While gardai have spent the bank-holiday weekend urging motorists to slow down, the Corkman brings us a front-page story on how to avoid the checkpoints.
Under the headline, "Surfers can now log on computers and check speed traps in County Cork" journalist Senan Hogan reports on a new website giving details of Garda speed traps in the county.
"The purpose of the site is to inform motorists as to what types of equipment and tactics the gardai employ on the roads of Ireland in trying to trap speedsters," a "site spokesman" told the paper. The site also gives details on the latest gadgets and gizmos the Garda may be using to hinder these speed lovers. While the "spokesman" insists the site is not intended to encourage or condone speeding or dangerous driving, a Garda source told the paper he felt the site "defeated the purpose of mounting speed detection checkpoints in the first place . . . We're not out to issue speeding tickets at every opportunity," he said. "We're in the business of reducing death and injury on the roads."
In the interest of freedom of information (to speed?), the Corkman gives the site address.
Many of the papers have news of a scheme which is likely to put the squabbles for European structural funds in the ha'penny place.
The Government's new Town Renewal Scheme will see towns with a population of between 500 and 6,000 granted cash injections for initiatives aimed at promoting residential and commercial investment. Most papers give it a full and hearty welcome - but there's a catch. Only a certain number of towns in each county will be allowed to avail of the scheme.
So, while the Leinster Leader calls it a "cash lifeline", the Derry People & Donegal News trumpets a "second chance at urban renewal status" and the Guardian says it "augurs well for Nenagh", the Donegal Democrat discerns a "powerful sting in the tail".
As it points out, although Co Donegal has 19 eligible towns it can only put forward five towns for consideration.
"The issue could . . . prove to be the first real test for the new members of the county council as one can be sure there is going to be intense lobbying to be one of the successful five applicants," reports the paper.
It's a picture repeated throughout the State, with the Clare Champion reporting that its county will be able to put just five of its 11 eligible towns forward; the Western People, saying that Mayo has 12 eligible towns for five available places and the Offaly Express reporting that the three places on offer to the county would be sought by six towns.
However, not all the papers were jumping in to welcome the scheme. A report in the Kerryman warns "it would be doubtful what benefit it would have for towns like Kenmare or Dingle".
Auctioneer Mr Gary Giles in Tralee says the scheme will serve only to push property prices in the tourist towns even higher.
At the other end of the State, serviced sites remain a source of contention.
The Donegal Democrat has been reporting for weeks on an ongoing dispute between Donegal County Council and a group of Travellers living in Ballyshannon, who have been living in the Market Yard area of the town.
Last week saw the council seeking an injunction to remove a number of them. We hear this week that Bundoran and Buncrana Urban Councils have also been moving against Travellers parked in car parks in their jurisdictions - a development one local solicitor described as a "form of ethnic cleansing".
One of the Ballyshannon Travellers asked why they could not be provided with a site.
The Democrat tells us that Donegal is the only county in the State which has no halting site facilities for Travellers.
Meanwhile, the Wexford People brings us a news feature on one way farmers are moving to make their farms more self-sufficient. Adamstown farmer Mr Patrick Berridge sees more in a pile of dung than many might. In it he sees power.
"Correctly treated, the dung provides him with a solid compost, a liquid manure and a gas fuel capable of eliminating his electricity bill," writes David Medcalf.
At the moment his scheme uses just cow dung, but ideally he would use "pig muck".
"Apparently porkers reserve all their goodness for the lavatory . . . while cattle have a habit of letting off the precious methane at the front end," we read. Farmer Berridge explains: "Cows don't fart at all, they belch it out. Pigs on the other hand neither belch nor fart".
And that, dear readers, is why pig slurry is much more "energetic" than cows'.
