With the world anticipating the arrival of the Millennium Baby, one September newborn has earned himself an even more auspicious birth date. The ancients believed that having the number nine in a birth date conveyed good luck.
"By an amazing quirk of fate," as the Waterford News & Star described it, "Joshua Joseph Proper was born at Waterford Regional Hospital on the ninth day of the ninth month, 1999, weighing in at an incredible 9lb 9oz."
When Joshua grows up, he should head for the University of Limerick if he wants a lucrative international career. Dr Richard Downer, the president of the University of Limerick, claimed that United States employers would employ graduates of the university before American ones, according to a report in the Limerick Leader.
US singer Maria McKee, who had an international hit with her song Show Me Heaven, wed in secret in Co Carlow on September 11th, the Nationalist and Leinster Times reported. Some 70 guests attended a reception afterwards at Borris House, the stately home of Andrew and Tina Kavanagh. An 18-year-old self-confessed male prostitute, accompanied by Ald Michael Kelly, held a press conference outside Limerick City Hall to allege that he had been paid for under-age sex by two politicians.
Contacted by the Limerick Leader, one of the politicians denied the allegations. The second could not be contacted.
A married father of one who wants to become a "full" woman intends to challenge a refusal by the Southern Health Board to fund a £6,000 sex change operation, according to Kerry's Eye.
Diane Hughes, a transsexual born Richard Hughes, has been receiving transitional treatment at the expense of the Southern Health Board to prepare for the operation. However, she has been refused the final stage of the gender transfer process, which would have to be carried out in the UK.
She intends to challenge the Southern Health Board under European Union legislation.
Six people, including two children, have suffered lead poisoning in Silvermines, according to the Guardian. The results are from an initial testing carried out by the Mid-Western Health Board after a decision by the Inter-Agency Group to investigate human health in the area.
The decision followed claims that cattle had died from the effects of lead poisoning in lands surrounding the tailings pond facility. "Fears and concerns in the area are running high," the newspaper said. Four British tourists have made an early departure from Valentia, Co Kerry, after finding the words "F. . k off British bastards" scrawled under their names in a hotel register, the Kerryman reported.
"It was a terrible experience for them and they genuinely feared for their lives," said Mossie Browne, a friend of the men. The owner of the Royal Hotel in Valentia, Tessie O'Sullivan, told the Kerryman that she was very upset about what had happened and was surprised that her guests had checked out early because of the incident.
Personal wealth is no guarantee of election success, declared the Connaught Telegraph. In its analysis of the statutory declarations of expenses returned by candidates and political parties in Co Mayo, the newspaper found that the biggest spender, Iarla Duffy, who was controversially added to the Fianna Fail ticket in Castlebar by the party's national executive, wasted his money.
He splashed out £5,500 of his own money over and above the £5,000 spent by his party and secured just 786 first preference votes.
On the other hand, Fianna Fail's Blackie Galvin, who headed the poll in the Castelbar Urban District Council elections, did not incur one penny in expenses. Neither did the former RTE presenter, Aidan Crowley, who won a seat on Castlebar Urban District Council at his first attempt.
Michelle de Bruin and her husband, Erik, have been training a young male swimmer in a public pool in Tralee, the Kerryman reported. The pool complex manager was quoted as stating that the de Bruins paid their £2.70 like anybody else.
The Limerick Leader chose its words carefully when it reported that e.coli had forced the closure of a local water system: "Effin water off."