Month: December 2008

AFTER almost twenty years, the Kil- fenora branch of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann has been reformed.

At a recent meeting the following officers were elected to plan a pro- gramme of activities for the branch – Mrs Phil McMahon (President); John Morgan (Chairman); Julie Nea (Secretary); Noel O’Donohue (Treas- urer); Mathew Griffey (PRO) and Sharon Howley (Youth Officer).

The meeting was attended by of- ficers of the county CCE board who

offered every help in setting up the branch.

It was decided to hold a series of concerts with local musicians, sing- ers and dancers starting on Friday next, December 5 in Kilfenora Hall at 8.00 sharp when three generations of Kilfenora traditional entertainers will perform on this very special oc- casion.

To make it an enjoyable night, the new committee hope it will be well supported and give a platform for young musicians, singers and danc- ers to perform .

LITTLE David Falconer from En- nis and Katy Judge, who is the apple of her Crusheen grandmother’s eye, were among eight children honoured at the weekend for their unbelievable LoL tb ee FeXoR

The inspirational youngsters were given Children of Courage awards by the Share a Dream Foundation.

Three-year-old David suffers from the extremely rare skin condition, Ichthyosis, which causes him to shed excessive amounts of skin.

His entire body has to be creamed every four hours and bathed for an hour every day. Yet those who know David says he “warms the heart of everyone he meets”.

Four-year-old Katy, who is a regu- lar visitor to her gran, Catherine

Brigdale in Crusheen, developed a cancerous tumour on her kidney last year.

Her kidney had to be removed and then she began a six-month course of chemotherapy, which was harrowing, Catherine explained.

“During it she lost all of her hair,

and her appetite and was a very regu- lar patient at Clonmel Hospital. One of the saddest memories I have of her is when she had to have a feed- ing tube inserted through her nose. I had often seen people with them but presumed they were inserted while asleep. Unfortunately not, as the patient needs to swallow during the procedure. She was literally speech- less with shock after it was done. Thankfully the chemo worked and Katy started school this September and is doing very well.”

Now the plucky youngsters are off to Disneyworld Paris with their families for a well-deserved family holiday.

DRIVERS who listen to loud music in the car should be hit with penalty points, according to one Ennis coun- cillor.

Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) has said that stiffer penalties are required in order to stamp out bad driving hab- its.

Speaking at yesterday’s monthly meeting of Ennis Town Council, Cllr Neylon said the majority of problems on Irish roads were caused by poorly educated drivers.

“There are rules and regulations that people have to abide by. You get people saying that the evenings are getting dark, but the evenings always got dark…..The problem is that you have people sitting in their cars with the radio on full blast. If you can get two penalty points for being on your mobile then you should get four for listening to the radio too loud,” Cllr Neylon said.

He added, “People aren’t focused, they should be focused. When I got my license, there were thee Cs on the top of it – Care, Courtesy and Con- sideration – I don’t see that on any

license any more’”’.

Cllr Tommy Brennan said drivers needed to exercise “common sense” on the road. Cllr Tom Glynn said, ‘The one thing about common sense is that it isn’t very common.”

Cllr Neylon’s calls came as an ac- cident involving a 79-year-old pedes- trian led to strong calls for improved safety measures on Ennis’ roads.

SU ilommaOyser Tema emB DOT LED KcOMmAU YON ELS walking across a pedestrian crossing at Kelly’s Corner in Ennis.

Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) told yester- day’s meeting that further accidents were inevitable if safety measures weren’t improved.

He called for a report to be pre- pared to address pedestrian and traf- fic hazards at Corrovorrin and the Tulla Road.

Cllr Brennan called for a pedes- trian crossing with traffic lights to be installed at Kelly’s Corner.

He said that pedestrian crossings were also needed near the Ennis Railway station.

“The circuits are already there from before. It wouldn’t be a big job. There needs to be something done before someone is killed,’ he added.

WOLFE Tones camogie club, which made a complaint about the alloca- tion of funding to the Shannon Let- sure Centre for a skateboard park, is to consult with its legal advisors to ascertain what its options are.

The Standards in Public Office Commission ruled that Councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind), who is a member of the board of the leisure centre, did not have a case to answer, relating to the allocation of €50,000 by the town council to the leisure centre.

The Wolfe Tones camogie club is- sued a statement, saying it was “natu-

rally disappointed” that its complaint had not been successful “at this junc- ture”.

“Now is a time for us, as representa- tives of Wolfe Tones camogie club, to take stock. In the intervening period we will consult with our legal advi- sors to see what further recourse may be available,’ said the statement.

“We have worked tirelessly to con- struct the very first dedicated cam- ogie park in Ireland. While we have received some public funding, for which we are most grateful, most of our costs have been met by local fun- draising efforts,’ it stated.

The statement pointed out that after meeting with the Ombudsman Emily

O’Reilly at an open day in Ennis, the decision was taken to make a formal complaint to the Standards in Public Office Commission. “At all times we have acted within our rights as citi- zens and taxpayers,” it stated.

At a meeting of Shannon Town Council last week, several council- lors expressed their opinions on the issue. Councillor Geraldine Lambert (FF) said she was at a loss as to why the matter went as far as the Stand- ards in Public Office Commission.

“Tt certainly didn’t warrant the pub- lic lives of some people and the pub- lic careers of officials of this council to be held up to scrutiny,” she said.

She said the matter had caused

stress for several people and she was dismayed at the turn something fairly straightforward had taken.

Councillor Tony Mulcahy (FG) asked the mayor of Shannon Cllr Gerry Flynn if he had sought legal advice on the matter prior to becom- ing mayor. Cllr Flynn said he had sought personal legal advice and he could arrange for councillors to see a copy of it.

“IT knew there was a possibility I would be coming in as mayor so | did seek legal opinion. I did nothing wrong. If I had the same opportunity again, I would do it again. I’m glad for Cllr McCarthy that the verdict did come out in her favour,’ he said.

THE mayor of Shannon has been ac- cused of being “malicious, vindictive and politically motivated’, by fail- ing to inform his fellow councillors about a letter from the Standards in Public Office regarding a complaint on a possible breach of ethics.

The accusation was levelled at Cllr Gerry Flynn (Ind) by Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind). The complaint was made by the Wolfe Tones camogie club, after the Shannon Leisure Cen- tre – of which Cllr McCarthy is a member of the board – was allocated €50,000 in funding from the town ott ene

After it was found that she had no case to answer, she responded to the entire investigation at a meeting of the council last week.

She said that the mayor, Cllr Flynn, received a letter from the Standards in Public Office as Méara Baile, but didn’t bring its contents to the atten- tion of the town council.

“Whatever you did, you did for your own personal motivation and further your own ends,” she said to Owe aha

She said she had remained quiet for 10 months and had faith in the proc- ess, even though it was difficult to do So at times, but others did not abide by the same standards.

“Much of what was said over the past 10 months was inaccurate and went unchallenged by me,” she add- ed.

“IT have never sought or obtained any financial reward from any com- munity,’ she said.

Cllr McCarthy said she did not seek to influence the town manger, town clerk, the then mayor or any mem- ber of the town council in respect of a letter from the chairperson of the leisure centre last February.

She said that neither she nor any member of the leisure centre had any prior discussion with the town man- ager or any official of the council relating to the provision of a skate-

board park in the town, as part of a refurbishment of the leisure centre.

Cllr McCarthy said she did have a casual conversation with the town clerk Tomas MacCormaic about the project as she knew it was an objec- tive of the council to provide the fa- UIA

After her words, Cllr Tony Mulc- ahy (FG) then asked Cllr Flynn why he hadn’t informed the town council about the letter. Cllr Flynn pointed out that he did not initiate the com- plaint.

“I didn’t have communication with the Standards in Public Office previ- ously. I did what I thought was right,” he said.

THE Clare Tourism Council has pre- dicted that the county’s tourism in- dustry will receive a major boost in 2009 – driven mostly by the return of American visitors.

The council, which held its annual conference in Ennistymon last week, believes that a combination of factors including Ryanair entering the low- cost transatlantic market, will boost American visitor number on 2009.

According to chairperson of Clare Tourism Council, Flan Garvey, the election of Barack Obama and the rising value of the dollar will en- courage American’s to travel.

“We have also had hints that Michael O’Leary and company will be getting into the transatlantic mar- ket out of Shannon and doing it ina low cost model compared to what is there at the moment,” he said.

‘The pre-clearance issue is vital as a part of this, we will be the first air- port in Europe which has this and the onus is on us to focus on what is right and not what is wrong.

“We need to get those flight in from Europe, through Shannon, and then off to North America again. We will have this for a full year ahead of Dublin Airport and if we can all work together we can really make this happen. This is a golden op- portunity which we have never had before.”

The conference was addressed by a number of high profile speakers in-

cluding Alan Clarke, CEO Northern Irish Tourist Board, Paul O’Toole CEO of Failte Ireland and Martin Moroney, head of the Shannon Air- port Authority.

“Everybody acknowledges that we are going through a rough time at the minute but this is a time for reflec- tion and planning for a future which is going to be better,’ continued Cllr Garvey (FF).

‘People are pretty optimistic about next year. They are cuts to certain ar-

eas this year but we are well placed, even with Open Skies, to capacity of markets that we have already estab- lished.

“The Clare Tourist Council has been here since 1961 and in that time we have done countless promotions in Milwaukee and London and all over the world. We have a share of the market now that we would not have if we hadn’t been out there over the years.”

Others to attend the conference

included the Ambassador from the south African country of Lesotho, who was the first representative from an African country to address the Clare Tourist Forum. Also present were US _ television personality, Stephanie Abrams and a delegation from Ennistymon’s twinned towns in Greece and Italy.

US visitors ‘will return in 2009’

Kids rejoice as sod turned on Tulla playground

A MAN with 32 previous convic- tions has been handed a one-month detention sentence after he punched a garda patrol car on the day of his child’s christening.

Barry O’Brien (21), of Burton Street, Kilrush, was convicted of a public order offence, arising out of an incident at O’Curry Street, Kil- kee, on June 15 last.

Kilkee District Court heard that that accused told a garda, “Don’t you {***ing come near me or I’|I take the head off you.”

His solicitor Eugene O’Kelly said his client had christened his child that day and accepted it was an ap- palling way to end what should have been a very happy day.

“The biggest penalty he faces is that he has spoiled what should have been a most happy occasion,” he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a one-month detention sentence and fixed a bond in the event of an ap- oer

Garda car attack