Bundoran's Mc'Eniff Cousins at war over cheap drinks
'Teen parents outraged’
A lawyer has said a price war between rival bar-owning cousins, with one selling cocktails for as little as 50c and another offering as much as customers could drink for €20, was in danger of putting a teenager in the morgue sooner or later.
Judge Kevin Kilrane cracked down on the drink price battle between the cousins after hearing of parents’ fears.
Conor McEniff applied for a bank holiday late-night extension for his nightclub, called Paris, in Bundoran.
Ballyshannon District Court heard how he was selling cocktails for as little as 50c.
Conor McEniff told the court of competition from Jumpin’ Jacks nightclub, which was giving "free drink" to its customers.
Jumpin’ Jacks, owned by his cousin Seanie McEniff, and which is just up the street from Paris, has been advertising that, for a late-night entry fee of €20,patrons could drink all they wanted.
Solicitor Cathleen Dolan went into the witness box on behalf of a number of parents of 18- and 19-year olds who were concerned about their children getting drink so cheaply.
She said the parents in Ballyshannon were "outraged" at what was going on in Bundoran 6km away.
She said that Paris was advertising on Facebook that vodka, Jagermeister, Sambuca, tequila, Red Bull and Lucozade, and all Stivy shots were available for as little as 50c.
Bottles of Budweiser and sex on the beach cocktails were €1 and Captain Morgans, Jack Daniels, and Tia Maria were only €2.
Ms Dolan said: "It’s a little bit like giving Smarties to children. Are we going to wait until a teenager is lying on the slab in Sligo General Hospital because of a competition war between nightclubs?
"I’m asking, for the parents, that this court does not grant these extensions unless they are going to stop these promotions."
At this stage Conor McEniff told the court that, in light of what Ms Dolan had said, he was prepared to return to normal pricing. He said he hoped "the other McEniff" would do the same.
Judge Kilrane granted Conor McEniff his late extension for Paris and warned the McEniff cousins against continuing their price war.
He said: "I know times are tough, but from now on there is not going to be a race to the bottom price in Bundoran."
He warned against advertising ‘"drink as much as you can for €20" and said he would be reviewing the situation very carefully.
Conor McEniff applied for a bank holiday late-night extension for his nightclub, called Paris, in Bundoran.
Ballyshannon District Court heard how he was selling cocktails for as little as 50c.
Conor McEniff told the court of competition from Jumpin’ Jacks nightclub, which was giving "free drink" to its customers.
Jumpin’ Jacks, owned by his cousin Seanie McEniff, and which is just up the street from Paris, has been advertising that, for a late-night entry fee of €20,patrons could drink all they wanted.
Solicitor Cathleen Dolan went into the witness box on behalf of a number of parents of 18- and 19-year olds who were concerned about their children getting drink so cheaply.
She said the parents in Ballyshannon were "outraged" at what was going on in Bundoran 6km away.
She said that Paris was advertising on Facebook that vodka, Jagermeister, Sambuca, tequila, Red Bull and Lucozade, and all Stivy shots were available for as little as 50c.
Bottles of Budweiser and sex on the beach cocktails were €1 and Captain Morgans, Jack Daniels, and Tia Maria were only €2.
Ms Dolan said: "It’s a little bit like giving Smarties to children. Are we going to wait until a teenager is lying on the slab in Sligo General Hospital because of a competition war between nightclubs?
"I’m asking, for the parents, that this court does not grant these extensions unless they are going to stop these promotions."
At this stage Conor McEniff told the court that, in light of what Ms Dolan had said, he was prepared to return to normal pricing. He said he hoped "the other McEniff" would do the same.
Judge Kilrane granted Conor McEniff his late extension for Paris and warned the McEniff cousins against continuing their price war.
He said: "I know times are tough, but from now on there is not going to be a race to the bottom price in Bundoran."
He warned against advertising ‘"drink as much as you can for €20" and said he would be reviewing the situation very carefully.
Auto Dealers in Ireland in crisis as new car sales plummet 18%
New car sales plummeted by 18pc in May and the outlook for the rest of the year is reduced, writes Aideen Sheehan.
The Society of the Irish Motor Industry (SIMI) warned that sales were set to fall from nearly 90,000 in 2011 to just 75,000 this year. This would be just half the level seen in 2008.
A ‘normal’ level of car sales would be about 130,000 a year and the Government stands to lose up to €385m in tax revenue from the shortfall, SIMI said.
So far in 2012 just 60,315 cars have been sold compared with 66,072 this time last year when the government scrappage incentive still applied.
New car sales for May were 7,719 compared with 9,440 for the corresponding period last year.
SIMI spokeswoman Suzanne Sheridan said lack of business had forced some long-established dealerships to close recently such as the well-known HB Dennis in Fairview, Dublin.
Egypt’s Ex President Hosni Mubarak gets life sentence at 84 years old?
His generals are still in charge and one of his loyalists may become the next president. And while Mubarak, 84, was ordered behind bars, six top police officials were acquitted of murder charges and the deposed leader and his two sons were found not guilty of financial corruption charges.
In Egypt, jubilation continues to collide with despair, and victory is tempered by setback. Mubarak has yanked his country across a spectrum of emotion even as his fate represents a cautionary tale for kings moving to quell protests in Saudi Arabia and Bahrain and a despot seeking to crush rebellion in the bloodied villages and cities of Syria.
The verdict also serves as fresh fodder in the Egyptian presidential race between Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister to serve Mubarak, and Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi.
Brotherhood members joined thousands of protesters in Cairo‘s Tahrir Square on Saturday evening to rail against a case that appeared to protect the heart of Mubarak’s police state by absolving ranking police officials in the crackdown on an uprising that last year resulted in more than 840 deaths.
“This is injustice,” said Safeya Sayed Shedid, whose son died in the rebellion. “Now the blood of all martyrs has gone for nothing.”
The months-long trial was marked by fistfights, recanting witnesses and conflicting testimony. Presiding Judge Ahmed Refaat said the prosecution’s confusing evidence failed to prove that the deposed leader ordered the killings, but the judge blamed him for not stopping the bloodshed.
In an impassioned indictment that distilled decades of suppressed national rage, Refaat said Mubarak ruled for 30 years “without a conscience and with a cold heart,” subjecting his people to poverty, shanty towns and dirty drinking water. He said Mubarak allowed Egypt, once the “beacon” of the world, to collapse into “one of the most deteriorated, backward countries.”
The courtroom hushed as the jurist, dressed in a green sash, his glasses sliding down his nose, said, “I will pronounce judgment … in the name of God.”
He ordered Mubarak and former Interior Minister Habib Adli to prison for the remainder of their lives for the killings of demonstrators from Jan. 25 to Feb. 11, 2011. Mubarak, dressed in a striped shirt and tan jacket, his hair brightly dyed black, listened stone-faced behind dark sunglasses. Elsewhere in the courtroom, and across the country, cheers rose.
But, as with so many things in Egypt over the last 16 months, the euphoria was short-lived. The murder charges against the senior police officials — who had directly commanded security forces during the uprising — were dismissed. Further outrage swept the courtroom when Mubarak’s sons, Alaa and Gamal, who stood in white prison jumpsuits next to their father, were found not guilty of corruption charges. Similar offenses against the elder Mubarak were also dismissed.
Many said the proceedings amounted to a show trial orchestrated by the secretive military-backed government and remnants of Mubarak’s inner-circle. Legal experts said the acquittals increased the odds that Mubarak’s conviction would be overturned on appeal.
“This is an unjust, politicized verdict. If Adli was sentenced to life, then how on Earth did his aides get acquitted?” said Samir Helmi, a lawyer representing the families of victims. “The judge said that medical reports show injuries and bullets and yet he doesn’t consider those bullets to have been shot by police officers?”
The attorney added: “Was he waiting for the dead to come out of their graves and tell him personally?”
“God’s verdict is execution,” families of victims shouted in the court as a skirmish broke out and Refaat hastily left the bench.
Alaa Mubarak and brother Gamal, a banker once considered Egypt’s heir apparent, remained in custody under other corruption charges. Their father, an air force commander who became president after the 1981 assassination of Anwar Sadat, was wheeled out of the courtroom to a helicopter. He had been staying in an army-run hospital in what has been reported as relative luxury, but the prosecutor ordered his transfer to Tora prison hospital in south Cairo.
The state news agency MENA reported that Mubarak suffered a “health crisis” after the court session and was treated by doctors on the flight to the prison. Egyptian news reports said he wept and resisted leaving the helicopter.
The case marked the first time the leader of an Arab nation appeared in court on criminal charges after a popular revolt. Former Tunisian President Zine el Abidine ben Ali was tried in absentia after fleeing to Saudi Arabia, and ousted Libyan dictator Moammar Kadafi was killed while in the custody of rebels. Longtime Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh negotiated an end to his rule and remains free.
A study on birth rates in Ireland in 2009 has revealed that Irish women
Are the most fertile in Europe next to France.
The findings revealed by the Central Statistics Office and published in the Irish Times stated that Irish women had more babies than any other EU country in 2009 with the average number of children per woman standing at 2.1.
Women between the ages of 30 and 34 accounted for the age group that had the highest number of babies born which contributed to the number of children born in Ireland reaching a 118 year high.
In 2009 some 75,554 babies were born the closest figure yet to come close to the 76,877 born in the country in 1891.
The study also revealed that women in the Republic are having babies older with just 38.8 per cent of children born three years ago belonging to the 25-29 year-old age group compared to 60.4 per cent thirty years ago.
In Northern Ireland, the number of babies born to those between the ages of 25-29 was just over half.
Some women at higher risk of stroke than men
Women over 65 years old with irregular heartbeats have a higher risk of stroke than men, according to a new Swedish study.
The study found that overall, women with an irregular heart rhythm had an 18% higher risk of stroke than men and women over the age of 65 with no other risk factors were at greater risk of stroke than men.
Over 100,000 patients were assessed on average for 1.2 years. Researchers discovered that the annual stroke rate for women was 6.2% and only 4.2% for men.
Stroke is due to a lack of blood supply to the brain, causing oxygen deprivation. This study focused on the occurrence of ischaemic strokes, caused by lack of blood flow due to blood clots.
The research indicates that women over 65 should be targeted when deciding on anti-clotting treatment for stroke, according to the researchers at the Karolinska Institution, Sweden.
Even though women overall have a higher risk of stroke than men, women with irregular heart rhythm under the age of 65 have no significant increased risk of stroke in comparison to men, the study found.
No comments:
Post a Comment