Limerick is boasting a stylish mode of transport which, you could say with certainty, the passenger will never enjoy. Paddy Hanly, an award-winning horse carriage-driver from Doon, has teamed up with a Nenagh undertaker who wants to revive the 19th-century tradition of horsedrawn funerals, reported the Limerick Leader.
Philip Ryan, the enterprising undertaker, has acquired a 120-year-old hearse, built in Birmingham. "The hearse is top quality and I think the idea will take off in Ireland," he said.
Anyone planning their own funeral can be assured that their remains will be safe with Hanly. He has won many awards, such as the national Baronscourt carriage driving trials in Tyrone earlier this month.
"I would love to drive a team of four horses. My life-long ambition is to drive four in hand," says Hanly, who dons a top hat, apron and gloves when driving the hearse.
"Politicians: get them at bargain basement level!" urged Suzanne Pender in the Nationalist and Leinster Times. "Quicker than you can say `brown paper bag' the pothole is filled, your drain is unblocked and your planning permission approved. None of this working through the `proper channels', oh no, with an obliging `thanks big fella' there are Carlovians out there willing to dig deep, cough up and pay out."
"Cute" Carlovians eager for a bargain have realised that the new blood on the county council can be had for "once off, knock down, prices" if you "hit them when they're fresh, naive and unconsumed by power."
Pender based her half-jesting comments on claims by Ms Mary White that since being elected as a Green Party councillor she has been offered payment for jobs she has accomplished on behalf of her constituents.
Carlow town was "thrown into shock" last week by the realisation that "rape isn't just some dreadful crime which happens elsewhere; it's here, in our town," the Nationalist and Leinster Times said.
In the early hours of Sunday, July 18th, a woman was subjected to a "gruesome rape" as she walked home. Gardai are calling it the "worst case in 10 years".
Speaking to the Nationalist, the young victim urged women to take taxis, no matter how long they had to wait. "There are a lot of strangers in town and no one is safe any more," she said. "It was a serious attack, but I am recovering and coping well. I have given the gardai a good description so that should help to get him."
Her mother added: "The stigma of rape has passed and thankfully people now come forward. It doesn't have to be a secret anymore." But, she added, "It is unthinkable that something like this should happen to my baby."
The Midweek Echo had another terrifying headline: "Syringe hijacker targets women". Two women had their cars hijacked by syringe-wielding youths in separate incidents on the Tallaght bypass at the Cheeverstown junction, stated the newspaper. Both women had a syringe put to their throats and were ordered to drive their cars by youths.
One of the women was accompanied by her eight-year-old son, who was also threatened with a syringe.
In Naas, a woman holding a baby and getting into her car in a supermarket car park was allegedly threatened by a man wielding a knife and demanding money. He fled when the woman handed him £20, said the Leinster Leader.
A violent, unprovoked attack in Naas by three men on a lone man walking home at 3.30 a.m. left the victim with severe facial injuries, stated the Leader. "There was no demand for money and there doesn't appear to have been any motive," a Garda spokesman said.