Articles in the General News Category

COMMENT The death of major literary figures is usually perceived in terms of national loss, with grief general that the prevalent culture will no longer be enriched by their creativity, that the pen has been stilled and the story woven by their imagination will be added to no more. Such has certainly been the case with Eugene McCabe, whose passing last week at the august age of four score and ten evoked tributes from president Michael D Higgins, national politicians and the lions of the worlds of literature and the theatre ...

There’s good news for Monaghan’s classical teens as the Top Security Frank Maher Classical Music Awards for sixth years is going ahead this year, with a €5,000 prize for the winner. Violinist Mia Cooper, leader of the RTÉ Concert Orchestra (pictured) at the photocall to launch the search for entries for the largest such competition for secondary schools in Ireland. The Awards were created in 2001 by Emmet O’Rafferty, chairman of the Top Security Group to honour the memory of his late teacher, Fr Frank Maher, a pioneer in the ...

Sunday was International Disappeared Day, a day for remembering all those who have been killed and secretly buried by the IRA. Doves were released from the WAVE trauma centre in north Belfast at 12 midday in memory of disappeared. They need to be returned home to their families for Christian burial, the support group said. Among relatives of the ‘disappeared’ who attended the event was Oliver McVeigh, a well-known sports photographer and brother of Columba McVeigh from Donaghmore, Co Tyrone was 17 years old when he was abducted, killed and ...

RDS celebrates innovative Monaghan forest Awards highlight climate-smart agriculture in practice Five livestock and three forestry award recipients were presented with their 2020 RDS Spring Awards on their farms and forests in recent weeks, as Covid-19 prevented the usual Awards ceremony in the RDS Concert Hall. The RDS Spring Agriculture and Forestry Awards have a total prize fund of €23,000, and they celebrate and promote the principles of climatesmart agriculture in Ireland. They were originally scheduled to take place in April, but the Covid-19 restrictions prevented this and has led to a ...

– Members of Public Urged to Become a “Dementia Champion” in their Communities this September – Ahead of World Alzheimer Month this September, latest figures compiled by the Health Service Executive have revealed that there is an estimated 867 people living with dementia in County Monaghan. The publication of the data comes as the Dementia: Understand Together campaign is urging members of the public to consider becoming a Dementia Champion and joining the network of 340 other champions across the country who promote inclusivity and action in their communities… The Dementia: Understand ...

THE NEW NORMAL: Supporters watch from a distance the Monaghan County Senior Football Championship Quarter-Final match between Truagh and Inniskeen at St Marys Park in Castleblaney. © PHILIP FITZPATRICK

JOHN GRAHAM All of the championship matches in the county this weekend will be going out live on Monaghan GAA TV as the County Board have finalised an arrangement with a Galway company to live stream all of the games to compensate for the fact that the games are being played behind closed doors, ostensibly. Aughnamullen star Micheal Bannigan agreed that the championship this year was very different both in format and in the restrictions imposed by the Covid pandemic. “Yes, it is something very different but if someone had ...

The Police Service of Northern Ireland are conducting an investigation into the death in a road collision in the early hours of Sunday morning last of 40-year old Michael Kirk, originally from Inniskeen in Co Monaghan. PSNI detectives are treating Mr Kirk’s death as a possible hit-and-run incident. The father-of-two was pronounced dead at the scene after being found on the Blayney Road in Crossmaglen around 5 am with serious head injuries. A 35-year-old man subsequently presented himself to the PSNI in relation to the incident. He was…

Michael Fisher There were four cases of Covid-19 in Co. Monaghan during the week up to midnight on Sunday. This compares with seven in the previous week. The total number of cases since mid March is now 554. It’s now known that two of the eleven outbreaks involved workers at the ABP meat plant in Clones, although the production line at the plant has not been halted. A third case involved a member of the workforce at BD Foods in Glaslough, who received a positive test result on Sunday. The ...

Three brothers from Castleblayney and a Co Armagh man were brought before the Special Criminal Court in Dublin on Tuesday on charges alleging involvement in the attempted thefts of ATM machines in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan and Virginia, Co Cavan on dates in 2019. Gerard Duffy (29) and Ciaran Duffy (26) of Greagh, Loughnamore, Co Monaghan; and Stephen Duffy (34) of Coose, Tullynahinera, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, are accused of offences arising from the attempted theft of an ATM in Virginia in August of last year and the attempted theft of another ...