Wild Woman

A WOMAN angered at being remanded in custody at Wexford District Court told a young Garda (police officer) to get herself “a good man.”

It was one of the less offensive pieces of advice offered by Jennifer Armstrong of Enniscorthy.

“I’m not going to do any probation, I’m not staying off the drugs, I’m going to run amok in the country,” said Armstrong, after Judge William Hamill remanded her in custody.

She then turned her attention to Garda Catherine Kerwick. “Do you know what you can do with your Garda station€ Shove it up your a**,” said Armstrong. “Get a good man for yourself,” she added.

Armstrong appeared before the court charged with failing to appear before Court 46 in Dublin on July 6 and July 20.

She is further charged with failing to appear before Court 44, also in Dublin, on July 20 last and public drunkenness at the Duffry in Enniscorthy on July 26. Kerwick said that Armstrong had breached her bail conditions by failing to sign on at a Garda station.

However, David Tarrant, for the defendant, said his client wished to dispute that. She said that went to the station to sign on, but was told that she would have to wait for a certain Garda to be there when she signed on.

Hamill said this was not how he understood the system worked, while Kerwick also confirmed that this would not have happened at the Garda station.

“On my grandfather’s grave, I’m telling the truth,” said Armstrong, adding that she was making “an effort.” However, Hamill pointed out that the defendant had to be arrested for her own safety by the Gardai in July as she was “so out of it.”

The defendant was then remanded in custody to appear before Court 46 on September 3, which is when she made her feelings known to Hamill and Kerwick.

Gorey Guardian

Costly Chains

GREYSTONES Town Council has given up all hope of the stolen mayor’s chain of office being returned as it prepares to commission a new chain at a cost of over €10,000.

The council is currently in negotiations with Ballinaclash-based silversmith Brian Clarke to create a new chain of office at an estimated cost of €10,500, which will be covered by an insurance policy. Clarke said that while he has yet to sign a contract, he does expect to begin work on a new chain of office within the next month.

The chain was stolen from former Mayor Derek Mitchell in June during a burglary at his Greystones home while he and his family were sleeping upstairs. The culprits broke into to his home, took the keys to his convertible BMW and made off with the chain.

However, the lack of a chain has not phased recently-elected Mayor Gráinne McLoughlin, who has already chaired two council meetings without the official jewelry.

“It doesn’t bother me at all, particularly during this quiet time,” says McLoughlin. “The Greystones Arts Festival was the biggest thing that was going on and I certainly wasn’t going to be running up and down the road wearing it for that!”

She added that the theft of the chain was “absolutely appalling” for her Fine Gael colleague Mitchell, who was due to hand them over to her the week after they were stolen.

Bray People

American Invasion

UP to 250 American soldiers were stationed in Limerick recently, with many located in apartments in Allendale, behind Scott’s Bar, as their aircraft landed unexpectedly in Shannon last Thursday.

“We were going to Germany and we didn’t know what was happening ourselves until we got on the ground and saw all the emergency vehicles around the plane,” said one of the soldiers.

While they were waiting for the engine to be fixed the soldiers were brought to Limerick city. As they were heading to Iraq the only clothes they had with them were their army fatigues, so the soldiers were walking around in their full combat gear.

“Somebody told us it was the murder capital of Ireland but everybody has been very hospitable to us and going out of their way to help us,” said one of the soldiers, who posed for photos with locals.

The main thing they love about Ireland was the weather.

“I love the rain even though I know you guys hate it. It’s so muggy in Texas, Mississippi and Iraq so this is great. I could stand in the rain all day,” said one.

Although they weren’t allowed to drink the soldiers still went down a storm in Scott’s Bar, according to its manager Paddy Smith.

“I didn’t hear one person give out about them, not one. On Friday night there was a surprise 40th birthday party. Eight soldiers passed by as they were about to surprise the birthday girl so one of the lads joked, ‘Here comes the strippers.’

“The soldiers then marched in and sang Happy Birthday to the lady and they stayed for a good while too. They are all really nice, polite guys,” said Smith.

The soldiers flew out in the early of hours of Monday morning.

Limerick Leader

Masses Cut

MASSES at Altnagelvin and Gransha hospitals have been stopped because of a shortage of priests.

Father Aidan Mullan, parish priest at Glendermott, who is the hospital chaplain, said the decision to stop the Masses had been regrettable. However, the priests, he said, had “soldiered on longer than they should have.”

“It was a very difficult decision to make,” he said. “However, with only three priests in the parish it was impossible for one of us to take holidays because the other two couldn’t cope with the amount of Masses.”

Mullan revealed that the parish did have six priests. However, now there are only three.

“Three priests can cover the schedule at a fierce stretch, however we have to cover the rest of the parish from Newbuildings to Strathfoyle, covering 11 miles.”

The Derry priest added that many of the patients at hospital who attended the Mass may only do so once depending on the length of their stay in hospital.

“Others who may be in hospital over the weekend may not be able to leave their bed,” he said. “We’ve been monitoring the numbers attending since Christmas and, on average, we get between six and eight attending Mass.

“The Eucharistic service will continue. We have 30 Eucharistic ministers who deliver the Eucharist to patients and never let us down. If there are others who wish to join this group we would be very welcoming.”

Derry Journal

What Downturn?

PREDICTIONS of a downturn in the property market have been denied in Mayo, with a large number of major sites still selling at phenomenal prices. The average price of an acre of prime development land in Mayo is €1 million.

Examples of large scale development sites are dotted throughout Mayo, with Castlebar being the leading town for prime development land for sale. The top price of €9.5 million is being sought for a 14 acre freehold site on the edge of Castlebar, at Aughalusky, which is beside the N5 national primary route, linking the Dublin to Castlebar Roads.

The land itself, eight acres of which is zoned low density residential and six acres with road and river frontage, is also zoned open space or amenity.

Also in the same area, €3.5 million is being sought for a further eight acres on the newly-proposed outer ring road between the Castlebar to Dublin Road and the main Castlebar-Claremorris-Roscommon roads. This is zoned for low density housing with a guest house, hotel, school, nursing home, sports club and recreational buildings, all open for consideration by the planning authority.

Castlebar-based auctioneer Patrick Durcan said there is a downturn in the number of units being sold in Mayo but the prices are not dropping.

“Developers are still buying land. It might not be at the same rate as it was, but they are still buying and are definitely still active in the market and are still developing sites,” he said.

‘The prices are still increasing here because we are not as over-exposed as other parts of the country, such as in the east.”

Western People

You Tube Fights

BRUTAL fights between Sligo youngsters in places across the town and county are being broadcast on the Internet.

One five-minute video, recorded on a mobile phone, shows two teenagers fighting in a basketball court in Sligo, watched by up to 20 other youngsters who are cheering them on and clapping.

This particular fight was stopped twice as the fighters involved took rests before continuing on again. One of the fighters was holding his bloodied hand in pain. They punched, kicked and pushed each other repeatedly during the course of the footage.

Afterwards both fighters received rounds of applause from their audience.

This fight has been viewed by over 1,000 viewers already since it was uploaded onto You Tube. And many of those that have seen the footage have given their comments. It has even received a four-star rating.

Yet this isn’t the only video on this website showing Sligo youngsters fighting. Another one showed two boys fighting in the grounds of a well-known Sligo building. This footage was on the website up until Friday evening but has now been taken off.

One Summerhill College student said, “These fights take place every couple of months. And it is a regular thing for two boys to fight each other if they have had a disagreement. They sometimes take place at lunch-time and they take place in different venues. But, they mostly take place after school. And they are nearly always recorded on mobile phones. There could be a few people recording the fight on their phone so they can show their friends.”

Footage titled “Sligo fight” or “Sligo beatings” offers choices of fights for anyone logging on to this site.

Sligo Weekender