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THE increased availability of co- caine and heroin across Clare is a major concern for gardai tackling the spread of drugs.

Gardai have voiced the concerns in the wake of what they describe as a significant seizure of heroin in Ennis last week. More than €5,000 worth of the drug was seized during the search of an apartment, as part of a major garda operation last Wednes- day night.

A 28-year-old man was questioned and a file is being prepared for the Director of Public Prosecutions, who will decide if charges are to be brought.

Two weeks ago, a kilo of cannabis was seized during the search of a car on the outskirts of Ennis. It was part of an operation that also involved the search of a house in Ennis.

Gardai say that the availability of significant quantities of heroin in- dicate that there 1s a demand for it in Clare and they have pledged to

tackle this. The numbers of seizures of drugs in the county has increased significantly over the past few years. This is due to an increase in detec- tion rates, allied to the increased de- mand for drugs.

Gardai are concerned that the in- creased use of drugs is connected to violent incidents and crime such as eluted tN lone

“T am concerned about that. One would have to be concerned when people get addicted to drugs. They are desperate for money,” said Supt

John Scanlan.

Although cannabis remains the most popular drug in the county, gardai have noticed that cocaine, heroin and ecstacy are freely avail- able.

“It gets publicity on the back of a prominent death, but it is a continu- ous thing. Cannabis still tends to be the drug of choice. The problem with cannabis is that young people thing it is not addictive. This myth that can- nabis isn’t harmful has been blown out of the water,’ he added.

THE East Clare Chernobyl Chil- dren’s’ group has moved to ensure that all of the children they invited here for Christmas will be able to come, despite a risk that the Belarus- sian authorities will enforce a ban on visits.

The group have taken the route of inviting children as the private guests of families in Clare and so far, have not met with resistance from the au- thorities in Belarus.

“What we are doing is writing to the families of children, inviting them to come here as guests for Christ- mas and so far we have not come up against obstacles so we would be very optimistic that they are com-

ing,’ said group chairwoman, Geral- dine O’Driscoll.

A Belarussian woman who came her erepeatedly as a child is helping with interpretations and form-filling on the other end. The authorities in Belarus had said they were clamping down on the children being brought to Ireland for recuperation time by voluntary groups here.

Following a harrowing documen- tary several weeks ago, which in- cluded scenes of a small Belarussian boy being tied to a chair and having his tonsils taken out without any an- aesthetic, an online petition to the Minister for Foreign Affairs drew thousands of signatures, asking that he intercede with the Belarussian government to allow the children’s

visits to continue.

Everyone who signed the online pe- tition got a reply recently from Min- ister Michael Martin’s department, outlining what diplomatic efforts are being made to try to secure the Steines ihe

In the email, the ministers’ spokes- man said that a number of represen- tations have led to agreement that formal negotiations are to take place between the Irish and Belarussian Governments with regard to future visits by Belarussian children to Ire- land. The negotiations are expected to begin later this month, the spokes- man said.

“In addition, Ireland’s Ambassador to Belarus, based in Moscow, trav- elled to the Belarus capital of Minsk

on September 9 for meetings with the Ministry for Foreign Affairs and the Ministry for Humanitarian Affairs in order to underline Ireland’s concern about the issue and our wish that any travel restrictions be lifted.

Since then, two officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs had a meeting with the Ministry for Hu- manitarian Affairs on September 30 to further discuss the issue.

“We hope to find a satisfactory conclusion to this issue in the near future, so that children from Belarus will be able to travel to Ireland in time for Christmas, and I can assure you Minister Martin will continue to ensure that every effort is made to achieve this outcome,’ the spokes- man said.

DOOLIN will quite literally be crawling with zombies this Hallow- een as local amateur dancers per- form one of the most famous music videos of all time.

North Clare locals of any age are being asked to take part in the largest live recreation of Michael Jackson’s Thriller ever undertaken.

On October 25 thousands, or possi- ble even millions, of people from all over the world will take part in the world largest Thrill the World event. At 7pm Irish time, in venues on every continent, people will record them-

selves dancing to thriller and stream the dancing live on the internet.

Doolin local, Liz Shannon of the Broadway Dancing School, will join Fiona Cranwell at the Micho Rus- sell Centre from 3pm to organise the dancers. The Doolin event is in aid of Cystic Fibrosis with all of the €10 entry fee going to the charity.

“I was involved in something like this last year in Dublin and Liz did something similar in Doolin. It’s great fun and the dance is so easy to learn,” said Fiona.

“It’s really a classic dance, there are videos all over YouTube of peo- ple breaking into the thriller dance,

whether they are in a prison or on a bus. It’s very funny.”

The event is open to all, but small children must be accompanied by a guardian. No dance experience what- soever is required.

“Liz 1S an expert in dance and has already broken down all of the moves that we need to learn. We will have a team there on the day to teach peo- ple from 3pm. We will teach every- one on the day – young or old, people who have loads of dance experience or people who have none.

‘People need to dress up in shabby cloths, we will put some make-up on then we are away in a hack. It will

be great craic. To be honest it really doesn’t matter at all how good you are at dancing, at the end of the day you are going to be a zombie.

“Both Liz and myself have raised money for cystic fibrosis before be- cause we both have people we know who are effected by it. We wanted the money raised to stay in Clare so it will all go the Children’s Light of Hope charity.

Anyone wishing to get involved can contact Fiona at ttwO8doolin@ gmail. com, ring Liz at the Broadway Dance School on 087-2615809 or www. thrilltheworld.com. Make up artists and photographers very welcome.

SATURDAY night’s Galway Card was an all sponsored gala fundrais- ing event in aid of the Clare Hurlers Support Group and all credit to the organisers on a most professionally presented programme of events.

One of the highlights of the night was the appearance of Irish Derby and and Champion Stakes hero Shel- bourne Aston who paraded prior to the feature event which was the Lev- el Pitch and Sleepwell Ltd AO graded apy

In this race the PJ Fahy-owned popular veteren Tyrur Lee (Brett Lee-Tyrur Dee) went to traps a warm order and he didn’t dissappoint as he stayed on dourley to defeat Swinford Mylo(T4) by a length and three parts in 31.43. The winner was headed to the opening bend by All Heart but he saved valuable ground by railing tightly and he set sail for home turn- ing down the back. Racing around the home turn Swinford Mylo began to close slightly but Tyrur Lee would not be denied as he won has first race as a father as he sired a litter of nine whelped by Tyrur Lisa the previous day.

In the A2 graded ninth contest the Johnny Maher of Kilmaley owned Clonfeigh Nikita showed great de- termination as she landed her fourth career success by three lengths over the always prominent Jackie Legs in 29.04. The winner was only a length down on Jackie Legs at the

Opening corner despite missing the break slightly. Racing past halfway the daughter of Honcho Classic and Clonmore Nikita launched her chal- lenge on the inside. Hitting the front rounding the third bend she stayed on gamely on the run home for vic- reas

There was a right touch landed in the A4 graded sixth contest over 525 yards as the Pat Curtin trained Spot The Man (Yeah Man-Own Clas- sic) who was backed from 6/4 to 2/5 came home five lengths clear of Clas- sical Moment (T3) in 29.02.

The Lawrence Meaney of Kilrush owned winner though had a little luck on his side at the opening bend where he collided with the runner up and Hard Shoulder (T4) but he managed to come off best after the loluteayey

Once he set sail for home down the back the money was always leaving the layers satchels as she strode home alone and land the touch in style and the Derby winning trainer was not finished yet as the Meaney clan were again this time it was Michael and Claire Meaney owned Ban Diamond completed a double for the kennel in the concluding A3 graded 525.

In this race Ban Diamond (Smok- ing Ban-Droopys Diamond) made just about all to defeat Ballaghboy Cool (T6) by three parts of a length in 29.11. The pair were both away well with the blue jacketed Ban Diamond railing tightly around the opening two bend s to lead by four

lengths passing halfway. Despite running wide all along the back straight though Ballaghboy Cool re- ally began to motor from the home turn but the line just came in time for Ban Diamond.

The fourth contest was an A5 grad- ed 525 and as the field raced to the Opening corner Zoies Joy (T6) led the way from Ler Nadal (T3) with Clune Hincho (T4) in third place. Rounding the second bend the John Fitzgerald of Kilrush owned Ler Nadal moved a clear second on the inside of Zoies Joy before sweeping to the front approaching the penulti- mate corner and the son of Barnane Bill and Black Shaw strode clear to defeat Cooldarragha (T2) by 5&1/2 lengths in 29.50.

The sixth was an A5 graded 525 in which the trap two runner Mine Magic showed fine early pace to lead by three lengths at the opening bend as the *’jolly’’ Montpelier (T6) found herself only fourth after a tardy Start.

Racing down the back Mine Magic led by four lengths from the Mrs Stella Flanagan of Ennisymon owned Dromoher Ferm who hails from a strong staying litter and the daughter of Spiral Nikita and Mythical Crack- er came wide up the straight to get up for a half length victory in 29.28.

The opening contest for A9 graders over the 525 yard trip resulted in a dead heat between the pace setting Mine Ruby (Tl) owned by Frank Browne of Quin and the Master John

McDonagh owned favourite Tyrone Sally (T2). Mine Ruby was smartly away and led to halfway from Ferry- side Snowey (T6) with Tyriorn Sally in third place. Still three length in front turning for home Mine Ruby tied up close home as Tyrorn Sally got up to share the spoils.

In the second contest for A7 grad- ed dogs the Jerry Maloney of Doo- ra owned Ballaghboy Crash (T6) showed a huge improvement in form as he made all the running to de- feat the reserve Easter Cottage (T5) by five and three quarter lengths in 29.44 to get off the mark at the third attempt.

The winner a son of Crash and Sues Beauty was away well as he outpaced the favourite Finnigans Local (T3) to the opening bend . Clear passing halfway he was never in any danger of defeat as Easter Cottage got the better of the battle for second spot.

The A3 graded third contest the Frank Casey of Newmarket on Fer- gus owned Stonehall Pride a son of Droopys Woods and O,Garney Mist came home nine lengths clear of his rivals in a time of 29.51.

The winner trailed the pace setting Mine Cash (T3) racing to the open- ing bend but with the benefit of the inside line he hit the front turning down the back. As Stonehall Pride straightened up to run down the back the was plenty of bunching behind which allow the leader a virtual solo from halfway.

On a great night for the Banner

County one of the most popular owners from the county tasted suc- cess in the A3 graded tenth contest when the PJ O’Halloran of Kilrush owned Scattery Vier1 (Droopys Vi- eri-Cranky Criss) came a second time to lead close home for a half length success over Kilscan Teddy (T3) in 29.50.

The winner led on the run up before he was joined and passed by Glen- gar Joe(T4) turning down the back. Rounding the third bend the leader checked slightly and this allowed Scattery Vieri to challenge again off the home turn and he stuck his neck out gamely up the straight to land the prize.

STEPHEN Cunningham cut a com- posed figure for much of this county semi-final — standing on the sideline there wasn’t much motion out of him, even if he must have been put through the whole gamut of emotions over the OB eeb telecon

There was nothing to worry about in the early exchanges because Crush- een were the better team, old hands at county semi-finals these days and when they led by 0-5 to O-1 as half- time closed in, Cunningham possibly reflected on a job being well done.

Then it all changed — the pen- alty could have put Crusheen out of reach, but when it was missed and Clonlara tacked on two points before half-time it was as if Cunningham and company sensed that the black and amber tide was growing.

“The reality is,” said Cunningham afterwards, “that when you get ahead like that in a championship game as we were in the first half and you don’t punish them, you suffer. That’s what happened us and when we didn’t go further ahead at half-time Clonlara were always going to come back at Saas

And when they started coming, Cunningham was powerless to do anything about it, save throw in substitutes to try and change things around and also hope that Clonlara’s high tide ran its course.

Didn’t look like happening though.

Crusheen slipped behind when Conlon goaled, then as the minutes passed, the differential started to grow as wide as five points. By the last ten minutes Cunningham would have been forgiven if he thought that after five wins in-a-row, Crusheen’s

season was crashing in around them.

He was still composed though, and gradually as the comeback started he became more animated. And when Paddy Meaney crashed home the goal that put Crusheen ahead for the first time in 28 minutes, he raced on

to the field punching the air. Whatever his counterpart, the ani- mated Jimmy Gully can do, Cun- ningham can also do. “Credit our lads,” he said drawing breath. “They dug back in there and got the goal and got a draw when with a few minutes

it looked as if they were gone. With a few minutes left we would have set- tled for this. Clonlara are a fine out- fit, they’re on a serious roll and are very unlucky not to have come out of here with a win. We have another day out got, that’s the way we’re looking at it,” he added.

Then it was time to draw more breath and reflect some more on a tumultuous few minutes. “Things revisit you at times,’ said Cunning- ham in reference to Paddy Meaney’s missed chance in the 55th minute when he kicked the ball inches wide of Ger O’Connell’s right hand post from a distance of no more than sev- SIUM L TROLS

“But this time we had the time to come again and get another chance at goal. That famous day against Tulla we got a chance, but after we didn’t take it we didn’t have the time to come again. It means we have an- other chance. We’re still in it. I keep saying it, but the fact we’re in it is great. We’re not gone.”

With that Cunningham was gone — back to the dressing room to be with his players. Talk them through it, steel them for another day, start preparing for that day.

It could have been very different.

ADDITIONAL resources are _ be- ing pumped in to fight the spread of drugs in Clare, as major drug dealers are being targeted.

Resources at the disposal of the Clare Garda Divisional drugs unit have increased in recent weeks, as a major focus on stamping out the availability of drugs across the coun- ty gets underway.

Gardai are concerned about young people experimenting with soft drugs and then progressing to harder drugs which have a lethal effect on their TaVene

Superintendent John Scanlan said a major crackdown has got underway and is poised to continue.

“We have seen a significant in- crease in the number of arrests of drug dealers in the Clare division,” said Supt Scanlan.

“We have put significant additional personnel into the drugs squad in En- nis. We are very conscious there is a problem,” he said.

“We are conscious about young people who have not yet caught on to drugs getting involved,’ added Supt Scanlan.

“We have made significant seizures. There is going to be zero tolerance,’

he said.

“We would appeal to anyone with any information on people involved in drugs to contact us in the strictest of confidence,” he said.

“Drugs cause deaths. Parents in particular wouldn’t want to believe that drugs wouldn’t invade their lives. That day is gone. Drugs prevail in all elements of society,” he added.

The cocaine-related deaths of two west Clare men – as revealed in this newspaper two weeks ago – led to grave concerns about the availability of drugs.

It prompted gardai to issue a tough warning on the availability of toxic

forms of cocaine.

“We are still seizing significant quantities of cocaine, which is a wor- ry. Our advice for anyone thinking of experimenting with cocaine is not to,’ said a garda source.

“Cocaine is generally cut with other substances. People who pre- pare cocaine are unscrupulous as to what substances they use to bulk it,” he said.

“The speed at which people get into trouble with cocaine is frighten- ing. We are amazed at this. People are more likely to get into financial bother, followed by addiction prob- lems,” added the source.

highlighted the situation on the Laghtagoona Housing Development in Corofin where a number of houses were left with crumbling exterior plaster as well as dangerous road surfaces.

Last week the company behind the development, Cronan Nagle Con- Struction, announced that it was to go into liquidation. Company direc- tors called a meeting of creditors for later month when the company 1s ex- pected to be wound up.

Residents in the estate now have no way of having their houses complet- ed to a Satisfactory standard.

‘Nothing has been been done what- soever to resolve this situation. We are still in the exact same situation at we were six months ago except not it

appears that Cronan Nagle have gone out of business which means that we have no real chance now of getting the houses that we paid for,’ said one Laghtagoona resident.

“In fact the situation is actually worse now than it was back then as we have also discover a problem with our water pipes in the estate which

burst a number of weeks ago.

“It does seem at the moment that all of this is going to be left to the residents to fix. I believe that Cro- nan Nagle have paid a bond to Clare County Council in respect to this de- velopment so maybe they may come out and finish the work. We really have no idea.

“I haven’t had any communication from Cronan Nagle in the last six months what so ever. All the issues are still as bad or worse as they were before. The roadway is still is a very dangerous condition and the plaster is still peeling off the wall in a lot of the houses.

‘According to the insurance com- pany the damage with the plaster is cosmetic and not structural, which means that they will not cover it.”

In June of this year, residents of the Laghtagoona housing estate in Corofin formed an action group to lobby estate developer Cronan Nagle Construction over alleged non-com- pletion of work on the 100-house de- velopment.

THE life of one of Lisdoonvarna hidden musical treasures will be celebrated in a weekend-long free festival later this month. Accordion and box player Micilin Conlon never gained the same fame as the Rus- Sell brothers from Doolin, but the Lisdoonvarna musician was as well thought of locally in his own time.

Born in 1927, he spent virtually all of this 67 years playing music for the people of north Clare. From Friday October 24 to Sunday 26, a celebra- tion of his music will take place at the Roadside Tavern in Lisdoon.

“He essentially spent his whole life entertaining people, he was like a travelling troubadour. He played at wakes and weddings and everything in between. He played Irish music and that was his life,” said Peter Cur- tin of the Roadside.

“He loved having fun along with the music and he was always there mak- ing fun and entertaining people. He would have played at house dances in the old days before there was any formal pub scene for entertainment. He would just walk to a house in the neighbourhood for the sessions. He would walk from Lisdoonvarna up to Fanore for a house dance and he

could come home and then head off to the Cliffs of Moher for another dance after that.”

The festival will feature some play- ers who have become synonymous with traditional music in north Clare. People like Tommy Peoples, Michael Hynes, Davy Spillane and Seamus Hynes will all feature, along with Micilin’s own nephew Johnny Con- ren

‘He was a musician and his father was a musician. I can remember him telling me about coming into the Roadside on the day of his confirma- tion to play a few tunes. He lived for the music,’ continued Peter.

“We have purposely organised some sessions during the day. We want to get people to chill out a bit, and not to just head out at night and then be worried about getting up the following morning.

“Micilin was a chilled out man himself. I’d say his stress levels never got above zero in his whole life. So this is going to be more like a session than a concert. It’s about people and musicians coming in and getting into iW sTomen one

For more information on the cel- ebration of the music and life of Mi- cilin Conlon check out www.roadsi- detavern.ie.

THE bravado was back. Sharon Col- lins’ beaming smile returned to the Four Courts for a brief sojourn last week, exactly 13 weeks after her pre- vious appearance that had culminat- ed in her being led away to prison.

On the evening of Wednesday, July 9 last, Collins, aka ‘Lying Eyes’, left the building in custody, having been found guilty by a jury of soliciting and conspiracy to murder her multi- millionaire partner PJ Howard and his sons Robert and Niall, in En- nis, two years ago. Despite her de- nials, a jury found her guilty of at- tempting to hire a hitman over the internet – through an email address lyingeyes98 @yahoo.ie – to wipe out the Howard family, in order to get her hands on PJ Howard’s wealth.

At the end of the eight-week trial, She was taken to Dochas, the wom- en’s section of Mountjoy prison, where she has remained since, await- ing sentence. Her departure for the prison in July was laced with tears, but as she returned to court last Wednesday – for her sentence date to be fixed – her radiant smile had also re-emerged.

She faces a wait for her sentence – November 3 is d-day for the mother- of-two – but her mid-week appear- ance was comparable to that of a woman without a care in the world.

The 45-year-old has gained a small amount of weight while in prison. Her neat black trouser suit is less roomy, while her gaunt face has be- come plump and rounder.

Throughout her life, image – and retaining her petite frame – has been a priority for Collins. She has al- ways been eager to remain slim and even took Reductil slimming pills at one stage. Undoubtedly her weight gain, albeit slight, will not come as a source of comfort to her in the lead-up to her sentence being handed Cleni0e

Nevertheless, there was no sign of any concern as Collins displayed a healthy glow on Wednesday. Her well-groomed blond bob – which has grown in length from her high- profiled trial – and dazzling smile became the focus of attention around

the Four Courts for the morning.

Accompanied by her youngest son David, Collins chatted freely to her legal team. There was no shortage of smiles and laughter. The confidence and bravado that had dominated Col- lins’ mood during most of the trial had returned.

That trial had seen two very differ- ent sides to Collins. For the first 25 days of the case, she strolled around the Four Courts, displaying a phe- nomenal air of self-confidence. But her world came crashing down after she went into the witness box on day 26 – Tuesday, July 1. That was the day that Una Ni Raifeartaigh’’s cross- examination tore Collins to shreds. Yet, she continued to display confi- dence and mettle throughout the first bout of probing. However, when she returned to the court the following morning, for the remainder of the cross-examination, what she present- ed was a shadow of her former self. Gone was the confidence; replaced only by streaming tears. The bra- vado had evaporated and the worry emerged.

Remarkably, Collins remained pale-faced for the remaining days of the trial and she never again regained her composure as the dramatic finale took its course.

But Wednesday showed an amaz- ing turnaround. Gone was the strain; the smiles had returned. The com- manding Collins was back; the se- riousness of the situation she finds herself in apparently to the back of the mind.

Psychological reports have been carried out on her over the summer by Dr Brian Glanville, at her new abode in the prison. These will fo- cus on her outlook in the wake of her convictions.

Dr Glanville’s reports, along with character references, will be present- ed to Mr Justice Roderick Murphy as he hands down sentence on Novem- ber 3. Collins faces up to ten years in jail on each of the six charges on which she was convicted.

THE Progressive Democrats may just live to fight another day in Clare de- spite the announcement by the party top brass last month that it would be winding up all operations.

Clare party members attended a meeting of the western branch of the party in Limerick last week in which anger was expressed at the decision of the parliamentary section of the party to unilaterally announce that

the PDs would be disbanding.

‘We had more than 100 people at the meeting last week from Clare, Limerick and Tipperary and the vast majority of the people were very un- happy at how this whole matter was handled. There was a lot of members who felt very aggrieved at how the parliamentary party had handled the whole incident,’ said Tadhg Kearney, former national executive member of the PD’s.

“The room expressed very strong

views about how this whole situation was managed. To be honest there was a lot of anger among local represent- atives about how this situation could be allowed to happen.”

The meeting was attended by party leader Ciaran Cannon who faced questions about procedural errors in how the decision to wind down the part was announced.

“They have moved way beyond their remit in making this decision. Putting it bluntly, this was not their

decision to make,’ continued Mr Kearney. “We have more councillors right now than the Green Party and yet they have decided to call it a day. There was a lot of anger in the meet- ing, in fact that is an understatement. We had more than 100 committed members who said unanimously that they want the party to continue.

“A lot of people have made this party their home. For a lot of people out there the PDs is their political church. We don’t want to give this up

without a fight. At the moment is it unclear what is going to happen.

“There may be too much damage done for us to continue on as the PD, the decision may even be made to continue on but under a different name. We are just gong to have to wait and see.”

All members of the Progressive Democrats will meet on November 8 to vote on a motion put forward by the national executive recommend- ing that the party be wound up.