Sixteen members of two midland Traveller families were ordered to enter a peace bond or go to prison following a hearing at Longford District Court.

The defendants agreed to a number of conditions, which included that they be of good behaviour and that they refrain from training for, organising or participating in any bare-knuckle fights. Members of the Joyce and Nevin family were ordered to enter a peace bond with a cash surety of €300 for a period of two years.

District Court Judge Seamus Hughes told the defendants that if they breached any aspect of the bond then they would forfeit the monies.

The defendants were before the court facing charges arising from an alleged breach of the peace contrary to common law.

Earlier in proceedings, Garda Superintendent Denis Shields claimed that the escalating nature of the exchanges suggested that somebody was going to be killed if the threats continue to be made on YouTube between the feuding Traveller families.

He made his comments during the prosecution of the 16 men charged with behaving in a threatening, abusive and insulting manner in the video messages uploaded onto YouTube.

In the course of proceedings Judge Hughes was shown video clips from 14 videos, which had been uploaded onto the website. The videos contained insults to both parties, threats of violence, repeated reference to people with mental handicaps, homophobic comments and what was described as insulting and vulgar behaviour.

Having viewed excepts from the two and a half hours of video Judge Hughes said he would expect a substantial sum to be submitted to court as a bond to prevent further conflict.

Two senior members of the families addressed the court and said that they had put their differences aside and assured the judge that relations would be cordial in the future.

Judge Hughes said that this was a deep rooted conflict, but noting the change in attitudes of the accused said he would accept a peace bond of 300 from each of the defendants. Nine of the defendants signed a peace bond at the hearing. Seven more will come before the court on March 6th when the matter will be concluded.

]]> 1.3549315 Wed, 22 Feb 2012 17:25:39 +0000 http://www.longfordleader.ie/going_green_for_charity_1_3549289

Glenn Baskett, Newtownforbes has dyed his hair green in an effort to raise some much needed funds for the Irish Cancer Society which is currently running a Shave of Dye fundraiser in conjunction with the Today FM’s Ray D’arcy Show.

Mr Basket who hails from New Zealand and works for Longford Co Council has been residing in Newtownforbes for the last 10 years with his wife Fiona and children Niamh, Caoimhe and Kevin. Last Thursday, he travelled to Dublin with a group of people from all over the country, who attempted to create a new world record in conjunction with renowned hairdressing chain Peter Mark to dye as many heads of hair as possible, within a 24 hour period. It seems that the adopted Longford man was part of a novel initiative – on the day – which not only raised thousands of Euros for the Irish Cancer Society, but also achieved a new world record in the process. “I have dyed my hair green as part of the attempt by the Peter Mark Style Club to dye as many heads as possible within 24 hours and create a new world record,” he said. “We achieved the record by dying 62 heads in 24 hours - from 11:30am on Thursday to 11:30am on Friday - and raised loads of money for the Charity while we were at it, so it was a great achievement. The colours used were green, white and orange and then 142 heads were shaved for fun on Friday morning.”

Now it seems, that the local man is quietly confident with his green locks and reckons that he will wear them with pride for another few weeks, while at the same time endeavouring to add an extra few shillings to his already very admirable €1,000 which he has raised for the Irish Cancer Society. “Ah yeah, I’ll keep it for a few weeks; they told me in work that if I didn’t, they wouldn’t give me any money for my fundraiser and I am hoping to raise more money in the coming weeks,” Mr Baskett laughed.

To donate to this very worthy cause log onto www.todayfm/shaveordye and click on Dye for Ireland.

The south Longford village of Abbeyshrule is to represent Ireland in a major environmental competition for towns and villages across Europe, it has been revealed.

Details of the multi Tidy Towns award winning village’s inclusion in the 2012 Entente Florale Competition was disclosed at a recent meeting of Longford County Council.

Director of Services, Frank Sheridan said the Department of Environment had chosen the Co Longford village from a long list of potential entrants.

Fronted by not for profit organisation the European Association for Flowers and Landscape, the competition currently has 12 member countries on its books.

Cllr Mick Cahill was the first to give his thumbs up to the announcement, saying the government’s decision was testimony to Abbeyshrule’s hard-working Tidy Towns Committee.

“It’s a great honour for Abbeyshrule and reflects all the hard work that has gone on there,” said the Colehill Fianna Fail councillor.

“The village is being improved all the time and it really is a vote of confidence in Abbeyshrule.”

Another south Longford representative, Cllr Larry Bannon was equally wholesome in his praise of Abbeyshrule’s revered reputation for environmental awareness.

Making reference to the success of Carrick-on-Shannon’s participation in 2010, Cllr Peggy Nolan said the benefits of having a Co Longford representative in the competition were huge.

“If it does half as much for Abbeyshrule and the county of Longford as it done last year for Carrick-on-Shannon we are certainly onto a winner,” she said emphatically.

“There were spectacular displays there and the amount of visitors and the boost to tourism it gave was just fantastic.”

Cllr Paul Connell gave a similarly upbeat appraisal, pointing to the success which was also enjoyed by Ardagh in recent years.

The final itself, when the overall winners are announced, is expected to take place later this year.