Articles in the This Week’s Newspaper Category

By Michael McDonnell michael@northern-standard.ie The Peace III-sponsored open air “Gig Rig” at the Egg Market just off Cavan’s James Connolly Street (at the southern end of the town’s Main Street) was one of the many innovations introduced to the All-Ireland Fleadh in Cavan last year, when it proved a hugely popular attraction with the crowds for five days on the trot, culminating with a mighty show by the Sharon Shannon band. Fleadh 2011 will again see a huge line-up of performers provide a wonderful and varied programme of free, all-day entertainment at ...

Some great acoustic blues acts will be entertaining the discerning crowds at the Acoustic Stage, Market House, Monaghan over the weekend of the Harvest Time Festival on Friday 2nd, Saturday 3rd and Sunday 4th September. The artists will be appearing in varying orders in slots from 7pm–10pm on the Friday and from 2–5pm and 7pm–9pm on the Saturday and Sunday (see www.harvestblues.com/Acoustic-Stage for full details). Ticket prices for the Market House Acoustic Stage are €12 Friday night and €15 for Saturday and Sunday. The performers will finish up ...

The story of the blues and the history of its people unfolds in the line-up at this year’s Harvest Time Rhythm & Blues festival in Monaghan. Boo Boo Davis from Drew, Mississippi in the heart of the Delta, one of few remaining blues musicians who sang the blues based in cotton fields in the Mississippi Delta, was one of the sharecroppers who sang loudly to help pass the gruelling hours of work. Boo Boo, who is one of the main acts performing at the Marquee in Monaghan this year, ...

The Monaghan General Hospital Community Alliance have reiterated their concerns over the adequacy of the provision available in the county to deal with medical and maternity emergencies. A statement on the Alliance’s website – saveourhospitalcom – entitled “What Next?” refers to recent fatal traffic accidents in the county and the latest roadside birth when a Scotstown mother went into labour on her way to Cavan General Hospital. The Alliance met last night with Fine Gael TDs and local authority representatives from the county to discuss the plans to ...

UNLIMITED There have been many milestones along the way for the multi-purpose, multi-million education campus project being developed by Co Monaghan Vocational Education Committee but that of Monday last, when the contract for the building of the development was signed, was undoubtedly the most significant. All the formidable bureaucratic and funding hurdles that the VEC have been faced with since the project was announced by former Taoiseach Brian Cowen in November 2009 have now been effectively surmounted. The transition from aspiration to actuality becomes copperfastened next month when contractors ...

By PATSY McARDLE THE formal signing of a contract on Monday afternoon by Co. Monaghan Vocational Education Committee with John Sisk and Sons, to mark the go-ahead with the building of the new €37 million education complex at the twenty-acre site of the former army base along the Armagh Road outside Monaghan town is seen as a milestone for education and art in the region. With the inclusion of a new €3.3 million state-of-the-art theatre, replacing the existing Garage Theatre, the development will be the largest school building project to ...

Monaghan Co Council at a special meeting on Tuesday morning voted by 18-0 in favour of a proposal by Co Mayor Seamus Coyle, seconded by Pádraig McNally, to sanction a financial contribution of €800,000 to the new Garage Theatre planned as part of the forthcoming Monaghan Education Campus development being undertaken by Co Monaghan Vocational Education Committee at Knockaconny. The decision means that a €200,000 contribution to the theatre this year will be followed by a €400,000 contribution in 2012 and a final €200,000 payment in 2013. On Brian ...

Disappointment was the dominant note of the debriefing delivered to Monday night’s meeting of Monaghan Town Council on last week’s delegation to Minister for Health Dr James Reilly to discuss Monaghan General Hospital. Fianna Fáil councillor Robbie Gallagher said he had his hopes of a policy change on the Hospital issue dashed at the meeting, and declared that the hospital’s future appeared as bleak as ever, while Sean Conlon of Sinn Féin criticised the Minister’s grasp of the concerns surrounding the facility and said that Fine Gael was still ...

The British Government does not intend to release any further files on the 1974 bombings in Dublin and Monaghan, the Dáil was told on Tuesday. Taoiseach Enda Kenny said that the information provided by the British Government on the bombings thus far was all the relevant information they intended to supply. The Justice for the Forgotten campaign group had used the occasion of the recent visit by Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland to make a renewed call for information on the loyalist attacks of May 17 1974 in ...

Elaine ‘Shooter’ Alexander who has taken up the challenge to become the first woman from Ireland to circumnavigate the island by kayak, left Cranfield Point yesterday morning after being storm bound for two full days. Now one week since her departure from Whitehead Yacht Club on the County Antrim Coast, the small lass from Monaghan has had a tough time of it, paddling through head-on winds of up to 30 miles per hour. However in the first five days she made some fantastic progress, covering 150 miles despite ...