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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.

SOURCES close to the woman who dodged jail by saying that she had caught her mother in bed with her husband have confirmed that she is pregnant.

And those who know her say that Fiona Porter 1s in “a world of trouble” after accusing her mother, Bernadette

Garvey from Clarecastle of having an affair with husband, Hugo.

The 24-year-old’s solicitor, John Devane, told the Limerick District Court that when Porter was found behind the wheel and over the drink- drive limit on June 28 last, she had fled the house where she found her mother and husband in bed together.

Passing sentence on the Castlecon-

nel mother of three for this, a second drink-driving offence, Judge Aeneas McCarthy took the tale of the trau- matic discovery into account and suspended a four month jail term.

Mr Devane told the judge that his chent’s world had been “shattered” by the betrayal of the two people she trusted most.

But the plot thickened over the

weekend when grandmother, Berna- dette Garvey (47), lashed back at her daughter’s accusations, denying that she had ever had any liason with her son in law and saying in media re- ports that she doesn’t even like him.

She told reporters she has “no time” for Hugo. “He would not have been my choice as a son in law,” she said.

And it has been confirmed that Hugo Porter was actually in prison serving a six month sentence on the night it was claimed he bedded his mother-in-law.

The mother of three now says that the incident cited in court as being the trigger for her jumping in the car and driving off actually happened a week before that night but had “only hit her” then.

She has accused her solicitor of getting the story wrong in court, an accusation while he vehemently de- WN Corse

In media interviews, Porter said that she had instructed Devane that she discovered the alleged affair a week before the drink-driving offence but that she was still upset about it on that night. “He had the notes written down on my charge sheet, word for word. He had it all correct before- hand,” she said.

But Mr Devane rejected that claim. ““T have never told a lie on behalf of a client and I have always been honest, open and forthright to the courts in accordance with my instructions.”

STAFF and students at St. Clare’s schools Ennis can _ congratulate themselves on a job well done after the school was named among the winners in the AIB Better Ireland Programme.

St Clare’s will receive a funding boost of €10,000 after winning huge Support in a public text vote that de- cided the winners.

St Clare’s caters for children with all disabilities, physical, sensory and intellectual.

There are currently 57 children en-

rolled in the school supported by a highly dedicated staff.

Last year was one of the most sig- nificant in the history of St Clare’s with the opening, by Dr Willie Walsh, of a sensory garden.

The garden is specially designed to give children uninhibited access around the garden and allow them to discover something new at every nebaee

School principal Anne Rice said winning the award represented a tre- mendous achievement for the school.

She explained the money would be used to improve existing facilities,

including the sensory garden at the school.

St Clare’s is one of five award win- ners in Clare. Clare Haven house and Ennis CBS were the other nominees for the prize in Ennis.

Both the winning and runner-up groups will receive the proceeds from the text votes registered for their groups. Runner up projects will also receive an additional top-up do- nation from AIB, in recognition of the huge efforts they put in to their local campaigns.

The project with the second highest number of votes will receive a top-up

of €300, while the project with the third highest votes will receive a top- up of €200.

Michael Carr, AIB Regional Direc- tor, Clare and Limerick said:

“We would like to congratulate all the winning groups on their success in the public text vote and extend our thanks to all those who voted and helped out during this stage of the AIB Better Ireland Programme. We had a fantastic response to our call for votes, and this was due in no small way to the enthusiasm and en- ergy that all the groups put into cam- paigning at a local level.”

WHEN pupils and teachers at St Senan’s National School in Kilrush resume lessons in the autumn they will be in for a nice surprise.

The innovative and progressive work of the west Clare primary school has secured it €10,000 as the west Clare winners of the AIB Better Ireland Awards.

St Senan’s has a long and distin- guished history of providing spe- cially tailored education for children with learning and emotional disabili- Woe

As well as providing mainstream education for the children of the west Clare capital, the 24 teacher school also caters for the specific needs of children with autistic spectrum dis- order, severe and mild general learn- ing disabilities and diagnosed emo- tional disturbance.

Since the introduction of a ground- breaking programme that uses tactile and stimulatory equipment, the qual- ity of education as well as the quality of life of the children attending the school has improved significantly.

The project was chosen by the lo- cal community following a public text vote from May 6 to June 6, with 124,545 votes registered by the pub- lic in Munster. The school is now to receive €10,000 from the local AIB Bank branch.

It, along with the runner-ups will receive the proceeds from the text votes registered for their groups (af- ter operator charges and VAT). Run- ner-up projects will also receive an additional top-up donation from AIB in recognition of the huge efforts they put in to their local campaigns.

The project with the second highest number of votes will receive a top-up of €300, while the project with the

third highest votes will receive a top- up of €200.

The west Clare runner-ups included the Kilrush Family Resource Centre Dyslexia Project and the Clare Youth Service in Kilrush.

The Dyslexia Support Project was founded three years ago, a pilot project brought about as a result of collaboration between West Clare Dyslexia Support Group and Kilrush Family Resource Centre.

The project offers affordable tui- tion to dyslexic children and young people.

It provides all materials needed for each of the sessions and offers an in- dividual child-centred approach to learning. The project also provides support for parents in their quest for equal access to education for their child.

The Clare Youth Service provides Support and guidance to young peo-

ple in the west Clare capital.

Kilrush Youth Project has a number of sub projects including the Kiul- rush Garda Youth Diversion Project, the Kilrush Youth Project, Kilrush Youth Club, Kilrush Youth Café and the Good Neighbour Project.

The youth project is based around the John Paul Estate and caters for young people between the ages of 12 and 19.

Michael Carr, AIB Regional Direc- tor, Clare and Limerick said, “We would like to congratulate all the winning groups on their success in the public text vote and extend our thanks to all those who voted and helped out during this stage of the AIB Better Ireland Programme.

‘We had a fantastic response to our call for votes, and this was due in no small way to the enthusiasm and en- ergy that all the groups put into cam- paigning at a local level.”

THE appreciation of the GAA’s founder, Michael Cusack, whose leg- acy for so long had been air brushed by certain parts of the association, has never been as obvious. And par- ticularly so in Clare.

It comes as the latest innovation at the Michael Cusack brings with it a revolutionary multimedia experience illustrating his life and times.

Essentially, installation at the cen- tre uses unique, leading-edge com- puter controlled lighting, audio and visual technology to digitally resur- rect Cusack from the dead.

A unique mid-air holographic pro- jection, never seen before in Ireland, features a floating ghost-like image of Cusack who greets visitors to the 19th century Burren cottage.

The new multimedia “Cusack Ex- perience” was launched on Monday by Dr. Martin Mansergh, TD, Min- ister of State with responsibility for

the Office of Public Works and the Arts. This marks the latest phase in a €1.2 million project which has seen the restoration of the Cusack fam- ily cottage and the development of a new Visitor Centre.

Chairman of the Michael Cusack Centre Martin O’Loghlen said that while the superstructure of the Cot- tage was restored by November 2006, a long debate followed about what should be done with the interior of the building and how should it be presented to visitors.

“Although it is a 19th century cot- tage set in a superbly beautiful Bur- ren landscape, we came down in favour of a 21st century solution for a new generation. We enlisted the services of Multimedia Instructional Design from Waterford who have produced a hi-tech presentation that already has enthralled those who have seen it. They have created a bit of magic.”

In the kitchen of the old house, the

unique mid-air “holographic projec- tion” facilitates a face to face meet- ing with the ghost-like image of Cu- sack at his fireside. He tells what it was like to grow up in the Burren in the mid 19th century and how tough Tee bSe

Then he invites his audience to pick up some turf and take it to the “room behind the fire’ which is now pre- sented as a school classroom. Cusack remembers his life as a pupil of Car- ron National School, recounts how he became a teacher and eventually went on to found his own teaching academy.

The visitor is then invited to a third room which has been recreated as Hayes’ Commercial Hotel & Post- ing Establishment. The reconstruc- tion of the famous 1884 meeting in Thurles where the GAA was founded is followed by an old newsreel style projection retracing aspects of the organisation’s history from the be- ginning to the new Croke Park.

The idea to restore the cottage and develop a visitor centre was initiated by the Michael Cusack Develop- ment Company – a voluntary group – formed in November 2003 to restore the cottage, which had fallen into Otay ey-n0e

O’Loghlen said that with help of many great friends and benefactors, a quiet space has been created in a place of great beauty where visitors from home and abroad can reflect on the life and times of one of Ireland’s most influential figures.

‘Cusack was born in Carron in the bitter Famine year of 1847 and al- though he died over 100 years ago, we can still rejoice in his living leg- acy of hurling and football played with skill, excitement and passion in every part of Ireland,” he said.

And now, through innovation, it’s once more possible to see Cusack up close and personal. Who knows what the great man would have made of it re

A HIGH Court judge has granted a judicial review in a row concern- ing allegations that Clare Travellers’ representative Heather Rosen has obstructed the investigations of the Equality Tribunal.

To date, Clare County Council has spent almost €150,000 on legal fees in response to almost 1,000 com- plaints against the council made by travellers to the Equality Tribunal.

All complaints have been lodged on behalf of the Travellers by Ms Rosen and to date all have been thrown out because the travellers concerned have failed to turn up for the hearings.

Last year, Judge Harvey Kenny said that travellers could appeal the ruling by the Equality Tribunal in the Circuit Court.

However, in a bid to prevent the costs implied by a large amount of appeals to the court, the council

sought a judicial review of the deci- sion by Judge Kenny.

In his written judgement, Mr Jus- tice John MacMenamin cited a letter written by equality officer Ms Duffy to Ms Rosen in relation to her con- duct at the tribunal.

“She stated that Ms Rosen’s con- duct was “bordering on the abusive’,” noted the judge noted.

“She referred to letters ‘allegedly’ signed by a number of other com- plainants after the hearing on Oc- tober 16, 2006, requesting that their cases be heard by a different equality Oat ero ame

Mr Justice MacMenamim noted that Ms Duffy warned Ms Rosen that she considered her actions as obstructing the tribunal in its investigation and decision making process and that if such behaviour continued she would be asked to leave the hearings.

She referred Ms Rosen to a section of the Equal Status Act 2000, which

renders it a punishable offence for a person to obstruct or impede the di- rector or equality officer.

Ms Duffy warned that she had previously been “lenient” with Ms Rosen and her clients regarding non- attendance and lateness. Ms Rosen did not swear an affidavit in the pro- ceedings, although she was present in court for the hearing.

Mr Justice MacMenamin said: “I am unable on the evidence to make any finding as to whether or not com- plaints were pursued despite the con- trary wishes of certain other com- plainants. Such evidence as there is on this question is entirely hearsay.”

Mr Justice MacMenamin said that he would grant the judicial review and order that the matter of jurisdic- tion be remitted back to the Circuit Court judge to be reconsidered in ac- cordance with law.

Ms Rosen was not contactable yes- terday.