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CLARE County Council has been told that the adoption of the Ennis and Environs Development Plan may have jeopardised the level of future “infrastructural investment” in the county.

The Department of the Environ- ment has also stated that in its cur- rent form, the plan may fail to meet certain statutory obligations and could be open to legal challenge by the European Commission.

The warning is contained in a let- ter written by Eddie Kiernan, private secretary to the Minister for the En- vironment John Gormley to Berna- dette Kinsella, Director of Services at Clare County Council.

Members of Clare County Council passed the Ennis and Environs De- velopment Plan last December.

In doing so, they ignored Minister Gormley’s request to de-zone large tracts of land and to tighten controls on one-off housing.

In the letter Mr Kiernan said that the minister acknowledged the con- cerns of councillors over the “financ- ing of water services infrastructure” for the Ennis area.

However, Mr Kiernan said _ that land zoned in the plan catered for a population jump of “30,000 to over 100,000 although the expected pop- ulation growth over the period of the plan is only of the order of 6,500”.

He continued, “In such circum- stances and without any clear phas- ing of lands for development, the plan provides for an ad-hoc and de- velopment led approach to planning, making the efficient and orderly pro- vision of physical and social infra- structure more difficult to achieve.”

Mr Kiernan said, “In the current climate, departments and agencies must consider how they should pri- oritise their resources to deliver best value for money and provide a sound basis for improving economic per- formance and competitiveness.”

“However, without a development plan that is coherent and consistent with regional and national policies and priorities and indeed with strong forecasts set down in the County De- velopment Plan and Housing Strat- egy, the Ennis and Environs Plan as adopted fails to provide the neces- sary framework underpinning the delivery of value for money for in- frastructural investment. It is likely that infrastructural investment deci- sions at central government level will take account of that in allocation of scarce resources.’

Mr Kiernan said the European

Commission may also challenge the ene

‘The plan as adopted has also sig- nificant issues relating to appropri- ate assessment under the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and Strategic Environmental Assessment and the potential impacts of zoning deci- sions on the designated sites around the environs area, including the zon- ing of 25ha of land from open coun- tryside to industrial at Beechpark, which was recommended against under the Appropriate Assessment.

“Given the serious implications for designated areas and possible legal challenge by the European Com- mission, the department will have to consider whether the plan has met it’s statutory obligations and has been made in accordance with EU directive requirements,” said Mr Ki- ere

AS the players ambled out of the dressing room in Casement Park on Saturday, there was an understanda- bly muted atmosphere. After all, this was a rather forgettable defeat but instead of being able to put it behind them, they still had the unenviable task of having to make the five hour trip home, where introspection and a post mortem were inevitable.

Clare selector James Hanrahan epitomised Clare’s disappointment and as he attempted to express his views on the night’s events, he cut a figure of frustration as to what went wrong.

“It’s hard to know. The way the game started, it opened up at a hun- dred miles an hour and there were chances at both ends. Our retention of the ball was very poor, we kept giving the ball away whereas Antrim made more use of their possession.

“Anytime they came down the field, they kind of punished us whereas we were going back up and giving the ball back to them. Our whole centre seemed to open up, our midfield was gone and our half-forward line were attacking and the next thing they were coming down and attacking in

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“So we are disappointed, we were very poor last week on the breaking ball and I though we improved that in the first half and the next thing, we went up the field and kept handing it back to Antrim.”

All that after Clare got an early boost with Steven Moloney’s op- portunistic goal after only forty sec- oy aTekse

“Well of course Antrim could have got the perfect start too, they missed a goal chance before we went back up and we got a good chance. The way the game opened up, it was end to end really, there was no marking, no defending, no nothing, it was just a pure open game. They made more use of their chances definitely but there was a lot of space.”

The Doora/Barefield man was open and frank in his appraisal of the per- formance but also questioned the logic of fixing the game for 7.30pm when an early throw-in time on Sun- day would have facilitated the play- ers better.

“We were five points down and we had a couple of chances to bring it back to three but we didn’t take them while every time that Antrim at- tacked, they seemed to score. As I

say, our ball retention was very poor, we kept handing ball back to them and most teams will punish you if you keep giving them enough ball. That’s the most disappointing part of it. Chances-wise, we ran out of steam and Antrim were way sharper, they were flying it but at the same time, we still had our chances.

‘The fitness levels of our lads, even from the McGrath Cup, especially late on were noticeable. Unless it was the travelling, they had a long day to- day and you would have to question having the game on at half seven of a Saturday evening.

“The team travelled up last night and it’s a long day waiting to play the game. We are travelling down to- night and it’s going to be a long night and you would have to question the wisdom of the game being played at this time. Sligo wouldn’t agree to play us last week in Cooraclare at half seven but I suppose if you look at the game, Antrim were the better team and were way sharper, their sideline was very good and they got some great scores.

“We just didn’t have the legs for

them and you can put that down to maybe a lack of fitness or you can put it down to maybe having to hang around all day waiting to play a game. They are only amateur players and arriving home at four o’clock in the morning, is that the right thing? If the game was fixed for one or two o’clock tomorrow, it would have been better but we are not making any excuses, the better team won on the day.”

Emmy nomination for Inagh

AS both sets of players warmed down on Cusack Park on Sunday, Clare manager Mike McNamara and selector Alan Cunningham stood in a huddle in front of the dug-outs. There were no visible signs of head- scratching but there was no doubt that they were picking through the bones of their second successive league defeat.

Clare were puzzlingly sluggish and were made to look distinctly average against a Somewhat expermental Wa- terford side. It was a weariness akin to a veteran boxer on the ropes and as Mike McNamara embraced the wait- ing media, he didn’t pull any punches either.

“What can you say after watching that? Waterford were much sharper and much hungrier and obviously had a bit of homework done. I sup- pose they really caught us napping. There are no excuses for a perform- ance like that, it was below par and not what you’d expect in your own home grounds.”

Neither was he willing to fall back on any alibis for his side’s display.

“IT suppose we lost a lot of last week’s team. We lost Carmody, Con- lon, and Gerry Quinn yesterday in a training ground accident so if we were looking for excuses, maybe that would be it. But we are not looking for excuses and we have to knuckle down now and have a look at the

rest of the league and make sure that we get some points fast. We go to Thurles next and it is not the easiest place in the world to get them (Tip- perary) but we will go there looking for a win and see can we lift our sea- son. Realistically there is no excuse for it – it was a bad performance, a poor performance all-round.”

Murmurs of a stringent two hour training the day before were also dis- missed by McNamara as justification for the seven point defeat.

“We did a two hour session yes- terday as well as Thursday and Wednesday. But that really wouldn’t have been an excuse for a lacklustre performance like that in front of your own crowd.

“It would be something that every team is doing so I’m aware that we have to look a bit further ahead. | suppose if there is some brightness from today it’s that the full-back line were solid all the way through. Our middle eight struggled to make any headway but you must remember that Waterford were in last year’s All-Ire- land final and while they may not have acquitted themselves as they would have liked, they are still All- Ireland finalists, although we looked a bit light as well.”

Can he pinpoint the reason for the lethargy and lack of spark currently enveloping his side?

“As I say, I’ve never been into the excuses game. When you are beat- en, you are beaten. I mean you can

have an excuse for everything but it’s something we have to look at and address. We have a large panel of 37 people and we are trying to figure out which are the 20 that can assault the championship. Along the way, we might take some players back as maybe we will find out that some may or may not be good enough for it. We have about ten players who have not featured yet and you know, they have to feature and get a chance. Some of them came through the underage ranks and look good so we have to look and see what our best 20 or 21 players for June 21. But before we get there, we have to straighten the camp and get it right. It’s not right and we are ragged. Look at the six forwards out there in the second half and there was none of them playing in the post- tion they were supposed to be play- ing in. They were being dragged and pulled and sucked all over the place so there is an anxiety in their play that shouldn’t be there. You are talking about experienced players and even the younger players, there is a nervousness and excitement with them that shouldn’t be there. That isn’t part of modern sport.” The head scratching continues.

HUNDREDS of Clare farmers are facing into a large cut in their income following the decision last week by Kerry Group to slash the price they pay for milk.

Farm leaders have reacted with an- ger to the decision by Kerry Group PLC to cut its milk price by four cents per litre to just 25 cents per litre. This cut now means that the overall price paid to farmers for their milk has now fallen by 14 cents per litre since January of 2008.

According to Clare farmer and IC-

SMA Cattle and Sheep chairperson Martin McMahon, an average Kerry supplier of 250,000 litres (55,000 gallons) will now loose €35,000 ona full year’s milk production and over €1,000 on January milk alone.

The Clare ICMSA spokesman not- ed that farmers are now very close to producing milk below the actual costs of production for the first time.

‘Based on this price, dairy farming is facing a disastrous year and our milk processors and Government have a major responsibility to avert a crisis situation,’ he said.

“It is also important to note that

Kerry Group – like other input sup- pliers – have failed miserably to pass back the benefits of reduced input costs to farmers, particularly ferti- liser and feed costs.

“It is clear that the wholesale price of fertiliser and feed has fallen dra- matically but farmers have not seen the benefit of this and now, as a result of the board’s decision to cut milk price again, they are also receiving a disastrous price for their milk. This is a catastrophic double-whammy.”

Kerry Group had an annual profit in excess of €300 million last year and the ICMSA believe that this puts

them in a strong position to support farmers during this difficult period.

“Simply cutting milk price cannot be the solution and Kerry must now use its vast resources to support milk price as well as passing back the ben- efits of reduced input costs to farm- ers,’ continued McMahon.

“The challenges facing dairy farm- ers at this time are extremely serious with mounting financial and other problems and Kerry’s suppliers have a right to expect some support from the Kerry Group whose prosperity has been founded on the efforts and work of their milk suppliers.”

AT LEAST 2,000 new jobs could be created in the western region in the creative sector, a new report has re- vealed.

That’s according to a report by the Western Development Commission on the creative sector, which refers to those businesses which rely most on human creativity to generate eco- nomic value, ranging from TV pro- duction, music, theatre, architecture, graphic design to the running of art galleries. When international com- parisons are factored in, this sector could create 2,000 extra jobs, ac- cording to Gillian Buckley, Chief Executive of the Western Develop- ment Commission. Ms. Buckley was speaking at the launch yesterday of the WDC’s report ‘Creative West: The Creative Sector in the Western Region’, the first study of its kind conducted in Ireland.

She added, “There are 4,779 crea- tive businesses operating in the west- ern region, directly employing over 11,000 people or three per cent of all employment in the region. This gen- erates an annual turnover of €534m and directly contributes €270m to the gross value added of the regional economy. It is therefore a major eco- nomic contributor to the region that we believe can be grown significant- ly, even in these difficult economic abe plone

Ms Buckley added, “With an av- erage annual growth rate of 8.7 per cent in world trade of creative goods

and services, the creative sector will be to the forefront in building Ire- land’s smart economy in that it offers the opportunity to develop thriving indigenous enterprises. If we are to fully realise this potential we must begin by understanding the cur- rent situation in the region and the challenges facing the sector’s future erowth. This is why the WDC com- missioned this research to investigate the size of the region’s creative sector and to identify the key issues which people working in the sector face.” Speaking at the launch, Minister for Community, Rural and Gaeltacht

Affairs, Mr Eamon O Cuiv, TD said, “The Western Development Com- mission is keen to promote the crea- tive sector in this part of the coun- try, not just because of the inherent importance of the arts in our nation’s psyche and identity, but because it also has the potential to contribute to the sustainable long-term develop- ment of this predominantly rural re- gion. Simply put, it makes economic sense to support creativity”.

NEW home completions in Clare were down on the national average, with almost 1,000 fewer homes fin- ished in 2008 than in 2007.

Home completions were down 39.1 per cent, while the average national drop was 33.7 per cent.

Last year saw 1,393 new homes fin- ished in Clare while there were 2,286 finished in the county in 2007. There were 2,/27 house completion’s in the county in 2006.

The drop appears to be mainly in the development of estates in Clare with 650 individual houses being fin- ished as against 604 homes in devel- opments and 139 apartments.

Noel Moore of Costello’s auction- eers said that the decision by many developers not to build more houses in estates until they have sold the ones already built has had an impact.

“Developers were building stock and it remained unsold. So many of them called a halt to construction until the existing stock has sold,” he explained.

But there may be some small im- provement in the situation at present, the auctioneer said.

“Developers have dropped their prices and that has had a positive ef- fect. There have been sales agreed on four of fourteen properties in one development and there has been a healthy interest since prices were reduced in another development last

week, so there is Some movement.”

Also helping interest in house sales are the drop in interest rates and re- lief for first time-buyers, Noel said.

In the second-hand market there “has been a levelling off of prices and there has been some _ pick up there as a result”, said Noel.

But the Clare auctioneers said that it is still a great time for prospective buyers to hunt for bargains.

The slow down in the house build-

ing market has caused major head- aches for Clare County Council who are down millions in development levy funds which would normally be used for infrastructure and mainte- nN aleee

The figures from the Department of Environment Heritage and Local Government show that Dublin had the most new homes built last year, with 5,348 going up in the city coun- cil area.

The capital was closely followed by Cork county, where 5,091 new homes were completed last year.

Nationally, there was a 33.7 per cent drop in house construction and in Dublin this figure was 36 per cent.

In neighbouring Limerick, house construction in the county area was down 35.6 per cent but construction in Limerick City bucked the trend, rising by 9.3 per cent.

JOHN McGovern took out a knife to ‘scare’ Michael Doherty, but didn’t put any thought into what he did and didn’t remember making contact, he told gardai, hours after the stabbing.

Detective Sergeant Eamon O’Neill told the trial that he and two col- leagues from Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick travelled to En- nis Garda Station in the early hours of June 24, 2007 to assist in the in- vestigation into a stabbing.

He was involved in conducting three interviews with John McGov- ern – the first of which commenced at 3.45am that morning.

The young man told the gardai that he had been dropped into town by his mother at 3.30pm the previous day. He had attended a music gig at the youth centre in the town, where he met some friends.

He and some of his friends left the youth centre at around 7.30pm. They went to an off-licence where they bought alcohol and drank it at the Fair Green. Between the five of them, he said they purchased 16 cans of Dutch Gold and four bottles of cheap lager. He said he himself drank four cans of Dutch Gold and they left the park at around 9.30pm.

They then went to Brandon’s Bar at the top of O’Connell Street. He did not have any alcohol there and left a short time after. He walked to O’Connell Square, where he met some friends.

He said they then walked to Super- mac’s, where four young men were standing outside, including Michael Doherty – who he referred to during the garda interviews as ‘Martin Do- uaa

He said that one of the men said something to him but he did not pass much remark. “Then he threatened me again,” he said.

“IT was kind of surprised he would take on somebody as big as me. He hit me. I think he hit me four times altogether. At that point I took out a knife and I just swung at him,” he said.

Asked did he have the knife in his hand when he swung at Mr Doherty, he said, “Ya.” He said it was in his left hand. He had taken it from his pocket and had opened it.

He told gardai that he saw Mr Do- herty stumbling backwards and fall- ing and he then left the scene, say- ing he was afraid to be out on the Street, as two members of the other group were bigger than he was. “I just needed to get away from them. I felt if I didn’t, I’’d be beaten up pretty bad,” he said.

Asked in that interview did he stab Mr Doherty, he replied, “I presume so. Ya,” adding, “I can’t remember making contact.”

He said he checked the two knife blades to see if there was any blood on them, before dropping the knife near Brandon’s. “I couldn’t say where exactly,” he said. He then went in to Brandon’s where he cleaned his ear

and nose and spoke to some of his friends. He said he phoned a friend, who told him to go home as there were ‘Travellers outside the pubs looking for him.

He phoned his mother and then went home. He told the gardai that he had brought the knife from his home that day, but did not always carry it. Asked why he had taken it out of his pocket that night, he told gardai, “I really don’t know. . . to scare him or Sreyeeteis evn eroaa

He said the adrenaline had been high and he had been dazed after the blows he had received. “I didn’t put any thought or feeling into what I did,” he said.

He told gardai that he could not de- fend his face as his hands were being held back and Mr Doherty was com- ing at him again and he feared he would get a “cheap shot” at his face.

Asked what was going through his mind when he checked the blades of the knife for blood, he said, “I wasn’t sure if I had made contact or not so I checked the blades.”

He was asked how had he intended to scare the boy with the knife and replied, “Wouldn’t you feel threat- ened or scared if someone took a knife out on you? I didn’t mean to make contact with him. I wanted them to leave. That was the only rea- son I took out the knife.”

It was suggested to him that it would have been easier to walk away at that stage and he agreed. He later said, “There were four of them. They

would catch me. They would hit me from behind and I would be on the ground.”

Asked had some of his friends been in trouble with Mr Doherty previ- ously, he said that one of them had fought with him.

The issue of the knife was again raised by gardai during the second interview, which commenced at 1.25pm on Sunday, June 24, 2007. He told gardai that after he left the scene at Supermac’s, he put the knife back into his pocket. He later took it out, up the street, and looked for blood, before dropping it out of his hand, possibly on the footpath near flower beds by the Cathedral, or in the flower beds. He said the trip be- tween Supermac’s and Brandon’s was ‘hazy.’

“*T threw it (the knife) over my shoul- der. . . I barely remember dropping it.” Asked had he wanted to get rid of the knife because he had stabbed Mr Doherty, he said, “No. I didn’t think I had stabbed Michael Doherty. There was no blood on the knife. When I was outside the Cathedral I didn’t think I had stabbed him.”

He was shown a knife that had been retrieved by gardai in the flower bed earlier that day and asked did he rec- ognise it. He said it was the same col- our as his and a distinctive cross was faded on it.

He told gardai he was shocked he had pulled the knife on somebody and had never harmed anybody with a knife previously. He said he did not

know why he had put the knife in his pocket that day.

He told gardai that one of the other lads had been egging Mr Doherty on. Asked had he been knocked to the ground, he said, “Ya. I stumbled backwards but I don’t know if I fell.”

During the third interview – which commenced shortly before 8pm on the evening of June 24, 2007 – McGovern told gardai that the Swiss pen knife had been a present from his grandparents the previous Christmas or for his birthday in January. There were two blades on the knife.

He was then asked about comments his friend Kate McDaid had told gardai he had made, that Mr Doherty was a “knacker” and had “deserved ra

“No. I didn’t say that,” was his ini- tial response to this. He then said, “I don’t think I said that. I can’t deny it either.” Later during the interview, he said he found the comment “re- volting” and didn’t understand how he would have said it.

Asked had he taken drugs the pre- vious night, he said he had not. He said he had been offered cannabis in the past, but had never tried it.

Under cross-examination by Mark Nicholas, BL for the accused, Dt Sgt O’Neill agreed that McGovern had no previous convictions.

THE decision to discontinue a class for children with special needs at St Senan’s National School, Kilrush has been branded “inhumane and incon- siderate”’.

Maura Clohessey, whose six-year- old granddaughter is one of three pupils in the Mild General Learning Disability (MGLD) class at St Sen- an’s, said her family are “saddened and annoyed” at the decision.

Maura said her granddaughter has severe physical and intellectual dis- abilities and that it would not be appropriate for her to go into main- stream education.

St Senan’s is the only school in the west Clare peninsula that offers spe- cial needs supports.

“She would have to go into Ennis and she would not by physically able for a 70-mile round-trip every day. It’s inhumane and inconsiderate and the families weren’t even consulted,” added Maura. Maura described the school as a “home away from home” for her granddaughter.

‘She has an excellent teacher, Deir- dre Kenny, and she gets great support from the special needs assistants. The learning style is appropriate to her needs,’ added Maura.

School principal Paddy McInerney said the MGLD class at St Senan’s now catered for children with severe OURS leye bales

“This is in no way equitable; it’s just plain picking on the softest tar-

get. They have obviously not thought this through, because if they did they would have looked at individual cas- es,’ added Mr. McInerney.

Sean McMahon, INTO representa- tive for Clare, labeled the announce- ment by Education Minister Batt O’ Keeffe to close 128 special classes for children with mild learning dif- ficulties “a disgrace”.

Mr McMahon continued, “Coming as it did on a day when billions in tax payers’ money was found to recapi- talise the banks, 1t showed without any doubt how those who had noth- ing to do with the country’s economic difficulties are paying a huge price.”

Reacting to Minster O’Keeffe’s comments that many children would integrate easily into mainstream edu- cation, Mr McMahon said, “It is pat- ent nonsense to return these children to classes in which, through no fault of their own, they couldn’t cope with in the first place. These mainstream classes are themselves now even more over-crowded than they were when the children were withdrawn because of the other recent budget cutbacks, which resulted in signifi- cant increases in class sizes.”

IT WAS Michael Doherty’s friends who started the row outside Su- pemac’s, defence counsel told the jury. Senior Counsel Patrick Gageby told the jury that the proper verdict was ‘not guilty.’

“The prosecution sees no alterna- tive to murder. By doing that, they have ignored all the difficulties in the

case,” he said.

In his closing speech, Mr Gageby told the jury it would be wrong to have a prejudice against either Trav- ellers or the gardai. Mr Doherty, he said, came from a Traveller back- ground, while the accused’s father is a garda in the traffic corps. “No part of this case is anything to do with that,” he said.

Mr Gageby said that three witness-

es did not tell gardai that the accused had used the word ‘knacker’ until several days after the incident. The three, he said, made the claim “‘sud- denly on the 3rd and 4th (July), out of the woodwork,” in what he said was an “extraordinary coincidence”’.

He said if they had heard that word being used, surely it would have MeAUCC) QB UOMO SLoiDmmeauN NTO lcae

“Why the collective amnesia? What

a coincidence,” he said.

He said it was Dylan Dinan – a friend of Mr Doherty – who started the trouble, by saying to McGovern, ‘Do you know who you are messing ele eae

“Dylan Dinan said John had punched Michael into the jaw. Dr Curtis found no such mark on Michael’s face,” he said.

Mr Gageby made reference to the

comment Kate McDaid said had been made by McGovern, that Mr Doherty was a *knacker.’ “He should not have said it. It was very wrong to say. It was said in a time of stress. . . SCRA Eom D ice hobcam-Deeloye realm nu los 010 Kmaem als said. However he told the jury, “You can’t convict somebody because they said that.”

He said the accused took “one swing” of the knife and the blow came using “moderate force’, ac- cording to the Deputy State Patholo- gist Dr Michael Curtis, who carried out the post mortem examination on Mr Doherty’s body.

He said that the accused had been previously assaulted in Ennis and was “hardly likely to be the guy to start a fight. . . I suggest Michael’s friends caused the row.”

He told the jury the issue of self-de- fence must be considered. ““The knife was taken out with a view to keeping the man back. Look at how danger- ous he was with his fists,” he said.

“There was no intention to kill or cause serious injury. He used no more force than was necessary at the time. Murder isn’t in it one bit at all, nor is manslaughter,” he said.

“Not within an inch could this be described as murder and not within an inch culpable homicide.”

He told the jury the accused was of good character and it was “highly unlikely he started or was interested in starting the fight.”

“The fact that Michael is dead 1s the greatest tragedy. His people are very nice people. The boys he was out with that night, I can’t say the same about them,” he said.