Sunday 26 May 2013
THERE'S nothing like a bit of car trouble to take the va-va-voom out of your life. I'm going to put the hand up here and say I'm pretty clueless about motors, or at least I was until a few hard lessons last week gave me a 'crash course' in mechanics.
ALTHOUGH Sidelines usually concentrates on Gaelic Games I couldn't ignore the biggest sports story of the week, and quite possibly the year so far, Alex Ferguson's retirement. Like him or loathe him, the abrasive Glaswegian has had a phenomenal managerial career with Manchester United over the past 27 years.
WHEN did it become OK in this country to aim for the bottom of the barrel? That was the question I found myself asking at the weekend after I spoke to workers at the two seemingly opposite ends of the economic spectrum - those affected by the proposals for Croke Park II and those who are working in Harp Lager.
ITHOUGHT it was some sort of tasteless joke to learn of the motion carried at Kerry County Council last week that members will lobby the Minister for Justice to grant permits to rural dwellers to drink and drive.
THE KILLERS of Detective Garda Adrian Donohoe showed no mercy when they shot the father-of-two at close range. Senior officers say the armed robbers, who gunned him down in cold blood with a shotgun, were intent on murdering him as he approached them at the Lordship Credit Union outside Dundalk.
THE SAVAGE and terrible events in Algeria over the past week are a sombre and terrifying reminder to us all of the dangers posed by militants bent on creating mayhem. More than 80 people have died, both hostages and Islamist fighters who assaulted the BP Gas plant in the Algerian desert, murdering some captives in cold blood, in what was the worst international hostage crisis for decades.
SMALL THOUGH Ireland is, it sometimes seems like two countries, made up not of North and South but those inside the pale and those outside - a troublesome lot who have been nothing but a source of bother this past 800 years and more.
A FRIEND of mine worked on the PR side of Shane McEntee's first and successful Dáil campaign in 2005. On the day that I learned of Mr McEntee's death my friend said that Shane was the nicest and kindest Irish politician he had ever known. At the graveside oration Taoiseach Enda Kenny looked visibly shaken and indeed I have heard from close associates of his that he is still shocked by Shane's death.
I'M SURE there were plenty of working mothers incensed by the comments of former Boyzone member Shane Lynch this week who said he couldn't possibly be married to a woman who worked outside the home.
Tuesday: All is quiet on New Year's Day. On the sofa the young lad and younger lad are ten Roses away from seeing their reflections on the bottom of the tin, so we decide it is time to pluck them from their comforts and expose them to the elements. Sometimes I feel it would be easier to drag sceptical mules through a glue-farm gate.
HARDLY A week has gone by in recent times without media revelations of yet another ugly incident of Internet bullying, sometimes with tragic consequences. It has the appearance - but wrongly so - of an epidemic and those in the Government, and elsewhere, with a leaning towards censorship would be happy to impose yet more freedom of speech restrictions in an effort to curb the problem. The solution, however, lies elsewhere.
WHAT'S in a name? What's in a symbol? What's in a flag - or, if you are of a certain persuasion - 'fleg'?
IT'S EXPECTED that the Minister for Justice Alan Shatter will move to introduce legislation to have convicted sex offenders electronically tagged upon their release from prison. think this is the most sensible of moves and welcome it wholeheartedly. It would certainly make it easier for Gardaí to keep tabs on these offenders who more often than not are still a real risk to society.
MY GOOD nature was taken advantage of during the Christmas festivities! Those who shall remain nameless but call themselves my husband and children used the fact if you ply me with enough gin & tonic I'm liable to agree to anything. They roped me into having a new year's eve party whilst I was under the influence and made me call everyone of our acquaintance to invite them before I sobered up and changed my mind.
WELL THAT'S it done and dusted for another 360 odd days. The Christmas tree can go back in the attic alongside the ab buster, the kettle bells, the foot spa and the blow up bed. We don't have to eat another bite of turkey for 12 months and those relatives we manage to avoid for the other 51 weeks of the year, can be ignored again with a clear conscience. We've paid our dues, shared the Quality Street and watched the Downton Christmas special with them. Our job is done.
LOUTH CRAFTMARK Designers are hosting the Louth Craftmark Designers inaugural open submission exhibition, Connective 2012 in conjunction with the Abbey Gallery, Drogheda.
COMETH THE hour, cometh the Anne. After a couple of tough weeks, Saturday was the much-promised, oft- heralded ' Day of Reckoning' for the Wee Lad. I have to put my hand up and admit that I had taken the eye off the ball for a few days and, by God, did I pay for that mistake.
NEGOTIATIONS have been taking place between Louth County Council and the management of the massive waste water treatment plant at Soldier's Point about what will happen when the facility loses millions of litres from the Harp Lager brewery when Diageo shuts down the site in the early autumn.
A 22-YEAR-old man who was caught attempting to steal home heating oil from a tank at the Louth GAA Centre of Excellence in Darver was in breach of a suspended sentence, the Circuit Court heard last week.
THERE'S good news for the town centre with two positive developements on Clanbrassil Street with the opening of a homewares department in Houstons and the relocation of the Gift and Art Gallery to new premises.
THERE was a big crowd of rail enthusiasts, from Thomas the Tank Engine fans to steam engine buffs, at Dundalk's Clark Railway Station for the visit of the Engine 461 which was travelling to Dublin last Thursday for an excursion organised by the Dundalk Railway Heritage Society in conjunction with the Railway Preservation Society of Ireland.
ONE of the most senior Garda officers working on the Adrian Donohoe murder cases has said the Garda killer – whose identity they know – is 'battling with their conscience'.
A DROGHEDA man who admitted drug dealing was jailed for six years after gardai seized cocaine valued at €140,000 from his home.
A 22-YEAR-old who robbed a teenage boy of his phone after punching his pal in the face was carrying a tube of Pringles crisps when he attacked them outside a shopping centre in Dundalk, while he was on bail for a public order offence.
A DUNDALK man who ordered crisp packets filled with cannabis from South Africa over the internet was caught when customs officers spotted the packages at Dublin Airport and got an undercover official to deliver them.
TWO MEN who beat an African taxi driver in Dundalk because he asked them for the correct fare had the cases against them adjourned once again after the victim said he was still suffering from the effects of the attack.
HAVING led Dundalk Chamber of Commerce through some of the toughest economic challenges, Paddy Malone stood down as president this week.
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