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 The Irish Courts Service have brokered a deal with local Ballina, Co Tipperary publican, Mr Michael O’Donovan, to use his licenced hostelry as a Courthouse, with Judge Aeneas McCarthy presiding, looking down upon gardaí, solicitors, court users and criminals from his raised platform stage, normally the preserve of performers John Spillane, Mary Coughlan etc and the other bands who regularly perform at O’Donovans Bar.
Beneath disco lights, (switched off I hasten to add when the court is in session) in full view of favoured tipple labels Heineken, Guinness and Carlsberg, not to mention bottles of gin, vodka etc, now dispensers of this country’s justice sit in true American Wild West historical Saloon fashion, and will continue to do so for a trial period over the next three months. I should point out that the bar is not open during these court sessions.
This new venue brings an ends to the 64 mile round trip to Ennis, that court officials and criminals have been forced to take since September, when court sittings were suspended with the Kincora Hotel going into receivership.
Main reasons given for choosing this new venue was the difficulty experienced by criminals not being able to get to Ennis Court because of a lack of direct public transport. No doubt the Health Service Executive will now be organising a similar setup for Diabetes sufferers and those who need weekly Kidney Dialysis in Limerick hospital and who must drive a 96 mile round trip just to stay alive.
Alan Shatter TD, Minister for Justice, Equality and Defence, was not on hand to officially open this new venue.
Me, well I blame this rather unusual court setting now forced on us here in Tipperary, on Angela Dorothea Merkel, Chancellor of Germany and the current state of the Euro.
In fact a middle aged male German tourist recently, on his first visit here to Tipperary, recently confided in me, the following story.
According to him he had visited one of our houses of “ill repute.” (No, before you ask, I didn’t get an address or a mobile telephone number.) The lady in charge asked him to be seated and sends over a young lady to entertain him. They sat and talked, frolicked a little and drunk a bit. He whispered a request in her ear and she gasped and runs away, screaming “No I will not.”
Seeing this, the lady in charge quickly sent over a more experienced lady to further entertain the gentleman. They also again sat together and talked, frolicked a little, laughed a lot, drunk a bit. He again whispered into her ear, and she also screamed, “No never in a month of Sundays.” and quickly left the scene.
The madam naturally was very surprised that this ordinary, good looking man was asking for something so outrageous, that her two most experienced girls refused to have anything to do with him. So, intrigued, having never seen anything like this in all her years of operating her business, she decided to find out what this man wanted that had made her girls so angry and uncooperative.
She approaches her unsatisfied tourist customer, sits and talks with him. They frolic, they giggle, they drink and then she sits on his lap. My tourist friend leans forwards and whispers in her ear, “Can I pay you in Euro?”
Still, in the words of Eamon de Valera: “When we have done our best, we can, as a united people, take whatever may befall, with calm courage and confidence that this old nation will survive and if death should come to many of us, death is not the end.”
Yea, listen I will leave the above text to each of you, our discerning readers, to decide which is the biggest joke.
 Contents Of Cigarette Smoke As much as 14% to 18% of the 1.7 billion cigarettes smoked in Ireland last year were illegally imported, indicating a €250m loss to the Irish Exchequer in unpaid duty or taxes.
According to today’s Irish Independent Newspaper, Fine Gael TD Derek Keating warns us that more people will die in 2012 from tobacco-related illness than alcohol or even heroin. Ireland he states is now viewed, by smugglers, as an ideal location for their trade in comparison to the rest of Europe.
Mr Keating went on to state that almost every major street in Dublin, Cork, Galway, Limerick and Dundalk has illegal vendors. Another major aspect to this problem is that it is well know that some of the filler substance used to bulk cigarette products, is more dangerous than the actual tobacco content contained in the cigarette itself.
Mr Keating said “We need to smash the distributions system of these criminals and by tackling this crime, everyone will be a winner.”
Mr Keating appears of course to have forgotten to state that cigarettes purchased here in Ireland cost between €4 and €6 more, per pack of twenty, than in any other European country, due to his and previous government’s annual easy target tax increases. This market for cheap smuggled cigarettes is therefore promoted and encouraged by present and previous governments and their sudden concern for our individual health, shown only I fear through tax increases.
Mr Keating has forgotten that Tobacco Products under EU law, being brought into Ireland from other EC countries, once transported and accompanied by the purchaser and for his sole use, rather than for commercial purposes, enter Ireland without payment of exorbitant Irish duty.
Smoking Cheaply In Ireland Within Irish Law
Since the recent price increase by tobacco manufacturers of 10 cents and Minister Michael Noonan’s budget increase of 25 cents, per pack of twenty, confirmed smokers in Ireland have changed their smoking habits considerably. While many seek out easily available illegally imported supplies, others have moved more significantly to “roll your own,” loose tobacco.
Presently if you are a 40 cigarette a day person, two packs of 20 cigarettes can cost as much as €17.80 per day, depending on brand. On the other hand one packet of “roll your own” cigarette tobacco, including 50 gummed cigarette papers, which allows for the making of about 30 cigarettes, costs a mere €4.20.
Mastering the rolling of your own cigarettes by hand is now no longer “an acquired art over time,” when you can purchase an automatic cigarette rolling machine for less than €5. Within 15 minutes you can easily whip up 20 beautiful hand made cigarettes. Indeed confirmed female smokers and followers of fashion, are now buying engraved silver personalised cigarette cases for about €20, for their handbags, claiming they smoke only handmade cigarettes.
Most new converts to “Roll Your Own Cigarettes,” claim they smoke less tobacco, by including slimline filter tips when rolling their cigarettes. All smokers, previously smoking up to 40 cigarettes per day, state that they now save a colossal €90 per week, due to their change in habit, and all feel less guilt, in relation to their usage of their households disposable income.
Note: Regardless of the tobacco product used, it has been proved that there is an increased risk of cancer, strokes and heart disease by its usage. Tobacco smoke that is inhaled causes lung cancer, sinus disease and chronic obstructive lung disease. Many pipe smokers state that they do not inhale, but research shows that they have a significant increase in risk of lung, larynx, throat, esophagus, pancreas, and colon-rectal cancers along with an increased risk of coronary artery disease, emphysema, chronic bronchitis and strokes.
So maybe it is time to quit the habit as this years ‘new years resolution.’
 Picture Of Golf Club Used In Car Attack It has come to the attention of Thurles.info that a gang of masked vandals smashed several car windows and did other damage along Kickham Street and in Monakeeba early last Tuesday Morning. A golf club was used to smash the back windows of several cars along Kickham Street at approx 1 AM on Tuesday morning, on the 1st November. A piece of the golf club (See Picture) was found next to one car that was attacked. The make of the golf club used is a ‘Howson’. The number of cars attacked is unclear, but a local resident estimated about 8 cars were attacked.
It is understood that 4 men were seen causing the damage at the time. The masked gang were allegedly dressed in Red and White Hoodies and wore white masks, possibly Hockey Masks like those seen in the film ‘Halloween’. It is believed that these men were costumed like this for the ‘Halloween Festival Weekend’ that took place in Thurles last weekend.
The owners of the cars were furious when they discovered the damage, especially as their normal car insurance doesn’t cover damage to back windows and found they would have to pay approx €300+ each, to have the damage repaired.
We are appealing for anyone who may have witnessed the incident, or even perhaps taken pictures of these vandals over the Halloween weekend, to get in touch with the local Garda Station in Thurles at (0504) 25100.
 Two men are currently being detained under Section 2 of the Drug Trafficking Act, at Thurles Garda station here in Co Tipperary. Their detention is connected to a €100,000 drug seizure following a car chase in the County yesterday.
Both men were arrested near Thurles on a flyover of the M8 Dublin-Cork motorway, having been detected as part of an ongoing crack down targeting the sale and supply of drugs within in the Tipperary region.
Gardaí attempted to stop the vehicle, in which the men were travelling, at Pouldine, Horse & Jockey, at around 2.30pm; however the vehicle failed to halt. The car was later stopped by police just a short distance away.
A 45-year-old man was arrested in the car and a second passenger, a 31-year-old male, who attempted to flee the scene on foot, was also arrested after a short police chase.
The vehicle used by the men, which was seized, contained quantities of cannabis resin and cocaine, both with an estimated, combined street value of over €100,000.
 Nenagh Killer James Citro formally James Kennedy A Nenagh born convicted rapist has been found guilty of murdering a woman in north London, back in 1998.
James Citro, aged 54, was found guilty of murdering Miss Nijole Siskeviciene, aged 44, at the Old Bailey in London.
The Tipperary man, who was convicted of two rapes in Nenagh and County Tipperary, was jailed for 10 years in 1979. In both rape cases his victims were held or throttled around the neck.
Judge David Paget said Citro, who changed his name from Kennedy by deed poll in 2003, would be given a life term, but he had to consider the minimum years he must serve for his crime. Citro was remanded in custody for a psychiatric report, before his final sentencing, which is expected in December.
Citro, who was not arrested for over 12 years following this murder, was taken into custody following suspected drink-driving in July last year. His DNA was taken and matched to this October 1998 murder in north London.
Police are now appealing for any victims of assaults, either here or in England, that may have been carried out by this same man, to please come forward. Detective Superintendent Keith Niven stated that victims should understand that Citro has now been convicted of murder and is no longer at liberty to further offend.
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