Other regional news in brief
Teenager who died in Kerry crash named
The teenager who died in a car crash in Co Kerry at 2am yesterday was a back-seat passenger in a car that lost control and crashed into a ditch at Bunghara on the Listowel to Tarbert road. No other vehicle was involved.
He was named locally as Matthew O'Connor (18) Dromtrasna Collins, Abbeyfeale, Co Limerick. The three people in the car, all male, were brought to Kerry General Hospital, where the man was pronounced dead. A second man was released from hospital yesterday.
Meanwhile, gardaí in Carlow are investigating a fatal collision yesterday morning on the N80 Carlow to Wexford road.
A female (61) pedestrian was struck by a car about two kilometres outside Carlow town and was fatally injured.
Report on Blarney hotel fire pending
Gardaí are awaiting the results of a forensic examination on part of the Blarney Park Hotel, Blarney, Co Cork, to establish the cause of a fire that destroyed the hotel's leisure centre.
The blaze at the standalone building on the grounds of the now-closed hotel broke out at about 6pm on Wednesday and caused major damage to the roof.
Nine units of the fire service spent five hours bringing the blaze under control and extinguishing it. Nobody was injured.
The hotel, which is owned by the Kelleher family of Blarney Woollen Mills, closed last October.
Armed raiders sought by Garda
Four raiders who held up a post office in Bray, Co Wicklow, at 10.20am yesterday with a shotgun and a lump hammer were last night being sought by gardaí.
No shots were fired and nobody was injured but a quantity of cash was taken during the raid at the Quinsboro Road post office. The men escaped in a Silver Peugeot 407 car, which had a 2006 D registration. Gardaí later found the car at Sutton Villas off the Lower Dargle Road in Bray.
A number of post offices have already been raided this month. On Monday a post office on Prospect Hill, Galway, was robbed and a quantity of cash was stolen. However, nobody was injured and one man was seen fleeing the scene.
On July 10th a shot was fired during a raid on a post office in Raphoe, Co Donegal. Nobody was injured.
American man missing in Kerry
Gardaí in Kerry are trying to locate an American who had been living in the south of the county but who has not been seen since Saturday last, July 19th. John Weeks (60) has been living near Portmagee for four years.
Supt Michael O'Donovan of Cahersiveen gardaí said Mr Weeks, a single man, was last seen in Castlemaine in mid-Kerry at midday on Saturday and was on his way to Tralee. It is understood he may have been hitching a lift.
He is 170cm (5ft 7in) in height, slim, has grey hair and a short goatee beard. When last seen he was wearing a grey hat and dark coat and carrying a dark bag.
Restaurant fines cut on appeal
Fines imposed on a Chinese restaurant in Millstreet, Bruff, Co Limerick for failing to comply with hygiene regulations have been reduced from €18,000 to €2,000 by Limerick Circuit Court, after the owner appealed last year's ruling at Bruff District Court, Limerick.
Last November, the Oriental Chinese restaurant and takeaway was fined €1,500 on each of 12 counts of breaching the Hygiene Act by Judge Mary O'Halloran.
This week the Health Service Executive withdrew nine charges against the restaurant after the owner agreed to plead guilty to three other hygiene charges.