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THE HSE has confirmed that it is considering establishing a satellite kidney dialysis unit in Clare, accord- ing to junior minister Tony Killeen.

The Clare branch of the Irish Kid- ney Association has long since ar- gued for a life saving dialysis unit for the county.

The treasurer of the Clare branch, Peggy Eustace, said, “Ideally we would like to see a satellite unit in Ennis. At the moment our patients have to endure a long and difficult journey to Galway and Limerick

three times a week.”

According to Ms Eustace 85 people are currently receiving the life sav- ing haemodialysis treatment in an over stretched unit in the Mid West- ern Regional Hospital, Limerick.

This unit is catering for 20 people from Clare, 18 from Tipperary and 44 from Limerick city and county.

A further 16 patients must travel to the Wellstone clinic in Galway while work begins on a new satellite unit on the Dock Road in Limerick. Seven of these patients are from Clare.

Most recent research shows that in two years the need for dialysis in

the Midwest has increased by 41 per cent. This is significantly higher than other regions in the country making the case for a unit in Ennis all the

stronger. Four patients in the Midwest will require haemodialysis treatment

within the coming weeks, with many more in a pre-dialysis stage. Minister Killeen received confir- mation of the proposed development following a meeting this week with the Minister for Health and Children, Mary Harney. “A satellite dialysis centre is cur- rently being established in Limerick

to alleviate some of the pressure on the Dooradoyle facility. This will provide some relief for Clare patients in the short term. In the longer term, the HSE has said it would like to ex- plore the possibility of establishing a satellite unit at Ennis General Hos- pital.”

“The HSE stated that this option would be evaluated in light of the demand and throughput of patients. However, this is not likely to be de- veloped in the short-term. The HSE confirmed that there are currently 22 patients for Clare receiving haemo- dialysis treatment,” he said.

WHEN the West Clare Currach Club went in search of Maggie May, there wasn’t a Rod Stewart CD in sight.

The men and women of the Kilkee based umbrella club were instead in search of the old turf boat preserved in the mud near Blackweir Bridge, Lisdeen, Kilkee.

The club members set about ex- cavating the boat, believed to more than 100 years old, last week with an aim to learn more about the old ship.

The group has taken measurements and photographs of the boat in the

hope that they may some day have enough information to construct one of these long forgotten boats.

Turf boats were unique to the Shan- non estuary and as club member Dixie Collins explained, “they would have been no use around Loophead or the other side of the peninsula in north Clare.”

Carrying anything up to a 15-ton cargo, turf boats would have moved items up and down the estuary be- tween Limerick and Clare.

“These boats would bring lime- stone down from Askeaton and turf back up from west Clare. These

boats were unique for their purpose,’ he said.

While the boats move up and down the estuary on the tidal currents, the large sail also helped with naviga- ntOne

These boats developed to meet lo- cal needs and their ability to land on the Shannon mudflats enabled them to unload and load their cargo eas- ily. Floating off on the high tide us- ing tide and wind to carry them up or down river.

These boats were in constant use around the Shannon estuary over a hundred years ago. At one stage 20

of these boats worked out of Poul- nasherry alone.

The Maggie May has been in the sand for as long as anyone can re- member, but the West Clare Currach Club are hopping that some local people may have pictures or extra 1n- formation on the 35-foot boat.

Mr Collins has asked people to con- tact him or a member of the club or email info@westclarecurrach.com.

“We are doing this project so that the history of the boat doesn’t die. We are interested in the social his- tory and any folklore surrounding the boats too,” he said.

THE widow of a man who died from cancer despite having been treated by a Killaloe doctor told the court she was giving evidence “to prevent anyone else ever being introduced to this treatment”.

Bernadette Gallagher was in the witness box in the case against Pas- chal Carmody (60) of Ballycuggeran, Killaloe, who is charged with obtain- ing €80,172 from six cancer patients and their families by deception be- tween September 2001 and October

PAUL OPA

The patients were treated with pho- todynamic therapy (PDT) at The East Clinic, run by Dr Carmody and Dr Bill Porter.

Mrs Gallagher, from Mullingar, told the court that her husband JJ, died from bowel cancer on Septem- loys) ane a0 0a

She claimed that the doctor had said that not only would he hold the cancer at bay, but that he would “de- stroy it”.

Pat Marrinan, SC, for Carmody, put it to Mrs Gallagher that she was

“dragging Dr Carmody into every scenario” because Dr Porter had left the jurisdiction, leaving Dr Carmody as the only one who could be sued.

Mr Marrinan put it to her that Dr Carmody would give evidence deny- ing that he promised to cure or de- stroy her husband’s cancer.

Mrs Gallagher said that she had “nothing to lie about.

“IT am not enjoying this. My hus- band is dead and everyone else who had this treatment”.

She told the court in Ennis that she and her family were “ecstatic” when

they heard about the photodynamic therapy treatment. “I blame myself because I was standing outside it and I didn’t see this treatment was not suitable for JJ”.

Asked why they had not sought the opinion of other cancer experts treat- ing JJ, she said she “had not thought to do it”.

The court also heard evidence from Bernadette and JJ’s sons, who said they were in the room in the East Clinic when Dr Carmody had promised to “destroy” their father’s or ileoe

Tecwyn Gallagher said in evidence that he was in the room with the rest of his family and the two doc- tors when he was asked if he had any questions.

““T asked could they hold the cancer at bay – it’s the one question you want to ask. He said he would not only hold it at bay, he would destroy it.”

Mr Marrinan said his client would say he told the Gallaghers that the PDT treatment was still in its early stages and that it wasn’t a viable op- tion in JJ’s case but that he would re- view the matter after some months.

THE ‘plot’ was laced with deceit, callousness, dishonesty, hatred, ma- nipulation, arrogance and greed, ac- cording to the prosecution.

What appeared incredible and al- most laughable actually contained all of those things, along with a bit of love, said Junior Counsel for the prosecution Una Ni Raifeartaigh, in her closing speech to the jury last Thursday.

“Love degenerating itself and cor- rupting itself into hatred,’ she said.

“This may not be a tragedy about dead bodies. It is a ridiculous plot be- tween two people whose lives should

never have intersected.

“Ms Collins was pouring poison into those emails. This shameful plot has managed to destroy lives. That’s what is tragic,” she said.

She said that PJ Howard’s affection, loyalty and trust was only returned by Sharon Collins’ betrayal, decep- tion and public humiliation.

“Can he ever go back to Ennis?” she asked.

She said that the lives of Robert and Niall Howard were “to be snuffed out because they just got in the way of Ms Collins’ greed.”

Equally tragic, she said, were Ms Collins’ two sons, “who sit there day after day, looking crushed, angry

that these things be said about their mother. She has betrayed her own sons, made them unwitting allies in her own defence.”

She said the hiring was done in a “very cold, very calculated and very businesslike” manner and the detail of the methods discussed was “nau- seating.”

“There was a lot of haggling over the price of these three lives,” she said.

“Inside and outside the courtroom, it may have sounded like the plot of a film or sometimes a cheap thrill- er. One can be reminded of the old saying, “Truth can be stranger than fiction’. Treachery lies in honeyed

words,” said Ms Ni Raifeartaigh.

She said there were “almost farci- cal” events, plots and sub-plots.

“It’s been a very, very long trial, an extraordinary trial, with a lot of evidence over Six or seven weeks. Some of it has been very technical,’ she said.

She said that our true characters are revealed by how we behave in private, when no-one is watching.

“Ms Collins said to me, ‘You are out to get a conviction.’ That’s wrong. Perhaps she has been watch- ing too many American programmes or reading too many American thrill- ers,” she said.

She said that Sharon Collins had

uttered “dark mutterings about be- ing set up” and Counsel urged the jury to take her stories and examine them. “Do they stand up? There are a couple of different ones going on at the same time. Maria Marconi is a complete figment of Sharon Collins’ imagination,’ she said.

She said that while there were “dark hints’, Ms Collins “won’t even come out and accuse the obvious people.”

She concluded her 100-minute speech with two lines from the Ea- gles’ song ‘Lyin’ Eyes: “You can’t hide those lyin’ eyes, and your smile is a thin disguise” and then quoted from Shakespeare, “A man may smile and smile and be a villain.”

A VERDICT of accidental death has been returned in the case of a man who died following a road traffic ac- cident on N18 dual carriageway near Portdrine, last year.

The Coroner’s Court in Ennis heard last Wednesday how 69-year-old Michael O’Donoghue died after he was struck by a car across the road from Setright’s Tavern on November 27, 2007.

Mr O’Donoghue had just been dropped off by bus at the road and was on his way to visit his son. He was struck by a car travelling on the N18 towards Shannon.

Mr O’Donoghue was pronounced

dead at the scene by a doctor trav- elling in a passing ambulance. Mr O’Donoghue lived at 120 Hyde Road, Limerick.

Directing the jury, County Corner Isobel O’Dea said that in view of the medical evidence, the only appro- priate verdict was one of accidental death. The jury returned a verdict of accidental death.

Ms O’Dea_ described Mr O’Donoghue’s death as a “sad and tragic end to a Sunday evening out for a couple of pints”.

Mr O’Donoghue had been out with his friend Vincent Kinsella for a few drinks in Limerick before the acci- dent occurred.

In his deposition, Mr Kinsella told

the court that Michael was in “good form” on the night in question and that he departed the bus at Setraight’s at around 7.45pm.

Patrick O’Gorman, who had been in Setright’s Tavern, left the pub at 7.40pm and saw a car stopped in the fast lane of the Shannon side of the dual carriageway. He told the court that he “saw a young man on his mo- bile phone in a panicked state and a woman get out of the car. They start- ed shouting and screaming and said something about hitting a man.”

Mr O’Gorman alerted the emer- gency services and along with others in the pub, helped set up a safety pe- rimeter around the scene of the ac- cident.

Garda Batt Duggan who was called to the scene noted, “extensive dam- age to the front of the car, the wind- screen was smashed and the road was wet because it had rained earlier on in the evening”.

Mr Duggan interviewed the driver of the car and conducted a breatha- lyzer test, which she passed.

Dr Peter Faul told the court that the cause of death was shock due to sec- ondary injuries consistent with being involved in a road traffic accident.

Ms O’Dea expressed her sympa- thies to Mr O’Donoghue’s family and praised the efforts of those who helped at the scene. Inspector John Galvin also expressed his sympathies to the family of Mr O’Donoghue.

TRADERS in Parnell Street have warned of a return to the “bad old days” of derelict buildings if meas- ures aren’t taken to arrest decline in the area.

A delegation representing traders in the area told yesterday’s meeting of Ennis Town Council that declin- ing commercial activity and the loss of parking spaces has resulted in as many as 13 businesses closing in re- Lorna eeKeyels ety

Architechtural consultant Michael

Leahy said businesses were under pressure to survive.

‘This is a major problem for Parnell Street. There are a lot of vacant prop- erties in the area,’ said Mr Leahy.

‘We don’t have to go back too long, just ten years ago, to a time when it was all derelict buildings in Parnell Street. Businesses are finding it very difficult.”

Work on the upper section of the €26 million Ennis flood relief scheme has led to the loss of some 26 spaces in the Parnell Street car park.

Mr Leahy, speaking on behalf of

traders, said privately owned sites such as Western Garages could be used to alleviate the problem.

Fianna Fail councillor Tom Glynn confirmed that around 40 spaces would be available during the sum- mer months for staff working in Par- nell Street, providing a permit system was put in place.

Ennis Town Council has agreed to open 30 parking spaces in Waterpark House on Saturdays.

The council has also allowed per- mit holders in Parnell Street to utilise long-term parking spaces in other

parts of Ennis while work continues in Parnell Street.

Independent councillor Frankie Neylon and Councillor Glynn led calls for the temporary re-location of the taxi rank from Parnell Street to Bindon Street.

‘Taxis could be facilitated in Bind- on Street. I know the executive has some problems with that but those problems, I feel, could be over- come.”

Town clerk and acting town man- ager Eddie Power said re-location would be the wrong option.

AN Ennis man’s mission to climb some of Ireland’s highest peaks has raised over €7/7,000 for cancer re- search.

Jim McMahon from Ennis along with Chris Whythcombe, living in Tulla but originally from Kerry un- dertook the The reeks challenge in Kerry.

This challenge took place in mAT and consisted of climbing the 10 peaks in the McGillycuddy Reeks in County Kerry.

The purpose of the climb was to raise funds for The Friend’s of St.Luke’s Hospital for cancer cure,

control and care.

The climb raised €7,700 and the cheque for same was presented to a representative of St.Luke’s in Ennis on last Friday.

At the presentation the climbers thanked all those who contributed to the fund and paid special thanks to Jacko McMahon who organised two major fundraising events, a soc- cer match and a motor bike night. Thanks was expressed to Avenue United FC, Wheels within Wheels Motorbike project and Clare Adult Education Centre for assisting with these events.

The two me also helped organised a series of other events in prepartion

for the challenge such as the Wheels Within Wheels motorbike project.

The event included information on bike building, racing, grass track rac- ing and motorcross racing. Speakers at the event included Keith Meere, a local successful motorbike racer, Clinton Tully, chairman of the Shan- nonside Offroad Club, who spoke on motorcross and grasstrack, and Pas- cal Shanahan explained the process of bike building.

The Friends of St Luke’s Hospital was established to raise funds to en- hance the care, comfort and manage- ment of cancer patients at St Luke’s Hospital, Dublin. 27 years later the hospital has a vibrant network of

supports all over Ireland. St Lukes depend entirely on the goodwill of the people of Ireland who work tire- lessly to raise funds for the hospital. To date over €25million has been raised. The goals remain the same and that is to generate the funds to ensure that St Luke’s Hospital con- tinues to be a warm, friendly, com- fortable and well-equipped facility for patients to undergo treatment in achieving a cure for their cancer.

Mr McMahon said he was delight- ed to be able raise money for such a worthy cause. “It was tough alright, but worth it in the end. It was great to be able to help out St Lukes, which does fantastic work for people”.

THE jury in the trial in the case of Paschal Carmody has been told that the State’s case against the former doctor “is that he is some sort of con- man trying to con people to part with their money on the promise of a cure for cancer”.

Outlining the State case’s against his chent, counsel, Pat Marrinan SC, defending, said that Mr Carmody de- nied all of this.

“Paschal Carmody’s position in this, he would never promise to any- one a cure for cancer.”

Earlier the court heard a Garda wit-

ness read interview statements made by Dr Carmody. He told Det Gda Philip Ryan that photodynamic ther- apy (PDT) “predates Jesus by 7,000 years. It was used in Egypt.”

Asked if he had misled patients by promising them a cure, Carmody said that to “mislead any human being shows no sense of integrity. I did not mislead any patient in my 28 years of uninterrupted practice.”

Seven of the charges relate to the late John Sheridan of Kells, County Kilkenny. Carmody denies obtaining €16,406 through falsely pretending that he would be cured of cancer.

Last week, Mr Sheridan’s brother

in law, Martin Smith said that at a meeting with Mr Carmody and his colleague, Dr Bill Porter at the East Clinic, Killaloe on October 16, 2001 Mr Carmody briefly touched him by the elbow as the two left a consulta- tion room and told him “We’ll cure John’s cancer”.

A nurse manager with the HSE, Mr Smith said that Dr Porter and Mr Car- mody “were speaking off the same hymn sheet on the PDT treatment. They believed in the treatment. They said that they would cure him (John Sheridan) and despite all my scepti- cism, they were doctors, you invest trust in doctors and I believed them

too.” Aged 58, Mr Sheridan died of his cancer in November 2002.

Under cross-examination from Mr Marrinan, Mr Smith accepted that he did not include Mr Carmody’s statement that he would cure John of his cancer in his statement to gardai.

Mr Marrinan asked, “Do you accept that the case against Paschal Carmo- dy is that he promised a cure?”

Mr Smith responded, “Yes, I’m aware of that.’ Mr Marrinan said, “I must suggest to you that you’re ta1- loring your evidence to fit in with the overall story and picture presented against Paschal Carmody.”

Mr Smith said, “John was facing

death and this was his last hope and he believed that the treatment would cure him.”

He said that he first met with Mr Carmody at a consultation at the East Clinic on September 7. An ap- pointment for ablation treatment was already scheduled for October and Mr Smith said that Mr Carmody rec- ommended that they go for the Abla- tion treatment.

Mr Smith confirmed that at that meeting, Mr Carmody didn’t rec- ommend PDT treatment as the ma- chine he had at that time wouldn’t penetrate deep enough for the deep seated cancer in his liver.

CLARE will be hoping to secure their place in an All-Ireland Junior semi-final with a win against north- ern opposition on Sunday. Clare al- ready have a win under their belts and while it may not have been the prettiest of games, the result at the end of the day will be all that mat- ters. A second win on Sunday will see the girls secure qualification for the semi-final stages with an away game to Antrim remaining.

The squad has been battling with injuries recently and have not been helped with knocks picked up to Laura Linnane and Amy Colleran in the last seven days. Both are nurs- ing ankle injuries and are in a battle against time to be fit for the game on Sunday with both looking doubtful while Fiona Lafferty is definitely out. On the up side, Cathy Hally has returned to training after a lay off with hamstring problems and Aiveen O’Shea and Shona Enright will also be available for selection.

Management are also happy that the squad will be able to focus solely on this game for the weekend. It had been a cause of major concern for the management of the Junior and ul8 teams along with the county

board that up to eight girls who play U18 team were due to play Dublin

on both squads would be asked to play two games this weekend. The

in Dublin on Saturday with the girls

morning but fortunately Dublin who failed to field against Galway and

returning to face Down on Sunday Cork, have been pulled from the ul8

competition and so Clare are spared this inconvenience.

This is certainly good news as go- ing on last Wednesday evening’s per- formance for the U18 team, Steph- anie Moloney and Shona Enright who were not starters the last day against Offaly, will certainly be pushing for places on Sunday. Carina Rosein- grave scorer of 2-4 against Galway, Chloe Morey, Kate Lynch and Aine O’Brien are also in for inclusion. These players added in with captain Deirdre Murphy, Dee Corcoran who was player of the game the last day, Claire Commane, Aoife Ryan, Sha- ron McMahon, Denise Lynch and Siobhan Lafferty, Clare should be too strong for Down.

The girls rightly feel that they have a lot to prove after a poor performance against Offaly. In the corresponding fixture last year, Down also faced the Clare girls at home and while Down stayed with them for the first 20 min- utes, Clare were eventually able to pull away, recording a comfortable victory in the end. Down have al- ready been beaten by Antrim in this campaign, therefore Clare will be hoping that they will account for the visitors again on Sunday.

A TOTAL of 37 Clare primary schools took part in Greenwave 2008 — a mass experiment in which stu- dents were asked to study their envi- ronment and catalogue the first signs of spring.

The project seeks to track the arriv- al of spring across the country, rep- resented by a green wave which can be seen from outer space. Its aim 1s to encourage children to learn more about how their world works and fos- ter an interest in the applications of

science and technology to their own Tait

Almost 2,000 primary — school classes nationwide participated in the programme and their findings can be viewed on www.greenwave.ie. Pic- tures submitted by students are also available in the gallery section.

The students found that the north and northwest had unusually fine weather this spring; dry with lots of sun. The very north of the country — Malin Head — had more sunshine over the months of March, April and May than anywhere else in Ire-

land. Normally the sunniest areas are in the south. Primroses appeared a month earlier than last year, with the majority of sightings occurring in March.

Some other species appeared later than usual though with the horse chestnut and hawthorn appearing three weeks and two weeks later than usual respectively

Clare primary schools that par- ticipated in the experiment included Clohanbeg National School; Scoil Naisiunta Na Maighdine Mhuire; St Enda’s National School; St John

the Baptist National School; Scoil Naisiunta Baile Na Cailli; Scoil Naisiunta bunscoil na mbBraithre; Scoil Naisiinta Naomh Tola; Rock- mount Mixed National School; St Aidan’s National School; Scoil Naisiunta Cuan; Ennis Educate To- gether National School; Coolmeen National School; Scoil Naisitinta An Sraith; Holy Family Junior National School; Convent Of Mercy Nation- al School; St Mochulla’s National School; Liscannor National School; Querrin National School; Miltown Malbay Boy’s National School;

Scoil Naisiinta Mhuire; St Senan’s National School; Tubber National School; CBS National School; Scoil Naisiunta Mhuire; Scoil Naisiinta Iosef Naofa; Cahermurphy National School; Baltard National School; Holy Family Senior National School; St Senan’s National School; Doonaha National School; Gael Scoil Mhichil Chios6g; Sixmilebridge National School; Bansha National School; En- nistymon National School; Bodyke National School; Doora National School and Clonmoney National School.