Talented Sligo chef Ethna Reynolds was the big winner from Sligo at the Connaught heats of the Irish Restaurant Awards.

Held on Tuesday evening in the Radisson Blu Hotel in Sligo, the awards named the best restaurants, gastro pubs and chefs in the province.

Ethna Reynolds, who set up her own cafe, Nook, in Collooney last year, was named Best Chef in Sligo at the awards, and her cafe picked up the Best Sligo Newcomer in Sligo.

It is the second Newcomer award for Ethna, who started writing a monthly column in the Sligo Weekender in February of this year. She also won the prestigious Georgina Campbell Newcomer award.

Other winners at the Irish Restaurant Awards included Connolly’s Pub (Best Sligo Pub), Hargadon’s (Best Sligo Wine Experience), Lang’s Bar & Restaurant (Best Sligo Casual Dining), Lyons Cafe (Best Sligo Customer Service), The Draft House (Best Sligo Gastro Pub), Diamond Coast Hotel (Best Sligo Hotel Restaurant) and Eala Bhan (Best Sligo Restaurant).

All of the county and regional winners will be nominated for the All Ireland Restaurant Awards, which will be held in Dublin on May 8.

Private bus operators serving the Sligo area have reported being inundated with calls from people seeking alternative transport since the Bus Eireann strike began last Friday.

And there were threats yesterday, Wednesday, that the dispute could escalate to involve other CIE companies, such as Iarnrod Eireann and Dublin Bus.

The school transport service could also be affected.

Fureys Coaches in Sligo, which operates a regular service to and from Dublin on Fridays and Sundays, as well as coach and mini-bus hire, have had a lot of calls since last Friday.

“There have been a lot of people on, the phones have been very busy”, a spokesperson told the Sligo Weekender yesterday, Wednesday.

The spokesperson said that if the trains were off as well there would probably be a lot more people calling on them to try and get to Dublin.

The Sligo-Dublin train service resumed after a temporary stoppage on Friday. Although Irish Rail is not involved in the dispute, railway staff in Sligo did not pass pickets at the bus depot on Friday but services resumed on the following days.

Fureys do not operate on the other main Expressway service through Sligo, from Galway to Derry, but a regular service on that route is run by Donegal-based Feda O’Donnell.

They say they have had a lot of extra passengers and have been putting on extra buses to deal with the demand.

But despite the private services a lot of people have been badly affected by the lack of Bus Eireann buses, not just on the Expressway routes, but on local services, such as Strandhill to Rosses Point and other towns in Sligo and Leitrim.

The local service in Sligo town has also inconveniced a lot of people, particularly elderly people.

Bus Eireann staff on the picket line in Sligo have said that it is not a place that they want to be but they feel they have no alternative.

They are hoping for a quick resolution of the dispute but yesterday union leaders nationally were warning of the action escalating.

Dermot O’Leary, the general secretary of the National Bus and Railworkers Union (NBRU), claimed the Government and CIÉ are running the risk of bringing the entire transport network to a halt.

“Come this weekend if this dispute is on, it will be even more difficult,” he said.

By John Bromley

Sligo County Council is keeping its ban on fracking in the county as part of its new county development plan.

Councillors unanimously rejected a recommendation from Council CEO Ciaran Hayes at a meeting today, Monday, that the ban be removed.

Last June members backed a proposal from Independent councillor Declan Bree to include a comprehensive ban on hydraulic fracturing or fracking as it is more commonly known.

However, as part of the public consultation process a submission was received from the Director of the Northern & Western Regional Assembly Mr David Minton, stating that such planning policy bans are ultra vires (beyond the council’s power) and accordingly should not be incorporated in the plan.

There was also a submission from the Department of Housing, Planning, Community and Local Government suggesting that in view of ongoing research and broader legislative amendments a council policy on fracking “may be premature”.

In his report on submissions received, CEO Mr Hayes recommended that the proposed section banning fracking be removed.

The report referred to the Bill before the Dail (proposed by Deputy Tony McLoughlin) calling for the banning of fracking and an EPA report on the subject.

It also pointed out that in the meantime the 2013 moratorium on the licensing of fracking, pending the outcome of the EPA led research, remained in place.

However, at a meeting considering the CEO’s report, Cllr Bree proposed that the ban on fracking be retained in the development plan and councillors unanimously backed this.

By Majella McTiernan

Tributes have been pouring in from all over the world for US singer and composer, Chuck Berry, who passed away aged 90 last Saturday.

Regarded as one of the biggest influences of pre-Beatles rock and roll, he was most well-known for such songs as ‘Johnny B. Goode’, ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and ‘Sweet Little Sixteen’.

What is perhaps less well-known is that the renowned musician visited Sligo in August 1981 to perform at a music festival in the village of Ballisodare.

The festival, run by brothers Philip and Kevin Flynn, began in 1977 and drew crowds from 4,000 rising to 20,000 into the Sligo village.

Philip Flynn this week recalled his memories of the famed guitarist and singer as someone who not only electrified the crowd but also one who was quite particular in his demands.

“We had to fly him in directly from Los Angeles where he lived and back out again and naturally of course first class tickets,” he told Ocean FM.

“It was interesting just dealing with him because he was very particular and everything had to be just so, as they say, I mean right down to the car that had to be supplied to him.

It was a Mercedes S280 SE at the time and it specifically had to be that car, and it had to be waiting for him at Dublin airport, and if you didn’t have that precise car there was a risk that he’d get back on the plane and go home again.

“So we had to make sure we found that particular car, mainly because, as the agent told us, that’s the car Chuck owned himself and the trunk, or what we call the boot, was the right size for his cases.”

His appearance in the Sligo festival, The Boys of Ballisodare, in 1981 saw him headline ahead of other such stars as Christy Moore, Richard Thompson and Ralph McTell.

The event was the first Irish all-weekend outdoor music festival and lasted for 6 seasons.

A man who had been described as being in a serious condition after a boat capsized off Aughris Head in west Sligo at the weekend is recovering well.

On Sunday last, eight people were rescued by the Sligo Bay RNLI Lifeboat. They were aided in their efforts by the Rescue 118 helicopter.

At approximately 11.25 on Sunday morning, the RNLI was tasked by the Coast Guard to rescue divers from the Leitrim Sub-aqua Diving Club off the Aughris coast following a mayday.

The vessel had capsized with all eight people onboard.

Luckily, the volunteer lifeboat crew with Sligo Bay RNLI had just launched on exercise when they were diverted to the incident and arrived on scene at 11.43am.

The lifeboat crew rescued all eight people from the water and one man was airlifted to hospital by the Irish Coast Guard helicopter Rescue 118.

It is understood that this man is recovering well. On Sunday, the man was described as being in a serious condition.

The remaining seven men were taken to Aughris Pier where one person was taken by ambulance to hospital. Following the rescue the lifeboat crew returned to the scene to tow the vessel back to the pier.

Given the events of the last week which have seen ongoing efforts in the search for the crew from Rescue 116 off the Mayo Coast, Sligo Bay RNLI Lifeboat Operations Manager Willie Murphy praised the professionalism of the RNLI and Coast Guard with the rescue operation.

“In what has been a difficult week with the loss of Rescue 116 and the ongoing search for her crew, this morning’s callout shows that the professionalism and dedication of the search and rescue community remains unchanged,” he said.