Month: May 2008

LENGTHY court proceedings relat- ing to a feud involving three traveller families became heated amidst al- legations that a threat was made in Open court.

While another case was being heard in the district court late on Friday afternoon, a member of one of the families involved in the feud

shouted, ““He’s after threatening me that he’s going to break my neck.”

The claim was backed up by anoth- er member of his family, who sug- gested that a man at the other side of the courtroom had made gestures.

However none of the 12 gardai present in the courtroom at the time saw anything untoward.

Judge Joseph Mangan asked the man who was alleged to have made

the gesture why he was in court. He was told, “Just here to see how they are getting on.”

Judge Mangan replied, “You can read about it in the papers,’ and told him to leave.

‘I don’t want to see you here again during these cases unless you have a summons or a charge,” said the judge. Later, after bail was refused for three members of the Mongans

family, their solicitor Ted McCarthy said they were in fear of going to Limerick prison, “as they have re- ceived threats”.

Inspector John Galvin said _ that gardai would convey that message to the prison authorities.

Another accused, Patrick Mol- loy, was remanded in custody for a week to St Patrick’s Institution. His solicitor William Cahir said there

were fears of threats in Dublin. “I’ve got threats to say [ll be getting it,” Patrick Molloy told the court.

Inspector Galvin said that message would be communicated with the prison authorities.

Mr Cahir then pointed out, “The fears are very well founded and very genuine.” The judge later changed his ruling and remanded Mr Molloy to Limerick prison.

THREE people have been charged with violent disorder arising out of an incident in Ennis last October.

Michael Molloy (9), of Gordon Drive, Ennis; John Molloy (22), of Clarehill, Clarecastle and a young person are accused of violent disor- der, at Cloughleigh, Ennis, on Octo- ber 11, 2007.

Ennis District Court was told on Friday that the charges arose from matters last October and the DPP’s directions had only come through last Thursday.

Garda Dominic Regan told Ennis District Court last Friday that he met Michael Molloy at the depar- ture lounge at Shannon Airport that morning.

His solicitor William Cahir applied for bail but Inspector John Galvin said, “I’d be reluctant to consent. The DPP has directed trial on indictment. He was leaving the jurisdiction.”

However Judge Joseph Mangan pointed out that the accused had not been charged when he was met at the by Olea

Gda Regan said he had made en-

quiries with the accused’s mother the previous day.

“I told her charges were waiting for him. She told me he was waiting to face the charges. Yet we found him at Shannon Airport this morning,” said Gda Regan.

Judge Mangan remanded him in custody for a week. “I’m satisfied on the evidence he sought to evade jus- tice. I’m satisfied if left at liberty he would not attend to face trial,” said the judge.

Inspector Galvin also objected to bail in the case of John Molloy, on a number of grounds, including the seriousness of the charge.

However Mr Cahir said there were no charges in relation to any recent incident and that the DPP has had six months to make a decision on the or Won

Bail was granted, with conditions AMATO oem

The young person was also granted bail to appear again in court next month.

REQUESTS for information from Clare County Council under the Freedom of Information Act have dwindled from 94 in 2002 to just 39 AUlOwe

And councillor Tom Prendeville (FF), who asked for the figures for last night’s meeting, said that it is “notable that in 2007 we are listing 30 per cent of the applications we Sr hag OOO ae

The councillor said that FOI re- quests had “gone down to a virtual trickle” and added that he believed that the introduction of fees for the service in 2003 “and the claiming of exemptions has acted as a barrier to the public. At a time of mistrust I would be concerned that the gov- ernment are standing over legisla- tion which appears exclusory,’ Cllr Prendeville told the meeting.

Cllr Christy Curtin (Ind) said he supported the Fiannan Fail council-

lor. “The Freedom of Information Act was introduced for one reason and one reason only – transparency. Since costs were introduced, enquir- ies have gone down. We can put no price on the availability of legitimate information.”

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said that when forming Government the charges for FOI queries were “a major bone of contention’, for the Greens. “But Fianna Fail are in no way in favour of abolishing them be- cause the Civil Service hated it (the Freedom of Information Act) from the first moment.”

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that while he agreed there shouldn’t be a charge for legitimate information “there are vexatious requests which can cost tens of thousands of euro”.

The information on FOI queries which council officials compiled for the meeting also showed that in every year, the majority of queries concerned planning issues.

The second largest number of que- ries concerned roads and the third were seeking information about housing matters.

Corporate Services and Finance elicited 44 and 22 queries respec- tively and there were 55 environ- mental queries. Water services were the subject of 22 queries and human resources, 20. There were just two queries concerning motor tax and one concerning the library service.

So far this year, the freedom of information officer has received 19 queries, seven of which are still be- ing processed.

Since January 2002, the council has fully answered 114 FOI requests, part answered 91 and refused 110.

Ten queries were transferred, 18 were withdrawn and 52 were DOME OLOE

Exemptions because of sensitive information and other exempt areas under the act were claimed in 310 Or ose

PLANS to re-zone land which will be earmarked for a crematorium for Shannon were given the green light at a meeting of Clare County Coun- cil last night.

Local authority members voted 26 to one in favour of a material con- travention of the development plan at [Ilaunamanagh in Shannon to make way for building the crematorium.

Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) said he could not understand “why the plan- ers are asking us to contravene the plan which we put so much work into oD apace y oman

He said the lands in question are “adjacent to a Special Area of Con- servation. This 1s space which is dedicated to amenity and open space

and the council is proposing in the future to develop it as a nature re- serve. This proposal goes against our own policies.”

Cllr Flynn pointed to the speech made earlier yesterday by Environ- ment Minister, John Gormley on the launch of the EU report on the status of habitats and species in Ireland.

‘The minister tells us that over the next five years, we are to concentrate on preserving habitats and SAC’s. That is what we are being told by the minister, who is our boss and I say we should follow the Green man.”

A report on the proposed material contravention was presented to the members.

The proposal was carried when Chairwoman, Cllr Patricia McCa- rthy (Ind) put it to a vote.

CLARE’S lack of an Applied Behav- ioral Analysis (ABA) facility prompt- ed a bout of political mud slinging at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

The meeting descended into a inter- party slagging match with a number of Fine Gael councillors applying pressure to Brian Meaney (GP) over his party’s action on the ABA issue while in government.

While putting forward the motion,

Cllr Paul Murphy (FG) accused the Green Party of turning it’s back on the provision of ABA once it got into Oo

“The day of treating children who suffer from autism as second class citizens should be long gone,’ he said.

“I believe that Minister Gormley gave commitment when he was in Clare before the election that if he ever got into government that the 1s- sue of ABA schools would be on the agenda.”

Responding to the allegations, Cllr Meaney said that the issue should not be treated as “a political football”.

“The Green Party are quite com- mitted to ensuring an extension of the 12 school pilot in the west of the country. The problem with this was the election, with the other parties who are now languishing out of pow- er and in the back benches.

‘The position of the Green Party in relation to ABA doesn’t need to be restated. Early intervention is vital in terms of dealing with autism. ABA is

a proven method of doing this and I am not going to take comments, such as that one from Cllr Murphy, lying ele) a0 ae

The original motion was put for- ward by Cllrs Tony Mulcahy, Martin Conway and Murphy, and highlight- ed that of the 12 ABA facilities in Ireland, only one, located in Galway, is outside the Pale.

“IT would appeal to the new Minis- ter for Education to turn a new leaf and rise to the challenge of this sort of essential education,” said Cllr CONE

“When it comes to education and the opportunity of giving a young person the opportunity for a full edu- cation we have to rise to it. I was very disturbed last week when I was ap- proached by a young mother in En- nistymon who is on a waiting list to get into the school in Inagh.

“She could not be guaranteed a place because of the lack of funding that that school enjoys. We cannot drag our feet on this.”

Cllr Mulcahy called for more fund- ing to be provided.

‘There are 12 of these institutes in Ireland and only one of them is to the west of the Shannon. It should be conveyed the importance of the ABA school in County Clare,” he said. “It is critical that funding is provided and funded is provided to help these young children in County Clare.”

CLARE County Council last night called on the Government to use it’s EU veto to block the progress of World Trade Organisation talks.

The local authority was address by Clare IFA President Michael Lynch, who claimed that the trade agree- ment, in it’s current form, would cost Ireland 100,000 jobs and destroy ru- ie Vu e-yweebneren

“If the Government used the veto we could sleep soundly at night. Whatever happens with Lisbon, what ever happens one way or another, if the WTO goes through in its current

form it will be the beginning of the end in terms of farming in Ireland,’ said Mr Lynch.

“It’s about getting a price for our product. If farmers cannot get a price they won’t be able to survive. We are the fourth largest exporter of beef in the world, the largest in Europe, if this goes through that will all be decimated.

“We are not saying to anyone how to vote on Lisbon. We are simply fighting a campaign and the WTO proposals are a death sentence.”

Mr Lynch was invited to address the meeting by Cllr Oliver Garry (FG).

“There is a huge investment going

on in farming in Ireland. The council know this, there is planning permis- sion for about 3,500 cattle units in at the moment. We have been pushing initiatives to try and get farmers to invest more in their land. But if this goes ahead, it will destroy that, it’s going to mean a €17 million loss to the county,” said Cllr Garry.

“T would like to appeal to Brendan Smith, but also to Tony Killeen to represent us on this to the very high- est level and also our MEP.”

Cllr Joe Arkins (FG), pointed out that the impact of the WTO will be felt far beyond the farming sector.

“WTO talks are not just an issue

about farming. It effects the total- ity of our industry. For every farmer there is a factory worker or someone in the services industry or a banker,’ he said.

‘‘A 70 per cent cut 1n the agriculture levy will be felt all the way to Dublin 4. Food is not going to get cheaper. Factories and importers will make huge profits by putting inferior prod- ucts on our shelves. This is not an ag- ricultural issue, it is an issue for the whole economy.”

Cllr Michael Kelly (FF) said that if the WTO policies are brought into effect then Clare farmers would not be able to compete.

THE HSE has sent a letter to all Clare GPs instructing them not to re- fer patients to hospitals in Limerick OVO E DAN se: hyms KO) mmaeyi crease loi ecconlenvament-Neecs mograms, it emerged at last night’s meeting of Clare County Council.

This emerged following a motion put forward by Councillor Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) in which she called for Health Minister, Mary Harney, to intervene personally and solve the problems of slow BreastCh- eck roll-out in the county.

“IT am very concerned about a let-

ter sent to Clare GP’s saying that women should not be sent to Galway or Limerick hospitals unless they are showing real symptoms. In effect, what this is doing is preventing Clare women from accessing early screen- ing for Cancer. It’s as simple as that,” said Cllr Taylor-Quinn.

“They are referring people to BreastCheck and we know that there is no efficient BreastCheck facility in operation in Clare. This is discrimi- nating against Clare women and | would like to call on the council to support me in calling on the minister to intervene now and get this situa-

tion fixed.

“This is an issue that has effected almost every family in Clare. If you have the €150 to spend then you can get yourself checked out, but if you don’t then it’s a different situation.”

The Mayor of Clare, Patricia Mc- Carthy (IND), told the council that she raised the issue with Minister Harney when a delegation from Clare met her last week.

“This was the one issue off the agenda that I raised with Minister Harney last week and I conveyed these issues to her and expressed the need to roll out a proper system and

education for people in Clare in rela- tion to mammography,” she said.

“I told her that confidence needs to be restored in the system and the sooner the better.”

The motion was also supported by Cllr Martin Conway (FG) who called for the HSE to be abolished.

“I completely agree with Made- line Taylor-Quinn and I question the competence of the HSE on this mat- ter,’ he said.

“I think that majority of the people of this country would like to see the HSE abolished. They have gotten too big for their boots.”

KILRUSH Town Councillor, Tom Prendeville (FF) called for an end to any negativity being fed to the press regarding the purchase of a €1.4 mil- lion site for civic offices on Francis Nlstsem

The councillor was speaking at this month’s meeting of the local authority members during which he proposed that the town manager ap- point a design team to draw up a plan for the new offices on the site of the former Inis Cathaigh hotel.

‘In what some might see as a quan- tum leap of faith in you, town man-

ager, to deliver a building in line with our dreams, hopes and aspirations for the delivery of a better public serv- ice to the people of Kilrush, we now earnestly request you to appoint the design team as an important first step in our overall objective,” he said.

“In our budget proposal for 2008, this council wisely set aside seed cap- ital to expedite our need for modern civic offices in the west Clare capital. There is also a dire need for some form of a civic art centre to be incorporated into the proposed development.”

Town Manager Bernadette Kin- sella said that the site purchased was a prestigious site and only fitting for

the council.

She said confirmation of the agree- ment to purchase the site was sent to the councillors immediately after the council executive was confident of a deal. “Any such commercial transac- tions had to be conducted in confi- dence,” she said.

The manager said she did not know how much it would cost to renovate the derelict site, but estimated the cost at approximately €5 million.

She was also unsure how the cost would be split between the two local authorities – Clare County Council and Kilrush Town Council. “Subject to sitting down and looking at the

figures, | would presume 50-50,” she ene

Cllr Marian McMahon Jones (FG) asked, “Are we looking at higher rates and higher car parking fees?”’

‘I don’t have any answers,” said Ms Kinsella. The effect the cost would have on local rates would be a matter for the members, she added.

Meanwhile, the father of the coun- cil, Cllr Jack Fennell (Ind), said that while he welcomed the new offices, he was “totally against” moving the chamber from the town hall.

The councillors are to meet in workshops to discuss any sugges- tions for the design.

SOME of Kilrush’s most prominent businessmen have questioned the procedure used by the two local au- thorities when they purchased a €1.4 million derelict site for their new civic offices.

Following the meeting of Kilrush Town Council, local developer Mark Reidy said it appeared that the elect-

ed members’ opinions did not seem to matter as “the decision was made at a higher level, without taking into account the rate-payers who are the backbone of this town”.

He said, “There is no reason why they couldn’t have purchased this on an option agreement, undertaken a feasibility study, applied for plan- ning permission and then have a de- layed closing.”

Businessman Joe Whelan, who at- tended the local authority meeting, said, “If I was to operate my business like that cuckoo operation carried out there this evening, I wouldn’t be here five minutes.”

Fellow businessman Paul Coady said the meeting clouded the issues around how the building would be paid for, rather than clearing up any questions they may have had.

“In fairness, we want development for the town and we accept there may be a need for civic offices,” he said.

Mr Coady who is chairman of the Kilrush Chamber of Commerce, said he was not speaking on behalf of the chamber, which would be issuing a full statement once it had obtained the information necessary to make an informed decision.

A special meeting of the chamber executive took place on Thursday morning last. “It 1s a project we cer- tainly have no grave objection to but we need the information on how it is going to be funded,’ said Mr Coady in his only reference to that meeting.

Meanwhile, Mr Reidy has ques- tioned the feasibility of the project. He said that he had offered the coun- cil 7,000 square foot of office space at the Quay Mill development, fully fin- ished, for €1.6 million and his offered was declined. He said that he also of- fered to rent the office space to Clare County Council and Kilrush Town Council for €14 per square foot.

The renovation of Inis Cathaigh is estimated to cost up to €5 million.

Mr Reidy denied he had a vested interest in objecting to the lack of a feasibility plan in place to buy and develop Inis Cathaigh. He said he has since sold the development, and has only a minor interest in the busi- ness now.

CLARE County Council and Ennis Town Council are prohibiting major new housing schemes in the town be- cause the public sewage works are in too poor a state to cope with further ESET Ken

The councils have refused planning for three big residential develop- ments in the last week including one at Gaurus which was to be the coun- ty’s largest ever housing scheme. De- velopments at Knockaderry on the Tulla Road and at Ballycorey on the Galway Road were also blocked.

Deficiencies in the sewage works and, in particular, at the main treat- ment plant at Clonroadmore, was the main reason given for the refusals.

“The capacity of this plant is now stretched to the extent that it would be inappropriate to approve any fur- ther significant developments which

would be dependent on it,” said Tom Tiernan, Ennis Town Engineer.

A €75 m replacement plant at Clareabbey, is not expected to be op- erational until 2012, raising the pros- pect that major developments will be constrained until then.