Unlicensed money lenders were wreaking havoc among the poor in Waterford. They charge interest rates in excess of 100 per cent, stated the Waterford News & Star.
"Preying on the emotions and hardships of their victims, the `gold diggers' are using ordinary householders - in large local authority housing estates - to point out their friends and neighbours in dire need of ready cash to buy clothes and presents for Christmas," it stated.
A lone mother told the newspaper that if she were discovered to have complained, her safety and that of her children would be threatened.
The Tullamore Tribune said "bully boy" private landlords were using "Milosevic tactics" to keep tenants "living in fear". Cllr Joe Feery told Tullamore UDC that "many tenants were living in deplorable conditions which they couldn't remedy as they had very little rights".
Gardai needed to be informed of the tactics of certain landlords. "We have to make sure that tenants' doors are not kicked in," Mr Feery claimed.
The drugs problem was "out of hand" in Birr, said the Midland Tribune, and "out of control" in Gorey, according to the Gorey Guardian.
In Birr, Cllr Seamus Fanneran said: "There were people living in local authority houses who were known to be drug peddlers" and that "the council's tenancy agreement should be amended for anyone looking for a local authority house".
The county manager replied that it could be difficult to get the necessary evidence to bring the perpetrators to justice but the council was going to deal with things in a better fashion in the not-too-distant future.
The debate moved on to "awful, shocking vandalism" at the school and to alcohol abuse by children. Cllr Jim McNamara said children were drinking from the age of 10.
The Gorey Guardian, meanwhile, quoted Gorey Garda Supt Pat Flynn as stating that "the use of illegal drugs in Courtown is currently out of all control and is a cause for grave concern".
Speaking during a sitting of Gorey District Court, Supt Flynn said he would be failing in his duty if he did not bring to the notice of the court the extreme seriousness of the drugs situation. "Not a day goes by in court here without five or six young people being here for taking or using drugs."
The Munster Express predicted a "silent night" in Waterford city on New Year's Eve because only four pubs and four hotels would be open.
The Connaught Telegraph was also downbeat, reporting that Ballina was considering cancelling its civic New Year's Eve celebration after receiving just £1,000 in grant aid from the Millennium Committee. Ballina had planned a ceremony, costing £8,000, involving specially commissioned music and poetry.
However, Ballyhaunis is on a roll. According to the Western People, a gold sovereign deposited in the old National Bank Ballyhaunis in May 1953, with the instruction that it was to be held "until a spire on the Parish Church be satisfactorily completed", has been handed over to Ballyhaunis parish priest.
The coin, now worth £75, was placed in a safety deposit box in the bank by local resident Michael F. Waldron, who died in 1954 after first becoming involved in fundraising for a spire in 1950. The Millennium Spire Committee is celebrating as the finishing touches to the spire are completed in preparation for a New Year's Eve Mass.
Feuding neighbours in the north Co Westmeath village of Raharney have been urged by a District Court judge to desist from the practice of their faith, said the Westmeath Examiner. "The unorthodox advice" was issued by Judge John F. Neilan, who told the neighbours that it would be "hypocritical to continue practising when you cannot live in harmony beside one another".
Co Mayo is suffering from a "brain-drain" to Dublin, claimed the Mayo News. The County Mayo Graduate Skills Audit found that Co Mayo has 21 per cent more third-level students than the national average, while simultaneously suffering the lowest levels of qualified third-level residents working in the county.
Still licking its wounds over the loss of the premiere of Angela's Ashes to Dublin, the Limerick Leader boasted that Maureen O'Hara was to celebrate her 80th birthday in Foynes and Adare in August with "the biggest party of all time". Dozens of "golden oldies" and "current stars" would join her.
"Limerick has lost out on Angela . . . but it has got Maureen," said the newspaper.