February 16, 2011
By Staff Reporter
By Patrick Markey
Donegal’s latest attempt to draw more tourists to the region could take the majestic form as county officials try to establish a breeding population of Golden Eagles.
And visitors to the area could catch a glimpse of the rare birds of prey nesting via close circuit television cameras set up to monitor them, according to the Donegal Democrat.
Promoters of the plan believe it could be a major tourist attraction with live pictures being beamed back to a special exhibition probably set up in the county’s Glenveagh National Park.
Lorcan O’Toole, the Golden Eagles project manager, said officials have already talked with the Irish National Teachers’ Organization to try to establish a live link-up with an educational website.
Golden Eagles have been extinct in Ireland since 1912. But young eaglets could be taken from Scotland and released into the wild at Donegal.
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Twice the luck
A factory in Newbridge, Co. Kildare, has become the luckiest place in Ireland.
At least that’s the way it seems to the staff after the firm won the lotto jackpot twice.
The Irish Examiner reports that three colleagues from the Wyeth Medica factory picked up a check for £1,298,908 recently as one of three winners of an overall jackpot of £3,896,723.
But that spirit of celebration has been seen before in the pharmaceutical products factory. In 1996, a group of 10 workmates collected a check for £250,000 — a lucky 13 days after the winning draw.
The new winning trio, who work together in the packaging department, have played the lotto together for just the past five weeks. The other two winning tickets were unclaimed.
"Everyone is asking everyone else who they think it is," said one of the store managers where the winning tickets were bought. "A lot of the locals were wondering if it was one of the staff. It’s definitely not me anyway."
Breakfast surprise
Wexford couple Sarah Flood and Trevor Stamp thought they would tie the knot with a quiet and simple ceremony. But they ended up on the front pages of Ireland’s national press.
According to the Wexford People newspaper, reporters in Kerry had a field day after hearing Sarah’s engagement ring had gone missing just before she was due to walk down the aisle.
The bride had taken off the ring while preparing for the ceremony at the Prince of Peace church at Fossa near Killarney.
Flood laid the ring on a piece of tissue, which her sister Aileen later innocently picked up to clean the lens of her camera and tossed into a waste-paper basket.
Flood discovered the loss when she returned to the hotel, but the basket had already been emptied. Seventeen of Ryan’s staff scoured the premises while the wedding party continued with their breakfast. A linen porter eventually found the ring.
After the story broke, the bride was a little bemused to read that she had spent Saturday afternoon wading through tons of rubbish while wearing her wedding dress. A little over the top, perhaps.
Gone to the bats
Developing a major road is a complicated business. But a £58 million Ennis bypass has run right into a unique problem of its own: bats.
The Clare Champion reports that the Ennis bypass program is on a collision course with the habitat of the Lesser Horseshoe Bat, a rare species protected under a European Union directive on animal habitats.
The planned 14-kilometer roadway will pass through three disused barns, which are now roosting sites for the bats. An environmental damage report has suggested rebuilding the roosting sites elsewhere.