Two of the most pressing problems in the country are addressed in the Connacht Tribune. The editorial writer identifies roads and rubbish as the matters which cause most concern to citizens.
Taking Galway as an example, the writer says: "Both are equally important - one is the provision of a roads structure which is adequate to take the burgeoning traffic which appears to be part of the `Celtic Tiger' and with which we cannot cope.
"And the other, an equally basic need: somewhere to put the mountains of rubbish which are also an unpleasant adjunct of huge development in recent years."
Incineration is a widespread topic in several of the regional newspapers and the same newspaper reports that "anti-dump protesters in east Galway have called on local farmers to reject offers in the region of £15,000 an acre for their lands from a private Dublin-based waste management company".
Elsewhere, Irishmen abroad are making local news. The Midland Tribune has a photograph of Darren Hanniffy from Birr practising his hurling skills in Honduras where he is working with the third-world charity organisation GOAL, while the Meath-based Weekender reports that Navan man and actor, Pierce Brosnan, has had talks with the Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan, with a view to doing some voluntary work with the UN.
The Kilkenny People reports that local man Jim Kavanagh is to lead a team of volunteers on a humanitarian trip to Albania "with goods (to be distributed) among the people of Europe's forgotten, poverty-stricken nation".
In the same paper are featured two centenarians, Michael O'Dwyer and Bridie Phelan, neighbours in the city, who had a joint birthday party and were pleasantly surprised when the Kilkenny hurling captain, Willie O'Connor, and "sharpshooter" D. J. Carey turned up with the All-Ireland trophy, the Liam McCarthy Cup.
The Leitrim Observer is concerned about job losses in the county. "Is Leitrim becoming an unemployment black-spot once again?" it asks.
"Since last October, the closure of a number of small companies has resulted in an accumulation of some 130 jobs in the county. The threat of closure hangs over other companies and this has now created an air of gloom in a county which has experienced considerable investment and job creation," the front-page report by Donal O'Grady says.
THE Leitrim Observer also reports that the dumping of a dead calf and boxes of clothes near Lurganboy has caused much concern among residents of the village.
On a brighter note the paper reports that Nevan Maguire from Blacklion in Cavan is going to France to take part in the "Chef of the Year" competition and that seven young people from Leitrim are travelling to Ontario in Canada where they will take part in a "Wider Horizons" programme in cultural business and tourism initiative next month.
Good news also arrives from Kerry where the Kingdom reports that Tralee teenager Antoin O Gadhra has been awarded Duais an Chathaoirligh by the Kerry Education Service for completing his Leaving Certificate in Irish.
The Drogheda Independent reports that two sisters are looking forward to a visit from a brother they haven't seen for 50 years and who they believed was dead. Patrick Joseph Bird left home in 1949 and now lives in Australia.
His sisters, Kitty Stewart and Rose McGovern, re-established contact when their brother wrote to the Drogheda Independent in an attempt to get in touch.
The Western People regrets the loss of 300 jobs in Ballina and Ballyhaunis. The factories of Elastomers in Ballina, which made parts for car components, and Dawn Meats in Ballyhaunis are "shedding jobs" before the end of the year.
Christy Loftus reports that a proposed gas terminal at Bellanaboy in north Mayo is "stalled" by the Mayo County Council because it is "not satisfied that it has sufficient information" to accept the project, which would cost £100 million.
"The application has met with some local opposition (who have been) expressing fears about the impact of the development in the area".