Louth has one of the highest birth rates out of wedlock

Louth has one of the highest birth rates in the country for unmarried couples.

New figures from the Central Statistics Office show there were 440 children born in the Wee County between January and March 2015.

Of that figure 254 of the children were born by those either married or in civil partnerships, a total of 57.7 per cent.

That meant that the remaining 186 children born in the first quarter of the year were conceived by parents not married or in a civil partnership – a total of 42.3%.

Only Carlow, Dublin City, Longford, Offaly, Wexford, Cork City, Limerick City and Waterford City amd County had higher tallies.

Of the 186 children born out of wedlock, 103 were born to parents at the same address.

There were two infant mortalities in the county in the first quarter of the year and one neonatal mortality.

Almost €4 million spent cleaning up fuel laundering waste in Louth in last five years

Fuel laundering is a major problem in this area

Louth Local Authorities have dealt with almost 600 cases of illegal fuel laundering and waste dumping in the county over the past five years at a cost of almost €4 million.

That’s according to new figures released by Minister for the Environment Alan Kelly, who revealed that there were more than 1,200 cases in border counties since 2011.

Almost half of the clean-up operations took place in Louth where 596 cases have been reported. Neighbouring Monaghan was closely behind with 509 sites, while Cavan, Donegal, Offaly, Meath and Waterford also had similar operations carried out.

The issue was raised at a recent meeting of the North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh when a detailed report on the problem by Senator Paul Coghlan was discussed.

In a report to the British Irish Parliamentary Assembly in February, Mr Coghlan detailed the scale of the illegal cross-border trade worth hundreds of millions of euro a year and called for new cross-border task force to combat it.

Mr Coghlan will this morning address the members of Louth County Council about the need for a new approach to the problem, which has had a direct impact on the water quality in the county in recent years.

Minister Kelly revealed in response to a Dáil question recently that since 2011 more than €5 million had been allocated to local authorities by his department to deal with the problem, with almost €4 million of that being spent in Louth.

Louth could face round-robin to advance in Leinster Championship

Louth’s hopes of winning a first Leinster SFC title since 1957 are set to get a lot tougher from 2016 onwards if a revamp of the championship is given the go ahead next week.

It is being proposed that as many as eight counties could be involved in a round-robin system to qualify from the Leinster SFC quarter-finals in two years t ime.

Chairman from all of the counties in the province will meet next Monday night to discuss a change in the competition structure in an aim to boost competitiveness.

The more likely outcome is that six counties will join the round-robin in two groups of three but two groups of four is also a possibility.

A rule change would be required to introduce a round-robin to the SFC so even if an agreed format is decided upon, it would have to go before Congress next February for consideration, making it too late for introduction in 2015.

With Louth in Division Three next season alongside Wexford, they would be obvious contenders for the round-robin, along with Carlow, Longford, Wicklow and Offaly, who are all in Division Four.

That would leave Dublin, Kildare, Meath and Laois with a straight path to the quarter-finals.

 

Just 46% of school leavers in Louth go on to third level education

Louth has one of the lowest level of participation in third level education in the country, new figures have revealed.

The figures from the Higher Education Authority show that 46% of school leavers from the Wee County go to college, with only Donegal and Laois (41%) and Offaly (45%) posting lower figures.

The HEA has now set a target to raise this rate by an additional 5% between now and 2017.

Dundalk IT student Patricia passes away suddenly in Offaly

Patricia Hanlon RIP

The death has occurred suddenly of Dundalk IT student Patricia (Tricia) Hanlon at her home in Tobberleheen, Ballinagar, Tullamore, Co Offaly.

Tricia died on Monday 12th August, She was a second year student DkIT, studying Public Relations.

Tricia is Reposing at her home in Offaly from 1pm today until Rosary tonight at 9pm. Removal on Thursday to St Joseph’s Church, Ballinagar for 2pm Funeral Mass. Burial after Mass in Croghan Cemetery. House private on Thursday, please.

Dundalk IT’s Student Union have issued a statement in the wake of Tricia’s passing.

It read: “We here in The Students’ Union, along with all of Tricia’s classmates and wide circle of friends around Dundalk, would like to take this opportunity to send our deepest condolences to Tricia’s parents and family, at this very sad time.

“Should any student need support during this difficult time please find that Fr Paddy is available in his office, F117 in the Student Services block, (beside the shop & opposite the bank), from 11am – 2pm on Friday 15th August for pastoral support. The counselling service is also available from Monday, please feel free to contact Gertie directly (Gertie.Raftery@dkit.ie), or through Student Services, if you need that support.

“There is a bus organised for students who may wish to attend tomorrow’s Funeral Mass in Tullamore. Bus will leave DkIT at 11am sharp.

“May Tricia’s soul sit at the right hand of God and may she Rest In Peace.”

Anyone wishing to travel on the bus to Tricia’s Funeral Mass is asked to contact the Students’ Union via their Facebook page.

All private rental homes in Louth that were inspected failed to meet basic minimum requirements

All of the 17 private rental dwellings that were inspected by Louth County Council last year failed to meet the basic minumum requirements.

According to the Irish Independent, Louth was one of four counties – along with Donegal, Offaly and Limerick City Council – which saw a 100% failure rate.

Nearly 60% of rented homes around the country failed the inspections, prompting calls for landlords to be compelled to undergo ‘NCT-style’ inspections on their properties.

Each local authority has responsibility for checking properties in their area. The inspections are carried out following complaints from the public, as well as random inspection of the properties on the local authority database.

Louth U-21s have Leinster dream ended by Meath

Meath’s Neil Shortall gets away from Sean Thornton of Louth in their replayed Leinster U21FC quarter-final clash at Pairc Tailteann

Louth U-21’s Leinster title ambitions came to an end at Pairc Tailteann last night after they went down to old foes Meath on a 1-13 to 0-10 scoreline.

After the two sides proved inseparable after 80 minutes in Clan na Gael Park the previous week, they were forced to meet again last night to determine who advanced to face Offaly in the semi-finals next week.

In the end five unanswered points late on proved the difference for the Royals as they booked their place in the last four at Louth’s expense.

The Wee County had managed to claw the deficit back to the minimum by the 51^st minute when Cian Doyle’s point left it 1-8 to 0-10 but in the end the Royals had enough in the tank to run out somewhat flattering winners in the end.

A Joey Wallace goal before the break ensured that David Reilly’s side were always playing catch-up despite the best efforts of Hunterstown’s Ryan Burns, who once again contributed six points.

Unfortunately for Louth, so too did Meath’s Bryan McMahon as the visitors paid the price for not taking two goal chances that fell their way in the third quarter.

Equally the loss of Robert Brodigan to a black card when there was just a point in it after 43 minutes proved decisive.

Doyle’s late point had just a point between the sides for the seventh time but five unanswered scores meant that Meath claimed a six point win that didn’t really tell the whole story of how the game transpired.

Meath – Andy Colgan; Simon Carty, Conor McGill, David McQuillan; Brian Power, Shane Melia, Shane McEntee; Conor Sheridan, Adam Flanagan; Neil Shortall (0-1), Bobby O’Brien, Padraic Harnan; Eamon Wallace, Bryan McMahon (0-6, 4fs), Joey Wallace (1-0). Subs – Seamus Mattimoe (0-5, 2fs) for Eamon Wallace (9), Harry Rooney for Sheridan (42), Cathal Finn for Power (52), Barry Dardis (0-1) for J Wallace (60).

Louth – Nathaniel Cooney; Eoghan Lafferty, Dermot Campbell, Kieran Lenaghan; Darren McMahon, Robert Brodigan, Sean Thornton; Patrick Reilly, Wayne Campbell; Robert Quigley, James Stewart, Conall McKeever; Cian Doyle (0-1), Conor Grimes (0-3), Ryan Burns (0-6, 5fs). Subs – Robert Curran for Thornton (18), Ciaran Ward for Brodigan (44, black card), Robert Carr for McKeever (49), Kevin Hearty for Doyle (60).

Referee – Garreth Whelan (Wicklow)

Hunterstown see off Birr to book place in Leinster final

Just like the Geraldines did so in the intermediate grade, Hunterstown Rovers yesterday booked their place in the Leinster Club JFC final after beating Birr by 2-15 to 0-6 in Offaly.

A Ryan Burns goal on 12 minutes set the Mid-Louth men on their way as they led by 1-6 to 0-2 at the break.

Hunterstown then added three more points on the restart before Alan Landy grabbed a second goal on 39 minutes to effectively seal in the game as they coasted to victory with six further points late on.

They now meet Kildare’s Two Mile House in Newbridge in two weeks’ time.

Hunterstown Rovers: Alan Fedigan; Brian Matthews, Ciaran Carrie, Paddy Matthews; Martin Lennon 0-1, Keith Brennan, David Finn 0-1; Tony McKenna, Conor Matthews; Maurice O’Sullivan 0-1, Paul Carrie 0-4, Brendan Lennon 0-1; Alan Landy 1-1, Ryan Burns 1-3, Padraig Matthews 0-1. Subs: David Fedigan 0-1 for Padraig Matthews, Richie Taaffe 0-1 for K Brennan, Robbie McNiece for M Lennon, Niall Taaffe for M O’Sullivan, Robert Clarke for A Landy.

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