The Anglo-Celt Review of the year – January
A Terrible Tragedy
The body of mum of five Annie Heyneman (55), née McLoughlin, was found on Saturday night, January 11. She had been stabbed a number of times. Her husband Henk (60s), a native of Holland who previously worked as a porter at the Slieve Russell Hotel, also suffered serious injuries during the incident, including to his head. He remained in hospital where his condition was described as “stable”. A man, aged in his 30s and understood to be known to the “popular” local couple, was arrested a distance away from their home at Kilnavert, at a local takeaway premises, shortly after 9:30pm, at which stage the alarm was raised.
Six seek Seanad seats
SIX local names - including two sitting councillors and a former TD – put their names forward to contest the Seanad elections. Along with three returning from last term - Fianna Fáil’s Diarmuid Wilson (Admin Panel) and Robbie Gallagher (Labour) and Fine Gael’s Joe O’Reilly (Labour) - new to the fray were Sinn Féin’s Pauline Tully who lost her Dáil seat in November’s General Election, Fine Gael’s Carmel Brady, and Aontú’s Sarah O’Reilly.
Over 250 drivers arrested in festive period
During the period from December 20-29, there were a total of eight fatalities on Irish roads and 18 serious collisions, which resulted in 20 people receiving serious and life-threatening injuries. Over this same period, An Garda Síochána carried out over 2,500 checkpoints. A total of 268 people were arrested for driving under the influence of an intoxicant (alcohol and drugs). One driver stopped in Kingscourt tested positive for cocaine, cannabis and also opiates.
Mum-to-be dies in Border crash
A YOUNG Cavan woman, killed in a car crash two days before Christmas, was expecting her first baby, her funeral mass was told. Amy Stokes (née Reilly) from Ballyconnell had only recently discovered the good news. Her funeral mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Ballyconnell heard how “two lives were lost” in the single-vehicle collision on the Ballyconnell Road out of Derrylin shortly before 11pm on Monday, December 23. The 20 year old was a passenger in the silver Vauxhall Astra and pronounced dead at the scene. The other occupants of the car were taken to hospital for treatment for non-life threatening injuries.
‘We left that house in our bare feet, with nothing’
“WE’D live out of a tent if we have to, just to stay together,” says a Cavan mother who “lost everything” when her council house burned down in January. Marie O’Rourke believes she and her family are “lucky to be alive” after a blaze started outside the front door of her now former home at Breffni Terrace, Cavan Town, in the early hours of Friday morning, January 17. The mum of six - three children under 16 years - woke to “a loud bang like a fire rocket” followed by another minutes later. If it wasn’t for her 16 year old “hero” son Tyler, who helped guide his younger siblings Maisey (11) and MJ (13) down the smoke-filled staircase to safety, Marie believes the outcome “really doesn’t bear thinking about”.
Ukrainian national killed in road accident
A FATAL road traffic collision on the N54 near Cloverhill claimed the life of a Ukrainian national living in Ireland, Dmytro Yefimenko. Mr Yefimenko was walking when the accident occurred at Plush, Cloverhill, late on Saturday night, January 18. His death represented the first fatality on local roads in 2025. Mr Yefimenko lived at Main Street, Ballinagh and he was remembered at a ceremony at Lakelands Funeral Home.
After the Storm
EMERGENCY community hubs were continuing to provide services across Cavan as significant numbers of people were stranded without power and water due to Storm Éowyn which landed on January 24. As of January 28, tens of thousands of local homes and businesses remained without basic utilities after the unprecedented damage caused to networks by Storm Éowyn. Despite a Herculean round the-clock effort to restore services, the worst affected areas were predicted to be left without electricity for another week, while boil water notices had been issued in places where water has been restored but treatment plants are under severe pressure.