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GARDAI in Shannon welcomed a delegation from Canada including a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to County Clare on Friday as part of a scheme to pro- mote a transatlantic literacy pro- eramme involving dozens of schools and libraries in Ireland and Canada.

Constable John T Kennedy of the RCMP, or Mounties as they are affectionately known, met with members of An Garda Siochana at Shannon and later with some of the participants of “The Reading Chal- lenge. Cst Kennedy was accompa- nied on his visit by Eric Stackhouse, Chief Librarian, Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia.

The visit is the culmination of a link forged last year between Clare County Library, An Garda Siochana, Canadian Libraries, the Royal Cana- dian Mounted Police (RCMP) and 21 National Schools in Co Clare aimed at promoting reading among chil- Clone

‘The Reading Challenge’ forms part of the ‘Adopt-a-Library Literacy Program’, which was established ten years ago in northern New Bruns- wick by the RCMP. The police act as the ‘bridge’ between the commu- nity and the library, and in return the library develops programs and ac- tivities that directly impact literacy amongst children.

Explaining how the Challenge works, Patricia Fitzgerald, Assistant Librarian, Children’s Services, Clare

County Library said, “Gardai and public library staff visit participat- ing schools where they explain the importance and fun of reading to the children and encourage them to use their local library. Once a month, a designated teacher in each school counts the number of books read before registering the tally on ‘The Reading Challenge’ website.

The Reading Challenge began in late 2006 and has proven to be hugely successful. The participating National Schools are Tubber, Bur- rane, Clouna, Carrigaholt, Doonaha, Lackyle, Killaloe Boys National, En- nis Educate Together School, Coore, St. Senans National School Kilrush, Moy, Mullagh, Corofin, Flagmount, Crusheen, Newmarket-on-Fergus, Cratloe, Moyasta, Feakle, Doora and

Inagh.

At the end of the school year, the school that has read the most books overall will receive €2100 worth of books, sponsored by Scholastic pub- lishers. Clare County Library is also awarding the school who reads the most with €2000 worth of books.

County Librarian Noel Crowley said, ““We are delighted to have been able to partake in such an important and unique program. The Library Service looks forward to further developing the initiative in county Okan

SHERRY FitzGerald Hussey Mad- den, Ennistymon, have a limited number of semi-detached properties left in the latest phase of the Cuirt Merriman development, priced at €240,000. These houses are beau- tifully designed and represent great value for money.

Only minutes walk from the town centre, these properties have the add-

ed bonus of being just 1.5 miles from Lahinch beach and golf course.

The properties have three bed- rooms, with the master bedroom, en- suite. They also have large gardens. The selling agent assures that “the highest level of construction and fin- ish is guaranteed with PC sum allow- ances of €4,200 per house.”

Finishes include wooden floors in the living room and all bedrooms, and the houses will be painted ex-

ternally plus the ceilings and wood work are painted.

The first phase of this development sold from plans and despite hiccups in the property market, the quick sale of all but these two remaining units of the 28 units in Phase 2, attests to the popularity of this development and the popularity of Ennistymon as a location.

For full details contact 065 7072833.

THE number of people in the mid west who reported experiencing crime last year decreased from the figure in 2003, newly-published sta- tistics reveal.

Figures published by the Central Statistics Office last week show that 4.2 per cent of people in the mid west experienced crime last year, com- pared with 5.8 per cent in 2003.

Of those, 1.2 per cent of people liv- ing in the mid west were victims of theft where violence was used.

1.3 per cent were physically as-

saulted last year, down from 1.6 per cent three years earlier.

Almost two-thirds of people who were victims of theft involving vio- lence last year reported the matter to gardai (62.5 per cent).

This is a huge increase on the fig- ure of 48.8 per cent in 2003, but is a reduction on the figure of 71.4 per cent, in 1998.

The figures also show details of how safe people feel walking alone in their neighbourhoods, after dark. More than 70 per cent of residents in the mid-west, said they felt either safe or very safe. 24 per cent were

unsafe, while almost six per cent of people felt very unsafe.

The figures for last year are similar to those recorded in 2003.

92.8 per cent of those surveyed said they felt safe alone in their homes, after dark. This is a slight increase on the figure for 2003.

52.6 per cent of respondents said they felt crime was a very serious problem. 34.1 per cent said it was a serious problem, while 12.1 per cent said it was a fairly serious issue. Just 1.2 per cent of respondents in the re- gion said it was not a serious prob- aner

ELECTION candidates who park vans festooned with their faces and publicity on double-yellow lines and no parking areas around the county have come in for a hammering from a Shannon town councillor.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy told a recent meeting of the town council that the vans are a menace, the way some of the election workers park Weloeee

“When they are carelessly parked, they are a hazard and there’s no mis- taking that,’ she told the meeting.

“T want to know is the council em- powered to tow them away or do we

contact the gardai or what? There can’t be one rule for parking for some people and another rule for others.”

Cllr McCarthy said that in Shan- non, she is also concerned about the way trucks and cars advertised for sale are parked.

‘“There’s one car for sale parked in a yellow box. I had to go to the petrol station recently in Shannon and there was a big articulated truck parked in the feeder lane. The time before that there were three trucks there – I couldn’t see a thing,” she told the meeting.

Cllr McCarthy said that to the best of her knowledge “these are offenc-

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Cllr Gerry Flynn said that the road to the front of the Oakwood Arms “is a very busy road. We need a filter lane on Bothar Mor. There’s the fill- ing station, the Oakwood and now the recycling centre will be coming on line. I think this is something the roads department can do”, he said.

Shannon’s mayor, Tony McMa- hon, said that he 1s concerned about small, broken areas left on the mar- gins when roads are done.

The areas are uneven and unsight- ly, he said, asking whether finishing these areas could be included in road works. During the roads discussion, members were shown a letter from a resident in Shannon, complaining

that the council had put double-yel- low lines to the rear of his house without consulting him.

Roads engineers told the meeting that no parking spaces were sacri- ficed to the double yellow lines.

Cllr Tony Mulcachy asked wheth- er it be possible to have some form of consultation when these type of changes are being made, possibly by having a leaflet drop.

But Cllr Gerry Flynn said that it would not be practical to do leaflet drops for every double yellow line.

“Where we do address problems by widening roads, then we see people parking in the area, it just makes it ridiculous,” he told the meeting.

O’DOLAN & Partners, Ennis, have taken on a very attractive four bed- room detached house on a one acre site, with distant sea views, guiding at €350,000.

Located close to the church in Doo- lin, this cosy home is within easy access of some breathtaking scen- ery, beaches and the famous craic in Doolin. Itis also within easy reach of Lisdoonvarna.

Given that it occupies a one-acre site, the selling agents point out that there may be potential for further de- velopment.

The accommodation is laid out over two floors. On the ground floor

there’s the kitchen/dining room, the sitting room, which has a solid fuel stove, fitted units and the all impor- tant sea views.

There are two bedrooms on this level, both with fitted wardrobes. There’s also a shower room on the ground floor.

Upstairs, there are two further bed- rooms, both with wooden flooring and one with fitted wardrobes. The family bathroom is located on this level.

The extensive, well-maintained grounds include a patio area, with distant sea views.

For full details contact 065 6844395.

THE first shots of the general elec- tion were fired in Clare yesterday as candidates faced tough questions from the county’s Traveller commu- nity.

The majority of Clare’s Dail hope- fuls were in St Joseph’s Travellers’ Training Centre yesterday for a ques- tion and answer session organised by local travellers’ groups.

Candidates sparred on the main local issues such as the Ennis General Hos- pital and the Ennis water supply. RTE presenter Rachael English chaired the debate. The discussion covered a broad range of issues affecting Trav- ellers’ lives, including education and training, mental health, accommoda- tion and youth issues.

Afterwards, Julianne McDonagh, a member of the Primary Health Care eroup, said politicians should return for a second meeting after the elec- tion. “It was very valuable to meet the candidates but I think it is just as beneficial if they were to come back after the election to see if anything has changed.”

As expected, the issue of Ennis

General Hospital loomed large in the discussion. “It is vital that every eroup fights against the Hanly re- port. Whoever is elected, we’re going to have to fight together,” said Green Party candidate Brian Meaney

Fine Gael candidate Madeleine Tay- lor Quinn (FG) said she was commit- ted to retaining acute services.

“T will do everything to ensure that a six-bed unit is retained. That is the

minimum the women of Clare are entitled to.”

Joe Carey (FG) said a new hospital should be built instead of upgrading the current facility.

“Not a sod has been turned or a brick laid. If the protection order was removed on the hospital it could be sold. That would help finance the construction of a new building.”

This was strongly opposed by Jun-

ior Minister Tony Killeen (FF).

“I could play that game and go along with the popular sentiment but I have been around long enough to know that isn’t going to happen. I know that the €40 million extension will go ahead next year”.

On the issue of the water supply in Ennis, Labour candidate Pascal Fit- zgerald said nothing had happened after four years.

‘This issue certainly is being treat- ed with urgency by my colleague. We have already put in place the tempo- rary treatment facility,” said Fianna Fail Senator Timmy Dooley.

On providing services for young people, Fine Gael candidate Tony Mulcahy said that a survey carried out in schools in Shannon showed that 70 to 80 per cent favoured a cof- fee shop or a drop-in centre.

“The problem with Ennis is you need six or seven of these facilities,” he said.

THE HUGE cost of gas bills to peo- ple living in local authority homes has to be tackled, Shannon council- lors have warned.

Councillor Tony Mulcachy called for alternative heating systems to be used in council homes in the future after hearing from Shannon residents who are “being savaged” by bills of €200 a month and up- wards.

Speaking at a meeting of Shannon town councillors, that by virtue of qualifying for local authority hous- ing “many of these people are on low incomes. They are being cru- cified, seriously struggling to pay these bills. As the local authority which built these houses, we have to come up with ways to ease this”.

He called for the council to con- sider using alternative heating sys- tems such as wood-chip boilers or solar energy in homes which are

built in the future.

Councillor Patricia McCarthy said that in older estates, heating systems were of the dual variety, where a fire could be lit and backboilers used to heat the home.

“When natural gas came along, people were told it was a cheap al- ternative to oil and they assumed that was the case. People assumed that the price of oil was going up, but they didn’t necessarily realise that so was the price of gas. People

need to be educated in the most eco- nomic and efficient use of the gas systems,’ she said.

Town manager Ger Dollard said that with the publication last week of the national energy strategy, lo- cal authorities will be funded to provide energy efficient homes.

He added that the current thinking in designing local authority homes is towards making use of energy sources such as solar power to bring down the cost of energy bills.

THE latest figures from the 2006 Census show that areas that have enjoyed substantial holiday home de- velopments have suffered decreases in population.

The populations of Lahinch, Lis- cannor and Killaloe have declined since the 2002 census.

According to the figures, the popula- tion of Lahinch has dropped by three per cent, Liscannor has dropped by 34 per cent and Killaloe has dropped

by 12 per cent.

Cllr Martin Conway (FG) said that the census figures confirmed that the exorbitant price of property on Clare’s coastal resorts was making it impossible for young people to re- main in their homeplace and driving them out of the villages.

“As aresult, you have a drop in pop- ulation and the social consequences are that it will be difficult long-term to fill local schools and local football teams,” he said.

Cllr Conway said that it was “quite

ironic that while you have a drop of population in these areas, the house building for holiday homes that has been going on has been colossal.

‘The prices for property have spi- ralled out of all proportion and way beyond the means of locals.

‘The census also reflects the puni- tive planning regime in place where there 1s a two-tier system operating.”

He added that local people were chilefly affected by the ongoing house price rises.

“It 1s difficult for sons and daugh-

ters of local people to secure plan- ning, yet an out-of-town solicitor or accountant can write a cheque for 500,000 to buy a holiday home.

“*T believe that there should be a tax placed on holiday homes so that these areas can be provided with adequate facilities and money ringfenced for facilities such as playgrounds as these homes are vacant for 10 months of the year.”

The census also showed that En- nistymon suffered a drop in popula- tion of eight per cent. Kilrush suf-

fered a population loss of 1.6 per cent, while Kilkee’s population in- creased by 5.2 per cent.

The greatest leap in population was enjoyed along the corridor linking Ennis to Shannon.

Population around Ennis increased by 27 per cent, while that in Shan- non’s environs increased by 22 per ne

The population of Sixmilebrige increased by 25 per cent, Ennis in- creased by seven per cent and Shan- non increased by three per cent.

IN THE immediate aftermath of killing Liam Moloney, Anthony Kel- ly went to the victim’s apartment and stole €600, which he called “blood jee) eat aae

He told gardai that something in the back of his mind said, “Do it, do it, do it,’ and he just “struck out” and attacked his victim.

“The thought of hitting or hurting Liam Moloney came to me before that day,” he said.

He had been depressed and para- noid prior to the killing and there had been a build-up of anger inside him, during the week before it.

“For some time I’d felt very, very bad. Stuff was getting into my head. One of the people I was upset with was Liam. We used to talk on the phone. Sometimes he’d piss me off. He’d made racist jokes. I was broke at the time, living on very little,’ he PHO

On the night of the killing, he said a “feeling of rage” came over him.

‘IT had a feeling I never had before. I remember saying to myself, ‘What am I doing?’ When I got out of the car, I more or less tried to stop my- self and I couldn’t. There was a burn- ing sensation throughout my whole body,” he said.

“I felt possessed. I never hit any- one before in my life. It was like fire coming out of my eyes, fire coming

out of my head and I couldn’t stop,” | stemnceeB(Gm

He said his victim didn’t put up any resistance and there was blood “every place”.

He said that looking back, his be- haviour was like that of “some kind of an animal, if an animal would do such a thing .. . I was gone com- pletely wild. I couldn’t believe I’d be capable of something even remotely like that. It was like as if it wasn’t me. It was some creature. I was just totally taken over,” he said.

He later took €600 from a closet in Mr Moloney’s apartment.

“I said to myself ‘blood money’. I remember repeating it a thousand times to myself when I was alone. I was not gloating or anything,” he Sr ALGE

Detective Superintendent John Fit- Zpatrick told the trial that a knife, with an eight-inch blade, had been found in Mr Moloney’s tax1.

He said that two sources told gardai that the accused owed around €150 to the deceased.

The Garda obtained a search war- rant and carried out a search of the accused’s home in Kerry, on Febru- Maes

‘‘He mentioned to us he had a shot- gun in the bedroom. It appeared to me to be a double- barrelled sawn-off shotgun. In fact, it was a single bar- relled sawn-off shotgun,” he said.

He later told gardai he did not have

the gun with him in Ruan, on the night of the killing.

Mr Kelly was arrested for unlawful possession of the gun and was taken to Cahersiveen Garda Station.

“During the journey, he began to speak about the murder of Liam Moloney and the role he played in it. He said he was finding it very dilf- ficult to sleep. He was having night-

mares in relation to what happened,” said the garda.

STUDENTS at Ennis Community College have been doing their bit to raise money for some of the world’s poorest people.

The school recently handed over a cheque worth almost €3,500 to Tro- caire after taking part in the organi- Zation’s annual 24-hour fast.

The students join the 15,000 other students nationwide that take part in Trocaire’s RTE 2fm 24-Hour Fast every year. This year’s fast helped raise essential funds for Trocaire’s long-term development projects in the world’s poorest countries.

The fast focused on India this year, where millions of people live in pov- erty, with little or no access to educa- tion or healthcare.

Despite the economic expansions of India in recent years, an estimated

27 million people still live in poverty in the two regions where Trocaire works. Many of the communities Troécaire supports are living without a clean water supply, without access to education and without the chance tO go.

Last year about 20,000 people over- all, raised over €lmillion through the fast for Trocaire’s long-term de- velopment programmes worldwide.

Teacher Catriona McNicholas said the students were eager to take part in the fast.

“We had around 61 students from Ennis Community College and the Gaelcholaiste taking part. They came from first year to sixth year, basically anyone who wanted to take part.”

She explained the school had been involved in a number of other fund- raising projects.

“They raised €550 for Daffodil

Day. One of the students went to Chernobyl! with St Joseph’s and some of the students raised €1000 for that nana

Meanwhile, a former student of Ennis Community College has won one of the most prestigious awards in Irish science.

In April, Iris Choi was the winner of the inaugural Rosse medal for graduate research in physics.

Iris won for presentation of her work in Quantum Cryptography. She is a member of the Tyndall Institute and University College Cork.

Ms Choi, originally from Hong Kong, gave details of her work, which seeks to securely encode and transmit information at the quantum arial

The medal commemorates the third Earl of Rosse (Sir William Par- sons KP, PRS) and his contributions

to science. The presentation of the medal was made by the seventh Earl of Rosse, Sir Brendan Parsons.

During the 1840s and starting from virtually first principles, the third Earl of Rosse, Sir William Parsons, designed and implemented the build- ing of the mirrors, tube and mount- ings for a 72 inch reflecting telescope which was the largest in the world at that time and remained so for three quarters of a century.