Gardaí searching for man suspected of three muggings in Dundalk at the weekend

Gardaí in Dundalk are appealing for information on a man who is believed to have been involved in three different muggings in the town centre at the weekend.

On each occasion the culprit threatened his five victims before escaping with their mobile phones and, in some instances, cash.

None of the victims were injured.

The first mugging took place at around 12.30pm on Friday at the Táin Court apartments on Bridge Street where a victim in his 30s was texting before being approached by the thief, who threatened to stab him before forcing him to hand over his Samsung Alpha device.

The second incident occurred that night at 11.15pm when two men were approached in the car park at the back of the Clanbrassil Centre and forced to hand over their wallets and phones.

Then around 2am on Sunday two friends, aged 23 and 21, who were walking near the Ramparts Road entrance of the Marshes Shopping Centre were approached by the man who was brandishing a broken bottle. They offered to hand over cash instead of their phones and went to an ATM in Clanbrassil Street where €40 was handed over but he insisted on taking their phones then too, one of which was an iPhone.

The thief is described as being in his late 20s, around 5ft 10in in height, with a Dublin accent and was wearing a black puffer jacket.

Anyone with information is asked to contact Dundalk Gardaí on 042 9388400 or the confidential line on 1800 666 111.

Local firm beats Google to €10m contract

The Climote hub

Local start-up Climote have beaten Google in a David and Goliath-style battle for a coveted €10m contract, according to a report in today’s Irish Independent.

The Dundalk smart metering company was chosen over Nest, the business bought by Google for $3.2bn (€2.4bn) earlier this year, and 25 other companies for a lucrative contract with energy company Scottish Power.

Industry giants Siemens and Honeywell Global also competed.

The deal will see Climote supply its technology to Scottish Power’s 5.6 million UK customers.

This will allow the customers to control their heating remotely from anywhere in the world.

Once Scottish Power has installed Climote’s device, customers can control their heating via an app for iPhone or Android. For those with older phones, it can be controlled using text messages or a web page.

The deal is valued at a minimum of €10m in the medium term though this will depend on how quickly Scottish Power rolls out the technology.

Climote has already teamed up with Electric Ireland in the Republic and Power NI in the North to roll out its technology on the island of Ireland.

Climote is the brainchild of ex-Honeywell Ireland boss Eamon Conway and connected homes innovator Derek Roddy.

It was created as a spin-off of home technology company Smarthomes, which counted former presidential candidate Sean Gallagher as a director.

Help sought in locating lost iPhone

An Apple iPhone 5S like the one that went missing on the Navvy Bank

Help is being sought to locate a gold Apple iPhone 5S smartphone that was lost in Dundalk last night.

The phone was lost along the Navvy Bank between 9pm and 10pm last night.

The phone was in a golf plastic case at the time of it going missing.

The female owner is anxious to get it back and is offering a small reward for anyone with information.

You can email news@talkofthetown.ie with any details and we will pass it on for you. Alternatively leave a message on our Facebook or Twitter pages.

Adams suffers an unwelcome break!

Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams would have woke up this morning hoping to break his party’s record for the number of seats won in a local election.

However, he suffered a break he didn’t want earlier today when he dropped his iPhone while getting out of a car. The Louth TD claims a vehicle then drove over it.

Whether that happened or not is unknown but either way his phone has seen better days.

I’m sure a healthy return at the polls would lift his mood though.

Investigation launched into robbery of two 14-year-olds at knifepoint in Dundalk

The Iron Road in Dundalk

Gardaí are appealing for information after two 14-year-old boys were robbed at knifepoint in Dundalk last Saturday.

The incident occurred around 5pm on the Iron Road – the road between Lidl and the now demolished Dundalk Shopping Centre.

The two boys were threatened at knifepoint and made to hand over an iPhone and an iPod which they were carrying.

The thief is described as being in his early 20s, 6ft in height and was wearing dark jeans and a dark coat with a fur hood at the time of the robbery.

He fled the scene in the direction of the Marshes.

A similar incident occurred on Saturday January 4^th in the same area and Gardaí believe they may be linked.

Anyone with information on the incident is asked to contact Dundalk Gardaí at 042-9388400.

Dundalk FC iPhone case goes on sale

Dundalk FC fans can now support the Lilywhites wherever they go thanks to a new iPhone case bearing the club’s crest.

The case, which is available for the iPhone 4 and 4S, as well as the 5 and 5S is currently on sale from Football iPhone Cases for just £8.99 – reduced from £25.

An ideal Christmas present for any Dundalk fan, you can buy the Dundalk FC case here.