A round-up of other regional stories in brief...
State given more time to prepare case
The State has been given four more weeks to complete the book of evidence in the case of a man charged with the murder of Limerick rugby player Shane Geoghegan.
Barry Doyle, originally from Portland Row, Dublin, but with an address at Hyde Road, Limerick, is accused of murdering the 28-year-old at Clonmore, Kilteragh, Limerick on November 9th last.
Yesterday at Limerick District Court, Limerick State solicitor Michael Murray described the file in the case as “quite voluminous” and said the book of evidence would take another three to five weeks to complete.
Mr Murray said the eight-volume book contains 178 statements and other documents and said his staff were “giving the matter priority”.
He asked that the matter be adjourned for three weeks when he would be in a better position to say when the book would be completed.
Judge Tom O’Donnell adjourned the case until June 10th next but marked it peremptory against the State for service of the book of evidence on that date.
He said that if the book was not ready in four weeks, the State could produce evidence or make submissions to the court. Judge O’Donnell remanded the accused in continued custody until June 10th next.
Famine talk on links to Canada
The inaugural provincial National Famine Commemoration opens tonight when a leading Canadian academic will host a discussion in Skibbereen, Co Cork, on the Munster connection with Canada during the Famine, writes Barry Roche.
Prof Mark McGowan of Toronto University, will host the talk in the West Cork Hotel on the wave of Irish emigration to Canada in the late 1840s. Co-ordinator of the event and manager of the Skibbereen Heritage Centre Terri Kearney said Prof McGowan’s talk will look at the close links forged between Ireland and Canada where some 40,000 emigrants arrived in Toronto between May and December 1847.
Big increase in hospital assaults
New figures provided by HSE West show that the number of assaults at Limerick’s Regional Hospital by members of the public on staff increased by 120 per cent from 20 in 2007 to 46 in 2008.
The number of attacks last year also sharply increased at Limerick city’s other main hospital, St John’s, where assaults on staff increased from three to 17.
Irish Nurses’ Organisation midwest industrial officer Mary Fogarty said that the increase in assaults “are a concern”.
Not spending a penny may cost
The Government was yesterday accused of “flushing money down the toilet” over a superloo deal expected to cost a local authority an estimated €400,000 over the next 10 years.
Members of Kilrush Town Council in Co Clare made the charge yesterday after being told Government approval for a loan of €120,000 to allow the council to buy itself out of a 20-year lease agreement for the toilet with private company, Street Furniture Ltd, will not be forthcoming.
Cllr Marion McMahon Jones (FG) said: “The bottom line is that the department is refusing to sanction a loan of €120,000 that would, in the end, save the council €300,000. It defies logic.”
Cllr Deirdre Culligan (Ind) said: “The department is giving the town council carte blanche to waste money.”
This year, the council is budgeting to spend €39,806 on the toilet in the lease agreement with the local authority, estimating it will generate only €1,300 from people using the amenity.