Category: News

OUTRAGED parents of children with Autism met with public representatives in Kilrush last evening in an attempt to press upon them the necessity of the recently cancelled home tuition service.

The Department of Education withdrew the service from autistic children who attend mainstream education, without replacing it with any other service.

The service, according to parents, helped their children with communication skills, therefore allowing them to attend mainstream schools.

Last week, the Junior Minister for Education, Tim O’Malley said the department had a team working across the country to ensure that new services were put in place where needed.

“The decision to discontinue the home tuition grant was on the basis that the educational needs of these pupils can be best met in their individual schools,” he said.

This statement added to parent’s frustration. Also under discussion last evening was the newly sanctioned Autism Unit on the grounds of St Senan’s Primary School in Kilrush.

The unit, which is likely to receive planning permission for a prefab room at the end of August, is to provide education for six autistic children in the west Clare area.

To date, a primary school teacher and two special needs assistants have been sanctioned for the unit, which was the result of years of campaigning by stressed parents. Parents now fear, however, that the autism team required to provide the full service will not get the go ahead in time for September.

THE laying of a pipe for a private housing development in Ennistymon caused traffic chaos leading in and out of the north Clare town over the weekend.

Attempts by Ennistymon Gardai to relieve the traffic congestion in sweltering temperatures were frustrated after Clare County Council informed Gardai that they did not have a key to switch off the mobile traffic lights that were dictating traffic flows.

According to Ennistymon Gardai, the traffic jam leading into Ennistymon from the Ennis side on Saturday and Sunday “went on for miles” on the Ennis side with motorists experiencing delays of over a half an hour.

On Sunday evening, the traffic tailback leading into Ennistymon from Lahinch went as far back as the famine memorial half way to the seaside resort.

Traffic was reduced to single lane on the Ennis approach to Ennistymon to facilitate the laying of a sewer and water pipe to serve a 37-unit development currently under construction.

A spokesman at Ennistymon Garda Station said that the council was also unable to facilitate the detouring of traffic around the town at the weekend to avoid the traffic delays.

“The delays were up to a half an hour long and it was a bit more than people could take, especially if they had young children in the car,” he said.

The pipe-laying has been going on for the past four weeks after developer Seamus Carroll secured a road opening licence from Clare County Council.

Speaking to The Clare People , Mr Carroll admitted that the works were “very disruptive”, but added, “It has to be done and the upgrading of the sewage system will benefit the wider area.”

AN AMERICAN born businessman who the US authorities had hoped to extradite from Clare back to Arizona, has sold his home near Newmarket on Fergus and left Ireland.

Late last year, the US Government commenced proceedings against Joseph Patrick Smith Jr, who allegedly operated a multi-million euro aircraft parts fraud from a premises in the Shannon Industrial Estate. The US authorities allege that used aircraft parts were refurbished and sold as new original manufacturers’ equipment, or unused government surplus. Smith has a previous conviction for a similar offence in the US prior to moving his company to Shannon in the 90’s.

In October 2000, gardaí assisted the FBI when they raided the Smith aerospace factory in Shannon. His former home at Urlanmore near Newmarket on Fergus was sold earlier this year. It is believed that he and his wife left the country following news reports late last year that the US authorities were seeking his extradition and that his two sons had been convicted for their part in the scam.

Joseph Patrick Smith (III), aged 43, and Thomas Edward Smith, 39, both of whom lived in Ennis for several years, have already been sentenced to five years probation each in a U.S. court for their part in the scam. Efforts to extradite Smith senior from Ireland were delayed because of a legal problem with warrants issued in Dublin. He is now believed to be living in France.

THE Clare Vocational Education Committee (VEC) has adopted a Dignity at Work charter.

The charter, formally launched by Chief Executive, George O’ Callaghan, states that staff commit themselves to “working together to maintain a workplace environment that encourages and supports the right to dignity at work. All who work within the committee’s ambit are expected to respect the right of each individual to dignity in their working life.”

The document states that all staff “will be treated equally and respected for their individuality and diversity. Bullying in any form is not accepted by us and will not be tolerated. Our policies and procedures will underpin the principles and objective of this charter.”

All individuals, whether directly employed or contracted by the committee, have a duty and responsibility to uphold the charter, the document also states.

School, college, education centre, office management and trade union representatives are given specific responsibility to promote the charter’s provisions.

A spokesman for VEC said that the adoption of the charter at the last bimonthly meeting of the committee’s Local Partnership Group demonstrates how the “process of internal partnership in County Clare Vocational Education Committee continues to grow and be the catalyst for many initiatives involving change and modernisation within vocational education in the county.”

The partnership group was established in 2001 under a requirement arising from the Social Partnership Agreement, “Sustaining Progress.”

Membership comprises representatives of Clare Vocational Education Committee and management, trade unions IMPACT and SIPTU, the schools and colleges of the committee and of its several adult education and outdoor education centres.

THE controversial representative group for Clare architects has been effectively disbanded, with architects and Clare County Council failing to agree a way forward to formally liaise on planning matters.

A number of representatives from the Agent’s Liaison Group recently met with the council’s Director for Planning, Bernadette Kinsella to see what improvements were been made to the county’s planning system and whether there was a future role for a forum to liaise on planning issues.

According to the ALG’s minutes of the meeting, they stated that there was still a lack of consistency in the planning process. In response, Ms Kinsella said that in order to try to overcome this, two senior planners now dealt with the county. They liaise with each other and each junior planner goes through them.

The architects also highlighted a lack of communication between the departments. In response Ms Kinsella said that in addition to the weekly planners meetings, there were now monthly interdepartmental meetings, to agree on the files which they should be dealing with and areas of concern.

The architects also cited continuing mis-interpretation of policies in the County Development Plan and Ms Kinsella said that where there was ambiguits, implementation notes had been circulated to planners ..

On the future of the ALG, the minutes states “it appears that the two parties to the ALG had different ideas about what the meetings were aiming to achieve

“We suggested that further meetings may prove fruitless. Our aim in having meetings was not to get bogged down in the procedures, but to share our experience of the planning system . . .

The minutes stated that Ms Kinsella “would still be interested in meeting or in communicating with some of us to get feedback on whether procedures being implemented at present will have desired effect”.

In a statement to The Clare People on the issue, Ms Kinsella said of the meeting that “while we did not discuss or decide on any formal arrangement for future contact with practitioners both parties were agreeable to consider any suggestions that may be brought forward. In the interim we will continue to provide all relevant data and information to interested parties via our website.”

A JUDGE has stated that the theft of a mobile phone is a “serious matter”.

Judge Joseph Mangan made the remark while jailing for two weeks, Alan Kerin (22), of Church Drive Clarecastle.

He admitted stealing a mobile phone, valued at €250, from a takeaway on October 18, 2005.

Ennis District Court heard that the accused went into the chipshop, put his hand over the counter and took the phone.

Defending solicitor Tara Godfrey said her client had been before the court earlier this year, in connection with a number of offences between May and November 2005.

On that occasion a 20-month sentence was imposed, after her client pleaded guilty to a string of offences.

“There was an effort to have all the offences brought before you together en block.

“We would ask you to consider taking this summons into consideration with the other summonses,” said Ms Godfrey.

Judge Joseph Mangan replied, “In normal circumstances, I would have every sympathy with what you are saying.

“A man who pleads guilty is entitled to credit. However the theft of a mobile phone is such a serious matter in my view, I cannot fully accede to your request.”

He added that he would go “some way” to meet the request and imposed a two-week jail term on the accused.

INTERNATIONAL law expert, Dr Jean Allain, told a trial of five antiwar protestors accused of damaging a US aeroplane at Shannon airport that the consensus among the international legal community was that the Iraq war was “clearly illegal.”

Dr Jean Allain, of Queen’s University, Belfast was giving evidence on day six of the trial, at Dublin Circuit Criminal Court yesterday.

The five accused have pleaded not guilty to two counts each of causing damage without lawful excuse to a naval plane, property of the United States Government and to glass door panels, property of Aer Rianta at Shannon Airport, Clare on February 3, 2003.

The accused are Ciaran O’Reilly (46), an Australian national, Nuin Dunlop (34), a US citizen and counsellor, Damien Moran (26), Karen Fallon (35), a Scottish marine biologist, all of Rialto Cottages, Rialto; and Deirdre Clancy (36), a copy editor of Alverno Apartments, Clontarf.

Dr Allain was called to give evidence by the defence yesterday. He said there were only two situations in which a war would be legal: if the Security Council of the United Nations agreed to it, or if a country was acting in self defence.

He said that the general consensus of opinion among legal scholars was that the USA had acted in violation of those principles.

The jury has been told that Sergeant Michael O’Connell was on duty in the hangar at 3.45 am when he heard glass breaking and five people came running through a fire door, one of whom carried a large axe. Evidence was given that they were shouting “some words of God” and went to the front, side and rear of the aircraft using the items to hit the plane. They then knelt in a circle and prayed until gardaí arrived to arrest them. Copies of the Bible and Koran, Rosary and Islamic prayer beads, candles, flowers, St Bridget’s crosses and photographs of distressed children were among the items found at the scene in the form of a shrine at the doors to the hangar.

One of the accused, Ms Fallon, told the trial she believed her actions saved lives, while Ms Dunlop said her actions were political and calculated to draw attention to activities at Shannon. The case, before Judge Miriam Reynolds and a jury, is due to conclude this week.

CLARE County Council has come under fire for zoning for housing, land in the north Clare coastal village of Ballyvaughan, but then not granting planning permission.

The charge has come from architect, Michael Leahy, in the course of an appeal to An Bord Pleanala where he urges the board to overturn a decision to refuse planning for nine homes by McCarthy Bros in Ballyvaughan.

The development was refused because of an inadequate sewerage supply for Ballyvaughan, the haphazard nature to the development, the proposed massing of the development and access issues.

However, Mr Leahy has told the board: “If the council is prepared to prevent development in the area of Ballyvaughan because of the deficiency of sewerage treatment, without looking at alternative methods of sewerage treatment, then they should not have zoned the land for residential development.

“The development plan gives a five year period within which development may reasonably be expected to be carried out, and in fact, it could be argued that failure to secure development of land which is zoned in a development plan represents failure on the part of the local authority.

“It seems to me to be remarkable that the council can in the first instance zone for residential development and lead someone to have a reasonable expectation of being able to develop their lands and then refuse to grant permission on those lands as a matter of principle.

“Refusing to grant permission on the basis of inadequate sewerage is not a simple site specific matter, it is a refusal in principle to grant permission on land. If this is the council’s position in respect of this zoned land then why was the land zoned for residential development.

“It is certainly surprising that none of the issues which have been raised in the reasons for refusal by the council were not dealt with by way of request for additional information.

“It is most unusual for the council to automatically refuse permission without issuing a request for additional information to determine if the issues involved can be resolved

“The only logical interpretation of the development plan having zoned this area, if sewerage is not adequate, is that the council would be prepared to accept temporary solutions in regard to provision of sewerage pending the upgrading of the sewerage system.

“If this is not the case, then surely, the council is in breach of its own Development Plan by refusing permission.

PEOPLE in rural areas of Clare are suffering because of the lack of facilities and an aging population who are becoming increasingly isolated.

That is the opinion being set out by the new Irish Centre for Social Gerontology (ICSG), which was officially opened in NUI, Galway last week. The new €3 million centre is the first of its kind in the country and will be advising policy makers as to how to prepare rural areas for an increasingly aging and isolated population.

“One third of the population is over 65 in the western region and parts of Clare, especially towards the west of the county, would fit into this category,” said Aine Ní Léime, Chief Researcher at the ICSG. “The main problem in these areas is the closing down of infrastructure, like the post-offices. The problem is getting worse as young people continue to move to towards urban areas.”

The centre will conduct a number of surveys and study and track the impact of aging on a national scale, as well as taking particular rural areas for special study. In addition to rural ageing they will also be producing advice documents on the financial impact on ageing and the technological impact of aging.

“Clare’s urban areas are fairly well served, but areas to the west of the county where there isn’t an urban centre are suffering,” continued Ms Ní Léime.

“We need to strengthen community links and enable them to make provisions to combat things like isolation and the lack of transport.

“Another major problem in these areas is the lack of carers available with many people who would traditionally have traditionally fulfilled this role now part of the labour market.”

One possible solution put forward by the centre is that the mandatory retirement age should be scrapped so that men and women could work for as long as they wished.

“We want to make plans for the future for the people of these areas because on the whole, rural areas are very disadvantaged compared to urban areas,” continued Ms Ní Léime.

“Rural aging is one of our main areas of research and this will be very important for different areas of country.”

SHANNON Airport could find itself at the centre of a legal storm as US lawyers examine the possibility of suing the Irish Government over claims that it facilitated torture flights.

Ireland is one of a number of countries that human rights lawyers are threatening to sue.

The New York based Centre for Constitutional Rights, which is representing families of prisoners involved in the illegal CIA flights, is warning that action may be taken.

A spokesman for the centre has confirmed that it is “actively examining” the possibility of bringing Ireland before the European Court over its alleged compliance in the illegal transfer of prisoners.

A European Commission report, published last month, pointed the finger at Ireland as being one of 14 European countries suspected of colluding in the transfer of terrorism suspects to secret jails, where they could be tortured for information.

Military planes used to deliver prisoners are alleged to have stopped on their way back for refuelling at Shannon.

The CCR is investigating the possibility of taking action after the US Supreme Court ruled last week that the detention of the prisoners was contrary to both domestic US law and the Geneva Convention.

It ruled that the system of military commissions set up by the Bush administration violates the Geneva Convention’s edict that prescribes minimal rights for all detainees.