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CLOSE to half an hour after the game was wrapped and packaged, Tony Considine and Justin McCarthy emerged from their dressingrooms into the windswept hall at the back of the stand at precisely the same time.

Though Waterford dropped their first two points of the league in Ennis, McCarthy wasn’t too vexed. “It was a bit of a lottery out there. Anything could happen and we’re not going to get carried away by the result.”

At the other end of the coridoor, Considine was in bullish mood af- ter his first win in front of a Clare crowd. Having briefly tipped his hat to Clare’s performance “delighted with it,’ he said, he then let rip with a 90 second statement that sounded like bullets flying out of a machine gun.

‘As I said the last day we didn’t get too excited about losing to Wexford,

but no doubt some people here made out we did,’ Considine said with a fixed gaze.

“Some people might have a lot of different opinions to us as well. Some gutter press in Clare, that I don’t re- ally appreciate and I think they have different agendas to what we have. And it’s absolutely a shame.”

Towering a few inches above the press posse and with the wind buf- feting his hair, Considine could have passed for a fearsome Moses bellow- ing the ten commandments down to his people from Mount Sinai.

“I thought the gutter press was de- cided for a different code in a dif- ferent country. I didn’t think it was decided in our own county, by gut- ter journalism as well. Of the high- est order. And that’s all I have to say lads.”

Considine turned his back then returned defiantly to the dressing room.

Down at the Waterford end, McCa- rthy teased the game out a little more than his Clare counterpart.

“It’s just one of these things that Clare were maybe a bit stronger on the day and that’s how it went.

I’m not too worried about it. Two more games in the league. And this is the league, not the championship.”

Both sit level now. Four points each from a possible six. Considine, though, was intent on taking every ounce of momentum from Clare’s Ate

WARNING bells have been sounded about rogue recruitment agencies who lie to applicants about why they didn’t get a job, send on their CVs without per- mission and bill employers for ‘ghost’ staff they never employed.

A major agency with offices in Gal- way, Cork, Sligo, Dublin and Athlone this week lashed out at, “falling stand- ards, unscrupulous behaviour in an already fragmented and unregulated Th eveLbrsiam Yaa

SUeteBrceuelianets sme ClUbamlOm bKorTN OMI: booming under a national skills short- age in a range of professions and indus- tries. Now the managing director of one of Ireland’s longest established recruit- ment consultancies, Collins McNicho- las, Colman Collins, has been lobbying for nearly seven years for the industry to pep Ker MUI IKeen

“I firmly believe that new legislation is urgently needed if the recruitment industry is ever to be recognised as a provider of professional services.

“The current situation is reaching crisis point. What we have now is a erowing number of agencies — 707 by December 2006 — chasing a reducing number of candidates.

‘This is a recipe for disaster, with em- ployers and job seekers both being short changed in the process.”

Among the horror stories which are brought to the agency are those of cli-

ents whose CVs are sent to firms with- out their permission and who are then bullied by the agency, which demands to represent them.

In other cases, employers complain that some agencies lie to clients about why they didn’t get a job, falsify refer- ence checks or change the client’s email address to get around employers’ IT tracking systems that would otherwise recognise that they already have a cli- ent’s CV.

Several employers have complained that some agencies present invoices for fictional candidates who were never hired by the employer.

One employer who contacted Col- lins McNicholls said that submitting an invoice in excess of the agreed agency rates was a regular tactic of one particu- lar agency.

While many agencies maintain scru- pulous dealings, Collins said, “Every week, one of my consultants tells me a horror story of an employer or a job seeker, about the unprofessional behav- iour and practices of some recruitment agencies.’

Collins said that a “recruitment agen- cy in Ireland can be established with great ease by anyone really, with no formal qualification required and very little monitoring of activities, so the re- sults of the present situation are not only predictable but inevitable…Legislation is the only answer and the sooner the eres wae

RESIDENTS near Sixmilebridge are angered by the practice adopted by a refuse collecting service in Wales buAN Gore

A number of households at Cl- onnanass have been told that the refuse collector, Mr Binman, can no longer collect their rubbish from outside their homes as the road in the area 1s too narrow.

The four householders, who are customers of Mr Binman, say they are now being forced to bring their wheelie bins a half mile from their homes, or use an alternative method

of disposing of their refuse.

One resident, Richard Cahill said he now has no option but to store his waste in a shed.

“I have no way of bringing it down the road. One man physi- cally brings his bin down the road and another lady tows the bin on the back of her car,” he said.

Mr Cahill said he joined Mr Bin- man, as a customer last December. At that stage, he said he was led to believe the bin would be collected outside his gate.

“We clarified at the point of order of the service that the bin would, indeed, be collected from our gate.

We were assured that this was not a problem, and took them at their word,” he said.

‘Transporting the bins is not a possibility for some and is a danger to those who are already doing so under duress. We feel we deserve to have our rubbish collected at our own homes,” he added.

Pat Neville, who also lives in the area, said he has been forced to change his family’s method of dumping rubbish. He has stopped using a wheelie bin and has re- placed this with a small bin.

“We have decided to get rid of our Wheelie bin and get a normal bin

and drop it down to the head of the road, every two to three weeks. That is Our way around it. We shouldn’t have to do it,” said Mr Neville.

“IT don’t see why we should have to bring the bins down. There is no real danger on the road and there is no reason in the world why they can’t come up the road. It is a total inconvenience. When I was build- ing my house, there were 40 foot trucks coming up the road,” he added.

Despite numerous efforts, at the time of going to print

A YOUNG Clare man has walked free after receiving a three-year sus- pended sentence for raping a woman in her home while she slept.

Adam Keane (20), a bricklayer, of Barnageeha, Darragh, Clare, was convicted at the Central Criminal Court in February by 10-2 majority of raping the now 33 year-old wom- an in a house on May 30, 2005.

Mr Justice Paul Carney said his de- cision was based on a previous rul- ing by the Court of Criminal Appeal following an appeal in relation to a sentence imposed by him in another case, brought by the Director of Pub- lic Prosecutions who regarded it as ‘moderate’.

Mr Justice Carney said that appeal was lost and the sentencing was set aside in its entirety.

“Having regard to the approach taken by the CCA to this type of of- fence in this type of case, I have to ask myself whether I would be com- fortable to imprison this young man who said it was out of character for him, but that if the DNA said he had done it, he wouldn’t shy away from his responsibility.”

Mr Justice Carney added, “People

from respectable homes taking al- cohol or drugs and then committing rape or murder come before the court with surprising frequency,” he said.

The complainant told the trial she woke from her sleep to find someone cuddling her.

At first she thought the man was

her boyfriend, who had left the house NU DCs mM OT-LoAY( oO OND OTSMmE-D Ko) Mme DOUmE-D ued Ue ment. By the time she realised the man was not her boyfriend, he had started to have sex with her.

She said she threw him off her and turned on the lights and recognised the man as then 18 year-old Keane.

She ran from the house and when gardai later arrived at the scene, Keane was still in her bedroom.

In interviews with gardai, Keane said he couldn’t remember breaking into her house or anything about the attack as he blacked out after drink- ing heavily and taking ‘ecstasy’ in a nightclub.

He said he didn’t think it possible he had raped her because he had never raised a hand to a woman in his life. It ‘went against everything’ he believed.

He said he blacked out regularly after heavy drinking and explained, “That’s why I’ve been thinking about giving up the drink for some time.”

However, he said he would accept any DNA evidence proving him as the attacker.

In her victim impact report, the victim said the rape had had a huge impact on her life and that she had had to move house twice since.

Defence counsel Mr Brendan Nix SC (with Mr Mark Nicholas BL) said Keane ‘deeply regretted’ what hap- pened and noted his client had not Ker D UNO OT-NOLoINrCeLOm DOR mearalO (oN Gom DOD ale oon

THE courting of the farming vote continued this week with two Clare General Election candidates making statement on the Farm Waste Man- agement Scheme.

Deputy Pat Breen (FG) and Sena- tor Timmy Dooley (FF) both issued statements on Thursday, calling for the Minister for Agriculture, Mary Coughlan, to extend the application deadline for the Farm Waste Man- agement Scheme.

Early-bird Dooley was first off the mark with a statement calling for farmers to be given more time to get their planning applications together.

“In the past few days, I met the Minister for Agriculture, Mary

Coughlan, to outline to her the prob- lems that farmers in Clare are ex- periencing in making the March 31 deadline,” he said.

“By that date, farmers must have the full details of their planning applica- tions supplied to the Department of Agriculture under the popular Farm Waste Management Scheme.

‘The scheme has been such a suc- cess, with the 60 per cent or more grants available, that agricultural ad- visors, Who help farmers with their plans, are struggling to get through the workload,” the Fianna Fail can- didate continued.

“As a result, farmers are at risk of losing out by not having their plan- ning applications in by the current deadline.”

He goes on to say that he has asked the Minister to extend the deadline by a full three months.

“This would, I believe, be a fair compromise and bring the submis- sion deadline into line with the Department’s final date for the al- teration of plans already submitted or approved,” he continued. “Some 2,600 farmers in Clare have applied under the scheme for new on-farm facilities.”

A mere 15 minutes later, Fine Gael’s Pat Breen was off the mark, saying there was simply not enough consultants available to assist with the huge volume of applications.

“IT am calling on Minister Cough- lan to take into account the very real problems that farmers are experi-

encing in respect of applying for the Farm Waste Management Scheme,” he said.

“They are caught between a rock and a hard place as the deadline is looming but a shortage of consult- ants means that a significant number of applicants will not be able to meet the deadline.”

Alas, Deputy Breen called for a slightly more modest extention of just two months.

“I am not asking the Minister to provide special treatment for any- one,’ he continued. “Rather, I am asking her to consider the real situ- ation on the ground and taking into account the shortage of consultants, and extend the application deadline until the end of May.”

CAMPAIGNERS are confident En- nis will achieve Fair Trade status providing there is greater support from the local business community.

A number of businesses and schools in the town have already committed to stocking Fair Trade products.

In order for any town to be granted Fair Trade status a flagship business must pledge its support to the ven- ture. Ennis Fair Trade Committee member Mairead Sheedy explained Ennis has already met with much of the criteria required to achieve Fair Trade status.

‘We presented the statutory report

on Ennis to the national organisation and we were congratulated for that. Some businesses have supported us and are carrying the products but we still need a flagship business. Ideally that would be a hotel, but we are hop- ing to get a local factory. They have already said they would stock Fair Trade coffee so we just have to final- ise a few things.”

A two-week global campaign aimed at creating awareness about Fair Trade products drew to a close last week.

Ennis also took part during that pe- riod with a number of events held in schools and other locations around i eTom KO), 2 08

Last Thursday students at Colaiste Muire organised an information day at which they sold products which carried the Fair Trade logo.

The school also held a hot choco- late morning with money raised to be donated to a former student who plans to travel to Sri Lanka with the Fair Trade organisation.

Ms Sheedy said, “We were look- ing at ways to raise awareness and through schools have shown a great interest. Some of them went out on the street and did a survey with lo- cal people about their attitudes to Fair Trade. We held a tea and cof- fee morning in the Friary and that was very successful. We had a lot of

people coming in who showed a lot of interest. We also held one in the Adult Education Centre”

The Fair Trade Mark is an inde- pendent consumer label, which ap- pears on products as an independent guarantee that disadvantaged pro- ducers in the developing world are getting a better deal.

GENERAL election candidates have been warned that the issue of class sizes would meet them at every door- step in Clare.

Sheila Noonan, Deputy General Secretary of the INTO, told the Clare meeting on the issue that parents, teachers and all concerned with pri- mary class size must question every canvasser who called to the door.

Ann McMahon, Principal of New- market National School but speaking as a parent, said that if animals were in classrooms in groups of 35 or 36, the ISPCA would be called in to take action against overcrowding.

Chairperson of Ennis National School Parents Association, Aine Ni Riain stated that there were serious health issues surrounding the whole issue of overcrowded classrooms, and while it was a very exciting time educationally for children, large class sizes were blighting it.

Daithi O Byrne, a parent from Clonmoney National School, said politicians must realize the solidar- ity that existed between parents and teachers on the class-size issue.

Fr Gerry Kenny, Killaloe Diocesan Secretary and representative of the Catholic Primary Managers Associa- tion, lent his support to the campaign to cut class sizes.

He also outlined the support of Bishop Willie Walsh, patron of 150 primary schools in the Killaloe Dio- cese, for the campaign and stated that the Department of Education needed to plan for lower class sizes in all new school buildings.

Minister for Labour Affairs Tony Killeen (FF) told the meeting that he would take a clear message to the Taoiseach from Shannon that not enough had been done on the issue of class size.

Senators Brendan Daly (FF) and Timmy Dooley (FF) also undertook to represent and support the views of the meeting on the issue, as did La- bour candidate Pascal Fitzgerald.

Fine Gael election candidates Cllr Joe Carey, Cllr Tony Mulcahy and Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn said that their party would publish a policy document dealing with class size in primary schools, while party TD Pat Breen pointed out that there would be 58,000 more primary pu- piuls within the system by 2012.

Deputy James Breen (Ind) said in- dependent TDs had outlined their unified support for a year by year re- duction in class size to bring classes down to 20 as promised by the cur- rent Government.

The Green Party and their candi- date in Clare, Cllr Brian Meaney, supported this policy.

that

the majority of people with disabili-

ties cannot get driving licences and

that towns like Kilrush seem to cater

solely for the motorist and the easy flow of traffic.

“Roundabouts are unfriendly to

pedestrians,” he said pointing to the difficulty the Brothers of Charity cli- ents have when crossing the road at the top of Francis Street on the way in from Cappa and at the Supervalu roundabout.

Ms O’Leary outlined how it is al- most impossible for her to go to work everyday, as crossing the Kilkee road is a near impossibility.

With the help of her assistant she has written to the town hall outlin- ing her difficulty and intends to re- turn to the civic office every month to remind those in power that change is needed.

“It is a deadly dangerous road,’ she said of the road she lives on. “There is no zebra crossing, but there is a lollypop lady for the school children it is so dangerous.”

Wheelchair users also find it diffi- cult to move freely around the west Clare capital, as demonstrated by Patricia O’Dea.

Even with assistance it is difficult to keep the chair steady on some of the footpaths, while mounting and dismounting the path is a hazard.

As she moved up Francis Street and into the centre of town Patricia pointed to a number of shops and businesses she cannot enter due to a lack of a ramp.

Crossing the road is also difficult unless she travels long distances to the town’s crossings.

The greatest difficulty facing Pa- tricia and other wheelchair users however is people’s lack of consid- eration.

Motorists that park half way up on the footpath prevent her from using the path, forcing her to return home and not venture out, or risk her life by going on to the road in her chair.

The vocal Brothers of Charity group have made their feelings known to the town council at its meetings.

Town clerk Fiona Mooney told the

eroup that there is currently an audit of public places and areas underway and submissions are welcome. She said she would make the group aware of the procedure and welcomed their shay oleae

Town manager Bernadette Kinsella has invited the group to meet with the council’s HR manager to discuss the council’s policy on employing people with disability.

And while issues like disabilities may make an appearance on a coun- cil agenda from time to time, Kath- leen and her friends are determined to make it a monthly issue until ac- cess is resolved.

HALF of Clare’s primary school children are in overcrowded class- rooms.

As many as 71 per cent of pupils in the greater Ennis and Shannon area are being taught in classes larger than the approved number.

Declan Kelleher, the INTO District Representative, released the figures for the first time at a public meeting on the class-size situation. He stated that 36.3 per cent of primary pupils

in the two areas were in classes of 30 to 34.

Seven per cent were in classes of 35 and some 27.4 per cent were in classes of up to 29 pupils.

“This was a clear indictment of how primary education resourc- ing has been neglected for so long by so many governments,” said Mr Kelleher. “Outside of the Ennis and Shannon areas, there were also plenty of examples of large classes and, in many instances, pupils were in smaller schools in multi-classes,

where not alone is the pupil trying to cope with an overcrowded class- room, but she or he is also trying to cope with two, three or even four dif- ferent classes within the same class- room,” he added.

“The overall primary system re- mains the least funded of all sec- tors within education, with primary class size 1n Ireland being the second worst in the entire EU.”

“The Department of Children are currently examining a proposal to introduce after-school care into pri-

mary schools but at a ratio of one adult supervisor to 15 pupils. How come it is acceptable, therefore, to have the child in an overcrowded class of 30 pupils during the school CF haan t(omr- 0s) .Co16

Sean McMahon, Principal of Mul- lagh National School and incoming INTO executive representative for Clare, said there were hundreds of pupils in overcrowded classrooms in west and north Clare and these schools also had full-time teaching principals.

Class size is both an urban and rural issue according to the teachers and parents who attended the meeting in the Oakwood Arms in Shannon on Thursday. Principal of Bansha Na- tional School, Martina Sexton, told the meeting that her school had 54 pupils, with just two teachers look- ing after all eight classes.

The Department of Education and Science had turned down their ap- peal for an additional teacher.

In many instances highlighted, there were pupils with special education needs in overcrowded classrooms, or rooms with multiple classes, who frequently required one-on-one at- Kone te

Pupils whose first language was not English also have to cope with the large class sizes.

THE Bishop of Killaloe, Dr Willie Walsh has said that it irritates him when people suggest that bishops and priests are out of touch with life today.

He insisted that priests were very much in touch as a result of continu- ous dealings with families in diffi- culty.

‘I think the one area where we find

it difficult is to be 1n touch with the daily lives of young people, that 1s a difficulty.

“I would say to priests regularly that it is not just us that are finding life difficult at times in this era — that despite all the material progress, parents are finding it quite difficult CNM DO New DOM DB KOR

‘Also, whether it 1s young couples coping with pressures of mortgages, very long hours or work or it 1s cou- ples coping with teenage children.”

Dr Walsh went on, “I think that we have made great progress, financial- ly, economically, socially – in many ways in recent years.

“But I often think that, for some people, the Celtic Tiger hasn’t touched them and they are finding life difficult. I think of the ones who are successful 1n economic terms, very often they are under so much pressure they can’t enjoy the fruits.

“The way our society has devel- oped, there are an awful lot of people

who are under pressure.

‘Probably, we as priests tend to see more of it. We are more 1n touch with people who are suffering. Whether it is people suffering from poverty or tragedy, priests are very much in- volved in tragic events.”

He added: “We had so many priests that somehow in the 1950s, ’60s, °70s and ’80s that we didn’t encour- age lay people to get involved in the running of the Church. I suppose that if somebody has been doing that

all their lives, it 1s not easy if you come to 70, you tend to feel that you still have to do that. I would accept that we didn’t encourage lay people to take their responsibility.

Dr Walsh’s Lenten Letter sends out a call on lay people to get involved in the running of the Church.

He states: “It is not a question of helping the priest, it 1s a question of lay people and the priest working together, sharing their responsibili- on