Latest news with #Strabane
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Strabane: Two arrested after estimated £1.4m cannabis plants seized
Two people have been arrested after police seized suspected cannabis plants with an estimated street value of £1.4m in the Strabane area. The seizure was made during a planned search operation on the seizure, police said they have dismantled what is believed to be one of the biggest suspected cannabis operations in the north west in recent years. The two people who were arrested remain in custody. Searches remain ongoing and paraphernalia connected to drugs cultivation and supply have also been seized. The operation was carried out by detectives from the Police Service of Northern Ireland's Organised Crime Branch, who are investigating suspected drugs criminality linked to the INLA. "We have dismantled a large, sophisticated suspected cannabis operation with row after row of suspected cannabis plants that filled two floors of the building," Det Insp Pyper said. Derry City & Strabane Commander, Ch Sup Gillian Kearney said: "Drugs cause misery in our communities, we have seen that far too often. We have also seen how large-scale drug operations are linked to organised crime gangs who will do anything to make money with no care for the harm they cause in our communities. "This has been a significant operation and reflects the Police Service's commitment to targeting drugs supply in Northern Ireland."
Irish Times
5 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
Poor Mouth, Rich Reputation – Frank McNally on fellow Flannorak and pioneering publican, Mick Gleeson
Among the Flannoraks gathered in Strabane for this week's International Flann O'Brien Conference is Mick Gleeson, a man who was behind one of the finest tributes ever paid to the writer. For about 20 years from the mid-1970s, Mick ran the late and still lamented An Béal Bocht in Dublin's Charlemont Street, a pub that doubled as a theatre. Mind you, as he tells it, the premises was not named primarily for the 1941 novel (written by the real-life Flann, Brian O'Nolan, under his Irish Times pseudonym Myles na gCopaleen). Although a committed Mylesian even then, Mick was also paying back-handed tribute to some of his customers, whose hard-luck stories would have given the novel's Bonaparte Ó Coonasa a run for his lack of money. READ MORE Gleeson came to own the venue only after being outbid for a series of other bars, most notably O'Donoghue's of Merrion Row, spiritual home of The Dubliners. When that was up for auction in 1977, his bank gave him a green light to go all in. But having started at £88,000, the price rose to nearly twice that, long before which he gave up: outbid not for the first time by the late Dessie Hynes. So instead, he turned to Charlemont Street, a tough locality then on the southern edge of the inner city, and picked what became An Béal Bocht for a mere £58,000. It was a trail-blazing pub in several ways. 'We had a lot of women on the staff, for one thing,' Mick recalls. This was controversial with some older male customers, who were sceptical as to whether female bar tenders could be trusted with the holy sacrament of pouring a pint properly: 'They'd be asking: will you get Pat or Mick to do that?' he says. 'For Jayzus sake, it's only liquid in a glass.' It was also an Irish-friendly bar. Customers were encouraged to speak the native language, if they could. And then there was the theatre, born from a genuine interest in the form: 'I wanted a place where you could have a drink while watching a play, not just where you watched a play while drinking.' It was a logical step, eventually, that An Béal Bocht the venue would host a stage adaptation of An Béal Bocht the book. Directed by Ronan Smith, this was done first in English, as The Poor Mouth, and became a huge success. The show ran for about five years, Mick thinks: 'It was like a Dublin version of The Mousetrap.' Then in 1991, when the novel's 50th anniversary and the 25th of O'Nolan's death combined, Gleeson decided to stage the play in Irish. His regular producer thought him mad. 'Irish?' he said: 'Nobody will come.' But central to the plan was to get Mick Lally, gaeilgeoir and national treasure, involved. When they visited his house in nearby Portobello for talks, the host produced a bottle of 'fíon bán' (which means 'white wine' literally, but in Lally's Mayo dialect signified poitín). The visitors 'fell out of the house' next morning with a deal. At first, they thought the play as gaeilge would be lucky to last a week. It ran for almost two months, which must be another record. Like Myles, Mick used to have a link to The Irish Times. His wife Eileen Lynam was secretary to the great Douglas Gageby, whose many editorial reforms included ensuring that the late-era O'Nolan, by then a sick man, was paid for his work even when it wasn't used. Eileen's jobs include proof-reading advance copies of the cryptic crossword and raising queries with its creator Derek Crozier. Mick passively inhaled her expertise, to the extent that he became an embodiment of a character from one of Myles's classic sketches. That's the one about a man who buys a first edition of the paper, hot off the presses, and spends all night grimly working out the crossword just so that he can go to the golf club next day, feigning not to have seen it yet, and help his neighbour with the hard ones in return for the glory of hearing: 'Begob you're quick!' Mick's contribution wasn't as calculated as that. Still, like a good barman, he had the answers when needed. After conferences in Vienna, Rome, Prague, Salzburg, Dublin, Boston, and Cluj-Napoca, the International Flann O'Brien Society has brought its biennial symposium back home this year, to O'Nolan's Tyrone birthplace. But of course Strabane is also international, being just across the river and an EU frontier from Lifford. I was reminded of this on Thursday night in The Farmer's Home - a former dwelling house, now a lovely pub of many rooms – when asking a group of presumed Tyrone supporters how they expected to do against Dublin in Saturday's All-Ireland Football Quarter final. On closer inspection, they were all from Donegal and looking forward to thrashing the Diarist's native Monaghan in the curtain-raiser. Tensions remained high along the interface well into the night. But at time of writing, there have been no major incidents.
BreakingNews.ie
20-06-2025
- BreakingNews.ie
Young driver (25) caught doing doughnuts by gardaí before leading them on chase
A young driver caught doing doughnuts before "fishtailing" in front of gardaí and trying to outrun them by heading for the border to escape has been given a suspended jail sentence. Ben Murray (25) appeared before Letterkenny District Court in Co Donegal charged with dangerous driving. Advertisement The court heard that Murray was attending his first Donegal International Rally in June 2024. Gardaí had called to Drumbarnett, Manorcunningham, after complaints from the public that the road had been blocked and a number of cars were doing doughnuts just before midnight. When gardaí arrived, they observed a Lexus is200 performing doughnuts and activated their blue lights. The driver of the car then fishtailed in front of the patrol car forcing gardaí to reverse their patrol vehicle to avoid being hit. Advertisement The Lexus sped off but was apprehended in the early hours of the following morning heading for the border. The driver, Ben Murray, was arrested and was apologetic to gardaí. His solicitor, Patsy Gallagher, said Murray was attending his first rally and was "showing off for friends." He had made admissions and the car was lifted and his father and uncle had to come and collect the student, added the solicitor. Advertisement Judge Ciaran Liddy asked the court if Murray, of Carlton Drive, Strabane, Co Tyrone, had any previous convictions. Sergeant Jim Collins said he had one previous conviction for drug driving and had been disqualified for one year. Judge Liddy noted that Murray was only back on the road for five months when this incident occurred. "This man is looking at a jail sentence," said the judge. Advertisement Mr Gallagher said he was asking the court to take a more diplomatic approach adding it was "one stupid mistake." His client has now adopted a serious attitude to the incident and 'he should have acted more appropriately', he added. Mr Gallagher said that there was an impression given that Murray was 'aiming for the border', but told the court that it was not an evasive situation. 'There was no chase or otherwise,' he said, adding that the car has been moved on. Advertisement He said Murray is doing a traineeship for cranes and has his preliminary tests done and planned to go to Scandinavia to finish that process. Mr Gallagher asked the court to consider reducing the charge to one of careless driving and to consider Murray's early plea. 'The shock of being here has had a very awakening effect on him,' Mr Gallagher said. Judge Ciaran Liddy said the road was blocked deliberately to 'facilitate boy racer activity involving this man performing a fishtail manoeuvre on the public highway'. Judge Liddy noted that a Garda patrol car had to take evasive action to avoid being struck and that Murray proceeded to drive towards Derry. Ireland Learner drivers who had vehicles seized for drivin... Read More He said Murray was only just back on the road having concluded a driving ban for drink-driving only six months previously. Judge Liddy said: 'It is clear that he learned very little from his experience in court on the previous occasion.' Judge Liddy said that only for Murray having been 'well advised' to plead guilty he would be imposing an immediate custodial sentence. Murray was handed a six-month prison sentence that was suspended for two years. Murray was also disqualified from driving for two years and fined €300.
BBC News
18-06-2025
- Climate
- BBC News
Temperatures set to soar above 30C across the UK
Temperatures are set to reach 30C (86F) in parts of the UK on Thursday, with the heat expected to build steadily as the week goes is likely to mean the first heatwave of 2025 being declared by the weekend. Temperatures will peak in different areas on different days, with some of the highest figures on Thursday expected in the south and east, the Midlands and South West nights will also be much warmer from Thursday, with many areas seeing temperatures in the high Friday, the north and west will be feeling the heat, with Aviemore, Strabane and Aberystwyth among the possible spots to hit 28C or higher. When is a heatwave really a heatwave?How do heat health alerts work?Increased chance of a hot summer and heatwavesSix ways to keep your home cool in hot weatherHow to sleep in the heat Northern Ireland, western Scotland and west Wales will see temperatures peak on Friday with highs of 24 to 28C east Wales, eastern Scotland and much of England the peak will be on Saturday, where many areas will see highs of 28 to 31C, while some places in south-east England and East Anglia may reach night could see the first "tropical night" of the year. This is where overnight temperatures do not drop below 20C, something that is increasingly likely for parts of south-east heat is down to a developing area of high pressure. This will help winds switch to a south-easterly direction and draw in hot weather from other parts of Western Europe. Parts of France and Spain could see temperatures close to 40C over the next few a heatwave to be declared by the Met Office we need to reach a threshold temperature for at least three consecutive days, and that threshold varies from 25C across the north and west of the UK, to 28C in parts of eastern we have seen temperatures exceeding these figures in recent weeks, the warm spells have not been long enough to qualify as a heatwave - but that looks like it is about to a Met Office study said the risk of 40C temperatures in the UK was rapidly last time temperatures exceeded 40C in the UK was 19 July, 2022Writing in the journal Weather meteorologists said there was a 50:50 risk of temperatures exceeding 40C in the UK in the next 12 years - four years earlier than the previous estimate, and that temperatures of 45C or more "may be possible". The risk is increasing as climate change continues to drive global temperatures upwards. Scientists from the World Weather Attribution group have previously found such extremes would have been "almost impossible" without human-induced climate Kay, lead author of the Met Office study, said: "We find that temperatures several degrees above those recorded in July 2022 are plausible, with a simulated maximum of 46.6C. This is close to the theoretical range for London in today's climate – in the upper 40s or even higher – that has been proposed elsewhere." The UK's June temperature record stands at 35.6C, set in Southampton in 1976. Current forecasts suggest this is unlikely to be exceeded this infamous summer included the longest continuous heatwave on record, with 18 days above 28C. However, the Met Office's model found that today's climate could support a heatwave lasting up to 39 pressure and rising temperatures have prompted the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) to issue yellow heat-health alerts for most of England from midday Wednesday to Sunday yellow is the lowest level (below amber and red), it warns of possible impacts on health and social services and recommends preparation for vulnerable groups, including the is worth noting that heatwave conditions do not always mean sunshine. As temperatures rise over the weekend, showers or thunderstorms could develop across parts of the UK. A quick check of the BBC Weather app will show when the risk of rain increases locally - useful for anyone planning to spend time UK forecasts are showing that winds will start to switch to less hot westerlies from Saturday onwards. However, it's likely to be still very hot in eastern areas on Sunday with temperatures above 30 Celsius for even next week with a greater chance of occasional rain, hotter weather will still not be far from the south-east corner of the country.
Belfast Telegraph
16-06-2025
- Sport
- Belfast Telegraph
Bready defeat defending champions to go top of North West Premiership
The Irish international dominated a third wicket stand of 51 with Jodie Spence as Bready romped to their modest 82 target in the 12th over. Fox Lodge had struggled to get going as they limped to 81 for eight – helped by 31 extras - with Elle Moore and Mollie Devine both making 18. Jodie Spence and Sophie Hamilton each took two wickets in a fine effort by the bowling unit that never relinquished control of the game. Bonds Glen beat Strabane in a high scoring game that saw Jessica Cooke (40) and Stephanie Wilkinson (38 not out) in the runs for the home side as they made 167 for seven – Nicola Mullen taking three wickets. Strabane started the chase well as Kylie McGarrigle hit eight fours in a 31-ball 43, putting on 68 for the first wicket with skipper Chloe Deans, who hit an unbeaten 40. Two wickets apiece for Leah and Lucy Thompson clinched a 21-run win for the Bee Gees. Coleraine ran out comfortable 66-run winners at home to Eglinton thanks primarily to a third wicket partnership of 119 between Amy Caulfield and Kenya McCartney (37). Caulfield top-scored with 80 from 58 deliveries, including 12 fours and two maximums as the Bannsiders made 147 for five. Anna McGurk's three for five and two wickets for McCartney restricted Eglinton to just 81 for seven to keep Coleraine third in the table.
