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CLARE County Council is to be asked by Kerry County Council to support a motion to have rural rep- resentatives appointed to An Bord Pleanala, as proposed by Kilbaha- based Irish Rural Dwellers Associa- intone

The IRDA has posted a booklet on this topic to every elected member in Ireland and at this month’s meet- ing of the Kerry local authority, Cllr Jackie Healy-Rae (Ind) called for the association to be supported.

The IRDA has also called for a sworn enquiry into how it is that farming and rural issues are official- ly represented on the board by two senior planning inspectors. “These inspectors were employees of the board up to the minute they were appointed on the board by Minister Noel Dempsey on January 1, 2002. They will be there until 2012 with a possible reappointment until 2017; at least 10 years and possibly 15, of rural representation on the board, by planners. These are the bare facts and from a rural perspective they are shocking enough in themselves but what is even more disturbing are the step-by-step details of the ap- pointment process as explained by the IRDA in their booklet,’ said Clir

Healy-Rae.

The IRDA maintains that An Bord Pleanala is inextricably linked to the Department of the Environment, and as the department controls the ap- pointment process as well as all other aspects of planning, the board can- not be considered truly independent, is not a balanced group with diverse backgrounds and is, in the view of the IRDA, undemocratic in its con- stitution.

‘These are very serious statements, but they have never been challenged since they were published. They paint a picture of an appeals process which is functioning in the exact opposite way to what was intended when it was established by the Oireachtas in 1977,’ said the councillor.

“An Bord Pleanala doesn’t live on a different planet. Councillors who spend up to 80 and 90 per cent of their time on planning matters must have total confidence that decisions appealed to the board are going to a completely independent body, whose members are a balanced group with diverse backgrounds and a_ body which is democratic in its constitu- tion – not the other way around.”

Kerry County Council also agreed to write to all of the other council’s in the country seeking support for the IRDA proposal.

“ANOTHER one bites the dust.” One of Queen’s signature tunes that could easily describe the significant number of teams who have fallen on Cratloe’s powerful sword. Despite the hurling season coming to an eventual end last weekend in Waterford the footballers have at least one more big day out after this stirring victory. “Tt’s absolutely wonderful,’ ex- claimed jubilant selector Ger Lawlor afterwards. “We showed great char- acter and heart out there. We fought hard and gave them nothing easy. I’m so pleased with this fantastic result.” And who would blame him? Crat- loe’s achievement of taking another scalp along their road to success can’t be underestimated. They were the better side overall and only for a brief period of wind aided domi-

nance for Rovers this game would have been long wrapped up before the final whistle.

“The start of the second-half saw them take some control and they started getting on top,’ admitted Lawlor, “however we responded per- fectly. We didn’t lie down and then Padraig Chaplin came on and took his goal well. Then a few minutes later and McGrath got our third. They say goals win matches and they certainly helped us today. They re- ally killed off their challenge in the end.”

His post match analysis was very accurate indeed. Chaplin’s and Mc- Grath’s goals in the final quarter se- cured progression into next week’s Munster final against Kerry champi- ons Spa. What an amazing bonus for the Munster Club of the Year. They were so close in reaching a similar

position with the hurlers but now the footballers have dealt with this sem1- final hurdle and only one more game stands in the way of yet another his- toric final success for Cratloe.

“What a great year we have had? And now we have a Munster final to look forward to next week. Hope- fully our much congested year will be rewarded then. It’s not going to be anyway easy of course. I don’t think a bad football team has ever come out of Kerry and I don’t next weekend we will come up against the first. With a bit of luck we will be cel- ebrating again this time next Sunday as well.”

That would definitely be the icing on the cake. For their efforts alone this year in both codes they deserve another piece of silverware. It could happen, because this Cratloe team doesn’t seem to entertain defeat.

Dont let it go all to waste

CLARE GAA chairman Miuichael

O’Neill has resolved to have the 1m-

passe between county senior hurlers

and their manager Mike McNamara

sorted out by next week at the latest. Speaking to

THE CASE OF a 29-year-old man who admitted sexually assaulting four of his cousins over 10 years ago will not be finalised for a year, as he continues to receive treatment.

The accused, who cannot be named in order to protect the identity of the victims, pleaded guilty to 14 charges at Ennis District Court.

He admitted eight charges in rela- tion to one cousin; three charges in relation to another; two charges in relation to another and one charge in relation to another cousin.

The incidents occurred between 1995 and 1996 when the girls were aged between eight and 10.

The accused was a teenager at the nb eelon

The case initially came before the district court a year ago and was ad- journed to last Friday.

Counsel for the accused, Mark N1- cholas, BL, told Ennis District Court on Friday, that his client had pleaded ean iA

He said that a preliminary report from the Grenada Institute had been presented in court a year ago and an updated report was now available.

He said that while there was no

minimising what had happened, the report was “very positive.”

He said there had not been any in- cidents prior to or after the offences before the court.

Mr Nicholas told Judge Leo Malone that the issue of compensation had been addressed and €26,000 had been accumulated.

“The real tragedy in this 1s that it has divided a close family and that 1s irreparable,” he said.

Judge Malone said he sympathised with the victims and said he had read the reports from the Grenada Insti- tute and the probation service.

He said it was in the accused’s fa- vour that he was very young when the offences were committed and said it appeared that he 1s addressing his difficulties.

‘Because of the content of the Gre- nada Institute report, I am not going to finalise the case today. I need to be satisfied he has carried out all the treatment available to him and that he is not a danger to others,” said the judge.

He adjourned the case for a year and ordered that the accused con- tinue to attend the Grenada Institute and remain under the supervision of the probation service.

THE appointment of Micheal Mc- Dermott as new Clare senior football manager might just be a rallying call for an upsurge in the fortunes of the flagship football team in the county — that was the message delivered to the county board meeting on Tuesday by chairman Michael O’Neill as he con- firmed that the Cavan man has been given a one-year term in the post.

“It’s an indication of the interest we had in the post that there were four in the running,’ said O’Neill “and it went right down to the wire. We made a mighty trawl. We had Aidan Moloney, Michael Lillis, Micheal McDermott and Ger Lawlor. Aidan informed me last Friday he was pull- ing out of the contest. Micheal Mc- Dermott will manage the team with Liam McHale and James Foran, while one other person will be added to the team.

“T would appeal to football people. Every effort was made with this ap- pointment and we want anyone who has any ambitions to wear the coun- ty jersey to come forward,” added O’Neill.

Meanwhile, Munster Council del- egate PJ McGuane, who was part of

the committee that selected the new manager, said Clare must aim high in 2010. “The carrot is there,’ said McGuane, “because we are in Divi- sion 4 with Waterford and Limerick, while we play Waterford in the first round of the championship and if we beat them we have Limerick in the semi-final.

“The league will be a great barom- eter of our progress. Our first game

is against Wicklow. That will be a barometer. I would ask everyone to throw their weight behind the team for the next year.

“We are a Small county with a small pick but there’s an old saying that if you don’t aim high, you won’t strike high,’ added McGuane.

THE closure of Orchard Lodge and Gort Glass has nothing to do with pa- tient care, and everything to do with a nursing Crisis.

That is according to the Psychiatric Nurses Association representative Denis Meehan who maintains that nursing staff predicted this crisis six months ago.

“We saw this coming last May and brought it to the Labour Relation Commission,’ said Mr Meehan.

There are currently vacancies for 37 nursing staff in the Clare mental health service, he said.

‘A further five nurses are to leave the service before the end of the year.”

‘The service 1s run as much as pos- sible on overtime,’ he said.

Mr Meehan said that even with the closure of the rehab units in Ennis and Kilrush there will still be a shortage of nursing staff in the Clare mental health services.

He maintains that the policy being enacted by the HSE is not going to

solve the problem, but merely move it around.

Mr Meehan also refuted comments that the closure of the two units was part of the process of community liv- ing.

“There is no outreach team in west Clare or talks of one,” he said.

This week the HSE maintains that the review of mental health services in Clare is taking place against a back- ground of a 21.3 per cent decline in the number of nurses working in the Clare Mental Health services between

January 2008 and the current national moratorium on recruitment.

The closures of the two units – Or- chard Lodge and Gort Glas – are also part of “a need to respond to the com- plex requirements of specialized serv- ices to patients in accordance with best practice in modern health care”’.

“Our engagement with the staff as- sociations is further informed by a requirement to submit a management proposal to the Labour Relations Commission (LRC). The referral to the LRC was made by the staff associ-

ations following what they described as managements failure to recruit psy- chiatric nurses for the Clare Mental Health Services.

“At a meeting of the LRC held on Thursday September 24, 2009 under the chairmanship of Mr John Agnew, all parties agreed that management would come up with a proposal to ensure the continuing safe delivery of services in the context of existing resource constraints. The next LRC is scheduled for November 23, 2009,’ the HSE said.

A TULLA family, who bought their house in the belief that they were connected to the main sewer, have had to all but abandon their home because of the vile mess and stink in the back garden.

Stephen McDermott’s wife, seven- week-old baby and his two-year-old son have left the family home in Tulla village after their yard became swamped in raw sewage.

“We were told when we bought the house that we were connected. This started with a small blockage and we discovered then that we weren’t connected at all. Since then, the stuff has started coming up in the garden, the smell is all over the house and there’s no way the children can live here,” said Stephen.

Stephen contacted Clare County Council about being connected and, after a meeting with engineers, the council agreed to waive the connec- tion fee, but told him he would have to organise and pay for the digging up of the path and the road and their subsequent repair.

He believes this is a major prob- lem. “I agree that I should have to pay for the work that needs to be done in my own yard but to pay for the roadworks is going to cost much more than we can afford. I think it’s

ridiculous in this day and age – sani- tation is a basic human right. If this was somewhere in the third world, there would be a charity fundraising to put in a Sewerage system. Instead, we’re here with raw sewage in the garden and more scented candles go- ing than the Vatican – and the stink is still unbearable.”

But Clare County Council staff say that what the Tulla resident is being asked to do is no more than any householder would be asked if they wanted connection to the main sewer.

“The council will do the connection but the householder has to arrange for the digging and the other work. That’s normal practice,’ a spokes- man for the council’s engineering department said.

The spokesman said that the au- thority had taken the “unusual” step of waiving the connection fee of €1,135.

“We felt this was a unique situa- tion,’ the spokesman said.

But the local authority cannot take on the expenses involved with the connection, the spokesman said. “We’ll work with Mr McDermott and make the connection but he has to do the work – it is a matter of a couple of hours to do it. Any householder who wants connection to the services has to pay to do those works.”

will headline this year’s fes- tival alongside the likes of Joseph O’Connor, Tim Pat Coogan and Paul

Howard (aka Ross O’Carroll-Kelly).

The organising committee an- nounced a partial line-up yesterday, with more authors to be confirmed in the coming months.

The festival will also feature Ire- land’s first ever Book Club of the Year award and will also include a professional development workshop for library staff.

Supported by Clare County Library,

the three-day programme of events 1s expected to attract hundreds of book club members and book lovers from all over Europe and America.

Other authors scheduled to par- ticipate in the fourth annual festival include Diarmaid Ferriter, Fiona Looney, Claire Keegan and Thomas Lynch. Academic contributors this year will include Dr Paul Delaney, School of English at Trinity College,

Alan Titley, Head of Department at University College Cork and Niall MacMonagle, editor and English teacher at Dublin’s Wesley College.

‘The festival is a wonderful social and literary event that brings togeth- er book club members, readers and authors from all over Ireland and beyond,” said Frances O’Gorman of the organising committee.

“One of the highlights of the week-

end festival will be the Sunday symposium, during which Tim Pat Coogan and Diarmaid Ferriter will join a panel discussion on the subject of reading history.”

The festival is also inviting library staff nationwide to a free workshop on how to start, develop and chal- lenge a book club.

The Ennis Book Club Festival will take place from March 5 to 7.

Helping bridge school funding gap