RADIO KILKENNY
Evening News: 20th August 2008
A teenage girl, arrested after gardai raided a suspected brothel in Kilkenny city in June, must wait at least a month to learn her fate. The teenager, who is currently in the care of the Health Service Executive, is charged with failing to produce a valid passport or another form of identification. She appeared before a sitting of Carlow District Court yesterday. Judge David Anderson adjourned the criminal matter and remanded the girl on continuing bail in the HSE's care to appear before Kilkenny District Court on September 9.
At least 45 people have been killed and 40 injured after a plane skidded off the runway and crashed at Madrid airport. There are conflicting reports about the number of fatalities with some estimates putting the death toll over 150. The Spanair JK 5022 flight was bound for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands, with 164 passengers and nine crew on board. It is understood the aircraft crashed while attempting an emergency landing shortly after takeoff.
Kilkenny has been named as the host town for Age Action Ireland with a representative in the South East, Philip O’Reilly. The initiative will be launched tomorrow in Kilkenny Castle at 3pm. This is Kikenny’s first year as a host town. Age Action Ireland also ran a national photo competition and Ann Fleck Byrne, the Drakelands Nursing Home owner, has been named the winner, winning a trip to New York. Seamus Walsh of Barrack Street has united with the National Miners group to seek compensation for those whose health suffered working at the Deerpark Mine. The case is at an early stage and the next meeting is being held on September 20th at the Heritage Hotel in Portlaoise.
In International news, Russin soldiers have continued to withdraw from Georgia. The Kremlin has agreed to continue Russian troop withdrawl from the majority of Georgia by Friday. The troops will relocate to Russia and others to Ossetia. Reports say Russian troops and tanks are still deployed in several areas of the country, despite assertions that the withdrawal had begun.
Former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern today denied causing the recession, and urged his successor Brian Cowen and Cabinet colleagues to knuckle down to get the country’s finances back in shape. The Dublin Central TD, who quit office in April, joked that he would have dug the economy out of the downturn sooner if he had been in charge. This comes as almost 500 job losses were announced in two companies in counties Offaly and Cork .
The Boston Scientific is to close its plant in Tullamore with the loss of 240 jobs. While a leading civil engineering firms in Rossmore, Co Cork will close with the loss of 250 jobs.
In farming news:
The IFA is criticising the Government's response to the devastation being caused by the floods in rural Ireland. The farmers' group says the Government seems happy to sit back and watch houses, farmyards and livestock become devastated while blaming it all on climate change. It says the Office of Public Works has done nothing to start a landmark flood management programme for the River Shannon to address the ongoing problems.