"Why did John Carthy have to die?". That's the question and headline over a front-page editorial comment in this week's Longford Leader on the shooting by gardai of the 27-year-old Abbeylara man on Holy Thursday.
The editorial states that there seemed to be an element of American-style police methods brought to bear on the situation which was "totally over the top".
"Had more use been made of the local gardai and their knowledge of the local people this whole sorry and tragic saga would probably never have happened. Bringing in up to 60 `outside' members of the Garda and practically bypassing the local Gardai was a serious miscalculation."
The Limerick Leader reports that the State is refusing to recognise a marriage between a man and his fiancee six days before her death.
The marriage took place as Ms Marie Murphy, who suffered from chronic bronchitis, lay terminally ill in Limerick Regional Hospital.
Her husband, Mr Eamon O'Keefe, is distressed that now, a year later, her death certificate which gives her name as Marie Murphy O'Keefe describes her as a spinster.
The couple had planned to marry in August 1999 but Marie's illness intervened. They were married by the hospital chaplin but the Registrar of Marriages had not been given three months' notice of their intention to marry, which is required by law.
The Donegal Democrat reports that the Medical Council is to hold an inquiry into the alleged actions of a locum doctor who called to a house in the North Western Health Board region last October allegedly more than a day late and in a drunk and aggressive state.
The board held its own inquiry and published its findings in January. However, the family visited by the doctor felt many questions remained unanswered.
The Medical Council has written to the family saying it has decided there is a prima facie case for the holding of an inquiry concerning the doctor's professional conduct and his fitness to practise medicine. No date has yet been fixed for the inquiry.
An inquiry of a different kind is being sought in Wexford, according to the Gorey Guardian, into how planning permission was granted and construction work allowed on a house which must now be demolished to make way for the Gorey bypass.
Deputy Michael D'Arcy, who called for a top-level inquiry, is outraged. "This is an awful situation and we (the elected councillors) are being asked for answers. Until we can get answers ourselves from the officials, we are left looking stupid," he said.
A group of 25 to 30 people are "fully bent on creating havoc" in Athy, Garda Supt Maurice Regan told a meeting of the local UDC during an address on policing in the south Kildare area.
"We do not know what is to be done with these individuals. There are some in every town but there are worse ones here," he said. His comments are recorded in the Leinster Leader.
"These people have been in court regularly. They have been fined, punished and in some cases have gone to jail," the superintendent said, adding that they were giving the town a negative image. The UDC has been calling for a greater Garda presence in the town.
A young woman escaped serious injury on Easter Saturday when a lorry ploughed into her home, according to The Armagh Observer. Ms Paula Franz (28) was in her bedroom when she heard a lorry braking and thought there had been an accident outside. "She went to look out and the lorry just met her," her father, Paul, told the newspaper.
Ms Franz is recovering at Craigavon Area Hospital from a deep laceration and bruising.
The town of Mohill in Co Leitrim is stunned at the closure of its mart, reports the Leitrim Observer. The company operating the mart announced it was closing on April 25th so it could focus its attention on the development of another mart in Carnaross, Co Meath.
More than 300 people attended a hastily convened meeting in the town on Sunday to voice concern at the closure. Mart manager Mr Robert Nixon said the decision came out of the blue. "It's an awful bombshell," he said.
Cllr Enda Stenson added: "If Mohill loses its mart it has lost everything. Mohill has nothing else. This is a very serious situation."
The issue of asylum-seekers and their dispersal to the regions receives much coverage. Kerry's Eye reports that angry Tralee residents attended a packed meeting in the town to express their concern over the "shocking lack of communication" with them regarding plans to house 100 asylum-seekers in a luxury hotel outside the town.
Concerns over relationships between locals and asylum-seekers were expressed at the meeting. Cllr Billy Leen stated that he had been reliably informed that there were 18 young women around the Tralee area who had been made pregnant by asylum-seekers.