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CALLS have been made for extra gardai for east Clare after a spate of crimes left cars wrecked and homes vandalised in recent days.

The various incidents – which ap- pear not to be connected – came to a head in the early hours of Friday morning when shots were fired at a house in Clonuchtere.

Last week residents in the Meelick area were shocked at a spate of as- saults and attacks which left three

cars damaged and the windows of two houses shattered.

Local councillor Cathal Crowe(FF) said there is an element of intimida- tion and people who had property damaged had not reported the matter to gardai.

“There have been assaults and threats around Clonlara and a number of very aggessive crimes. The shoot- ing incident doesn’t appear to have any connection but it takes things to a whole new level,’ he said.

Meanwhile, local Labour council-

lor, Pascal Fitzgerald said that people in the area are “shocked” by recent developments which have left prop- erty and vehicles badly damaged.

“This is a lovely area and people here don’t deserve to be in fear of this kind of behaviour,” he said.

Both councillors are calling for ex- tra policing after the attacks.

“We are in close proximity to a big city but this is a country area and we can’t allow a spread of the kind of crimes that are plaguing urban ar- eas,” Cllr Fitzgerald said.

THE speed demons of Ennis will re- unite in the town later this month to feN oo) ecko deColb ume lerbetommmlbeelO) OF

Members of the Wheels Within Wheels project will gather in Ennis on Saturday, October 18, to receive an award for their exploits in Mon- dello Park earlier this year.

Wheels Within Wheels has devel- oped over the years as a collabora- tive effort between local motorbike enthusiasts and organisations pro- moting adult education and lifelong learning.

Previous projects included restor- ing vintage motorbikes from scrap to highlight the work done by the Sim- ply Said, an annual publication of

writings by adult learners attending classes with Clare Adult Basic Edu- cation Service.

Other charities to have benefited from events organised by Wheels Within Wheels include St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin, Cahercalla Hospi- tal, Steps Youth club and the RNLI lifeboat service.

The group’s latest endeavor took them to the home of Irish motor rac- ing, Mondello Park on August 9, to take part in a fastest lap challenge against a contingent from the Rebel County, the Cork Tornadoes.

The Wheels Within Wheels team comprised of Jimmy Meere, Cathal Meere, Keith Meere, Jacko McMa- hon, Dr Sean Conlon, Adult Educa- tion Officer and representatives from

Clare VEC.

The bike used was a 1980s Java moped, restored to prefect working order by Jimmy, Dermot Kelleher and Michael Considine, and nick- named the Speed Demon.

It was ridden by Cathal Meere, ad- vised on the day by his brother Keith, the 2007 Southern Centre champion, and, at just 21 already regarded as one of the most talented performers on the circuit.

Heavy rainfall played havoc with preparations, but despite the less than ideal racing conditions, Cathal Meere raced around the track in a Mondello record book time of three minutes 18 seconds.

To mark the achievement, the team will be presented with a trophy, de-

signed by Jacko McMahon and local welder Gerry Hanrahan, at the Mon- dello Challenge Presentation night on October 18 at Mickey Kerin’s bar, Lifford Ennis.

The presentation will be made by Jim McMahon and Chris Withy- combe, two men who have been part of the Wheels Within Wheels project and who earlier this year climbed the ten peaks of the McGillycuddy Reeks, in the process raising €7,/00 for the Friend’s of St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin.

The action in Mickey’s kicks off at 9pm. There will be plenty of music and all are welcome to attend. For enquiries contact Jimmy Meere 086 0834753 or Jacko McMahon 086 0680759.

the response time to emergency call outs in Clare took more than one hour in 35 cases dur- ing the first four months of that year. The HSE then claimed that the loca- tion of the call in relation to the near- est available ambulance at the time of the call or the difficulty in finding a location due to incorrect directions or a wrong address could be behind WeoRelo EAE The availability of ambulances came to the fore again in the past

year when three west Clare babies were born on the side of the road or traumatic emergency circumstances at home.

The unavailability of an ambulance in Kilrush on the busy August Bank Holiday weekend again raised ques- tions about the recourses of the serv- ice.

That weekend – one of the busiest for the west of the county – the am- bulance service in Kilrush was with- drawn and was covered by Ennis 44 kilometres away.

During the weekend a _ young woman was killed in a car accident in Kilkee, as well as the usual call outs during the busy peak tourism ereu (elem

A HSE spokesperson yesterday evening confirmed to

FINE Gael in Ennis has vowed to remove what it has described as the Fianna Fail and independent strong- hold over Ennis Town Council.

As the members begin the prepara- tion process for the 2009 local elec- tions, the fighting talk has already ererca sue e

“There is lot of negativity out there for the Government and I am con- vinced we can do well,’ Fine Gael TD Pat Breen told delegates at the Ennis Town Council convention.

“It is a different situation to four years ago. 2009 will be a very differ- ent election and fought very different by the different parties. It is 1mpor- tant for all concerned to get out there

and knock on doors,” he added.

‘People will use this as a mid-term review of the Government and vote against the Government,” said the Clare TD.

Ennis Town Cllr Johnny Flynn (FG) also believed that the Fianna Fail and independent strong hold needed to be changed. “Local government should be the opposite to central govern-

ment to force central government to work more effectively,” he said.

Fine Gael member Earl Mulqueen said, “Next year the people of Ennis will get the first chance in five years to say how Ennis town has been run and how it will be run. We need to elect a councillor that will shout stop if the council proposes something that is to the detriment of the town

and the people of the town.”

The consensus of many at the top table was that four seats were not be- yond possibility following the party’s success two years ago.

Chairman Limerick County Coun- cillor Leo Walsh (FG) said he be- lieved that Fine Gael had a “great chance” of securing four of the nine seats in next year’s local election.

THE awards just keep on rolling in for Lisdoonvarna’s Burren Smoke- house, which last week claimed its third major national prize in as many weeks. The smokehouse brought back two category awards, as well as the overall Grand Prix award from the SHOP 2008 Final in Dublin last week. The undoubted star of the event was the smokehouse’s newest product, smoked salmon with honey, whiskey and fennel glaze.

This new recipe was conceived as a means of bringing an uniquely Irish flavour to the smoked salmon.

“We couldn’t believe it; to get one award was something else but then the second and third awards was just unbelievable. To get the award for best product in show was really spe- cial,” said Birgitta.

‘There was such huge competition out there and we feel very fortunate. It’s great recognition, not just myself but for the whole team in the Burren Smokehouse. It’s the whole package that was being judged – the original product, all that we do to in terms of flavouring as well as the final pres- entation.

‘We wanted to come up with some- thing which was uniquely Irish. Pre-

serving salmon with honey is an old Irish tradition – both in terms of pre- serving and improving the flavour. We wanted to create a really Irish product, and something that really had its own character and flavour. It worked really well, the judges really loved the salmon.”

The smokehouse has won a number of high profile awards in recent time, most notably two Gold Medals at this years Great Taste Awards.

“It is satisfying, we have been working on product range a lot this year, coming up with new ideas and widening the range more and more. This makes it more attractive for the

customers who come to our shop and for the shops that we stock,” contin- ued Birgitta.

‘They can now choose more differ- ent flavours than ever before. When you marinate the salmon it makes it even more palatable for people. It’s about giving people something dif- ferent. People are getting into new flavours and they like to widen their experiences more and more.”

The smokehouse won the award for the best Irish product and the over- all award for the best item on shop at SHOP 2008. The SHOP awards are organised by a collective of some of Ireland largest food retailers.

THE national surgical oncology ad- visor has criticised the media for its coverage of the breast cancer misdi- agnosis in Ennis General Hospital. Professor Arnold Hill, consultant surgeon at Beaumont Hospital, told the annual meeting of the Irish Hos- pital Consultants’ Association — that an excessive media focus on a small number of cases made for “a very difficult environment in which to

practice cancer care.”

The cancer specialist revealed that the best cancer centres had a misdi- agnosis rate of 1.6 per cent. Although the mammogram unit at Ennis Hos- pital is now closed it examined 450 women as recently as 2006.

Other women, like the late Ann Mo- riarty, would have undergone x-rays and women like the late Edel Kelly would have undergone biopsies.

According to Professor Hill, even with a perfect cancer diagnosis sys-

tem approximately 25 women with breast cancer would be misdiagnosed every year in Ireland.

Meanwhile, concerns have also been raised that the HSE will use the findings from the HIQA investiga- tion at Ennis, as ammunition to close the hospital.

“My fear is that the HSE may use this report to downgrade the hospi- tal and implement Hanley,” said Fine Gael TD Pat Breen.

Ennis Hospital Development Com-

mittee chairman Ciaran O’Dea was concerned that the report’s terms of reference made presumptions about the hospital.

“It has not been framed to reassure the people of Clare that the recom- mendations issuing from the review will not further erode the services provided by the Mid Western Hospi- tal in Ennis.

‘In the terms of reference there is an apparent assumption that the level of resourcing 1s adequate.

“We would like them to comment on the level of funding and resoursc- ing in the hospital over the past two decades,” he said.

“We also hope the review team would not be narrow in their focus and take into account historical cir- cumstances and the role of manage- ment and government in creation of the current hospital structures.

“We call on them to use the ability to expand the investigation and where required they will investigate.”

MORE than four and a half million euro has been lost to the county’s coffers during the first eight months of this year as planning applications plummet.

From January to August 2007 Clare County Council was paid almost €6 million in development

contributions. This year develop- ment contributions

paid to the local plan- ning authority during the same period fell by 78 per cent to almost €1.3 million.

These Development Contributions of Sec- tion 48 levies are paid on all planning applica- tions granted – from one-off houses to major developments.

Planning applications in the county have decreased by 42 per cent from AF Welet-D mya KO a Uelcab nc mA OD ECMA (or)

Clare County Council has claimed, however, that as development contri- bution income is applied to capital projects it has no impact on revenue.

This is a point challenged by Clare County Councillor PJ Kelly (FF).

The west Clare councillor who has been critical of planning issues in Clare, said he believes that the re- duction in the planning applications is not solely as a result of the reces-

sion.

“Many of the main developments have quit the county because of the continuous difficulties with plan- ning,” he said.

“Difficulties with rural planning have caused many to throw in the towel and just give up,” he main- tained.

“The absence of any industrial policy which is replaced by a rural sterilisation programme has left us with a zero rate of lao (oy oyentoy imum temp alon- it areas,’ he said.

In response to a mo- tion by Cllr Kelly to be tabled at Monday’s adjourned meeting of the September meet-

ing, the council also pointed out that it is employing less staff in the plan- ning section due to the reduction in activity. Five planning staff members have not been replaced this year.

“While the number of applications and staff has decreased this year it is not intended that the level (of service) would be reduced,” the reply said.

Cllr Kelly remained critical of the sector however. “One would expect with a decrease in work load we would have an increase in Service. This has not happened,” he said.

FINE Gael in Clare proposes to dou- ble its membership of the county’s two urban councils.

The party met on Friday night in Ennis and in Kilrush last night to nominate its candidates for the re- spective town councils in the up coming local election.

It has nominated four candidates for Ennis Town Council including the two outgoing councillors Mary Coote-Ryan and Johnny Flynn.

No stranger to local elections – Tony Mulqueen’s name will also be on the ballot paper, as will new kid on the block Rodger Fox.

Nominations for the selection proc- ess closed on September 19 at 6pm and on Friday night all four got the seal of approval at the convention meeting chaired by Limerick Coun- ty Councillor and former director of elections in Limerick East Leo Walsh.

Described as a woman of “integrity and honour” Mary Coote-Ryan was the first to be nominated by Michael

Carey and seconded by Suzanne Mangan.

In her acceptance speech the only woman to have served as mayor of Ennis maintained that her Fine Gael pedigree could be traced back to the blue shirts.

She told delegates that she was still passionate about politics and her door is always open to anyone who wishes to call.

The other three nominees were all part of the remaining proposing 1D KOLen Ice

Sitting councillor Johnny Flynn was proposed by Tony Mulqueen who described him as a family man with great knowledge on health is- sues. The former chief of the Limer- ick Fire Service had fire in his belly as he spoke of how he believes that public services should be audited externally and he had serious issues with how the town, county and coun- try has been run.

“T think the health services and (the political element of) the local authorities are not being managed properly,’ said Cllr Flynn.

His nomination was seconded by his other running mate Rodger Fox who he in turn nominated as a candi- date. Praising Mr Fox as an extraor- dinary administrator, Cllr Flynn said he also worked hard volunteering for different groups. Best known as the chairman of the Ennis Community Games last year, Rodger is a native of

Barrack Street Ennis and worked in two well known local businesses – Bredin’s and Shannahan’s. He was seconded by Earl Mulqueen, who explained that as Rodger had chil- dren in both primary and secondary school he was more than aware of the issue of class sizes and school ac- commodation in the town.

Accepting the nomination the new candidate said he was well aware of issues surrounding the elderly, edu- cation, water and the hospital.

Earl Mulqueen nominated his brother Tony as the fourth candidate. He told delegates that Tony lived in the town all his life and was aware of its difficulties.

Seconding the nomination Johnny Flynn described Tony as a man of “integrity and honour.” In accepting the nominee Tony outlined his ambi- tion for the town council.

‘“W hat we hope to achieve next year is to double the membership of the Fine Gael on Ennis Town Council.”

Fine Gael in Kilrush will be hop- ing to do the same as last night the party nominated outgoing councillor businesswoman Marian McMahon Jones and newcomer farmer Liam Williams.

All candidates will now have to be ratified by head office before going on the ballot paper on June next.

COME to sing or come to listen – the Kilnaboy X-PO is pioneering a new venture that will brighten up Monday evenings for local music lovers this winter.

The singers club is the first in a host of new projects started at the former post office since it was taken over by the local community last month.

Young and old have been making their way to the revamped post office each Monday for an evening of mu- sic, tea and catching up with friends and neighbours.

“We started off by saying it was a singers and players club but we soon found out that there was a lot of peo- ple who wanted to come and listen. So we have changed it into a singers, players and listeners club,” said Phil Gaston of the X-PO.

“We have a real wide range of age groups. We have some older people who have been involved in choirs down the years but we also have a few younger people and a young singer-songwriter from Ennistymon who is playing a lot of newer music.

“Everyone plays or sings what they like. It not about the quality of what

is sang but more so about the partici- pation.

“We have people who have come who say that they can’t sing but after an hour they have decided that they have no problem singing and have joined in with the rest.”

Along with the singers club, the X- PO 1s also hosting a range of commu- nity events including set dancing, an Irish conversation evening, mapping and history group, the local Macra, music teaching, a coffee morning and drawing classes.

The idea of the project is to protect the community interaction and fel-

lowship that existed in the building when it was a post office.

“We had a few of the old school songs there last week and all of the sudden there were all of these memo- ries about school days years ago and great banter back and forth,’ contin- ued Phil.

“Music is a great medium for trig- gering memories. If someone asks you about a song they almost always have a story to go with it. It’s a great way of getting chat going with a group.”

For more information on the X-PO e-mail xpo.kilnaboy@ gmail.com.

THE families of two mothers who died from breast cancer having be- ing misdiagnoised at Ennis General Hospital, have welcomed the terms of reference of HIQA investigation into the quality and safety of patient care at the hospital.

The health service watchdog was ordered to carry out the investiga- tion after Ann Moriarty (53) and Edel Kelly (26) died earlier this year having been incorrectly given the all clear from breast cancer.

Ms Moriaty’s husband Karl Henry said he initally had a few concerns relating to the terms of reference of the investiagtion but following a tel- ephone conversation with the Direc- tor of Health Services with HIQA he was Satisfied.

He wanted to know “what was go- ing on at Ennis A and E” and why vital blood tests from his late wife

remained in a file unread.

Mr Henry, however, is not satis- fied that a crucial missing x-ray at St James’s Hospital, Dublin, is not be-

ing investigated.

“T am sure that HIQA will under- take a thorough and robust investi- gation and we will be provided with

recommendations that will lead to a better quality of care and improved patient safety at Ennis hospital. I ex- pect that many of the lessons learnt will also be applicable to other hospi- tals across the country,” he said. “The terms of reference don’t make specific mention of my wife, Ann Moriarty. However, I know I will have the opportunity to input into the investigation and I expect that the final report will provide me with the answers to the many questions I have relating to her care, and how my complaints were dealt with within the HSE at local and corporate level. “The issues surrounding St James’ Hospital are excluded from this 1in- vestigation and, in my view, remain outstanding and unresolved. I am considering how best to pursue these very serious matters,” he added. Speaking through Kilrush solicitor Eugene O’Kelly, the late Edel Kel- ly’s family said they were generally

pleased with the review.

‘They are pleased that the terms of reference take into account the expe- rience Edel had. They are not con- cerned that it does not specifically refer to them,’ said Mr O’ Kelly.

Chief Executive of the Health In- formation and Quality Authority, Dr Tracey Cooper, said, “the investiga- tion team will review the arrange- ments for providing safe, quality clinical care which will include how the hospital focuses on the needs of patients, the management and leader- ship at the hospital. The investigation team will also review the systems and processes that support safety and quality and the communication be- tween staff and patients, particularly when patient safety incidents occur and when complaints are made.”