Around Ireland

By Patrick Markey

Watch out for those Galway girls.

It’s a little ironic that a city famous for its hookers — the boats, that is — should now be earning a reputation for its dreadful women.

The Irish Examiner asks you to forget the Rose of Tralee; instead, the wild women of the west have decided to flaunt their brazen attitudes in The Poison Ivy of Galway festival.

It all began when a certain local lawman — Judge John Garavan — recently declared that no respectable women could be found in the city’s night clubs. So one local lass who has just decided not to take umbrage at the judge’s comments, but instead decided to get even with a bit of humor.

Tania McCole, 23, won the competition to find the most dreadful dame in the district.

And she vowed to track down the controversial judge and apply her feather of fun in a bid to have him lighten up.

The competition was staged at the King’s Head pub where hundreds of Galway’s proud subjects turned out to vote for the best worst woman.

It could become an annual event, perhaps more famous than the Galway Bay Hookers — again, the boats that is.

McCole described in detail what she intended to do to Judge Garavan with the feather — not printable in a family newspaper.

"I’m hoping to maintain my dreadfulness throughout the year and then hand the title over to some other deserving girl," she said.

What floor please?

Residents of a Ballymun tower block had been waiting for four months for a new elevator for their eight-floor building.

The Northside People was a little amazed at what they got after the wait. An elevator programmed to travel to 13 floors with a panel which shows the lift to be still moving when it is actually stopped.

"There must have been no proper inspection before it was installed," one expert told The People. "If you want to go to floor four, you’ve got to press maybe seven, it’s driving people bananas. While it may be good for kids’ mathematics when trying to figure it all out, something will have to be done as visitors to the block are completely lost."

A Dublin Corporation spokesperson said the lift was designed and purchased before the decision to demolish the tower blocks was taken and they were using it as a spare lift.

"We are in the process of getting the lift changed," the spokesman said.

Carlow crisis?

If you’re going to get into a car crash, just don’t do it in Carlow.

The Carlow People newspaper reports that a 12-year old local ambulance had to be pushed by fire fighters after it failed to start at the scene of a traffic accident.

Sources close to the emergency services say they are under serious pressure, completing hours of overtime, and they also complain that the ambulances are seriously outdated.

Source say such incidents are the tip of the iceberg in a long list of serious problems within the ambulance service in Carlow.

The paper reports allegations that the 12 year-old ambulance broke down at the scene of a serious traffic accident and had to be pushed by firemen, before it could take victims to hospital.

The source also maintained that often in Carlow not be a single ambulance is available in the county for extended periods.

Holiday mayhem

More than 30 people were recently arrested after a huge brawl broke out on the Achill Island, off the coast of Mayo.

The Connaught Telegraph called the holiday mayhem at the resort the worst public disorder ever seen in the area. Bottles and stones were hurled at gardaí who had to call in reinforcements.

According to gardai, a large group of youths arrived in Keel on the Saturday evening and set up an unofficial camp just off the beach area.

"A certain group of people within the number of youths created a lot of problems for local residents. The youths caused a lot of public order problems in relation to noise, drunkenness and basically having no respect for law and order," a local gárda said.

"The gardaí had difficulty in dealing with them and some extra manpower was brought in to quell the situation."

The incident happened on what is probably the busiest tourist weekend of the year on Achill Island. Most of the people visiting the area are families. The 30 people arrested were mostly male and from the Mayo area.