Fight in Muirhevnamor in Dundalk that went viral online condemned as disgraceful
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Work needs to be done on an individual and community level in order to ensure that the scenes of violence that erupted in Muirhevnamor last Friday, and which went viral, are not repeated, Deputy Ruairí Ó Murchú has said.
On Friday evening, a large number of youths were involved in a fight near the park in Muirhevnamor at around 5.15pm.
It is understood the row started after young people of colour were racially abused while they walked in a group.
The violence was captured on multiple mobile phones and was uploaded to social media sites and shared within moments of it taking place. Gardaí are examining the footage.
Friends and neighbours of grandparents Susan and George Mulligan, whose home was extensively damaged by fire on St Valentine s Day, are rallying around the couple and have launched an appeal to raise money so that they can repair the house.
The couple, who had recovered from COVID-19 in December, had spent all their savings on buying the house in Muirhevnamor, which they had actually sold a few years ago to move to Kerry. It was something they wanted to do but it didn t work out so when the house came on the market again this year, they sold their house in Kerry and used all their savings to buy it back, daughter Regina said.
Calls for alleyways in Muirhevnamor to be removed to tackle anti-social behaviour
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Councillor Kevin Meenan has called for alleyways in Muirhevnamor to be removed in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour.
The local Sinn Fein councillor said: “I have been raising the issue of alleyways and open spaces for quite a while.
“The alleyways and open spaces in Muirhevnamor are congregating spots and getting them designed out would cut down on anti-social behaviour.
“The estate is 30 to 40 years old and these alleyways should have been designed out long ago.
“it is not rocket science; it is simple enough engineering thing to do.
Slippery when wet, treacherous when icy. That was one councillor s summation of the surface at Market Square at the January meeting of Dundalk Municipal District which was held online for the first time.
Cllr Kevin Meenan added people were slipping on footpaths and he was surprised there had been no serious injuries during the cold snap earlier in the month.
He suggested gritting be concentrated on the most used tracks across the square.
The Sinn Féin representative continued that the surface at Market Square was always an issue since day 1 and had to be looked at long-term.
It was slippery when wet but treacherous when icy.
Louth County Council is doing its bit to bring about a change in legislation so that money confiscated from criminal gangs can help fund local addiction services and other initiatives.
The disclosure at a Joint Policing Committee meeting that €1 million had been seized by gardaí in Louth prompted Independent representatives Paddy McQuillan and Maeve Yore to propose a motion at the December meeting.
They requested the local authority write to the Ministers for Justice, Finance and Public Expenditure to make provisions where monies confiscated under the Proceeds of Crime Legislation be redirected from central coffers to combat the effect of drug addiction in Louth communities, and that the necessary legislation is changed to allow this vital funding support to happen.