Louth has the second lowest registration rate for water charges in the country

Louth has the second lowest registration rate for water charges, according to new figures published in today’s Irish Examiner.

The figures reveal that just 28,814 of the 44,043 eligible households, or 65%, have registered to date.

That was on a par with Dublin, with only Leitrim (57%) having a lower rate of sign-ups.

The figures were obtained under the Freedom of Information Act from Irish Water and show the numbers registered across the 26 counties as of February 23^rd.

Estimates on the percentage registered in each county were compiled comparing the Irish Water figures with the 2011 census data on private households from the CSO. The actual number of dwellings in each county is likely to be more.

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:

Louth has one of the highest obesity rates in the country

Louth has one of the highest obesity rates in the country, according to a report on the nation’s health published in today’s Irish Examiner.

The study found that approximately 16% of the population of the county is classified as obese – making it one of six counties with the highest obesity levels nationwide, a stigma it shares with all of the border counties, as well as Sligo.

The report also found that there were more medical cards in the Wee County than anywhere else, with 50% of the county’s 122,897 people having access to one.

Louth also has one of the highest rates for diabetes, with around 3.03 – 3.2% reporting the problem.

The suicide rate of 12.2 suicides per 100,000 was also above the national rate of 11.5.

The county was in the middle of the road when it came to respiratory illnesses and cancer, although it had the fourth highest mortality rate in the country for Non-Melanoma skin cancer.

You can read the full report here.

Renewed appeal for return of stolen watches

The late Stephen Carroll with his sons Keelan and Senan (left) and pictures of the two watches stolen in the break-in to his parents’ house in January.

A renewed appeal has been launched by the family of Stephen Carroll for the return of the two watches he had left his sons following his passing last November.

The popular local businessman passed away aged just 38 last November following a battle with cancer but before doing so had inscriptions engraved on the back of his two Omega watches for his sons Keelan (10) and Senan (8) to receive on their 18^th birthdays.

Stephen, who ran Carroll’s Newsagents in Dundalk, Drogheda, Monaghan and Navan, left the watches – an Omega Constellation model and an Omega Seamaster model – with his parents Ian and Anita.

However, the timepieces were taken during a break-in to their home in Blackrock in January, just days before they were due to be deposited in a bank’s safety deposit box.

Despite thousands of euro in rewards being offered for their return and a widespread campaign for information at the time, the watches have failed to turn up.

However, his grieving wife Breffnie told The Star this week that his children still asked her whether she thought the “bold people will give them back.”

Describing the response the family had received following the theft as “phenomenal”, Breffnie said: “We still hope that somebody somewhere will hand them back and there is still a reward there.”

Anyone with information can send it anonymously to stephenswatch@gmail.com

Breffnie also revealed she will take part in a 350km cycle from September 3^rd to 5^th in aid of three cancer charities. It will run from Blackrock to Liscannor in Clare with monies raised going to the North Louth Hospice, the Irish Cancer Society and Millford Hospice.

Further rewards offered for return of stolen watches

What the two Omega watches that were stolen look like

Two further rewards have been offered by strangers anxious to see the return of Stephen Carroll’s two watches to his family.

A Co Meath businessman and watch collector and a Cork-based taxi driver have both offered to put forward €1,000 for the safe return of the two Omega watches, which were stolen from a Stephen’s parents’ house in Blackrock at the weekend.

Their offer comes after Swords-based businessman Peter Boland offered to put forward a €500 reward yesterday.

Speaking in The Irish Examiner today, Cork taxi driver Donal Desmond said he had been “consumed” by the story since it broke on Monday and would support it in whatever way he could.

“I am consumed by that story. I dreamt about it last night. I can’t stop thinking about it. I have two twin sons myself and we waited a long time for them. My family has also been touched by cancer and I can’t imagine the heartbreak that that family in Dundalk are going through,” the part time farmer and taxi driver said.

“I will gladly drop €1,000 into the offices of the Irish Examiner if it meant those watches are returned.”

Stephen passed away following a battle with cancer last November but before doing so had inscriptions engraved on the back of his two Omega watches for his sons Keelan (10) and Senan (8) to receive on their 18^th birthdays.

The 38-year-old, who ran Carroll’s Newsagents in Dundalk, Drogheda, Monaghan and Navan, left the watches – an Omega Constellation model and an Omega Seamaster model – with his parents Ian and Anita.

However, the timepieces were taken during a break-in to their home in Blackrock at the weekend, just days before they were due to be deposited in a bank’s safety deposit box.

Anyone with information on the watches or their whereabouts can contact the Carroll family anonymously at stephenswatch@gmail.com

You can also view the family’s TV appeal below…

Kirk protests against sale of Park Hotel in Dundalk

Philip Kirk

There’s just no keeping Philip Kirk out of the media at the moment.

The one-time developer created headlines at the weekend when he admitted to paying a combined €1m to five locals who had objected to his plans for a sports arena at Carnbeg.

Then yesterday he was protesting against the decision of receivers KPMG to sell his former hotel, The Park Hotel, “on the cheap.”

The 84-bedroom hotel opened in 2004 but closed in October 2010 before being put up for sale by estate agents Savills and REA Gunne under the instruction of receivers KPMG. Despite reports in the local press that the hotel has sold, it is still on the market for €1.45m, although a sale is thought to be close.

More than 50 friends and supporters joined Mr Kirk, his sisters and mother at a protest on the Armagh Road yesterday.

Speaking to journalist Elaine Keogh in The Irish Examiner, Mr Kirk said he and his supporters were prompted to take action when they saw that the asking price was so low. The Roche Emmets clubman admitted that there was €34 million owed on the property to ACC Bank and described an asking price of €1.45m as hard to take.

Mr Kirk told the Examiner that he believes a deposit has been paid by a prospective buyer.

Last week The Dundalk Democrat reported that not for sale signs had gone up outside the hotel with Mr Kirk pointing out that the hotel currently had no access to sewerage or water.

Source: Former owner protests as €34m hotel put up for sale ‘on the cheap’ (Irish Examiner)

Related articles

• Warning issued to potential purchaser of Park Hotel
• Dundalk developer Kirk paid €1m to five locals to get them to drop planning appeals

Burglaries a major problem in Louth

New figures from the CSO have shown that County Louth has the fourth highest crime rates in the country, with sexual assaults up over 45% last year.

Only Dublin, Limerick and Waterford had more recorded crimes on a per capita basis last year.

Burglaries are a major problem in Louth, as they are more than 50% higher than the national average rate and the highest in the country with over 93 per 10,000 population in 2012.

Burglaries in the county also jumped by 23% last year to 1,146 – up 126.

Meanwhile, Louth also has the second highest rate in the country for robberies and sexual offences.

There were three murders recorded; 96 sexual offences; 486 attempts/threats to murder, assaults, harrassments; and three kidnappings in Louth in 2012. The number of sexually offences increased significantly – up from 66 in 2011.

However, the overall crime rate in Louth dropped by 1% in 2012. Crime levels have fallen by almost 21% since 2008, largely due to a 20% reduction in thefts, 35% in criminal damage offences, 23% in threats to murder/assaults/harrassments, 25% in public order offences, and a 39% drop in weapons and explosive offences.

Drug offences have increased by 34% on top of the large-scale increases in burglaries (up 63%) and sexual offences which have more than doubled.

The number of gardai in Louth fell by 4% last year to 292 – down from 305 in 2011. Garda numbers are slightly below the national average at almost 24 gardai per 10,000 population.

The figures are contained in a special graphic (pictured above) by the Irish Examiner as part of their ongoing crime series.

Source: Irish Examiner

Greyhound owner asks IGB to clear his name over Dundalk scam

A high-profile greyhound owner implicated in a race-fixing scam has demanded the Irish Greyhound Board (IGB) clears his name.

Roscommon businessman Des Whyte has issued a statement in which he asks the IGB to release any information it has on the case.

The call follows an internal report into the June 2009 incident, which found evidence of a scam that operated at the Dundalk track for up to a year. The scheme involved a number of dogs.

Mr Whyte said that, following initial rumours that an imposter dog had been run at the Dundalk track in June 2009, he heard suggestions that he was somehow involved. He then asked the IGB to clear his name, but in the last three years has got no satisfaction.

“It was brought to my attention that my name was being mentioned on a greyhound internet site,” Mr Whyte said in a letter to the Irish Examiner today.
“The indications were that something fishy had gone on and I was in someway implicated.”

The scam, which was detected by management at Dundalk immediately after the June 2009 race, involved the falsification of race records and the running of ringers that were far better than the listed opposition.

In the race that exposed the scam, a novice called Mays Hurryonboy came within a fraction of a second of beating the track record.

The dog’s trial records had been fabricated by copying results from other runners.

Rumours circulated that the winner was Oran Classic, a dog owned by Mr Whyte which won over €80,000 in prize money in its career. The rumour arose was because it was an unusual blue-coloured dog, with white socks and a derby-standard time.

Mr Whyte, who sold Sierra Communications with his business partners in 2007 for €52m, owns Oran Classic.

However, race records for Oran Classic show that he was not in Mr Whyte’s care in the years leading up to the race, unlike runners which he trains himself.
Mr Whyte’s statement said he asked the IGB to clarify the situation as soon as the speculation surfaced.

“In order to ease my conscience somewhat, I would like to know if in fact there was another blue dog around this time, in the British Isles who was capable of doing that time?” his statement asked.

“In my case I simply asked that they could simply say, after their exhaustive investigation, is that I was or was not involved.”

In January, the contents of a devastating report into the Dundalk scam were revealed. In a statement to the Irish Examiner at the time, the IGB said its board had met and decided to adopt the report and implement its recommendations.

Three months later, it has still to publish the report and it has not responded to requests by the Dundalk track for a copy of the report.

When Mr Whyte’s call was put to the IGB, it said: “No comment pending the publication of the report.”

Source: The Irish Examiner