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COMPETITION in the Kilrush retail trade is set to increase with plans lodged for an Aldi outlet in the OD e0k

Cracken Properties Ltd has lodged plans with Kilrush Town Council for a single storey discount foodstore, eight retail units, five office suites and parking spaces for 107 cars.

The proposed store is to be located on a 1.4 acre site on the Ennis Road. It is the second time that the Limer- ick-based company has applied for permission to construct a discount store at the location.

Last November, the council refused planning permission for another

building on the site because of inad- equate sight distance to the east and west of the entrance which would cause a traffic hazard and endanger public safety.

The council ruled that the proposal would materially contravene the Kilrush Development Plan which requires that such development will not be prejudicial to the amenities of the area.

In their latest submission to the town council, Cracken Properties say the reasons for refusal have been carefully reviewed and they have ful- ly addressed all issues and concerns raised. They also maintain that the development will form a natural and sustainable extension to the existing

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The company contends that the na- ture of the discount store – which will only provide for part of customer’s overall retail needs – will encourage them to use other stores in Kilrush to complete their shopping.

“This would create synergy be- tween the store and existing conven- 1ence outlets,’ the submission states.

“The site is currently vacant with a neglected appearance which does not contribute to the visual ameni- ties of the area. The proposal pro- vides an opportunity to enhance the streetscape along the Ennis Road and regenerate a derelict and under-used property.

“The inclusion of a discount food-

store in the scheme will improve competition and consumer choice by providing an additional convenience retail facility in the town.

“The retail policies of the Kilrush Town Development Plan acknowl- edge that further retail facilities are needed in the town to reduce the level of expenditure leakage to larger urban centres such as Ennis, Galway and Limerick and improve the retail offer in the town.

‘The proposed development is con- sistent with the proper planning and sustainable development of the area. It complies with the provisions of the retail planning guidelines and is con- sistent with national, regional and lo- cal planning policy.”

THE third annual Ennis Street Festi- val was launched yesterday Monday June 23 by Mayor of Ennis Coun- cillor Tommy Brennan. The festival takes place from July 5 to 6 in Ennis town centre and features a wide pro- gramme of events.

All events over the weekend are run on a completely voluntary basis and rely on support from businesses and individuals in Clare.

Mayor Brennan said, “I am de- lighted to have the opportunity to launch the festival for 2008. I have admired the unique initiatives which the festival has undertaken over the

past three years and look forward to seeing the many visitors which the festival attracts for the weekend. The committee would like to thank all the traders in Ennis for their support in facilitating the festival”.

Ana Bella Alvarez, founder of the festival, said, “I have been delighted by the reaction from the town and the various artists involved and I’m looking forward to making the festi- val bigger and better in the future.”

She added, “The committee are very grateful for the co-operation of the town’s traders, the Town Coun- cil, Chamber of Commerce and the county’s Arts Office in help making the festival such a success”.

O’Connell Street will be pedes- triansed on Saturday, July 6, in O’Connell Street and Lower Market Street Area between 12 to 4pm on Saturday.

On Sunday the Gig Rig will kick off at Market Street Carpark from 1.00pm and will feature perform- ances from Billy, Clare Youth Cen- tre and a Traditional Music session. Other events in Market Street will include the Ennis Farmers Market and a Vintage Automobile Exhibi- tion. Sunday will continue with music from Sambarrada, Dog and String and street comedy from the West Kerry Italian Fancini Brothers. The evening concludes with a variety

of music events with the highlight a cabaret competition hosted by Mr Toons and the Fanzini Brothers in the West County Hotel. The Latin music collective Armada Latina per- form later that evening in Brandon’s.

On Saturday Ennis plays host to the 2008 International pipe band com- petition in the Showground’s Ennis. The event will bring pipers from across Ireland and further afield in- cluding USA and Scotland.

If you would like to help with the event or require further information please contact www.ennisstreetfes- tival.ccom, email ennisstreetfestiv al@eircom.net or by phoning 065 6893966.

THE trial of a former Killaloe-based doctor, accused of obtaining more than €80,000 from six cancer pa- tients and their relatives by falsely pretending he could cure the cancer, has been adjourned after an insuffi- cient number of jurors was available to hear the case.

Paschal Carmody (60), of Bally- cuggaran, Killaloe, has pleaded not guilty to 25 charges of deception, between September 2001 and Octo- ber 2002.

It is alleged that he defrauded six cancer patients and their relatives of between €100 and €20,000. Ac- cording to the State, he falsely pre- tended the patients’ cancer would be cured by photodynamic therapy.

Senior counsel for the Prosecution Denis Vaughan-Buckley told Ennis Circuit Court, sitting in Kilrush, last Tuesday that the accused practiced at the East Clare Clinic in Killaloe where he treated six cancer patients all of whom subsequently died.

The six were: John James Gallagh- er, Kingswood Manor, Mullingar, County Westmeath; Master Conor O’Sullivan, Granite Lodge, Gorey, County Wexford; Josephine Dur- kan, of Beechgrove, Lucan, County Dublin; John Sheridan, of 21A Bur- gess Court, Kells, County Kilkenny; Mary O’Connor, from Mill Street, Cork, but who had lived in London and Karen Kurvink from Holland.

Mr Vaughan-Buckley told Judge Rory McCabe that there are 95 wit- nesses in the book of evidence in- cluding relatives of the deceased, medical witnesses from Ireland and the UK and several gardai.

The trial is expected to last for four weeks.

Prior to any jurors being sworn in, senior counsel for the Defence Pat Marrinan said that pre-trial publicity in the case could not be ignored.

“There were a number of pro- grammes broadcast on RTE televi- sion and also on radio programmes and some newspaper coverage in or about 2004/2005. Some of the wit- nesses involved in this case gave interviews,’ he said and asked the judge to give a special warning to the jury regarding this.

“If they have seen or heard any- thing that could influence their judg- ment, they should stand down. Also, he has been practicing as a medical doctor. He had a huge client base. Pa- tients and relatives of patients should also declare their interest. It’s impor- tant that people going to try the case aren’t contaminated by what they know about Dr Carmody,” said Mr Marrinan.

However, Mr Vaughan-Buckley pointed out that those programmes were broadcast a long time ago.

Mr Marrinan replied, “Somewhat of a local issue and a local man would remain in the memory longer than it would fade.”

Judge McCabe told the jury panel to let him know if they had seen or heard any of the publicity, as “‘it might not be proper for you to serve Oy Testo tt aan

Since the start of the year, just 10 victims of crime in the county have contacted the national Crime Vic- tims Helpline. This is less than one a fortnight and its co-ordinator is putting the low number down to lack of awareness.

The helpline is funded by the De- partment of Justice and is open to those directly affected by crime. The co-ordinator of the service said the figure for Clare is particularly low

when compared with other parts of the country.

“Mostly we would have more than that,’ said Maeve Ryan, “but it is really difficult to get everybody to know about it. If there was more awareness, there would be more call- ers. When somebody reports a crime, the guards send out a letter and our details are contained on that letter,” she said.

While the service answers calls relating to burglaries and break-ins, the main correspondence relates to more serious crime perpetrated on the individual.

“Our calls would be mostly to do with assaults and also domestic vio-

lence,’ she said.

Crime Victims Helpline gives call- ers various options after making the initial contact.

“We offer support and information to those who phone us. We act as a referral point, in that we put people in touch with specialist support, de- pending on what the caller wants,” she said.

“If a caller wants local support, we put them in touch with a local serv- ice. If a caller has questions about garda investigations or procedures, we can give them information on that and put him/her in contact with the court’s support service. For people not familiar with the justice system,

it is bewildering. They often feel traumatised and very vulnerable at that stage,” said Ms Ryan.

This is particularly relevant when callers wish to speak to someone face-to-face as Crime Victims Hel- pline is a phone service only.

She is encouraging victims of every type of crime to contact the helpline on 1850 211 407.

“If people have queries or are feel- ing the after-effects of dealing with crime, they should contact us. Crime creates turmoil and confusion for people. People can be very affected. Fear is a huge thing. It is important to talk about it and be reassured,’ she added.

THE current supply of parking spac- es in Ennis is adequate to meet the demands of the town, according to a new report.

The preliminary report carried out by Parking Consultants Ltd for Ennis Town Council found that of the 3,113 available parking spaces in Ennis on a Saturday, 315 were vacant. The fig- ures were determined from the total of vacant council on street parking spaces (35), council off-street park- ing (78), market spaces (42) and pri- vate car parks (160).

Liam Keilthy of Parking Consult- ants Ltd told the June meeting of Ennis Town Council that “the cur- rent supply appears adequate to meet demand on normal busy days”.

The report also outlines a number of recommendations designed to maximise the use of prime on-street parking spaces that could spell bad news for people working in the town CH NsKe

The report concludes that for busy days, special parking permit should only be allowed for residents, maxi- mum parking stay should be set at two hours and people working in the town centre should not be permitted in multi-story car parks.

“If on busy days we want to make the most of our assets, we need to release the space to shoppers,” said Mr Keilthy.

He added “I would advocate to you that if you want to manage the assets you have for the best possible benefit of customers, you need to get long

stay parkers out of the town centre.”

Mr. Keilthy said that on street parking arrangements should favour shoppers.

‘The rate payers have to be sensible about this. For a retailer it is black and white, do you want the customer in your shop or not?”

The report also recommends in- creasing parking charges to econom- ic levels.

Mr Keilthy said, “Parking is a cost of owning a car. If you look at the figures from the AA, a third of the typical cost of owning a car is taken up with parking.

‘In Ennis you have a situation in the town where one person is taking up a space for a long period and denying three to four shoppers who could be spending money in the town.”

However Cllr Frankie Neylon (Ind) warned, “We have a situation in En- nis where a lot of people working in the town centre. Can we really now look at putting an extra financial bur- den on young people?”

The survey also found that the number of private cars registered in Clare would top 100,000 by the year 2019.

Green Party councillor Donal O’Bearra was critical, saying the Council should instead focus on pe- destrianisation in the town.

“The car is so 20th century. This flies in the face of pedestriaisation. If we do this we are inviting cars into the town. You are supplying the de- mand. If we look exclusively at car parking spaces we are not living in the real world,” he said.

THE trial of Paschal Carmody, due to get underway last Thursday morning, had to be adjourned, after 46 mem- bers of the jury panel were excused from serving in the case, for various reasons.

33 members of the panel were ex-

cused by Judge Rory McCabe for pro- fessional or personal reasons when the jury was being sworn in on Tues- day morning. An additional five were challenged by the defence legal team, while the prosecution challenged two. Each side has the right to challenge seven members of the panel.

It took more than 30 minutes to

swear in 12 jurors and the case was due to get underway on Thursday morning. However, that morning, two of the female jurors who had been sworn in were excused after they pro- vided reasons to the court. Efforts were made to swear in another two people to replace them.

However, all of the 11 people re-

maining on the jury panel were ex- cused for various reasons and the case was adjourned to Ennis Circuit Court tomorrow (Wednesday), when a new jury panel will be available.

Among the reasons cited were knowledge of the case, holidays, med- ical, work or family reasons.

Judge McCabe expressed the view

that it will be difficult to assemble a

jury.

“Tt looks as if it’s going to be difficult to get a jury in this case,” he said.

However, he said the 10 jurors sworn in would be retained and he would en- deavour to swear another two jurors tomorrow and the trial will then get VNC MWE RA

RAHEEN Wood Steiner School is celebrating its 21st birthday this week and not least on its list of cel- ebrations will be a present from the Department of Education.

It has taken the school 21 years to get official recognition from the de- partment, but now the Raheen Wood school has achieved that goal.

Principal Pierce Sheils, said the ‘achievements over the last 21 years have been many in terms of the chil- dren, but the recognition from the Department of Education is an ac- knowledgement that Ireland is now a place where people are exercising

choice. We were to the forefront of that movement 21 years ago.”

The school started out with 27 chil- dren on the roll in the old Cooleen Bridge National School building. They celebrated 100 years of the building being home to primary education before growth in num- bers prompted a move to the present building in Raheen Wood. A sure sign that the school has come of age is the fact that a second generation of children, including Pierce’s own grandson, are now coming to Ra- heen Wood for their education.

Many familiar faces will be back next weekend for the twenty-first celebrations in Tuamgraney. Past pu-

pils, teachers, administrators, fami- lies and friends will come to attend the first official reunion since the school’s founding in 1986. The 100 children currently enrolled in the school will also join in the fun.

More than 400 children have been educated at Raheen Wood Steiner School during those 21 years, and more than half of their families still live in east Clare.

‘There is much excitement among these past pupils about the prospect of meeting up with fellow schoolmates and teachers, as well as commemo- rating their many accomplishments and current national school recogni- tion by the Department of Education

and Science,” said Susanne Sturton, PRO for the school.

Bonnie Boyle, past pupil and cur- rent parent of a Raheen Wood child said, “My time at the school is one of the happiest and richest of my life and I am so looking forward to meet- ing up with everyone again.”

“If you are a past pupil of the school and you have not received an invite, it simply means that the school does not have your current address. Eve- ry effort is being made to invite all past families so please contact me, Susanne Sturton on 061 640923 or email susanne@eastclareyoga.com to provide us with your current con- tact details,’ said Susanne.

THE former St Senan’s Church of Ireland in Kilrush was alive once again to the sound of music on Mon- day when it was officially opened as Teach Cheoil, Chill Rois by Senator Labhras O’Murchu.

The Ard Stiurthoir of Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann told those at the cermony, “our cultural assets should be an enriching part of the lives of Irish people everywhere, particularly our young people. They should be a living, highly visible and vibrant part of society. They should be eas- ily accessible to all and their unique social, cultural and economic ben- efits should be fully realised by com- munities and individuals throughout

the country and in Irish communities abroad. St Senan’s Church of Ireland, Kilrush now to be known as “Teach Cheoil Chill Rois’ will have a central role in this cultural vision.”

The local branch of comhaltas “Inis Cathaigh Chill Rois” provided musi- cal entertainment for those who at- tended the opening. Kilrush is now a major beneficiary under the new De- velopment Programme of Comhaltas Ceoltdiri Eireann, which is being funded by the Government.

In 2007, Kilrush Community De- velopment Ltd signed over the lease of St Senan’s Church of Ireland to Comhaltas Ceoltoiri Eireann.

Kilrush Community Development Ltd (KCDL) operated in Kilrush as a voluntary sector development or-

ganisation for 15 years.

One of the strategic projects under- taken by the group was the restora- tion of St Senan’s Church of Ireland, off Grace Street in Kilrush. The group acquired St Senan’s building from the representative church body of the Church of Ireland for the ben- efit of the community of Kilrush and west Clare. Restoration work was initially undertaken over a number of years through a FAS Community Youth Training Project, sponsored by KCDL.

The remainder of the works have now been completed by comhaltas including the restoration of the mag- nificent stain glass windows.

Teach Cheoil Chill Rois now serves as an outreach centre from Cois na

hAbhna, the Comhaltas Regional Resource Centre in Ennis.

According to Senator O Murchu, “While Comhaltas are conscious of respecting the integrity of this build- ing I feel it is equally important that the facility will be embraced by the local community of Kilrush and west Clare and that appropriate communi- ty groups will have access to it.”

The building has a capacity of 130 seated with a stage area and a small tea/coffee facility.

The board of Teach Cheoil Chill Rois are now planning a programme of events for Summer 2008, which will commence with Seisitin on AYA(ee DaTerXe Eh IVORY APAMO LoS KSTLUD OMRON Mm Batoae take place every Wednesday night through the summer months.

A COUNTY Clare man has been given a twelve year sentence for sexu- ally abusing his two daughters in a County Offaly townland.

The 36-year-old was convicted by a Dublin Circuit Criminal Court jury last November, on 10 charges of sexually assaulting them, on dates between September 2001 and De- cember 2004.

The jury returned the guilty ver-

dicts by an 11-1 majority and acquit- ted him on one count following the 14-day trial.

He had been sentenced at the Cen- tral Criminal Court in 1993 to ten years for aggravated sexual assault and burglary and served four years of that term. Judge Desmond Hogan noted his “high-risk of reoffending”’ and imposed a twelve years sentence on each of the ten counts in relation to his daughters, all to run concurrently. He suspended the final two years on

condition he receives sexual offend- ers treatment on release.

“These offences are extremely se- rious and were perpetrated on two young, innocent and vulnerable chil- dren, who were taken advantage of by a father who breached the protection and trust they were entitled to re- ceive, not only as children but as his children,’ said the judge last Friday.

He commended the girls’ mother for acting in “a proper and appropri- ate way in relation to these things”.

Defense counsel, Gerard Groarke BL had asked that sentencing be ad- journed to a later date so the man’s sisters could be in court to which Judge Hogan replied: “I am restrain- ing myself from showing severe irri- tation here.”

‘What difference is it going to make if his sisters are here or not over and above the anguish experienced by the victims?” he asked.

Judge Hogan also rejected a claim that the man was unable to meet with

probation officers because they had tried to visit someone else with the Same name in Wheatfield Prison.

He accepted the prison officers’ ac- count that the man had in fact refused to meet the Probation Service on the occasions when they visited him.

The trial was the first to have had video recorded interviews. It allowed the younger daughter to be inter- viewed informally in a playroom by a psychiatrist and for this to be then played back to the jury.

FULL steam ahead 1s the order from the Tuamgraney Development Asso- ciation as they prepare for the judges from the Pride of Place to visit. The group are currently working hard on their power-point presentation in ad- vance of the visit on July 11.

The first meeting of representatives of more than 10 community groups who will be involved in the Pride of Place presentation was held last Thursday. The group are delighted to have been selected to participate in the project.

The Pride of Place competition is run by Co-operation North and groups put their names forward to participate but not all are chosen.

‘We put our name in the hat and it was a great surprise and honour to be nominated,” said Mary Cassidy, Secretary of the Tuamgraney Devel- opment Association.

At the meeting were representa- tives of various community groups including the basketball and hurling clubs, the heritage group, FAS work- ers, Brigit’s Garden Creche, and Tua- mgraney and Raheen Wood national schools.

The group have been gathering the “before” photos, taken when the de- velopment association set up shop 12 years ago, and matching them against photos of Tuamgraney now as part of the presentation they will make to the judges.

There has been plenty of work go- ing on around the village and envi- rons as well.

After a joint fundraiser with Scar- iff last year in a “Who wants to be a Thousandaire?” night, money was raised for a refurbishment of the me- morial garden. The finishing touches were put to a water feature allowing

water flow under the bridge for the nba MOEN OSs

“We know what needs to be done and what we have to get ready and there’s a lot to do in a short space of time but we’re getting great support and we’ll be ready,” said Mary.