The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

The move will establish Limerick as the sole global manufacturing site for Cook Medical’s new product Zilver PTX which will treat peripheral arterial diseases.

Defence Minister Willie O’Dea was delighted with the news. “Above everything else, the news is good for the region, and it shows as far as investment is concerned, Ireland is fully open for business,” he said, adding he believes the deployment of some of the jobs will commence in the near future.

Cook Medical, which opened in Limerick in 1996, is headquartered close to the former Dell factory and employs almost 500 people in the frontline production of devices for a range of medical areas including women’s health and gastroenterology. A number of senior management roles also exist on site.

The announcement represents the first time the IDA has announced co-funded jobs in Limerick for three years, a move welcomed by city Mayor John Gilligan.

“It’s another good news story for Limerick city. It’s another indication that despite the downturn in the world economy, and despite the problems we are having locally, all these things can be overcome if we stand together. Anything that comes to Limerick at this point in time in order to boost our job prospects is something I would very much welcome.”

The Tanaiste described today’s news as a “fantastic development for the thriving medical technology industry in Ireland.”

European Vice President of Cook Medical Bill Doherty, said it was the Plassey plant’s track record which persuaded company chiefs to create the jobs.

“As the investment forms part of our company’s future growth plans, it is essential we have confidence in the ability of the chosen location to deliver to the strict locations and exacting quality standards required. We have that confidence in the Limerick team,” he said.

The jobs boost comes against a backdrop of fears over computer giant Dell’s presence in Limerick.

Worldwide reports have suggested the company, who employ 2000 people in Raheen, are ready to move much of their operations to Poland, something Tanaiste Coughlan will surely be quizzed on this afternoon.”

http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0929/limerick.html

50 jobs are to be created by waste management company Re3 in Limerick as a result of the development of new waste recycling technology described as a world first.

The company is investing €15m in sustainable waste technology known as autoclaving, which uses steam technology to recycle up to 85% of domestic waste which currently goes to landfill.

The technology has been pioneered by the Limerick company based at the Galvone Industrial Estate, where 20 jobs will be created initially, with a further 30 coming on stream in the next 12 months.

Professor Debbie Boyd, Chief Executive of Re3 Group, said this new technology is the next generation in recycling and recovery, as it is a sustainable and clean alternative to landfill.

The facility in Limerick will showcase the technology and there are plans to develop it at other sites across the island of Ireland and worldwide.

Today, just a few weeks after we launched the forum, it has passed 1,000 posts (1,034 at time of writing). We’re glad that people are finding it interesting, and, as ever, if people have suggestions as to how we could make it better, let us know.

Mayor John Gilligan is quoted in the City Leader as describing peace talks between rival feuding gangs as “fucking unacceptable.”

“I would find it absolutely abhorrent if the gangs are meeting in order to regulate their trade,” he told the paper.

Stating that all they have brought to Limerick is blood, death and misery, he suggested that they go out of business “in a hurry.”

Having been a member City Council and dealing with numerous City Managers, he should be well used to talking to people who don’t pay a blind bit of notice.

On a related matter to this, it seems the Clarion is the place to hold your meetings.

On monday, the boards of the Regeneration committees met at the Clarion to ratify the master plan for the city.

A meeting at the same hotel was scheduled this Thursday by another group hoping to improve their lot, that group being members of rival gangs who were not in prison. It was hoped that the latest round of discussions could bring an end to their feud.

The meeting had to be cancelled after the media became aware of it.

The Clarion hotel boasts 7 conference rooms, suitible for groups of 2 to 240, and when you gotta rush to that shooting range in Eastern Europe, you will be happy to know it’s only 20 minutes from the Airport.

Ryanair is launching three new routes from Shannon to Frankfurt-Hahn, Turin and Newcastle as it bases a sixth plane at the airport.

The new routes will start in November. Ryanair also said the placing of a new plane will result in more weekly departures to destinations like Bristol, Edinburgh and Paris.

However, it’s not all good news, especially for anyone who had connections with Nottingham, Derby or the English midlands the airline is scrapping its Shannon-East Midland route (the Cork-EMA route is also gone) as it has commenced an EMA-Paris run and it also reducing capacity on the Shannon-Luton route from October 31 to facilitate the three new services.

Just taking a casual look at some of the offers, and Frankfurt is – for some reason - tax-free in December, so return fares of €20 p.p.  available.

It might be the job of the judge to throw the book at people, however one defendant felt that he would take the law into his own hands and throw the book himself.

Christopher Curtin, of Salvia Court was in the District Court this week when he chucked the book of evidence which was presented to him at a Garda.

The Garda had just served the book, which was a hefty two volumes, on Curtin and was returning to the witness stand when the items were thrown at him.

The Limerick Leader reports that the book narrowly missed members of the public who were in the packed courtroom.

The paper also reports that Curtin is likely to face charges in relation to the courtroom drama. Luckily, the book did not hit it’s target.

If you’re on Twitter, and would like to get notification when we have a new post, just follow us. We’ve created a fancy thingamajig that’ll update Twitter every time we write something new.

Finally, a group of bloggers you can accuse of back peddling and get away with it.

Limerick Cycling was set up for those in the region to get together to enjoy the sport. They now have a blog and it will be added to our list of local bloggers.

If you have a local blog and would like it added to out list, send us a link and tell us a bit about you and your blog. Our address is editors@limerickblogger.org

Compulsary Purchase Orders have got to be one of the most undemocratic pieces of law in this country. You buy a house or land and the state can just take it away at a price of their choosing.

Anyway, a decision on one such CPO, which could see the closure of Trinity Rooms nightclub has been delayed as Bord Pleanála have yet to receive the report on the purchase of lands at Bank Place in the City.

Aparantly, the Opera Shopping Centre cannot be built until a part of the Grannary building, including a portion of the Trinity Rooms, becomes the property of those building the Shopping Centre.

The original plan for the Opera Centre did not include the Grannary, but now it does.

According to local radio, it is claimed that fire evacuation routes at Trinity Rooms would be seriously affected were the Opera Centre were to go ahead as it is now currently planned. And it doesn’t look as though a compromise can be reached, with the Opera developers saying it is “either Opera Centre or Trinity Rooms.”

The first time the Opera Centre was mentioned on this site was two and a half years ago, and between changes in design, changes in ownership, objections, CPOs, objections to CPOs appeals to CPOs, it will be a wonder if the damn thing is ever built.

If and when they can throw a pile of bricks together and call it a shopping centre, surely it wouldn’t take a genious too long to figure out a way to incorporate an established business like a nightclub into their design. Otherwise, it will just be yet another in a long line of commercial enterprises that the City Centre will have lost.

From Live 95FM.

A few people have used the forum for commercial messages (e.g. looking for a room-mate, looking to sell tickets, or buy a car, etc.), and we thought we should have somewhere where people can post them. So we’re launching the Buy & Sell Forum. If there’s anything you’re looking to sell, barter, get rid of, or acquire, that’s the place for it. (Like every part of the site, it’s of course free to use.)

If people find it useful, we’ll probably feature listings in the blog sidebar too.