Articles in the Castleblayney Category

By Cianna McNally A Castleblayney girl line danced her way to her fourth world title last weekend. Rebecca Sweeney competed in the World Dance Masters Championships which took place in Blackpool, UK, and wowed the judges with three different types of dance. The 14-year-old, who hails from Clonavogy, Castleblayney and is daughter of Rosaleen and John Sweeney, beat off stiff competition from other dancers hailing from countries across the world. Rebecca, who began dancing at the age of eight and is a member of the local Memphis Belles dance club, competed for the first time in the ...

A JOINT announcement by two Government Ministers on Monday last of an allocation of €350,000 for the restoration of some seven historic properties, and national monuments, from neighbouring Co. Louth to Co. Cork, has led to some further disappointment among community groups in mid-Monaghan that none of the funding was   earmarked for the restoration of Castleblayney Markethouse and the former courthouse building. Local Fine Gael Dail deputy, Minister for Arts Heritage and the Gaeltacht, Heather Humphreys T.D., was joined by the Minister for State for the Office of Public Works, Simon ...

By PATSY McARDLE GARDAI in the Louth/Meath Division confirmed during the week that investigations are still ongoing along the Border into the snatch of a fuel tanker from an Irish army base more than two years ago— after the vehicle was intercepted along with a consignment of illicit fuel in a swoop near Castleblayney. The tanker was impounded at Aiken Military Barracks at Point Road in Dundalk, on May 26th 2013, after being escorted to the base by gardai and revenue officers following the swoop near the Monaghan/Armagh Armagh border, at Drumacon, ...

By PATSY McARDLE CONCERNS expressed over several weeks about the dilapidated and deteriorating state of entranceway buildings to Lough Muckno, and the Hope Castle Estate in Castleblayney, were eased somewhat this week by the news that an allocation of €40,000 is being provided for badly needed restoration work at Hope Castle gate lodge at Castle Square in Blayney. Local residents in the area, as well as the owners of some business establishments, were very concerned by the hazard posed for some time by the state of the buildings. One guest-house owner had claimed ...

By PATSY McARDLE A LINK-UP between a local community group and a hugely successful family business may pave the way to secure more much needed local jobs in Castleblayney, it emerged this week. There was good news for the mid-Monaghan town yesterday with the exciting announcement that Castleblayney Community Enterprise—the highly committed local community group—has agreed terms on their food plant building at Drumillard Little, with the progressive McCaughey Foods Company, which is based at Broomfield. The unique partnership, which involves the coming together of the business and community sector to sustain and ...

By PATSY McARDLE A CROSS-BORDER community has erected a plaque to honour the famous son of a Co. Monaghan mother, who hailed from a family at Moyles, Castleshane, to become Archbishop of New York and also elected Cardinal. A prestigious Ulster History Circle blue plaque was erected last week at Dundalk Street in Newtownhamilton, to mark the birthplace of Cardinal John Murphy-Farley, who was Archbishop of New York from 1902 to 1918. The unveiling ceremony, which attracted huge cross-border community interest, and a large turnout, was performed by Monsignor Raymond Murray, Armagh. The general ...

The large number of road traffic accidents, including fatalities, that have taken place on the N2 national primary route in Co Monaghan prompted the submission of a question by Sinn Féin’s Noel Keelan to the April meeting of Monaghan Co Council. Referring in particular to accidents that had occurred on the Ardee-Castleblayney stretch of the road, the South Monaghan public representative asked what discussions had taken place with the National Roads Authority (NRA) and the Council’s Roads Section in relation to the possibility of extending the 2+1 design solution or the ...

A discussion at a recent meeting of Monaghan Co Council about the threatened withdrawal of school bus services from a location in South Monaghan because of the poor condition of a local road led to correspondence from Bus Éireann coming before last week’s April meeting of the local authority. The letter, from Fiona Mulpeter, Chief Clerk with Bus Éireann’s School Transport section in Dundalk, said that no school transport service was withdrawn from the South Monaghan route in question. “We received notification from John Lennon, the Municipal District of Carrickmacross-Castleblayney, re repairs ...

AN early morning bid by a cross-border gang to snatch an ATM machine containing several thousand euro at the Ulster Bank premises on Dublin Road, Castleblayney, failed yesterday (Wed) when the raiders were unable to open the safe or convey it away from the area. The raiders had also placed a gas tank and other paraphenelia on the road near the bank, in a bid to thwart gardai from moving to the scene. Irish army bomb disposal experts later dealt with the contraption, making it safe. It ...

BY PATSY McARDLE A HUGE all-Ireland boost for Castleblayney’s annual agricultural show this year was announced during the week with the disclosure that the final of the Irish Shows Association and the Craft Butchers of Ireland “Home Cook Championship 2015” will be staged during the Co. Monaghan event on the August Bank Holiday, Monday 3rd August next. This is a new national competition, which carries a very attractive prize of one week’s cooking course at the world renowned Ballymaloe Cookery School, and also includes accommodation. The ...