The Limerick Blogger - latest Limerick news and Limerick events

The City Edition of the Limerick Leader reports that one of three submissions to the new owner of the Jesuit Sacred Heart Church at the Crescent, O’Connell Avenue, involves changing the building into a bar and restaurant.

The Galway based owner of the property, has revealed that he has received three expressions of interest from Limerick businessmen.

“At the moment, I am conducting ongoing negotiations with three individuals. I have three options open to me at the moment. One group has approached me with a view to keeping the building open as a church, another group want to open offices there, and a third are looking to secure it as a bar and restaurant.” he told the paper. “Provided the new use does not upset the exterior, we are not limited in what we can do.”

Mr. O’Dolan is expected to have made his decision within four weeks.

Churchgoers are not too pleased however at the idea of the church becoming a bar. “what next…a dartboard on the tabernackle?” quipped one worshipper questioned by the Leader.

The Jesuits plan to hold their final mass at the church today (Friday) and are expecting a large attendance.

700 items from the church are expected to go under the hammer when the jesuits put them up for auction at a later date.

Two objections have been submitted to the planning office of Limerick City Council against the proposed new Opera Shopping Centre, due to be located in the city centre.

One of the objections concerned the increased volumes of traffic that the centre would generate, and another expressed concern regarding the fate of some historical buildings.

Construction of the centre is due to begin in the autumn.

From the Limerick Post.

With a title like that many questions could be asked…. including who the F**k is Casper and what the hell has it got to do with Limerick?? Well, - Casper is the name of an experiment that will travel with the space shuttle Discovery to the International Space Station (ISS) where an astronaut will wear a special vest designed to monitor his sleep patterns over a period of 150 days! Two researchers from UL are involved in the experiment.”The quality of sleep, or more particularly the poor quality of it, is a major issue for NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) and one of the big stumbling blocks of long-distance space travel,” said Dr Derek O’Keeffe, a UL lecturer in the Department of Electronics and Computer Engineering and biomedical engineer. According to the UL lecturer, an astronaut in orbit finds it very difficult to get a good night’s sleep.”There is no gravity to keep you in the bed and even worse, your system has to cope with 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets in a 24-hour day. Disturbed sleep isn’t refreshing and leaves flight crews feeling sleep-deprived and less able to concentrate,” he added.
At present, shuttle and space station crews are given sleeping pills but little data is available on how this enforced sleep compares to normal sleep on earth.Dr O’Keeffe and his UL colleague Dr Marc O’Griofa, who was a medical student at UCD when they started the project, hope to greatly improve this situation with their experiment, Cardiac Adapted Sleep Parameter Electrocardiogram Recorder or CASPER.
CASPER will leave with the space Shuttle Discovery on Saturday and spend 150 days in space and return to earth with the Russian spacecraft Soyuz.

The plans to redevelop the former site of John Moloney’s Honda dealers and Chawkes Esso service station (marked on the map in dark blue) has caused uproar amongs local residents.

Planning permission has been submitted to Limerick City council to demolish both the car dealership and filling station, and to build a 4000 square metre development containing five retail units, betting office, restaurant with take-away facilities, office and a three-storey basement car-park with capacity for 460 cars.

The residents, who are living on Edward Street, claim that with people coming and going to the take-away, the area will become attractive for those wishing to partake in anti-social behaviour. They also believe that they will suffer a reduction in natural light as a result of the development.

The residents have also received the support of Defence Minister, Willie O’Dea.

“The location of a take-away and outdoor seating within yards of a residential area is a recipe for anti-social behaviour and 460 car spaces will add hugely to the chaotic situation that is an everyday occourance at Punches Cross. On top of this, will be the continual flow of delivery vehicles at all hours of the day and night to a service yard located directly opposite to residential homes.” the minister told the Limerick Post newspaper.

When the traffic at Punches cross wasn’t so bad

The minister also claimed that the area is already well serviced in the retail area as it is close to Lidl, Greenpark Shopping Centre and the Crescent Shopping centre and doesn’t need the retail units.

Two people are being detained at Garda Stations around the city , one under the provisions of Section 30 of the Offences against the State Act, and the other under the provisions of Section 2 of the Criminal Justice (drug trafficking) act. A number of firearms, including Glock and Beretta semi automatic pistols, stun guns and a a large quantity of ammunition have been recovered. A number of searches took place around the city during the day and a quantity of drugs was also found along with 15,000 euro in cash. Further details will follow in the morning no doubt.

While in catching up mode it seems to have gone under the radar that the Parkway shopping centre has changed hands recently. It was brought to the market some months ago by the owner Clancourt Group with a not so small pricetag of 56 million euros!! The sale price is believed to be in excess of that price and has been bought by the property firm harcourt Developments. Conor Kenny of Clancourt developments commented “We are happy with the price achieved”. The shopping centre is currently bringing in a rental value of approx 2.6 million euro per year. I’m not suprised they are happy with the price that they got for it!!! Maybe its just me but where is all this shopping centre madness and indeed property madness in general going to end?