Month: March 2007

THE IFA have launched a major of- fensive against the bureaucracy in- volved in on farm inspections this week by circulating a 66 page docu- ment which they claim contain all the possible questions which could be posed to farmers during inspec- tions.

The document, which was circu- lated to a range of politicians and member of the media, is designed to show exactly how much bureaucracy faced by farmers.

According to IFA President, Pa- draig Walshe, the IFA is taking the

bureaucratic Department inspection checklist to all TDs, Senators and political candidates in a nationwide information campaign which he says is gaining reactions of shock and dis- belief.

“Political representatives cannot believe that the Department of Ag- riculture would subject any farmer to a checklist which runs to 66 pages, covering 1,450 different questions, sections and permutations, and re- quires the Department inspectors signatures in 28 different places,” he said.

“When Franz Fischler agreed the new Single Payment system, it was

never intended that 135,000 farmers in Ireland would live in daily fear of an unannounced inspection,’ the IFA President continued.

The Minister for Agriculture must realise that young people will not pursue a future in farming knowing that they will spend their life looking over their shoulder for a Department inspector.”

The IFA believe that the require- ments in the current Department checklist are incomprehensible to farmers and the checklist goes way beyond a reasonable interpretation of the EU regulations.

“In 2006, over 7,500 thousands

farmers were targeted for on-the-spot inspections by the Department under the SPS,” he said. “Over 30 per cent of farmers inspected were deemed to be in breach of the requirements by the Department of Agriculture and 1,389 farmers were penalised finan- GEUINA

“Many 2006 inspections by the De- partment involved no notice whatso- ever to the farmer, more than one 1n- spector and return visits to the farm. The IFA is determined to secure fair play and full recognition of the rights of farmers under the Depart- ment of Agriculture farm inspection 1uss:a bas onl

CLARE farmer and chairperson of ICMSA’s Beef and Cattle Com- mittee has added his voice to the esrowing amount of people demand- ing that the testing limit for BSE be increased. According to figures from the EU Commission, the number of BSE cases in the EU fell by a mas- sive 40 per cent last year. As a result of this McMahon is calling for the BSE testing age be increased from 30 to at least 36 months.

According to Mr McMahon the

ICMSA secured such a commitment in “Toward 2016’ he believes that the Department of Agriculture and Food should now seek approval from the EU Commission to raise the age of BSE testing.

“Given these latest figures pub- lished by the EU Commission show- ing a 40 per cent reduction in BSE cases, itis very clear that our controls are working,” he said. “Indeed, the improvement in Ireland is even bet- ter than the EU in general, given that the number of cases fell by 60 per cent in 2006, and given the current

controls, this trend will continue.

‘The sums involved in BSE testing are a very substantial cost on farm- ers at a time when margins are very tight. It is essential that all unneces- sary costs are taken out of the sys- tem and the problems facing winter finishers at this time clearly show the need for this as well as increased beef prices. It is ICMSA’s firm view that given the age profile of BSE cas- es, this is now an unnecessary cost on farmers.”

The animals in question are typi- cally steers in which no case of BSE

has been found in Ireland to date.

“The ICMSA estimates that the cost on farmers is about €6 million annu- ally for testing male cattle between 30 and 36 months – the figures would seem to indicate that this money is being wasted,” he continued.

“A commitment has been given in “Towards 2016’ to seek this age in- crease and ICMSA 1s calling on the Department to immediately carry through on this commitment and in- deed, examine all BSE related regu- lations and remove those that are no longer required.”

FARM families in the Miltown Mal- bay, Corofin and Ballyvaughan ar- eas can now avail of a free weekly outreach service to access informa- tion on welfare entitlements, farm schemes and training opportunities.

The North Clare Farm Family Sup- port Service will host open and free clinics in these areas each week and are inviting farmers on low incomes to attend.

“We are offering a one to one for farm families – to help them identify the different ways which they can identify ways of increasing their in- come,” said Gerry McDonagh of the

farm support service.

“Every farmer on low income will have different need. It may be that social welfare is the way to go for some while others might be better off looking at on farm activities such as REPS.

“Other might be more suited to looking for off farm employment and we can help them find the training that they need to explore this.”

The service 1s now equipped to pro- vide farm families with an on-the- spot estimation of their entitlements under the range of Social Welfare schemes including the State Pensions and Farm Assist. Over 400 farm families throughout the county are

currently availing of this latter enti- tlement which is worth an average of €168 per week per household.

Many more Clare farming families may be eligible for the payment than currently avail of it. This is on ac- count of the less stringent means test associated with Farm Assist relative to other means tested schemes and the 14 per cent fall in farm income last year.

The outreach clinics will take place at the Parochial Hall Miltown Mal- bay from 10.30am to 12.30pm each Tuesday. They will move to the Her- itage Centre, Corofin from 2pm until 4pm on Tuesday while the service is based in St John’s Hall, Bally-

vaughan from 12.30pm until 2.30pm on Thursdays.

The North Clare Farm Family Sup- port Service is strictly confidential. Farmers can contact Gerry McDon- agh, Rural Resource Worker at 065- 7072467 or 086-8544036 for a home visit. They are also welcome to call to the office in Monastery House, Parliament St, Ennistymon or to any of the new outreach locations.

The service is administered by the County Clare Cohesion Process and is an initiative funded by the De- partment of Community, Rural and Gaeltacht Affairs under the Local Development Social Inclusion Pro- eramme (LDSIP).

A YOUNG man who verbally abused staff at a hospital where he was be- ing treated has been sentenced to one month in detention.

Jonathan Kenny (18), of Elm Drive, John Paul Estate, Kilrush, was con- victed of engaging in threatening,

abusive or insulting behaviour at En- nis General Hospital, on January 6 ENe

Garda Siggins told Kilrush District Court that he was on patrol in Ennis on the morning in question.

He received a call that a young per- son was receiving treatment at Ennis General Hospital and that he had be-

come aggressive after he woke up.

The garda went to the scene and said he saw him “pulling out draw- ee

He said that the accused was threat- ening to staff at the hospital and had to be restrained in the public area.

“I believed he was under the influ- ence of some kind of drug,” said the

garda.

Defending solicitor Pat Enright said his client had received drugs at the hospital, where he was treated for an alleged assault.

“He had a injury to his forehead. He received an horrific injury. It was a very, very serious wound. He was very upset about it. He was giving

out about the man who did it to him,” said the solicitor.

Judge Joseph Mangan sentenced the accused to one month’s detention at St Patrick’s Institution.

Mr Enright asked the judge to sus- pend this but he refused. He fixed recognisances in the event of an ap- peal.

A YOUNG woman has told a court that she has become a “very different person” as a result of being stabbed, while she worked at an Ennis hotel.

Mia Buena (30), a Filipino national, was waitressing at the Auburn Lodge Hotel on January 2, when she was approached and stabbed in the back with a knife.

The accused, Tommy Dormer (33), of 11 Ashfield Park, Gort Road, En- nis, pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Court to assaulting Ms Buena, caus- Thokcap ates am ercvw eee

The victim told the court she has suffered gravely as a result of the stabbing, both physically and men- NOAA

“I thought it was my fault. I was blaming myself because I didn’t see it coming,” she said.

“I still haven’t been able to go back to the place where it happened,’ she Said.

She said her family in the Philip- pines depend on her and she is un- able to support them at the moment.

She said that under the conditions of her work permit, she should be working, but is unable to and now fears she will be deported.

She said she understands what the accused 1s going through.

Outlining the facts of the case to

the court, Detective Sergeant Joe O’Brien said Ms Buena has worked at the Auburn for five years and the accused regularly visits the hotel.

On the evening in question, he went into the bar where Ms Buena was serving customers.

“For no apparent reason whatso- ever, Tommy Dormer stabbed her in the back with a knife,’ he said. She sustained a stab wound to the shoul- Coe

He then went to a neighbouring house and requested that the emer- gency services be called.

The garda told the court the ac- cused said, “I’m on a mission of mer- cy.” While he waited for gardai to arrive, he said Hail Marys and Our Fathers. He said that Dormer said that “voices were telling him to do these things”.

He said the accused suffers from psychiatric problems and over the years there were several incidents of self-mutilation.

Judge Carroll Moran asked where the knife was recovered and the garda replied, “It was left in her back, my Lord”’.

Defence barrister Lorcan Connolly said his client suffers from chronic schizophrenia and that he put the blame for the incident firmly on his own psychiatric problems.

He said his client has never been in

trouble before and “all of a sudden he leaves his home and suddenly com- mits an act against a person who had been very good to him in the past”. He asked that the case be put back,

with the accused remaining in cus- tody, until a regime could be put in place, possibly in Cluain Mhuire, which the court would be satisfied with, on an interim basis.

Judge Carroll Moran adjourned the case until next month, for a Proba- tion Report to be completed.

A 17-YEAR-OLD youth has been convicted of assaulting a schoolboy during a school lunchbreak in Kil- Mut ee

Kilrush District Court heard that a 15-year-old boy — who is from west Clare — was walking along Moody’s Lane on January 9 last, when he met the accused and another individual,

who was not before the court.

The boy was repeatedly hit to the face with a clenched fist. The court was told that the accused urged the other individual to join in. He reluc- tantly did so. The young victim even- tually managed to run away.

He sustained a black eye, soft tis- sue damage to the nose, a lump to the side of the head and two lumps to the forehead.

The accused, who cannot be named because of his age, told the court that the young boy called him and his friend “scumbags and knackers,” and he then hit him.

The accused said the 15-year- old “doesn’t come into Kilrush any neuen

Supt Joe McKeown, prosecuting, asked him, “Why does he not come into Kilrush any more? … Because

of you.”

Supt McKeown added that the ac- cused has made life “a misery” for the boy and his family, but the ac- cused replied that this was not the OF Ton

“They have made my life a mis- ery, he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan convicted the youth of assault and fined him PAULO}

A COURT has heard that a man Set fire to a house in west Clare, causing more than €100,000 in the process.

Bart Russell (59), of The Mews, Kilrush Road, Ennis, pleaded guilty to damaging a house by fire at Moy- glass Beg, Mullagh, in April 2005.

He also admitted a charge of crim- inal damage, at the same house, also in April 2005.

Sgt Joe Hehir told the court that the unoccupied house — the prop-

erty of Thomas and Mary Clancy — had been broken into and all the windows in the house had been bro- ken with a hammer.

Referring to the fire incident, he said the house was totally engulfed in flames and €120,000 damage was caused.

The court heard the accused is a voluntary patient in the acute psy- chiatric unit at Ennis General Hos- pital. He admitted his involvement in the incident.

Sgt Hehir said the injured parties have suffered gravely as a result of

what happened.

Defence barrister Michael Collins said his client suffers from bipolar disorder and has attempted suicide on a number of occasions.

“The case could not have been proved against him, but for his ad- missions,” said the barrister.

“This man is a serious risk to himself and needs active treatment, treatment he is getting at present,” he said.

He said his client was not a can- didate for an immediate custodial sentence and he said he was propos-

ing to the court that the psychiatric treatment would continue.

Judge Carroll Moran said he un- derstood the accused needed treat- ment and said he needed a sentence which was structured to include that treatment.

“We are going to try and help him, so long as he co-operates with us,” he said.

He adjourned the case until next month and ordered that the accused continue as a voluntary inpatient in the psychiatric unit, unless he 1s re- leased into the custody of his sister.

CLARE is falling behind its Mid- west neighbours in the size of dis- posable income and total income per person new figures reveal.

The figures released by the Central Statistics Office (CSO) show that dis- posable income per person in Clare has jumped from €8,554 in 1995 to €17,993 in 2004.

However, the report published last week shows that the average dispos- able income in Clare still lags behind that of people living in Limerick and north Tipperary.

The statistics show that the dispos- able income per person in Limerick has climbed from €9,109 in 1995 to €19,500, while in north Tipperary, the average disposable income per person has climbed from €8,998 in 1995 to €18,312.

The figures also show that the aver- age disposable income in Clare falls behind that of the mid-west average of €8,924 in 1995 to €18,828 in 2005.

The figures show that Clare was six per cent lower than the state average while Limerick was slightly above the state average. The figures also show that Clare was falling behind in esti- mates of total income per person.

In 1995, the figures show that the average total income in Clare was 10,602, climbing to €22,402 in 2004, with Limerick’s income fig- ures going up from €11,322 in 1995 to €24,185.

The figures again show that the average total income falls below the mid-west average of €24,185.

The figures show that the Dublin region had the highest disposable in- come per person of the eight regional authority areas, being 11.8 per cent above the State average in 2004.

At county level, the only coun- ties that had an average disposable income per person in excess of the State average were Dublin, Limer- ick, Kildare and Cork.

Green party election candidate, Brian Meaney said last night, “These figures should act as a wake-up call to the State agencies charged with at- tracting inward investment into Clare and helping to create indigenous en- terprise.

It is anticipated that the figures would show that the Shannon-En- nis corridor would show disposable income levels higher than the na- tional average, but that the more pe- ripheral areas of Clare would show a large drop on the national average income.

, Dr Walsh said, “I don’t have doubts that I will be retir- ing in three years time.”

Dr Walsh is now 72 and has been Bishop since 1995.

He explained yesterday that it was mandatory for bishops to offer their resignation at 75.

‘In some cases, they ask people to stay on, but they generally tend to be

accepted. That said, Archbishop Con- nell was asked to stay on two years in Dublin and Cardinal Daly was asked to stay on for an extra three years in Armagh,” he said.

“Generally speaking, most of the time, the process of appointing a new bishop begins around the time you reach 75.

“The result is that very often, it 1s six months or at the outset 12 months later that the new appointment is made. Generally speaking, the resig- nation is accepted at 75.

“IT was just 60 when I was appointed and that is 15 years and I think really that in 15 years you have given most

of what you can give in that period and I think it is good that there will be fresh ideas and fresh energy.

“It is important one doesn’t remain on too long and one doesn’t have the same energy at 75 as one had at 40. Thankfully, my health is very good and I can still do a very full day’s work.”

Earlier in the interview, Dr Walsh said, “Part of my calling over the past 15 years as bishop has been to deal with the very tragic issue of sexual abuse which happened over a long period in the past.

“I see part of my calling to try to bring healing to victims of abuse

and I regard that to some degree as a privilege to try to bring healing to these people who have been hurt.”

He added, “As the age profile of priests has advanced, I regard it as my task as bishop to give some leadership towards a new model of Church, where lay people take on a greater response for the day-to-day life of the Church.

“I believe that in those days we had too many priests in the diocese and I think it wasn’t a good thing for the life of the Church.

“It in many ways discouraged peo- ple from playing their full role in the Church.”

Bishop Willie Walsh wants to cre- ate a “new model of Church” to deal with the scarcity of priests.

Dr Walsh said half of the 109 priests working in the diocese’s 58 parishes serving 115,000 Catholics are over the age of 65 with one-third over 75.

In a Lenten Pastoral letter, Dr Walsh said, “The scarcity of priests is taking hold and we have no choice but to respond to it in practical ways. I realise that change is never easy. Change born out of necessity can be even more difficult.”

Dr Walsh wants Massgoers to “‘vol- unteer for the essential work of manag- ing finances, school boards of manage- ment, choirs, maintenance of parish buildings and works of charity.

“A move in this direction is a move towards a new model of Church. It is not about lay people helping the priest; it 1s rather about lay people fulfilling their baptismal promises. We need to continue to move and to move more rapidly to the model of Church in which the priest concen- trates on the work that requires the presence of a priest.”

The figures published by Dr Walsh

show that there are less than 20 priests under the age of 44 in the dio- cese and only one man studying for the priesthood.

“We cannot gloss over problems such as the ageing profile of our priests, but we should be able to tack- le problems and see them as opportu- nities for change,” said Dr Walsh.

“T am deeply aware of criticism of bishops and priests when we speak of the need of lay involvement. People have a sense that we were not that ea- ger to give way in the past.

“I know in my heart that when we had a plentiful supply of priests we

neither allowed nor encouraged peo- ple to take on their rightful role in the life of the Church.

‘“Today’s shortage of priests has created a ‘needs must’ situation and people are not slow in pointing this out to us.”

Dr Walsh also anticipates that few- er masses will be held as a result of the age profile of the priests and their declining numbers.

“The best way to approach this matter is for small groups of neigh- bouring parishes to devise a Mass schedule which will meet the pasto- ral needs of the people in the area.