Month: August 2008

A LOCALLY-BASED environmen- tal group has instituted High Court proceedings against plans by Whelan Limestone Quarries Ltd to expand their flagship operation at Fountain outside Ennis.

This follows the Cairn Environ- mental Protection Group Ltd insti- tuting judicial review proceedings against An Bord Pleanala over deci- sions 1t made to give the go-ahead for three separate developments at the large-scale quarry.

In the proceedings, the Environ- mental Group of Bushy Park, Ennis, is seeking that decisions granting permission relating to the continu- ation of quarry operations; the up- grading of the road entrance and the extension of the landholding for the purposes of relocation and upgrading of the polishing area for the quarry, be overturned.

Already, An Bord Pleanala has dismissed one appeal by Cairn En- vironmental Protection Group Ltd and granted permission for two other AAA aed E-ReMeCoaKo) eo) eeToOL AE

It is not expected that the proceed- ings being instituted will have any material effect on the Whelan opera- tions prior to a court decision being made.

In an affidavit lodged to court, local resident and director of the company, Michael Halpin states that “since the date of its incorporation, the compa- ny and its members have been partic- ularly concerned with the activities of Whelan Limestone Quarries Ltd and the planning status of that com- pany’s quarry and source of stone”.

Mr Halpin states, ““We have made

numerous complaints to Clare County Council about the lack of planning permission for large tracts of Whelan’s quarry and partaken in a number of applications made by Whelans at both council and An Bord Pleanala level.

‘Moreover, we made a complaint to the Commission of the European Community about the manner in which the planning status of Whe- lan’s was being dealt with and the European Court of Justice delivered a judgement in our favour on July 3 last which dealt with the complaint.”

The environmental group are seek- ing to have the decisions quashed based upon an alleged procedural er- ror by Clare County Council in deal- ing with one of the applications.

Mr Halpin contends that An Bord Pleanala is precluded from consider- ing the appeals before it as the plan- ning application by Whelan’s must as a matter of law be declared and deemed to be withdrawn. Mr Halpin is also seeking that “pre-emptive cost orders” be put in place to ensure the company is able to bring proceedings at a cost which is not prohibitive.

A MOROCCAN chef, who is in Ireland sending money home to his wife and five children, pleaded guilty before a court yesterday to throwing a glass at a barman and to criminal damage to a pub window.

The court heard that Jama Moukrim (45) with no address on record threw a glass containing beer at a barman in The Diamond Bar after the bar- man refused him any more drink on the grounds that he had had enough. The offence was committed on Feb- ruary 4, 2007, the court heard and the glass didn’t hit the barman.

On April 3, after being refused entry to Bar 26 on Abbey Street, he broke a window, causing ©50 worth of damage, Ennis District Court heard.

On September 14, he ordered and ate a meal at the Prince Dragon and

had no money to pay for it, Judge Leo Malone was told.

On September 6, a Garda witness said, Moukrim had to be taken into custody for his own safety. “He was very drunk and had to be rescued. He was asleep on the ground in Abbey Street,” the garda said.

Tara Godfrey, his solicitor said that the Morrocan national had been working as a chef but had been in custody since July 18.

After asking if he could pay com- pensation for the meal and the win- dow, Judge Leo Malone was told that he could.

“If he ever comes before this court again on any such charges, I will im- pose a prison sentence,” the judge Sr HKOR

A 19-year-old driver took off after being spotted by gardai, speeding along roads where schoolchildren were walking, sending dust and gravel flying and ignoring a stop sign before jumping from the car and es- caping on foot, a judge was told.

On another occasion, Patrick Mur- phy of Tiermane, Mullagh, over- took a line of cars, including that of an off-duty garda, on a continuous white line.

The court heard Garda Gary Lade

was on duty in a patrol car in Kilmi- hill on April 10 at 1.10pm when he spotted the accused driving and talk- ing on his mobile phone.

Garda Lade told Ennis District Court that he knew that Murphy didn’t have a licence.

‘He drove off at speed past the sec- ondary school. It was lunch-time and there were a lot of students walking on the road. There 1s no footpath,” he told Judge Leo Malone.

“T put the flashing blue light on and drove after him. He undertook a vehicle, sending dust and gravel

spinning and drove on to a junction, where he failed to stop at a yield sign. He then overtook a car and a lorry on a continuous white line.”

In Church Street, Murpy got caught in traffic, the witness said and aban- doned the car, running through a number of premises before climbing a wall and disappearing into a field.

But later that day, he walked into the garda station of his own free will and made a full statement in the mat- com

On February 9, the court heard, Murphy came round a bend at speed

in his Honda Civic and whipped the wing mirror off a car which had been forced to pull over. He failed to stop.

On April 1, Judge Malone was told, Murphy overtook an off-duty garda in a line of several cars on a continu- ous white line, coming up to a blind bend. Murphy has never held a driv- ing licence and was not insured when the dangerous driving offences were committed, the court was told. He was pleading guilty to all offences, his solicitor, Patrick Moylan told the court.

He said Murphy had left school af-

ter his Junior Certificate and had dif- ficult family circumstances.

‘He believed he was insured at the time. He had paid instalments on his insurance but the cover had been withdrawn because he had failed to produce a driving licence.”

Judge Malone said he would re- mand Murphy in custody for two weeks so that he could have a pro- bation report drawn up. Having been in custody for a month already, the judge said he would take any period of detention into account in his final ose Kovereruatee

STAFF at Dunnes Stores are “terri- fied” of a man accused of theft and assault, a Garda Inspector said in an application to have the accused re- manded in custody.

Michael Maughan (34) with ad- dresses at 18 Beechwood, Clarecas- tle, and 20 Stone Court, Ennis, was before Ennis District Court yester- day charged with theft from Dunnes Stores and with assualting a member of Dunnes Stores staff.

Inspector Tom Kennedy asked Judge Leo Malone to remand the man in custody as he was not in a po-

sition to go ahead with the charges.

‘“He’s in court today and he’s intox- icated. It’s alleged he assaulted one member of Dunnes Stores staff and confronted another. They are terri- fied of him.”

Maughan asked to take the stand to prove he was not intoxicated, but Garda James Nicholls, who had to re- move him from the court a short time previously, said there was a strong smell of alchohol from the accused.

His solicitor, Tara Godfrey said it was “obvious he has a bad drink problem. There are other matters to come before the court on September 5 and I would ask that he be allowed

to keep an appointment which he has at Bushy Park this week to undergo a residential course of treatment for his problem. At this stage what he is facing are allegations.”

Inspector Kennedy said he was concerned that Maughan had first come before the court on theft charg- es “and this time it has escalated to assault charges.”

Judge Malone remanded Maughan in custody until August 18.

THE Irish Cancer Society welcomed the minister for health’s announce- ment that a vaccination programme against HPV (Human Papilloma Vi- rus), a sexually transmitted infection that can lead to cervical cancer in Some women, will be administered to 12-year-olds from 2009, if it 1s economically viable.

However, like many other organi- sations the cancer support group has expressed disappointment that a “catch-up” vaccine for 13 to 15-year- olds will not go ahead as advised in a report by the Health Information and Quality Authority.

“Overall the evidence suggests that a combination of a vaccination pro- grammes which vaccinates all 12 year olds associated with an effective screening programme will reduce 90 per cent of cervical cancers. A vac- cination programme on its own will reduce probably only 51 per cent of cervical cancers,” said a spokesper- son for the ICS.

“The society is disappointed that the proposed mass vaccination pro- gramme will not be extended to pro- vide a catch-up programme for girls

up to and including 15 years as this would increase the number of can- cers prevented by a potential factor of 13.8 per cent and would therefore speed up the positive impact of such a programme.”

The National Cancer Screening Service (NCSS) also welcomed the announcement.

A spokesperson for the screen- ing service said, “HPV vaccines do not eliminate the need for a cervi- cal cancer screening programme as currently available. HPV vaccines do not offer protection against all types of HPV that cause cervical cancer. Screening will also be neces- sary to protect women who have not been vaccinated. In due course it is anticipated that the impact of HPV vaccination on the incidence of cer- vical cancer will result in changes to the operational structure of a popu- lation based cervical screening pro- reaecbeeve slope

For further information on cervi- cal screening and HPV _ vaccina- tion please call the National Cancer Helpline on Freefone 1800 200 700 (open Monday to Thursday from Jam to 7pm and Fridays from Yam to Spm).

that Cervarix has been tested for six and a half years and 100 per cent coverage has been detected.

The trial has now been extended to nine and a half years.

While Cervarix acts agains two HPV strains – HPV 16 and 18, Gardasil acts against four, which in- clude HPV 6, 11, 16 and 18.

Cancer of the neck of the womb is diagnosed in almost 200 women in Ireland every year. Last year four women in Clare were diagnosed with cervical cancer.

Clare is one of only three counties in the country that has a cervical cancer-screening programme.

Some 70 women nationally die

from the disease annually. If caught in the early stages, cervical cancer has a five-year survival rate of 80 per COMO) mater low

Because of the very strong link be- tween HPV and cervical cancer, giv- ing a vaccine to a woman before she eexeKey eaten wm DONC Kore mmr eI OOM A SCM BD MEK I OT-FS the potential to reduce the number of women at risk of cervical cancer.

HPV vaccines must therefore be given before the recipient becomes sexually active and contracts the vi- Mele

Research suggests the average age at which Irish women become sexu- ally active is between 17 and 23.

A full vaccination against HPV re- quires three separate injections over six months.

As with most vaccines, a local reac- tion at the injection site 1s quite com- mon. Headache, fatigue and tummy upset have been reported following HPV immunisation.

In the US, a possible association between HPV vaccination and a rare neurological condition is being in- vestigated. Three deaths were closely related in time to immunisation with a HPV vaccine, but no link could be found between the girls’ deaths and vaccine administration.

CLARE hurler Tony Carmody has urged GAA fans to log on to the new ESB/GAA website www.culgreen.ie to help make Croke Park carbon neu- tral. Clare fans will also be in with the chance to win All-Ireland Final match tickets and €20,000 invest- ment in the county’s juvenile clubs. From today, fans and the public can log onto www.culgreen.ie to access details of how they can support the Cul Green environmental initiative by making energy saving pledges.

Prizes will be made to individual fans pledging on the website, includ- ing match tickets.

The website gives details of the level of carbon that can be offset through simple everyday tasks and encour- ages fans to travel to Croke Park at minimum cost to the environment by using public transport, park and ride and car pooling.

Cul Green was launched in May this year and since then Croke Park has contracted its electricity supply from a renewable source and envi- ronmental projects are ongoing at

the stadium.

As part of the Cul Green initiative, a grant of €20,000 will be made to the county that makes the most carbon-saving pledges per head of population. This prize money will fund sports equipment for juvenile clubs in the winning county. Further prizes will be made to individual fans who make a pledge on the Cul GTM (eli Ker

that there is no proof that the vaccine is effective five years after inocula- tion, and studies supporting it for that period of time have been carried out solely by the drug companies supply- ing the vaccine.

‘At the time these girls can be sexu- ally active they are left wondering if it is working, and if they will need a booster.”

The experienced practice nurse,

who is an advocate of vaccination and cancer screening programmes, also has reservations that just 50 per cent of the population are being vac- cinated against HPV, the sexually transmitted infection that affects 80 per cent of the population – male and eet N ee

The Kilmihil nurse said that if the vaccine is to go ahead both genders should be treated, so as to interrupt the transition of the HPV virus and ensure true community immunity. As well as contributing to cervical cancer HPV also contributes to rare cancers such as penile cancer and anal cancer in men. These cancers are also more common in men that have sex with other men, leaving men without the vaccine exposed.

Ms Harty believes that the vaccine

programme should be postponed un- til the cervical screening service has been rolled out nationwide and more is understood about the three-course injection available in Ireland since PAU ies

“Vaccination does not mean that screening will cease in the future, that will have to continue so I be- lieve it is more important to use the finances to get the programme rolled out nationwide first. Then wait a few years until the vaccine has been prov- en elsewhere,” she said. “The time is not right for a knee jerk reaction.”

“There is no epidemic of cervical cancer. More women die from breast cancer, and more women in Ireland die from heart disease than breast cancer and cervical cancer together,’ she said.

In research for a paper she is writ- ing, Ms Harty studied New Zealand, which has a similar population to Ireland.

“There they decided not to run with the vaccine programme,” she said.

The nurse believes that if the vac- cine is so powerful that it should be supplied almost immediately to the developing world where no screen- ing is available and where 80 per cent of the world’s cervical cancer deaths occur.

This 1s one of the few points of view that Ms Harty and the drug companies supplying one of the HPV vaccines are likely to agree on.

In its information on its HPV vac- cine GlaxoSmithKline said “lack of screening makes the need for a vac- cine against cervical cancer even

more pressing.”

Ms Harty believes that as a screen- ing service will be required in Ireland even post vaccine that the funding for the vaccine should be used instead to ensure a nationwide cervical screen- ing programme.

The pilot cervical screening serv- ice was rolled out in the mid-west in 2000. In 2008 the service still has not reached women outside Clare, Bile. e-iCw ulm Blnoe-vay

Under the service the Irish Cancer Screening Programme provided free Smear tests to 20,278 women each year.

The uptake among eligible women was 62.2 per cent last year. The de- tection rate of women with invasive cancer was 1.5 per cent while 3.7 per cent were referred for a colposcopy.

THE Department of the Environ- ment has made a late intervention in a bid to prevent a proposed €50 million retail park on the outskirts of Ennis from proceeding.

It was thought that the way was clear for the contentious €50 mil- lion planning application by Stephen Harris to proceed after a report con- firmed the disappearance of a rare protected butterfly, the Marsh Fri- WUUC-DMYape Keyed mM elomSI Ken

After two years deliberating on the application, Clare County Coun- cil is due to make a decision on the plan proposed for a 48 acre com- mercially zoned site at Skehanagh, Clarecastle.

However, the Department of the Environment has made a last ditch move to stop the retail park from proceeding after telling the council that it is recommending that “plan- ning permission not be granted”.

Already, the council has favoured the Harris proposal over a rival planning retail park for the Quin Road area which was refused last year.

However, in its new submission, the department states that the ap- parent recent loss of an important population of the Marsh Fritillary in this area, which 1s possibly linked

to the failure of mitigation measures associated with the nearby Ennis by-pass, is a matter of serious con- cern that has yet to be investigated and pursued by the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).

The department goes on to state that the reports provided do not ad- dress adequately the serious con- cerns raised in respect of key nature conservation issues at the site.

“The proposed development is lo- cated in an area of active floodplain associated with the River Fergus and floods significantly. It is located close to the Lower River Shannon Special Area of Conservation (SAC) and a flood assessment of the site and the proposed development, tak- ing into account cumulative effects of other development, is lacking.

“The proposed development will result in significant biodiversity losses in terms of wetland habitats of ecological value and invertebrate populations, including permanent losses of local extinction of the EU Habitats Directive species, the Marsh Fritillary butterfly.

“Permitting the development would be contrary to the aims of the EU Habitats and Birds Directive and would be contrary to the proper planning and sustainable develop- ment of the area,’ the department submission concludes.

THE big winner in Shannon losing its ‘stop-over’ status to the United States is Dublin Airport according to the lat- est figures where Shannon has lost 10 per cent of the market share of trans- atlantic traffic.

Confirming the gloomy predictions that Dublin would profit at the expense of Shannon in an Open Skies environ- ment, figures for the first six months show that Dublin Airport increased its transatlantic traffic by a whopping 36 per cent or 206,000 to 820,000.

Full Open Skies was introduced at the end of March and figures provided by the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) from January to June show that the numbers of the transatlantic routes has dropped from 325,438 in 2007 to 262,858 — a drop of 19 per cent.

The figures show that Dublin has in- creased its market share of the trans- atlantic market from 65 per cent to 75 per cent in the first six months of this year while Shannon has seen a corol- lary decline going down from 35 per cent to 25 per cent.

The advent of Open Skies however has seen an overall increase of 8.8 per cent in the transatlantic market and the SAA will be looking to increase its market share in the upcoming years having predicted an initial drop in transatlantic traffic.

The figures showing the DAA prof- iting from Open Skies continues a pattern of other State-owned airports taking advantage of Shannon’s diffi- culties.

The decision by Aer Lingus to end its London Heathrow route from last January has resulted in a drop of 16 per cent or 57,000 for the first six months on London routes on last year’s figure.

However, the main beneficiaries to Shannon losing the Heathrow route the Cork Airport Authority (CAA) which has enjoyed a 13.5 per cent increase on its London Heathrow service, going from 224,669 for the first six months of last year to 255,000 from January to June this year.

In its traffic figures, the DAA also announced that passenger through- put at Dublin Airport exceeded 11.3 million for the first six months of the Merle

Fine Gael TD, Joe Carey said yes- terday that the figures are a huge con- cern. “The transatlantic market has been very good to the local economy over the years. It is disappointing that the Government didn’t invest in the €53 million economic and tourism plan. That would have resulted in a huge amount of marketing, but instead of the €53 million, all that was re- ceived was €3 million for the west of Ireland,” he said.