President's call makes Christmas sweet

Business success is extra sweet for a Co Mayo chocolates company after the President placed a personal order for Christmas presents. The Western People reports that Mrs McAleese phoned the Moy Chocolates Group in Ballina to order hand-made chocolates one week after the Tanaiste, Ms Harney, opened the business and told workers she would recommend its product for State occasions.

Mrs McAleese told the surprised production supervisor who took her call that she had had lunch with Ms Harney who was impressed with the product.

During the season of good will, the Benedictine monks of Glenstal Abbey continue to offer sanctuary within their grounds, the Limerick Leader reports. They are sheltering endangered tree species in the State's first genetic refuge for trees, by planting seeds and saplings.

The conservation of forest stock will ensure that the genetic strength of thousands of years of evolution will not be lost, even if planned developments at sites such as the Glen o' the Downs in Co Wicklow proceed, one of the project's organisers, Mr Damien Nolan, told the paper. Each forest had its own collection of species which made it unique, he said.

"Each tree lost to a chainsaw or beneath the caterpillar tracks of an earthmover compromises this uniqueness and destroys thousands of years of the evolution of Ireland's natural heritage," he added.

The Drogheda Independent publishes a New Year's wishlist from a reader that reads like an election manifesto from a zealous environmentalist candidate.

The 29-point plan includes something for everyone. It calls on taxi-drivers to stop blowing their horns, animal owners to stop allowing their pets to soil the pavements, young people to stop disfiguring buildings with graffiti, cyclists to have their bicycles properly lit, the gardai to get to know the locals, schools to instil more civic pride in their students, the corporation to expand flower arrangements in public places and CIE to implement a more regular and user-friendly town bus service. A request for pigs to stop flying low over the town is not included.

Jake, the Rosslare-based Customs sniffer dog, is among recipients mentioned in the Wexford People's wishlist which says he should be awarded a special prize for "sniffing but not inhaling".

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform shares his New Year's resolutions with the Kerryman. On the personal front, he wants to lose a stone in weight. His political resolutions are to ensure that his position as a senior government minister will benefit his constituents and his home county and to "make further progress in terminating the revolving prison door".

Mr O'Donoghue, who is photographed in a red sweater surrounded his family in Caherciveen, borrows a phrase from Charles Dickens to describe his six months in Government: "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times."

The Minister's home county has one of the lowest rates of attacks on elderly people, the paper also reports. Kerry's Community Alert officer, Sgt Noel O'Connell, said this was largely due to the "phenomenal success" of Community Alert in the county.

The number of crimes against the elderly in the county has dropped from around 500 in 1985 to less than 90 by 1995. Sgt O'Connell said some areas of the county without such a scheme could benefit from one.

"We are trying to get away from the image which many people have of Community Alert, which is that of Percy Sugden in Coronation Street," he told the paper.

"We want to get across the message that Community Alert is a vibrant and active organisation."

The Wicklow People is already looking forward to next summer's Tour De France which it says will bring a "financial windfall" for householders and land owners in Laragh, Glendalough and surrounding areas.

The paper reports that, with bed-and-breakfasts and hotels already booked out, the county council is examining unregistered houses to cater for visiting cycling enthusiasts next July. It is also speaking to farmers and landowners about hiring their fields to provide parking.

The Tullamore Tribune reports that while Co Offaly is the safest place for drivers in Ireland, Tullamore is the most dangerous town in the county.

Only 1 per cent of Offaly's population experienced a road accident in the county in 1996, making it the State's safest county for drivers. This compares with 31.3 per cent in Co Dublin, according to the Road Accidents Facts 1996 report by the National Roads Authority.

However, 1.6 per cent of the population of Tullamore had an accident in the town that year, the paper reports.

A fast-talking motorcyclist failed to avoid a prosecution for travelling at 101 m.p.h. near Cashel in Co Tipperary, the Tipperary Star reports.

Mr Eoin Lynch (62), who was fined £150 for the offence, told a judge he was unable to read the speedometer on the vehicle because it was in Japanese.

When he told the court that he could not understand the foreign speedometer, Judge Michael Patwell asked: "Did you not feel the wind in your face?"