The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

A man was rescued from the River Shannon last night after he jumped from the Shannon Bridge.

Gardai rescued the man, understood to be in his 20s,  after he jumped at approximately 2300 hrs, it is reported on the Limerick Leader Online.

He was taken to the Midwestern Regional hospital in Dooradoyle where it is understood that he received no injuries.

Yes, you read that right, its not just in Ireland where the weather can be crap!  Munster’s Heineken Cup game with Montauban has been postponed due to high winds in the south of France.  Gales of up to 170 km/hr closed the airports in the area, including Toulouse, where a charter of Munster supporters was due to arrive.  It had to be diverted along with flights carrying supporters from London Gatwick and Amsterdam’s Schipol airports. The closure of Toulouse also left the French side’s players stranded ahead of their clash against Bath at the Recreation Ground tomorrow.

The game has been rescheduled for Sunday with a kick of time of 1pm Irish time.Tomorrow’s lunchtime start could prove advantageous as they will have a greater idea of how the other pools finish. Munster will now go head-to-head with Leinster’s clash against Edinburgh at the RDS. Sky Sports will cover both games live with the Munster game being on the red button which means if you’re on chorus you are screwed!

Limerick’s roads have claimed their fourth victim in 2009 after a man was killed by a car last night.

Sean Humphries (87) from Lelia Place in the city was struck by a BMW mini as he was crossing Clare Street near the Abbey Bridge. at approximately 2220 hrs on Wednesday night.

Four people have died in Limerick City and County on the roads since January 10th.

There has been a spate of gang related activity immediately following the jailing of Liam Keane for weapons offences, and in advance of next month’s release of his father, Christy Keane, who was jailed for possession of drugs back in 2002.

Over the weekend, four cars belonging to members of the Keane family were burnt out.  One vehicle, a €70,000 Range Rover belonging to Owen Treacy, was found burnt out in a coal yard on the north side of the city.

An attempt to burn out a fast food outlet which members of the Keane family have an interest in, was foiled after Gardai arrived on the scene.

On Monday night, a Dublin man who was jailed in relation to a murder in 1996, was arrested for obstructing Gardai whilst in the company of members of the Collopy family.

On Tuesday, Judge Tom O’Donnell jailed Scott Delaney for obstructing Gardai after he gave them false details.  The judge handed down a three month sentence.

Delaney (30) from Palmerstown in Dublin had been involved in the murder of Mark Dwyer in Finglas in 1996 along with his father Cotten Eyed Joe Delaney.

Dwyer was abducted, tortured, shot in the back of the head, and had his body dumped in a field.

As many as 50 jobs are at risk following this weeks announcement that there are to be cuts at Bus Eireann and Irish Rail.

According to the Limerick Leader Online, as many as 20 busses will be removed from the fleet in the region, and there are to be cut backs on a number of routes.

Nationally, nearly 350 jobs are to go at Bus Eireann.

Also, Irish Rail have announced that it is to discontinue it’s Fasttrack parcel delivery service.

This is being done as the new trains being rolled out do not have a carriage suitable for parcels.

“Lee Stafford is one of the most recognised celebrity hairstylists at the moment and I think it’s wonderful that he is coming to Limerick to impart his knowledge of what’s on-trend. The further beauty of this type of workshop is that he always likes to work with real people, not models. Hence, the search.” – Alan Gleeson, Managing Director, Essential Salon Supplies Academy.

Lee Stafford, and Steve Turner, renowned celebrity hairdressers, are to host a masterclass in hairdressing at the Essential Hair Salon Supplies Academy at the Delta Retail Park on February 23rd

For this they are looking for 12 members of the public to participate in the class as models.  The details are below.To be one of the 12 lucky people chosen by Lee and his team, email your name, address and telephone number to info@essentialsalon.ie before January 30th. You will then be supplied with an application form, which you will need to return with a current picture of yourself either by post or email.

Winners will be notified by February 13th. All models must be available to attend the workshop on February 23rd. This is voluntary and not paid work but your reward is a free haircut by two masters of the industry.

Molex based in Shannon is to reduce its work force by approximately a quarter from 400 to 300 and implement a 5 % pay cut to remaining employees

The long list for the Irish Blog Awards are in.  Local blogs are highlighted in red

If I have neglected to highlight a local blog let me know.

Both the Limerick Leader and Limerick Post have made the long list for their On the Beat and Sports blog respectively in their first year of blogging.

The Limerick blogger is longlisted in Best News and Current Events blog and Best Group blog.  Newswire is also in the best News and Current Events category.

Bock the robber is also nominated in several categories, as is Cheebah and Kevuto.

The full list is below the fold as it was presented on awards.ie

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 We can only hope that 10 years mean 10 years.

- from RTÉ

Two Limerick men, who were arrested by the Emergency Response Unit in possession of a loaded handgun in the city last May, have each been given 10 year sentences at the Circuit court.

24-year-old Liam Keane of Singland Gardens, Ballysimon in Limerick, and 21-year-old Greg Crawford had pleaded guilty to possession of a Glock semi-automatic weapon and 13 rounds of ammunition in Limerick on May 4 last.

Keane had only been released from prison 17 days before, where he had served a term for stealing a car.

The two were arrested during an operation mounted by the ERU who pursued them after they failed to stop.

Gardaí found the gun, which was loaded and ready for use, in the car. At the time of his arrest Keane was wearing latex gloves, and Greg Crawford was wearing woollen gloves.

Passing sentence today Judge Carrol Moran said he had to take into account that the gun was loaded and ready for use and that the accused were in possession of it for a serious and sinister purpose.

He also said the gun had been used in a previous shooting, both men had been wearing gloves, and the fact that the gun was linked to a well known feud in the city that had lead to the loss of a number of lives.

He imposed sentences of 10 years on both accused men.

Here’s something we are going to give a try.  Twice a week, using the message board, a thread will be created to run a straw poll.  This is the idea of one of the comment moderators.

100% of People who took the Sunday 1 week Poll said that the 6 weeks per year was a fair package but 80% said that capping it @ 52 weeks was not fair, if you are in Dell 8.5 years or less you are getting what you are entitled to but for those loyal employees who helped Michael Dell turn his company into a $13.59 billion enterprise (as of 15 Jan 09) and stuck with him for 8.5 years or more you actually lose 2 weeks redundancy per year,

Now Michael Dell cant/wont pay his long term loyal employees of 8.5 year or more a redundancy package for what they are worth/entitled to, but he will pay an employee who has worked for him for 2 years a redundancy package of $10 million. Sean Corkery said on newstalk that capping the redundancy is the normal practice, can anyone name any company in the mid-west that has capped a redundancy package in the last 10 years in the med west because I can’t.

Current poll: Will the Regeneration Project go ahead?