Former Tommy Hilfiger shop in Earl Street to be sold at auction

The former Tommy Hilfiger store in Earl Street will be amongst one of a number of local buildings going under the hammer at the next Allsop auction in the RDS on July 9^th.

The building at 7 Earl Street, beside McKenna Man, has a reserve of between €350,000 and €375,000.

It has been closed in recent years with the sale including just the basement and ground floor units.

Also going under the hammer on the day will be an office at 6 Anne Street, which has a reserve of between €90,000 and €110,000 and development land at 39, 41 and 43 Quay Street – beside Brodigan’s Londis store – which has a reserve of €25,000.

The Gallagher Property building in John Street, Ardee, will also be sold on the day for a reserve ranging from €90,000 to €100,000 while Ardee Pharmacy at 1 Ashwalk Mews Ardee, will also go under the hammer for the same reserve range.

A residential auction will also take place the day before with two houses in Aisling Park going under the hammer for €20,000 and €30,000 respectively. 40 Drive One in Muirhevnamor will also be put up for auction on the day for a reserve of €20,000, as will 6 Tallansfield Manor in Tallanstown, which has a reserve not to exceed €140,000.

For further details visit www.allsop.ie

Savage elected new Louth County Council chair

Cllr Peter Savage

Cllr Peter Savage was this morning elected the new chairperson of Louth County Council.

The Fianna Fáil representative succeeds Cllr Oliver Tully in the position after seeing off a challenge from Sinn Féin’s Imelda Munster by 18 votes to 10.

This will be the Greenore man’s seventh spell as chairman having previously served in the role in 2010/11, 2005/06, 1999/2000, 1992/93, 1988/89 and 1985/86.

Ardee woman Cllr Dolores Minogue of Fine Gael was elected the new vice-chair.

More than 400 motorists convicted of penalty point offences in Dundalk in last few years

More than 400 drivers have been convicted of penalty point offences in Dundalk District Court in the last two-and-a-quarter years.

Figures from the Courts Service show that there were 446 convictions in Dundalk in 2013, 2014 and the first three months of 2015.

The bulk of the convictions took place last year when there were 204, up 22.9% on the 166 from 2013. From January to March of this year 76 convictions were made.

In Ardee, meanwhile, there were 207 convicted of penalty point offences. There were 109 last year, which was up by 84.7% on the 59 from 2013. So far this year in the mid-Louth town there were 39 convictions.

Drogheda was by far the biggest offender in the county with 513 penalty point convictions.

There were 284 last year, up 55.2% on the 183 from a year earlier. So far this year in Drogheda there have been 46 drivers convicted of penalty point offences.

Paddy Power looking to set up in Ardee

Paddy Power are looking to set up a new bookmakers in Ardee.

The company have applied to Louth County Council for planning permission to convert a former bar at the junction of Market Square and Irish Street into a betting office (102sqm) at ground level.

They also hope to fit four satellite dishes on the flat roof at the rear and have three condenser units in the yard at the rear.

The application includes permission for their signage and the internal modification of the building.

The move would pit them in direct competition with the nearby Boylesports unit

High speed broadband on the way to Readypenny

High speed broadband is on its way to Readypenny.

The townland between Dundalk and Ardee was one of several broadband blackspots unveiled today by Eircom as an area targeted for upgrade as part of their rural broadband plans.

The new broadband will be fibre directly to the home, as opposed to existing phone lines that connect to a fibre cabinet some distance from the house. It will deliver broadband speeds of up to 1,000Mbs, four times faster than speeds in Irish cities.

Smarmore Castle in Ardee sold for €500,000

The sale of Smarmore Castle in Ardee has officially gone through.

The 18^th century castle had been on the market for a number of years with joint agents Savills and Gallagher Property Consultants announcing a deal had been reached in February for its sale.

It has now been confirmed on the Property Price Register that Smarmore Castle, which is set on 15 acres of land, sold for €500,000 on May 19^th.

This is well below its €900,000 asking price at the time and much less than the €1.5m initially sought for the castle when it first went on the market.

The home of the renowned Taaffe family for many generations, one of its previous owners Tony Murphy, who was responsible for building the gym and swimming pool at Smarmore, passed away last August.

In February 850 lots of the castle’s contents were sold at an auction while in March a residential rehab clinic treating those with alcohol and drug addiction, was announced for the site.

The Smarmore Castle Private Clinic is due to open its doors this month.

An offshoot of the Castle Craig clinic in Scotland, the business is run by Peter and Dr Margaret Ann McCann.

Dates set for Tidy Towns’ clean up days across Co Louth

The first of the clean-up events takes place in Carlingford on Wednesday

The Louth Tidy Towns’ committee has drawn up a programme of street sweeping for village and towns.

The fortnight of events are aimed at encouraging local people to come out and tidy up their communities ahead and everyone who has some spare time is encouraged to take part.

The schedule is as follows:

Wednesday May 27^th

• Carlingford – 6am to 9am
• Omeath – 9.30am to 12.30pm
• Greenore – 1pm to 4pm
• Grange – 4.30pm to 5.30pm

Thursday May 28^th

• Tallanstown – 6am to 9am
• Knockbridge – 9.30am to 12.30pm
• Louth Village – 1pm to 3pm

Tuesday June 2^nd

• Collon – 6am to 9am
• Tullyallen 10am to 1pm
• Philipstown 2pm to 5pm

Wednesday June 3^rd

• Dunleer – 6am to 9am
• Clogherhead – 11am to 4pm
• Kilcurry – 5pm to 6pm

Thursday June 4^th

• Ardee 1 – 6am to 10am
• Ardee 2 – 10am to 4pm

Monday June 8^th

• Baltray – 6am to 9am
• Termonfeckin – 9am to 12 noon
• Kilkerley – 2pm to 4pm

Tuesday June 9^th

• Stabannon – 6am to 10am
• Reaghstown – 11am to 2pm

Wednesday June 10^th

• Castlebellingham – 6am to 10am
• Kilsaran – 11am to 1pm
• Annagassan – 2pm to 4pm

Thursday June 11th

• Blackrock – 6am to 9am
• Dromiskin – 10am to 2pm

Live Register figures up 0.3% in Dundalk despite national decline

Live Register figures for Dundalk grew slightly last month despite unemployment at a national level falling below the 10% mark for the first time since early 2009.

The latest figures from the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that there were 5,900 people signed on in Dundalk last month, an increase on the 5,881 who were on the register in March – a rise of 0.3%.

This is the first increase recorded in the Live Register figures in Dundalk since January.

On a county level there were 13,844 people signing on last month, down by 0.6% from the 13,924 a month earlier. There were also declines recorded in both Ardee (-1.4%) and Drogheda (-1.2%).

Despite the narrow rise last month, unemployment levels in Dundalk are at their lowest level in six years since April 2009 when 5,871 people were on the Live Register.

Man had jeep stolen after going to meet woman he met online in Dundalk car park

The Clanbrassil Centre car park where the incident took place

 

Gardaí are investigating an incident in Dundalk in which a man was the victim of a car jacking having gone to meet a woman he had met online.

The 28-year-old, who is from the area, had arranged to meet the woman at the Clanbrassil Centre car park at the Long Walk in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

However, as he was waiting for her a man approached him with a knife before demanding his wallet and the keys to his jeep. The victim then had to show the thief how to start the vehicle as it was an automatic.

The thief said he needed to go to Ardee but was from Drogheda.

The shaken man arrived at Dundalk Garda Station at 4am on Tuesday to report the incident.

Fortunately his vehicle was later recovered in the Oakland Park estate in Dundalk.

Gardaí have advised caution for anyone arranging to meet up with someone they have met online.

HaggleRock Theatre Group set to tread the boards this June at the Droichead Arts Centre

HaggleRock Theatre Group have announced that their previous ‘sell out’ performance of ‘Only An Hour From Dublin’ in March will take to the stage again at the Droichead Arts Centre, Stockwell Street, Drogheda for three nights only on June 16th, 17th & 18th.

The cast had just about hung up their costumes when they received the call inviting them to join the line up of events in the prestigious Droichead Arts Centre.

Patricia Reynolds, Chairman of the group said: “The invitation came out of the blue when an audience member from the Drogheda area attended one of our shows and brought it to the attention of the Droichead Arts Centre.

“For anyone who missed the local performance in March, it’s a chance to come to Drogheda to see this hilarious comedy. The plot is super with lots of laughs and mystery and the audience will be treated to a fun filled evening.”

‘Only an Hour From Dublin’, penned by Grainne Jordan (originally from Ardee and now living in Dublin), is a hilarious two act comedy set during the ‘boom and bust’ era of the Celtic Tiger.  Featuring a ‘well to do’ family who live on a country estate in a fictional town only an hour from the capital, it tells the story of how the family have to lease out their stately home to increase revenue. A family of ladies from the Liberties in Dublin decide to rent the house and open a B&B but problems arise when they discover the house is haunted.

The cast includes well known names from and Ardee including;  Patricia Reynolds, Joan Wilson, Margaret Gamble, Fiona O’Murchu, John Tumilty, Brian McElroy, Frank McGrath, Suzanne Kavanagh, Tom Doonan, Eimear Boyle and Anne Donaghy.  The play is directed by Pat Cleary and produced by Brigitte Nelson.

‘Only An Hour From Dublin’ will take place over three nights at the Droichead Arts Centre on June 16th, 17th & 18th at 8 pm.

Tickets cost €12 or €10 concession, and can be purchase at their two locations in Stockwell Street or Barlow House, West Street, Drogheda or via their website www.droichead.com. Telephone enquiries can also be made to 041 98 33946.