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A YOUNG girl has told a court that her father turned into an “unkind evil daddy” and hurt her a lot.

The girl was giving evidence in the trial of her father who is accused of sexually assaulting his two daugh- ters. The 36-year-old man, who is originally from Clare and cannot be named for legal reasons, has pleaded not guilty to 11 counts of sexual as- sault on the girls on dates between September 2001 and December 2004 in a County Offaly town.

Dublin Circuit Court last week heard evidence via video-link from

one daughter who told prosecuting counsel, Una Ni Raifeartaigh BL, that she couldn’t remember how her father behaved when he was minding her while her mother was at work.

The man’s other daughter told the trial that her father used his penis to put cream on a rash on her bottom.

She said she was aged between four and five when the alleged offences took place. She said her father used to lie on top of her on the bed and push her head onto the pillow.

She said he would do this to her every night her mother was at work. She said she noticed that her father used to be kind to her, but that he

became “evil” and “turned into an unkind evil daddy”.

‘“He’d hurt us a lot and he didn’t used to,” she said.

She told defence counsel, Mr John Phelan SC, in cross-examination, that she had previously said her fa- ther used the cream when she was “a baby” and in further reply to counsel she replied: “A baby is until the age of two.”

The accused’s wife told the trial that both she and her children were petrified of her husband but that they loved him. When asked by counsel if she still loved him, she replied “Yes.”

She said she first went to gardai af- ter one of her daughters told her that her father “pretended to put cream on my bottom” but had hurt her. “She said, ‘Mammy, he really hurt me’.”

She explained that she then went to the Garda station two days later to make a report.

Ms Ni Raifeartaigh told the jury in opening the case that a medical examination was performed on the children and gardai took bedclothes from the house for forensic analysis.

The trial continues in legal argu- ment and will resume on Thursday, before a jury of five women and sev- eee

SUPERVALU Kilrush has displayed a decade of cleanliness and hygiene.

The supermarket owned by Queal- ly’s was awarded for its polished performance at a special ceremony in Dublin.

The supermarket won the prestig- ious Excellence Ireland ten year Na- tional Hygiene Mark Award at the annual National Quality and Excel- lence Awards which was organised by the Excellence Ireland Quality Association (EIQA).

The Excellence Ireland Hygiene and Food Safety certificate pro- gramme provides independent veri- fication of the highest standards of hygiene and food safety in the food sector, so for SuperValu, Kilrush to

receive this award for the past ten years was no small achievement.

The supermarket had to excel through the most rigorous of audit and assessment programmes de- signed to produce long-term under- standing and commitment to quality in every aspect of the business.

The award was presented to Paul Queally and Denis Nolan by Paul O’Grady, Managing Director, and Excellence Ireland Quality Associa- nee

Mr Nolan was in no doubt who was due the credit for such an achieve- ment.

“Winning the National Hygiene and Food Safety award is one of our key business objectives each year and everyone who works here plays a part in striving for this. The bar for

excellence is raised each year and the team have certainly responded to the benchmarks put in place. Our customers have very high expecta- tions, which we work hard to ensure they are achieved on a daily basis,” he said.

Congratulating the Kilrush super- market Donal Horgan, SuperValu Managing Director, said that quality and hygiene were top priorities for Supervalu Kilrush therefore, it was no coincidence that it consistently received awards in retail hygiene and food safety.

“It 1s a tremendous achievement for Queally’s Kilrush to receive the 10 years National Hygiene Award. It demonstrates their consistent at- tention to detail and commitment to putting in place top class quality

and hygiene systems. Quality is and always will be at the heart of every- thing we do. Queally Supervalu in- vest hugely, both time and money, in ensuring the highest possible hygiene standards and food safety measures. For SuperValu, Kilrush to maintain such high standards ten years in a row takes an enormous amount of hard work and dedication from the owners, managers and staff,’ he SrHKOe

TWO young men who stole cider from an apartment in Ennistymon have been warned if they offend again they may face time behind bars.

The warning, from Judge Michael White, came at Ennis Circuit Court as Noel Mullane (25) and Robert Molloy (19), of Ardnaculla, En- nistymon, pleaded guilty to stealing a guitar bag and cans of cider at an apartment in Ennistymon, on August 17, 2006.

In the district court last April Mul- lane had pleaded not guilty and opted to have the case heard in the circuit Co) U ae

Garda Colm Collins told the court that Andrew Hertz left his apartment in Ennistymon at 6am with friends. He didn’t lock the door of his home, but had assumed that the main door of the apartment block was locked.

His neighbour woke at 8am and heard noise from the apartment block. She saw the two accused walking into Mr Hertz’s apartment and then leaving it, with what she thought was a black bag. She alerted the owner of the apartment and the ee KOre

When gardai arrived at the scene, the two accused were sitting on a bench near the apartment block. They were highly intoxicated, said Garda Collins, and he arrested them under the Public Order Act.

“I conducted a quick search of the area and found a black guitar case

on top of a shed close to where they were sitting. It was full of cans of Bulmers,” said the garda.

The guitar case was used to hold the drink, the court heard.

Mullane’s barrister Lorcan Con- nolly said his client was “heavily intoxicated” that night, having been

on a “complete drinking binge in La- hinch and Ennistymon”.

Molloy’s barrister, Michael Fitz- gibbon, said his client had also been drinking for several hours.

“The burglary was solely todo with drink. It could hardly be regarded as a sophisticated crime. The gardai came on the scene. They made no at- tempt to make a getaway. They were caught drinking the cans of Bulm- ers,’ said Mr Fitzgibbon.

Addressing the two accused, Judge White said, “Mr Mullane, this is your fifth conviction since 2002. You are skating on thin ice. There’s one way you will go if you offend again. You’d want to be very careful. Drink isn’t an excuse for this type of behav- elu e

“Molloy, you’re only 19 years of age. You’re in a similar situation. A judge is going to have very lit- tle choice but to send you to prison. That’s the direction you’re going.”

He imposed a one-year jail sentence on Mullane and a one-year detention term on Molloy. Both sentences were suspended for two years.

ON FRIDAY night next, 15 commu- nity games participants from west Clare will be among those honoured at the Clare Community Games All Star awards.

Among the All Stars is Kieran Magner from the Cross/Carrigaholt area. The 14-year-old student at St Joseph’s Community School Kil- kee could not find his niche in the running section of the community games, but determined to compete he took up the shot putt just two years ago.

During his first year of compet-

ing he won the county final, so this second year he was determined to go one step further.

The young teen trained under the watchful eye of Kilmihil man John Devine and practiced every day dur- ing the summer.

All the hard work paid off when he won Silver in the All Ireland in Mos- eae

A keen rugby player and talented musician Kieran was also part of the Naoimh Eoin under 14 team that won the county championship.

Three of his four brothers also play for the GAA club.

The 14 other west Clare communi-

ty game participants to be honoured on the night include Marathon run- ner Liam Markham from Kilmurry McMahon/Labasheeda and under 16 basketball player Sally Glynn from Kilrush, who also holds an All Ire- land U/16B Ladies football medal with her local club.

Laura Egan from Kilmihil who is now a member of the Under-12 team will be honoured for her cross-coun- try running as will Conor Madigan from Kilrush who was part of the County U/12 football winning team.

Harp player Grainne Harvey from Cross/Carrigaholt will be _ recog- nised for her football playing abili-

ties while Becky O’Donnell from Kildysart is a talented gymnast. Kilmihil has four more sporting heroes in the line up including Bri- an Waters, Michael Keating, Dean Cleary and Pauric O’Gorman. Seamus Collins is from Ballyna- cally/Lissycasey and 1s a talented set dancer, while Laura McGuane and Niamh Cahill both from the Kilma- ley/Inch/Connolly area are receiving an All Star for their soccer playing. The last in the west Clare list is Doonbeg’s Sean Conway. Although he is a fan of soccer play- er Wayne Rooney he is being hon- oured for his swimming talent.

show that there are more clerical or administrative staff employed in the hospital than “medical staff’.

Nursing staff made up 134.07 of the August staffing numbers, 22.47 of the whole time equivalent staff were defined as Allied Health Care, 34.77 as Medical staff, 43.07 as cleri- cal/admin and 51.86 as Attendant/ patient services staff.

The number of support service staff was 23.7, making up 310.08 staff in Ole Ne

When the HSE imposed a recruit- ment freeze at the beginning of Sep- tember, it did so because the national budget was exceeded by €245 mil- lion.

At the time it was critical for the Ennis hospital’s overspend claiming that it exceeded its staff ceiling of 292 by 19.

The most up-to-date figures from

August also show that the per cent- age of staff missing due to sick leave was as high as five per cent.

The percentage of people absent due to sick leave was highest among the support services where 13.46 per cent of staff went absent as reported by the HSE.

Cllr Meaney said that no assump- tions should be made however as to why absenteeism is so high in certain areas but the underlying cause could be the pressure of work coming on staff in a health system that is con- stantly under pressure.

The figures did not include holiday leave. The only area in the August spend that came under budget was education and training.

€70,000 was allocated for educa- tion but just €50,000 was used for this purpose.

Although there were more cleri- cal staff listed than medical staff the budget for clerical staff went over by just €10,000 compared to medical staff pay which went over by €440,000.

The budget to pay paramedics went over by .03 million, catering and housekeeping by €.1 million and others by €.01 million.

Clinical cost were half a million euro more than predicted, with ca- tering and cleaning another half a million over.

A NEW blueprint for the west Clare capital is to go before its people to comment upon and possibly amend, before it is returned to the town councillors and signed into law.

The Draft Kilrush Development Plan 2008 – 2014 will set out an over- all strategy for the proper planning and sustainable development of Kil- rush town including Cappa.

It will replace the Kilrush Develop- ment Plan 2002, 1998 and the Draft Development Plan 1993 and will last for six years from the date of its adoption.

The aim of the plan is to develop policies and proposals for the proper planning and development of the area; provide a detailed and consist- ent framework for determining plan- ning applications; provide a basis for co-ordinating public and private de- velopment throughout the area; and bring planning issues before the pub- lic for consideration and debate.

The plan must also inform resi- dents, property/land owners and de- velopers how their interests will be affected during the life of the plan making it essential reading for all those the live and work in the town council geographical area.

The Planning and Development Act 2000 requires a statutory noti- fication of the Planning Authority’s intention to prepare a Development Plan. In addition to this requirement, the council undertook a comprehen- sive programme of public consulta- tion and sought to engage all sectors of the population in the plan review process at an early stage.

The consultation approach involved a public consultation information event with workshop, held in the Community School, Kilrush.

A series of workshops were also held with community groups, the business community and _ service providers. An issues paper was pro- duced and circulated which included a consultation response form.

All the hard work to date and input by the local people by responding to this process has been considered by the planning authority in adopting the draft plan.

The managers report on the public consultation process was considered by the council and the managers rec- ommendations with directions issued by the members or the council.

The plan soon to go on display must by law conserve natural re-

sources and natural and cultural her- itage; pursue social and economic inclusion through partnership, par- ticipation and equality of access to services, transport, housing and employment; shape new develop- ment patterns in ways which reduce private car dependency and increase the attractiveness of the plan area for economic growth and in particular for tourism; and optimise the use of already developed areas while mak-

ing them more attractive places to i S(0)U ar NEO EA Lor

The draft plan will be on display until January 4 1n Kilrush Town Hall, Clare County Council Planning Sec- tion, Ennis, DeValera Library, Ennis, Local Study Centre the Manse Ennis and Kilrush and on the council web- site Www.clarecoco.ie.

CRATLOE man Eamon Dillon is hoping that his goose will be cooked on Saturday October 27.

But far from that being a peculiar anticipation of his downfall, Eamon and his fellow members the Wild Geese Barbecue Team will be cook- ing a goose as they represent Ireland at the World Barbecue Champion- ship in Tennessee.

Lynchburg, a sleepy backwater and home of the famous whiskey, will provide the backdrop for the Jack Daniels World Barbecue Competi- tion where over 10,000 spectators will flock to watch 65 international teams pit their culinary skills against each other. Team entry is by invita- tion only and competitors are re- quired to have won a recognised state or national championship. The Irish team comprises of Tara Harti- gan, Gerry Dillon, Patrick O’ Sulli- van (Capt.) and Eamon Dillon.

The Wild Geese Barbecue Team was formed in Limerick in 1999. From the outset the team has com- peted at the highest levels in Ger- many, Switzerland and the United States. Following their success at the World Barbecue competition in 2001, and again in 2003, the Irish BBQ Association was established to promote best cooking practice and from this, the genesis of Limerick’s highly successful annual Riverfeast International BBQ event.

Each team is required to cook a

whole pork shoulder, two racks of ribs, a chicken and a whole beef bris- ket. The meats chosen are specifi- cally designed to test the skills and expertise of the most avid BBQ en- thusiast and can take between 5 and 10 hours to cook and prepare.

Every cook knows how difficult it 1s to cook a goose even in a convention- al oven as the bird spits gallons of fat under heat making it a very volatile choice for the barbie.

“IT have roasted 20Ib turkeys in the past but a goose 1s different” said Ea- mon. “Unless you are very careful, the fat will drip on to the hot coals and the whole thing will spontane-

ously combust, transforming the goose into a phoenix.”

The Irish goose will be stuffed with traditional Irish garden vegetables, walnuts and berries which have been soaked overnight in local Bunratty mead. The team of experienced bar- becue chefs has been in training for several months to cook their goose just right.

POPULATION experts are predict- ing a population surge in Kilrush in the coming years, despite a decade of overall population decline.

Economic decline in traditional em- ployment; limited opportunities in new emerging employment sectors; and an increase in employment op- portunities in urban areas such as En- nis and Shannon, Galway and Dublin has contributed to the fall in the local population that has been experienced.

However the number of people liv- ing in the town and its environs is ex- pected to rise.

Analysis of population trends for the Kilrush area shows a fluctuating but overall population decline between 1991 and 2006. However, it is esti- mated that the area covered by the new draft plan of the town will see a population increase from 2,657 in

2006 to 2,993 in 2014 and to 3,245 in 2020.

The population forecast projection 1s based on previous population trends in the periods, residential dwelling completions in the past five years and the Clare County Housing Strategy 2007 – 2012.

The population of Kilrush accord- ing to the 2006 census is currently at 2,657, a number that has been hotly disputed as being too low and fail- ing to take account of the large Polish population now living and working in the town.

The new Kilrush draft plan predicts a need for 153 additional new houses in the town during its life time and a further 121 houses during the life span of the following plan from 2014 to 2020.

These projections are based on a further declining household size esti- mated at 2.43 persons per household

by 2020. Such a reduction in size is attributable to such factors as frag- mentation of existing households and smaller family sizes.

The population in the rural area sur- rounding the plan will also have an impact in the development and sus- tainability of the west Clare capital.

The Kilrush rural area in contrast to the urban area, experienced an over- all increase in population from 543 in 1991 to 621 in 2006 which reflects a population increase of 78. Factors in- fluencing this trend include returning immigrants to retire or relocate to the area; the attraction of the western sea- board for people to relocate and live in the area, benefiting from the serv- ices offered by the town of Kilrush; and from good road links to Ennis al- lowing for easy commuting to places of employment like Ennis, Shannon and beyond.

The projected population growth of

157 in the Kilrush rural area trans- lates into an additional housing re- quirement of 56 permanent housing units, based on the projected house- hold size for the rural area of three per household and that the percentage of the population living in permanent private households opposed to those living in communal accommodation is 99 per cent. Census figures also show a decline in the zero to 18-year- old bracket with the population of un- der four year olds dropping by more than 26 per cent — between 2002 and 2006 while the older age groups increase slightly.

The implication from population structure figures against the projected erowth in population for the plan pe- riod is that growth that does occur will largely be a result of fragmentation of existing households and in-migration, rather than natural population growth within the plan area.

GORT women are being offered the chance to influence public policy, both locally and nationally, by taking part in a study focusing on women’s needs in the area.

The Gort Women’s Equality Net- work (GWEN) will host two public meetings this week in the Lady Gre- gory Hotel, where they hope to iden- tify barriers to women being able to participate in decision-making proc- esses at a local level.

The study, created by Dr Niamh Clune and Douglas Johnson of the Gort Regional Alliance for Community and Environment (GRACE) in partnership with the Family Resource Centre, will also examine why more local women do not avail of further education or participate in the workforce.

“It 1s a study into women’s needs. The target is unemployed women, women who are not on the live reg- ister. The purpose of it is to find dif- ferent ways of getting them back into the jobs market. We are trying to tar- get venerable groups, single mothers

or people who are having difficulty finding a job for whatever reason,” said Mr Johnson.

“We are holding two separate public meetings – an evening meeting and a morning meeting. The purpose of this is to accommodate people who cannot make one or other of the meetings.

“We are also using one-to-one inter- views on an ongoing basis. We train- ing some of the women as interview- ers and they then interview the other women on a one-to-one basic. This is in order to make it a more comforta- ble experience for the women, so they feel comfortable and we get a more

spontaneous answer.’

The research has been ongoing all year in Gort and all available data will be compiled next month and presented to interested parties lo- cally and nationally.

“We are hoping to have the report finished for the second week in De- cember. We will be presenting the information to interested parties and distributing copies of the report to people like the local VEC and Health Board,’ continued Mr Johnson.

“We will also look at mainstream- ing the findings so they can be used in the formation of Government policy in different departments. We will look to influence local employers, encour- age them and examine their practices and, 1f possible, change them to fit with the needs of these women.”

GWEN will host two public meet- ings, on Wednesday, October 24 from 7.30pm to 9pm and on Thursday, Oc- tober 25 from llam to 12.30pm in the Lady Gregory Hotel in Gort.

YOU’VE heard of the Chinese year of the sheep and the pig, well in agri- cultural circles at least 2008 has been branded as the International Year of the Potato.

The United Nations Food and Ag- riculture Organisation (FAQ), has taken on the task of celebrating the mighty spud, and to commemorate this initiative the Minister for Food and Horticulture at the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Trevor Sargent, this week announced funding for the FAO.

“Ireland will provide significant funding, starting with an initial pay- ment of $150,000, to support the

activities of the UN Food and Agri- culture Organisation (FAQ), which is the lead United Nations’ agency for implementation of the International Year of the Potato,” he said.

“The coming year has been desig- nated as the United Nations’ Interna- tional Year of the Potato. Throughout the world, governments, scientists, farmers and others will focus on the potential of the potato to improve food security and nutrition and to reduce hunger and poverty. Ireland is committed to play a major part in view of the fact that the potato is the third most important food crop in the (ey ule B

“Funding provided by Ireland will go to support FAO activities. Ac-

tivities will include information gen- eration and dissemination through conferences and symposia to review research policies and chart the future direction of the sector.

“This will include a major confer- ence run by the International Potato Centre in Peru in March 2008 fo- cusing on the application of potato science for the poor. It is hoped to encourage action throughout the developing world to focus on potato systems including crop yields, exten- sion training on improved varieties and production systems.”

The mighty spud has noted the central role the potato has played in Irish History. The failure of the crop due to potato blight in 1845 led to a

famine that left 1.5 million dead and a further 1 million citizens forced to emigrate.

“Irish people have a deep memory of the effects of famine on our nation. Our history means we are acutely aware of the need to focus on the po- tato and the vital role that agriculture can play in improving nutrition and supporting food security,” continued Sargent.

To mark the Year of the Potato, Ireland will also organise a national programme of events for 2008 with an emphasis on nutrition. This will include activities for schools includ- ing a primary school competition that aims to promote both the aware- ness and the growing of the potato.