Knockbridge business slammed for selling “bogus” service dogs

Henry Fitzsimons of Service Dogs Europe

A locally-based business has been exposed as bogus after selling service dogs for thousands of pounds in the UK which were not trained accordingly.

Knockbridge-based Service Dogs Europe, whose directors are listed as Henry Fitzsimons and Leila Maknickaite, have reportedly sold several service dogs to Irish and UK families only for the pets’ new owners to discover they were barely house trained.

Joanne Buckley from Liverpool told The Daily Mail yesterday that she paid £4,000 for a dog which Service Dogs Europe said was specially trained to help her autistic son.

Service Dogs Europe told Joanne that 11-month-old golden retriever Buddy would help her seven-year-old son Bobby deal with social situations that cause him stress.

However, after handing over £4,000 for Buddy she quickly realised he couldn’t even sit or fetch.

She then attempted to contact Service Dogs Europe for answers only to discover they had shut down their website and Facebook account while their numbers were out of service.

Former manager Elizabeth Wacker, who left in May, said: “I think almost every single one of those dogs had barely enough training to even be called a well-behaved pets, let alone a service dog.

“He’s the biggest conman I’ve ever seen,” referring to owner Henry Fitzsimons.

Miss Wacker claims there are at least 20 former clients who paid thousands of pounds for dogs that were supposed to have specialist training to help their disabled children.

Among them are the parents of Dylan Fletcher, who last year raised €6,000 (4,300) to buy Bella, a golden retriever that was supposed to calm the eight-year-old, who suffers from ODD and ADHD.

However, the dog refused to go upstairs where Dylan spends most of his time, and when he had a meltdown, Bella was supposed to put her head on his chest to calm him, but instead ran away.

Another victim was Blakely, now three, who suffers from chronic intestinal pseudo-obstruction (CIP), a condition which affects around one in every 75,000 children.

His parents Sam and Ricky Adams raised nearly £4,000 for service dog Daisy but she had to later be sent back for more training due to a number of behavioural issues.

By this point, Blakely had already fallen in love with her. But when they phoned the company to try and get her back, they realised that it had essentially disappeared and Daisy was gone forever.

Former employee Miss Wacker claims that Mr Fitzsimons has sold all of his dogs and told former clients he had gone into liquidation.

He was unavailable for comment.

On October 19^th The Irish Examiner featured an article which claimed they had located 26 customers who had voiced serious concerns about the company. Collectively they had paid more than €156,000 for their dogs.

Read the Daily Mail story here.

Traffic lights damaged following road accident at Xerox

The scene at Xerox last night

Traffic lights were damaged during a road traffic accident at the entrance to Xerox on the old Dublin Road last night.

The incident happened around 11pm when a car collided with the lights in the centre of the road. Both Gardaí and the Fire Service were called to the scene although no major injuries were sustained in the collision.

Meanwhile, there were a series of armed checkpoints throughout the area on Friday.

The armed regional support unit provided back up to Gardaí as they had checkpoints in a number of locations including at Ballymascanlon, Ladywell, Ecco Road, Marlbog Road, Carrickmacross Road, Blackrock Road and opposite the St Brides GFC pitch in Knockbridge.

Celtic Funk Quartet and Henry Mac to perform at Stephenstown Pond

The Celtic Funk Quartet and local musician Henry Mac will be performing at Stephenstown Pond in Knockbridge on Thursday October 29^th.

The pair will be performing the very best of folk and trade on the night with booking essential at the Dairy Maid Coffee Shop at the pond due to limited places.

The show gets underway at 8pm on the night, with admission €10 including supper.

Council funds to improve access for people with disabilities in North Louth

The Loughantarve estate in Knockbridge is to benefit with improved access to the village

As many as 30 different areas in the Dundalk Municipal District area are to have work carried out to improve access for people with disabilities.

Earlier this week local councillors agreed to allocate €49,000 in funding for the work from their discretionary budget.

Areas set to benefit include Dundalk, Knockbridge, Omeath and Carlingford.

Cllr Maeve Yore told LMFM that this was a starting point to deal with problems not just facing those in wheelchairs but also the elderly, the infirm and people with buggies.

One of the main areas to be upgraded is in front of the Loughantarve estate in Knockbridge, with slow crossing ahead road markings to be installed along with an improved footpath into the village.

Blackrock is set to benefit from five disabled bays and drop footpaths at five locations along Main Street. There will also be footpath repairs between Wallace’s Road and Rock Court, as well as to the footpath outside The Loakers.

In Carlingford work will take place at Castle Hill and Newry Street with disabled bays to be installed at Donard Lodge, the junction at Valentine’s, Bradley’s Pharmacy, Memories Boutique and the Village Pharmacy while in Omeath footpath repairs will take place between Mulligan’s Shop and the Esso Garage.

Irish Water planning upgrade to Cavan Hill Water Treatment Plant

Irish Water are planning to upgrade the water and sludge treatment process systems at the Cavan Hill Water Treatment Plant in Knockbridge.

The utility company has applied to Louth County Council for planning permission to upgrade the treatment plant, which currently supplies up to 27,000 cubic meters of drinking water per day to Dundalk and its environs.

The planned upgrade comes after question marks were raised about the quality of the town’s drinking water in recent weeks.

Earlier this year a national newspaper suggested that the town’s water was being polluted by diesel launderers operating in the area while just last week Cllr Maeve Yore questioned the local authority on the cause of brown effluent discharge into the River Fane and why fish stock in the river was down.

The council reiterated that there was “no evidence of pollution” following recent inspections, pointing out the plant was being closely monitored and that they were satisfied there was no accidental discharge into the River Fane.

They added that all process wastes are retained on site and disposed of to a landfill.

Despite this, locals will be pleased to see upgrade works planned.

The proposed development will include the provision of a new flocculation tank of approximately 142sqm with an overall height of approximately 6.2m. There will also be a new underground UV chamber of approximately 80sqm.

Internal modifications are also planned to the existing chemical storage building, sludge treatment facility and control building, while modifications will also be made to an existing boundary wall and the existing entrance gate to provide a new entrance arrangement.

There will also be a new external perimeter fence of approximately 1m at the north west and south site boundaries and an internal security fence of approximately 2.4m at all of the site boundaries.

The existing drainage system will also be upgraded to provide a petrol/oil interceptor.

A decision on the matter is due by November 25^th.

Breathnach hits out at Government over rise in urban and rural crime

Cllr Declan Breathnach

Fianna Fáil General Election candidate Declan Breathnach has hit out at the Government for the rise in urban and rural crime in the last few years.

He says their cynical attempts to blame everyone else for the rising problems, as well as increased isolation in rural communities, will not wash with voters when the country goes to the polls either before or after Christmas.

In the build-up to the impending election, Cllr Breathnach has called on the Government to adequately resource Gardaí to ensure they are best placed to tackle growing crime rates.

He said: “In 2010 there were 314 Gardaí based in stations across Louth but by February this year that number was down 35 to 279. Fine Gael and Labour have allowed the strength of the Garda force to drop below 12,800 nationally and closed almost 140 local Garda stations across the country.  In fact this Government’s commitment to rural communities has been abysmal.

“Communities in Louth are feeling increasingly isolated by the withdrawal of Government services.  Ensuring the public are protected from criminals is a basic obligation of the Government and Fine Gael and Labour are failing in their duty.

“I welcome the fact that the number of Gardaí is starting to increase but I believe the strength of the Garda force was allowed to fall to a dangerously low level, dropping below 12,800 as of June this year.  There are a further 1,498 officers eligible to retire this year.  Fianna Fáil has committed to restoring the manpower of An Garda Síochána to 14,000.  We need an appropriate and safe domestic policing and security strategy in place for all our communities in Louth and restoring Garda numbers to this critical level is key to that.

“In recent weeks the government has finally woken up to the crime wave in rural communities and is bringing forward legislation in response to the rise in burglaries.  Fine Gael has also cynically sought to blame everyone else for the rise in crime and fall in morale amongst Gardaí.  Our rural communities feel more vulnerable and more isolated because of the policies pursued by this government.  Fine Gael and Labour cannot hide from that reality and their attempts to blame everyone else won’t wash with voters in Louth,” said the Knockbridge man.

Just over a week to go to register your interest in the Matthews Arts Showcase Initiative

Sinead McNally with Mary and Paddy Matthews at the launch of the Matthews Arts Showcase Initiative back in May

There is just over a week to go to register your interest for the Matthews Arts Showcase Initiative.

The three year scheme was launched by the Inniskeen-based bus company earlier this year to coincide with their 20^th anniversary in business.

At the time Paddy and Mary Matthews teamed up with Knockbridge-based singer/songwriter Sinead McNally to write a song for the company called “Matthews Takes You There”.

To coincide with the song’s release Sinead was featured on the back of a Matthews bus.

Now the company are offering fellow bands, musicians, performers and entertainers the chance to take her place. The arts showcase initiative is open to anyone in Louth, Monaghan and East Meath.

Sinead said: “This has been an incredible opportunity for me and I really encourage anyone working the arts to apply.”

The winning artist will receive six months advertising to the value of €6,500.

The closing date is October 9^th with further details available here.

A video on the launch of the Matthews Art Showcase Initiative can also be viewed below.

Coffey and Breathnach to represent Fianna Fáil in General Election

Cllr Declan Breathnach

Councillor Declan Breathnach and Drogheda-based solicitor Emma Coffey were last night chosen to represent Fianna Fáil in the forthcoming General Election in the Louth/East Meath constituency at a selection convention in The Grove in Dunleer.

Ms Coffey, who hails from Dundalk, was practically decided upon before last night’s convention following a directive from the party to choose a man and a woman.

Knockbridge man Breathnach, who has been on Louth County Council since 1999, then seen off competition from Anthony Moore, Liam Reilly and John Temple to join her on the party ticket for the next election.

The father of two is principal of St Paul’s National School in Walshestown. Emma, meanwhile, works as a self-employed solicitor in Drogheda and has one young daughter with her husband.

Cllr Breathnach took part in the 2011 General Election and will be hoping to win the seat set to be vacated by his fellow Knockbridge man, Seamus Kirk, who is retiring from politics when the current Dáil dissolves.

Meanwhile, former Fine Gael councillor Michael O’Dowd has been confirmed as Renua Ireland’s candidate in Co Louth for the forthcoming election. The former Mayor of Drogheda will now be going head to head with his brother, Fine Gael TD Fergus O’Dowd for votes.

Eighth consecutive gold medal for Dundalk at Tidy Towns’ awards

Pictured at today’s awards ceremony in The Helix at DCU were Willie Duffy (Chairperson of Dundalk Tidy Towns),
Mary Capplis (Louth County Council) and Art Veerkamp (Parks & Environment Officer – Louth County Council)

Dundalk secured an eighth consecutive gold medal at today’s SuperValu Tidy Towns’ awards at The Helix in Dublin

Drogheda also picked up a gold medal at the event, with Letterkenny in Co Donegal named the overall winner.

Amongst the areas praised in Dundalk were the outdoor gym at the Navvy Bank and the Lisdoo and the Quay Street mural project. The County Museum and a number of local schools were also praised as well as local businesses including The Greenore Railway Saloon on Quay Street, Houstons on Clanbrassil Street, Michael Lynch Menswear on Clanbrassil Street, Toales on Crowe Street, Lins Take Away on Barrack Street and Eno’ and McGeough’s on Roden Place.

The judges pointed out that it was a pity to see the DK Interiors building, formerly Dearey’s, fall into such a “bad state of repair” though. The road surface on Chapel Street was criticised for being “rather rough” and broken in patches, with litter visible near to O’Carroll’s Pub. Chipped kerbs and graffiti at Wrightson’s Lane were also criticised, as well as parts of lower Jocelyn Street which had a “proliferation of cigarette butts plus a few cans and bottles.”

Cracked footpaths, over hanging wires, derelict properties and dated shop signage were all deemed a problem but there was praise for very little dog fouling and Dundalk Retail Park was also deemed to be “well managed”.

In terms of the estates there was good reports for Mulholland Avenue, Avondale Park, Meadow View, Belfry Drive, Belfry Crescent, Barton Park, Aisling Park and Cedarwood Park.

Muirhevnamor also came in for praise with a Sunday World report which described it as the most problematic estate in the country deemed “a most unjustified depiction” by the adjudicator.

There was also good news for Blackrock, which picked up a Climate Change Award and for Dromiskin, which won a Youth Award.

2010 National winner Tallanstown was once again named the tidiest place in Co Louth, with Blackrock second and Knockbridge third.

Tallanstown jumped by four points on last year’s total to 317, with Blackrock also up four to 312 and Knockbridge up two to 311.

Dundalk gained three points to go to 306, with Drogheda also up three to 307.

Road into Knockbridge closing for three days next week for resurfacing

Mullabohy Cross, off the Carrickmacross Road. The road from here into Knockbridge will be closed to public traffic from 9.30am to 5pm from Monday to Wednesday of next week

The LP3136-24 road from Mullabohy Cross to Knockbridge will be closed to public traffic from Monday to Wednesday of next week to facilitate road resurfacing.

The closure will be in place between 9.30am and 5pm over the course of the three days with only local access being provided for during this time.

Diversions will be in place southbound via the R178 Carrickmacross Road to the Crescent Roundabout in Dundalk and onwards via the R171 to Knockbridge with northbound traffic diverted in the opposite direction.