AN INVESTIGATION into allega- tions of abuse of psychiatric patients at a community residence in Shannon is due to be finalised within weeks.
The investigation was launched by the Health Services Executive (HSE) after a number of written complaints were made, alleging abuse of service users by a staff member at Deilginish Community Residence.
THE mist came down on Lisdoon- varna on Monday afternoon, making visibility something of a problem – maybe it was just as well because this was a dour low-scoring affair served up by two promotion candidates.
There was nothing between the sides before the ball was thrown in – each lumped on five points from five games – maked it six from six after a forgetable encounter that failed the set football pulses racing.
Not the St Breckan’s minded as Michael McGann’s final whistle drew
closer. A Pat Nagle free as the game entered injury time inched St Breck- an’s 1-4 to 1-3 ahead and looked like being the decisive score.
However, Clondegad were not to be denied and grabbed a levelling score to make the long journey home to the shores of the Shannon estuary more palatable, the score coming from the flying boot of full-forward Shane Brennan.
St Breckan’s had had the better of the first half, despite only registering two scores. They were playing with the slight wind advantage and hit the front in the fifth minute thanks to a
point from play by Denis O’Driscoll.
Gary Brennan, who turned out to be the game’s most influential per- former levelled matters in the eighth minute before the game descended into a foul-ridden affair.
At least one of the many did yield a score, albeit it came after a 14 minute lull in the scoring. Full forward Pat Nagle was fouled in the 22nd minute, but picked himself up off the floor and fired the penalty low to Kenneth Breen’s right for a goal. Kenneth Kelly pulled one back for Clondegad in the 24th minute to leave St Breck- an’s 1-1 to 0-2 ahead.
A point from play by Paudge Mc- Mahon edged Clondegad closer sev- en minutes after the resumption but Pat Nagle put St Breckan’s ahead by two once more with a point in the 40th minute.
However, the game turned in Clon- degad’s favour in the 44th minute when Gary Brennan’s long delivery was flicked to the net by Kenneth Kelly on the edge of the square.
Minutes earlier Eoin Griffin had crashed a pile-driver off the upright, but St Breckan’s recovered their composure and pointed frees from Pat Nagle in the 49th and 61st min- utes seemed to tip the scales in their ee aVolene
However, in the third minute of 1n- jury time as Clondegad chased down an equaliser, the ball broke outside the large square from where Shane Brennan first-timed the ball over the bar for the equaliser.
It means that both sides still have everything to play for, Clondegad starting on Wenesday night when they take on St Senan’s Kilkee.
A WEST Clare father could have been admitted to Ennis General Hos- pital instead of been taken over 65 miles to the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick the morning he died.
That’s according to the Health Serv- ice Executive, who maintains that Dan McDonnell from Kilkee could have been admitted to Ennis hospital despite the closure of its accident and emergency services at night just 13 days before.
On Sunday, April 19, two weeks ago, the 59-year-old former county
council worker took ill at his home in Kilkee. He was examined by the out-of-hours GP service Shannon- doc, who called an ambulance.
The Kilrush ambulance met with a paramedic en route and the father of three was then transferred to the Limerick hospital.
Just a few miles from the hospi- tal, on the Dock Road in Limerick, Mr McDonnell suffered cardiac ar- rest and was pronounced dead at the Limerick hospital at approximately 6.30am.
The death of the popular Kilkee man was met with anger and concern by hospital lobby groups who main-
tained that had he been admitted to Ennis General Hospital, he may have had a better chance.
The HSE now maintain that Mr McDonnell could have been admit- ted to the Clare hospital, even though A &E was closed for the night.
It claimed that protocols are in place that would have allowed Mr McDonnell to be admitted to the hospital, even though it was after 8pm when the A&E closes.
“Outside of this time, patients can continue to be admitted directly to Ennis General Hospital for both medical and surgical problems if it has been arranged by the patient’s
General Practitioner with the medi- cal or surgical team on call.”
While the HSE maintain that the majority of acute medical conditions can be referred to the hospital by GPS and Shannondoc, GPs say they have not been consulted about the new regime imposed on the county.
At the time of Mr McDonnell’s death, the HSE said it “was satisfied all appropriate care was provided for him by the advanced paramedic team and the ambulance personnel Orme lint
It is continuing with “a clinical re- view of circumstances surrounding his case”.
SHANNON Gaels were pointless going into this Monday afternoon encounter – an hour’s football later and they were clinging to the hope of a Houdini-like escape from a relega- tion that seemed inevitable.
All thanks to this convincing eight- point victory over an Eire Og team that were lamentable on the day – the concession of three second half goals putting them back into the relegation mire with only one game remaining.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this for the Townies. Fresh from their morale boosting win over St Joseph’s Miltown the previous Saturday week they were confidently expected to turn over a Gaels team had had lost their opening five games.
Not to be thanks to a second half in which the Josie O’Shea managed side outscored their opponents by 3-3 to O-3 to turn a one-point deficit into a convincing eight point win.
There was nothing between them in the first half – early on they swapped point for point, with Brian Fitzpatrick and Stephen Hickey finding the range for the Townes, while Brian O’Shea, David Neylon, John Paul O’ Neill and Michael O’Donoghue were on the mark for the Gaels.
It was Eire Og who carved out an interval lead though, thanks to David Russell’s goal in the 24th minute. Russell burst forward with convic- tion from midfield and drove the ball beyond Michael O’Shea in the Gaels goal.
However, it was the Gaels’ goals
that turned this game on its head. The first came three minutes into the second half when David Neylon pun- ished poor Eire Og defending when rifling past Shane O’Connell – the Gaels never looked back while Eire
Og slowly capitulated to the fourth defeat from six outings.
Neylon struck again in the 45th minute, this time field a long delivery from Noel Kennedy, before turning and thumping an unstoppable drive
past the hapless O’Connell, while the final nail was driven into the Town- ies’ coffin with eight minutes to go when John Paul O’Neill intercepted a ball coming out of the Eire Og de- fence and put Declan Power through
for another soft goal.
All the Townies could muster in the second half were three points, a situation that puts them on the brink of dropping out of Cusack Cup foot- ball for the first time since being promoted to the top flight of league football in the county thanks to their Banner Cup final success, ironically over Shannon Gaels way back in Kildysart in 1993.
With high flying Doonbeg com- ing to Eire Og for the final round of the Cusack Cup in three weeks time, these are tough times for football in the county capital.
CLARE County Council has grant- ed planning permission for a visitor centre at the Pol an Jonain cave in Doolin.
Currently, there are no facilities on site and visitors are bussed to view the cave, which contains one of the largest free-hanging stalactites in the world. The plan involves the con- struction of a small visitor centre, along with a car-park for 30 cars and two bus bays.
Helen Browne, who 1s co-owner of the cave, said that the attraction was not viable without a visitor centre and the park ‘n’ ride system was not viable into the future.
“We’re delighted. We deserve the same chance as everyone else. We can’t compete with one hand tied be- hind our back.”
Ms Browne said that there is no reason why the planning permis- sion should be appealed to An Bord Pleanala, adding that she hopes con- struction work will commence in the aIbAebeeeen
The council gave the go-ahead for the scheme in spite of opposition from An Taisce, Ailwee Caves, the Pol an Jonain Action Group and the Speleo- logical Union of Ireland (SUI).
The council gave the plan the green
light after employing a geologist, Dr Maria McNamara of the Burren Ge- opark Project to examine the plan- ning application.
In her report, Dr McNamara said it was difficult to envisage a scenario in which the proposed development works — which include construct of foundations to a depth of only 60cm — would impact negatively upon the physical stability of the great stalac- WIR
The county council planning re- port pointed out that the precedent of visitor centres being developed at tourism sites in the north Clare area included the Cliffs of Moher Visitor Centre, the Michael Cusack Centre, the Ailwee Caves and the Cahercon- nell Stone Fort.
The report also stated that the pro- posal “would add to the range of tourism attractions in north Clare thus adding significantly to the local economy ’.
The council gave the plan the go- ahead after concluding that it would not seriously injure the visual ameni- ties, landscape character and ecolog- ical and geological value of the area.
TWO budding west Clare writers did the county proud at last week’s National INTO/EBS Handwriting Competition, winning one category and coming third in another. Caitrio- na O’Gorman and Ciara Quinlivan, both from Kilmihil National School, each collected awards at the national prize giving ceremony which took place on April 25 at the EBS Head Office in Dublin.
Each girl was presented with a certificate and a specially commis- sioned medal to mark their achieve- ment. Caitriona, took the first prize in the category for third and fourth class students while Ciara took third
place in the category for first and second class students.
The competition involved submit- ting a sample of handwriting on the theme of family. Each entrant was allowed to write a piece of prose or a poem about their own family. The children were not judged on the con- tent of the writing but solely on their handwriting skills.
Caitriona and Ciara both had to qualify through the County Clare element of the National INTO/EBS Handwriting Competition before they made it as far as the national finals.
There was an extra surprise for C1- ara at the ceremony when she won a special prize draw which includes a
trip for her whole family to Disney- land.
The National Handwriting Com- petition is organised each years to encourage young children to develop their handwriting by rewarding ex- cellence in penmanship. The Irish National Teachers Organisation or- ganise the national event, which has been growing in size greatly over the last number of years.
Indeed, this year’s competition had one of the largest entries ever with representative from more than 1,200 schools taking part.
The INTO extended their thanks to all the children who took part in the competition and to their teachers for organising the event in their schools.
“We also thank the INTO Hand- writing Co-ordinators for all their hard work in co-ordinating this event,’ said an INTO spokesperson.
“We realise the enormous work- load involved and appreciate your time and dedication to making this competition a great success.”
A CAREER spanning more than 30 years will draw to a close later this summer when the principal of St Caimin’s Community School in Shannon will retire.
Mary Hanley has taught at the school since it opened in September 1985, having previously taught in Dublin. She will step back from St Caimin’s, having ensured it earned an excellent reputation over the years, both in terms of academia and in sporting circles. Ms Hanley at- tributes this to a combination of the dedication of her 62 staff, along with the huge interest shown by parents and students alike in education.
“We have past pupils who have done every course in universities all over the world, including medicine, dentistry, teaching, engineering, ac- counting, business or worked in vari- ous trades,” she said.
‘We have a very broad curriculum, which I hope will continue into the future, despite the cutbacks. We are not able to run the transition year this year because of cutbacks. Nor- mally we would have 24 in the class but only eight opted for it this year so we couldn’t afford to do it. Hopefully it will be back again next year,’ said the Shannon native.
St Caimin’s has achieved honours in various sports over the years and given her huge interest in sport, Ms Hanley was thrilled with this. Three achievements in particular stand out
– winning the Senior B Munster hurl- ing tittle in 1999; achieving honours in the under-15A competition in 2007 and reaching the Harty Cup final this year. Those successes were particu- larly sweet as her sons Eoghan and Colm were involved; initially as players and later as mentors. Alan Cunningham also played a key role in training the teams. Much success has also been earned in camogie and
athletics at the school. Academically, St Caimin’s has won several awards over the years and its students have gone on to earn achievements at regional and nation- al levels. One memory stands out, in terms of academic achievements. “On August 15 every year, seeing the Leaving Certificate results coming out and seeing students getting what they want after all the hard work,”
she said.
When St Caimin’s opened, there were just 112 students and she has overseen its expansion over the years. Currently there are 700 students at- tending the school. This in itself presents its own dilemma.
“We can’t take any more than 700 because of the size of the building. For the past six or seven years, there has been a waiting list every year. This could be 50 or 60. It’s the one thing I find very difficult to do, to turn away any child that wants to come to St Caimin’s. We have an ad- mission policy and we stick to that,” she said.
Priority is given to children who have brothers and sisters 1n the school ANNO UMNO SKM: DKCMINDD ERY OF: GonE NE BEE ley lo after that requirement is met, chil- dren who are the first in the family then get priority.
Looking to the future, she plans to involve herself in many challenges.
“T will miss it, but I will keep my- self occupied. I was president of the Association of Principals and Vice- Principals of community and com- prehensive schools (1996 – 7) and I was a founder member of the Na- tional Association of Principals and Deputy Principals (NAPD) in 2002. Being involved in those organisa- tions kept me on top of all changes in education. I will continue to help with the national association,” she said.
IT now looks likely that the Gort Rail Station will be up and running in time for the official opening of the Western Rail Corridor this August.
Fears had been growing locally that the redeveloped station, which had been delayed as a result of a number of planning objections, would not be finished in time for the official launch of the link.
Work on the Gort Station just got underway last month but Iarnrod Eireann has confirmed that they be- lieve it will now be available to cus-
tomers at the same time as the reo- pening of the corridor.
“Work at the station only com- menced recently, following a plan- ning issue, but staff on the ground have pulled out all the stops and will have the work completed in line with the reopening,’ said a spokesperson.
“The works include two new 90- metre platforms, a pedestrian bridge including lifts, an 80-bay car park, platform shelter, bike shelter and as- sociated infrastructure including ac- cess roads and all required services.
‘Pedestrian access to the station will be facilitated by improving the
existing pedestrian footpath from the town.”
Meanwhile, West on ‘Tract has the commitment from Minister for Transport, Noel Dempsey that phase two of the Western Rail Corridor will be rolled out following the re- investigation of the Galway to Ennis service later this summer.
Minister Dempsey confirmed that funding had been set aside in the cur- rent year to enable Iarnrod Eireann to conduct the necessary line surveys to Tuam and Claremorris in order to ascertain up-to-date costings for these sections.
However, according to Minister Dempsey, the success or otherwise of the Galway to Ennis phase of the project will have a major bearing on how quickly the rest of the corridor will be completed.
Reacting to Minister Dempsey’s comments, a West on Track spokes- man said that it was a clear and une- quivocal indication that the Govern- ment is intent on pressing ahead with the Western Rail Corridor.
Phase one of the Western Corridor will be officially opened later this summer, with August now the most TiO hvaestenneee
IT’S still early days in the season but there is already the feeling surround- ing Clooney/Quin that they have fi- nally turned a corner. Last year, their significant rise up the senior ladder was halted by their inability to hold onto leads and win tight games, re- sulting in their exit from the champi- onship despite being in total control of their own fate and again in the senior B final against Wolfe Tones, that unwanted tag reared it’s head to cost them the title.
Somehow, Clooney/Quin appear
to have remedied that fraility this season as in all their three Clare cup games, they have edged close matches. It happened against Doora/ Barefield and InaghKilnamona but perhaps Thursday’s late usurpation of the points against Tulla was their most significant result.
Having to concede home advantage due to flooding, Clooney/Quin’s ap- peared second best for long periods of the second half but an injury- time haul of three successive scores floored their opponents and contin- ued Clooney/Quin’s perfect start to this year’s campaign.
On the flip side, Tulla will wonder how they actually came out on the losing side. Granted, they were for- tunate to be only a point behind at the break as a sun dazzled Clooney/ Quin hit seven first half wides but on the resumption, it was the home side, backed by Andrew Quinn and substi- tute Brian Lynch, who took the inia- tive. In fact, after going ahead for the first time in almost thirty minutes shortly after the break, they stiffled Clooney/Quin and forced the play to lead until the final minute. Fun- damentally though, they hadn’t the firepower to cement the win and only
leading by the minimum approach- ing the hour mark, they failed to win valuable clean possession.
Clooney/Quin levelled it up in the 59th minute when Cathal Egan hand- passed outside to John Earls to point and after an Eanna Torpey wide, the game finally turned with a hotly con- tested free against Danny O’ Halloran that Derek Ryan gladly converted for his sixth free of the day. Tulla needed to win the puck-out but instead Sean Conheady gathered at halfway and his delivery was caught by Mar- tin Duggan to seal the win. A stark difference to last year’s mentality, Clooney/Quin are now flying high near the top of the division and only a fortnight away from their open- ing championship tie against Smith O’Brien’s, that resilience could be the spark they need to get to the next Aro F
KILRUSH has always been inviting — whether it’s the friendliness or the value for money you get around the Parkamoney track that’s been part of the sporting fabric of the west Clare for three quarters of a century.
A lot has changed in the 75 years, but at the same time nothing has changed at all. The value for money and friendliness was there in ’34 —the year the Sheedy family who farmed the land throw it open to three golf- ing enthusiasts by the names of Dr Tom Daly, John Francis and William O’Grady.
For the princely sum of £8 a year they had rent of the land and laid out a 9-hole course, with the help of part- time groundsman Paddy Gallagher and a horse that cost £2-10 shillings.
In those earliest days the Cham- bers family from Moore Street had grazing rights on the course for their sheep — and for a few years there were more sheep and lambs on the course that there were golfers in Kilrush.
One stat from the club records re- veal that the 1943 was a particularly bountiful lambing season on the course — 38 lambs from Parkamoney were sold by the Chambers’ to Tom Nolan’s butcher shop in Kilkee. The club records from this time also show that there were no more than 30 club members during this period.
Fast forward seven decades and it’s a very different story — the sheep with their grazing rights are long gone, the 9-hole became a 15-hole and then finally under the golf sur- geon’s knife of Dr Arthur Spring became an 18-hole course in 1994 at the cost of £120,000.
Value for money like there was in °34, value that extends to the present day as the slogan seen recently at the entrance to the course bore witness to. “Join our club for €250,” it boldly
proclaimed.
It’s part of a membership drive in- stigated by the 2009 club commit- tee. “Years ago it was a very brave decision to undertake the project,’ says secretary manager, Denis Na- gle. “Back then some were of the opinion that we should have a good 9 hole and forget about 18 holes, but membership trebled with the advent of 18 holes and we have a potential gem here thanks to the excellent de- sign foundations laid by Dr. Arthur
Spring,” he adds.
“We have steadily improved our facilities in recent years both on and off the course and we want to do a lot more, but we need more members and more funds. The committee has decided on a drive to recruit new members in 2009.
“We realize that we could not be doing it at a worse time, therefore we have had to make the package really attractive.
‘To be able to join a golf club as a full member for €250 plus GUI lev- ies 18 the cheapest in Ireland as far as I know.
“There is also an outlying mem- bership scheme for those who reside more than 100 kms away. They can join for €150, which is less than what some clubs nearby charge for a 1-day green fee. We have quite a few mem- bers from Ennis and Limerick al- ready but we would welcome more.”
It’s a great calling card for the club — a failte isteach from a club recog- nised as one of the most friendliest in Ireland.
It’s what one golf writer called Kil- rush a number of years ago when sampling the hospitality of Parka- money.