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There are more children with special needs per head of population awaiting speech therapy services in Clare than anywhere else in the HSE western area.

As many as 453 Clare children are still waiting assessment for the service where early intervention is vital, just one child less than in Galway city and county together.

There are currently 13 speech therapists employed in the county, to cater not just for children but all aged groups including adults and elderly.

Therefore the waiting time for children with special needs is estimated at four months.

Just one therapist is in situ to cater for all children with special needs aged from six to 18.

It emerged this week that there were 4.5 posts vacant for this muchneeded service in the county, despite earlier information published by the HSE West that there were 15 posts filled and 15 vacant.

Three of the 4.5 vacant positions are in the services for children over five years old.

The vacancies are for senior positions to supervise basic service. There are very few senior therapists available to the HSE however.

“A major recruitment drive has been undertaken as part of the development of the primary care service to recruit additional speech and language therapists. It is also proposed to have an international recruitment campaign for speech and language therapists, with a view to filling all vacant positions within the Health Service Executive areas,” the HSE said.

While the HSE is trying to recruit, however, frustrated parents in Clare have taken on the responsibility themselves and have raised money to employ a Canadian therapist to begin a new clinic in Ennis for children with Cerebral Palsey.

Meanwhile, Green Party County Councillor Brian Meaney has described the incorrect, information relating to speech therapy statistics released earlier in the week at the HSE Regional Forum as “an example of an ever increasing lack of accountability.”

The councillor who is one of four Clare representatives on the forum said that after the information was disclosed, he tried to ascertain the accuracy of the information but the system did not allow him to do so.

“This total absence of a good information system means it is impossible to determine an accurate assessment of performance, or lack of, and the significance and scale of shortfalls, problems and difficulties.”

“What measures are being taken to encourage trained therapists back into the service?” he asked.

THE Garda file into the death of a man outside a pub in Kildysart three months ago has been completed and sent to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Vincent Hehir (32), a father of five, was attacked as he socialised in the village of Kildysart on Sunday night, September 6. He sustained serious injuries.

He remained critically ill in hospital, where his family remained by his bedside. He lost his battle for life three days later.

Gardai say they believe he was subjected to a number of blows, before falling to the ground and hitting the back of his head in the impact. They say they understand he was kicked a number of times to the body, whilst on the ground.

A major garda investigation was launched and more than 100 statements have been made, by people who were in Kildysart on the night Mr Hehir sustained his injuries.

Three local men, aged 21, 23 and 33, were later arrested and questioned at Kilrush Garda Station, before being released without charge.

A post mortem examination was carried out on Mr Hehir’s remains at the Mid Western Regional Hospital, Limerick, which showed that he died as a result of head injuries. At the request of one of the men questioned in connection with the death, an independent autopsy was carried out by Belfast Pathologist Dr Carson.

The Clare People has now learned that the substantial file has now been completed and has just been sent to the DPP’s office for direction. The DPP will decide what charges, if any, are to be brought in the case. This direction is expected to be delivered to Kilrush gardaí within weeks. According to garda sources, a decision may not be made by the DPP until after Christmas.

Mr Hehir had grown up at Glencanane, Kildysart and moved to London some years ago, where he managed a bar in Ilford. He had been home visiting his family for the weekend when the incident occurred.

Meanwhile, the community of Kildysart is continuing to rally around the heartbroken Hehir family.

The local pastoral council have set up a benefit fund for Vincent’s wife Mairead and their five children, Katie (9), Sinead (7), Patricia (6), Molly (3) and baby Margaret, who was baptised in a private ceremony at Vincent’s bedside at Ennis General Hospital. The council hopes to give the money raised to the family in the run-up to Christmas.

GARDAÍ are investigating a weekend break-in to Doonbeg post office in which up to €40,000 was stolen.

The raid – the fourth post office robbery in the county over the past 12 months – is being linked to a break-in to a Carrigaholt business premises and the theft of a cattle trailer in Doonbeg, at various stages over the weekend.

Entry to the post office was gained via a back window and the thieves made away with the safe containing the cash. The incident occurred between Saturday evening and Monday morning.

An aluminium cattle trailer was taken from the Kilrush Road in Doonbeg, while equipment, including a trolley jack, angle grinder and sledge hammer, along with a small sum of cash, was taken from a business in Carrigaholt.

According to gardaí, the possibility that the equipment from the Carrigaholt business was used to lift the post office safe into the stolen trailer is being investigated.

“We are not ruling out the possibility that the three crimes might be linked. We are very anxious to locate the cattle trailer. It is a double axle trailer, with a white top, and has ‘Doonbeg Limousines’ written on top,” said a Garda source.

This was the fourth post office raid since November 2005, in a worrying trend which has concerned gardaí and postmasters across the county.

Some €37,000 was stolen from Broadford post office on November 8, 2005. The robbery is believed to have involved several “travelling criminals”.

A large safe, containing the cash, was stolen from the premises. It was later found in an old disused school near Flagmount. Gardaí believe a cattlebox stolen from a farmyard near Cutteen Cross, Tulla, may have been used to transport the safe. A post office in Clarina, Limerick, was also raided around the same time.

Whitegate post office was targeted on January 25 last, when a woman in her forties was tied up and locked in the bathroom of her home, adjacent to the post office.

Three intruders, wearing balaclavas and carrying a baseball bat, broke into her home before tying her up, at around 3.20am. She remained tied up until another family member arrived on the premises shortly after 8am.

The men fled with what gardaí are describing as “a very small sum” of cash, after they failed to gain entry to the safe.

Some €37,000 was stolen in a raid on Liscannor post office, on Thursday, August 10 last. A horse box that was used was later found in Kilaneena. No-one has been charged in relation to any of the robberies.

“All post office safes have time locks and it is important to use them,” said a Garda spokesman.

AN ENNIS Community College student who was picked as part of an elite maths and science team has been sponsered on his trip after an appeal in The Clare People .

Victor Akujobi left this week to go first to Dublin and then to Brazil to represent Ireland in an international science competition.

One of seven children, Victor had travel and accommodation costs taken care of but needed a helping hand with the myriad of other costs involved in going as far as Brazil.

Fifteen-year-old Victor came second out of 150 hand-picked students who sat a series of tests in DCU last month, which challenged them in physics, chemistry and biology.

He qualified as one of a team of six who will head away this Thursday for the Damovo Junior Science Olympiad in San Paulo and stay there until December 12.

After The Clare People ran a piece about Victor’s trip last week, several sponsors stepped up to the mark.

The Community College sponsored their talented young student, as did the staff of ClareCare. Fitgerald McMahon auctioneers also came on board, as did family friends, Stanley and Blessing Njekwe.

Victor’s mother, Doris, said that the family were “delighted. People have been so good and we want to say a big thank you to them.”

Although shy to ask for any more good fortune after her son had been chosen to go, Doris admitted after a colleague contacted The Clare People that there were a lot of extra expenses.

“We are very proud of him and we hope that the team does well over there but it was a great achievement that he was chosen to go,” said Doris.

FEARS were expressed yesterday that Clare County Council could be facing massive compensation claims from developers, if a forthcoming study rules out development on commercial-zoned land on the fringes of Ennis.

According to the council, the flood management study, “will have a significant influence as regards what is appropriate and feasible from a development point of view of the lands in the vicinity of the Lower River Fergus”.

The council continues that the flood study’s “conclusions and recommendations may have implications for large areas of land on both sides of the River Fergus”.

The study is expected to be published in the early months of 2007 and, already, three planned multimillion euro developments on the southern fringes of Ennis have been put on hold – in part due to floodingrelated concerns.

In relation to plans by Michael Lynch Ltd to open up lands for development at Clonroadmore, the council, seeking additional information, states, “Whether or not the entire site would be available to facilitate such development is questionable, given that the flood management study which is presently ongoing has not yet reached its conclusions.”

Last year, a 48-acre site zoned commercial was purchased for over €18 million from Clarecastle man, JJ McCabe. Plans have been lodged for a retail park on the site at Skehanagh, Clarecastle. However, the council has put the plan on hold, requesting a flood risk assessment for the entire area.

The council has also put on hold a separate €50 million plan by Ennis businessmen, Sean Lyne and Noel Connellan, stating that the construction of a of a large development in an area that is susceptible to flooding is not in keeping with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. The council has requested a comprehensive flood risk assessment of the area.

Cllr Brian Meaney (GP) said yesterday, “If the flooding study rules out development in areas zoned for development, the council could be facing massive compensation claims from developers.”

The council’s senior planner, Liam Conneally said, “The purpose of the study is to determine the most appropriate way to minimise the area required to facilitate flood storage requirements. The study will provide necessary supporting data with potential flood relief options, which should have the effect of maximising the extent of low-lying lands in the area which could be safely developed.”

ANNA Prior is the complete antithesis to the majority of our national politicians. She is young, female and softlyspoken with a list of ideologies, the strongest of which is republicanism and her hopes for a united Ireland.

The 22-year-old Ennis woman is hoping that her differences will make her an attractive candidate in the next General Election, as does Sinn Fein who announced the NUI Galway graduate as their candidate in Clare.

Born in England to republican-minded parents Ann and Brian, the family returned home to Ann’s home county when Anna was just nine.

The former student of history, politics and law explains that, while she was always interested in politics, she did not sign up for Sinn Fein until she was in college. Listing her heroes as Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro, the young woman plans to do a masters in human rights but, for the short term, the general election is to become her life.

As former mayor of Belfast, Alex Maskey, pointed out, “she is engaged to her boyfriend but married to the party” – although, as a member of Sinn Fein himself, fiancé Immanuel is hardly going to mind.

A member of Sinn Fein’s leading Ard Comhairle body, Anna believes that she is ready for the challenge ahead.

She told The Clare People that the party is using a selection of platforms to bring its policies and ideas to Clare.

“This is a long-term project and, in reality, change does not come overnight and especially the change we are looking for – radical progressive change on the ground,” she added.

She outlined health, Shannon Airport and republicanism and human rights issues as some of the issues on which she will build her campaign.

Launching her campaign, Councillor Maskey MLA said the party was conscious of gender balance in the party.

Pointing to Clare’s republican history and Pearce Doherty’s showing in the European election, he was optimistic about the party’s future in the county.

“We have a challenge ahead in Clare, no doubt about that, but politics in this part of the island is evolving as much as anywhere else and we think that there is a clear place in Irish society in Clare as there is anywhere else for us to build an alternative to the more conservative politics of the past,” he said.

“Anna’s strength will be working at grass roots level. She’s a highly intelligent person with a lot of experience for one so young,” he added.

ENNIS Town Engineer Tom Tiernan last night rejected calls from councillors to place tankers on Ennis’s streets in order to provide clean drinking water.

At the council’s December meeting last night, Mr Tiernan said that the provision of tankers “would send out a terrible message”. In response to a call from Councillor Tommy Brennan (Ind) for Clare County Council to provide tankers until the current boil notice was lifted, Mr Tiernan said, “Logistically, it would be a huge operation to undertake.”

Mr Tiernan told the meeting that tankers would normally be provided where there was no public water supply at all, or where there had been a contamination of the supply.

“In the current situation, boiling the water deals with any possible contamination. Providing tankers would be a detrimental step and send out a terrible message.”

Instead, the councillors agreed on a motion by Cllr Tom Glynn (FF) that Clare County Council would fund the purchase of bottled water while the current boil notice remains in place through a receipt system. The matter is expected to be discussed at next Monday’s county council meeting.

A separate motion by Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) that the Minister for the Environment, Dick Roche, carry out an independent inquiry to resolve problems with the Ennis water supply fell, as it did not receive a seconder.

Mr Tiernan said that the current boil notice remained in place as a precaution. He said, “There is nothing wrong with the quality of the water.”

Mr Tiernan said that since the first boil notice was put in place 18 months ago, “there hasn’t been a problem with the water except for a period of two to three days.

He added, “I do accept that there has been a lack of confidence in the water supply.”

Mr Tiernan said that the temporary water filtration plant that was put in place to deal with the water supply was back up and running and that council was currently seeking to have further modifications to the plant.

He said, “There is no doubt that the technology works and there wasn’t a problem with it for the first two to three months.”

Cllr Flynn told the meeting that the permanent water filtration plant may not now be in place until the end of 2008 – one year longer than was at first anticipated.

MORE than 20 plucky souls have volunteered to take a very long dip in a good cause.

The swimmers who are taking on the Shannon Challenge will attempt to swim the length of Ireland’s longest river – 213 miles.

Over five days, starting on December 11, swimmers of various standards will take to the pool in the Shannon Leisure Centre to do the swim in shifts.

The team will swim three sessions a day, making the challenge a “big commitment,” according to Liam Buckley, MD of Molex and co-ordinator of this year’s swim.

“Last year, we raised €18,750 for the St Vincent de Paul and the target this year is to raise €20,000. It’s a charity which is close to home and all the money raised is spent in the Midwest,” said Liam.

The swim team is made up mostly of men and women who either live or work in Shannon.

This is the fifth year of the challenge and, says Liam, the effort “is very well supported locally. There are about twelve companies in Shannon who are represented in the swim, so there’s great local enthusiasm about it.”

Because of the mammoth effort involved over an extended period, participants in the challenge have been training in the pool during their lunch hours or in the evening, whenever they get a chance.

Liam stresses that not all the swimmers are natural mermaids, or men.

“There are some strong swimmers and some not so strong but everyone involved is doing it to raise some money in a good cause,” he said.

While the challenge is well supported in Shannon, the team needs all the help it can get if the ambitious €20,000 target is to be met.

Anyone who would like to splash out can sponsor individual swimmers, or donate money to the St Vincent De Paul account. The appeal account number is 77773059 sort code 935247. The account is based at AIB Bank 106-108 O’Connell St, Limerick.

SOPHISTICATED cannabis growing equipment has been found in an apartment in Ennis. It is the first of its kind ever seized by gardaí in the county.

The equipment, along with €1,000 worth of cannabis, was found during a search of an apartment in Ennis last Thursday.

A 23-year-old man, who is from the east of the country and who lives in Ennis, was arrested.

He was questioned at Ennis Garda

Station, before being released with out charge later that evening. A file is being prepared for the DPP.

According to gardaí, the equipment found is a purpose-built selfcontained unit and is heat regulated, with timer switches.

It is made from a canvas type material and contains a transformer, a fan and lights.

It is comparable to a shower unit, size-wise and could grow up to 12 cannabis plants at any one time.

Gardaí say they believe it was in use at the apartment for a number of months.

“It would indicate a substantial amount of cannabis was being grown and processed there,” said a Garda source.

“This type of equipment is suitable for conditions indoors, where the heat is regulated,” added the source.

“This is the first time to find a selfcontained unit, with all the equipment, in Clare. Cannabis has been found growing in attics and plants have been found out of doors in the past, but this is an entirely different operation,” he added.

A BRAZILIAN man living in Ennis has appeared in court, charged with four counts of indecent exposure – two of which are alleged to have happened outside schools.

Hamilton Abremhofa (29), of 54 Cregaun, Tobartaoscain, Ennis, was arrested at lunchtime last Thursday outside a girls’ school in the town.

The father-of-one was detained at Ennis Garda Station and later that night was charged with one count of indecent exposure. He was charged with three further counts the following day. Two of the alleged offences occurred at Tulla Road, Ennis, one at College Road – close to Coláiste Mhuire girls secondary school – and another at Harmony Row. The alleged offences occurred on four separate dates during November.

Garda Stephen Hession told Ennis District Court last Friday that the accused made no reply to each charge.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey applied for bail. However Inspector Michael Gallagher, prosecuting, said he would be seeking to remand him in custody.

“I object to bail based on the seriousness of the charges, that further enquiries have to be carried out and there is a fear he wouldn’t stand trial. We are not sure where he lives.”

Ms Godfrey said her client had lived in Ireland for the past four years, and was married with one child. She said he was a driver and earned €500 per week.

Judge Joseph Mangan remanded the accused in custody for a week, to appear again on Friday. Mr Abremhofa is also charged with failing to inform immigration officials within 48 hours of his arrival in Ennis.