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NO ILLNESS has ever been con- nected analytically with the public water supply in Ennis.

That was the view expressed by town engineer, Tom Tiernan in a sub- mission to the Environmental Pro- tection Agency (EPA) on their audit

of the council’s temporary treatment plant last January.

Mr Tiernan also stated the council had written to farmers in the catch- ment area of the Drumcliffe tempo- rary water treatment plant to advise them of their responsibilities under guidelines on good farming.

In a letter to the EPA, Mr Tiernan

said regular inspections would be made throughout the vulnerable parts of the catchment area “particularly following significant rainfall events, with a view to ensuring that no ag- ricultural activities are taking place during such sensitive periods which would have the potential to exacer- bate risk to the public water supply”.

He admitted the temporary treat- ment plant was a “reasonable stop gap measure, but didn’t provide the required levels of defence and com- fort against possible contamination which the new plant will do”.

Mr Tiernan admitted in the letter 25 to 30 per cent” of water was not being treated for cryptosporidium.

In the letter to the EPA last Febru- ary and now released to

Underlining the seriousness with which the council viewed the results internally, council official, Maura McNulty emailed County Engineer, Tom Carey; Town Engineer, Tom Tiernan and the HSE’s Acting Direc- tor for Public Health, Tessa Greally to say the results should have been phoned directly by the council’s con- sultants.

The records also show that the fax transmitting the hard-hitting EPA audit report to County Engineer,

Tom Carey was marked “urgent” but was never made public.

During the course of the audit, the council admitted that 17 per cent of the water entering the public water supply was bypassing the membrane toe

The EPA audit concluded that the proportion of inadequately treated water entering the Ennis public water supply was likely to increase when the raw quality was poor.

“The highest proportion of inad- equately treated water enters the dis- tribution network at a time when the risk of contamination of the supply with Cryptosporidium is at its high- ae

“The Drumcliffe water treatment plant is operating under conditions of high risk of contamination of crypt- osporidium.

“The agency is concerned that the practice of bypassing the membrane filtration plant, particularly when raw water conditions are poor, effectively removes the treatment barrier in the Ennis public water supply” the EPA stated.

Responding to the revelations, Dep- uty Joe Carey said it was “one story after another with the water supply in Ennis and the bottom line was that people were not drinking the water.

“The town engineer’s remarks that the council informs the public when they feel it appropriate, is little con- solation to those who fell il] during the most recent outbreak of crypt- osporidium.

‘Had the council been upfront with the EPA findings, and ensured that public safety dominated any other concerns, then that situation may not have arisen.

“Indeed, the fact that the council is nowhere near being in a position to comply with directives, means the public will continue to have Iht- tle confidence in their ability to pro- vide safe, clean drinking water’’,he declared.

IT WAS a historic weekend for Clare underage camogie as the Under-18s claimed their fourth Munster title.

There was plenty to be gained from Sunday’s win as history stood in the favour of Cork but Clare are learning to rewrite history books in the cam- ogie world.

‘“We’ve been working for years for this and over those years we have had some great battles with Cork,” said manager Fintan McNamara. “There is a healthy rivalry brewing there and to win today is great for the girls. This group had never over come the Cork challenge before today so this just shows how hard they are will- ing to work. Progress is being made at all levels in the county, we will be hoping that this group will now be in the challenging stages for the All-Ireland and for the future Clare will be recognised as a force to be reckoned with.”

McNamara also drew attention to the belief that exists within the

squad. “The team spirit is just fantas- tic and the whole panel are working together. But best of all they know they all have to work hard for their place yet each girl is supportive of all the others. That’s so important in to- day’s game where to win campaigns and games all the panel is required.”

Afterwards, Carina Roseingrave said the win represented a new be- ginning for Clare camogie and thanked her teammates for the work and dedication they have put in over the last number of months.

Clare now have a Munster title to their credit and two wins from two in the All-Ireland series. This will put them not only in with a serious chance of qualifying for a semi-fi- nal spot but also in contention to top their group. That’ the focus of the management as the girls will take their short break for exams.

THE Michael Cotter Memorial Cup begins this week. Hosted by Kilmi- hil GAA club, the Under 14 football tournament is in it’s third year and has proved a very popular event on the underage footballing calendar. Only two rules deviate from the of- ficial code with only one hop and one solo allowed and there must to be a winner on the day.

Running over a ten day period, the

Oy OLSeN brome Dee loMs e-MEaRO LUO MAM Lis mele Shannon Gaels/Killimer v Doonbeg this Thursday. On Friday evening, Kilrush play Kilkee in group B, fol- lowed by the group C Clash of Co- oraclare and Lissycasey on Saturday and the hosts Kilmihil against Clon- degad on Sunday.

The semi-finals then take place on the following Tuesday and Wednes- day with the showcase final fixed for Sunday, May 25 at St Michael’s Park, KGiiecntente

CLARE County Council and the Health Service Executive started a process of damage limitation at the weekend ahead of revelations that both agencies failed to inform the public of increased risk of contract- ing cryptosporidium from the Ennis public water supply.

Documents released under the Freedom of Information Act show that the Environmental Protection Agency warned in January of an another possible outbreak of Crypt- Osporidium one month before the most recent outbreak where two chil- Cleon lmnEe

The agencies never informed the public of the increased risk and an RTE Prime Time Investigates pro- gramme quizzed top officials last week on their role in the failure to inform the public.

The programme is not going to be broadcast until September and is focusing on the outbreak of crypt- osporidium in Ennis and Galway.

Both the council and the HSE re- leased statements last Friday and in an apparent move to shift the blame to the council, the HSE told all GPs, pharmacists and dentists in Clare that “the HSE advised that consum- ers should be regularly updated by the council of developments affect- ing the Ennis water supply”’.

The council posted a statement on its own website which for the first time acknowledged problems – ob- liquely – with the temporary Ennis

water treatment plant.

It does not refer to the damning January EPA audit but says only the capacity of the plant has been in- creased by 25 per cent “in response to increased demands on the system and the requirement of the EPA that full filtration be applied to all drink- ing water going out to consumers”.

The statement also admits for the first time that not all water go- ing through the plant is treated for Cryptosporidium.

In a careful understatement of the ongoing situation over the past number of months, the council states that because of technical require- ments associated with the construc- tion of the new Ennis Water Treat- ment Plant and servicing of the interim plant, “it has not been pos-

sible to provide fully filtered water to date.”

The statement once more re-iter- ates the precautionary boil notice in place for vulnerable groups, includ- ing patients who are immunocom- promised, infants, pre-school chil- dren and visitors.

The statement goes on, “These groups are advised to continue to boil tap water before consumption. Institutions serving vulnerable peo- ple should also continue to boil tap water or use alternative supplies. This includes hospitals, nursing homes, créches, pre-schools and day CF eee tne

THE Ennis Town Engineer admitted yesterday that is it very difficult to emerge “squeaky clean” when decid- ing what level of information to re- lease to the public.

Tom Tiernan was commenting after it emerged that the Environmental Protection Agency warned the coun- cil that there was a risk of an out- break of cryptosporidium a month before two children went down sick 20M eLom DD BS Lotss

The council decided not to make the EPA’s concerns public and Mr Tiernan said the council was liaising with the Health Service Executive and the EPA on a continuing basis and “wouldn’t have time to do any- thing else if we were telling the pub- lic about all our dealings with these bodies”.

He said that a balance had to be struck between advising the public of any elevated risk and causing panic amongst the population.

“There are enough people do- ing that and we try our best to keep councillors and the general public informed as best we can.

“When there is a change to the sta- tus quo or a deterioration in the water supply, we would notify the public in consultation with the HSE”.

GET rrebeitcameer Imm selomMN sc IKo mm BKO)DOMENOLe Ennis public water supply was “very safe to drink’, he said that with the

treatment capacity of the plant in- creased by 25 per cent, there had been significant improvement in the water quality but not on the scale that a permanent plant would provide.

He pointed out prior to June 2006 when the temporary treatment plant became operational, there was no fil- tration of the water for cryptosporid- ium.

“Since then, there has been a sub- stantial improvement in the qual- ity and reliability of the water and a significant reduction in the risk of cryptosporidium.”’

“We are working towards compli- ance and we are taking this very se- riously. I would expect the council would be compliant over the next number of days as we are tweaking and optimising the additional capac- LANs

Mr Tiernan said that the council had to increase the number of filters in the plant for eight to ten in March due to extra demand on the system over the past 12 months and had faced technical issues in trying to maximise the treatment of the water for cryptosporidium.

“A number of the filtration units required servicing as the demands placed on the system over the winter took its toll and the issue is further complicated by the construction of the permanent plant because there are a number of parts that are inter- linked,” he said.

THE Clare Primary School 5-a- side soccer tournament went ahead at the Lees Road astro turf facility last week with a huge turnout for the various competitions.

The smaller school competition went ahead on day one with 24 teams taking part in the boys competition. Lahinch NS had the better of An- nagh NS in the first semi final while Quilty beat Kilkee in the second with Lahinch prevailing over Quilty in the final on a score of 2-0.

A total of 20 girls teams took part in the girls competition. Newmarket NS beat Liscannor NS in one semi final and Quilty NS beat Lisdoonvarna in the second. The Quilty girls avenged the defeat of their boys counterparts when they won the final by 2-0.

The Lahinch boys and Quilty girls will now go on to represent Clare in the Munster finals later in the month.

In the bigger schools tournament, Ennis NS won the girls B event in a thrilling final which saw them pre-

vail over Kilrush NS after a tense penalty shoot-out and in the boys B event, Newmarket were 2-1 winners over Kilrush NS.

There was further success for Ennis NS in the large schools section of the draw when they beat the holy family in an entertaining final by 5-1.

“The event was a great success,’ said Tom Glynn, Clare co-ordinator of the event. “The facilities were top quality as were the referees, from Rice College.”

UP TO a quarter of all family doc- tors in Ennis are not taking on any new patients.

Chairman of the Clare branch of the Irish College of General Prac- titioners (ICGP) Dr Michael Harty said that 25 per cent of general prac- titioners in the county town have closed their list.

“In areas of population growth the number of patients is out stripping the number of GPs. In the rest of the county I wouldn’t be aware of any that have closed their list,” he said.

The Clare GP representative con- firmed however that the work of all GPs has increased significantly in the last number of years, an issue that 1s to become even more serious as a huge shortage in the profession is predicted.

“In general terms the work of the GP has increased by 50 per cent. Part of this is due to the population increase but one of the major factors for the increase in workload is the transferral of patients from hospitals to GPs,’ he said.

These transferrals include Warfarin and diabetes clinics.

“We are doing a lot more interven- tion than we used to,” he said.

The Kilmihil doctor said that the public also has greater expecta- tions and are more health conscious, which leads them to visit the doctor

more often.

There are currently 2,500 GPs in Ireland a number that is decreasing due to the older age profile of the profession.

The issue is about to reach crisis point however as not enough doctors are coming on stream to replace cur- rent GPs planning to retire.

“There are a large cohort of GPs that are within 10 to I5 years of re- tiring,” he said.

It takes 11 years for a student to go from first year medicine to a fully qualified GP.

‘We need to plan in advance and at the moment that is not there,’ added Dr Harty.

He said that 121 GPs qualify each year.

This number was to reach 150 but the HSE withdrew funding last year.

Initially it was hoped to bring the number of GPs trained every year to 180.

A survey carried out by the Irish College of General Practitioners showed over 50 per cent of GPs had problems recruiting partners to their practice, while 66 per cent had dif- ficulty-recruiting assistants.

Minister for Health Mary Harney admitted this week that there is a need to increase the number of GPs in the country.

WHEN Geoff Hurst scored the World Cup Final’s first ever hat-trick on that warm July day in 1966, roughly 300 miles west the men of Newmarket were watching. Inspired by what they saw, within two years Newmarket Celtic was born and football began to take root at McDonagh Park.

But instead of Charlton, Moore and Hunt, the names that drove the fledgling club forward were Ryans, Sheedys and Collins’ as well as Pat Coughlan, Mike O’ Malley and Frank McNamara.

It’s all the more fitting then, that 40 years on the name of O’Malley and McNamara still appears proudly on the Newmarket team sheet.

“This is unreal for the club,” said captain Mark O’Malley .

“We have been waiting 13 years for this, it’s unbelievable. This year now we really put in the effort. We had a good man over us in Paudie Cullinan

in charge of us. Packie Ryan, Seamus Cullinan, Billy Woods – they drove us on all year and it’s to them we owe Wee

“It’s a big club, everyone got right behind us. And the supporters are fantastic, you can see all the people who came out today to cheers us on – all of that matters. We have worked so hard this year, everyone.

“We had a 24 man squad and were able to play 11 versus 11 in training which really helped.”

“We started the match well and it was a good goal. But I suppose we started to get a bit complacent after that. But that happens sometimes – Burren are a very good team, very physical. They sent in a lot of high ball and caused us problems,’ he continued.

‘But once we got in a half time lev- el. We pushed on well in the second half, maybe got as bit of luck with the third goal but we did well.”

They think it’s all over, it is now.

AMONG the joy that rattled among the management and players out on the grass in Cusack Park was a definite feeling that the victory over Donegal and the silverware secured would act as a spring to further suc- cess.

The championship remained in the front of the mind of Clare captain Louise Henchy and manager Deirdre Murphy.

“What we want is the champion- ship,’ said Murphy. We want to get to Croke Park. When we started out

in the league we said we would keep working for the championship and that’s still the aim.”

Henchy, too, was unswerving in her view that greater things could lie in store.

“We want to keep on winning but today was great,’ she said. “We knew Donegal were strong so we had to up it against them. We struggled at times, around the middle especially but the minute we got the ball into our forwards we looked dangerous. We knew if we could keep ball going in we would get scores.”

David Browne is tucked away in a

corner of the field as Henchy is walk- ing up the steps to collect the trophy and emotionally, he says he’s stuck for words to put perspective on the 200

“I’m delighted for the girls because for the past few years, football has been in the doldrums in Clare. Fair play to Deirdre [Murphy]. She came in three years ago and we got on board with her and things have taken off.

“We lifted the siege and a lot of the girls who weren’t there a few years ago have come back and fair play to them and it’s days like this that it’s all about.

“It was a tough game there at the end and it was touch and go for a while. But we wanted to win it. We knew we were getting Division | sta- tus next year but we wanted to go up as champions. This day is great for football in the county and hopefully we can go on from here.”

His fellow selector David O’Brien said Clare recognised early on they would have to work hard to win. “We knew it was going to be a difficult game but when we heard it was on in Cusack Park, that gave us a boost.

“We didn’t give them many chances but we spoke about it all year. Once they have the ball, everybody filters back and that’s how we played. We worked very hard, but the goal is to win the championship.”

The first step has been taken now and the journey continues.