Category: Uncategorized

THE well-known peace activist Ed Horgan has appeared in court, charged in relation to an incident at Shannon airport last June.

Mr Horgan (63), of Charnwood, Newtown, Castletroy, Limerick, 1s accused of failing to comply with the requirements of an airport police of- ficer, at Shannon airport, on June 18 last.

Mr Horgan, a retired army com- mander, told Shannon District Court last week there were a number of 1m- portant preliminary issues he wanted the court to address, concerning the summons.

Judge Joseph Mangan said, howev- er, that he would deal with the issues on another occasion.

Mr Horgan replied that there would

be an issue as to whether the sum- mons was valid or bad.

“It was issued to me to appear be- fore court today and that’s why I came. It claims to be issued by the DPP. . . Sergeant O’Hagan applied for the summons on behalf of the DPP; this I believe to be untrue,’ he said.

Judge Mangan said it was clear the matter would take some time and he did not have the time to deal with it on that day.

Mr Horgan replied, “This is the third time I have been brought be- fore the court on spurious charges, at great expense and inconvenience.”

The judge adjourned the case until next January.

CLARE County Council and Ennis Town Council are aiming to house 60 Traveller families in standard council housing in the greater Ennis area over the next five years.

According to the council’s draft Traveller Accommodation Plan, there will be a need to house 123 Traveller families between 2009 and 2013. It has been established that 88 indigenous Traveller families are in need of permanent accommodation and it 1s anticipated that an addition- al 35 new families will also require accommodation during the period of the draft plan.

The draft plan confirms that the county’s Traveller population will be concentrated in Ennis, Ennistymon and Shannon where all but two of the 123 residential units will be pro- vided. The other two homes will be provided in Scariff and Killaloe over the five years.

The council makes no provision for transient sites in Clare, holding the view that this should be implement- ed on a national basis using regional NSM CRE Kony

The local authority will gener- ally endeavour to accommodate a minimum of one Traveller family in a grouping of ten local authority rented houses and give due consid-

eration to proportionality throughout the county, subject to the interests of proper estate management.

“This will allow for the ongoing integration of Traveller families into standard housing. The council will promote a progression from Travel- ler specific accommodation to stand- ard housing where appropriate and where the family so desires. This would serve to minimise the number of Traveller specific sites required in the future.”

A comprehensive assessment of the accommodation needs of Travellers took place in September when it was established that by far the greatest need for accommodation was in En- nis where 65 families required hous- ing. This compares to thirteen in the Ennistymon area and eight in the Shannon area.

The plan anticipates that 60 Travel- ler families will be accommodated in standard council housing in the greater Ennis area with 24 families accommodated in group housing or SEVER UNTSMESSI Roe

Ten Traveller families will be ac- commodated in standard council housing in Shannon, while six fami- lies will be accommodated in En- nistymon in council housing, while an additional twelve families will be accommodated in group housing in the north Clare town.

A INNOVATIVE programme which encourages children to think posi- tively has been introduced at Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire, Newmarket- on-Fergus.

The ‘Incredible Years’ programme focuses on communication and en- thusiasm and is geared towards mak- ing children happier and more pro- gressive.

School principal Ann McMahon decided to introduce the programme in September, having seen the ben- efits achieved in other schools.

“T have always had an interest in positive behaviour management strategies. It is easier to lead children than to drive them,” she said.

The idea for the initiative was first mooted in 2006, but it took careful consideration by management and

staff at the school before any deci- sion was made to implement it.

“Richard Egan from NEPS (the National Education Psychological Service) mentioned the programme. It had been piloted in Cloughleigh in Ennis and had a huge impact in eliminating negative behaviour. We discussed the possibility of bringing it in,’ she said.

Nine of the 20 staff at Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire attended an in- formation evening on the project and were very enthusiastic about it. Two of the teachers – Moira McMahon and Elaine Ryan – went to Wales for training and the project was started in September.

The project will be achieved through commitment from teachers, parents and students. “It is a multi- agency approach, between teachers, parents and children,” she said.

The programme was devised in the US and has been taken up all over the world. Although relatively new in Ireland, Ms McMahon believes it will become hugely popular across WeTemeOLUUNLB AYA

“I believe this is a programme that will be adopted in every school in the country. You have the costs (to set it up) but the pay-off is massive,” she said.

“I found that previously I had to make telephone calls around nega- tive behaviour, but since we adopted this programme, I have made a point of making telephone calls around positive behaviour. Parents have been very supportive. The days of parents standing at the door of the school and coming no further are gone,” she added.

“Communication 1s critical, not just the children’s ability to communicate

with each other, but their ability to communicate with the staff and staff to communicate with parents,” she said.

While the programme is specifi- cally designed for children aged between three and 10, it has been adopted across the school and all 185 students will be part of it.

“The real proof of the pudding will be to come back in eight years’ time, when the juniors will have eight years of the programme. I firmly believe we will have almost no nega- tive behaviour. It can only augur well for Newmarket as a community,’ she added.

FINE Gael in Clare are calling on the Government to introduce emer- gency legislation to close a loophole which allows head shops in Galway and Limerick to sell potentially dan- gerous herbal-drugs legally. Concerns have been raised over the mental health implications of the use of a herbal version of ecstasy known as the ‘party pill’. According to South Galway Senator, Fidelma Hea- ly Eames (FG), two young people are currently undergoing treatment for

mental health problems in the area as a result of taking the ‘party pill’.

Herbal ecstasy contains a substance knows as BZP or Benzylpiperazine, which has been banned in most EU countries but remains legal in Ireland. According to north Clare county councillor and psychiatric nurse, Joe Arkins (FG), legislation is needed to tackle this situation.

“The onus is on the Government here to resolve this situation. If a sub- stance is dangerous then it should not be sold. Cannabis is a herb and that is not for sale legally in Ireland so the

same should apply here,” he said.

“These substances have been banned in most EU countries already but it is better later than never. If we had a good, quick bit of legislation on this then we could solve this problem very quickly.”

While no official figures exist on the usage of herbal drugs in Clare, anec- dotal evidence would indicated that both the ‘party pill’ and the halluci- nogenic herb salvia are both widely used in the tourists areas in the north and west of the county, particularly CLUN mn ercaMetomclUbevaeCoumeelOyelsetcy

Salvia, which is a variety of sage, is the only naturally occurring sub- stance known to induce a visionary or hallucinogenic state.

Last week gardai carried out searches in a number of head shops throughout the country as part of an investigation into the licensing of certain products.

HUNDREDS of mourners turned out on Saturday for the funeral of Gort mother of six, Kathleen Rock, who tragically lost here life in a road traffic accident on Wednesday evening last.

Mrs Rock (51) died following a single vehicle accident on a minor road at Kiltiernan just off the main N18 road around 8pm on Wednesday abreaal

Originally from Ardrahan, Mrs Rock had been living in Gort for most of her life and had become a central part of the local community. She is survived by her husband Collie and their six children.

Mrs Rock was on the way to col- lect one of her daughters from Yeats College in Galway when the accident took place.

“The mood here in Gort is very sad at the moment. There is a huge outpouring of grief from the whole community to the family and friends of Mrs Rock. There is a lot of sad- ness in the local community, this has come as a great shock and the people are very saddened by it,” said Rever- end Thomas Marrinan from St Cole-

man’s Church in Gort.

Mrs Rock was the only occupant of the car and was brought to Univer- sity Hospital Galway where she died from her injuries.

According to a Garda spokesman the car overturned after crashing and finish up in a ditch.

“There was a massive turnout for the funeral, she was a very very pop- ular woman in the locality,” contin- ued Reverend Marrinan.

“She was a very popular woman and will be very badly missed. She was very well thought of here by her neighbours and all of the local peo- ple.”

Mrs Rock is the third person to die in single vehicle accidents on the roads around Gort in the last 18 months.

In April of this year a 19-year-old woman lost her life in a single vehi- cle accident near Kilchreest Castle on the Loughrea to Gort road.

In June of 2007, 20-year-old Gort man Daniel Kelly lost his life when his motorcycle hit a traffic control barrier at the outskirts of Coole Park. Mr Kelly, who has an address at Crowe Street, was pronounced dead at the scene.

THE Department of the Environ- ment has been accused of robbing Clare County Council of funding ring-fenced from motor-tax paid in the county.

Following the confirmation of a seven per cent cut in the council budget for next year, Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) said that the Gov-

ernment was going back on a deal to ring-fence money collected from motor tax for use in the county.

‘This Government told us that they were ring-fencing the money from motor tax for the local authorities but now they are using this money for their own issues,” the councillor renee

“They said that this money was protected so why are they taking it

from the local authority. The level of money being paid for motor tax has not gone down so I don’t see why our funding in respect to this should be cut.”

Meanwhile, it was also revealed that Clare County Council is being forced to take out overdraft facilities to cover budget shortfalls as a result of delays in receiving payments from the Department of the Environment.

THE ‘Incredible Years’ programme rewards children who engage in pos- itive thinking and communication, through a variety of methods.

One novel approach that Scoil na Maighdine Mhuire has taken is to send home positive notes to parents, such as ‘happygrams’!

These are comical photographs and a piece of text praising students for their efforts. They offer great confi- dence to both students and parents alike.

“In the past, if you got a note going home, it was bad. Since September

we have been concentrating on send- ing home positive notes. I have had parents ringing me almost in tears they were so happy,” said Ann Mc- Mahon.

Students who try hard also receive ‘superstar’ awards, while classroom behaviour is also rewarded.

‘Each classroom teacher has a be- haviour plan. There is a target be- haviour and strategies around that behaviour,’ she said.

Students who make big efforts are rewarded with tokens and at the end of the week they can use the tokens to buy presents or goodies for them- To AVore

Every Friday, the school holds an assembly and a student of the week in each class is awarded with a cer- tificate.

The emphasis is on fairness as the teachers ensure the prizes are spread among all students.

“The whole school is told why a student achieves the award.

“With the programme, if you give feedback to a child, it is specific,” she added.

Children are also encouraged to communicate their feelings, through a feelings barometer and this also fo- cuses on positive thinking.

“They are taught how to talk them-

selves out of the negative place and engage in dialogue. The theory be- hind it is that over time it reduces negative thinking so much that it saves children from things like drug addiction, anti-social behaviour or ending up in jail,’ said Ms McMa- steer

“It is a win-win situation. Already I can see a decrease in negative be- haviour in the classroom and in the school yard. We kept a record of in- cidents in the yard book last year. I already know there is a sizable dif- ference in the number of reported in- cidents in the yard since September,” she said.

THE second Building of Hope project being organised from Clare is already bearing fruit in Kenya, where twelve sewing machines have been bought so women can make a living.

The organisers of the building project have just returned from a planning mission to Migombani in Mombasa where Cranny priest, Fr Martin Keane, is working with the

poorest of families to provide basic education and training.

At a meeting of volunteers from the first Building of Hope Project in Missionvale, enough money was raised in a raffle to buy twelve sew- ing machines, which have been given to local women who will use them to make souvenirs which can be sold to help support their families.

Architect with the project, Jim Lynch was with the party and de- scribed the conditions in Mombassa

as “devastating. The people have nothing – they have little or no way to make a living and there is no social welfare support so they are barely SUrVIVINg. ”

Jim was also the architect on the last Building of Hope project, when almost 200 volunteers went to South Africa to build a hospice at Mission- vale run by Clare nun Sr Ethel Nor- moyle.

“Even the poverty there would not prepare you for this. But as far as the

work 1s concerned, we learned a lot in South Africa and we will be ready for some of the pitfalls this time,” he told

THE company at the centre of con- tentious plans to construct a €10 million explosives plant on the Shan- non estuary is under threat of being struck off and dissolved because it has not filed returns since 2003.

At the first day of the oral hearing into proposal in Ennis last month, so- licitor for one of the opponents to the proposal, Michael Nolan for Cairde Cill an Disirt said that Shannon Ex-

plosives was due to be struck off at the end of October.

On the final day, counsel for Shan- non Explosives Ltd, Esmonde Keane rejected the claim made by Mr No- lan, stating that the company is oper- ZLObToas NOwneT-N OKA

However, yesterday, the Companies Office confirmed that Shannon Ex- plosives Ltd – which is a subsidiary of the Whelan Group – was put on the strike-off list on November 2.

A spokeswoman for the Companies

Office said if no returns are filed in the next number of weeks, Shannon Explosives Ltd will appear in the Government publication, Iris Ofigu- ue

The company will then be further given a number of weeks to file docu- ments before the company is struck off and dissolved.

The company is also one of a number of notice parties in a High Court action being taken by Cairde Chill an Disirt Teo (CCDT) seeking

a High Court injunction preventing An Bord Pleanala from taking any further steps in determining the ap- peal on the plan.

CCDT along with a number of other objectors withdrew from the oral hearing on the first day after the Board refused to state as to whether the hearing was being held under Irish law or a review under an EU Directive.

Solicitor for CCDT, Michael Nolan has confirmed that the High Court

case being brought by his clients has been adjourned until Novem- ber 21 to allow the other sides lodge responding affidavits. Papers have been served on An Bord Pleandala, Shannon Explosives Ltd and Clare County Council.

Mr Nolan confirmed that CCDT are seeking an injunction preventing

An Bord Pleanala from taking any steps in determining the appeal and an order requiring the reconvening of the oral hearing.

TUAMGRANEY has received na- tional recognition after being named one of the winners in Cooperation Ireland’s Pride of Place Competi- tion.

At a weekend award ceremony held in Cappoquin in Waterford, the east Clare village was named overall win- ner of Category 2, catering for popu- lation centres of 200-500 people for which the Tuamgraney Development Association received a Waterford Crystal trophy and €2,000.

Four other Clare groups – Gleann an Oir, Shannon; The Burren Cen- tre, Kilfenora; Obair Afterschool Project, Newmarket on Fergus and the West Clare Resource Centre, Miltown Malbay – were shortlisted in the All Ireland competition, which aims to recognise contributions that community groups make to society.

Mayor of Clare, Cllr. Madeleine Taylor Quinn described ‘Tuam- graney’s success as a wonderful ex- ample of what could be achieved by adopting a partnership approach to improving community life.

“This competition focuses on local communities, both north and south of the border, coming together to shape, change and enjoy all that is good about their area’, she said.

According to Tuamgraney Devel- opment Association Secretary, Mary Cassidy, the award is a tribute to eve- ryone who contributed to the group’s success, including those who helped out during the Pride of Place pres- entation, Clare County Council and the local engineer in Scarriff. She also paid special tribute to the fifteen local community organisations who

pledged their support along with res- idents associations and schools.

Ms. Cassidy explained that the im- mense civic pride in Tuamgraney resurfaced with the formation of the Development Association twelve years ago.

“The Association was formed in re- sponse to concern about the decline of the area. Its goal is to make Tua- megraney a better place to live, work, play and visit. The challenge now is to build on this success’, she added.

The village and the Association have won numerous awards in recent

years, including Clare In Bloom and a Regional landscape award in the Tidy Towns competition, as well as increasing substantially year on year marks and performance in the Tidy Towns competition.

Since its inception in 2003, Clare communities that have participated in the Pride of Place competition in- clude Kilrush, Kilkee, Newmarket on Fergus, Ennis, Labasheeda, Shan- non, Tuamgraney, Miltown Malbay, Sixmulebridge, Ballynacally, Scar- iff, Kilfenora and O’Briensbridge/ Montpelier.