The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

In the March 29th edition of the Sunday Times Magazine, “journalist” John Ardige made some innacurate claims in relation to Limerick.

The reference to Limerick in it’s entirety:

Out of luck and lucre, could Ireland really go bust? On the streets of Limerick, it looks like it already has. Unemployment there is 14% and the town is about to suffer the loss of 2,000 direct jobs and perhaps a further 8,000 indirect posts following Dell’s decision to close its Raheen laptop factory and shift production to Poland, taking almost 4% of GDP with it. Hotels are closing and snazzy new homes lie empty. On Cruises Street, the main drag, every shop has a sale on, with discounts of up to 80%. In the worst estates, where unemployment is 70%, corner shops sell single cigarettes and single tea bags. Economists use the pyjama index to track poverty: they count the number of people walking around the street in their pyjamas because they see no point in getting dressed. Whole neighbourhoods are fighting chronic crime, drug abuse and the most violent gang warfare in Europe. Recently a man accused of not repaying debts to a local family saw his children doused in petrol and set on fire. They suffered dreadful burns but survived.

Now time to pull it apart.

On Cruises Street, the main drag, every shop has a sale on, with discounts of up to 80%.

Anyone who knows Cruises Street will no only know that this claim is untrue, the highest discound I personally have witnessed on the street is 70 percent, but they will also know that the street is occupied mostly by UK based chainstores.  Any reductions being offered by these stores are being offered by the whole chain and not just their Limerick outlets.

Economists use the pyjama index to track poverty: they count the number of people walking around the street in their pyjamas because they see no point in getting dressed.

Arldige never cited any economists who use this method to measure poverty.  It also intimates that the less well off are lazy, which is despicable.

Whole neighbourhoods are fighting chronic crime, drug abuse and the most violent gang warfare in Europe.

This is a false claim.  Not only has the Limerick Garda division got one of the lowest crime rates in the country, it also bosts one of the highest crime detection rates.  There has been nearly one gang related murder a week in Dublin so far this year.  Compare that with the number for Limerick.

Recently a man accused of not repaying debts to a local family saw his children doused in petrol and set on fire. They suffered dreadful burns but survived.

This never happened.  If it did, it would have at least been reported in local media by now.

A request for a response from the Sunday Times went unanswered .

A Limerickbased technology company with their own blog.  As I am useless with technology, I will let them explain for themselves what it is all about

tek-dev, is an independent software company primarily involved in the design and implementation of software solutions. Our mission is to provide advanced computer systems that are within reach of small to medium, as well as start-up companies at an affordable cost. This is achieved using the innovative combination of free and open source software along with off-shore outsourced development.

Anyway, Tek dev will be added to our list of local blogs.  If you have a blog from or about Limerick City or County, send us the link.  editors@limerickblogger.org

TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN Patrick Cosgrave and Oisin Hanrahan of MiCandate.eu hope to change the way election campaigns are run online.  Launched at Trinity College in Dublin today, MiCandidate hopes to make it easier for politicians to have a web presence, while at the same time making it easier for constituents to find information on them.  There will be video of the launch uploaded later

While not necessarily a “local” story, the effect this will have on how people seek information on their local and European election candidates is worth noting.  Many local candidates will be listed on the MiCandidate website thanks to the co-operation between the site and their respective political parties.  Every candidate will be listed, but if a candidate wishes to benefit from all the bells and whistles that MiCandidate offers, they will have to cough up a fee of ~€250.

On the face of it, the online presence and ease of use makes this an attractive service for, say, an independent candidate with a limited budget.

Below is a summary of election related events which occurred in the last 24 hours.  If you want your preferred party or candidate featured on the site, get them to get in touch with us.

• Green party local election candidate, James Nix believes that cutting city rates for business taking up office space would stimulate the city’s economy.  In a statement released today he urged City Council to offer a 50 percent discount to new business taking up space in the city for it’s first year in operation.

Unedited press statements from the various parties and candidates are below the fold.

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Though her funeral took place yesterday, it would be remiss of us not to acknowledge the lifelong work of Ms Wyn Crabtree.

Born in 1915 in Yorkshire, she moved to Limerick with her father when he was appointed general manager of the Limerick Clothing Company.

On arrival, he got together with a number of local business people and set up what was to become St. Gabriel’s School and clinic for disabled children in Dooradoyle.

But it was through the work of his daughter, Wyn, that St. Gabriel’s is what we know it today.  During her time as head of the clinic, she saw the school finally receive recognition from the Department of Education, and then located to it’s current campus in Dooradoyle in 1997.  After her retirement in 1999, at the age of 83, she remained on the school’s board until her death.

Ms Crabtree received the Limerick Hall of Fame award in 2005 in recognition of her work with children with disabilities, and in 2008, she received the person of the Month award in November.

On winning the Person of the Month award, she admitted one regret, that her father was not alive to see what the school he founded had become.

Jimmy Woulfe article in the Irish Examiner

Person of the Month, Wyn Crabtree (Limerick Leader)

The extremely politically correct amongst us would claim that the youth of today commit acts of vandalism because they have nothing else to do, so why, would someone do something like this?

At approximately 2300 hrs on Saturday night, the two cabins at Cahirdavin Celtic soccer club were set alight.  One of the cabins was a changing room with six electric showers, and the other held vital equipment needed for the club to function.

Now the kids have one less thing to do in their area as the club will have to play it’s scheduled home games somewhere else.  The resources are not there to replace these cabins or the equipment.

One would love to get into the minds of the people who did this to find out why.  The people who run this club were not doing anything to anyone, just getting together a couple of times a week to kick a ball about.

An act of this scale cannot be too easy to keep to oneself.  Someone knows the person responsible for this.

The most depressing part of all of this is that it is unlikely that anyone will be caught for it.  It is a repeat of the destruction of Sammy Bensons band hall or Anne Curley’s playschool.  The dogs on the street will know who did this, but no one will come forward with information.

The full story can be found in the Leader.

Time to go tinkering with the blogrolls again as the NewsWire has relocated to it’s own domain name.

http://www.limericknewswire.com/

If you are using their feedburner RSS feed, you will not be required to make any changes.   More info on this is on the site.

Below is a summary of what our election candidates are up to over the previous 24 hours.  If you wish to see your preferred party or candidate featured on the site, then get them to get in touch with us.

• The Labour party conference in Mullingar concluded today.  The party has now uploaded the various speaches on to their USTREAM channel.

No press statements have been received over the previous 24 hours.

Just upgraded to the latest version of Google Earth

According to Google Earth, Riverpoint is smack bang in the middle of Prospect, and the Raheen Industrial Estate is in Rosbrein.

So, if you find somewhere on the map with the wrong place name, let us know.

Some events which occurred over the previous 24 hours in the run up to the local and European elections.  Unedited press releases are below the fold.  If you wish to see your preferred political party or candidate featured here, get them to email us at editors@limerickblogger.org.

• The Labour Party are currently holding their party conference in Mullingar, County Westmeath.  This will conclude later today.
• At the Labour Party Conference, a proposal by James Heffernan of the party’s Kilfinane brance to put in place a mechanism to make the party a mainstream contender in rural areas was passed.
• Green European candidate, Dan Boyle has stated that the gesture of returning his €1m bonus is not enough done by Irish Nationwide’s Michael Fingleton.  The bank boss was awarded a €1m bonus and was the sole beneficiary of a €27m pension pot.   “Mr Fingleton needs to go now, in advance of the report to be submitted to the Minister for Finance by the State appointed directors of Irish Nationwide. This report is not about, and cannot be about, justifying Mr Fingleton continuing in his job, it is about explaining why certain practices occurred in Irish Nationwide under his stewardship, and how such practices can be accounted for and then consigned to the past, so confidence in banking in Ireland can be restored amongst the citizens of the country and with international investors,

As stated earler, Press releases are below the fold

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