The Tipperary Star told the extraordinary story of a 31-year-old Irish woman who returned from her home in the US to visit her family in Thurles, only to give birth to twins and then end up in critical condition in St Vincent's Hospital, Dublin, after a life-saving liver transplant on Christmas morning.
Ms Mairead Keogh, who lives and works in Connecticut, had been treated for toxemia and high blood pressure in the US, but was given the all-clear to travel to Ireland by her doctors. She had to be hospitalised twice in Kilkenny, then on December 19th she gave birth to twins - Declan and Eimear - at the Coombe Hospital, Dublin. She was transferred to St Vincent's, where a new liver arrived from England on Christmas Eve.
The operation, which was performed on Christmas morning, became necessary after Mairead developed a fatty liver, a condition which affects one in 6,000 pregnant women. In most cases, the liver recovers but in a very small number it can lead to liver failure.
Mairead's husband, Patrick, told the Tipperary Star that medical personnel were confident that she would make a full recovery. He described his wife as "very strong" and said she had the added impetus of her baby daughter and son as a boost to aid her recovery.
One of the largest property owners in counties Clare, Tipperary, Offaly and Limerick, the diocese of Killaloe, has admitted that it has no idea how much property it currently owns. According to the Clare Champion, the diocese established a trust in 1957 which is registered with the Companies Registration Office. The trust has never filed any accounts, taking advantage of an exemption whereby companies set up by religious orders prior to 1972 do not have to file annual returns.
"Currently we are in the process of finding out how much the diocese does actually own," said a spokesman for the diocese. In 1998, all 58 parishes were asked to compile an inventory of church property within their parishes, but a number of parishes have yet to provide the relevant details.
Thus, when the diocesan accounts were published last month, no figures were provided under the heading "fixed assets".
The publication of the accounts coincides with the parish of Sixmilebridge seeking to take advantage of the current property boom, applying for planning permission for a £5 million housing development on lands behind the parochial house in the village.
The Garda in Co Kerry is investigating claims that a millennium rave part took place in a marquee in the Knocknagoshel area on New Year's Eve without the knowledge of the tenants of the property, reported Kerry's Eye. The marquee was erected while the occupants of the house were away on holidays and without their consent. More than 150 teenagers attended the party, which was raided by gardai shortly before midnight. When the houseowners returned home, "to their utter amazement they found a marquee erected in the front garden and the door of the house kicked in," reported the newspaper.
In Trim, Co Meath, a "heartless" thief stole a young family's car packed with clothing and Christmas presents as the family of four prepared to leave their grandparents' house on the evening of Christmas Day. Mr Colm Doyle had loaded the family car at 6.30 p.m. and went inside with his wife and children to put on their coats. Seconds later, they heard the car reversing outside.
"I haven't been able to do anything but cry since," Colm's wife, Gwen, told the Meath Chronicle. "What do you tell a three-year-old who asks `where's Daddy's car gone?' "
Kerry County Council is to hire private investigators as part of a major crackdown on what it suspects is a growing trend of "bogus" compensation claims, stated the Kerryman. This follows a 28 per cent increase in claims against the local authority in 1999, representing a rise to 370 claims in 1999 from 290 in 1998. Claims cost the council an estimated £400,000 in costs and legal fees in 1999, reported the newspaper.
Co Kerry has welcomed home a world champion, Maria Daly (14) who has become the world under-15 handball champion in a "nail-biting" final in San Francisco. "I was very nervous by the time I got to the final but I had no special way of getting over it. I mostly just kept playing," Maria told the Kerryman.
The Kilkenny People told of a man and his son-in-law who died within an hour of each other. Mr Tom Whelan, who was a hurler and local hero, collapsed in a pub and died in his mother-in-law's house. Within an hour, the death occurred in hospital of his father-in-law, Mr Tom Dunne, a retired postman and renowned angler and seanchai who had been suffering a long illness. Mr Dunne's body was the last to be buried in Calvary cemetery in Graiguenamanagh in the old millennium. Mr Whelan's body was the first body to be buried in the same cemetery in the new millennium.