Wicklow News

The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in the Republic of Ireland has risen to 188,923 with 3,432 cases in County Wicklow

1,500 fines for non-essential travel have been issued within the past two weeks.

That was reached last night, and is slightly ahead of the target of 140,000.

Almost €143 million is to be paid out for the pandemic unemployment payment this week.

Over 1,700 homes are without electricity in the Rathdrum area, while 48 customers have been affected by a power outage in Arklow.

Munster’s Craig Casey and Ulster’s Tom O’Toole are the only uncapped players named in the Ireland squad for the Six Nations.

Figures obtained by the Irish Independent shows an unequal picture across the country.

30,000 Oak, Birch and Ash trees are being planted in Aughrim here in County Wicklow, as part of Aldi Ireland’s commitment to plant 1 million native Irish woodland trees around the country over the next four years.

According to the Examiner newspaper, almost 225,000 offences reported nationwide in 2019 were marked as solved. It represents a 46% success rate.

A deal has been reached to purchase a site for Greystones Community College. The 11.5 acre site is close to the Shoreline leisure centre in Charlesland.

The latest Irish Business Against Litter survey shows Kilkenny is the cleanest city nationwide, with Bray ranked 7th on the overall list, rated as clean to European norms.

Road users in Wicklow are being urged to slow down and drive with care this morning. Icy conditions are affecting many secondary routes, following another night of freezing temperatures.

219 people with Covid-19 were in public hospital intensive care units last night, the highest number since the pandemic began.

The Cabinet sub-Committee on Covid-19 will meet today to discuss extending Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions into next month.

Talks on resuming classes for children with special educational needs will continue today.

The awards recognise best practice projects in a range of topics covering Climate Action, biodiversity, protection of resources and prevention of waste.

Wicklow County Council is asking people in the county to take part in a survey which will help shape the County management’s Screen Sector Development Strategy over the next five years.

Irish Rail had entered a temporary agreement with the National Parks and Wildlife Service in 2019 to assist in the clearing of the bird habitat to prevent flooding but this agreement expired at the end of 2020.

The following arrangements are in place for Wicklow County Council Offices and the Municipal District Offices until the 31st of January 2021.

The Chief Medical Officer says it's hoped schools can reopen as soon as possible - but has warned the levels of Covid-19 transmissions are nowhere near where they need to be.

Unemployment is expected to peak at around 10 per cent in the third quarter of the year, according to the Central Bank.

The European Union is considering tougher travel restrictions to prevent the spread of Covid-19 variants across the bloc.

5.4 million euro is being invested in colleges to support students with disabilities.

Hauliers say the current system of border checks is worse than it was in the early 1970s.

Planning applications for maintenance and operational facilities at the proposed Arklow Wind Park are due to be lodged with Wicklow County Council by the spring.

The body of a woman in her early 30's has been found in a B&B in Dublin City Centre.

The Irish Road Haulage Association has delivered letters to the Taoiseach and the European Commission over measures affecting drivers since Britain left the EU.

Plans are moving forward with plans to provide a drive through vaccination centre in Blessington in West Wicklow.

Child Homelessness in Wicklow is to be discussed by Wicklow county Councillors for the next three months.

The Taoiseach says Level 5 Covid-19 restrictions will continue into February.

A woman's due in court in connection to a serious assault in Sligo town.

People will be able to access medicinal cannabis in Ireland in certain circumstances.

The Irish Medical Organisation is hopeful discussions with the Department of Health will resolve a dispute, which would have seen doctors go on strike this month.

Talks between teacher unions and the Department of Education on the return of special education will resume later.

Irish Water says the cold weather has led to a surge in demand in recent days.

Joe Biden's already undertaken his first official acts as US president, just hours after being sworn in.

Their cases were expected to be dealt with at district court level, but a judge refused to hear them there due to the seriousness of the alleged offences.

The new €2 billion plan was drawn up after thousands of submissions from people, with almost half concerned they'd lose their bus service and a quarter worried they'd have to get off one bus and onto another.

Reports today say a German Investment company has agreed to buy more than 100 apartments owned by Glenveagh properties at its Marina Village in Greystones.

Organisers of the St Patrick's Festival in Dublin have confirmed the 2021 street parade has been cancelled because of the Coronavirus. 

Plans for a co-living development in Donnybrook in Dublin have been given the go-ahead.

Joe Biden has delivered a message of unity as he begins his term as the 46th President of the Unites States.

Children with special needs will not be returning to the classroom this week after the Government was forced to abandon the plan.

An arrival date for the AstraZeneca vaccine to Ireland has not been finalised.

23% of residential properties nationally have an energy rating of E or lower.

4,236 homes were bought during the month of November, an increase of 6 per cent on the same month in 2019, according to figures from Revenue.

Colin Lacey, 44 years, who was reported missing from Castledermot, Co. Kildare has been located safe and well this afternoon.

Thousands of homes across Dublin could soon be hit with a ban on the use of bin bags by the City Council.

The €1.7 billion children's hospital project has been dogged by delays and budget overruns.

A new traffic management layout is in place on the N11 southbound carriageway between Junctions 7, the Bray south exit at Hills Garage and junction 8, the Roundwood exit at Kilmacanogue.

The number of people in hospital with Covid-19 has fallen slightly today.

The Chief Medical Officer has called on hospital managers to uphold the "highest standards" in administering Covid-19 vaccines

Cabinet is to consider a 91 million euro deal being put forward by the Health Minister Stephen Donnelly, that would see doctors and pharmacists administer Covid-19 vaccines to around 1.5 million people

Plans to reopen special schools and classes this week have been thrown into doubt.

A man's due in court in Kildare today, charged in connection with breaching Covid-19 travel restrictions.

A number of projects in Wicklow are set to benefit from funding announced yesterday under the Outdoor Recreation Infrastructure Scheme.

The Society of Chartered Surveyors expect residential property prices to increase by an average of 4 percent in 2021.

The man can’t be named in light of a Court of Appeal ruling last year that prohibits the identification of children who have been killed.

The Health Minister, Wicklow T.D. Stephen Donnelly says he’s aware that two children of the Master of the Coombe Hospital, were among a number of relatives of staff, who were given Covid vaccine doses

An infectious diseases specialist says a single bad outbreak of Covid-19 at a nursing home could put the hospital system over the edge.

The €25 million facility near the IFSC was given the go ahead in 2019.

Despite the regulations that people shouldn’t travel more than 5 kilometres from their home for recreational reasons, more than 170 people were fined in county Wicklow at the weekend, with around four hundred motorists sent home with a caution.

Unmonitored self-isolation for people arriving into Ireland is undermining efforts of stopping the spread of Covid-19, according to Sinn Féin.

Planners in Dublin believe the City Council's next development plan will have a record level of public involvement because of the lockdown.

Gardai seized cash worth over million euro in Dublin in a crackdown on an organised crime gang.

The decision's been welcomed by environmental groups, while others argue it will lead to increased fuel poverty.

Bus operators serving Dublin and North Wicklow are to reduce their timetables starting from next Monday due to a lack of demand during Covid-19 restrictions.

It’s understood Gardai in Terenure have launched an investigation to establish who was behind a large lighted mobile billboard sign which had been set up in Templeogue village,  telling people not to wear masks.

The Health Minister, Wicklow T.D. Stephen Donnelly, is facing pressure to explain why staff at a private hospital, that refused to sign up to a deal to provide extra beds to the HSE, were given the Covid-19 vaccine ahead of other healthcare workers.

Irish employees will have a legal right to ask to work remotely by September of this year.

A new bill will make it a criminal offence for grooming a child into a life of crime, with a maximum five year jail term for people who coerce children into the sale and supply of drugs.

A new survey from the Real Estate Alliance has found the price of an average three-bed semi detached house in Wicklow is expected to rise by 5 per cent over the next 12 months.

Dublin Rock Band Pillow Queens made their US television debut this week.

Planning permission has already been granted for over 9,000 residential units, and a number of schools and amenities.

Special schools and special needs students in primary schools will be able to return to classrooms from next week.

The Minister for Health Wicklow T.D. Stephen Donnelly says he is not concerned about a move by a Wicklow nursing home, hit by a Covid-19 outbreak, to seek volunteers from family members of residents, to help carry out duties in the facility.

Wicklow Lifeboat crew were called out yesterday after a fishing boat got into difficulty

Last night's Fianna Fáil parliamentary party meeting heard calls for this summer's Leaving Cert to be scrapped.

The Taoiseach has said Ireland embraced a "perverse religious morality" by turning a blind eye to Mother and Baby Homes.

Two men are due before the courts in South Dublin today in connection with the seizure of cash and €220,000 worth of drugs in South Dublin earlier this week.

Fine Gael has declined to comment on why it chose to re-admit three senators, stripped of the party whip over their attendance at the Oireachtas Golf Society event in Clifden last August, on the day of the publication of the landmark Mother and Baby Homes report.

The Taoiseach will make a formal state apology to Mother and Baby Home survivors in the Dáil today.

A 24 year old recovering drug addict from Wicklow who pleaded guilty to spitting blood and saliva into the faces of gardaí and a paramedic three years ago before telling them he had AIDs, was given a suspended prison sentence at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

The company behind plans to build a wind farm in West Wicklow is due to submit a planning application and environmental impact assessment report to the County Council later this week.

Plans to vaccinate the majority of people by the end of the summer is highly unlikely, according to an immunologist.

The government's new testing requirement for all international arrivals won't prevent more Covid-19 cases being imported, according to Sinn Fein.

Ireland's set to receive over 1 billion euro from the European Union this year to help it deal with Brexit.

A retired pilot living in Wicklow has been forced to prove twice to the department of Social Protection that he is alive, after officials at the Government department stopped his pension payment because they believed he had died.

The Chief Medical Officer is warning the high number of daily deaths linked to Covid-19 is likely to continue.

Focus Ireland believes the latest homeless death shows that earlier intervention is needed to help people who are vulnerable.

Out of the 18 homes examined by the Commission of Investigation, 9,000 children died.

A 47 year old Wexford man was brought before Wexford District Court yesterday charged in relation to Breaches of Covid-19 regulations.

Councillors in Dublin have moved to block plans for two co-living developments.

The Chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee says the Moderna Covid-19 vaccine will start arriving here this week.

Hazel Chu says there will be a process to identify any weaknesses during the trial period, and measures to ensure the quality of life in Sandymount is enhanced for everyone.

Plans to develop the Arklow to Shillelagh Greenway could be submitted to An Bord Pleanala by the end of the spring.

The European Medicines Agency says it expects an application for conditional marketing to be submitted by AstraZeneca next week.

Irish Rail says a revised and reduced schedule will operate across the rail network from Monday following the increased Covid-19 restrictions.

17-year-old Heran Eferem had been missing from Roundwood since New Year's Day.

€1 million was found in a van on the M7 after the vehicle was stopped by the Garda National Drugs and Organised Crime Bureau.

Entries from students in Colaiste Craobh Abhainn in Kilcoole, St Gerards in Bray and St Mary’s College in Arklow were among 1,300 from 213 schools nationwide that will compete for the top prize at the Young Scientist and Technology Exhibition over the next three days.

The Irish Farmers Association says despite the Covid-19 pandemic, criminals have continued to plague rural Ireland, with trailer and cattle thefts hitting record levels.

Training was officially cleared to recommence on January 15 but it has now been put back to the end of the month at the earliest.

The rise in expenditure came particularly for the Departments of Health and Social Protection in response to Covid-19.

The asking price for houses has increased by over 6% nationally, and by almost 5% in Dublin.

Despite hospitals being overloaded with high numbers of winter flu cases in recent years, the Health Minister, Wicklow T.D. Stephen Donnelly says there have been no recorded cases of the flu this year.

Covid-19 cases in County Wexford rose dramatically  over the festive period, with 722 confirmed cases of the virus between the 14th and 28th of December.

The number of new cars registered was down by 25% last year.

Gardai in Naas investigating a fatal assault in County Kildare, are continuing to appeal for information.

The competition, which has been held annually for the past 60 years, was cancelled during the summer due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

New Dublin City Council figures in today's Irish Times show the volume of traffic in the city centre reached 86% of pre-Covid levels by mid-December.

253 fewer people were recorded as homeless last month than in October.

There is growing opposition to a decision this week by Greystones Municipal district to pass a part 8 planning proposal.

It collected and disposed of almost 4,000 tonnes of rubbish in 2019 at a cost of over €1 million 170,000.

The Residential Tenancies Board Index shows average rent across the country is over €1,250 per month.

3 have been installed in the Arklow Municipal district area at Knockmore and Ferrybank in Arklow and one in Rathdrum.

It's the fifth time she has won the award.

The project team overseeing the Juction 4 to 14 upgrade of the M11/N11 has published the next stage of their work in selecting a route corridor for the upgrade works.