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WORK on cleaning up Killaloe’s historic bridge is set to cost roughly € 100,000.

SW sTome bbs) em oro A (cot Oe CoMm AY ADO mmCe)o0t munities of Killaloe in east Clare and Ballina in Tipperary has become encrusted with weeds and foliage and will require careful treatment to remove when the project begins early next year. It’s also planned to

clean up the stonework. An initial plan to simply remove the vegetation couldn’t be acted on because a closer examination showed that the plants and weeds have taken root in the stone and just pulling them out could cause damage.

According to Sean Lenihan, sen- ior council engineer for the area, the bridge is also a protected heritage structure and measures would have to be put in place under the regula-

tions pertaining to these structures. Local councillors in the area were given details of the necessary repair work last summer.

After being told that the cost would be far greater than had previously been envisaged, councillors asked the engineer to get in touch with the Heritage Council in Kilkenny to see whether funding would be available.

Mr Lenihan contacted the group and was told that the Clare Local

Authority could apply under the Heritage Council’s Civic Structur- al Fund. He informed councillors this week that this money will be allocated in January and February of next year.

“There are maximum levels of grant aid available and extra money will probably have to be provided from the council’s own resources. But even so, work is expected to start in early 2008,” he said.

THE lack of specialised services available for people suffering from depression has been highlighted at the Coroner’s Court in Ennis.

The family of a man who died in Ennis in July this year told the in- quest into his death that greater re- sources needed to be allocated to the area of mental health.

The Coroner’s Court heard last week that the man’s body was dis- covered in July in woods near the Mill Road, Ennis, by a group of peo- ple out walking.

Gardai were subsequently called and the man’s body was removed from the scene.

The 27-year old man had been liv- ing in Ennis for seven months and

had been working as a carpenter. He was known to be suffering from de- pression.

He was originally from Dublin. In the Coroner’s Court last Wednesday, the man’s brother confirmed the dep- osition he gave to gardai at the time.

Asking County Coroner Isobel O’Dea if he could comment further on the matter, he said, “There has been a huge amount of suicides in the country over the past few years. Services are seriously lacking in this area for people. More need to be pro- vided.”

Coroner Isobel O’Dea _ returned a verdict of open death in the case. She said, “I am satisfied there is no evidence of accidental death and that there was no third party involve- ment.

“Tam aware he was suffering from depression but I am not positive the intention was there to commit sul- cide.”

Ms O’Dea said there was insuffi- cient evidence other than to disclose a verdict of open death.

She said she would write to the Health Service Executive on behalf of the family to express their reser- vations about the lack of services for people suffering from depression. She extended her sympathies to the eTeep es

She said, “I would like to extend my sympathies to you and your family. I see you are a large and close fam- ily and I hope that you gain strength from that. I will certainly write to the HSE to express you concerns on the lack of services.”

has learned that controversial solicitor Michael Lynn, and his wife, Tulla native Brid Murphy, purchased an apart- ment on Lahinch’s Main Street in 2003 or 2004.

It is understood that the Dublin- based solicitor owes more than €50 million to various banks and lending institutions in respect of the purchase of 78 properties in Ireland and one in the UK.

While many of the properties are registered in Mr Lynn’s own name, a number are registered in the name of Property T Capel Ltd, a company of which he and his wife are sharehold- ers and directors.

Judgement on a claim against Ms Murphy for a loan she took out on the couple’s Howth home was last week adjourned by the Commercial Court until November 14.

Ms Murphy, who is a clinical nurse manager, said in affidavits that she had been unwell earlier this year and had been more concerned with her health than her financial matters at the time.

It is as yet unclear whether the

Lahinch apartment, which is one of eight located above Kenny’s Woollen Mill and Shop on Lahinch’s Main Street, was registered in the name of Mr Lynn, Ms Murphy or Property T Capel Ltd.

The property has an estimated re- tail value of between €320,000 and €350,000 and was developed under NIL FONT EDO PNG NEAL oe

Depending on the conclusion of court proceedings involving Mr Lynn and Ms Murphy, ownership of the apartment could revert back to the banks, who would most likely sell it.

Ms Murphy is the brother of prom- inent Lahinch businessman Paddy Murphy, who manages the Spinnaker bar on the village’s promenade.

It also emerged last week that the Dublin-based solicitor successfully took out three mortgages on the same property during a 20-day period ear- lier this year.

Each of the mortgages was for al- most the full value of the Howth property, which was valued at around €5.5 million.

On Friday last Mr Lynn, whose practice has been shut down by the Law Society of Ireland, was ordered to pay just under €5 million to AIB, National Irish Bank, IIB and Bank of Scotland.

KILKISHEN and O’Callaghan’s Mills people can rest easier in their beds knowing that there are now two defibrillators on hand should they be required in an emergency.

Kilkishen woman Mary Gallagh- er, along with Mike Hogan, Martin McMahon and Oliver Donnellan in O’Callaghan’s Mills, were the teams behind acquiring the machines. Training for the crews of volunteers who will look after them will begin on November 23.

Locals took part in a sponsored walk and the Bank of Ireland in Tulla sponsored €1,000 towards the machines, as one of their employees

lived in Kilkishen. The two machines, plus training, had to be funded to the tune of roughly €6,000. Between the walk and the bank’s gift, this money was raised.

The machines, when used by a properly trained person, can mean the difference between life and death in an emergency while waiting for some professional medical help to arrive.

“These machines are being put in place in a lot of communities, espe- cially where there are GAA grounds. People are concerned given the number of tragic deaths that there have been among young men playing sports,” said Gallagher.

Kilkishen and the Mills have be-

come the most recent among Clare communities to acquire the life-sav- ing equipment.

Mountshannon also recently pur- chased a defibrillator, as did Scariff, where concerns have been repeatedly voiced about the lack of a 24-hour ambulance service.

A present, the defibrillator teams are on the lookout for a central loca- tion for the machines and are looking forward to getting training in their use underway.

“It’s a two-night course and we are initially looking for 15 people in each area. No-one will be on call the whole time — we’ll draw up a rota once we have our volunteers,” added CRUE Ta toe

People volunteering for duty will also have a refresher course from the Red Cross every six months and, should any volunteer need to drop out or take time out, this won’t be a problem.

“The money we raise will initially cover the cost of training 15 people but we will be training more down the road,” said Gallagher.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the service should contact any of the organisers and bring a passport photograph of themselves along on the night for training .

A venue for the training course has yet to be decided and notices will then be posted locally when this has been done.

A MAJOR hurdle has been over- come in the campaign to construct a day care centre for cancer patients with Clare County Council granting planning permission for a cancer day care centre in Ruan.

The planning authority granted permission for the Clare 250 Can- cer Centre after finding that its plans were in accordance with the proper planning and development of the area at Moymore, Ruan.

Already, fifty acres of forestry have been purchased from Coillte, the na- tional forestry agency, and develop-

ments have been of a piecemeal va- riety since.

More recently, the entrance and a one mile road, meandering through Ballygriffey Wood, to the site ear- marked for The Clare 250 Cancer Centre, was developed.

An army of volunteers, many of whom have supported the project from its embryonic stages, turned up to fell trees, clear the pathway and develop the access road that winds its way through the densely wooded area.

The notion of the Clare 250 Cancer Centre originated with John Dunne and each May, scores of cyclists

embark on a 250 mile cycle around Clare in order to raise funds for the venture.

Initially, the funds were used ex- clusively to finance the annual trip of Clare cancer sufferers to Lourdes.

Mr Dunne declined to comment yesterday on the Council’s decision. However, speaking on the project previously, Mr Dunne said, “With the help of the people of Clare, we’ll build it as we go along and at the rate finances permit. Nothing will be put in place or built until such time as it can be paid for. There will be no such thing as running up a debt.”

He vowed, “I’m totally commit-

ted to this project. I’m in it for the long haul for whatever length of time it takes. John Dunne is not going Eh al

The Clare 250 Cycle first started in 1979 when 18 cyclists pushed off from outside the then Ennis Voca- tional School.

Last night, councillor for the area, Cllr Joe Arkins (FG) said that he is “absolutely delighted” with the deci- sion.

“It 1s great to have it here in our area and great credit must go to John Dunne and all the other people in- volved for bringing the project to this stage,’ he said.

THE people of Kilkee will not need to make the 70-mile round trip to Ennis this weekend to go to the mov- ies — because the cinema is coming to town.

Cinemobile was the second larg- est of the millennium projects, sur- passed only by the Dublin Spire, and the non-profit travelling cinema will set up in the car park beside Water- world on Friday for the weekend.

The mobile unit looks like an ordinary articulated truck but in less than an hour it converts into a

100-seater cinema. The aim is to make films accessible to audiences throughout the country. Cinemobile provides a diverse programme to a broad range of people, seeking to consolidate mainstream cinema au- diences while continuing to nurture a regional audience for art-house film, documentary film and archival film.

This year, the mobile moviedrome has also arrived in schools across the country with curriculum-based films. The cinema is fully heated, with air-conditioning and Dolby Surround Sound. Film selection is based on several criteria, the main

one being print availability. A cer- tain number of prints are available in the country when a film is released. Cinemobile must wait for a copy to become available from a distributor but it never screens films which ex- ceed Cert 15PG, another criteria for print selection.

It usually brings six films to each location, screening three times each day — early afternoon, matinee and evening. Films are constantly updat- ed to ensure audiences see the most recent films. Schools are provided with a list of curriculum-based titles from which they can programme the

machine. Groups are also invited to request titles of their choice and, if a print can be secured, a screening will be given. The films making their way to Kilkee this weekend are

ENNIS is in line for a timely jobs boost with the news that both the Ma- lin Head and Valentia Marine Res- cue Co-ordination Centres (MRCC) are to be phased out in favour of the creation of a new central station in OE

The move, which could create as many as 50 jobs, is unlikely to take place until late in 2008 at the earli- est, but Ennis has already been ear- marked as the favoured location for the central centre. Cork and Galway have also been muted as possible sites for the new centre but it 1s believed

that Ennis is the most likely location because of its central position along the west coast.

Significant campaigns have been organised against the move in both Malin and Valentia, where the loss of jobs could have a crippling effect for the local economy. The decision represents a u-turn in Government policy as in 2002, the then Minister for Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, Dermot Ahern, gave commitments to the future of both centres and also funded a mas- sive upgrade of facilities.

“There is no technical reason to move the station from Valentia. It

was put there in 1914 because of the location but technology has come on over the years and the reception there is crystal clear,” said Dick Robinson, former coastguard member in Valen- tia and current member of the RNLI in Clare.

“There is no technical reason why it should be taken off of either place. This decision has been a huge bombshell for the people of Valen- tia. It would take away 17 jobs from a population of just 600 people. It’s a huge slice out of their economy. If they move the system to Clare or an- ywhere else it will work just as well, such is the technology of today. But

the people in Valentia, who are actu- ally looking out at the lifeboats and fishing boats as they are passing in and passing out, they are woven into the fabric of the system as opposed to just passing messages.

“If I was a politician and talking about decentralisation and assisting the far out places I would find it very difficult to talk about taking jobs from Valentia and Malin Head. The previous minister, Dermot Ahern, had decided to beef up the two sta- tions but now Minister Noel Demp- sey has reversed it. So there is still hope that it could be reversed once again.”

THE mix of foreign languages in Kilkee’s Stella Maris Hotel is grow- ing but it’s not because of the rapidly rising ratio of non-national workers that are now in the tourism trade.

“Italian is the latest language we have around the place,” says Ann Haugh, who took over the hotel nine years ago and has just doubled bed- room numbers to 20 in a major refur- bishment that added on a new restau- rant and cellar bar.

The Italians have joined German and Polish engineers engaged on the massive re-fit of the Moneypoint power station to bring down emis-

sions in the world-wide war against global warming.

Recalling that the building of Moneypoint cushioned the Kilkee resort through lean tourism years in the 1980s, Haugh said, “The power station 1s a mainstay of year-round LUIS UNL ISe

“We only close on Christmas Day and besides the Moneypoint engi- neers, the rest of the off-season trade comes from business travellers. In the summer peak, it’s back to the tra- ditional summer visitor business.”

Being a family-run business is the key to keeping the hotel operating throughout the year, the mother of four explains. Having managed a res-

taurant before, she and her butcher husband Martin took over the hotel. “I can turn my hand to cooking the breakfast and other meals in the less pressurised time of the year.” Daughter Michelle (27) not only co- manages the hotel with her mother but also set up the website for the business. Eldest son Eoin (23) looks after the bar and becomes boss to his father, who helps out at weekends. Even though their younger daugh- ters are not directly involved in the hotel, they get called into action whenever they are at home. Twenty-one-year-old Orla is train- ing to be a flight attendant with Ryanair while 18-year-old Emma is

going to be around the place for the next year because she injured her spine in just her second day at col- lege in Sligo.

“T only realised how much time the hotel takes up when all the re- furbishment was going on,’ Haugh confesses.

“Even though I was looking after the building programme most of the day, we had a normal family life the rest of the time. But that has all just gone since the hotel got back on Le ae

It helps that the pace and pressures are much reduced in the low season. “We still employ 14 people though,” Haugh adds.

WHILE most students were putting their feet up over the Halloween mid-term, 31 students and 4 teachers from the CBS secondary school in Ennistymon were tasting the atmos- phere and culture of northern Italy.

The tour, which was led my Mr Meehan, Ms Molloy, Mr Galvin and Ms Ahern, look in some of the worlds most famous artistic and cul- tural sites in the Italian cities of Flor- ence, Venice and Milan.

“We started off in Florence. We went to all the Cathedrals and say the Statue of David and a lot artistic stuff

like that. The bus driver then brought us up to a place where we could look out over the whole city and take pic- tures,’ said Leaving Cert student, Enda Slattery from Ennistymon.

The group then paid a visit to the Ferrari museum before relaxing for the rest of the day in a theme park.

“It’s one of the biggest theme parks in Europe. They have rolercoasters, waterrides and all that kind of stuff. That evening we went to Verona and did a treasure hunt,’ said Eamon Flynn from Miltown.

“We were split into teams and given clues to bring us to the famous parts of the city, like the Romeo and Juliet

balcony, and eventually you ended up in the main square. My team won the treasure hunt, we were there about an hour before the rest of them.”

After Verona, the group made their way to Venice before returning to the big city lights of Milan.

“On Monday we went to Venice, we had to go in on a boat. We got gondolas and walked through differ- ent parts of the city. We fed the pi- geons and had a tour guide around the place,’ said Leaving Certificate student, Daniel Mullins, from En- nistymon.

“The first thing we did in Milan was go to the San Siro. We had a

tour of the stadium and went into the dressing rooms. Then we went into the main part of the town and into this open cathedral with all these expensive shops in it,” continued Ca- thal McMahon from Miltown.

The tour proved a great success and learning experience for all who went.

‘‘[ had a great time there and I think I learned a bit. We went to a lot of places that we would have read about in out history,” said second year, Laurance Egan. “There was a few of us who had been to Italy before but for some of the lads this would have been their first time in a plane.”

THERE was good news for the Irish beef sector last week with the news that the Minister of Agriculture and Land Affairs of the Republic of South Africa, Lulama Xingwana, had lift the ban on the importation of Irish beef. The ban, which has been in place since 2001, was lifted as a result of recommendation by South African experts who visited Ireland ETI ayeele

Commenting on the news, Irish Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, said that the positive news was the result of intensive efforts at political, diplomatic and technical Aon

She said that the Department of

Agriculture and the Irish Embassy in Pretoria have been working very closely on this issue for a number of years. During November 2006 the minister and her experts had a number of high-level meetings with South African cabinet members and their officials.

‘This is a very welcome decision as South Africa has been a traditional market for Irish beef. The decision by the competent authorities in the Republic of South Africa to re-open their market to Irish beef was taken following a detailed examination of the rigorous controls applied and reflects the high standards of food safety controls in place in Ireland,” she said.

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counterparts in South Africa had worked intensively on the technical documentation to facilitate trade and the necessary veterinary certificate had also been agreed.

Minister Coughlan also noted that senior veterinary officials from both sides have discussed detailed pro- posals for exchanges of skills and personnel to share best practice and experience in facing common chal- lenges in the food industry. Both Governments see the agri-food sec- tor as an important area with signifi- cant potential for trade growth and the creation of quality employment.

Senior experts will meet shortly to discuss an action plan on skills de- velopment.

Meanwhile, Minister Coughlan last

week welcomed the publication by the EU Commission of the Food and Veterinary Office mission to Brazil.

Coughlan said that this report will be very helpful in the overall process of ensuring equivalence. The minis- ter added that she was now calling for a discussion on the report within the Standing Committee on the Food Chain and Animal Health.

A further FVO mission is taking place this month and Commissioner Kyprianou, who is responsible for health and consumer protection, has stated publicly that he will not hesi- tate to take appropriate protection measures if a product imported from a third country represents a risk for the health of EU consumers, live- stock or plants.