The Limerick Blogger: latest Limerick news and Limerick events

Doom and gloom abounds in this weeks Limerick Post. Cllr Diarmuid Scully, chairman of the Economic Policy committee here in Limerick has warned that “an increase in commercial rates would be an economic disaster for the city centre”

Borrowing from Bart Simpson’s “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t” Cllr Scully warned that “If we want to maintain jobs in the city we cannot raise rates. Yet, if we don’t raise them, we cannot maintain the same level of service”.

Cllr Scully is suggesting creating  a vision for the future development of the city

“We need to look at it how we can earn our living, and it’s not going to come from low-cost manufacturing”. One solution that Scully proposes is a convention centre and admitted to looking to get the project off the ground during his tenure as Mayor.

I’m tired of all these depressing doom and gloom stories that seem to get worse every week. Limerick city centre is fast becoming a ghost town. Increasing the rates would, in my opinion, force more shops into closure and accelerate further the decline of the city centre. Limerick needs inward investment into the city centre and needs to concentrate on higher end jobs like IT, banking etc and attract those types of industries to the city. With an international airport less than 30 minutes away we should be a hub for international business, finance or IT development. The council should move heaven and earth (or just lower rates) and attract high end companies into the city centre.

A teenage girl was caught carrying a viable pipe bomb through St Mary’s Park at around 8.20pm yesterday. Army bomb disposal experts were called in and carried out a controlled explosion on the crude home-made device.
A Defence Forces spokesman said: “It was found in her possession… she was carrying it. “These things are all unstable, they’re all dangerous. They all have the potential to kill or maim.”
Do these people not understand how dangerous and utterly stupid doing something like this is? Explosive devices are hardly safe at the best of times but carrying a home made pipe bomb in a busy housing estate defies any kind of logical explanation.

it would not take Sherlock Holmes to figure out I am a sports fan. I am the worst possible kind of sports fan, a Limerick Hurling fan. There are many afflictions in life that cause misery, depression and despair, but none is quite so bad as being a Limerick Hurling fan. Each year is our year for Liam Mc Carthy to return home. Each year begins in promise and yields nothing. That has been our story for so long. But not anymore.

Slipping quietly by, almost unnoticed this week, the GAA announced the fixtures for next years provincial championship.

Munster SHC:
Quarter-Finals:
Tipperary v Cork

Semi-Finals:
Clare v Waterford
Limerick v Tipperary OR Cork

The optimist in me says a Munster Championship is possible. The pessimist generally doesn’t show up until rounds 3 or 4 of the national hurling league.

On the football side of the draw

Munster SFC Quarter-final
Clare v Waterford
Kerry v Tipperary

Munster SFC Semi-finals
Limerick v Clare/Waterford
Cork v Kerry/Tipperary

Who knows? a Double Munster championship in 2010 is a possibility.

I’m beginning to wonder if all my posts have to have a film title associated with them. If ever a film was to be made about Limerick then the above would be the perfect title. As a city we demonstrate the best and the worst aspects of life. One thing is certain about Limerick and that is, it cannot be ignored.

The Good:

On Sunday 25th, there will be an unforgettable day for one and all as the GAA celebrate a very successful year for underage football in Limerick. The Dawn Milk Under 12 finals will begin at 10am and two games will take place at one time on the hallowed surface that is the Gaelic Grounds every 20 minutes until 6pm on Sunday evening. There is a full day of football games with the emphasis on skill, fun and participation. Clubs from all over the county will be on show throughout the Sunday event.

The Bad:

Aside from the usual stories in our local papers, one story caught my eye and brought home how cruel a city this can be. GARDAI at Roxboro Garda station are appealing for help in catching those responsible for an attack on an 85 year-old retired doctor outside Mount St Laurence cemetery.

The incident happened last Thursday at around 5.45, when the woman was stabbed on her hand a number of times. She had been sitting in her car when she was approached by a young man and woman who asked her for a light for a cigarette. When she opened the window the man attacked the woman and stabbed her a number of times with a sharp implement before stealing her handbag.

It takes a lot of bravery to attack a defenceless 85 year old woman sitting alone in a car. Whomever these animals are, I hope their friends do the decent thing and that when they are caught the legal system treats them and sentences them in a manner they deserve.

The Ugly:

Ok, Willie O’Dea jokes aside. The number of closures of city centre shops and half finished building sites is fast turning Limerick city centre into a ghost town. 25% of the retail space in the city is now unoccupied with both Centra and Fergusons Chemists closing stores in recent days. If Ryanair carry out its threat to significantly downsize operations in Shannon then Limerick will be a very very quiet place in 2010.

Since the dawn of time, mankind’s history has been dominated by struggle and war. Savage encounters between warring factions on the field of battle have been both the highs and lows throughout our species history.

This Saturday shall be no different. The battle ground is the Gaelic Grounds, where long time city rivals Na Piarsaigh and St Patrick’s go head to head for the Intermediate Football title and the right to move to Senior status. Throw in is at 2 p.m. St Patricks arrive into the final unbeaten but have the haunting memory of last years final loss hanging over them. St Patricks will be hoping the 5 Phelan brothers (is that a GAA record of some kind) can power them into Senior Status.

Na Piarsaigh have won tough games this year and proved a lot of critics wrong in their semi final win. The North side club will also want to exorcise the memories of this weeks Senior Hurling and Minor Hurling defeats. A game way too close to call, both long time city rivals might need extra time to separate themselves on Saturday.

This weekend the Limerick sports scene offers 2 potential mismatches that haven’t been since a small Jewish lad named David decided to pick a fight with a large Philistine back in the day.

In Thomond Park on Saturday Munster face up against Treviso. The Munster side has stuttered a little this year but is a squad littered with stars and knows how to put opponents to the sword with no mercy. Treviso’s recent win over Perpignan may offer them some confidence but their recent visits to Thomond Park have not been good.

Munster will be looking for a return to form have made just one change to the side that lost at Franklin’s Gardens last week. In for injured hooker Jerry Flannery comes Denis Fogarty. It will be hard to see “David” not getting crushed and mauled out the gate this Saturday and I think everyone expects Munster to put the ship back on course and leave Thomond Park on Saturday with a bonus point win. Kick off is 1.35.

On Sunday Limericks Hurling heavyweights Adare, clash with city club Na Piarsaigh in the final of the Limerick Senior Hurling Competition. Adare are looking for their third title in a row. Whilst Na Piarsaigh are not exactly “David” underdogs, they are appearing in the senior final for the first time in their club history. Adare’s experience should probably see them achieve the threepeat. Throw in is 3.30 in the Gaelic Grounds.

Also on Saturday is the rescheduled County Senior Football Final between defending champions Dromcollogher Broadford and Fr Casey’s which was abandoned last weekend due to a serious injury sustained by a Fr Casey’s player. Throw in at the Gaelic Games on Saturday is at at 4.30 and should be a very tight affair.

Update

Well “David” did not fare too well this weekend. In Saturday’s encounter after a nervy opening Munster’s power and experience showed and they ran out bonus point winners over Treviso with a final score line of 41-10. On Sunday Adare showed no mercy in dismissing Na Piarsaigh’s first final challenge. A one sided 1-17 to 0-03 points victory earned Man of the Match Mark Foley his 5th Limerick Senior Title and Adare’s third title in as many years.

Also on Saturday Dromcollogher Broadford retained their Senior Football Title with a hard fought 0-09 points to 0-07 points win over Fr. Casey’s.

Maura O’Connell was performing tonight along with the RTÉ Concert Orchestra.

She took some time out during rehearsals to give the Limerick Blogger an interview. You can listen by clicking on the aplet below.

Maura O’Connell, who has been one of the leading Irish singers since the 1980s is performing in the University Concert Hall tonight and will be acompanied by the RTE Concert Orchestra.

O’Connell came to prominence when she joined traditional group De Deanan, before moving to the United States where she received a grammy nomination for her work.

In 1993, she contributed two tracks, “These Troubled Times” and “Summerfly” to the highly successful “A Woman’s Heart” compilation, as well as contributing to the second volume of that album the following year.

Her new album, “Naked Amongst Friends” is currently availible both in stores and at Amazon.com.

Business Camp Limerick Panel Discussion from Limerick Blogger on Vimeo.

As promised, some video from Sunday’s Business Camp, which took place at the Absoloute Hotel in Limerick.

Here is video of the panel discussion.

Those of a certain age that still remember that 1978 Convoy movie can look forward to a rare treat today. Paying homage to the Kris Kristofferson, Ali MacGraw movie, farmers from all over the county are to stage their own convoy through the centre of Limerick today.

Dozens of tractors will converge on the city centre today entering the city from various routes and will congregate at the Grassland Fertilizers yard on the Dock Road. The route has been pre arranged with Gardai so movie fanatics are unlikely to be able to see a dozen or so Massey Fergusons thundering through a Garda road block as a “bear in the air” watches on overhead.

The Irish Farmers Association is organising the convoy to highlight government cuts and inaction on collapsing farm incomes. Limerick IFA county chairman Eddie Scanlan said they will begin moving before 12pm: “We’ll go down the Dock Road to the new Shannon bridge. We will take a right at the roundabout then left onto Henry Street and down to Arthur’s Quay. We will come around on to Patrick Street and then up O’Connell Street.”

Convoy Part Deux is expected to last over an hour. The IFA said that the protest is not designed to cause traffic chaos but to highlight the plight of farmers. Whilst not unsympathetic to the plight of the farming community I wonder if there are better ways to highlight your cause than a re-enactment of a 1978 B movie through Limerick city centre. Perhaps the politicians that are responsible for setting policy might be a better target than the tax paying public that will suffer as a result of this convoy.

Highlighting that through a combination of poor farm market prices for all commodities, a disastrous and costly wet summer and repeated draconian Government cuts on farm schemes, farm incomes are expected to fall by 25 per cent in 2009. This combined with a reduction of 13 per cent in 2008 means that farm incomes will have fallen by over 35 per cent in the last two years, Mr Scanlon is calling on all farmers to get out there and support the convoy.

That’s a big 10-4 good buddy and we look forward to seeing the IFA’s future re enactments of other classic road movies as Smokey and the Bandit, Herbie Rides again and my particular favourite Mad Max.