Month: January 2009

es terday, the National Director of One in Four, Maeve Lewis, said that even the bishops who acted responsibly

should be stripped of all discretion- ary power. She was speaking follow- ing a statement from Cardinal Séan Brady, which said that the Bishop of Cloyne, John Magee, should not re- sign as he had learned his lesson.

‘I think that the recent position ex- pressed by the vast majority of the bishops would show that they sim- ply don’t understand the dynamics of sexual violence and the degree to which the offender can manipulate the situation,” she said.

“They simply do not have the ex- pertise to be the judge for these types

of situations and this power should now be taken away from them. ‘When you have a bishop who re- ally understands all of the nuances in relation to child sexual abuse then the protocol will be implemented not only to the letter of the law but also to the spirit of the law. But this is clearly not the situation so we are now call- ing for the power of discretion to be taken away from all bishops.” Despite calling for his discretionary powers to be taken away, the One in Four director praised Bishop Walsh for his commitment to child protec-

tion. “Our experience would be that Bishop Willie Walsh is very commit- ted to child protection and has man- aged cases in the diocese very well in the past,’ she continued.

“We would commend him for this and would also recognise that the Bishop was one of the few to call for Bishop John Magee to consider his position over the situation in Cloyne.

“But we also believe that the bish- ops in the main have not aligned themselves with the thinking of the priests and people who they repre- sent.”

THE HSE has warned that visitors arriving outside the new visiting hours at the Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Ennis will not be allowed enter.

From February 1, the general visit- ing times at Ennis General Hospital will change, with half an hour less being allowed for day time visitors, and half an hour extra allowed at night.

The new times will see people visit- ing patients from 2.15pm to 3.45pm

In the evening visitors can spend time with patients from 6.30pm to Opm. Visitors to the Intensive Care Unit be restricted to family members or carers and will be determined on an individual basis.

Only two visitors at any time will be allowed visit a patient.

A spokesperson for the HSE said

visiting hours would be strictly ad- hered to from now on.

“Visitors arriving outside of these hours will not be allowed admis- sion.”

Currently visiting hours are from 2 pm to 4 pm in the day and 7pm to 9 pm at night.

Meanwhile visiting restrictions are in operation due to an outbreak of the winter vomiting bug at the county hospital.

Four cases of the highly contagious virus have been reported at Ennis General Hospital, with another four cases confirmed at St Joseph’s Ger1- atric Hospital.

Relatives of patients are asked not to enter the wards without informing nursing staff.

Patients are also asked to attend their GP, if at all possible, before presenting at the Accident and Emer- gency Department.

SPP TMC MOOLUICeB I MaTT BeNOR over ESB breach of contract

Prendeville wants return of health boards

Marts hope to beat economic downturn

THE proposed new Graduated Driv- ers License could bring an end to a host of youth related events in rural Clare – with a night-time curfew for drivers and age restriction for pas- sengers now being considered.

The Road Safety Authority (RSA) last week announced a period of pub- lic consultation on the details of the proposed license.

While stating that safety was pri- mary, young farmers group Macra Na Feirme, called for a balanced approach to be taken to ensure that young people in rural Clare can have a safe social life.

Other proposed elements of the new license include a zero alcohol limit, increase in the penalty points and a restriction of the power of the car.

“The first thing to say about this new license is that safety is the most important thing,’ said Ivan Hayes, head of Macra in Clare.

“That said it is very hard to see how a curfew on young drivers would be possible. It would be impossible to enforce and unworkable for young

people in rural areas.

“We had a Macra social event in Ennis on Saturday night. There were a lot of young people there from dif- ferent parts of the county. There were two brothers who drove to the event and brought a full car with them. One brother drove in and the other was designated driver – he didn’t drink and drove all of them home.

“If there was a curfew then situa- tions like this, when people are act- ing responsibly would not be able to take place.

“Having said all of that however, the most important thing is road safety. We need to improve this but at the same time not make things un- duly difficulty for rural young peo- ple,” he said.

Macra na Feirme national president Catherine Buckley called for any measures suggested by the RSA to be debated to see if they are practical to implement.

Ms Buckley said that as well as using enforcement, the RSA should also use “the carrot approach” to en- courage young drivers to be respon- sible road users.

A CLAREMAN who is to be hon- oured as part of the Muintir an Chlair celebrations of 50 years in business has said he was “stunned’ to be nominated.

Martin Corry a native of Cree, now living in Lucan in Dublin has been working with the association for all of those 50 years, as well as be- ing involved in promoting the Irish language, scouting groups, active re- tirement groups, the pastoral council and fund-raising for good causes.

Now retired, Martin has been stud- ying for a degree in Celtic and Irish studies and enjoys walking, having trekked in Peru two years ago and having walked the 144 miles of the Mid Clare Way to raise cash for a fel- low Clare citizen, Sr Ethel Normoyle, who runs the Missionvale Centre in South Africa.

‘IT was stunned and honoured to be nominated, considering the calibre of people who have been given the award before me. I’ve been involved in a lot of things but as a member of a team,’ said Martin.

The presentation will take place on January 28 at Muintir an Chlair’s an- nual dinner in the Red Cow.

Also being honoured on the night 1s musician, Frank Custy, who will be given a Hall of Fame award.

Attending the 50th birthday cel- ebrations will be more than 200 members of the association as well as patron, Bishop Willie Walshe and

the Deputy Mayor of Kilrush, Cllr Se one

An invitation has also been sent to all surviving former Clare Person of the Year award winners.

During the year, the association has been involved in a number of ac- tivities including the raising €4,000 for the palliative care section at En- nistymon Hospital and €1,400 for Sr Normoyle – also a former recipient of the Clare Person of the Year award

– through a table quiz.

The association meets on the sec- ond Thursday of every month in the Garda Club in Harrington Street and new members are always welcome.

TWO Miltown Malbay couples have called for a doctor’s surgery to be closed down as soon as possible.

James and Pauline McMahon and Brendan and Doreen Hughes of Ballard Road made the call as part of their appeal against a decision to grant a two-year planning permis- sion to Dr Maura O’Meara.

Dr O’Meara secured planning re- tention for the surgery from Clare County Council in the face of local Opposition.

In their appeal, the objectors state that the decision to grant a permis- sion “seems to have been made, not on good planning practice but on the grounds that a medical centre was in Operation and was necessary.

“We are of the opinion that if this medical centre is allowed to operate for a further two years, then it will be almost impossible to close down. A commercial enterprise of this nature is not suitable for a wholly residen- tial area. We strongly object to this development even on a temporary basis.”

They also claim that the develop- ment has already interfered with

their quality of life and ask that it be closed as soon as possible.

“This objection is not of a personal nature. We have no desire to harm the practice of either doctor nor to interfere with the medical care of the patients. We feel that the medi- cal centre is located in the wrong place and will devalue properties to the point where they will become un- saleable. The estate is not designed nor laid out to cater for the volume of traffic that would be generated by such an operation.”

The planner’s report noted a sub- mission from Maura O’Meara stat- ing “that this was the only building suitable to her needs as a doctor’s surgery, which was bought after much searching in the area”.

The planner stated, “While I do have some concerns in relation to the location of the surgery this far from the village, I note that such facilities are needed to serve both the village and the rural hinterland.”

The council granted planning per- mission on the basis that the proposed development would not seriously in- jure the amenities of the area.

A decision is due on the appeal later this year.

FIGURES released yesterday show that the numbers travelling on the Aer Lingus Belfast-Heathrow route last year fell 22 per cent short of the numbers that travelled on the Heath- row route from Shannon in 2007.

Provisional statistics released by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) show that 257,953 passengers travelled on the Heathrow-Belfast route from January 18 to the end of December.

This compares to the 331,882 pas- sengers on the Shannon-Heathrow route in 2007, which was a 10,594 increase on the 2006 figures.

Last month, Aer Lingus announced the restoration of the Shannon-Hea- throw route from mid-March with a AWA CoROL BIANCO Mis (CSe

Responding to the figures, local county councillor Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said she was not surprised by the figures but the damage Aer Lin- gus did to the region in withdrawing the route was unquantifiable.

“Aer Lingus put a lot of effort into

marketing the Belfast-Heathrow route and the airline was selling tick- ets for £5 which never happened on the Shannon-Heathrow route,’ she SP HLG

The figures indicate that Cork airport was the greatest benefici- ary from the Aer Lingus decision to withdraw the Shannon-Heathrow service with 517,110 travelling on the

Cork-Heathrow route last year com- pared to 470,643 in 2007.

The Belfast-Heathrow _ statistics show that the numbers have been steadily declining since the summer when seasonal factors and the eco- nomic downturn are taken into ac- ore) uh elm

24,817 passengers used the service in September; 24,528 in October; 20,347 in November and 18,967 in December.

Speaking after the restoration of the Shannon-Heathrow service last month, Aer Lingus worker, Brian Slattery said that the company deci- sion to transfer the slots to Belfast “was misguided. It was a bad com- mercial decision. Common _ sense had to prevail and we now need the public support to make these routes AIO Oe ie

He said the restoration of the route was “never mentioned by Aer Lingus management” in the negotiations to achieve cost cutting at Shannon.

More travelled to Heathrow from Shannon than Belfast