Travelling from Dundalk to Dublin Airport via rail could be a possibility in the next few years

David Franks, chief executive of Irish Rail

People could soon be able to travel to Dublin Airport from Dundalk train station.

That’s if an ambitious Irish Rail plan to link the airport with Cork, Galway and Belfast comes off.

The proposed new line was revealed by Iarnrod Éireann chief executive David Franks in an interview with The Irish Independent.

While the line would cost in the region of €300m, it would open the entire rail network to air passengers and boost tourism. Dublin Airport is one of the few major airports in Europe without a rail link to its city centre.

“One of the biggest contributions we can make to the economy is moving people over long distances and into city centres fast,” the chief executive told the Irish Independent.

“My vision is more a Manchester Airport connection where you can go all over the country using diesel trains.

“You could gain access to Cork, Galway or Belfast. We think it could be done for about €300m, but that’s very rough and ready.”

Irish Rail might run intercity services direct to the airport, or else link the airport and city by DART before switching to intercity trains.

The ambitious plan would involve building a spur line to the airport from Clongriffin.

This is already being considered by the Department of Transport, in the context of developing a new public transport option for north Dublin.

But the second part would involve a second line from the airport to Swords, before connecting back onto the main Dublin-Belfast line, which would also service commuters from Drogheda and Dundalk.

Trains could run every 15 minutes into the city, with the trip taking 20 minutes. As the line is underneath the flight path, no property would be affected.

Irish Rail believes it could be built in less than five years, and carry three million airport passengers. Research suggests that 24pc of people travelling through airports use a rail link.

The scheme would also be enhanced if the proposed DART Underground project goes ahead, which will link the main lines between Heuston Station and Connolly Station.

St Vincent’s student Rachael takes Best Individual Award at BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition

Rachael collecting her award from Minister for Education Jan O’Sullivan

St Vincent’s Secondary School student Rachael Ní Dhonnachadha picked up the Best Individual Award at the BT Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition in Dublin on Friday.

The 16-year-old, who is in fifth year, won the award for her project ‘Brap: Boxers handwrap, preventing wrist injury in boxing.’

She was entered in the Biological and Ecological Sciences category at senior level.

Local TD Gerry Adams and Senator Mary Moran were amongst those to praise all the local entrants with participating schools from Louth including Bush Post Primary School, Coláiste Rís, De La Salle College, Dundalk Grammar School, O Fiaich College, Our Lady’s College Drogheda and St Vincent’s.

The overall award went to Ian Sullivan and Eimear Murphy from Kanturk in Co Cork for their project on teenagers’ alcohol consumption.

Louth 1957 All-Ireland winner Dan O’Neill passes away

Dan O’Neill RIP

The death has taken place of former Louth 1957 All-Ireland winner Dan O’Neill.

One of two Mayo men to feature on the side that beat Cork, the Castlebar native remained an avid follower of the fortunes of the Wee County from his home in the west of Ireland.

Dan played for Castlebar Mitchels and Mayo before transferring to Louth following an expenses dispute, and was joined in the Wee County by Ballaghaderreen man Seamie O’Donnell.

The two had played together in 1954 on the Mayo team that won the National Football League title, and bumped into each other again at a border crossing when both were Gardaí stationed in Louth.

In a twist of fate, they ended up playing at midfield together in the second-half of the 1957 All-Ireland final when Louth defeated Cork – becoming the last two Mayo men to win All-Irelands.

In 2009 Dan launched his autobiography, Divided Loyalties, in which he fondly remembered his time in the Wee County.

“I spent almost eight years in Louth and naturally enjoyed a popular support from the fans there, which created in a me a very strong magnetic attraction for my adopted county. However, I always remained strongly attracted to my home county, and, indeed, I was delighted when circumstances allowed me to come back and wear the green and red again in 1963.

“At half-time in the All-Ireland final, Seamie came out from the half-forward line to play alongside me at midfield. So you had two Mayo men playing together at midfield for Louth in an All-Ireland final.

“Neither Louth or Mayo have won an All-Ireland title since, which is a source of great disappointment to me.”

In later years Dan played football in Galway. During his time in Louth he was a member of the Oliver Plunketts club and also the now defunct St Dominic’s and Naomh Mhuire.

It was while in Drogheda that he met his future wife, Nancy Callan, from Drumconrath in Co Meath. He retired from the Gardaí in 1962 and moved with his family back to the west where he worked for Calor Gas before going on to become the Regional Tourism manager for Donegal, Sligo and Leitrim.

Reminiscing his All-Ireland success in recent years, Dan said: “Of course, it’s the highlight of any footballers’ career to win an All-Ireland medal. It didn’t really matter that it was with Louth rather than Mayo. Once you win one All-Ireland, everything else is secondary. Ask any of the Kerry team that won seven or eight All-Irelands and they’ll tell you that the first is the one they remember most”, said Dan.

No funeral details are as yet available.

Organised prostitution targeted in Garda raid in Dundalk

Gardaí searched a premises in Dundalk last week as part of a two-day nationwide operation targeting organised prostitution.

The search follows a six month long investigation by the Organised Crime Unit into the activities of a criminal group involved in organised prostitution, brothel keeping and other associated criminal activity.

The operation was conducted in close co-operation with Europol as part of an initiative targeting mobile organised crime groups active throughout Europe.

Since Thursday morning, Gardaí searched a total of 22 premises, which include apartments, flats and houses at locations in Dundalk as well as Letterkenny, Ennis, Clonmel, Waterford, Cavan, Mullingar, Limerick, Ballina, Newbridge and Cork along with 11 locations in the Dublin area.

More than 60 Gardaí were involved including members of Organised Crime Unit, local detective units and uniformed Gardaí. The purpose of this search operation was to gather evidence in order to advance the investigation. Evidence of suspected prostitution activity was detected at a number the locations although it is not yet known if any such activity was identified in Dundalk.

During the searches Gardaí seized documentation, mobile phones, computers and money. A number of women present at various locations were interviewed by Gardaí and have been offered support and advice.

One man was arrested in Swords.

Dundalk Retail Park on verge of being sold

A US investment fund are believed to be close to securing a deal to buy Dundalk Retail Park.

It is reported that Varde Partners are hoping to snap up the Spectrum portfolio of shopping centres and retail parks, which apart from Dundalk also includes the Bloomfield Centre in Dun Laoghaire, Douglas Shopping Centre in Cork and Quayside in Sligo.

The portfolio has been marked as ‘sale agreed’ in recent days with estate agents Savills, with speculation that Varde could pay in the region of €150m for the malls.

The current rental income at Dundalk Retail Park is just under €2.5m per annum.

Rents on the rise in Louth

 

Rents in Louth have risen by 8.5% in the last year, according to the latest rental report from property website Daft.ie.

The report found that the average rent paid in the Wee County now stands at €689 with the year-on-year increase the fourth largest in the country outside of Dublin after Kildare (13.5%), Wicklow (12.9%) and Meath (10.9%).

Louth is also the seventh most expensive county to rent in nationwide after Dublin, Cork, Galway, Wicklow, Kildare and Meath.

Every county in the country experienced an increase in rents in the last year, largely as a result of dwindling stock which is now at its lowest figure since May 2007.

Today is the day

The view from the temporary stand erected behind the Carrick Road end goals at Oriel Park

The day is finally here. After what must have felt like one of the longest weeks of the year, it’s finally game night.

The destination of the 2014 SSE Airtricity Premier Division title will be decided at Oriel Park tonight as Dundalk and Cork City go head to head.

Stephen Kenny’s side need to win the sold-out affair to ensure a first league success since 1995, while the visitors need just a share of the spoils to clinch glory.

It promises to be a memorable affair no matter what the outcome.

Before the game, Dundalk have issued some vital match information. Please read it below.

• The match is sold out. There are absolutely no tickets left for this match.
• The match is live on RTE2 and will also be shown on the big screen in Dundalk Town Square.
• You will not gain access to the area surrounding Oriel Park unless you have a match ticket.
• Oriel Park will be locked down from very early in the afternoon. Apart from people working at the match, nobody will gain access to the area surrounding Oriel Park from that point without a match ticket.
• This match will have upwards of 5,000 people in attendance. We are asking all supporters to please co-operate with all security personnel at the match. They are there to ensure that everybody can enjoy the game safely.
• We are requesting that all supporters make a major effort to be in your seat one hour before the 7.45 kick-off.
• Not only will this help create the type of atmosphere we desire before the match, but also will significantly reduce delays for supporters entering the match.
• The Lilywhite Lounge will be opened from 6PM for pre-match refreshments. A Match/Season ticket will be needed for entry into the clubs bar.

Entry Points

• All Dundalk fans enter via the normal entrance beside the garage.
• All Cork fans enter via the away supporter lane way on the Carrick Road side of the ground
• Message For Supporters who wish to watch the match from the Shed.
  • If you want to watch the match from the shed we are advising that you, in particular, should be as early as possible before the match.
  • Restrictions exist for the capacity for each part of the stadium, and it is likely that the Shed will fill up first. So, again, be there one hour before the match.

  For Supporters who purchased tickets for the Hiney Park Temporary Stand

  • Dundalk FC went to great expense to install a temporary stand in order to accommodate an extra 900 supporters.
  • We are asking people who purchased tickets for this stand to not attempt to go to other areas of the ground.
  • Stewards will be checking tickets in the ground and ticket holders will not be able to base themselves in the Shed.
  • This stand probably offers the best seats and views in the stadium! So please again arrive in good time to take your seat.
  • Supporters with tickets for this stand enter via the normal turnstiles for home supporters and must walk around past the Shed – Security will assist you in this regard.

  Are you a Cork fan with a ticket to the Dundalk end?

  • As this is a Category A match strict segregation is in place.
  • Regardless of how you got your ticket, you will not gain entrance to the Dundalk section of the ground if you are a Cork supporter. Please go to the away section with other Cork fans for admission to the match.
  • Any Cork supporters that manage to get into the Dundalk section of the crowd will be escorted to the away supporter area.

  Are you an adult or a teenage Dundalk fan who has a juvenile ticket?

  • You will not gain admission to the match if you have the wrong category of ticket.
  • However, there will be a hatch that will allow you to pay the difference and enter into the match. Juvenile tickets are STRICTLY for children of 12 years and under.

  Message for Cork Fans

  • All Cork City supporters, for both ground and stand, enter via the Carrick Road side entrance (see map above).
  • Stand Ticket holders gain access to the stand via the entrance by the away supporter terrace. Security personnel will assist you in this regard. You will need your stand ticket to enter the stand.
  • Toilet facilities for Cork fans will be located beside the away terrace and near the stand entrance. Cork fans in the stand can avail of the facilities at in the terrace area and must show their stand ticket to gain re-admission to the stand.
  • The weather forecast appears to be good tomorrow. However, Oriel Park is an old stadium and does not offer covered terraces for away fans. Please bring a raincoat!

  No Flares!

  • There is going to be an incredible atmosphere at this match and there absolutely no need for any pyros. There has been a major improvement with the use of flares but since we are close to Halloween we feel we need to repeat that want all fans to be able to watch this match safely and under no circumstances should any flares or pyros be used.

Dundalk-Cork City build-up continues

There’s just one more sleep to go (unless you take regular naps daily) until tomorrow night’s crunch title decider between Dundalk and Cork City in Oriel Park.

Naturally enough, the game is getting plenty of publicity with TheScore.ie putting together this excellent (and rather humourous) 17-step guide to prove whether or not you’re a hardcore Dundalk fan.

The RTÉ cameras were also in town yesterday to gauge the build-up to the big game and you can view the report here.

Meanwhile, LMFM have also caught up with the legendary Tom McNulty, who scored the winner in Turner’s Cross in 1991 when Dundalk needed a victory to pip Cork City to the title. You can listen to it here.

Finally, the Irish Examiner has an interview with Dundalk chairman Ciaran Bond about just how far the club have come in the last two years. Check it out here.

UPDATE: Cork City have also held their pre-match press conference with reporters speaking to manager John Caulfield and players John O’Flynn, John Dunleavy and Liam Kearney. You can view it below:

The Spirit Store to show Dundalk match live on big screen

The Spirit Store will be showing Friday night’s SSE Airtricity League Premier Division title decider between Dundalk and Cork City live on the big screen at the George’s Quay venue.

Tickets for the game at Oriel Park sold out this morning with no further tickets set to be made available.

Entrance to the Spirit Store to see the game is free and it will be followed by a gig with The Yellers on stage at 9.40pm, followed by Cult Called Man at 10.30pm.

Paddy Matthews to sleep rough tonight in order to raise awareness of homelessness

Paddy Matthews

Dundalk Chamber of Commerce president Paddy Matthews plans to sleep rough tonight to raise awareness of the plight of Ireland’s thousands of homeless people.

Armed with just a sleeping bag and a cup of soup, the Matthews Coach Hire boss will join other business leaders to take part in Focus Ireland’s Shine A Light Night in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens.

“I was shocked to realise that there are over 5,000 people homeless in Ireland today and that one in seven of them is a child,” Paddy said this week.

“I really wanted to do something to raise funds and awareness of the issue of homelessness both locally and across Ireland. Focus Ireland’s Shine A Light Night gives me, and many others the perfect opportunity to do this.

“I have never even so much as slept outdoors in a tent, so this is a totally new experience for me. I’ll be on a sheet of cardboard and I’m praying for a quiet night with no rain!

“The funds raised enable Focus Ireland to reach out to even more families, children, young people and adults who so desperately need their support.”

Paddy has been fundraising for the event for some time now, and as he works towards his goal, is asking anyone who is interested in helping to solve the homeless issue in Ireland to consider sponsoring him.

“I would like to thank all of those who have contributed to my fundraising efforts so far.

“On line donations can be made here. Alternatively, cheques made out to Focus Ireland can be sent to me at Matthews Coach Hire, Callenberg, Inniskeen, Co Monaghan.”

Focus Ireland aim to break the cycle of homelessness by giving people access to information, housing, childcare and a range of education services throughout Dublin, Cork, Kilkenny, Limerick, Sligo, Waterford, Clare and Wexford.