Offaly Independent Archives
Prev Month's Archive
| Next Month's Archive
News
You are viewing the archive of articles published to the Roundup section of the Offaly Independent's website for January 2012.
To browse earlier or later news published to this section use the navigation links below. Alternatively, search for keywords using the Google box on the bottom of the page.
-
Updated: 31 Jan 2012 14:30
Operation Transformation leads to Eden dog foul campaign
RTE's Operation Transformation continues to have positive effects in Edenderry. Not only has it led to up to 300 locals going walking with leader Adrian Brereton twice a week in a bid to support him, but this week it has also prompted the launch of an anti-dog fouling campaign in the town.
-
Updated: 31 Jan 2012 10:30
HSE defends increased trolley figures in Tullamore
The HSE has defended figures released recently by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO), which revealed a 142% year-on-year increase in patients spending time on hospital trolleys at Tullamore hospital in 2011.
-
Updated: 30 Jan 2012 14:30
Minister refuses to confirm cost of VEC move: Cowen
Education Minister Ruairi Quinn has refused to confirm what moving Tullamore VEC operations to its new headquarters in Portlaoise will cost the taxpayer according to local TD Barry Cowen.
-
Updated: 30 Jan 2012 09:30
The human side of medical card wait times
Tullamore resident and mother-of-three Sandra Gorman is one of thousands around the country who have been left without a medical card as her renewal application is processed.
-
Updated: 28 Jan 2012 13:30
Minister's book for Offaly launch
Former Offaly All-Ireland winning manager Eugene McGee will launch former Kerry footballer and current Minister for Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht Jimmy Deenihan's book "My Sporting Life" today (Saturday, January 28) in the Tullamore Court Hotel.
-
Updated: 28 Jan 2012 11:30
Moneygall to exhibit at holiday show to coax visitors
Offaly village Moneygall is living up once more to its "Yes We Can" name. The village development committee has arranged for the village to be part of hundreds of exhibitors at a holiday show in the RDS in Dublin this weekend in a bid to attract more visitors to the village that hosted American's President Barack Obama on May 23 last year.
-
Updated: 27 Jan 2012 13:30
One budget and one CEO for midlands hospital group?
Tullamore hospital will become part of a group of hospitals with one chief executive as part of plans announced on Wednesday by Health Minister James Reilly.
-
Updated: 27 Jan 2012 12:30
Offaly is country's third poorest county
Offaly was the country's third poorest county in 2009, according to new figures from the Central Statistics Office.
-
Updated: 27 Jan 2012 11:00
Offaly GPs receive €7.5 million in medical card payments
The medical card scheme in the Faithful County cost taxpayers over €7.539 million last year, with 27 family doctors receiving payments.
-
Updated: 27 Jan 2012 09:30
ESB switches off public lighting in Port estate
Portarlington housing estate Shandra Woods has been plunged into darkness this week as nobody has put their name on the electricity bill connected to the estate's public lights.
-
Updated: 24 Jan 2012 10:30
Offaly is tenth dearest for weddings according to new survey
A survey carried out by an Irish wedding website has revealed that Offaly is the tenth dearest county in Ireland to get hitched in.
-
Updated: 23 Jan 2012 10:30
142% increase in patients on trolleys - INMO
Figures released last Wednesday by the Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation (INMO) reveal a dramatic 142% year on year rise in patients spending time on trolleys at Tullamore hospital last year. Figures released also show a total of 81 closed beds in the county.
-
Updated: 23 Jan 2012 09:30
Defibrillators but no first responders in Daingean
Daingean residents are being urged to step up to the challenge of becoming a "first responder" as the town has two defibrillators and a first responder group was run by fire officers based in the town's fire station until it closed last year.
-
Updated: 22 Jan 2012 14:30
Offaly deserves more tourist attention: Lonely Planet
The latest Lonely Planet tourist guide for Ireland suggests that Offaly doesn't feature on many tourist itineraries but deserves far greater attention. The latest guide describes the county as "green and watery", and highlights its castles, bogs and fishing as meriting special attention.
-
Updated: 21 Jan 2012 11:30
Debate on re-introduction of wild boar urged
An ecologist has strongly urged that now is the time to start a national conversation on wild boar. Daniel Buckley made his remarks in the wake of a wild boar being found and shot in the Slieve Bloom area between Kinnitty and Clonaslee last month and ensuing arguments regarding whether or not the wild boar can be classified as an invasive species.
-
Updated: 20 Jan 2012 17:30
New Eden-Enfield Road welcomed
Funding of €26m that should see the new Edenderry to Enfield Road completed in 2014 has been broadly welcomed in Offaly this week.
-
Updated: 20 Jan 2012 15:30
Rapist Murphy not living in Tullamore: Gardaí
Fears that rapist Larry Murphy is living in Tullamore have been allayed by gardaí in Tullamore this week. Rumours abounded that Murphy, who was released from prison in 2010 after serving over ten years for abduction, rape and attempted murder, was living in an estate on the outskirts of the town since Christmas. Sergeant Ollie Baker from Tullamore Garda Station confirmed this week that these rumours are untrue.
-
Updated: 20 Jan 2012 10:50
Nothing beastly about TMS show
The Tullamore Musical Society's 57th annual production of choice - Beauty and the Beast - was staged this week. Indeed you still have a chance to catch the show if you haven't seen it already, with performances scheduled for both today (Friday) and tomorrow in the Tullamore Court Hotel.
-
Updated: 20 Jan 2012 10:30
Choir age issue blown out of proportion
The man behind the Le Cheile singing group in Tullamore has said the issue of the age of new applicants to the group has been blown out of all proportion.
-
Updated: 20 Jan 2012 10:18
Progress made on Eden garda station refurb
The Office of Public Works (OPW) has confirmed remedial works at Edenderry Garda Station are expected to go to tender stage before the end of March. The station was damaged last Halloween due to a malicious incident.
-
Updated: 20 Jan 2012 09:30
World famous banjo festival for Tullamore
The world renowned Johnny Keenan Banjo Festival is leaving Longford and will be staged for the first time in Tullamore later this year, it emerged this week.
-
Updated: 19 Jan 2012 16:12
Gardaí in Birr are investigating a crash involving a school bus this afternoon on the Rath to Kilcormac Road in south Offaly.
-
Updated: 19 Jan 2012 15:30
39% drop in new builds in Offaly last year
The number of new builds in Offaly plummeted 39% between 2010 and 2011 according to figures released today (Thursday). Two hundred and thirty new builds were recorded in the county last year, down from 380 in 2010 according to statistics from GeoDirectory, which was established by An Post and Ordnance Survey Ireland to create and manage a complete database of commercial and residential buildings in Ireland.
-
Updated: 16 Jan 2012 12:30
A Twitter topic that caught the imagination of small businesses eight months ago has led to a real life conference for Birr later this month.
-
Updated: 16 Jan 2012 10:30
Offaly features in new book by Obama roots researcher
Offaly features strongly in a new book due out on January 31 next by American genealogist Megan Smolenyak.
-
Updated: 14 Jan 2012 09:30
Tullamore man raising life-saving funds for 'bubble boy' relative
Popular restaurant manager Sal Kitous of Sirocco's is hoping the people of Offaly will help him with a life or death issue.
-
Updated: 13 Jan 2012 16:30
Operation Transformation walk for Tullamore this Saturday
Tullamore is one of 30 locations nationwide that will host an Operation Transformation National Walk this weekend. Walkers will set out on a 5.4km route from the Kilbeggan Bridge at 11am on Saturday morning, accompanied by Operation Transformation leader Adrian Brereton from Edenderry and Dr Eddie Murphy from the Operation Transformation team.
-
Updated: 13 Jan 2012 15:30
Tullamore-made candles light a cleaner future for NY cathedral
Duffy & Scott Candlemakers in Tullamore on Wednesday last welcomed representatives from St Patrick's Cathedral in New York, in the wake of the US church switching to using unique clean-burning shrine candles designed by the local candle factory in recent months.
-
Updated: 13 Jan 2012 10:30
Eden ambulance staff describe cramped working conditions
One of a team of five ambulance personnel based out of one small room in Edenderry has this week warned he and his colleagues will not be there next year if changes are not made to give them proper facilities.
-
Updated: 13 Jan 2012 09:30
Revealed: Offaly housing estates exempt from household charge
Residents in a total of 26 unfinished housing developments in Offaly will not have to pay the €100 household charge.
-
Updated: 13 Jan 2012 09:00
Family seek Garda response to cover-up claims
The family of Fr Niall Molloy, who died in Clara almost 27 years ago, has this week called on Garda Commissioner Martin Callinan to respond to claims by crime writer Paul Williams that the force was involved in a top-level cover-up of the case.
-
Updated: 12 Jan 2012 18:30
Court gives go-ahead for deportation of Offaly native
A former priest from Offaly said to be at the centre of one of the largest clerical sex abuse settlements ever is expected to be charged with a raft of offences after a British court gave the go-ahead for his deportation.
-
Updated: 12 Jan 2012 17:30
Three Offaly bank branches under threat pending redundancy scheme
Three Ulster Bank branches in Offaly may come under threat by the end of the year if fewer than 600 of the bank's employees in the state sign up for a voluntary redundancy programme. The bank confirmed today (Thursday) it is to cut its workforce in Ireland by 950 in total, made up of 600 job losses in the Republic of Ireland and 350 in Northern Ireland.
-
Updated: 12 Jan 2012 16:24
Tullamore lotto jackpot is claimed
A Christmas Eve lottery jackpot won thanks to a ticket bought in Tullamore has been claimed.
-
Updated: 12 Jan 2012 16:09
Council rejects claim fire stations closed without risk assessment
Offaly County Council has rebuffed claims by Edenderry councillor Noel Cribbin that fire stations in Banagher, Daingean and Kilcormac were closed last year without a risk assessment being completed.
-
Updated: 12 Jan 2012 09:30
Proposal to co-locate Eden ambulance in fire station
Plans to share Edenderry's fire station with ambulance personnel currently based in temporary facilities at Ofalia House have been proposed. A letter from Director of the HSE's National Ambulance Service (NAS) Robert Morton, seen by the Offaly Independent, confirms the organisation has had discussions with the council regarding sharing the facilities and furthermore has advanced a proposal to identify how any costs incurred by the local authority would be addressed by the HSE.
-
Updated: 12 Jan 2012 09:30
Numbers on Offaly live register up 1.8% in 2011
Numbers on the live register in Offaly have risen by 1.8% during 2011, shock new figures have revealed. Figures released by the Central Statistics Office last week show a total of 9,330 on the Live Register in Offaly in December 2011. This total county figure shows an increase from November 2011's figure of 9,074.
-
Updated: 10 Jan 2012 18:30
Eden's Adrian says bye bye to the fry
Edenderry pet shop owner Adrian Brereton vowed to wave goodbye to the fry last week as he made his debut as a leader on the fifth series of RTE television series Operation Transformation.
-
Updated: 10 Jan 2012 15:30
Tullamore improve litter league result but still long way from previous highs
Tullamore has jumped five places in the latest litter league results released by Irish Businesses Against Litter (IBAL). After a high of ninth place this time last year Tullamore slipped to 30th place in the league table in August 2011. Figures released last Monday however show that Tullamore has begun to climb the league table again, coming in 25th in the survey that inspected 53 towns nationwide in all.
-
Updated: 9 Jan 2012 15:30
No decrease proposed for Tullamore rates
A campaign looking to decrease rates charged by Tullamore Town Council looks to have fallen on deaf ears. The town council's draft budget for 2012 proposes no rate change, but councillor and former Chamber President Tony McCormack plans to push for a 4% decrease at the council's budget meeting this Thursday.
-
Updated: 9 Jan 2012 09:30
Info sought on Crinkle machete raid
Gardaí in Birr are appealing for information relating to a machete raid in Crinkle on New Year's Day. CCTV footage and door to door enquiries carried out by Gardaí have so far yielded nothing according to Birr's Sergeant John Mahon.
-
Updated: 6 Jan 2012 11:56
Ballinahown man facing extradition on abuse charges
A Ballinahown native wanted for trial to answer sex abuse allegations could be back in this country next week after being deported from Brazil to England on St Stephen's Day. Gardai are expected to bring charges against former priest Peter Kennedy, who originally hails from Bloomhill on the Offaly side of Ballinahown, if and when he is extradited from Britain.
-
Updated: 6 Jan 2012 11:03
Offaly house prices halve since peak
The latest house price report released by Irish property website Daft.ie this week has revealed a slump of 6.6% in Offaly house prices between September and December of last year. The report also revealed price crashes of 53.6% - or €145,533 - in Offaly since peak recorded prices in 2007.
-
Updated: 6 Jan 2012 09:30
100 year old Margaret celebrates with a song
Offaly's birthday girl of the week is undoubtedly 100-year-old Margaret Loughnane from Birr, who attracted guests from as far afield as Australia and America to her birthday bash. The former MD of the County Arms Hotel wrapped up her mammoth eight-hour party last Wednesday by singing "Paddy McGinty's Goat" to a standing ovation surrounded by friends and family.
-
Updated: 3 Jan 2012 18:30
Offaly Association London celebrates 50 years...and you're invited!
Members of the Offaly Association in London are gearing up for a very special occasion. On February 4 next the organisation will host its 50th annual celebration. PRO Peter Hynes told the Offaly Independent this week up to 300 guests are expected at the event, and tickets are still available.
-
Updated: 3 Jan 2012 13:30
Two of top five 2011 traffic incidents were in Offaly
Offaly has taken two spots in a list of five noteworthy traffic incidents in 2011 released by the AA Roadwatch Team this week. Taking the top spot, unsurprisingly, was the visit of US President Barack Obama last May, while a mayonnaise spillage in Birr last August also made the list.
