Latest news with #Mullingar
RTÉ News
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Behind the music - Nathan O'Regan
Irish singer-songwriter Nathan O'Regan has released his new single, Better Days. We asked him the BIG questions . . . It's the second track to be lifted from his forthcoming debut album Olive Branch, set for release 19 September on Belfast label Zenith Cafe Records. Having just completed a support tour with Lucy Spraggan, Nathan will be performing at festivals over the summer before embarking on the Olive Branch tour in September and October, including a date at The Workmans Cellar, Dublin on 8 October and other Irish shows including Mullingar, Castlebar, Limerick and Belfast. He wrote Better Day for his partner when she was pregnant with their first son. "It was written just before we had Arthur, and we were living in this tiny little house just outside of Belfast. It felt like we were boxed in," he says. "You couldn't step in a straight line, you were climbing over things to get anywhere, and we just didn't know where a baby was even going to fit. I just wanted to tell her everything was going to be ok eventually and to keep the faith." Tell us three things about yourself . . . I was born in Cork but moved to Belfast when I left school. I'm the proud Dad of two little boys, Arthur, who's three and Oscar, who's five months old. I love cooking and think if I didn't work in music I would have wanted to work in a kitchen of some sort. How would you describe your music? I'm so incredibly bad at answering this question but I'll try: I try as much as I can to keep my lyrics conversational. If I can't imagine myself saying it, then I normally won't sing it either. Style wise, people have told me I sound a bit like James Morrison, Gregory Porter, Springsteen. Most of the stuff that I think has informed the music I like making are probably from my Dad's record collection. Marc Cohn, Jackson Browne, Billy Joel all have left big impressions on me. Storytelling at its finest with the lyric front and centre at all times. More recently, I'm obsessed with Lake Street Dive, Leif Vollebekk, Stephen Wilson Jr, to name a few. What was the first gig you ever went to? Eric Clapton Live At The Marquee in Cork. I think I was about 14 or 15. I remember the day of the gig, I had the flu or something similar working on me and my Mum thought I shouldn't go but I was adamant that I wasn't going to miss it. We went really early to get near the front and about 20 mins into Clapton's set, it was so hot in there that I fainted. I remember waking up being carried by a paramedic who was screaming "WHAT DID YOU TAKE?" at me. Their instincts were correct so I replied honestly, "two Lemsips." What was the first record you ever bought? American Idiot by Green Day, followed quickly by everything else they'd released. I used to sit for hours with them on repeat and try and work out the guitar parts. I was obsessed What's your favourite song right now? This is going to sound super specific, but right now its a song called Dela by Johnny Clegg. We've been letting our son Arthur watch some movies and he's obsessed with George Of The Jungle and there's a scene at the end where that song plays and he absolutely loves it. It's the first non-nursery rhyme song that he genuinely loves and it brings me a lot of joy watching him dance around and sing it. I'm not sure if I love the song or if I just love that we're not being asked to play Baby Shark all day long anymore, but in any case, it's a banger! Favourite lyric of all time? I have too many to pick just one, but the first one that comes to mind is from a song called Elegy by Leif Vollebekk where he sings, "Gonna find a way to climb out of this basement / Gonna find out what that smile on your face meant." More just from a place of being a fan of songwriting than what that specifically means, but I've never heard someone rhyme "basement" with "face meant" before and it completely blew me away! It's pretty elite stuff I thought.
BreakingNews.ie
27-05-2025
- Health
- BreakingNews.ie
Paedophile father fails to overturn conviction for abusing second daughter
A paedophile who raped one of his daughters while she was pregnant has failed in a bid to overturn his conviction for repeatedly sexually abusing her sister when the child was aged between seven and 12. Oliver Berry abused his daughter Sharon up to three times a week and also subjected the child to physical violence. She ran away from home when she was 12 years old. Advertisement Berry, of Newtown Lawns, Mullingar, had pleaded not guilty to 25 counts of indecent assault relating to Sharon Berry between 1980 and 1986, but was convicted following a trial in June 2023. He was handed a seven-year sentence by Ms Justice Patricia Ryan on July 25th, 2023, to run consecutive to a prison term he was already serving for the sexual abuse of another of his daughters, Jennifer Berry. The 68-year-old was previously jailed for 10 years in 2018, after a Central Criminal Court jury convicted him of 104 counts of both raping and sexually assaulting Jennifer between December 1982 and December 1994. She was aged between seven and 19 at the time. This sentence was subsequently increased by three years following a successful appeal by the State. Advertisement That trial heard he raped Jennifer throughout her pregnancy and while her two-week-old baby was in the same room. Berry maintained his innocence after the trial, and Ms Berry's mother, who has since separated from Berry, supported him and gave evidence in his defence during the trial. Berry had appealed his conviction, arguing that the trial judge had made an error in ruling that the complainant was competent to give evidence. It was further argued that the judge had erred in not permitting a competency hearing in respect of Ms Berry and in setting limits on the extent to which she could be cross-examined. Advertisement Dismissing his appeal on Tuesday, against his conviction for abusing Sharon, Ms Justice Tara Burns said none of the appellant's grounds of appeal had been upheld. Ms Justice Burns noted that the proceedings had a 'protracted history'. She said several trials ended with a discharge of the jury or an adjournment after queries were raised about the victim's capacity to give evidence. Further arguments arose over whether her initial complaints were reliable, having regard to a mental health issue which the victim disclosed during her evidence in the first trial. During her evidence in that trial, Ms Berry said she was under 'psychiatric care' and was on medication. Following further investigation, the victim's medical records were disclosed. Advertisement In dismissing Berry's appeal, Ms Justice Burns said the appellant received the victim's medical records relating to her mental health. She said it then became a matter for him whether to instruct an expert to determine the effect on the victim, if any, of the mental health conditions referred to in her medical records. She said this could have been used to attempt to lay a foundation in respect of the competency hearing or to challenge the reliability of the victim's original complaint, but this was not done. Ireland Will with handwritten changes did not amount to re... Read More The judge said the height of the challenge was an assertion that the complainant was not competent to give evidence based on a diagnosis of schizophrenia that the victim indicated she had been informed of some time prior to August 2008. Advertisement 'No evidence was led as to what the effect, if any, such a diagnosis could have on her ability to tell the truth,' she said. 'In those circumstances, the trial judge did not err in declining to hold a competency hearing.' Ms Justice Burns also dismissed the grounds of appeal related to the limitations put on the cross-examination, noting that the relevance of her mental health could only be from the perspective of her reliability as a witness. If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, you can call the national 24-hour Rape Crisis Helpline at 1800-77 8888, access text service and webchat options at or visit Rape Crisis Help.
BreakingNews.ie
26-05-2025
- Climate
- BreakingNews.ie
Satellite imagery reveals change in Irish landscape due to dry conditions
A series of new satellite images reveal the change in the Irish landscape during the recent dry spell. Images taken on May 19th and May 21st from the European Union's Copernicus satellite show a difference in vegetation near the town of Nenagh in Co Tipperary. Advertisement It is clear that some areas in the more recent image appear less vegetated as a result of the drier conditions. Although rain has returned to Ireland in recent days, the European Drought Observatory still classifies large areas of the country as being under drought warning conditions before summer even begins. It comes after Met Éireann confirmed that March was among the driest months ever recorded at several stations nationwide, while April was the third warmest on record since 1900. The European Drought Observatory's forecast up until June predicted "unusually dry" conditions over Ireland and much of northern Europe. The EU Copernicus Emergency Management Service's forecast for wet and dry conditions acorss Europe, April-June 2025 Water conservation orders, commonly known as hosepipe bans, remain in place for Mullingar in Co Westmeath, Milford in Co Donegal and Kells-Oldcastle, Co Meath. Uisce Éireann issued the bans at the beginning of this month after dry conditions led to a 'sharp drop' in supply levels, it said. The utility also noted that Lough Owel, which supplies the Mullingar Public Water Supply, was at its lowest point in 50 years. It is the earliest time of the year a water conservation order has been issued, with previous bans coming into effect in June 2020, July 2018 and September 2022.
Irish Times
23-05-2025
- Irish Times
If waterways are neglected, they become undrinkable, unswimmable and then untouchable
A visitor from England at Lough Owel in Mullingar expressed surprise to me recently that locals were swimming in the lake. She could not understand how they would take such a risk. I assured her they had no reason to worry; the most recent rating for Lough Owel from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) classed its water quality as excellent. It is also gratifying to be able to tell visitors that 96 per cent of beaches across this country are deemed to be of 'sufficient' quality to swim at, while there are 89 Blue Flag Irish beaches. England only has 76 Blue Flag beaches. As for rivers, the English have become accustomed to seeing them as a filthy threat. It is a theme elaborated on by celebrated nature writer Robert Macfarlane in his recent book Is a River Alive? . It documents a 'gradual, desperate calamity' that has afflicted English rivers; such has been the extent that a younger generation have no experience of what clean rivers are. Macfarlane wrote in April that he 'recently saw a Southern Water riverbank sign badged with a bright blue logo that read 'Water for Life'. The sign instructed passersby to 'avoid contact with the water. If you have had contact with the water, please wash your hands before eating'. In parts of this septic isle, fresh water has become first undrinkable, then unswimmable, then untouchable.' Privatisation, lack of regulation and poor monitoring have all contributed to the sorry plight of the rivers as they are polluted with nitrates, chemicals and waste. READ MORE Macfarlane's focus on the rivers is not all bleak. 'Rivers are easily wounded. But given a chance, they heal themselves with remarkable speed. Their life pours back.' Veteran ocean chronicler David Attenborough has enunciated a similar message despite the gravity of what he has uncovered: 'We know already that the ocean can recover.' Restoration, he suggests, can be achieved by applying advances in scientific knowledge, while Macfarlane points to legislative initiatives in Ecuador and New Zealand to protect water. He highlights the importance, in England, of increasingly vocal 'citizen science and community groups' demanding action to prevent rivers being primarily seen as drains, channels or dumps. Ireland, Macfarlane has suggested, is 'to the forefront' of raising consciousness of these issues Macfarlane spoke about his river odysseys on RTÉ radio recently, noting that in England 'we have not a single river in good overall health' according to environment agency standards. The situation is not as dire in Ireland, but it is striking how quickly overall Irish river quality has declined in recent decades. According to the EPA's report Water Quality in Ireland 2016-2021, 'half of our rivers and two-thirds of our estuaries are not in good ecological health'. Only about 20 Irish rivers are in 'pristine condition' now, compared to 500 in the 1980s. Ireland, Macfarlane has suggested, is 'to the forefront' of raising consciousness of these issues because of the Citizens' Assembly on biodiversity loss chaired by Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin. The first assembly of its kind anywhere in the world, it recommended a referendum to amend the Constitution in order to protect biodiversity. Dr Bernadette White, from the Local Authority Waters Programme, told the assembly members that 'the majority of our high-status waters are not in good condition' and highlighted that 43 per cent of rivers have high nitrates. It was also noted that 92 per cent of problems relating to water quality are due to agriculture. It is a theme sprinkled on the current programme for government, with references to public bodies being required to integrate biodiversity 'into their plans and policies' and the need to 'commit to clear targets within the National Biodiversity Action Plan'. [ What is the water quality like at your local beach? Use our table to check Opens in new window ] [ Blue flags: Record number of Irish beaches and marinas win award for 2025 Opens in new window ] That plan, covering the years 2023 to 2030, declares a target: 'By 2030, 300km of rivers are restored to a free-flowing state.' But in relation to 'action', it more underwhelmingly states: 'Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage, Inland Fisheries Ireland, Office of Public Works and other relevant bodies will explore the restoration of 300km or rivers to a free-flowing state'. There is little indication that a referendum on biodiversity is a political priority for the Government. This is a pity, because a referendum would allow for sustained attention on this pivotal question and a focus on remedies as well as failings and the important work of the Rivers Trust, established in 1994. The assembly's report was clear about the State's failure to properly fund, implement and enforce existing policies, despite the declaration of a biodiversity crisis in the Dáil in 2019. Taking that further can also involve positivity about the future; as pointed out by Ní Shúilleabháin, a key message underpinning the work of the assembly was that 'we should be good ancestors in considering those coming after us'.
BreakingNews.ie
17-05-2025
- Climate
- BreakingNews.ie
Enjoy the sunny weather this weekend – as Met Éireann predicts return to rain soon
Parts of Ireland will be warmer than Ibiza this weekend, but enjoy it while you can as forecasters are predicting a change in the weather next week. Temperatures could hit 26 degrees in parts of Connacht on Saturday, with unbroken sunshine for all areas of the country this weekend, Met Éireann said. Advertisement Most places will continue dry and sunny next week until Wednesday or Thursday. Met Éireann said low pressure is signalled to become more dominant towards the end of next week, bringing an increased chance of showers or spells of rain then. Warm & sunny today, #Saturday ☀️ Highs will range from 17°C along eastern coastal fringes up to 26°C further west, warmest in Connacht 🌡️ #UV levels will be moderate today, so take care & be #SunSmart #BeSummerReady 🟡 ℹ️ — Met Éireann (@MetEireann) May 17, 2025 The prolonged spell of dry weather has put water supplies in some areas 'on a knife edge', according to Uisce Éireann. Ireland Ireland sets all-time daily max temperature record... Read More The utility company said average water demand in the greater Dublin area had been at a record level of more than 630 million litres per day. 'This is close to the limit of what can be sustainably produced by our water treatment infrastructure,' it said. Uisce Éireann appealed to consumers to be mindful of their water usage. A water conservation order, commonly referred to as a hosepipe ban, has been in place for supplies in Mullingar, Co Westmeath; Milford, Co Donegal; and Kells-Oldcastle, Co Meath, since early May.
