With the foot-and-mouth crisis and the continuing ASTI problem and its associated demonstrations by students dominating the headlines, the regional papers keep up to date with all the issues but also deal with more parochial matters.
Among these matters which exercise the minds of the newspaper editors is the vexed question of incinerators and waste disposal.
The Westmeath Examiner gives front-page treatment to a report which reads: "There is an agenda to build five incinerators," according to the Labour TD, Willie Penrose. He joins Paul McGrath, a Fine Gael TD, in condemning "anti-democratic" new legislation which would bypass local representatives "and allow five county managers involved with the Midland Regional Waste Management Plan and potentially force an incinerator in Westmeath".
The Westmeath Independent quotes the Minister for the Environment and Local Government, Noel Dempsey, as saying: "These proposals are not an attack on democracy and are not intended to affect those authorities that have already addressed their legal responsibilities."
The Tullamore Tribune headlines "Incinerator Company Considers Ferbane." The report by Tadgh Carey says: "A major consortium is considering Ferbane electricity station as a possible site for a regional waste incinerator."
The Waterford News and Star comments editorially on a related matter. It refers to the proposed charge on plastic bags envisaged in the new waste management legislation. The paper comments: "While the hackles of locally elected representatives have been raised, there is one element of the plan which must be wholeheartedly applauded. That is the proposed charge of 15p which will be imposed on plastic shopping bags from January 1st next year."
The Leitrim Observer takes a positive line on this and celebrates the availability of "re-usable, environmentally friendly, fold up shopping bag with more uses than the amount of items it can hold". The bags are sold to support the Irish Dogs for the Blind charity and are available from Bridie Giblin at 094-54470. The Observer says: "Ask your retailer for a supply."
The Wicklow People tells us: "The Wicklow Travellers' Group is to benefit by £15,000 from the People In Need Trust. The cash has been allocated from the £6 million collected during Telethon 2000. It will be spent on the resource and education centre which was opened last year."
The Independent reports: "Wildlife in the area surrounding the new motorway north of Dunleer is being mowed down by traffic and could face extinction. Large numbers of dead animals on the roadside have been reported by members of the public since it opened, a spokesman [for the Louth Green Party], Michael McKeon, has said."
The Kilkenny People reports under John Knox's by-line, on the front page, that the Kilkenny delegation at the forthcoming GAA annual congress will support a move to make Croke Park available "to other sporting bodies". Speaking in support of the move Seamus Reid from the Dunnamaggin club, said: "We in the GAA have to move on."
The motion was passed by a "strong show of hands. There was a sizeable vote registered against" .
The Western People gives lead position to the decision in the libel action by Beverley Cooper-Flynn. Christy Loftus reports: "Political pressure is likely to increase on the Government as the fallout continues to mount." He continues: "Opposition deputies can be expected to mount an assault on the Government" as a result of the judgment in the case.
In its editorial the Western People comments on violence on television and points out: "The survey, by a Johns Hopkins University psychiatrist, Dr Susan Villani [finds that TV] is more violent and more graphic and more sexual. Children are being exposed to more graphic content at younger and younger ages."
THE paper also reports: "A Bus Eireann express with more than 40 passengers on board and on its was from Ballina to Dublin veered off the road near Frenchpark and crashed into a wall and a tree." The matter came before Ballaghadereen court where "the chief mechanical engineer with Bus Eireann, Joe Neiland, was prosecuted".
Judge Mary Fahy "after hearing the State case [against the defendant] accepted submissions that Bus Eireann and not the chief mechanical engineer should have been prosecuted. The judge commented that the State's case lacked credibility" and the case was dismissed.
The Roscommon Champion also gives extensive coverage to the court case.
A man from Laytown has been fined £50 by Meath County Council for putting his domestic rubbish in a public bin. The Weekender, which describes itself as "Meath's No 1 Family Newspaper" says that Rory Conway cleans up rubbish on his local beach and puts it the bin. He also included some envelopes with his name and address as a result of which he was identified. "I'm amazed that I was fined for putting rubbish in a bin. I can't understand it," he said.