The airline announced that from November 1st, its Shannon-Paris route will be closed while their Shannon-Gatwick route will be cut from 7 to 6 rotations per week

The Shannon-Stansted service is expected be cut from 13 to 11 rotations per week.

The move is in protest at Shannon Airport’s planned adjustment of its aeronautical charges by €1.58 per passenger. Ryanair had earlier described the increase as inexplicable and unjustified.

“The “triple whammy” of Shannon’s high costs, their refusal to extend Ryanair’s 5 year base deal, and the imposition of the Govt’s €10 tourist tax has devastated traffic, tourism and jobs at Shannon Airport and the Mid West region,” Ryanair said.

Shannon airport had said the adjustment would see a €1.58 increase per passenger, the first increase, it says, in prices at Shannon since 2004.

“This is a small, but necessary, increase in overall charges that reflects the fact that Shannon is loss-making and needs to improve its viability,” an airport spokesperson said in August.

The passenger charge at Shannon will now move to €6.32 bringing it in line with prices at other regional airports such as Cork and Knock.

Ryanair CEO Michael O’Leary says Shannon Airport’s traffic in 2010 is on target to fall by 37% from 2.7 million passengers to 1.7 million.

“Already this winter Aer Lingus has announced the closure of the transatlantic routes for three months from January 2011.The Government’s €10 tourist tax has also made Shannon Airport totally uncompetitive as a gateway to the West of Ireland,” O’Leary said.

“It is clear that the Irish Government and the DAA monopoly, are determined to destroy Irish air traffic, Irish tourism and Irish jobs.”

He again called on the Government to rescind the controversial €10 tourist tax.

Following Wednesday’s announcement, the Mayor of Clare Christy Curtin called on the Shannon Airport Authority Chairperson Brian O’Connell to outline to Elected Members what plans the Shannon Airport Authority has for replacing the business lost as a result of the news.

“DAA must support the SAA in replacing the business lost as a result of Ryanair’s decision to curtail services,” he said.

Fine Gael’s Deputy Spokesperson on Foreign Affairs said the news has cast a dark cloud over the airport and this region.

“Axing the Paris route is a particularly hard hit as it leaves the Mid-West with no direct connectivity to Continental Europe,” Pat Breen said.

He says the big challenge now for the Airport Authority is to secure alternative carriers to service the lost routes.

Limerick TD Jan O’Sullivan described the news as a “major set back for the beleaguered airport and for the region.”

“While there are many reasons behind the Ryanair decision, the €10 air travel tax is most certainly a major factor, and I believe that it should now be scrapped,” she said.

“We now have the crazy situation where local people are travelling to Kerry Airport to fly to destinations that are no longer available at Shannon, ” Tadhg Kearne of the Limerick Chamber said.

“We now urgently need the Board of the DAA and the SAA to give us their concrete plans for the future development of the airport in particular how they plan to replace the 29 routes that have been lost.”

Wednesdays announcement was made at a press conference at the Clarion Hotel. In March 2009, the airline cut its routes out of Shannon from 30 to 25.

Gardai detained five men and three women, who range in ages from teens to early forties, as part of a search and arrest operation across the city.

24 year old Slattery, who was from the Ballynanty area of the north side, was found on May 31st, shot to death in a shallow grave behind Moyross, just days after he was reported missing by his family.

Tuesday morning’s operation was carried out by local Gardai supported by the Southern Regional Support Unit and the National Bureau of Criminal Investigation.

Five of the detained are being held under Section 50 of the Criminal Justice Act while three are being held under Section 30 of the offences against the state act.

In June two men and three women were detained on suspicion of withholding information from detectives investigating the murder.

Local business and political reaction continues to come in following the publication of the Brosnan Report Thursday.

The Limerick Chamber called Friday for recommendations in the report, which include the merging of Limerick City and County Councils along with a city boundary extension, to be implemented “as soon as possible.”

The boundary extension would mean approximately five square kilometres in Clare, including a population of 3,000 in the Shannon Banks and Westbury housing estates, would now be apart of Limerick City.

President of the Limerick Chamber Kieran Mac Sweeny said the chamber’s number one priority was that any changes to the local government structure would deliver a City of sufficient scale that will allow it to reach its full potential.

“Limerick city has the highest commercial rates in the state and one of the highest rates of unemployment. We need lower rates to protect existing businesses and to attract investment and jobs to our city,” Mac Sweeny said.

Fianna Fail Clare TD Timmy Dooley lashed out at the report and said at a minimum the people of East Clare should have the chance to vote on any change of boundary affecting them before the plans are adopted.

“I’m very disappointed with the recommendations put forward in the committee’s report. I see no reason why any Limerick local authority should be encroaching on the people of Clare,” Dooley said in a statement Friday.

He says Limerick City Council did not listen to their party colleagues in Clare, who had made it very clear that an encroachment of the boundaries of Limerick City into Clare would be “unacceptable.”

“This is a very emotive issue locally so I hope that we will be able to prevent the encroachment from happening,” Dooley concluded.

Shannon Development has also called for the recommendations to be implemented. The orginisation had backed a boundary extension and a unification of the two councils.

Dr. Vincent Cunnane, Chief Executive of Shannon Development said it is now critical that the recommendations of the report be acted on “as quickly as possible.”

“Shannon Development strongly believes that the long term economic development prospects of the Shannon Region are best served by having Limerick City as a strong, vibrant metropolitan core fulfilling its potential as the economic driving force of the Region over the next twenty to thirty years. We view the recommendations in this report as an important step in achieving that.”

Tony Brosnan, Chairman of the reports committee, says he expects the Government to act quickly in relation to the findings and recommendations contained within the report.

A series of recommendations on reforming local Government structures in Limerick and Clare have been made in a report published Thursday by the Limerick Local Government Committee.

According to the report, Limerick City will get a boundary extension and will become the third largest city in the State. Limerick County and City Council will also unify.

An expanded City
The report recommends that contiguous urban areas of Limerick within an expanded city area will be incorporated; bringing the city population to almost 100,000.

These many areas include Ballycummin, Dooraodyle, Castlemungret and Gouldavoher on the south side of the city and, crucially, include the housing estates of Shannon Banks and Westbury on the northside of the city. Castletroy is also incorporated into the city.

The new Limerick boundary will also include much of the townland of Garraun, parts of which are being progressively developed by the University of Limerick and also included is a narrow corridor of land between Shannon Banks and Garraun.

City and County councils to merge
The report calls for the creation of a new unified Limerick local authority to represent, manage and administer the City and County of Limerick, replacing Limerick City Council and Limerick County Council. The new authority would service a population of approximately 187,000 people.

The new authority will be known as ‘Limerick City and County Council’.

It is foreseen that savings, estimated at €20 million per annum, would be realised from efficiencies gained through the merging of the staffing and administrative structures of Limerick City and County Councils.

“Greater local government coherence in Limerick is necessary for many reasons, including to help support regional development, improve the business environment and to play its role in the major regeneration efforts currently underway,” Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government John Gormley said following the publication of the report.

“I will be discussing the detail of the recommendations with my Government colleagues. I thank the Committee’s members for their agreement to take on the role and their diligence in performing the task,” concluded the Minister.

The report also recommends that the Mayor of the new Limerick authority should be elected for the full five year term of the Council, as opposed to the current system of annual rotation. The moyor would be elected from among, and by, the 46 members of the new authority.

The report says the implementation should be completed by 2014 elections.

Reaction
Limerick County Council welcomed the publication of the report.

“The most important issue at the centre of this debate has been the betterment of the people of Limerick City and County, which has been at the forefront of Limerick County Council’s approach,” their statement read.

“Limerick County Council never viewed this matter as “City versus County” as both are interdependent from an economic, social, cultural and sporting perspective,” it added.

Clare Council would only acknowledge they had received the report but would not give further comment, only to say that a specially convened meeting of the Council will take place in Ennis next week to discuss matters raised in the report.

:: Read the Full Report Here (PDF File, External Link)

The move comes after it was revealed the company that previously controlled ‘The Limerick Independent’ newspaper, Limerick Independent Newspapers Ltd, allegedly owes nearly €1 million to its creditors.

A newer company, Lenmoy Media Publications, is now the controller of the ‘Limerick People’ paper, described in it’s inaugural edition as an “exciting colourful new free weekly newspaper for the people of Limerick.”

“We have endured constant attempts to sabotage our business by opposition newspapers, and we have decided to fight on,” the comment on the front page explained.

“We are a limerick business employing up to 30 employees, with real mortgages, real families and other real commitments at home.”

Journalists and staff at the paper have returned to their original workspace at Lower Shannon Street, where they began four years ago.

The paper acknowledges it has been through and still experiencing ‘tough times’, but say they will fight on. “We want to promote Limerick, not drag it down.”

Missing man located

The Abbeyfeale and District Search and Rescue team have been praised for their work in locating a missing man over the weekend.

57 year old Thomas O’Sullivan, who has an address in London, was visiting relatives in Limerick when he went missing earlier this month. He was last seen in Tralee town on Saturday 14th August 2010.

Following extensive searching, the man was located in a disorientated state at Ballyseedy Wood, near Tralee.

Preparations underway for Women’s Mini Maraton

Organisers of the 2010 Limerick Women’s Mini-Marathon have urged participants to ensure they are prepared for the annual event by taking part in Meet and Train sessions across Limerick over the coming weeks.

The specially convened sessions are aimed at encouraging people to get fit and prepare for the mini-marathon, which takes place around the University of Limerick campus on Sunday October 3rd.

In 2009, the 7-kilometre event attracted approximately 4,000 competitors from all over Ireland.

See www.limerickminimarathon.com for more information.

YouTube Channel to showcase alternative Limerick music scene

The Limerick Post brings our attention to a new YouTube channel dedicated to the alternative music scene of the city and mid west region.

‘Flip It TV’ is a new internet TV channel dedicated to showing Limericks music and alternative scene to a wider audience.

The channel hosts interviews with Limerick bands including Fox Jaw Bounty Hunters, Last Days of Death country and of course, the Rubberbandits.

City Councillor urges bus lane compromise

Councillor Maurice Quinlivan has appealed to all city councillors to support a compromise that will allow construction of Phase 1 of the controversial south bus corridor to begin whilst the Phase 2 section can be further debated at a later stage.

“As the existing bus lane from Raheen already built in the county area runs as far as Ballinacurra creek it is obvious that the next phase will have to include at least the Ballinacurra Road section of the proposed green route.”

“Construction on this section should begin as soon as possible and I would urge all councillors to support this. Local TDs should also show leadership on this issue and urge their party councillors to support Phase 1 of the Green Route through Ballinacurra Road.”

He says it would be very remiss of civic leaders if they fail to show real leadership in tackling the issue of arresting the terrible decline of the city centre.

The supermarket, which served as the Moyross estates only supermarket, will officially re-open as a Eurospar on September 3rd with Mayor of Limerick, Maria Byrne set to cut the ribbon.

Eurospar owner Maurice Smith officially confirmed that all jobs will be retained at the premises saying plans are “well underway” for the refurbished Eurospar to open this September 3rd.

“Plans are well underway for our new refurbished Eurospar to open on September 3rd and we have created ten extra jobs already as part of that process,” Smith said.

“We are committed to investing in the local community and committed to growing our business so we are hopeful that we can take on more staff in the near future and there is the potential to double the amount of jobs already created.”

The Community Development Network in Moyross also welcomed the announcement of investment into the northside community, adding they were particularly pleased the local jobs are being maintained.

Then store will have extended opening hours seven days a week from 8am-10pm.

According to a report published Monday inspections have has shown a fall in the number of towns across the country deemed ‘litter free’.

Limerick came in near the bottom of the table, just above Midleton, Naas, Portlaoise and Tallaght. The report describes Limerick, which has dropped one place lower on last year’s table, as ‘littered’.

Just four places below, Tallaght was described as “showing signs of overall neglect, a big challenge that must be surmounted”.

The report says Limerick was again the most littered city, but improved on its rating from ‘litter blackspot’, given in 2009.

Wexford ranked number one, highlighted for it’s “consistently high standards of maintenance of the environment.”

“To keep on the right side of the law, as well as to show corporate citizenship and community spirit, businesses should look to clean up outside their premises, including their car parks, twice daily,” Dr Tom Cavanagh, Chairman of IBAL said Monday.

”This would have an enormous impact on our streetscapes in one fell swoop and reduce local authority cleaning costs.”

As part of the IBAL Anti-Litter League, An Taisce monitors all towns of population 6,000 and over independently in accordance with international grading standards.

According to reports the bank has appointed a receiver to the student village in a bid to get back nearly 15 million euro that it had put into the development.

“BoSI has appointed Brian McEnery, a senior partner with Limerick accountancy firm Horwarth Bastow Charleton, as receiver over the property, which is controlled by Clare developer Peter Stritch.

An open day for prospective students will go ahead as planned next weekend.”
Via SBP.

It’s expected the village, which can accommodate hundreds of U.L students, will continue to operate while in receivership.

The U.L students union had stated Friday the village would operate as normal saying there would be “no effect on bookings for the coming year”.

Bank of Scotland Ireland announced last week it had decided to exit the Irish market and will no longer offer banking activities in Ireland from the end of December this year.

Members of the public are invited to support the swim which takes place at 7pm and will be officially launched by Mayor of Limerick, Maria Byrne.

Top swimmers from around the country, including members of the Limerick Masters Swimming Club and Swim Ireland Masters swimmers from Dublin, Cork and Galway will compete in challenge.

Two swimmers from the Aran Swim Challenge will also be taking part as well as swimmers from the UL High Performance Team.

The 1.7km swim will start at St Michael’s Boat Club slipway, head up to the Curragower Falls to Thomond Bridge and return to finish at Howley’s Quay.

The money raised from the swim will be donated to Limerick Marine Search and Rescue, who will be keeping a watchful eye on the swimmers during the near 30 minute swim.

“It is one of our great annual sporting spectacles and the sporting rivalry between the swimmers is immense,” Thomond Swim PRO John Garrett said this week.

“Even describing the route engenders a sense of pride in the proud history of this great place. This will not be lost on the swimmers who will be representing the city with the Treaty Stone emblazoned on their swim caps. We would love if the people of the city would come out and support what is truly a unique Limerick event.”

Best viewing points for the public are on Sarsfield Bridge and along the re-furbished Riverside Boardwalks on Clancy’s Strand and O’Callaghan’s Strand.

Prizes for the first home male and female swimmer and for the fastest male and female swimmer will be awarded following the event.