Sligo — what a great place to be
WHAT makes the county of Sligo a great place to be€
That’s the question being posed by Junior Chamber Sligo to the people of the county.
As part of a community project the Chamber is publishing a brochure extolling the virtues of Sligo entitled Sligo...What A Great Place To Be.
“Why do we choose to live, work, have families and spend our leisure time in Sligo€” they ask.
“The answer is there is something great about Sligo and we in Junior Chamber want to celebrate this with the publication of a brochure.
“This will be distributed the length and breath of the county and beyond. This will be a forum to acknowledge why Sligo is such a great county.”
But first they need to hear from the people of the county.
They say: “What makes a place great€ We want to hear your ideas, suggestions, reasons.
“Is it the people€ We want to know their names and why they are so great. Is it a teacher that inspired you, is it your school friends, your college friends your work friends€ Maybe it’s your family.
“Do you work in a great place, do you have a great boss or colleagues€ Maybe it’s great service in a restaurant or café€ Is it the food€ Maybe it’s the shops€ Maybe it’s the facilities€
“Is it a great place to spend your free time€ What do you do that is so great€”
The Sligo Weekender
Huge cannabis haul follows gardaí swoop
A HOMEGROWN drug operation with over 60 cannabis plants some over one metre tall were found at a house in Castlerea.
The town’s gardaí made the substantial haul when they discovered the drugs which are estimated to be worth about €6,000.
The cannabis plants were found at a house in the Longford area of Castlerea.
Garda officers swooped on the house and found cannabis plants growing inside and outside the rented property. Thirty-five plants were growing in potted plants in the bedroom and living room of the house.
A further 25 cannabis plants were growing in the back garden while three plants were growing in the corner of a field beside the house.
Sergeant Tom Connor of Castlerea said: “We were working on the operation for a number of days beforehand. Some of the cannabis plants were three inches tall while others were one foot tall and some of them were as high as one metre.”
In the course of a follow-up search, gardaí found seven more cannabis plants growing in a field in the Annaghmaghera area of Castlerea.
This brought the total haul to 70 cannabis plants estimated to have a street value of between €5,000 and €6,000.
No arrests were made in relation to the drugs find but a local man in his mid-30s was helping gardaí with inquiries.
It is the latest in a line of drug seizures for Castlerea gardaí.
Previous hauls included €23,000 in Ballymoe, €14,000 at the Mantua Music Festival and €5,000 in Castlerea town.
The Rosscommon Herald
As many Dubs in Kildare as natives
THE DUBS are invading Kildare!
Less than half of the people currently living in the area were born there.
And there are almost as many Dubs in the county as there are Lilywhites.
The statistics recently released means that in 10 years’ time Kildare may yet have a decent football team as the next generation of Jason Sherlocks (below) and Mark Vaughans call it their home!
Proof of the diverse make-up of the county was published by the Central Statistics Office figures and show that people from the capital now represent just over a quarter of the entire population of Kildare.
Kildare has the second-lowest percentage of native-born residents still living in the county — only Co. Meath has a higher percentage of non-natives.
According to the most recent figures there are 186,000 people living in Kildare but just 76,000 of them were born there.
A massive 50,000 people in the county listed their place of birth as Dublin.
A further 10,000 people in Kildare were born in Britain.
The Kildare Nationalist
Kerry dog is looking to secure gold
A KERRY dog is in the running for one of the most sought-after prizes in Irish greyhound racing.
Frosty January has a shot at the €305,000 paddypower.com Irish Greyhound Derby after winning his final at the trial stakes in Tralee’s Kingdom Greyhound Stadium.
The Trial Stakes final took place in Kingdom Greyhound Stadium and the winner owned by Donal O’Connell from Abbeydorney advances to the first round of the Derby Proper in Shelbourne Park.
The winning dog will receive €175,000.
Trials are well under way for the paddypower.com Irish Greyhound Derby, regarded as one of the world’s most lucrative greyhound races.
This year’s event will take place at Shelbourne Park and it will see some top-class greyhounds battle it out for the coveted title which last year was won by Razldazl Billy.
Some €305,000 in prize money is up for grabs and the total winner’s prize money is €175,000.
The Kingdom
Angry flood victims counting the cost
MOUNTRATH has become the latest victim of the summer’s unseasonable weather.
The town was hit by a freak hail storm that had many homes and businesses under water within minutes.
Such was the ferocity and suddenness of the storm that locals said they did not have time to react or take preventative measures.
All over the town people were left stunned and counting the cost as they attempted to clear water from their homes.
Many were critical of the county council and blamed the local authority for covering up gullies on Patrick Street when refurbishment work was carried out.
Cllr Michael Moloney was also highly critical of the lack of response from the county council.
He said he spent most of the day running between County Hall and the area office in Borrisin-Ossory trying to get assistance for the shocked residents.
But area engineer Tom O’Carroll said there was nothing the council could have done to stop the flooding.
He said: “My sympathy goes out to those people but from a maintenance point of view there was nothing we could do.
“The drainage under the street is only able to cope with a certain amount of water so it didn’t matter how many gullies there were.
“If there were a hundred more gullies it wouldn’t have made any difference.
“The pipes were taking away what water they could but they were full to capacity. With the level of rainfall we had we don’t have the infrastructure to cope with it.”
Along Patrick Street the evidence of the devastation was clear with floor coverings and furniture stacked outside front doors.
Many residents spoke of the terror they experienced.
“One minute there was a huge bang and then the hail started to fall,” said one elderly lady. “I heard the noise on my roof and honestly I didn’t know what was happening. It was like the end of the world.”
Another resident said: “It was madness.
“I was waiting for Noah to show up with his Ark.”
The Laois Nationalist