Articles in the Headline Category

By MICHAEL McDONNELL michael@northern-standard.ie ILLEGAL cigarette and tobacco products are readily obtainable in towns across Co Monaghan, and are selling at prices that are less than half of what consumers might expect to pay for similar quantities purchased through legitimate outlets. During an undercover test purchasing operation in County Monaghan overseen by two former senior policemen on Wednesday of last week, a reporter and photographer from this newspaper witnessed a number of transactions in which illicit tobacco and cigarettes were obtained from sellers on the streets, and — on two occasions — from retail stores. At ...

History was made in Co Monaghan this week as The Hillgrove Hotel hosted the county’s first same sex marriage. Officiant Eileen Morris conducted the marriage of Tony Day from Lisburn and Darren Baird from Belfast on Tuesday morning. Friends of the couple. Owner of The Hillgrove Hotel Audri Herron and Stephen Treanor from Monaghan, acted as witnesses. Tony and Darren celebrated their wedding by holding a reception for 200 family and friends at The Hillgrove Hotel last Saturday, then stayed on in Monaghan to become one of the first couples to avail ...

By Cianna McNally For the second time this year, a group of Clones secondary school students scooped a national award for a project they undertook that aimed to combat homophobia and homophobic bullying and to promote acceptance and understanding of the LGBT (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender) community. The Largy College YSI Group of 2014 – 2015 won the top prize in the Young People in the Community Initiative Category at the annual IPB Co-operation Ireland Pride of Place Awards, which were announced last Saturday night at a glittering gala event in Ennis, ...

The Irish Exporters Association (IEA), the voice of the export industry in Ireland, announced Combilift as the Exporter of the Year 2015 at the Export Industry Awards which were held on Friday last in Dublin. In their 15th year and attracting over 500 guests including Minsters, Ambassadors and dignitaries, the awards are the premier Irish event recognising the achievements of companies working in the export industry. Combilift took home the overall Exporter of the Year Award 2015 after also winning the hotly contested Multinational Exporter of the Year Award category earlier in ...

SIR JOHN LESLIE RECEIVES TOP FRENCH HONOUR FOR HIS WARTIME SERVICE By Michael Fisher in Dublin The talents and achievements of Monaghan people of different generations have been recognized at a series of separate events in Dublin during the past week. On Monday at the residence of the French Ambassador, family and friends of Sir Jack Leslie from Glaslough joined the celebrations as the 98 year-old World War II veteran was awarded France’s highest distinction. The former Irish Guards officer was made a Chevalier de la Légion d’honneur, adding to his formal ...

GARDAI are appealing for information on the whereabouts of a 14-year old girl who has been missing from the Monaghan town area since Monday. Ann Kerrigan, who is described as of small build and having brown hair, was last seen at the library on the North Road, Monaghan town at some time after 6pm on Monday evening. She had been wearing light denim jeans, a black coat and black runners at the time. A spokesperson said gardai were anxious about Ms Kerrigan’s safety and keen to locate her as soon as possible. ...

Ireland’s only professional female boxer Christina ‘Lightning’ McMahon from Carrickmacross has been chosen as Sportswoman of the Year in the 2015 Irish Tatler awards. 400 guests attended a gala dinner at the Intercontinental Hotel at Ballsbridge in Dublin to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of Irish women in business, entrepreneurship, music, literature, fashion, film and drama, entertainment, public life and sport. The Irish Tatler awards recognize women whose successes have gained public praise together with those women who have worked tirelessly to improve the lives of others. A Hall of Fame award ...

By Cianna McNally For the second year in a row, a Monaghan student has taken the top prize at the national SciFest competition. Louis Madden, who is a fifth year student in Largy College, Clones, and son of Irene Dunwoody and Paul Madden, wowed the judges on Friday last with his project ‘Bringing Genetics to the Masses, The Next Step in Genetic Research,’ which was based upon successfully conducting genetic testing using apparatus he built himself. Such commercially available equipment normally costs in the region of €10,000 to €20,000 but Louis impressively ...

The Iontas Theatre played host to a fantastic night of entertainment and recognition at the recent County Monaghan Community Games Awards Night. The night recognised the many National Medal Winners from throughout the County in a wide variety of sporting and cultural events. It also served to acknowledge the hard work and dedication of our many volunteers throughout County Monaghan with awards for youth and adult volunteer, PRO of the year and Area Involvement. The large audience were treated to a wide variety of talent acts, all medal winners from this ...