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THREE people have been charged with violent disorder arising out of an incident in Ennis last October.

Michael Molloy (9), of Gordon Drive, Ennis; John Molloy (22), of Clarehill, Clarecastle and a young person are accused of violent disor- der, at Cloughleigh, Ennis, on Octo- ber 11, 2007.

Ennis District Court was told on Friday that the charges arose from matters last October and the DPP’s directions had only come through last Thursday.

Garda Dominic Regan told Ennis District Court last Friday that he met Michael Molloy at the depar- ture lounge at Shannon Airport that morning.

His solicitor William Cahir applied for bail but Inspector John Galvin said, “I’d be reluctant to consent. The DPP has directed trial on indictment. He was leaving the jurisdiction.”

However Judge Joseph Mangan pointed out that the accused had not been charged when he was met at the by Olea

Gda Regan said he had made en-

quiries with the accused’s mother the previous day.

“I told her charges were waiting for him. She told me he was waiting to face the charges. Yet we found him at Shannon Airport this morning,” said Gda Regan.

Judge Mangan remanded him in custody for a week. “I’m satisfied on the evidence he sought to evade jus- tice. I’m satisfied if left at liberty he would not attend to face trial,” said the judge.

Inspector Galvin also objected to bail in the case of John Molloy, on a number of grounds, including the seriousness of the charge.

However Mr Cahir said there were no charges in relation to any recent incident and that the DPP has had six months to make a decision on the or Won

Bail was granted, with conditions AMATO oem

The young person was also granted bail to appear again in court next month.

CLARE County Council has refused planning permission for the coun- ty’s largest ever residential housing scheme although they approve of the plan in principle.

In March, Ennis-based construction firm, Crystal Partners lodged plans for a €200 million development that would ultimately deliver 700 new homes in the Gaurus area on the eastern outskirts of Ennis. The 471 residential units in the first phase of the development would have almost doubled the current population of the Doora parish to almost 3,000.

The council concluded that while it approved of housing development on the 71 acre site, such a move was pre- mature pending the construction of a new €75 million sewage treatment plan at Clareabbey.

The council does not expect the Clareabbey plant to come on stream for another four years and permission was also refused because of deficien- cies in the public water supply.

The Gaurus plan faced initial op- position from local residents and planning was refused on a number of other grounds apart from the lack of sewage and water supplies.

The council ruled that the mix of

apartment units in large blocks would be inconsistent with the existing char- acter and pattern of development in the area. The planners were also con- cerned about possible negative effects on the existing ecology, habitat value and hydrogeology of the site.

The council also stated that the pro- posed works to Gaurus Bridge, in- cluding the removal of both parapet stone walls and the building of foot- path and cycle paths on each side, would have a direct negative impact on the integrity and amenity of this structure and would be contrary to the Ennis and Environs Plan.

The council also ruled that the pro-

posal would present a serious traffic hazard.

The first phase of the Gaurus Village plan was valued at €125 million by the developers with the overall value of €200 million put on the plan.

Along with the 471 residential units, the planning application also provided for a creche, neighbour- hood centre with shopping facilities and 14 residential serviced sites.

The masterplan also provides for a 16-teacher school and an associated OeNenrteasatellen

SEVEN months into existence and Scou Mhainchin National School in Ennistymon has found the perfect way to bring all of it’s 145 students together. The amalgamation of the convent primary and CBS schools into one school has been marked with the creation of a special student garden.

The garden – which includes a veg- etable, insect and bird section – has been worked on by all pupils and teachers at the school over the last Kayes selon laetce

“We were looking for a whole school project that would involve all the students from baby infants right

up to sixth class. So we started off talking about planting a tree but fair- ly soon the that idea spiralled into the garden,’ said school principal Helen Sheridan.

‘Now we have an insect garden, a vegetable garden and a bird garden. It’s a work in progress – the garden will grow with the children and with the school.”

The garden has been constructed with the principles of organic farm- ing and sustainability at heart. The school has reused old twigs to make fencing, used moss to make special habitats for insects, used seaweed and sand to make fertiliser and prop- agated much of the plants that they are SOWIng.

“Tt like another classroom, it’s like an extension to the school. Every class goes out, does their work and then they do a lot of follow-up work in class. It’s really practical science” continued Ms. Sheridan.

‘The insect garden has native grass- es and flowers that attract insects and we have also built some ‘insect ho- tels’ using mosses and sticks to cre- ate somewhere where insects collect and we can observe them.

‘The site was extremely steep, you couldn’t actually walk on it because it was so steep. So the kids learned how to make wattle fencing and they made terraces for the vegetables to erow. They have also used seaweed in that area as a natural fertiliser. It’s

been great and the kids have done all the work.

“The junior infants have made feeders for the bird garden by get- ting pine cones and rubbing them in peanut butter. The older classes are weaving a willow tunnel which will be bird hive and we are planting na- tive trees like ash and birch to attract the birds.”

When the garden becomes more established, the school plans to har- vest the vegetables produced for oc- casional treats for the students.

THOUSANDS of homes and doz- ens of commercial properties over a wide area east of Ennis have been left without adequate emergency fire and ambulance cover following the closure of the Tulla Road for works being undertaken by the local au- thority and Iarnrod Eireann.

Clare County Council is carrying out work on the sewer infrastructure in the area of the railway bridge at Corrovorrin while Iarnr6d Eireann is undertaking a major upgrade of the railway bridge in advance of the opening of the Western Rail Corri- dor.

Fine Gael Councillor and former Limerick fire chief Johnny Flynn has said while the works are worthy and essential, the planning had not been well thought out. He made a lengthy submission to the council regarding the works and highlighted safety 1s- sues and the need for consideration to be given to emergency fire and am- bulance cover for that part of town.

“Public safety has to be the number one priority here. I had suggested that a fire appliance and ambulance be based on the eastern side of the bridge at Corrovorrin so they could quickly respond to emergencies in that part of town. I put this in my submission and didn’t even receive a

reply,” he said.

On Saturday afternoon, the emer- gency services were sent to a road traffic accident at Ballymacahill. The fire brigade had to take a seven kilometre detour by the Quin Road and Gauras while an ambulance had to take a similarly long detour out the Galway road. These diversions added between seven and 10 minutes to the response times. Fortunately, the accident was not serious and the emergency crews were not required.

“If that had been an incident where a car was on fire with persons trapped, whatever chance we would have had of saving them was gone out the win- dow with the detour we had to take. This is a tragedy waiting to happen and I can understand why people are not happy about it,” an emergency worker said.

According to Cllr Flynn, “There was no need for the road to be closed on Saturday. There was no work going on there and some provision should have been made for the emer- gency services to gain access.”

A council spokesman said _ the Irish Rail work involves replacing the bridge deck and widening it and this could not be carried out while maintaining traffic flow. The time it would take for a fire appliance or ambulance to get through would be longer than the round trip.”

LENGTHY court proceedings relat- ing to a feud involving three traveller families became heated amidst al- legations that a threat was made in Open court.

While another case was being heard in the district court late on Friday afternoon, a member of one of the families involved in the feud

shouted, ““He’s after threatening me that he’s going to break my neck.”

The claim was backed up by anoth- er member of his family, who sug- gested that a man at the other side of the courtroom had made gestures.

However none of the 12 gardai present in the courtroom at the time saw anything untoward.

Judge Joseph Mangan asked the man who was alleged to have made

the gesture why he was in court. He was told, “Just here to see how they are getting on.”

Judge Mangan replied, “You can read about it in the papers,’ and told him to leave.

‘I don’t want to see you here again during these cases unless you have a summons or a charge,” said the judge. Later, after bail was refused for three members of the Mongans

family, their solicitor Ted McCarthy said they were in fear of going to Limerick prison, “as they have re- ceived threats”.

Inspector John Galvin said _ that gardai would convey that message to the prison authorities.

Another accused, Patrick Mol- loy, was remanded in custody for a week to St Patrick’s Institution. His solicitor William Cahir said there

were fears of threats in Dublin. “I’ve got threats to say [ll be getting it,” Patrick Molloy told the court.

Inspector Galvin said that message would be communicated with the prison authorities.

Mr Cahir then pointed out, “The fears are very well founded and very genuine.” The judge later changed his ruling and remanded Mr Molloy to Limerick prison.

CLARE is playing host to two of six centres countrywide which have organised events for Biodiversity Mi (ered @

Seedsavers are hosting a Biodiver- sity open day which is being held in Scariff on Sunday, May 25.

Entry is free and there will be a full range of activities on the day, includ- ing demonstrations on blacksmithing and coppicing as well as activities for children and an organic café, where visitors can sample delicious organic food and wine and live music.

For those interested in seeing the results of Seedsavers’ years of graft- ing and gathering native and rare species, there will be guided walks in the orchard and garden.

There will be a display of rare sheep and poultry breeds and talks on a wide range of biodiversity-re- lated subjects.

There are free shuttle buses to the gardens all day as parking is very limited.

The Centre for Environmental Training and Living (CELT) are or- ganising free nature walks on May 20 and 22.

Evening walks are with Andrew St Ledger of CELT and Woodland League, a trained wood carver and Heritage Council ‘Heritage-in-

Schools’ teacher.

On Tuesday, May 20, participants should meet at 6.45pm at Tuam- graney Heritage Centre. The walk is in Raheen Ancient Oak Wood and

includes Brian Boru Oak said to be 1,000 years old.

On Thursday, participants should meet at 6.45pm, at the shop in Flag- mount, and the walk is in Cahermur-

phy Oak Wood Nature Reserve. ‘Notice Nature’ is the theme of this year’s Biodiversity Week and public and school events are being organ- ised at centres around the country.

AWARDS fever swept Ennistymon last week with both the CBS and Scoil Mhuire paying tribute to the students who excelled in the last Nose m Ko uITe

Up in the CBS the main award of Student of the Year was won jointly by Joseph Kelly and Darragh Con- neely while in the convent Kilfenora writer, Cora Harrison, presented awards to Head Girl Samantha Houl- than and to Student of the Year, Sha- ron Kierce

Achievement in sports was also high on the agenda in both award

ceremonies with Clare hurler Tony Griffin and Kerry football manager Pat O’Shea speaking and presenting awards at the CBS and Scoil Mhuire respectively.

O’Shea presented the sports person of the year award to second year N1- amh O’Dea, while the girls from the Muster title winning football team all received their medals.

Meanwhile, in the CBS Tony Grif- fin presented Cillian Malone with the Senior Sports person of the year and to Ronan Linnane for Junior Sports person.

Other sports awards were presented Damien Conway for his achievements

in surfing, Ciaran Devitt on making the National Junior Basketball panel and Sean McConigley and Michael McDonagh on being chosen for the Clare Minor Hurling panel and Clare Minor Football panel respectively.

Scoil Mhuire also presented awards to Deirdre Egan for getting 11 A’s in her Junior Cert, Jacqueline Nagle for winning the Law society essay com- petition and a bronze medal in the Science Olympics, Aisling Davies, Stella McGlennan, Rhian Rice all got awards for their contribution to the musical.

In the CBS mention was given to Declan O’Loughlin, who won the

national title in the Senior Academic section of The Bank of Ireland Na- tional Student Awards 2008.

Scoil Mhuire’s Marguerite O’ Dwyer Award for musical achievement was awarded to Grainne Curtin and Eimear Howley while principal, Se- osaimhan Ui Dhomhnallain, praised both students and teachers for a very successful year for the school.

Opening at the CBS awards, Vice Principal Mary Lyons highlighting the importance of acknowledging achievement and effort in all aspects of school life. She also thanked the teachers for their strong commitment throughout the school year.

PRESSURE is already mounting on the new team in the Department of Agriculture to hit the ground run- ning with a major decision on the fu- ture of agriculture on the island due to be made in the coming weeks.

The farming organisations have welcomed new Minister, Brendan Smith, along with new Junior Minis- ter, Clare TD Tony Killeen, but have urged them not to drop the ball, es- pecially on the burning issue of the WTO.

Indeed IFA President, Padraig Walshe, last week called for the Gov- ernment to use it’s veto to stop EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandel-

son from damaging Irish farming.

“Beef is thirty times more impor- tant than sugar beet, and supports the livelihoods of 100,000 farmers who would be un-viable as a result of a Mandelson deal, which would reduce cattle prices to €2/kg or 7Op/ Ib,” he said.

MAVCast delome (oy selAeue mnt MN eCoMoree) ete omy, the country could not afford the loss of thousands of jobs in ru- ral towns. 50,000 farmers would be un-viable as a result of handing over a large segment of the food chain to South American ranchers.”

ICSA president, Malcolm Thomp- son, also called on the Government to make a clear and unambiguous statement that it will veto a bad

WTO deal.

“There is no possibility of an ac- ceptable deal based on the current negotiating framework,” he said.

“While the Government has reiter- ated its intention to get a balanced deal, this is pie in the sky. There are no proposals on the table that offer anything to Irish farmers. On the other hand, there are no benefits either for the industrial or services sectors.”

Speaking at the Balmoral show last week, Minister Smith emphasised his commitment to the ongoing close co-operation between the Depart- ments of Agriculture and the Envi- ronment across a range of issues of mutual interest.

He also took the opportunity to re- State the Government’s commitment to seek a balanced outcome to the on- going WTO negotiations. Mr Smith said that the Irish Government’s consistent position was to seek a bal- anced outcome, which does not un- dermine Irish and European agricul- ture and delivers real benefits to the industrial and services sectors.

Minister Smith said that the Gov- ernment had voiced its concerns to the EU Commission at all levels and at every opportunity. This will continue and Minister Smith said he would be taking the matter up at the Agriculture Council.

FIVE people have appeared in court, charged in connection with incidents involving three Traveller families in Ennis last week.

They were charged arising out of alleged offences on three days last week and all five were remanded in custody, after gardai objected to ey nUe

Michael Maughan (23), of Stone Court, Ennis, is charged with dam- aging a woman’s car at Dun na hIn- ise, Ennis, last Wednesday, May 14.

Patrick Molloy (18), of Gordon Drive, Cloughleigh, Ennis, is facing five charges. He is accused of dam- aging five cars last week – one at Dun

na hInise and four at Shalee Drive, J SyayAbEse

Christopher Mongans (22) and Thomas Mongans (20) of Shalee Drive, Ennis, and Michael Mongans (27), of Bridge View, Roslevan, are accused of having a machete with a sharply pointed blade, at Sandfield Road, Ennis, last Thursday.

The court was told that in reply to charge after caution, Mr Maughan replied, “I’m an innocent man.”

Inspector John Galvin told the court that there were a number of de- fendants “all related to the same set of circumstances. [ll be opposing bail in relation to all of them.”

He said he was opposing bail on the erounds that “gardai are very fearful

of the outcome of this feud. We have people working all week on this.”

‘We fear people themselves or in- nocent parties will get seriously in- jured,” said Inspector Galvin.

Mr Maughan’s solicitor William Cahir said his client would abide by strict bail conditions, if granted bail. He said the case will be fully con- tested.

Bail was refused after a woman claimed in court that Mr Maughan got out of a car at Dun na hInse last Wednesday with a “bell hook and a plank of wood in his hand” and went over to her car. Mr Cahir told the court that was “a fabrication’, his cli- ent “wasn’t anywhere near the area’.

Mr Cahir, who also represented

Patrick Molloy, said all of the charg- es would be fully contested. “It will be a particularly strong defence,” he Sr nLG

Solicitor Ted McCarthy, who rep- resented the Mongans, said he was applying for bail for all three.

Garda Jason Lardner then told the court that an incident occurred on the Sandfield Road area of Ennis the previous day.

‘A number of people got out of a car and went to attack another per- son,” he said. He said the people got back into the car, which the gardai searched. We found pieces of wood in the car,’ said the garda. He said that Christopher, Thomas and Michael Mongans were in the car.

Inspector Galvin said that inves- tigations were ongoing and further charges were likely.

‘Public safety is the reason we are objecting to bail,” he said.

Mr McCarthy said the charges will be contested and said his clients would undertake to abide by any conditions the court would have in mind.

However, Judge Mangan refused bail. “I have had an opportunity to- day to get a feel for the atmosphere surrounding these matters. What I’ve observed is a cause for concern,” he said. He said he was refusing bail, based on the gravity of the charges, the strength of the evidence and the concerns expressed by the State.

A RECENT visit by ten students from St John Bosco Community College in Kildysart to visit their exchange part- ners from the Ferdinand-Von-Miller Realschule in Furstenfeldbruck near Munich in Southern Germany, from April 15 to 22, proved to be an out- SIPAVILONDARSMSLELCLOCoR ISR

The aim of the visit was primarily to improve the linguistic skills of the Irish pupils who have been study-

ing German for two to three years, but also to experience first hand the sights and culture of Bavaria.

The students were accompanied by their German teacher Josephine Ryan and the school principal Mar- ion Coughlan-Flynn.

For seven days the second and third year students lived with their Ger- man exchange families and attended classes at the school in Furstenfeld- bruck. They also took part in a va- riety of activities, which included a

day trip to the spectacular castles of Neuschwanstein and Linderhof built by King Ludwig II, and a tour of the pretty little village of Oberammer- gau, which has become famous for its passion plays.

The Irish students also found time to explore the city of Munich, re- nowned for its imposing town hall, olympic stadium, markets, festivals and its friendly provincial atmos- phere.

Additionally the famous Kaufinger

Strasse proved to be a popular spot in which to engage 1n some retail thera- py. A further outstanding item on the programme was an official reception in the Landesrat in Furstenbruck held by the mayor and council members in honour of the Irish students.

On returning to school in Kildysart the Irish students had three days to readjust to school life prior to the re- turn visit of the German students to Ireland.

SUN AeerhRodouoNecemlUh IBDN in St John Bosco Community Col- lege and thus were able to engage in an interesting discussion with their Irish counterparts on the merits and disadvantages of both educational systems. The Irish students found the early starting time of school in Germany, 7.50am, difficult to adjust to during their visit to Realschule. However, the Germans advocated in- troducing lpm as a finishing time for school in Kildysart in line with the GCC eeer ema AKoeee

During their visit, the Germans were introduced to the tourist sights of County Clare and enjoyed trips to the Cliffs of Moher visitor centre, the Ailwee Caves and engaged in a surfing lesson at Lahinch. A day trip to Bunratty Castle and Folkpark, as well as subsequent shopping sprees in Ennis, Kilrush and Limerick also proved popular. A farewell party, at- tended by the host families, was held in the school in Kildysart to mark the end of a successful exchange ven- ture, which both schools hope will go from strength to strength and will become an annual event in the school calendar.