Author: admin

A HELICOPTER charged with bringing critically ill patients from west Clare to hospital is now a possibility, although it is unlikely to satisfy all health campaigners.

When the 24-hour accident and emergency services closed at Ennis General Hospital in April 2009, protesters warned of the dangers to the people of the west, who were hours from the nearest Centre of Excellence, and outside the Golden Hour in the case of heart attacks and strokes.

Many even suggested that the only safe and quick way to get seriously ill or injured patients to proper medical help in time was by helicopter.

Almost two years on and that wish could become a reality as former Minister for Transport Noel Dempsey announced that coast guard helicopters may be deployed to transport critically ill patients to hospitals.

This is to be part of a trial in Clare later this year.

The service will not be a full-time air ambulance service – a helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) – which many campaigners have been calling for.

The Minister, who resigned shortly afterwards, told the Dáil talks were under way about the possibility of an “aero medical trial” taking place in west Clare.

If the trial is successful, the new service could be extended to other areas along the west coast.

In response to a parliamentary question from Fine Gael TD Pat Breen he said it was hoped that the trial in west Clare might commence in the middle of this year.

“The Department maintains search and rescue [SAR] helicopters on permanent readiness at four bases for maritime emergency response, including two on the west coast in Shannon and Sligo,” said Mr Dempsey.

He continued, “These helicopters are principally employed for marine emergencies but they are occasionally used for land-based rescue tasks where other rescue agencies require assistance, as recently witnessed during the spell of severe weather, and in remote areas where the distance to hospital and a long ambulance journey would be a significant threat to a patient.

“However, the Coast Guard could not support a normal HEMS service with its SAR helicopters as this would reduce their availability for their primary task of providing helicopter marine emergency services on our coasts and waters.”

He added the new trial would be subject to a review by both the HSE and the Coast Guard to consider its effectiveness and value.

ONE of the mid-west region’s largest independent providers of therapies for children with special needs is reporting a “massive” increase in demand for its services.

Ann Norton, Director of the Clare Crusaders, said calls to the charity’s Barefield-based clinic have increased steadily over the past 12 months.

Ms Norton explained, “There is a massive demand. Monday and Tuesday alone, I got calls from seven parents. The problem that is out there, with the embargo in the Health Services Executive (HSE), is that one of the therapists in the Shannon area has gone on maternity leave and they don’t actually have someone to replace her. So we have just been inundated. I could not say that a day goes past that we don’t get a phone call from somebody.

“A few years ago, people had extra money and you were putting the money into your children. You were paying anything up to € 120 an hour for speech and language or for occupational therapy. Unfortunately people don’t have that anymore. The majority of people that have children with special needs would be getting different grant, respite or carers allowances but it has all gone. Everything has been reduced. So people don’t have that extra spare cash to put into the children.”

Founded in 2005, seven therapists are employed at the Clare Crusaders

clinic in the areas of re

flexology, physiothera

py, speech and language

therapy, occupational

therapy and Montessori.

170 children attend the

clinic on a weekly basis

while the Clare Crusad

ers also conducts ther

apy sessions in schools

in Ennis, Barefield and

Newmarket on Fergus.

Ms Norton added, “We do hands-on therapy. We don’t do assessments. We use the assessments that are provided by the HSE. We work with the kids one-on-one. We can’t do an assessment on a child and go around and say, well there is a waiting list for two years. By the time that two years comes up, you’d have to have an assessment again. So they are literally going around in circles again and it’s not good enough.”

AS MANY as 85,360 Clare residents are already registered to vote in the upcoming General Election, but almost five per cent of those people from the Banner will be voting outside the county.

A total of 4,200 Clare people are registered as voters in the constituency of Limerick East, despite living in Clare and being registered with Clare County Council.

According to the breakdown of the new Clare register to be published in February, 88,474 people are registered to vote in local elections.

However not all will have a right to cast their vote in Clare during the General Election, as this is restricted to Irish and British citizens only.

In the case of a presidential election and a referendum, just people with full Irish citizenship can make their mark.

More than 4,000 people will also be voting for candidates in the neighbouring Limerick City constituency.

Included among those Clare people exercising their voting rights in Limerick are people living in areas that the Boundary Commission controversially believe should belong to Limerick.

Limerick East was always a largely urban constituency that contained small parts of County Clare.

A report by the Constituency Commission was published in October 2007 that also recommended changes to the electoral set up of this area.

As a result of population decline, Limerick East was replaced by a new four seat constituency called Limerick City which will also contain parts of Clare.

It is not too late however for Clare people to have their say in the democratic process as there is still time to register for the supplementary elec- tion register.

According to the Clare Registrar’s Office people have 14 working days in which to register from the date the Dáil is dissolved and the Minister has announced the official polling date.

This supplementary register can also be used if a person has changed address from one electoral area to another or from one county to another.

It is also available to teenagers who turn 18-years-old on or before the day of the election.

For citizens who wish to vote by post, they must register within two days of the dissolution of the 30th Dáil.

Application forms for those wishing to register to vote are available to download on line on the Clare County Council website.

A member of the gardaí must sign all forms before they are submitted.

A COUPLE living in Shannon have been given seven-year sentences after being caught in Dublin handing over cash they brought from Limerick to exchange for heroin with a street value of almost € 50,000.

The couple got lost in Finglas as they headed back to Limerick with the drugs before gardaí pulled them over. They told gardaí they were in financial difficulties and were to get € 500 from criminals for the drugs run.

Ross Buckley (22) and Barbara Campion (23), both with an address at Delacey Park, Shannon, pleaded guilty at Dublin Circuit Court to possession of the heroin for sale or supply at North Road, Finglas, on August 4, 2009.

After the couple were arrested they each attempted to take responsibility for the offence and absolve the other. Their co-accused, Gerard Ledwidge (26) of Cappagh Road, Finglas, also pleaded guilty to having heroin for sale or supply on the same date and was also given a seven year sentence.

Judge Katherine Delahunt commented it was a difficult case involving the parents of young children but said she was satisfied they were all fully aware of what they were doing and had engaged in it willingly. She suspended the final two years of each sentence.

Gardaí, on foot of certain information, observed a car driven by Buckley with Campion as a passenger, being driven up Cabra Road before stopping at the junction of Ratoath Road.

Two males approached the car, one of which was later found to be Ledwidge, and the window was rolled down.

Ledwidge handed in a small package and Campion handed out a bag. The car left the area and was followed by gardaí. Ledwidge was arrested in a nearby house shortly afterwards.

Gardaí following Buckley and Campion, activated their sirens and pulled the car over on North Road. They found a bag in the glove compartment which contained heroin with a street value of € 48,060.

Campion told gardaí she had come from Limerick with € 8,000 in cash and guessed she had to collect heroin. She and Buckley were to get € 500.

She said they had been asked to go to Dublin and had been given a phone number to ring to find out the location of the hand over. She said she rang the number and handed over the money to Ledwidge in return for the drugs.

Campion, who worked as a catering assistant, said she did not have a drug problem and would not name the person she was working for.

Buckley initially told gardaí he was committing the offence to clear a drug debt but later admitted he had done the run in return for cash payment. He mentioned at one stage the money was to be used for a holiday to Spain.

He said they were to return to Limerick with the drugs for a drop off but he did not realise the value of the drugs.

Ledwidge has 31 previous convictions while Campion has one conviction and Buckley has five convictions.

Det Gda Byrne agreed with Ms Grainne O’Neill BL, defending Campion, that the couple’s role was “amateurish in nature” and they had no plan if they were stopped.

Ms O’Neill submitted that Campion had a disruptive childhood but a strong work ethic. She said she had suffered post natal depression and had been in financial difficulties after returning to work on a part-time basis after her maternity leave.

She said Campion made “a very, very bad decision” which she and her child will have to live with. Det Gda Byrne agreed with Mr James McCullough BL, defending Buckley, that the couple made no attempt to evade gardaí and there was no evidence of high living. He said he was not aware of any threats being made.

Mr McCullough said Buckley, who played soccer at underage and senior level with Shannon Town, was remorseful and that he was a vulnerable man who was quite naive. He said the couple were devoted to their young child who would suffer trauma as a result of her parents going into custody.

A MAN HAS appeared in court charged in connection with the illtreatment of horses in the county.

John Joe Fitzpatrick (57), of Mountbellow, O’Briensbridge, is facing two charges of cruelty to an animal, on January 25 and January 27, 2010.

He is also facing two charges of permitting a carcass to remain unburied at Kilmurry, Sixmilebridge, on January 25, 2010.

Inspector Tom Kennedy told Shannon District Court on Thursday that the case could not go ahead this week as he required veterinary inspectors and personnel from the Irish Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ISPCA) to be present for the hearing and he sought a later date.

Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned the case until February 17, when a date for the hearing will be fixed.

THE Kilbaha-based national organisation Rural Resettlement Ireland (RRI) has called for all NAMAowned ghost estates to be placed into the ownership of local authorities like Clare County Council.

The housing group was invited by the Department of the Environment to submit its proposals for solutions to the growing problem of ghost housing estates.

Chairman and founder of RRI Jim Connolly said priority must be given to social integration when considering the solution to the problem.

In the proposal he said, “Given the unprecedented financial state of the nation, emergency legislation should be passed to vest all NAMA-owned ghost estates in local authority ownership. The only exceptions would be those where private viable solutions were immediately available.”

Under the proposal, each council would consider ghost estates for rehabilitation in their own counties on a case-by-case basis, taking all local factors into account.

“If the main aim incorporates encouragement to establish small enterprises in and around estates, this should be an essential part of the PR campaign seeking tenants,” he said.

The west Clare man, who is also running as an Independent candidate in the upcoming election said many planning restrictions must be subservient to the main aim in this respect.

“Recognition must be given to the practicalities faced by people relocating to set up small enterprises. Two essential requirements in all cases are a place to live and a place to work. Depending on many factors, including the nature of the enterprise, the workplace could be a small addition to the house, e.g. IT business, office work, art work or similar; other cases may require separate workshop space, three phase electricity, broadband, etc,” said Mr Connolly.

“Many ghost estates are unfinished. Once ownership was transferred to local authorities, community employment schemes similar to FÁS schemes might be considered to finish the work required. This could provide opportunities for unemployed construction workers, craftsmen and apprentices needing work experience,” he added.

“Given that these developments were never subjected to common sense analysis as to location, local housing need, potential customer base, possibility of a property crash or above all, how this type of urbanisation adjacent to towns and villages throughout the country was compatible with Irish culture in the broad sense, or indeed with the historical growth of these communities, the nation is now left with a problem of epic proportions. We are faced with the prospect of social, economic and environmental disasters.”

Therefore local development of services and jobs must be encouraged around such estates RRI argued.