Articles in the General News Category

– Bishop Larry begins episcopate with humour and humility Peter Hughes “Any word from Inniskeen?” It was a question those in the St Macartan’s Cathedral congregation on Sunday for the ordination of the new Catholic Bishop of the Diocese of Clogher were not expecting. But when Bishop Larry Duffy asked it, it brought warm smiles to everyone’s faces. The avid GAA follower (who in his time proudly wore the livery of Magheracloone Mitchells GFC), having remarked that at least some of the many young people present would probably have preferred to ...

The Government has decided to delay a €27 million contribution to the development of the main Monaghan to Derry roadway as part of cost-cutting measures necessitated by the spending overrun for the National Children’s Hospital project. In the Dáil on Tuesday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar TD confirmed that the planned contribution to the A5/N2 dual carriageway project was being delayed. The Taoiseach said that the payment would probably not have gone ahead this year anyway because of the current non-functioning of the Stormont political institutions. But the announcement provoked an angry ...

Police officers and soldiers allegedly assisted a Loyalist paramilitary gang in carrying out the Dublin and Monaghan bomb atrocities, the High Court in Belfast was told this week. The claims emerged during the hearing of an appeal of an order for disclosure of documents by the relatives and bereaved of the victims of the May 17 1974 bombings, in which 33 people, including a pregnant woman, lost their lives and 300 people were injured. They have issued writs against the Northern Ireland Chief Constable, the British Ministry of Defence and ...

Michael Fisher Plans for the North South electricity interconnector which has proved controversial over the past twelve years could be further delayed following the outcome of a court case in Belfast regarding the northern section of the line in County Armagh. It represented a victory for up to 6,000 people who own land or live along the proposed route of the 100 pylons and 400kV high voltage line in the north, the route of which from a new substation at The Moy in Co. Tyrone would cross into Co. Monaghan ...

Monaghan’s St Macartan’s College has been named Ireland’s Fittest Boys School in the Irish Life Health Schools Fitness Challenge. The awards ceremony was held in Dublin on Monday last, February 11. Now in its eighth year, over 200,000 students have participated in the Irish Life Health Schools’ Fitness Challenge making it the largest national multi-year surveillance study on the fitness of secondary school children in Ireland. “The Fitness Challenge focuses on preventive and proactive healthcare. It shows that small steps through a six-week fitness programme can make real, impactful changes ...

Three of the 25 accolades presented at the 2019 All Ireland Community & Council Awards have gone to Co Monaghan. The work being done in the Derryvalley area outside Ballybay along the Dromore river to trace the sources of water pollution and improve water quality won the Best Environmental/ Ecological Project/ Initiative award. The online repair directory, www.repairmystuff.ie being led by the Environment Section of Monaghan Co Council on behalf of the local authorities in the Environmental Protection Agency’s National Waste Prevention Network, was another award-winner on the night. Castleblayney ...

Rents rose nationwide by an average of 9.8% in the year to December 2018, according to the latest quarterly Rental Report by Daft.ie. While this marks another record high in national average rents, the rate of increase is the slowest in almost three years. The average monthly rent nationwide during the final quarter of 2018 was €1,347. This is €317 per month higher than the previous peak in 2008 and over €600 higher than the low seen in late 2011. In Monaghan, rents were on average 10.5% higher in the ...

Pope Francis has cleared the way for the canonisation of the muchloved educationalist Cardinal John Henry Newman. The Pope received Cardinal Angelo Becciu, the Prefect of the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints, and authorised him to promulgate two decrees on miracles for sainthood, a decree on martyrdom and five on heroic virtues. Cardinal Vincent Nichols, President of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales has warmly welcomed the news that Cardinal Newman will be declared a saint. Following the announcement, Cardinal Nichols said: “This is wonderful news ...

The new Regional Enterprise Plan for the North East region will be launched by Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation Heather Humphreys TD in the Cootehill Enterprise and Technology Centre on Monday February 25. Minister Humphreys will be launching nine new regional enterprise plans over the coming weeks. Encouraging all local businesses and residents to attend the afternoon Cootehill event, the Cavan/Monaghan Fine Gael TD stated: “Since the Government launched our first Regional Action Plans for Jobs in early 2015, 260,000 more people are at work, with 163,500 of….

By Olga Cronin A ‘booster tubE’ found in a shed in Monaghan in 2016 is similar to one discovered within a homemade “beer keg bomb” found in a Co louth church carpark two years earlier, a Special Criminal Court IRA trial has heard. Mechanic James Joseph Cassidy (55) of Tullycollive, Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, is on trial for IRA membership. He has pleaded not guilty to being a member of an unlawful organisation styling itself as the Irish Republican Army, otherwise Óglaigh na hÉireann, otherwise the IRA, within the State in ...