The Limerick Blogger - latest Limerick news and Limerick events

A Limerickman has scooped the $20,000 Story prize in New York.

Patrick O’Keefe (42) received the top prize for his collection of novellas called “The Hill Road.”

Raised on a dairy farm on the Limerick/Tipperary border, Mr. O’Keefe emigrated to the United States in the 1980s, and graduated from the University of Kentucky.

The arts in Limerick have received a boost in the form of two grants from the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism.

The Minister John O’Donaghue has announced that the EV+A (Exhibition of Visual Arts) is to receive a grant of €12,500 while an exhibition at the Hunt Museum entitled Louis La Broquay is to receive the same amount.

The grants will be given through Failte Ireland through the Festivals and Cultural events Initiative 2006.

Overall, €500,000 is to be handed out for cultural events throughout the country.

Twenty-eight officials at the Revenue Commissioners were given written warnings for poking around the tax records of Euromillions winner Delores McNamara according to the Sunday Times.

Under Revenue’s rules, staff are forbidden from accessing personal records of individuals unless they have a valid reason. Over all, thirty-two people had accessed the personal information, however four officials were found by the Revenue investigation to have had valid reasons.

The paper also reports that a much larger investigation is underway at the Department of Social Community and Family Affairs, where it is understood that 125 civil servants accessed their records on Ms McNamara

800 sheep which were found to be seriously starving on rented land in Bruff, County Limerick, were culled by the Department of Agriculture after their condition did not improve following their move to lands in Tipperary. It is understood that they were slaughtered to “ease their suffering.”

The sheep are said to be have been belonging to a man by the name of John Burke according to the Star newspaper.

Update: The website of the Limerick Leader has more.

A house in the Clarina area of County Limerick has been attacked by a man with a golf club, this causing over €7,000 worth of damage.

The attacker smashed five double-glazed windows earlier this week. This is the fourth time that the Barnes family, who live at the house, have been forced to replace windows. A total of €15,000 worth of damage has been caused to their home in all four attacks.

Speaking to the Star newspaper, Caroline Barnes, who was in the house with her sister at the time, said, “It was about 3am on Monday morning. And because this thing has happened in the past, we were still awake.”

Gardai were immediately alerted, and an investigation is ongoing, reports the paper.

A judge in London has ruled that a Limerick man was unfit for trial on arms conspiracy charges, today’s Star newspaper reports.

Lawrence McCarthy, of no fixed address, but originally from Southill in Limerick, was before Southwark Crown Court in London accused of conspiring to posess a firearm with intent to endanger life, and conspiring to posess a prohibited weapon.

The judge in the case directed the jury not to deliver any verdict against McCarthy based on medical and psychiatric reports which were submitted to the court.

According to the paper, two men and a woman were also convicted after a police raid on what is described as a “weapons supermarket” yielded machine guns, ammunition and “dum-dum” bullets, which cause horrendous injuries. The raid took place in the Hackney area of London last July.

A new hearing on the medical condition of Lawrence McCarthy will be held next month, and a decision on whether or not to hold a retrial will be made at this time.

Lawrence McCarthy is a relative of Anthony “Noddy” McCarthy, who is serving a life sentence for the murder of Kieran Keane, and is also a relative of Euromillions winner Delores McNamara