Month: November 2007

A SHORT summer holiday in Lahi- nch ended in tragedy for a 19-year- old Dublin man who drowned in the early hours of the morning after a night out.

Joseph ‘Joey’ Wall from Clontarf lost his life during the August bank holiday weekend last year, Ennis Coroner’s Court heard last week.

A day-long search followed his dis- appearance at around 4am on Mon- day, August 6. His body was located at the seashore less than 24 hours Fitoe

Joey’s friend, Tom Verling, said that a group of friends went back to their

bed and breakfast accommodation after a night out. He said that Joey went to the bed and breakfast and asked some friends to go for a swim. Tom and another friend agreed and they went down to the water.

“Joey started running and taking off his clothes. We started to run af- ter him,’ he recalled.

They followed Joey into the water, trying to catch up with him. They lost sight of him and called out his ue BaNToR

“Joey never replied,’ recalled Mr Verling.

Another friend, Sean Rooney, said Joey invited him to go swimming at around 4am. Sean initially declined,

but then agreed and they headed for the beach.

“Joey was taking off all his clothes as he went down the steps,’ he re- called.

He said he called him and waited in the water for some time, until the lifeguards told him to get out of the water.

The inquest heard that John Logan was out walking along the seashore at around 7.15pm on the Bank Holiday Monday. He noticed a male’s body in the water, face down. Doolin Rescue retrieved the body a short time later.

Garda John Cleary of Lahinch told the inquest that after the alarm was raised, the search for Mr Wall con-

tinued throughout the Bank Holiday Monday. The beach in Lahinch was deserted that day, apart from the search party, he said.

Pathologist Dr Peter Fawl carried out an autopsy on Mr Wall’s body on August 7 last. Death, he said, was due to asphyxia, secondary to drowning.

Coroner Isobel O’Dea said _ that, based on the evidence she had heard, the appropriate verdict was one of misadventure.

‘That unfortunately sums up the sad circumstances concerning Joseph’s death. It was a bank holiday week- end and there were a lot of people in Lahinch. It was a very sad and tragic end to the weekend,” she added.

THE TOURISM arm of Shannon Development suffered a 42 per cent drop in profits last year according to the most recent returns to the Com- panies Office.

Shannon Heritage’s profits dropped from €196,000 in 2005 to €113,000 last year.

However, a major contributory fac- tor to the drop in profits and drop in attendances at its visitor attractions across the region was the closure of O’Brien’s Tower at the Cliffs of Mo- her in 2006 to facilitate the construc- tion of the new visitor centre.

The accounts show that 81,000 tourists visited O’Brien’s Tower in 2005 and the absence of these tour- ists last year resulted in the overall number of tourists visiting day-time attractions dropping from 512,000 in 2005 to 449,000 in 2006.

Overall numbers going to night

time attractions also showed a mar- ginal drop from 66,999 in 2005 to 65,168 last year.

The combined total for day-time and night-time attractions dropped from 625,615 in 2005 to 562,139 last year.

The profit last year of €113,000 put Shannon Heritage on a firmer finan- cial footing with accumulated profits now of €847,000.

The accounts show that the com- pany secured a gross profit last year of €8.9 million, however, Shannon Heritage’s “administration expens- es” increased from €7.9 million to €8.8 million. The company now has €1.353 million, while staff costs last year were €5.2 million employing 210.

In spite of the drop in profits, the statement accompanying the ac- counts states that Shannon Heritage “recorded one of its best results for

many years’.

FORMER ~ Lisdoonvarna parish priest, Brendan Kelly, was last week appointed as the new Bishop of the Diocese of Achonry.

Monsignor Kelly, who served as PP in Lisdoonvarna from 1996 to 2003, will succeed Bishop Thomas Flynn who has been in charge of the Mayo,

Sligo and Roscom- mon diocese for the last 30 years.

Speaking after the announcement _ the Bishop-elect said that he was happy to be in the diocese and had already been made to feel very welcome by the priests and all the people he has met.

He went on to say that he looked for- ward to working in the diocese and would concentrate his initial efforts on getting to know the priests with whom he would work and the people of the diocese.

Monsignor Kelly was born in Der- rybrien on the Clare/Galway border in May 1946. He was the second in a family of nine. He attended Craughwell National School before going on to St Mary’s College in Crea

When he finished secondary school he began his studies for the priest- hood in St Patrick’s College, May- nooth in 1964, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Divinity, and was ordained a priest in the diocese of Galway in June 1971. After his ordination he studied for his Higher Diploma in Education

“1m OL OGe

After serving a year as curate in Kinvara, he held a number of teaching posts, first in Colaiste Einde, and then in Our La- dy’s College in Gort until 1986 when he became president until 1995.

He received sab- batical leave in 1995 and served as chap- lain to the L’Arche community in Cul-

se-la-Motte in France.

Following his time in Lisdoonvarna he was appointed as parish priest for Spiddal in Galway where he served until he was announced as the Bish- op-elect for Achonry last week.

The Diocesce of Achonry consists of 23 separate parishes, with 39 priests and 47 Catholic churches. Ac- cording to the latest census figures the Diocese of Achonry consists of 35,224 Catholics.

AN extra 150 childcare places will have to be provided in County Clare during the next four years if the cur- rent level of childcare provision is to be maintained. However, a further 1,100 childcare places are required if the county if to achieve its proportion of the national targets. That was the message coming from the launch of the County Childcare Strategy 2007- 2010 last evening (Monday).

The strategy outlined the rapidly changing childcare contexts within the county, and identified the areas most in need of supported childcare.

There has been an increase of 4.8 per cent in the number of children and young people under 15 years of age between 2002-2006 and by 2006 they accounted for 23,973 out of the total population of the county of 110,950.

In 2006, there was a population in- crease of eight per cent in Clare and

figures from the recent census show 8,206 children are aged O to four years, 8,118 children are aged five to nine years and 7,649 are young peo- ple aged 10 to 14 years.

The strategy was complied by the Clare County Childcare Committee, which has been in operation since 2001 and was established with the key role of developing a co-ordinated approach to childcare in the county.

Reflective of the population increase and the high number of children in

Clare is a growing demand for child- care in the county and one of the committee’s key principles is to en- sure that there is a synergy between all the stakeholders represented and a collaborative response to the growing demand for childcare services.

There has also been an increase in childcare services throughout the county provided by both private and community childcare providers, many through funding under the Equal Op- portunities Childcare Programme (EOCP) and the National Childcare Investment Programme (NCIP).

The Clare County Childcare Com- mittee supports applicants both pri- vate and community through the NCIP process of developing funding proposals for the Office of the Min- ister for Children.

The strategy also pointed to areas in the county where there is under- provision of services. It discovered that there was a need for pre-devel- opment work with communities if childcare facilities are to be devel- oped in these areas.

The role of childcare committee has now become central to ensuring that funding is allocated to areas where AUSTIN MUO IM Ole NBUES ee

The group also launched a guide to setting up a childcare service.

PUPILS could be walking to school this Friday after SIPTU served strike notice on Bus Eireann in a demand for increased pay and conditions for more than 200 school bus drivers seeking proper pay and conditions.

The union is calling a one-day stoppage, which it says will be just the first if demands are not met.

Talks are scheduled for the Labour Relations Commission tomorrow to try to avert the dispute.

Pay and condition in the job are

So unattractive, SIPTU claims, that the company found it impossible to recruit new drivers in Limerick and Galway to fill vacancies recently. The drivers currently earn €11.66 per hour. “They have no pension, sick pay or other benefits. They are amongst the lowest paid workers in the public transport or education sec- tors. For example, school caretakers earn €14.38 per hour and other Bus Eireann drivers have a payscale run- ning from €13.15 to €15.23 per hour. SIPTU is seeking parity with full- time drivers and the same benefits as

all other Bus Eireann employees.”

SIPTU National Industrial Secre- tary, Michael Halpenny said that, ‘Employment conditions are so poor that it proved impossible to recruit new drivers recently in Limerick and Galway, when vacancies arose”.

Meanwhile, Bus Eireann said in a statement that it welcomes the deci- sion by SIPTU to enter talks with the company at the Labour Relations Commission on Wednesday, adding that it is hopeful that strike action can be averted.

A spokesperson for the company

said, “We welcome SIPTU’s deci- sion to participate in talks at the LRC and hope that Friday’s planned strike can be averted.”

The spokesperson added, “Any ac- tion would cause unnecessary dis- ruption and inconvenience for school children and their families.”

The company said that the pay claim had already been examined by the Rights Commissioner and reject- ed. SIPTU subsequently appealed the decision to the Labour Court and in May the court disallowed the ap- peal.

MARTINA Baker told the court yesterday that her duty was “for the care of the children” and denied the AT Neone ree Rem eoe

Ms Baker said she had run the creche, which was located on the Quin Road in Ennis, for more than 10 years.

She said that there was not a musty smell from the room where the ba- bies were asleep.

“I dispute that. There was at least one child with a soiled nappy, if not two,’ said Ms Baker.

She also disputed the allegations regarding the sanitary accommoda- tion of the créche.

“The building is vented. They are young children you are dealing with. We would have let the older ones use the toilets on their own, for privacy and they may not have flushed after,” said Ms Baker.

She said a cleaning regime pro-

gramme was in place on the premises and that the Health Service Execu- tive (HSE) did not offer any specific guidance on cleaning.

Referring to the allegation that the running water in the bathroom was cold, she said the water is thermo- statically controlled and was spe- cially installed when the créche was olebn te

“I wasn’t told there was no hot wa- ter. I don’t know whether or not it was. I didn’t check it that day. I can’t

comment whether it was hot or not,” she added.

She also denied that there was dust or dirt on a floor in a playroom as had been alleged by HSE staff who visited the premises in March 2006.

She said she used floor cleaning solution and hot water once a day to clean the floors.

Solicitor for the HSE – which is taking the case – Cathal Minihane asked her if the sanitary accommo- dation was cleaned regularly, would

it be fair to say there wouldn’t have been a smell of urine.

Ms Baker replied, “I could not say Whether an unflushed toilet would smell or not.”

Mr Minihane said that there was a musty smell from the sleeping room and not the smell of a soiled nappy, but she denied this.

“I wrote to the HSE looking for a definition of must but I never got a reply. I don’t know what the chemical composition of must is,’ she said.

FOUR babies slept in a room in an Ennis creche where the smell of must was “overpowering” – according to HSE inspectors who called to the Eee

HSE pre-school inspector Carmel Devane told the court yesterday that as a result of an anonymous com- plaint, she and a colleague arrived unannounced at Hopscotch Child- care and Montessori in March 2006.

She said she got a “strong smell of urine from the sanitary accommo- dation area, despite the fact that the Windows were wide open”.

“There was no hot water in both wash basins and the bin attached to the wall was dirty,” she said.

Asked was it satisfactory, she re- plied, “No it wasn’t. Proper cleaning procedure wasn’t in place.”

She said she noticed a musty smell from a sleeping room where four babies were asleep. She also saw two dirty cloths on a radiator in the elrentoee

“IT was concerned about the sanitary accommodation,” she said.

Her colleague Margaret Neylon said the strong smell of must from the sleeping room was “very over- OXOuios ub area

“Ms Baker said the smell was due to a child having a soiled nappy. We didn’t accept that. It was a smell of must,” she said.

She said the toilet bowls were dirty and hadn’t been flushed.

Defending solicitor Niall Casey said, “There was a smell of urine. What do you expect? It’s a toilet fa- cility.”

He said he was concerned there was an over reliance on an anonymous complaint.

“The complaint to me was an over- riding misconception that they had when they arrived at the premises and that has tainted their evidence,” he said.

“No child was prejudiced. No child was injured,” said Mr Casey.

Cathal Minihane, representing the HSE, said there was ample evidence

that the sanitary facilities were in a dirty condition.

“I’d certainly prefer to have a smell of a cleaning product rather than urine,’ he said.

“The HSE 1s not looking for perfec- tion but a certain level of hygiene and cleanliness. A creche should have hot running water,’ said Mr Minihane.

Mr Casey applied for the charges to be dismissed. Judge Lucey dismissed the case relating to the record-keep- ing, but did not rule on the other two counts until later this week.

One of those is an allegation that Ms Baker failed to ensure that fix- tures and fittings were in a clean and hygienic condition, while the other relates to an alleged failure to ensure there were adequate suitable sanitary facilities provided.

FOUR of the 50 counts against the proprietor of a créche in Ennis, relat- ing to the running of the premises, have been dismissed by the judge hearing the case.

Martina Baker, of Hopscotch Child- care and Montessori, Quin Road, En- nis, faced seven summonses, divided into 50 counts, relating to various inspections on dates between March 2006 and January 2007.

Judge Tim Lucey heard evidence relating to six of the counts on the first day of the hearing at Ennis Dis- trict Court yesterday and dismissed four of the six, while he has yet to rule on the two others.

Three of the charges he dismissed relate to keeping records while the other was an allegation that Ms Baker failed to ensure adequate ar- rangements were in place to summon medical assistance promptly in an emergency.

Among the remaining counts due

to be contested in court today (Tues- day) include that she is alleged to have failed to ensure the premises

was adequately heated, failed to se- cure the gates in the play area and failed to ensure there was sufficient

nutritional and varied food available for the children. Among the allegations against Ms

Baker include that she failed to take all reasonable measures to ensure the health, safety and welfare of all pre- school children; that she failed to en- sure every child had a suitable means of progression and development with books, games etc, regarding his/her age and stage of development.

She is accused of failing to ensure there was a sufficient number of com- petent adults to supervise preschool children in the service at all times.

She is also accused of failing to provide a suitable equipped First Aid box and failing to ensure there was adequate means of ventilation pro- vided on the premises.

She is further accused of failing to ensure all waste and refuse was dis- posed off frequently and in such a manner as to not cause a nuisance.

AS CLONLARA captain Paul Collins waited to collect the cup from Munster chairman Seamus O’Gorman, he smiled and shook his head in disbelief. In his acceptance speech, he confirmed this incredu- lous feeling by stating that it has been an unbelieveable year. That feeling was echoed all over Cusack Park by the 2,000 plus crowd who were still coming to terms with what they had just witnessed.

Clonlara have done so well this year that they have actually sur- prised themselves by getting this far. Collins himself may have missed the semi-final against Tipperary champions Lorrha due to a family bereavement but in typical Clonlara fashion, he slipped seamlessly back into the side on Sunday as if he had

never been away. Two vital first half blocks emphasised his importance to the team and set them on their way to a first Munster crown. An achieve- ment which he still finds difficult to sink in.

“The whole thing is just unbelie- veable,” said Collins. “How do you describe it? It’s like a dream and we are just waiting to wake up.

“It was strange today compared to the other matches where we tended to get out ahead then drop back and lose it and then having to fight hard to get back in it. But today thank God we got out in front and we stayed out in front. There was always a danger that they could come back and we could run out of time but thank God, we had the luck on the day.”

Luck certainly played it’s part but essentially Clonlara deserved this title more than Dromin-Athlacca. In

what has been one of the most excit- ing runs in the competition’s history, Clonlara were just too strong for the Limerick champions and played with an added spring to their step after famous wins over Carrigtwohill and Lorrha.

“The previous games stood to us,” agreed Collins “It’s great because there was no pressure going into the Munster competition. It’s a great competition and it lets lads play their own style of hurling and it’s a bit freer. It showed there when we were hurling well again today.”

“THE BEATLES once said _ that they were bigger than Jesus but I’ll tell you – there’s a manager, a selec- tor and a chairman down in Clonlara and they are bigger than the Beatles ever were.” That was Clonlara cap- tain Paul Collins assessment of his management team and _ whatever about being compared to the son of God, manager Jim Gully is certainly the ‘special one’ of Clonlara hurling right now.

Along with Niall Hogan, Kieran Whelan and Pat Conlon, Gully has transformed this Clonlara side into the slick machine that appeared on Sunday. It’s been a long hard year for the South East Clare side but now they will feel that all that hard work has been worthwhile after winning their first Munster title. No more so than Gully himself as he collected his thoughts after the game.

“T suppose you look forward to the county championship all the time and it is your goal but this is just an added bonus really. I think since the Cork game, our lads took on a whole new way of hurling really. They seem to hurl with a bit more freedom and the same pressure didn’t seem to be there. The fact that you know very little about the opposition and they know very little about you, the game tends to be open and you are 20 minutes into the match before you realise what way the other team are and what way your own team are go- ing. It’s a fantastic competition and it brought our club alive. That’s all I can say, it brought it alive.”

There were no massive comebacks needed on Sunday but leading all the way through didn’t seem to sit well with Clonlara at times. Like Muham- mad Ali’s rope a dope tactic in the famous Rumble in the Jungle fight against George Foreman or similar

to a hurler who needs a belt before they start to perform, Clonlara ap- peared more comfortable in previous games having to battle back from behind rather than hold the lead for the hour.

“We had kind of spoken about it for the last two weeks and we said that someday these comebacks won’t work for us,’ mentions Gully. “We had driven it into them that they were going to have to give everything in the first half and then I think the way we started the second half, probably scoring five or six points, suddenly the lead is gone out to nine or ten and really they weren’t causing us an awful lot of problems. It think at that stage it was thirteen points to three and unless they scored two or three freak goals, we were always going to be there. They hadn’t really threat- ened our goal and I thought that we should have been further ahead real- ly. We had a couple of great chances where we probably took a step too many or didn’t let the ball go when we should have but to finally win it was great.”

Gully also picked out John Conlon for special praise after the county minor scored 1-3 from play with the goal in particular coming at a crucial stage of the second half when Clon- lara seemed to be letting the Limer- ick side back into the game.

“John Conlon played a magnificent part today. Without doubt he gave an exhibition of scoring – both points and that goal. To pick up the ball 50 yards out and solo 30 yards and just let fly was amazing and I think he scored fantastic points as well into the bargain. He was just on fire today and I think his goal probably killed the game as a contest.

‘The two previous games stood to us. Fellas were much more confident as well today. We took the lead and once we got the goal, we were nev-

er really threatened after that. Ger O’Connell pulled off a fantastic save at a vital time as well and after that. Dromin-Athlacca probably dropped their heads a bit.”

In his speech, Munster chairman Seamus O’Gorman stated that the Clonlara bandwagon rolls on but af- ter four games in five weeks, Gully felt that his side now need a week or two off to recharge the batteries be-

fore contemplating the All-Irleland series.

“We’ll take a break now. The lads need a break. We’re out now since the second week in February and the lads deserve a break. But we’re going to go there and give it a good lash. We said all along that we were going to do Clare hurling proud and I’d like to think that we have.”

It will be the new year before Clon-

lara are back in action and if Paul Collins’ comparisons with the man above are to be believed, perhaps Clonlara have been aided by divine intervention along the way. Nothing would surprise anyone about this Clonlara side.