From the pages of the Down Recorder, January 25, 1995

From the pages of the Down Recorder, January 25, 1995

22 January 2025

POLITICS – South Down MP Eddie McGrady’s parliamentary future looks secure following the Boundary Commission decision to retain his seat.

The Commission announced last last night that it was throwing out plans to abolish the South Down seat in favour of a new Mid Down constituency, and was instead making several minor changes to the present boundaries.

The most significant of these changes is the transferring of the strongly Unionist Down Council wards of Derryboy, Killyleagh and Saintfield into the neighbouring constituency of Strangford.

It is also proposed to transfer the Banbridge Council wards of Dromore North, Dromore South, Gransha and Quilly, which are also predominantly Unionist, into adjoining Lagan Valley and to slightly alter the boundary with Newry and Mourne.

BALLYNAHINCH – The first 20mph speed limit to be enforced in a housing estate in the Province will be in operation in Ballynahinch before the end of March.

The news has been confirmed this week by senior officials with the Department of Environment’s Roads Service and the move has been welcomed by residents in the Carlisle Park and Loughside Drive areas.

DoE officials have taken the unprecedented step as a direct result of the number of motorists who continue to use the Carlisle Park estate as an unofficial by-pass.

The number of vehicles cutting through the estate has risen considerably and residents in the area have been campaigning for something to be done to slow down speeding motorists.

News of the introduction of the 20mph limit was confirmed by the DoE’s senior engineer at its Rathkeltair House base in Downpatrick.

Mr Alan Arlow said traffic calming measures, which are already in operation at Loughside Drive, will now be extended throughout the estate as part of a £50,000 scheme.

“The introduction of the 20mph speed limit is the first to be enforced at a housing estate anywhere in Northern Ireland and will affect traffic entering the estate from the Church Road, Crossgar Road and Windmill Street areas,” he said.

STRANGFORD LOUGH – The ill-fated speedboat, in which five men lost their lives last month, is being examined by the police, following its recovery from Strangford Lough last week.

As the 19ft boat was being salvaged by the nine-man team on Thursday afternoon, the only survivor of the tragedy, Mr Stephen Martin, joined relatives and friends of those who died, to watch it rise from the water.

The disaster, two days after Christmas, claimed the lives of five men who had been making their way home to Kircubbin from Sketrick Island on December 27.

The men had left Down CruIsing Club and had only travelled a short distance when their boat developed engine trouble and stopped close to Trasnagh Island.

As the craft began to take on water and sink, Mr Martin survived by swimming over a mile to the island.

The bodies of Hugo McCullough (30), Jackie McNamara (36) and Ron Grant (54), were recovered within hours, but despite an extensive search of the lough and the shoreline, no trace has been found of the other men, Chris Bell (33) and George Sweeney (39).

DOWNPATRICK – A group of mothers from a Downpatrick housing estate are banding together in a bid to force an end to paramilitary punishment beatings.

The mothers, from the Model Farm estate, say they have strong support in the estate for an end to the beatings which landed a young man in hospital with a broken leg on Saturday evening.

The situation has reached the stage where young men are told in advance that they will be attacked. One local mother, whose son has received such a message, says it is time “people power” forced the paramilitaries to stop the beatings.

The mothers’ actions come after the latest incident in Rathbeg Close shortly after 6pm on Saturday evening when two brothers were set upon by a gang of masked men.

The gang, who were all wearing balaclavas, used sledge hammers in the assault which left one brother with a double fracture of the leg and severe bruising to the body.

ARDGLASS – The province’s Agriculture Minister will be told today that the livelihoods of local fishermen are hanging in the balance, following last week’s decision to allow Spanish trawlermen into British waters.

The warning will be delivered by Ardglass man, Mr Dick James and other officials from the North Irish Fish Producers’ Organisation when they meet Baroness denton at Dundonald House for crunch talks.

The main focus during the meeting will centre on the extra money which has been made available for decommissioning purposes and the regulation mechanism used for determining quota levels.

Mr James says over 80 per cent of the Ardglass fleet fish for prawns, but the Government’s promise of extra quotas does not extend to prawn trawlermen.

LOUGHINISLAND – Relatives of the six men murdered at the Heights Bar in Loughinisland last June have been given an assurance that the search for their killers is continuing and that no stone will be left unturned.

The commitment was given during yesterday’s inquest into the pub massacre at the quiet country pub which made headlines around the world.

The senior police chief heading the investigation told the hearing in Downpatrick that despite the peace process, all efforts are being made to bring those responsible to justice.

Detective Superintendent David Russell described the incident at O’Toole’s bar as a “murderous attack on innocent people”.

The police chief, who was at the scene of the incident within minutes of the UVF gun attack, said customers watching the Republic of Ireland’s clash with Italy, were “sprayed indiscriminately and had no chance to escape the bullets”.

He described the scene inside the bar where three bodies lay on top of one another in a pool of blood. He also said another was lying at the toilets fatally injured and other men were being treated by police and paramedics for their injuries.

NEWCASTLE – The campaign to force Northern Ireland Electricity to reconsider plans to string a 33,000 volt cable across parts of an area of outstanding natural beauty, has reached a crucial stage.

On Monday morning, senior NIE chiefs met with officials from the Mournes Advisory Council to discuss the plan to string the cable across parts of the Seaforde, Clough, Dundrum and Newcastle countryside.

Today NIE are meeting South Down MP Eddie McGrady, while on Friday senior officials from the Planning Service’s Belfast headquarters meet with objectors and a number of local politicians.

NIE is refusing to locate all of the six-mile cable underground and says it cannot proceed until the Planning Service issues its verdict, which is expected to be announced before the end of February or early March.

DOWNPATRICK – The NI Tourist Board has made £2.1m available for the proposed St Patrick Centre project in Downpatrick, the second major funding allocation to the scheme.

Regeneration chiefs have been given an assurance that the cash will be available to add to the £1.6m already promised by the International Fund for Ireland.

The £2.1m is being provided to the Tourist Board through the European Regional Development Fund and it is thought other approaches have been made to Europe to secure the balance of the funding.