OLDEST IRISH AMERICAN NEWSPAPER IN USA, ESTABLISHED IN 1928
Category: Archive

Around Ireland Cider madness in Leinster

February 16, 2011

By Staff Reporter

By Patrick Markey

Here are two lads who should stay away from the drink.

The two men, who drank 72 bottles of cider and alcopops between them in one night, returned to a blazing community complex they had just set on fire to play some indoor soccer.

The Leinster Leader newspaper reports that one of the men, 23-year-old Oliver Humphries, had also taken cocaine and ecstasy and was so "out of it" that he couldn’t remember what happened for some time after the incident.

At Naas Circuit Court recently, Humphries admitted setting fire to Kilcullen Community Complex in November 1998 and causing £25,000 worth of damage.

Gardai said Humphries and another man broke into the building through a window and poured a bottle of white spirits over the floor and set it alight. The fire gutted a storeroom and the office, damaging equipment and computers.

Follow us on social media

Keep up to date with the latest news with The Irish Echo

"This young man lost control of himself altogether through drink and drugs," Humphries’s attorney told the court.

On the night of the fire, the two men reportedly stole two crates of alcohol from a local pub and drank up to 72 bottles of alcopops and cider between them — the equivalent of more than 20 pints each.

The court heard Humphries had since started a detox program and was attending an addiction counselor, and was no longer taking drugs.

Judge Raymond Groarke, who took Humphries’s good behavior since the incident into account, adjourned the case for twelve months. Not surprisingly, he ordered that the defendant abstain from drugs and alcohol during that period.

Demolition job

Parts of Dublin are plagued by joyriders and other anti-social types.

But a recent incident took vandalism to another level.

The Northside People newspaper recently reported that several people just escaped serious injury or even death when a truck was driven through their house in Corduff Park.

The incident occurred in the early hours of Sunday morning and as a result the house has had to be demolished.

One community activist said: "Local people are very angry at this latest episode of anti-social activity in the area. Luckily, nobody was hurt in this incident but it could have been a disaster."

A Blanchardstown gardai spokesman said the occupants of the house were lucky to escape.

"This was an extremely serious incident," he said. "Gardai have recovered the truck used and the investigation into the crime is ongoing."

Shannon dolphins

The Shannon Estuary is about get tough — on protecting Ireland’s only native dolphins.

The Limerick Leader reports that the government is set to impose tough new controls in the Shannon Estuary to protect Ireland’s only indigenous population of bottlenose dolphins.

The estuary is home to more than 100 dolphins and will be granted special protection status. Dolphin-watching operators within the Shannon Estuary must now apply for licenses from Síle de Valera, Minister for Arts, Heritage, Gaeltacht and the Islands.

The code will also limit the number of trips and the length of time boats can be in contact with the dolphins.

The area’s group of 129 dolphins is disappearing at a rate of about six percent a year as a result of human interference, pollution and a lack of fish. Scientists say heavy boat traffic could endanger the Shannon Estuary dolphins’ environment in the same way — the only resident group in Ireland.

"The Shannon Estuary is probably the best place in Europe to observe wild dolphins," said marine biologist, Dr. Simon Berrow.

Dangerous language

Slang can be offensive, especially it seems, in Mayo,

The Mayo News reports that Ballina slang proved the catalyst for an ugly and vicious street assault.

Appearing before a local court on an assault charge one young man had allegedly "drew a number of kicks at the head of another youth while the youth lay defenseless on the footpath." The defendant denied the charge.

The victim told the court he had been walking home at around 3 a.m. after visiting a local disco. As he and a friend walked down the street, he was attacked from behind by the defendant, who knocked him to the ground.

The reason for the assault, according to several witnesses, was a misunderstanding of the Ballina slang phrase "Go on," which reportedly in the local vernacular means hello. One of those involved in the scuffle apparently may have taken it to mean something less friendly.

Other Articles You Might Like

Sign up to our Daily Newsletter

Click to access the login or register cheese