Lately Around Ireland

October 19th, 2009 · 3:43 am @ Alisha - No Comments

County Kildare’s heroin addiction treatment centers are currently overwhelmed by demand
September marked the lowest number of road deaths in Ireland since records began
Microsoft has opened a major data center in Dublin, the first in Europe
Unemployment has doubled in just one year to over a quarter of a million people (in a country of four million); not surprisingly, more people are leaving Ireland for the first time since 1995, the number of immigrants has fallen by 26,000, and electricity demand nationwide has dropped by 5%
The Catholic Church is beginning talks to hand over control to the Irish government of some of the nation’s 3,000 Catholic-run schools
A Galway mailman has been accused of selling discount cigarettes door-to-door while delivering the mail
Experts feel that the Irish economy may be showing some signs of stabilization; meanwhile the number of Irish women participating in prostitution is climbing, as is shoplifting
New-houses completed are at their lowest since 1970; it has emerged that Ireland is zoned for enough future homes to accommodate an additional three million people
The plastic shopping bag tax will soon double to €0.44 ($0.655) per bag used at the grocery store
A Church of Ireland (Anglican) group has recommended that churches approve civil partnership legislation
A herd of llamas and two goats that escaped from a circus caused chaos on a major highway interchange; they were impounded by gardaí but later stolen from the premises