Articles in the Headline Category

By Cianna McNally The countdown to the Monaghan Town Country Music Festival which takes place from Thursday, 18th – Sunday, 21st July in the Diamond has officially begun. With four top entertainers taking to the stage the open air festival is sure to impress all music lovers. The kids won’t be bored either as Cullens Fun Fair will be parked up for the full weekend in the Courthouse car park. On Thursday, 18th July Mike Denver will take to stage while on Friday Robert Mizzell will perform. Big Tom and the Mainliners will entertain ...

MONAGHAN town’s well-known Hillgrove Hotel won a prestigious national award on Friday night last when it was named ‘Number One Family Hotel’ at a glittering ceremony in Dublin’s Mansion House. The 4-star hotel fended off the competition to pick up the honour at the Families First Awards, which seeks recognise companies, products and people who “put Irish families first” — and make life a little easier for them. The awards were presented by Lucy Kennedy of RTE and TV3 fame, in what was a memorable night of glitz ...

Monaghan Motor Club crews simply went to the Donegal International Rally last weekend and conquered! They returned with the three most highly sought after awards on what is Ireland’s biggest International Rally, the only three day event of its kind still running in Ireland.  Top picture shows overall winners of the event, James O’Reilly (left) and Sam Moffett being presented on the finish podium by CoC Eamonn McGee. Sam and James followed on from their Monaghan Stages Rally success with their 2nd overall win in as many outings in the McKinstry ...

By MICHAEL McDONNELL michael@northern-standard.ie THE RESIDING judge of the District Court in Cavan and Monaghan has indicated that he believes a reprieve for Clones District Court — which has been earmarked for closure by the Courts Service — is unlikely. Judge Sean MacBride made his remarks during a substantial statement at Clones District Court on Friday last, where he referred to submissions he had made to the relevant committee of the Courts Service to make the case for retaining the sittings in the town. He had done his “level best” ...

Two motions passed by Monaghan Co Council at its June meeting called on Minister for Agriculture Simon Coveney to act to ensure that adequate staffing levels were maintained in the Teagasc farm advisory service in Co Monaghan. Proposals put forward by Independent councillor Paudge Connolly and the Sinn Féin grouping on the Council highlighted severe staffing cuts faced by Teagasc in the county and pointed to the current problems facing the agricultural sector as justification for Ministerial intervention. Colr Connolly’s motion read: “In view of current difficulties ...

The local political landscape of Co Monaghan is set to undergo significant change under new recommendations announced last week. The four traditional geographical boundaries for local political purposes – North Monaghan, Mid-Monaghan, Clones and South Monaghan – are to be replaced by three divisions for the 2014 local government elections, when radical reforms introduced by Minister for the Environment Phil Hogan will see the abolition of the county’s five Town Councils and a reduction in the membership of Monaghan Co Council by two to eighteen councillors. Three new ...

Last Sunday, 26th May was an auspicious date for the newly-formed Monaghan Oriel Sailing Club. A flotilla of small sailing boats converged at Toome Point on Lough Muckno for the club’s first outing on the water. The fledgling club held its first meeting in the Four Seasons Hotel in March and in the intervening weeks has made rapid progress in becoming a fully-affiliated sailing club. The progress can be attributed to the hard work and enthusiasm of its members. Although many of the members are complete novices, the land-locked club includes a ...

GARDAI, including members of the Armed Response Unit, were involved along with Revenue officers early yesterday (Wednesday) in a major swoop on an illicit fuel laundering plant in Co. Monaghan, close to the South Armagh Border. The plant was discovered at a large shed at Drumacon, about three miles from Castleblayney. A tank with 20,000 litres of fuel was found, along with 68 bags of bleaching earth, ancillary equipment, 5 cars and 1 jeep.  All the vehicles were seized by the Revenue authorities. The plant had the capacity to launder 15 ...

By Cianna McNally “The idea of this is to bring a bit of life and business back into the town.”  So said Willie McKenna as he spoke about the idea behind the Monaghan Town Country Music Festival which was officially launched by Monaghan’s own country legend Big Tom in the Market House, Monaghan on Monday evening, 13th May. Willie welcomed all present and explained that this festival was the first of its kind in Co Monaghan. It’s a non-profit, community-run event and all proceeds from it will be ...

Members of Clones Town Council, Monaghan Co Council and Fermanagh District Council joined with local community and sporting representatives on Tuesday to receive a comprehensive briefing on the progress towards realisation of the new Peace Link flagship sports and recreational facility for the Border area. In an initiative by Co Mayor Hugh McElvaney, details of the ongoing work and the future plans for the Clones Erne East Sports Partnership project, which has a current estimated cost of €8,269,178 and is scheduled for completion in April of next year, were ...