The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

OK, I am going to hold my hands up and say that I know absolutely nothing about architecture. So you will have to excuse the fact that I copied and pasted this from an e-mail from the organisers of this event. If this is your thing, then you will be best to go along as it is an opportunity to be heard at the very least.

The Limerick event takes place on the on June 5th at the City Gallery, Pery Square.

Here is the blurb

The Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government and the Irish Architecture Foundation have launched a series of public meetings to consult with the public on the new Policy on Architecture. The Irish Architecture Foundation and the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government will host “Conversations about Architecture and the Built Environment” at eight locations nationwide between May 29 and June 12, 2008.

The mid-western public meeting takes place on THURSDAY JUNE 5 at the Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick, from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. All are welcome. If you would like to attend, let us know in advance by calling 01-6708620.

Commenting on this, the Minister said, “The onus is on us to respond to the changing nature of issues relating to the built environment and, it is in that context, that I approved the development of the new policy. The next stage in the process is this public consultation exercise, which I feel will be critical to the entire undertaking. This will provide the maximum level of public input into the key themes and issues which are emerging as the policy is being developed. A website will also be developed which will act as an additional forum for public engagement.”

Nathalie Weadick, Director of the Irish Architecture Foundation, which is organising the Conversations about Architecture and the Built Environment series of events, added, “The Irish Architecture Foundation is an organisation committed to celebrating good architecture and inspires people to become considered and passionate champions of good design of the built environment. We are delighted to work in partnership with the Department of Environment, Heritage and Local Government to coordinate Conversations about Architecture and the Built Environment with the public, and see it is an essential and vital opportunity to listen to the public who are the users and developers of the built environment.”

The new policy on architecture is being developed by the Department, overseen by a Steering Committee appointed in 2007 by Minister Gormley, and chaired by Professor Loughlin Kealy. Minister Gormley noted “The Policy on Architecture will address issues which have arisen in the years since the publication of the first policy on architecture, Action on Architecture 2002-2005. It will place more emphasis on sustainable development of the environment and on urban design and will also aim at incorporating architectural heritage in a holistic, integrated manner. Finally, it will develop an action plan which will respond to, and promote awareness of, all those areas.”

It is expected that a draft of the new Policy on Architecture will be ready in Autumn 2008.

More information available at www.conversationsaboutarchitecture.ie from Thursday May 22.

See also www.architecturefoundation.ie or telephone 01.670 8620.

It is going to be a busy couple of weeks for those planning on going out in the month of June here in Limerick. The bank holiday weekend will kick the month off with a marathon DJ set from the well renowned Mr. Scruff, (pictured) who is coming to Limerick to mark the Fifth birthday of nightclub Trinity Rooms.

This will be one of the last chances you will get to see his performances this year as Trinity Rooms is the last date on his Irish tour. The event will take place in the Clubhouse Courtyard of the club and will run from 2000 hrs until 0200 hrs on June 1st.

Two weeks later, we have group Hot Chip coming to the same venue. You don’t know who hot chip are, you will probably recognise this.

Video comes from official Hot Chip Youtube Channel

From the blurb

Ahead of their main stage show at Oxegen, Hot Chip have just confirmed a very special Dj show at Trinity Rooms on Friday June 13th . One half of the band lead singer Felix and percussionist Al will take on the main room at the Limerick club in what is surely set to be the gig of the summer! Hailing from London, Hot Chip entered the picture with the release of their 2000 debut, Mexico. The EP was released by Victory Garden Records, a label owned and operated by members of London’s resident lo-fi psychedelic rock institution, Southall Riot. The Mexico EP was a hypnotic wash of subtle — nearly subliminal — pulse-like techno beats, acoustic guitars, and plinky pianos, but the vocals were the true star of the show (no small feat in a musical climate overrun with disaffected Lou Reed-esque mumblers and bland Eddie Vedder impersonators). The voices of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard are a fine study in contrast. Taylor offers dreamy, effortless falsettos that cut to the heart of the beauty of performers like Jeff Buckley and Nick Drake (minus any of the pretentiousness of Radiohead or even Coldplay or the bland vocal acrobatics of Remy Zero). Meanwhile, scattered throughout the record (and in the occasional duet), Goddard offers a tone that sounds a bit more world-weary and at times almost gruff in comparison to Taylor, calling to mind Damon Albarn’s cool monotone tendencies. 2002’s self-released Sanfrandisco E-Pee showed the band dabbling in more playful sounds, from the beatbox dubbing of the title track to the closing notes of “Fanta,” in which Taylor pleads with the listener to “make sounds of the summer.” There are moments of gorgeous melancholy as well, but on the whole the album feels a bit more hopeful than Mexico had. The group signed to revered N.Y.C. record label DFA in 2005 and released the Over and Over EP, as well as the excellent 2006 release The Warning. Hot Chip kept busy in 2007 by supporting The Warning with singles and consistent touring, and released a DJ Kicks mix album. Late that year, the single Ready for the Floor heralded the arrival of Made in the Dark, which featured some of the band’s most focused grooves and poppiest melodies to date. Ready for the Floor and an appearance on Later with Jools Holland cemented their superstar status and this summer they play Glastonbury, Coachella and every other major festival from Japan to Iceland!

Hot chip play trinity rooms on Friday June 13. On that day of all days you wouldn’t want to be unlucky, so get in early.

A woman has been told that if she can prove that €11,000 cash which was seized from her home by Gardai is legitimate thn it will be returned to her.

It is claimed that €11,000 seized from a house in Ballysimon is belonged to Brian Collopy, who in recent times had his house in Fedamore seized by the Criminal Assets Bureau and sold at public auction for arount quarter of a million euro.

However Mr Collopy has stated that the money is the property of his wife Maria and their son and was from legitimate business, namely an ice-cream van and Saturday market stall.

According to Ms Collopy, the breakdown the money was as follows:

€5,000 cash was for the purpose of paying a builder who was doing work on her house at the tim.

€3,000 was “belonged to the house”

€2,700 came from the ice cream van as takings from Riverfest.

€980 was to be used to send her daughter to Lourdes.

The money was seized as part of Operation Platinum, a massive multy-departmental operation carried out byGardai which saw raids on 150 homes and businesses in the Limerick, Tipperary and Clare area.

Ms Collopy stated that her husband had nothing to do with her ice cream business, and that she needed the cash returned to her so she could stock her fruit stall, which operates at the Saturday market in the city.

While turnover figures were not to hand, the court was told that Ms Collopy had an accountant who had all of her financial records.

The court granted an order to hold onto the money for three months

Woulfie has the story

A Limerick prisoner who was charged with theft and was due to appear at Limerick district Court yesterday has been on the run for the past month after being given temporary release from Limerick Prison.

John Hayes, of Lee Estate, who has 113 (that is not a typo he really does have one hundred and thirteen convictions) was serving a two and a half year stretch for an unrelated crime when he was granted temporary release in April.

He was due before the court yesterday accused of theft of over €120 worth of merchandise from a Lidl store and he failed to turn up

The court was told that Hayes was currently at large, and a bench warrant was issued for his arrest.

The downtime means that there is a lot of stuff which needs to be caught up on. Anyw here is a brief summary of some of the other stories which have been making news over the past couple of days

A two year old child who drowned in a garden swimming pool in Waterford has been laid to rest in Cratloe. Sarah Kate Frost is believed to have drowned in only one foot of water. Attempts by several adults who were on the scene at the time were unsuccessful. Sarah;s mother comes from Nenagh, and the Frost family are well known in the area. Link

It looks like Munster fans had to go to the same trouble trying to get home as they did trying to get to Cardiff. Hundreds of fans were left tranded in Bristol Airport for 24 hours by Ryanair, while those who travelled home by ferry were delayed for up to fifteen hours due to dangerous weather conditions. Ferries were diverted to Dublin Port when they were due to dock at Roslare.

A Clare man remains in a critical condition in hospital in Bristol UK after he was assaulted in a bar in the Waterfront in the town. The 19 year old was staying in the town and was due to attend the Heineken Cup Final the following day. A 19 year old, named as Darren O’Niell, with an address in Briston, has been charged in relation to the assault. More from RTE News

A 14 year old who has previously been charged with possession of a double barrelled sawn off shotgun has been further charged with criminal damage to a house in St. Mary’s Park. The teenager, who cannot be named due to his age, had previously been chargd with the possession of the firearm along with another individual, Michael Ryan (19) of St. Mary’s Park. Link

Limerick City Councillors have found a way to put the kybosh on plans by Limerick City Manager, Tom Machkey, to push forward plans for so called “gree” bus routes. At Monday night’s meeting, Mr. Mackey said that the city was lagging behind when it cam to these routes. The planned routes for O’Connell Avenue, Mulgrve Street, and the Ennis Road, have proven controvercial. Limerick Leader

Bloody gremlins got into the works again. anyway, things up and running again, here are highlights of Sunday’s Homecoming ceremony from O’Connell Street in Limerick

The video is in two parts.

25-5-08 0200 hrs Shannon Airport: Video from Tipp Ryan

More video coming.

I have to decide whether I want to do this again. Western European participants have to decide whether they want to to take part from here on in, because their prospects are poor

Sir Terry Wogan

Tonight’s Eurovision win by Russia and the poor result from Britain has caused Limerickman and Eurovision commentator for the BBC Terry Wogan, to consider ending his 35 year involvement in the contest.

During the closing stages of the contest, held in Belgrade, Serbia, he told viewers that Eurovision was “no longer a music contest’ and that Britain, amongst other countries should have gotten better votes.

It is also being claimed elsewhere that the patriotic eastern Europeans living in western Europe are voting for their home country rather than picking the best song.

Russian singer Dima Bilan won the contest with a song called “Believe” written by US artist Timberland.

The votes for the two semifinals have also been released, which have shown Dustin the Turkey coming sixth from bottom on Tuesday night. Link

See also

Wogan ponders Eurovision future after latest UK flop – Daily Mail

The celebrations following the munster win begins its journey back to Limerick tonight with flights arriving from Cardiff in Shannon Airport overnight.

The team themselves are reported to be due at 0100 hrs.

They will be given a civic reception by the Mayor of Limerick at 1430 hrs tomorrow which will be followed a tour in an open topped bus through the city centre.