An Oughterard pub is believed to be the first in the State to be closed under new legislation aimed at stopping under-age drinking, according to the Connacht Tribune. The Welcome Inn was closed for seven days following a complaint made by a parent that her children were served alcohol on the premises.
The Connaught Telegraph stated that "fraudsters have succeeded in copying the new National Age Card which was recently hailed by authorities as `tamper-proof'." Bogus cards, some of which were seen by the Connaught Telegraph, are circulating in Mayo, much to the alarm of publicans and the Garda authorities.
The Leinster Leader's headline, "Tearaway Teens' Reign of Terror", concerned a group of residents and traders in the Curragh who are being "held ransom" by teenagers who are "running wild" and "terrorising the entire community".
Mr John Smith, who owns Smith's Bookmakers, told the newspaper that he has been broken into six times in the past couple of years. In the past fortnight alone, one Army building was burned down, there have been 10 burglaries and the Protestant church and a sports premises have been broken into, the newspaper said.
On the petrol price crisis, the Tipperary Star urged the Government to keep "cool heads", to "abandon their obduracy" and to "be prepared to give some ground to help consumers through a difficult period". It stated: "The Minister has been at pains to stress that things will improve later on. If he is so convinced of this, why not make some concession on tax now which can be amended later?"
The Longford Leader accused the Government of a "con job" in claiming there was nothing it could do about the rocketing price of petrol and urged the Minister for Finance, Mr McCreevy, to act. "Governments, including the Irish one, are always telling us that they are powerless to control many of the major economic factors that play a huge role in all our lives. This is blatantly untrue in many cases, but because it has been repeated so often and for so long the public is inclined to accept it without question."
A barrel of crude oil is worth around $100 and the difference is largely made up of taxes, it added. "Over the years Irish governments have unashamedly fleeced petrol-buyers with outrageously high levels of excise duty because they knew there was nothing car owners could do about it . . . Mr McCreevy CAN do something to alleviate the drastic rise in oil prices by temporarily reducing the Government take in excise duty from petrol," commented the Leader.
The Donegal Democrat said house-holders all over Donegal were "panic-buying" home heating oil. One retailer said that he had "not seen such a demand since the outbreak of the Gulf War".
NEW residents of Drogheda have described traffic and parking in the urban centre as "desperate, hellish [and] a nightmare", according to the Drogheda Independent. Asked if shopping is fun in Drogheda, 82 per cent of respondents said "no". Asked if parking facilities were convenient, 67 per cent said "no". The newspaper's conclusion: "A large out-of-town shopping centre with adequate parking facilities is badly needed in Drogheda."
The Leitrim Observer warned that new rules for community employment schemes could have a "devastating effect" on the "very social fabric of Ireland".
Community groups representing rural areas have criticised the new regulations for FAS Community Employment Schemes which rule that each participant can participate in only a maximum of three one-year schemes and each participant must have a one-year break between those schemes.
The Munster Express said the former chairman of Waterford County Council, Fianna Fail councillor Paddy Kenneally, who was reprimanded by the Taoiseach over his infamous "shotgun" outburst against Travellers four years ago, has put himself in the firing line again by claiming that some "itinerants" orchestrated a concerted crime campaign on local communities throughout the summer. "People are being robbed by Travellers who are going about `spotting' before they return some weeks later and hit easy targets like unoccupied houses and old people," Mr Kenneally claimed, adding: "We do not want these people and they should get out of west Waterford."
His comments came in the wake of complaints by a Labour councillor, who believed that areas of Dungarvan and its environs were "destroyed" by Travellers during the summer.