Month: September 2005

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A FARMER who bulldozed more than 6,000 mature trees, some of them in a her- itage area, has been fined €10,000 and ordered to re- plant the woodland.

Judge Joseph Mangan 1m- posed the fine after hearing that the farmer sold — for €5,000 — the wood he chopped down at Cullane House, between Quin and Tulla.

In a landmark decision, Judge Mangan said he would give Cormac Quigley, of Bohegar in Brittas, County Limerick, two months to pay the money. Quigley pleaded guilty to the charge of felling the trees without a licence.

The court heard that the prosecution was taken by the Minister for Agriculture after Forest Service Inspec-

tor John Flanagan acted on a complaint that mature broadleaf trees were being cut down.

“T estimate that 6,375 trees were removed. The average age of the trees was 50 years and some were in a National Heritage area,’ the Inspector said.

In mitigation, Quigley told the court that he cut the trees because there was an ongo- ing problem with vandalism in that area of the wood- land.

“There were constantly drinking parties and stolen cars been driven around. I took some of the smaller trees out, so that thuggery would have no place to hide,” he said.

Local garda Vincent Walsh gave evidence of an “ongo- ing problem with joyriding in that area for the last five or

six years’. The problem had stopped since the farmer cut down the trees, but he added that he believed that the fact that Quigley had “put locked gates on the property, was probably the main _ deter- Ks) 0d

Asked whether he knew that he was supposed to have a licence to fell the trees, Quigley said that he did know, but did not know at the time.

When Judge Mangan asked what happened to the chopped trees, Quigley said he sold the wood for €5,000.

Prosecuting, State Solici- tor Martin Linnane said that the law “gives the Minister power to order the defend- ant to replant the trees and it is the Minister’s intention to make such an order in this or one

AA Ireland has rolled out a new state-of- the art technology across its patrol force to assist with diagnosing car faults even quicker at the roadside for its 270,000 members.

With a total of 110,000 breakdowns to attend to per year, the technology should further improve AA Ireland’s 80 per cent roadside repair rate and reinforce its ‘Go- not-Tow’ policy.

The €75 million investment by the AA in the UK and Ireland means that AA Ire- land’s patrols will be kitted out with diag- nostic equipment in specially re-enforced

laptops.

Designed by the AA, the VIXEN (Ve- hicle Inspection crossed with Electronic Notebook) notebook enables patrols to diagnose vehicle faults quicker at the roadside.

The system uses CRYPTON vehicle service information combined with a knowledge database of experience learned in the field by AA patrols, allowing AA staff to collate and share knowledge.

“VIXEN represents years of research and development for the AA,” explains public affairs manager Conor Faughnan.

“This major investment is a revolution-

ary step in the diagnosis of automotive faults and is the greatest single leap in patrol communications since the adop- tion of the two-way radio in the 1940s. It is, quite simply, the future of roadside assistance.”

As technology has advanced cars are now increasingly reliant on computerised ‘brains’ — the Electronic Control Module or ECU — to regulate their ignition, trans- mission, anti-lock brakes and other vital systems.

A plug-in device allows the AA Patrol to interrogate this electronic ‘brain’ to discover what the problem is using the VIXEN system.

CONSTRUCTION work on Ennis’s_ long-delayed €24 million flood defence system is expected to commence in [PA veteyeisatcmmnb eaten

As the Gulf States in the United States struggled to roa} 0) oom ALO ME NO CoMmB ENON O:CeLmmEO)E Hurricane Katrina, Ennis Town Councillors heard how irretrievable damage has al- ready have been done to the town’s flood plains.

Cllr Donal O’Bearra (GP) said, “What has happened in New Orleans has shown that you cannot mess with nature. Ennis had severe flooding in 1995 and 1999 and every winter it is something that we worry about.”

Cllr O’Bearra said that Ennis had already made the same mistakes as New Or- leans in allowing housing be built on flood-plains.

He said, “New Orleans didn’t have the proper flood

defences in place, so it is 1im- portant that the government ensures that there is adequate protection for Ennis”.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) said that the delay in putting in place the defences was “unacceptable”’.

He said, “As a resident of Mill Road at the time of the 1995 and 1999 floods, we were told on both occasions that the council would be treating the issue with urgen- cy, yet we are now 10 years on and no relief system has been put in place.”

Cllr Flynn claimed that the “unacceptable delay at cen- tres such as Clonmel, Kil- kenny and Carlow receiving flood defence works is more evidence of the lack of prior- ity that the Fianna Fail-PD Government is giving to En- TN

He said: “At the moment, what is going on is only a pa- per exercise and I will only believe that work will com-

mence on the flood defences when I see a contractor on site. Of course, the delays in commencing the scheme has resulted in the cost of it dra- matically increasing.”

In a report to councillors on the issue from the council’s executive, they were told that the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and planning documents were substantially completed.

The report states, “It is envisaged at this stage that

exhibition — the planning process used by the Office of Public Works — will com-

mence on October 3 next. The project will be on exhibition in the Council’s headquarters for a period of four weeks to facilitate members of the public who wish to make sub- missions. All going well, the target remains to be in a posi- tion to commence construc- tion work some time during the third quarter of 2006.”