DOWNPATRICK – The former Training and Employment Agency’s temporary base at Mount Crescent in Downpatrick is to be demolished, senior Department of Environment chiefs have confirmed.
The Portacabin building, which is located beside Downpatrick Primary School, has been lying vacant for a number of months after staff moved to new accommodation at Rathkeltair House in Lower Market Street.
Over recent weeks, the Portacabin has been targeted by vandals and a number of windows were smashed and fixtures and fittings ripped from interior and exterior walls.
A scorched gas bottle lies at the front door and it is understood that an attempt may have been made to set the building alight.
The interior of the building has been completely stripped and doors and furniture removed, despite a number of repairs being made to perimeter fencing.
And there are unconfirmed reports that the stolen doors and furniture were used to build a bonfire on the Eleventh Night, close to the ravaged building.
CASTLEWELLAN – Four police officers targeted by IRA bombers on Sunday morning outside Castlewellan cheated death by a fraction of a second.
Security sources have confirmed that if the armour-plated Sierra patrol car had been travelling just a few miles an hour slower, the officers would almost certainly have been killed.
It’s understood the bombers lay in wait at a point overlooking the main Castlewellan to Newcastle road waiting for the car to make its way to Newcastle.
And seconds before 7am as the vehicle came into view on the outskirts of the town, they detonated the 500lb bomb they had hidden behind a wall at the Drumee Road junction.
As the patrol car drew level with the junction, the terrorists triggered the bomb using a command wire and the explosion demolished the wall, sending debris crashing through the air.
The terrorists are also thought to have been covered by flying debris before making their getaway on a motorcycle.
The police vehicle was badly damaged by the force of the blast, but it’s believed the height of the wall may have deflected the full force of the 500lb device up and over the car.
NEWCASTLE – The musicians of the Newcastle branch of Cohaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann – a group renowned for its consistent excellence in nurturing young traditional music talent – have notched up a historic first in All-Ireland competition.
The local branch’s Grupai Cheoil came second as Co Down’s representatives in the Ulster Fleadh Ceoil at Armagh on Sunday and now go on to pit their talents against the country’s best in the All-Ireland Fleadh in Clonmel.
The 16 musicians, aged between 15 and 18, who make up the group, played a selection of tunes ranging from a jig and reel to a hornpipe and a slow air on a variety of instruments that included fiddle, flute, accordion and bodhran.
The members of the group are: Sharon and Siobhan McCawley, Deirdre Trainor, Mairead McCann, Barbara O’Neill, Bronagh Sawey, Darragh Murphy, Aine and Brona Morgan, Brenda and Paula Gallagher, Catherine Hanna and Fiona, Patricia and Elaine King.
DOWNPATRICK – Raw sewage, which seeped into a Downpatrick stream, is creating a health hazard and killing wildlife, a local environmentalist has claimed.
The Strangford Road stream, which runs along Harry’s Loney – a popular route for walkers – was polluted with effluent, believed to have come from the nearby pumping station, on Thursday afternoon.
Friends of the Earth member, Keith Bradford, who reported the incident after discovering it while walking his dogs, branded the spill as ‘absolutely atrocious’.
He said the stream was a haven for fish and birds, including moorehens and a kingfisher, and it would take at least a year for it to recover.
A clean-up operation by DoE workmen quickly got underway in a bid to flush out the stream, which continues along the back of houses on Strangford Road and eventually joins the Quoile.
SEAFORDE – A special vigil for peace in the wake of the Loughinisland murders is to take place in Seaforde next Wednesday night.
The vigil has been organised by the Women Together for Peace group, who say that the event is being staged to show community solidarity not only for those recently bereaved in Loughinisland, but for all the local victims of the Troubles and their families.
The organiser of the event is Newcastle woman, Mrs Anne Carr, who is a leading member of the province-wide Women Together for Peace movement and was a prime mover in a largely attended peace vigil in Newcastle last Christmas.
Next Wednesday’s vigil will take place outside the Young Farmers’ Club hall at Seaforde, and Mrs Carr says the venue was chosen “as a midway point between two major atrocities which have occurred during the Troubles in the Down District Council area – namely the savage slaughter of six men in the Heights Bar, Loughinisland, on the eve of Father’s Day, June 18, this year, and the ruthless murder of four UDR soldiers in a culvert bomb attack on the Ballydugan Road, Downpatrick, at the beginning of Holy Week in April 1990.
DOWN DISTRICT – The spiralling cost of vandalism attacks across Down District has prompted a number of local councillors to appeal to members of the public for help in a bid to bring those responsible to justice.
Over the past few months there have been over 30 attacks with damage estimated at almost £20,000 being caused, but once again, councillors have called time on those responsible.
Mrs Anne McAleenan, chairman of the Client Services Committee which has to foot the repair bill, has described the present situation as “deplorable” and said money used for repairs could be put to better use elsewhere.
She said that appeals for help in the past had fallen on deaf ears but hoped that the situation would change.
“Ratepayers are having to foot the bill for the damage and they are the people who can help stop the violence,” she said.
BALLYNAHINCH – The wraps have this week been taken off an ambitious £150m plan to provide a rail link between Down District and Europe.
Details of the project were unveiled yesterday afternoon by officials of the Ballynahinch and County Down Railway Company during a press conference in the market town.
And if their plans come to fruition it will result in the main rail line between Newcastle and Belfast coming back into operation for the first time since its closure in 1950.
However, it is still unclear what plans the company has to purchase or lease the necessary land to ensure the line could be restored to its former glory.
But, in the meantime, they are confident the Government will provide them with £125,000 to carry out a major feasibility study into the merits of the scheme, which it is hoped, will provide a direct link between the area and Europe via the channel tunnel.
DOWNPATRICK – Furious Chamber of Commerce officials in Downpatrick have hit out at plans by the Department of Environment to close a number of the town’s major streets to allow resurfacing work to take place.
They are angry they were not consulted about the planned work which gets underway this Saturday and claim the resurfacing scheme will throw town centre traffic into chaos.
Eight different closures are planned by DoE Roads Service officials between this Saturday and August 10, but businessmen are “outraged” at the plans to close main routes.
Chamber of Commerce secretary, Mr Michael Smith, says there has been a “serious breakdown in communications”.
“The Department has consulted with us in the past and we did quite a lot of work together on the timing of the implementation of the environmental improvement scheme for Market Street,” he explained.
“However, consultation must now have been ped from the Department’s vocabulary and it appears to be riding roughshod over the town’s traders.