Month: August 2007

FINE GAEL leader, Enda Kenny is due to visit Clare next week to dis- cuss the Shannon crisis with party representatives.

Fine Gael’s western parliamentary party members and Clare councillors are meeting in the Park Inn today to formulate their response to the situ- ation.

“We are planning a private mem- bers motion for the return of the Dail,” said Deputy Pat Breen.

“This study group is a typical Ber- tie quick-fix solution. We had a re- view group set up after Open Skies was announced and, a year on, that report is still lying on a desk.

“Not one euro has been spent in preparation for Open Skies,’ said Do etiaa isore

Fine Gael Deputy Joe Carey said the Taoiseach’s intervention “‘illus- trates his lack of understanding of the issue. I believe the only solution is to re-instate the Shannon-Heath- row slots. Connection to hubs such as Paris and Amsterdam, while wel- come, would not address this issue. These connections would not be financially viable for an airline to operate and would not provide the required frequency for the business traveller’.

Deputy Carey has also called for the Cabinet meeting of August 29 to meet in Shannon, as a sign of the

Government’s commitment to the re- ion.

“If the Cabinet met here in Shannon next week, they could hear directly from those affected by the decision by Aer Lingus to remove the Shan- non-Heathrow slots.”

Meanwhile, Independent MEP, Marian Harkin has questionned the strategy behind the retention of the Government share in Aer Lingus if it was “not prepared to act when an action by Aer Lingus seriously dam- aged the economic and social fabric of an entire region”’.

She added that the “Government’s continued refusal to pressure Aer Lingus on the Shannon issue begs the question as to whether its share

in Aer Lingus is merely a blocking mechanism to be used in the event of a take over bid”.

A meeting of Fianna Fail politi- cians in Shannon last week called for the Government to take whatever ac- tion has the best chance of restoring the slots to Shannon.

Junior Miunister, Tony Killeen, who attended the meeting, said that Taoiseach Bertie Ahern and Trans- port Minister, Noel Dempsey are “extremely annoyed at the manner in which Aer Lingus pulled this par- ticular stroke”.

‘What we need out of this is an out- come that guarantees Shannon’s con- nectivity with London well into the future, through London Heathrow.”

NOT a single patient in Clare or the mid-west, who was retested fol- lowing last June’s faulty nationwide pregnancy test kit scare, has been found to be pregnant.

The Health Service Executive Mid- West has confirmed that it has com- pleted the process of contacting all patients who were originally tested with suspect Clearview HCG preg- nancy test kits to offer them retest- ing. Some of the kits were found to give false negative results following an error in the manufacturing proc- NSE

Staff at Ennis General Hospital painstakingly trawled through three months of records to establish how many women were tested for preg- nancy between March and May so they could be contacted and offered retests. Around 200 patients are

known to have taken the test in that period in Ennis alone.

A spokeswoman for the HSE has now confirmed that on completion of those retests, “no women were found to be pregnant.”

Four out of the six main hospitals in the mid-west are known to have received kits from the faulty batch. The Mid Western Regional Hospital in Limerick, the largest hospital in the region, contacted patients who were given the test and quickly con- firmed that all negative results de- tected with the suspect test kit were confirmed as negative on re-test.

The Regional Maternity Hospital was issued with four boxes of kits from the suspect batch but none of them were used and have since been destroyed. Management at Nenagh General Hospital also retested pa- tients and all results were con- firmed.

PLANS for reputedly the county’s most environmentally friendly hous- ing scheme have been thrown out by An Bord Pleanala.

This follows the planning board over-turning Clare County Council’s decision to part-grant planning to ar- chitect, Tom Byrne for the proposal and refuse the plan outright.

Residents in Kilkee and appli- cant, Mr Byrne had both appealed the council’s decision to An Bord

Pleanala.

Mr Byrne was seeking planning for the erection of six houses on a site formerly known as Walton’s Quarry and the council granted planning for three, lowering the height of the homes granted planning.

In all, four third-party appeals were lodged against the decision, along with Mr Byrne appealing.

The board’s inspector recom- mended that planning be refused on a number of grounds. He stated “that the proposed development would be

contrary to the proper planning and sustainable development of the area, having regard to design and scale of the residential scheme, the alterations to site levels which are necessary to facilitate the development, the result- ant high visibility of the develop- ment, open space arrangements and proposed landscaping of the site”. The inspector also stated that the board “is not satisfied that the pro- posed development can be carried out as proposed without adversely affecting the visual amenity, residen-

tial amenity and integrity of adjoin- ing property and lands, identified as a Architectural Conservation Area in the Kilkee Local Area Plan in the West Clare Local Area Plan”’.

The inspector also stated that the board were dissatisfied that construc- tion of the proposed development could occur without resultant nega- tive consequences for the ecologi- cal system based around the nearby pools to the west of the site.

In its order, the appeals board stat- ed, “Having regard to the highly vis-

ible nature of the site, the proposal to raise ground levels up to seven metres and the nature, scale and de- sign of the residential units built on fill, it is considered that the proposed development would be visually ob- trusive and incongruous and would adversely affect the visual amenity, residential amenity and integrity of adjoining property and lands, iden- tified as an Architectural Conserva- tion Area in the Kilkee Local Area Plan, as set out in the West Clare Lo- cal Area Plan, 2003.”

A CHEF in an Ennis hotel was dis- missed after he threw a knife at a co- worker during an outburst, the Em- ployment Appeals Tribunal heard.

The claim that the tribunal was hearing concerned the woman who had the knife thrown at her, claiming She had been dismissed because she asked for shorter hours after becom- ing pregnant.

Patrice O’Shaughnessy, Ballycu- min, Raheen, Limerick, took the case against the West County Hotel under the Unfair Dismissals Act.

During the hearing, members of the ‘Tribunal were told that, O’Shaughnessy, who worked in the kitchens, had a butter knife thrown at her, hitting her in the back, by a fel- low chef after she refused to make a

sandwich for a customer, telling him it was not her job.

The chef was subsequently fired, the hearing was told.

She was a part-time worker who nonetheless worked up to 50 hours per week, the tribunal heard.

In autumn 2005 there, the claimant found she was pregnant and asked the then head chef for a shorter work- ing week. She claimed that when she asked to work just two days, the head chef told her that if she could not work three days, he would have to find somebody else.

On October 27, the claimant said, she was at home in bed when she was phoned and told that she had been rostered to be at work.

Having not been in for the previous week, she was not aware that she was on that day, but got up and went to V0) 0.@

Another employee had been asked to ring her and tell her she was work- ing but had not done so, she said.

O’Shaughnessy said that the head chef told her to get her things and get o)bia

The hotel denied dismissing the claimant. The head chef said that he did not tell her that she would have to work three days or be gone.

On 27 October, the tribunal heard, the night porter rang the head chef at home at 6.20am. There were over 100 guests in the hotel and no-one from the staff to prepare breakfast. He denied dismissing the claimant.

The tribunal found that the claim- ant was dismissed but was not satis- fied that the dismissal was related to the fact that the claimant was preg- nant. But it did find that the claim- ant had an entitlement to a minimum notice payment of €254.36.

A MAN with 93 previous convic- tions, who stole cash to feed his her- oin habit has been jailed for a year.

Michael McNamara (33), of Row- an Court, Kennedy Park, Limerick, stole three purses from an office at Avoca handweavers, Bunratty, last March.

McNamara, a father-of-three, also stole €60 cash from the Texaco fill- ing station, Ennis, on March 19 last.

Inspector Michael Gallagher told Ennis District Court yesterday that McNamara stole money from the till at the Texaco garage and ran out of the shop.

He took off in the direction of Lim- erick and was intercepted by gardai.

The money was recovered.

Relating to the stolen purses, In- spector Gallagher said the accused brought gardai to two scenes, where the purses were found.

Defending solicitor John Herbert said his client began to use heroin a number of years ago and was “taken in grip of it.”

He pointed out that there was a

“hapless” element to the crimes be- fore the court.

“The stealing was in order to feed his addiction,” said the solicitor.

He asked the court to take the ac- cused’s circumstances into account, as he is “taking steps to address his difficulties.” Judge Leo Malone im- posed two six-month jail terms, to run consecutively.

KILKEE was at the centre of a health scare this week, as a young holiday- maker was taken to Ennis General Hospital suffering from a life-threat- ening form of meningitis.

The Limerick teen, who was d1i- agnosed with the deadly and highly contagious form of meningitis at the Seaside resort, 1s now out of ICU and believed to be recovering well.

A spokesperson for the HSE said the 17-year-old was “stable and com- fortable”. Family and friends who had been in contact with the girl, from Crecora, County Limerick, were given antibiotics as a precau- tion and the public health depart- ment of the HSE notified.

“There were 269 cases of bacte- rial meningitis detected in the mid-

west over the past eight years. Dur- ing the period 1998-2003, a total of 11 people who contracted bacterial meningitis in the mid-west died as a result,’ a spokesperson of the HSE Mid West.

There have been no fatalities from the disease between 2004 and 2006, according to the HSE.

The disease, which infects fluid in the spinal cord and around the brain, TSM Busre1nere MMU lH OMr-DeL Ble) Ce) Bl ee

Symptoms of bacterial meningitis include stiff neck, rash, drowsiness, fever, cold hands and feet and abnor- mal skin colouring.

All cases of suspected bacterial meningitis and meningococcal dis- ease must be reported to the Depart- ment of Public Health.

An area medical officer then inves- tigates each case.

THE Mol an Oige Group has made a last-ditch attempt to secure State recognition for the upcoming school year by directly appealing to Junior Minister, Tony Killeen and other politicians in the country to inter- vene in the saga.

The Mol an Oige Steiner School in Ennistymon and Raheen Wood Steiner School in Tuamgraney have encountered several hurdles in rela- tion to securing State recognition for the upcoming year.

Now, with the new school year less than two weeks away, Secretary of the Mol an Oige Group, Mary Fahey has told Minister Killeen and other local politicians in a letter, “With over 50 students enrolled in the new school for September, and still no decision from our minister, what are we supposed to do now?

“We ask you to voice our concerns directly to Minister Hanafin and help bring about a positive resolution for

all involved.”

If the schools can secure state rec- ognition, they will be the first Steiner primary school to receive recognition and this will result in the department paying teachers’ salaries and remove the need for the schools to continu- ally fundraise and parents to pay fees for their children’s education.

In the letter to Minister Killeen and the other politicians, Ms Fahey States, ““Here we are with two weeks left until school re-opens, and a new Mol an Oige multi-denominational primary school has yet to be recog- nised by the Minister for Education.

“We understand the minister 1s concerned about the proposed new Mol an Oige multi-denominational primary school and its compliance with department requirements due to its Steiner ethos”.

A Department of Education spokes- man said the schools’ application re- mains under consideration but could not give a date as to when a decision will be made.

THE west is awake and the people of Clare are in protest mode.

Just days before the campaign march to save the Aer Lingus flights from Heathrow to Shannon Airport, more than 600 people met in the Au- burn Lodge Hotel in Ennis to organ- ise a campaign to save acute services at Ennis General Hospital and de- mand proper medical services for the county.

Organised by the Ennis General Hospital Committee and its sub- eroup Clare Cancer Concern, the meeting saw a number of medical experts, leaders in the community and members of the public raise con- cerns about the failures of the coun- ty’s health service.

A march, similar to that organised shortly after the Hanley report was published, is being organised with all present vowing to support it.

Leaks from the Review of Acute

Services in the mid-west (leam- work Report) has pointed to the re- placement of the 24-hour accident and emergency department at Ennis General Hospital with a nurse-led minor injuries department open for 12 hours a day.

The protest group is demanding the retention of 24-hour accident and emergency services and the reopen- ing of the mammography unit at the hospital, paid for by the people of OE

Adding the support of the Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh, and the priests of the diocese, Fr Hogan said that Ennis General Hospital had a sense of community and the services were patient centred.

“It (the hospital) is ours, we need the best. We demand the best.”

Tom Brooks from the Clare IFA was assuring the campaign the sup- port of the county’s farmers.

“If it comes to the crunch we will be there again in support,’ he told the meeting.

The ICA, Irish Kidney Association, the mayor of Clare Patricia McCa- rthy and Shannon town mayor Sean McLaughlin also spoke in support of the hospital retaining its services, and in some cases improving them.

Nuala Slattery from Clare Cancer Concern said that the group had al- ready collected 5,000 signatures in support of the campaign to return mammography service to the hospital.

“Don’t lose momentum now. We will succeed. We can and we will. This 1s our hospital,’ she said.

As well as the enthusiasm for the campaign, there was an element of anger among the crowd, particularly in relation to slippage of medical services in the county.

“We can march all we want but what we need to do 1s get our two F1- anna Fail TDs to stand down,” John Lernehan from the Irish Drivers As- sociation said.

“It is a simple solution. We put them in we can take them out.”

THE services at Ennis General Hos- pital need not only to be retained in the county but, in many cases, 1m- proved.

That was the message from the chairman of the Clare branch of the Irish College of General Practition- ers, Dr Michael Harty, who addressed last Monday’s public meeting at the Auburn Lodge Hotel, Ennis.

The Kilmihil GP pointed to a number of failings in services at the county hospital, due to lack of invest- ment and a staffing situation he de- scribed as ‘appalling’.

“As a GP, I can’t get an ultrasound in Ennis. There is a service but it is for in-patients only. I can get them in Limerick or Cahercalla for €100,” he said.

He said the CAT scan commis- sioned for the hospital is the worst money can buy and the hospital laboratory is “overwhelmed” by the samples being sent to it by GPs.

“Will it get extra staff?” he asked. “If this is the Government support- ing Ennis General Hospital, it is an oxymoron,’ said the frustrated GP.

The doctor reminded the 600-

strong audience he was addressing that 20 years ago the hospital had 128 beds, a number that was reduced to 88. The new development is add- ing just six.

‘There are 17 per cent more people in the hospital than there should be,” he said. Dr Harty warned that most hospitals “manage well” at 75 per cent capacity, or 80 per cent at most. Ennis operates at 117 per cent.

The campaigning GP told the group that it must work to change Govern- ment policy if it 1s going to improve services at the hospital and retain the service it has.

“Government policy says people are staying in hospital too long and the wrong people are in it.”

“It is Government policy to central- ise services; it is Government policy to privatise everything,” he said.

“You have to change all Govern- ment policy, we can’t just change it for Ennis. You may be told the hos- pital will not close but that does not mean it will continue as it is.

“You will be told that €40 million will improve facilities at the hospi- tal. Of course it will but that does not mean it will be a 24-hour service,’ he warned.

THE developers of a proposed hous- ing development in the north Clare resort of Lahinch have argued that it is not viable to retain the route of the West Clare Railway that lies close to the development.

A decision is expected this week on plans by Patricia Stackpoole for 10 homes on Station Road in Lahinch.

However, the council has already expressed concerns over the scheme’s impact on the West Clare Railway.

Last year, the impact a housing de- velopment in Lahinch could have on the defunct railway line was one of the reasons the council refused plan- ning permission for the development.

However, the decision was over- turned by An Bord Pleanala. In its request for further information from Ms Stackepoole, the council pointed out that it is policy to only permit de- velopment on or adjacent to the west Clare plan that will not conflict with the policy.

The council states, “The proposed

plan includes a number of building units and their rear gardens to be built over the line of the West Clare Railway. Please address this matter by way of revised proposals.”

In response, consultants for Ms Stackepoole state, “The line of the railway to the east and west of the site..has been fully obscured and built over by numerous different ownerships for an extensive period of time. The rationale of maintaining the area of that line traversing the site does not therefore appear to be

viable.”

Already, the proposal has attracted a lot of local opposition and the ul- timate arbiters of the merits of the application look set to be An Bord Pleanala. The developers will be en- couraged that the board cast aside the reason to refuse on the basis of the impact on the West Clare Rail- way in a recent decision.

In one of the objections that reflects local feeling over the plan, Marie O’Donoghue states, “Lahinch is a seaside village and haphazard back-

land development of this nature and size…1S not in keeping with the char- acter of the village and detrimental to the life of the elderly residents ad- jacent to it.

“The proposed development will cause serious disruption to the eld- erly residents adjacent to it and, in particular, during the construction as it is proposed that all site machinery and construction works access will be through the proposed walkway which is between two houses of long- term residents of Station Road.”