The Limerick Blogger - latest Limerick news and Limerick events

This is some CGI of the structure which will replace the recently demolished Grand Central Cinema on Bedford Row.

There will be retail outlets in the basement and ground floor of the structure with offices being located on the first second and third floor.

The nearby Methodist Church is being refurbished, and this is due to be completed in September.

As seen in the image, the facade of the church will be preserved and encased in a glass atrium.

The department of the Environment has coughed up €28m of the €32m which was owed to Uniform Construction by Limerick City Council after they won damages for being sacked as contractors on the Limerick Main Drainage Scheme six years ago.

Were Limerick City Council forced to pay the bill themselves, it would have meant financial ruin for them.

However they argued, successfully it seems, that because they were acting on legal advice from the Environment Department when they decided to sack Uniform, it should be them that should pay it an not the council.

The Council is confident that it can recover the remaining €4m

Uniform construction were sacked from the drainage scheme after they were accused of not performing their obligations with due diligence. The company was prohibited from applying for public contracts while legal procedings went through the courts system.

Irish Examiner story.

Limerick City Council revealed an ambitious €50m plan for the pedestrianisation of O’Connell Street.

But in order for the plan to work, a change in the flow of traffic will be required. This includes the implementation of an orbital route around the city centre.

The City council is hoping to raise the funds for the project through the National Development Plans Gateway City initiative. Limerick is a designated Gateway city.

Councillors will be given a private presentation on the project in under two weeks, and will be opened for public consultation by mid March.

As for the orbital route, it is planned to circle the city in a clockwise direction, from Mallow Street, Henry Street, Arthurs Quay, Charlottes Quay, Clare Street, Cathedral Place, Sexton Street, Parnell Street and back onto Mallow Street.

On RTE One, 1900 hrs tonight.

The programme tonight will feature the 1919 Limerick Soviet. Yes, last May was not the first time Limerick turned red.

Thanks to Cheebah for the headsup

John Costello (26) of Kileely in Limerick City pleaded guilty to unawful posession of amphetamines worth €45,000 in the hopes of getting a light sentence. It failed.

Mr. Costello will be serving 10 years of porridge. He did receive a 12 year sentence, but the last two years was suspended

Costello was in a car on 1 September 2004 when it was stopped by Gardai at Mountrath, County Laois when the three kilograms of drugs were found. The court had previously been told that the drugs were destined for the Limerick and Clare market.

Understandably, the papers were giving much coverage to Sunday’s fatal crash in Askeaton.

While we linked to what the broadsheets had to say earlier, we can now give a brief synopsis of what the tabloids printed on Monday morning.

The evening herald did not give as much coverage to the story as the other papers did. However, the paper did claim that the 18 year old driver of the 1994 Audi car was avoiding a Garda checkpoint when the crash happened on the N69 on Sunday morning.

Daily Mirror front page. Click to enlarge

The daily Mirror described the two men, Michael Liston and Brian Kelleher as valued public servants, who died doing what they did best, serving their local community.

The paper also called for those who took lives while behind the wheel to be punnished.

Front page of Star newspaper Click to enlarge

The Star reports that Garda Kelleher should have been off when he was killed on Sunday. While he was based at Croom station, he was filling in for a Garda based at Askeaton station who was on holidays.

The paper also reports that he is the 40th Garda to die in the line of duty since the force was founded in 1923.

Front page of the Daily Mail. Click to enlarge

The Daily Mail highlights the fact that seven children have been left without their dads as a result of this tragedy.

From Tuesday’s broadsheets:

Politicians to attend funerals of tragic garda and fireman - Irish Independent
Tragic garda risked his life in “fearless” high-speed chase - Irish Examiner