The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

At least 65 people are set to lose their jobs as two employers make cuts.

At least 35 jobs are to go at Limerick County Council following last year’s announcement that funding from central government is to be cut.  The number of cuts could increase if Limerick County Council decides to cut any of it’s services to stay within their budget.

It has also been announced that Rehab Logistics, who carry out electronics and mechanical assembly contract work in the Raheen Industrial Estate, are seeking 30 lay offs in the coming months.

The company employs 90 people, half of which are people with disabilities.

The company also has facilities in Navan and Mountmelick

A public protest has been organised in Nenagh tonight against the recommended closure of Accident and Emergency services at Nenagh and Ennis hospitals.

The protest is to be held in Nenagh at 2000 hrs.

Meanwhile, the Limerick Leader is reporting that St. John’s is to keep it’s doctor lead accident and emergency unit despite the recommendations of last week’s HSE report.

The HSE initially refused to publish the report, however they were forced to do so after parts of it were leaked to the Irish Times and the Labour Party threatened to publish the report.

See also

Limerick Leader

Midland Tribune

At Limerick District Court yesterday, a 21 year old man appeared to be charged with the 2007 murder of Gareth Grant.

Greg Crawford, with an address at St Munchin’s Street, St Mary’s Park,the court heard, made mo reply when he was arrested by Gardai at 1020 hrs yesterday morning on Merchants Quay.

Mr. Grant was shot dead near his home on St. Ita’s Street, St. Mary’s Park on October 6th.

Armed gardai were present outside the court during the short hearing.  Crawford was remanded in custody until February 4th.

Meanwhile, in the Circuit Court, it emerged that the former treasurer of a county Limerick GAA club will sell her home to repay money she misappropriated from the club.

Patricia Carroll (49) Chapel Street, Kilfinane, had previously admitted to stealing €63,000 from the clubs lotto fund, and to forging cheques  to the tune of €35,000.

Carroll pleaded guilty to 19 charges for offences committed between October 2005 and March 2007.

It was heard in court yesterday that the defendant’s legal representative produced a written undertaking that the proceeds of the sale of the house, owned by Carroll’s mother, would go to repaying the stolen money to the GAA club.  Judge carroll moran had requested the guarantee at Carroll’s last appearance in the court.

After prosecutors accepted the undertaking, Judge Moran remanded the former treasurer in custody until the end of February.

Issued by Met Eireann

Issued at 30 January 2009 – 10:26
Weather Advisory of Heavy Rain

Further spells of heavy rain at times during Friday, Friday night and Saturday. Falls of 20 to 40 mm with flooding in places, especially in Southern areas.

Motorists are also advised that the Mitchelstown-Limerick road is blocked three miles outside of Mitchelstown following a mud slide.

One of the lower profile Fianna Fail politicians, Peter Power may be wishing he remained low profile after he announced the names of this new fangled task force being set up to tackle the employment hole left by Dell’s withdrawal from Limerick

On local radio, Power announced that former Kerry Group boss Denis Brosnan was to chair the task force.

The only problem is, that Brosnan has yet to decide whether or not to accept the position.

“I will probably make my decision sometime next week. I just want to think it over in peace. This is no normal task force. This is no normal chairmanship. A lot of jobs and careers and the social fabric of many communities are resting on theability to get it right. It needs a lot of time, thought and effort.” Mr. Brosnan is quoted as saying in the Limerick Leader, City Edition.

This wouldn’t have happened if Charlie was till around!

Other people on the task force are

John Fitzgerald, chairman of Limerick Regeneration, John Hurlihy, chief executive of Google Ireland, Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive of Shannon Development, Martin Cronin of Forfás, Brian O’Connell, Chairman Atlantic Way Anita Higgins, Ken O’Sullivan and Kay McGuine

UPDATE: Limerick Labour TD Jan O’Sullivan has called for the Tainiste and Enterprise Trade and Employment Minister Mary Coughlan to consider her position after Powers premature announcement.

‘The Tanaiste was clearly more concerned with ensuring that her pary colleagues and local Limerick ministers were informed of the new members of this Task Force before she had even received confirmation that Mr. Brosnan was willing to accept the position as both Chairman and member of this jobs task force’

‘It is quite clear that the Tanaiste has made little or no personal effort to speak directly with potential members of this new task force despite her original promises. Her rush to ensure that her party colleagues were informed of the new members has caused huge embarrassment to Mr. Brosnan who is still considering whether he can commit the necessary time to this important project.”

Deputy O’Sullivan also called for the regeneration project for the city’s disadvantaged estates should play an integral part of the task force’s goals.  She also welcomed the appointment of John Fitzgerald to the team.

Blatantly thieved from Irish Election, well the link is anyway.

The good folks at the Oireactas have profiled the population of each of the 42 constituencies based on the 2006 census, and the profiles are quite detailed too.  Here are some of the interesting points that show how both Limerick East and West are polar opposites

• There are more women than men in Limerick East.  The report shows that while there are 99 men for every 100 women in the east, there are 105 men for every 100 women in the west.  Nationally, there are more men than women in Ireland, with 1001 men for every 1000 women.
• People in the west are more likely to be married (54.1 percent) whilst in the East they are less likely (43.3 percent).  There is a lower percentage of widows in the East, (5.3 percent) than there are in the west (7.1 percent.   Separations are higher in the East also (5.3 percent compared to 4.4 percent in the West)
• While both Limerick East and Limerick West are more racially ethnicly homogeonous than the national average, West Limerick has the higher percentage of those claiming to be white Irish (93.7 compared to 89.7 in the East).  While 1.5 percent of those in the East stated they were either black or black Irish in the East, the number in the west was too low to even register.
• Just under a quarter of all families in Limerick East are headed by a single mother, this compares to 13.2 percent in the West.  The percentage of families headed by a single father is slightly higher in the east than the west, at 1.9 percent and 1.8 percent respectively.
• While more people in the East walk or cycle to work( 24.5 percent than in the west (10.3 percent)  The percentage of those who drive to work is quite similar, (41.6 percent in the East and 45.5 in the West).  Limerick people as a whole  are more likely to use the car than the national average.
• We’re a selfish lot in the East, with lower than average numbers involved in volunteering than our West Limerick counterparts.  Just over 15 percent of us in the East are involved in volunteer work, while the percentage in the county is over 17 percent. Volunteering for sports organisations make up the bulk of volunteer work done in the entire county.

So that is your dose of useless information this Friday morning.  If you want to read the profiles yourself, see the links below

Limerick East

Limerick West

Both are in PDF format.

There seem to be a plethora of award winners and nominations going about this week.  with the locals being represented quite well in them all.  We are currently waiting for the results of the person of the year award so I will post that as soon as I find out.  The ceremony is currently being held at the Clarion Hotel in the city centre.

Mid-West Arts, Media and Culture Awards (MAMCS)

Thje sooner IKEA open a new store in Limerick, the better.  The good people at the Leader need a new trophy cabinet, after they cleaned up at the MAMCS awards this week.

As well as winning the Best Newspaper award, the Leader picked up a number of other awards, including, David Hurley’s piece Brutal End won best news piece, Best sports piece for John Hogan’s “From the Tango to the Walls of Limerick,  Best News photograph for Owen South’s picture of the fire at the Ballysimon Road,  the best photograph in the Feature category also went to Owen South for his photograph of Desmond O’Grady, and Best Photograph in the General category for a portrait of Frank McCourt taken by Adrian Butler.

The Limerick Independent picked up awards for best entertainment piece for Alan Jaques “We Should Be Dead”, and best Photograph in Sports for a photo of Andy Lee taken by Keith Wiseman.

The Limerick post picked up the Best Free Newspaper award.  Business Limerick won best Business magazine while Limerick Now won best lifestyle magazine.

Best overall arts performance went to the anniversary reading of Pigtown by the Island Theatre company.  Best actor was won by Myles Breen for his role in “Problem Child”, while best Actress was won by Mary Murray for her role in “Pride of Parnell Street.”

You can watch Myles Breen in Problem Child by clicking here.

Best music act was won by Giveamanakick.  Best venue went to the Beltable Arts Centre, while best Museum or Gallery went to the Limerick Printmakers. Best visual arts event went to Walter Verling’s 60 Year retrospective which was hald at the Limerick City Gallery of Art, while Best Visual Art Exhibition went to the Hunt Museum for it’s exhibition, “Past Gazing, Future Glazing”  While best

Ed Myers won best radio talk programme for Limerick Today on Live 95FM.

Meteor Ireland Music Awards

The region is represented here by Spin Southwest’s Zoo Crew.  Voting for the Meteors opened yesterday and you can vote for the Zoo Crew by clicking here. The awards ceremony will be held on St. Patrick’s Day.

Irish Blog Awards

You can see the entire list of nominations here, but today sees the release of the nominations for the Best Blog Post.  Among the nominees from Limerick are Bock The Robber, Cheebah, Fustar, Captain Purplehead as well as the Hangar Queen.  The full list of Best Blog Post nominees can be seen by clicking here. The Irish Blog Awards will be held at the Cork International Airport Hotel on February 21st.

UPDATE: Limerick Person of the Year

Chairman of the Thomond Park Redevelopment Project, Pat Whelan, has been voted Limerick Person of the Year.

A 17 year old boy is in a stable condition in the Intensive Care Unit at the Midwestern Regional Hospital after an overnight stabbing attack.

The teenager, reported to be from Nenagh, County Tipperary, sustained four stab wounds to the back when he was attacked at the Jury’s Inn Roundabout at approximately 0120 hrs this morning.  No motive for the attack has yet been established, and Gardai are said to be examining CCTV footage from around the area.

Members of the public who may have witnessed the attack, or who may have information that would be of assistance, are asked to contact Henry Street Garda Station.

The scene of the attack, as well as an area infront of the Riverpoint tower were sealed off by investigating Gardai.

It has been confirmed this afternoon that the castletroy Park Hotel has shut its doors and ceased trading as of today.  Some 120 people have lost their jobs as a result.

UPDATE: Upwards of 40 couples have now become unsecured creditors of the hotel having paid in the region of €100,000 in deposits for weddings.

Staff were to be told on Friday the results of a rescue plan for the hotel, however the Limerick Leader is reporting that the hotel ceased trading today.

And now for the messy bit, the bit that seems to be confusing a lot of people.

The Fordmount Group owns both the Castletroy and Marriot Hotels.  The Castletroy Hotel is run by Castletroy Park Management Ltd.  and the Marriot is, or was run by Irrisistable Hotels Limited.  The two organisations are sister-companies.  Irrisistable Hotels surrendered the lease for the Marriot and it’s parent company, Fordmount, have taken over the running of the hotel for the next 30 days.  Castletroy Park Limited, it would seem, have chosen to close the Castletroy Park Hotel after 18 years of business

Election candidate for the Sinn Féin Party has called for the deposits paid by those with bookings, particularly wedding parties, to be refunded.  He also called for the workers to be given a fair redundancy package.

The Government task force which has been promised for Limerick must be established immediately. This task force must have a remit for all those who have recently lost their job or are facing loss of their employment in 2009. This extends far beyond those being let go by Dell. Thousands of construction and other workers have also recently lost their jobs. This task force must ensure that funding for retraining and enterprise development is extended to all Limerick workers affected by job losses, and not those just directly employed with Dell. The Government need to urgently We need to see a concerted effort by the various state agencies to help these workers find alternative employment.  We need to ensure that there are supports and structures put in place to help people who may now find themselves under severe financial hardship in terms of paying rent and making mortgage repayments.

While the Castletroy Hotel is in liquidation, Fordmount Limited is not, they have no excuse not to pay some sort of severance package.

A 13 year old girl has died after being struck by a car on the Old Cork Road.

The  accident happened at approximately 0750 hrs near the Cats Cradle public house.  The teenager was taken to the Midwestern Regional hospital where she was pronounced dead.

The Old Cork Road has been closed off by Gardai while they carry out a forensic examination of the scene.

The young girl has not yet been named.

UPDATE: Gardai are expecting that they will be able to re-open the road between Ballineety and the Cat’s Cradle Pub before 1300 hrs once their examination of the scene is completed.

UPDATE: The young girl who died in this morning’s traffic accident has been named locally as Marie Hourigan (13) from Ballineety.  Maura was a first-year student at Laurel Hill Secondary School.

Gardai have now the Old Cork Road