivan.
Both Councillor Walshe and Councillor James Houlihan are reported by this week’s Limerick Leader to have complained that another councillor, Gerry McGloughlan, who was elected as an independent in 2004, along with his daughter Orla, are being “pushed in a major way” to run in their respective electoral wards for the Labour party next year.
Party PRO, Joe Kemmy, the brother of the late Jim Kemmy, said that he was pleased with Councillor Walshe’s resignation stating that he had become an embarrassment to the party who had failed to represent the people who had elected him.
Councillor Walshe responded to Joe Kemmy by describing him as a member of the clique, the keeper of the closed shop, and a dinosaur who had never stood for election in Limerick.
He didn’t mince his words either when it came to Councillor Gerry McGloughlan.
From the resignation letter:
Over two years ago, an independently elected councillor, with no political affiliation to Labour, and carrying a somewhat of a dubious history of supporting apartheid in South Africa, unpleasant behaviour which continues to the present day, joined the Party with the encouragement and full political backing of the local deputy.
The so-called support of apartheid claim refers to the fact that Cllr McGloughlan played rugby in the country back in 1981. Councillor McGloughlan, describing the apartheid claim as scurrolous, stated that at the time he was a sportsman and not a politician, and there was a hope that sport would bring an end to the discriminatory policy in operation in South Africa at the time.
On his return from the rugby tour, the local CBS school on Sexton Street sacked him from his teaching position and he was forced to emigrate to Wales with his family.
The war of words continued this morning when a letter from Jan O’Sullivan to the Limerick Leader this morning welcoming Cllr Walshe’s resignation
It’s (Cllr Walsh’s resignation) been a long time coming. Kieran took no part whatsoever in the General Election campaign and has been a negative force in the organisation for some time. I think it is indicative of his attitude that his problem seems to be about us bringing new people into the Party,
Poor oul’ Kieran, they’re all ganging up in him, but then when you go around accusing people of supporting apartheid, which is almost if not equally as bad as calling someone a Nazi, then you are kind of asking for it.
Incidentally, it was a bit rich for the CBS to sack McGloughlan as the Catholic Church supported fascism during the rise to power of Musolini and a multitude of Irish Catholic Priests supported Hitlers war against Britain.
You will need RealPlayer to see this work
This is a test of a new yokeamebob that Jazz Biscuit have come up with, which allows you to embed RTE videos on your website/blog.
While every other broadcaster on the planet is looking to Youtube, RTE seem to move as quickly as the vatican when it comes to making changes, hence they are still using that awful Realplayer.
Here is the video from the One news about the Cork Rail Strike. let me know if it works for you.
If you want to try the application on your own blog go here.
Pictures sent in to us by Lez. More photos from the ongoing works at Thomond Park below the fold.
Well I did say I would publish his statement in it’s entirety so here it is. There still remains the question as to whether someone can walk into a business premises, remove an item from the window without asking, and cycle off.
The view on a Garda station in Westbury is not the disturbing issue here. it is the removal of items from a business premises without asking.
Anyway I will comment no further.
From Counciller Cathal Crowe:
I wish to make my position clear regarding the possibility of a new Garda facility for the Westbury area.
For several months I have had concerns about Ardnacrusha Garda Station. In the last fortnight the gardaí based at the station have been without their regular patrol car and perhaps more worryingly the station has been left without a sergeant for several months. Against the back-drop of the un-lawful killing of a local youth and a number of aggressive incidents I have taken it upon myself to write to the Minister for Justice Dermot Ahern T.D. seeking assurances that the station at Ardnacrusha will remain open and continue to receive the support of his department in the months and years ahead.
I have called on the Minister to:
•Commit to keeping the garda station open.
•Renovate and / or extend the current garda station building so as to have it.
•Extend the opening hours of the facility bearing in mind the considerable local area it serves.
•Bolster the garda presence in the locality by assigning additional gardaí to the station, increasing the number of patrols and allocating the necessary resources to equip the gardaí to police the area.If assurances are given by the Minister then I will have no problem in endorsing plans to establish a new garda facility for the Westbury area. I would want such a facility to co-exist Ardnacrusha station rather than resulting in it’s downgrading or closure. Thousands of people and several centres of population depend on the gardaí at Ardnacrusha and it is important that any proposals for a new garda facility at Westbury be cognisant of this fact.
I am aware that Tony Hayes, proprietor of the Westbury Stores, has suggested that a building owned by him adjacent to his shop would be suitable for the gardaí to establish a base. I have no problem with Tony or any other landlord in the area wishing to enter talks with the Office of Public Works regarding such a facility. Indeed, if I receive positive correspondence from the Minister for Justice regarding the future of the Ardnacrusha Station I will channel all my energy into the realisation of this.
I have made this position very clear to Tony and find it regrettable that he has chosen to misrepresent me locally. I took offence to the fact that Tony taped a page from last week’s Clare Champion to the front door of his shop last weekend and highlighted a paragraph that said that I was “opposed” to a new garda station for the area. The highlighted section of the article was framed in a way that suggested I am completely opposed to this. This is not the case.As I have already mentioned I am supportive of a garda base that would co-exist with Ardnacrusha. I am also looking at tangible short term solutions such as assigning more gardaí to Ardnacrusha and increasing patrols of the area. I am trying to take a pragmatic approach to this. It is a time for all interested parties to channel their energies into how best to address the local policing issues and not engage in provocative or trivial arguments.
I wish also to confirm that Minister Willie O’Dea and I plan on sitting down with our Labour colleagues Jan O’Sullivan TD and Cllr. Pascal Fitzgerald with the view to establishing a neighbourhood watch committee for the Westbury – Shannon Banks and Carraig Midhe area.
Image: Norma Lowney and Charlie Cassey in the stage play “Lessons from Louise” Photo by Kevin Murphy.
Holed up in a Carmen’s bedroom surrounded by snacks, Carmen and Louise play out their intense co-dependent friendship. In a flurry of discussions and writing they furtively seek the essence of creativity, sanity and pistachios. Where power gently see-saws back and forth between the two friends, the lines between care and control gently begin to blur.
The Gallery at Limerick Printmakers will be the setting for the latest production by the Impact Theatre company, following the massive success of Problem Child during the Beltable Fringed festival earlier this year.
“Lessons from Louise” was written by Constentine Sandis, and sees Norma Lowney play role of Carmen. Playing the title role of Louise, is a new addition to the Impact ensemble, Birmingham born Charlie Cassey.
Director of the play, Anne Blake:
“I stumbled across it by accident on the website of a small theatre company in London and it just grabbed my attention. It’s very unusual to find a play online and it was immediately accessible. It’s very exciting, challenging and fast paced. It’s also nice to come across two very well written female characters. The play is dialogue driven and really comes to life on stage,”
The play will run from June 6 to 8 and commences at 2100 hrs.
You can find out more from the Impact Theatre blog.
You are currently browsing the The Limerick Blogger weblog archives for May, 2008.
