News Review of 2023: The Top Stories In Waterford (PART 2)
As we bid farewell to 2023, Waterford looks back on a year packed with stories that touched hearts and stirred conversations.
From movie magic at the Oscars, to local struggles and achievements, each tale has left its mark on our community.
Join us as we revisit the highs, lows, and important moments that made up the fabric of Waterford's news, events, and sports in 2023.
WLR's News, Current Affairs and Sports Review of the Year, featuring these and many more of the year's great stories and quirky features, airs on WLR from Wednesday to Friday December 27th to 29th between 10 and 12pm.
Standards issues at local nursing home…
The care of our elderly was brought into focus in 2023 with the closure of a number of nursing homes across the country and here in the South East
The Aperee nursing home in Ballygunner was taken over by the Health and Safety Authority after it didn’t meet certain standards demanded by HIQA.
Damien Tiernan had the details…..
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Ardmore housing shortages…
Housing issues in Ardmore came to a head this year following news that plans to construct a badly-needed 31-home social and affordable scheme for the area had collapsed.
With locals priced out of homes and lands having been sold for the development of holiday accommodation, there were tensions between a number of politicians - including Fianna Fail councillor Tom Cronin and Sinn Fein councillor Conor McGuinness.
Various meetings followed and Waterford Council stepped in to replace affordable housing body 'O'Cualann' to build a site.
Irish Examiner journalist Mick Clifford spoke to locals as the issue gained national attention.
WLR's own Jordan Norris made the trip to Ardmore where he spoke to Dick Lincoln from the Ardmore Strategic Housing Study Group.
The fallout continued, as Waterford Council committed to another meeting to clarify the current lie of the land.
Expressions of interest remain open for the scheme until December 31st of this year.
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Kilmacthomas woman Bridie Griffin celebrates 102nd birthday…
It was a special day in Kilmacthomas on Wednesday January 4th as the village's oldest resident, and one of its most popular ladies, celebrated her 102nd birthday.
Bridie Griffin, well-known to many across Waterford and beyond through her family's business Griffin's Garage, was born in 1921.
In 2021, when Bridie turned 100, a socially distant celebration was held outside Griffin's Garage at the height of Covid-19 restrictions.
However, this year, Bridie welcomed a steady stream of well-wishers to her home in Kilmacthomas throughout the day and spoke to WLR about how she was feeling on her special day.
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Craig Breen
Waterford Rally driver Craig Breen sadly passed away in April.
The Hyundai driver crashed in testing in Croatia back in April, losing his life at the age of 33.
He was Ireland's most successful export in the rally world.
Here we look back on the sad news of his passing and the response that has come since that day in April....
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Firefighters take to the picket lines…
In July of this year, retained firefighters across the country took to the picket lines in protest against unfair working conditions including pay, working hours and conditions within their contracts to be on call within a certain distance from their homes.
Almost 50 percent of firefighters took part in the stoppages, with 100 stations taking part across the country at first with further closures announced for the following week.
Stoppages also took place in Waterford where the stories were covered by the WLR News and Current Affairs Team.
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Mount Congreve re-opens as world-class tourism attraction…
Last March, Mount Congreve House and Gardens re-opened to the public following an almost 7 million euro investment by government, Failte Ireland, and Waterford City & County Council.
In the works since 2013, the final project result was unveiled last March and Dymphna Nugent attended the launch for WLR.
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Sinead O’Connor RIP
2023 was a year in which Ireland lost a number of music greats; Christy Dignam, Sinead O’Connor and most recently, the legendary Shane MacGowan.
The contribution of each to Irish music was immense.
In particular, Waterford had a strong connection to Sinead, who was educated at Newtown Secondary School where she credited teacher Joe Falvey for encouraging her music career at aged just 16 – and making it possible for her to pursue her dreams.
When the sad news broke in July of Sinead’s untimely death at the age of 56, WLR invited Joe into studio to talk about his famous past pupil.
Joe was also joined on air on Deise Today by local musician Liam Merriman who had his own encounters with Sinead.
And we even got to hear an exclusive in the form of some original music from a young Sinead, never heard before….
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WLR's News, Current Affairs and Sports Review of the Year, featuring these and many of the year's great stories and quirky features, airs on WLR from Wednesday to Friday December 27th to 29th between 10 at 12pm.
