Around Ireland

[caption id="attachment_71557" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption="Taoiseach Enda Kenny hugs Irish soccer manager Giovanni Trapattoni during their climb of Croagh Patrick in County Mayo recently."]

[/caption]

CARLOW WIFE TRAPPED IN GREEK 'NIGHTMARE'

A Rathvilly woman whose husband was sentenced to 18 years in a Greek prison for crimes she says he didn't commit is campaigning for his freedom, the Carlow Nationalist reports.

Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter

Sign up today to get daily, up-to-date news and views from Irish America.

Julie Marku (née O'Reilly) from has been trapped in a "nightmare" ever since her husband Mark was arrested in September 2010 and charged with being a member of an armed gang, accused of armed assault, 12 car thefts and seven counts of armed robbery in Crete - even though she could prove, using passport stamps, he was in Ireland when some of the crimes were committed.

"When they took him away, it's like someone planted a bomb in my life. My whole world was built up around him; my life didn't function without him," said Marku, daughter of Bill and Phyl O'Reilly, Rathvilly.

According to Marku, key witnesses in the prosecution's case, owners of the jewelry stores that were targeted, have changed their stories and there was no DNA evidence linking her husband to any of the crimes until a week prior to the trial.

Prosecutors have labeled Mark Marku the ringleader of a criminal gang and claim that his regular travel between Ireland and Crete is evidence that he was trafficking jewels.

However, his wife believes the entire situation has been racially motivated, and ultimately her husband's only crime is his Albanian nationality.

When Julie Marku flew out to Crete two days after his arrest in 2010, she found her husband was "terrified" when she spoke to him. "He was in floods of tears," she recalled. "I asked him what happened and he said 'I don't know.'"

ROSCOMMON COPS CLOSE 'GROW HOUSE'

A cannabis "grow house" operating in a rented bungalow outside Castlerea Town was put out of business last week, the Roscommon Herald reports. Six Garda officers from the Castlerea Detective Unit - acting on a tip off, it is understood - raided the property on Wednesday evening. Three foreign nationals were at the location, though no arrests have been made yet.

Sergeant Shane Killian of Castlerea Garda Station said officers were "very happy" with the outcome. "This was a very successful operation as there were over 200 cannabis plants, over €72,000 worth of drugs," he said. "The plants were found in the attic. It was a sophisticated job with heating lamps, water and other equipment."

MAYO MOST STILL KEEP IT COUNTRY

Seventy-one per cent of the population of Mayo continues to live in rural areas according to the 2011 Census.

The latest statistics released by the Central Statistics Office last week reveal that the population of the county rose by 5.6 per cent since the last Census in 2006. The population of Mayo now stands at 130,638, the highest it has been since 1956.

The three major towns in Mayo all experienced growth since 2006 with Castlebar remaining the largest town with its population growing by 3.6 per cent to 12,318. Ballina's population has risen by 6.5 per cent to 11,086 while Westport has grown by 10.7 per cent from 5,475 in 2006 to 6,063.

LEITRIM POL LAUDS INCREASED AID

Roscommon/South Leitrim Fine Gael TD Frank Feighan has welcomed the news that the current rate of aid being made available for the benefit of communities under the Rural Develop­ment Program (RDP) is being increased from 50 to 75 percent, the Leitrim Observer reports.

The change to the LEADER elements of the Rural Develop­ment Program will see increased availability of funding for both private promoters and community groups in rural Ireland.

"This significant increase in the current rate of aid for private promoters will go some way to addressing the difficulties being experienced in accessing credit in the current economic climate and will provide an increased level of support for rural entrepreneurs in Ireland," Deputy Feighan said.

"A reallocation within the program will reassign an extra €10 million to the Basic Services measure of the RDP which, while almost fully allocated, still has significant potential," he added.

Local Authorities will also be permitted to apply directly to the RDP for funding, working in cooperation with community groups. County Councils will also be eligible to apply for the community rate of aid of 75 percent under the Village Renewal and Conservation measures of the program.

"I am confident that these changes will give the Roscommon LEADER Partner­ship and Leitrim Development company flexibility to increase the amount of support available to a variety of projects involving both communities and private individuals," Feighan said.

 

Donate