Gardaí warned that economic crime was very prevalent across the city and county at a meeting of Kilkenny’s Joint Policing Committee in June. The latest crime statistics for Kilkenny were outlined at the meeting, which showed an increase in fraud and economic crime over the past 12 months. A garda spokesperson told the committee that ‘everyone is being targeted’ in these scams and highlighted one incident where a pensioner had half his life savings stolen during ‘a laptop takeover’. A survey by Irish Business Against Litter (IBAL) was published, showing Kilkenny retaining its ‘Cleaner than European Norms’ status, rising to eighth in the ranking of 40 towns and cities. The An Taisce report acknowledged the fact that Kilkenny is consistently high-ranking and noted that this ‘takes a lot of work on the part of many within the community’. Father Dan Bollard celebrated his Golden Jubilee this month, with a great crowd of parishioners and well wishers attending.Kilkenny hurling legend Eddie Brennan officially opened the Butler Garden Fairy Door Trail at Castlecomer Discovery Park. The team at Butler House collaborated with Community Education Kilkenny and some great local community groups once again on the new project. The victorious Kilkenny rugby team who took home the Provincial Towns Cup in April were acknowledged with a reception in City Hall. Kilkenny got a new mayor, with Cllr David Fitzgerald taking over from Cllr Andrew McGuinness. Meanwhile, Kilkenny hurling star TJ Reid and influencer Niamh de Brún revealed they were expecting a baby. A team of heroic Kilkenny cyclists took on the roads of America, taking on one of the longest and most challenging endurance cycling events in the world to raise funds for SOS Kilkenny. John Dowd, Phillip Culbert, Seamus Nash and Cathal Phillips got on their bikes in the Pacific coast town of Oceanside, in California, as part of a 3,000 mile trek across two deserts, three mountain ranges, through 12 states, across four of America’s longest
