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Kildysart Community Focus ree been working to provide Elderly Care and Childcare facilities for the

area.

The hardworking team is await- ing the decision of the council on its planning application to extend the community centre for Elderly Day Care facilities later this month.

The new childcare facility is planned as a stand-alone facility be- side the community centre.

The funding will now help with this massive undertaking by the local community to provide much needed community services to the growing town and the neighbouring commu- nities of Labasheeda, Cranny, Lissy- casey, Ballynacally and Coolmeen.

Plans are in place for a half crest

childcare building include a créche for toddlers, a playschool, and an af- ter schools service.

Mr Kelly said that once the facility is up and running parents will be able to leave their child in the centre after maternity leave, with the knowledge that the child can return there every day until they go to school.

To date the group has received €50,000 from the Dormant accounts for the elderly care facility and com- puters from the Department of the Taoiseach.

Furniture has also been bought ready for the new Elderly Care Cen- tre, if and when it gets the green light

from the local planning authority.

“Hopefully things will have started before the end of the year,’ said Mr Ths

Meanwhile Lissycasey has also got the green light from the Minister for Children as he allocated just over €900,000 for childcare facilities there. Welcoming the announcement Senator Brendan Daly (FF) said that childcare facilities were very impor- tant to the area.

“It 1s important to have proper fa- cilities for children in those early formative years. I would be keen to see these projects develop as soon as possible.”

A COURT has heard that a man Set fire to a house in west Clare, causing more than €100,000 in the process.

Bart Russell (59), of The Mews, Kilrush Road, Ennis, pleaded guilty to damaging a house by fire at Moy- glass Beg, Mullagh, in April 2005.

He also admitted a charge of crim- inal damage, at the same house, also in April 2005.

Sgt Joe Hehir told the court that the unoccupied house — the prop-

erty of Thomas and Mary Clancy — had been broken into and all the windows in the house had been bro- ken with a hammer.

Referring to the fire incident, he said the house was totally engulfed in flames and €120,000 damage was caused.

The court heard the accused is a voluntary patient in the acute psy- chiatric unit at Ennis General Hos- pital. He admitted his involvement in the incident.

Sgt Hehir said the injured parties have suffered gravely as a result of

what happened.

Defence barrister Michael Collins said his client suffers from bipolar disorder and has attempted suicide on a number of occasions.

“The case could not have been proved against him, but for his ad- missions,” said the barrister.

“This man is a serious risk to himself and needs active treatment, treatment he is getting at present,” he said.

He said his client was not a can- didate for an immediate custodial sentence and he said he was propos-

ing to the court that the psychiatric treatment would continue.

Judge Carroll Moran said he un- derstood the accused needed treat- ment and said he needed a sentence which was structured to include that treatment.

“We are going to try and help him, so long as he co-operates with us,” he said.

He adjourned the case until next month and ordered that the accused continue as a voluntary inpatient in the psychiatric unit, unless he 1s re- leased into the custody of his sister.

THE rising tide of the Celtic Tiger has failed to raise all boats and mem- bers of the Travelling community are worse off than they were 30 years ago, according to priest and head of Respond, Pat Cogan, formerly of the Killaloe diocese.

According to Fr Cogan, who was a chaplain to Travellers in Ennis in the 1970s, public hostility towards Trav- ellers has also increased over the last number of decades.

Speaking at the launch of Respond’s new Traveller accommodation and Support policy last week, Fr Cogan

raised concerns about a low take- up of second-level education among male Travellers in Ireland.

‘There has been a great improve- ment in the general wealth in Ireland over the last decade. But this has by- passed the ‘Travelling community to a large extent. One reason is that their family size tends to be growing consistently and this can make it dif- ficult,’ said Ned Brennan, Head of Operations at Respond.

‘The main reason is the educational issue; 1f the educational system does not work for Travelling people then how can they get the skills to sell to employers and take advantage of the

Celtic Tiger?”

Respond has identified suitable Traveller accommodation as one of its main priorities for the future and has appointed a Traveller accommo- dation officer whose sole responsi- bility will be to work with Traveller organisations.

Their new policy, which has been circulated to every local authority in the country including Clare County Council, is focused on a more uni- fied approach to dealing with Travel- ler issues.

“We want to bring about a much more unified approach to Traveller support. What we are offering to lo-

cal authorities is the use of our exper- tise of the last 25 years in how best to organise a coordinated Traveller sup- port,” continued Mr Brennan.

“We would be offering to work hand in hand with the councils and all the other involved agencies. We have cir- culated our policy document around to all local authorities, a number have got back to us and we would be very hopeful that all of them will over the next few weeks.”

Life expectancy for female Travel- lers is currently 12 years less than females from the settled community, while males die on average 10 years Cre Coe

THE artistic endeavors of more than 300 Clare children was celebrated this week at the Pol an Ionain cave in Doolin where the inaugural chil- dren’s Christmas art competition was judged.

After much deliberation, Oscar Healy from Cratloe came out on top in the competition which was crammed with quality work from all entrants.

“We did Santa Clause at the cave this year and as part of that we in- vited all the children who visited to take part in the art competition. We couldn’t get over the response, we

had 300 entrants from children all over Clare, it was really amazing,” said Helen Browne of Pol an Ionain.

“It was really interesting to see all the different things that the children could conjure up just with their 1m- aginations.”

The competition was judged by three arts school graduates who de- cided that Oscar’s drawing was the best of the hundred of entrants in a close competition.

“It was so difficult, they were all very good but there were six or seven pieces that were just excellent,’ con- tinued Helen.

‘He has created a scene which is based inside the cave. The stalac-

tite is in the background and in the foreground is Santa and two or three elves. The whole drawing is really fantastic, very well done.”

Pol an Ionain has been going from strength to strength since it opened less than one year ago.

“The cave has been going very well. We are operating a park and ride service from Bruach na Halla to the cave. This is to keep any disturbance of the natural environment of the area to an absolute minimum. It also means that only groups of 20 visit the cave at a time which makes it both a very intimate and eco-friendly expe- rience,’ continued Helen.

“We are open at weekends at the

moment and we will be opening full time after Paddy’s Day. It’s a great experience and allows people to view a sculpture of nature which has been in the making for millions of years.” The cave, which boasts the world’s largest free-hanging stalactite, was discovered in 1959 and was devel- oped using non-explosive drilling techniques to protect the ecology of the cave and its surrounding area.

A 17-YEAR-OLD youth has been convicted of assaulting a schoolboy during a school lunchbreak in Kil- Mut ee

Kilrush District Court heard that a 15-year-old boy — who is from west Clare — was walking along Moody’s Lane on January 9 last, when he met the accused and another individual,

who was not before the court.

The boy was repeatedly hit to the face with a clenched fist. The court was told that the accused urged the other individual to join in. He reluc- tantly did so. The young victim even- tually managed to run away.

He sustained a black eye, soft tis- sue damage to the nose, a lump to the side of the head and two lumps to the forehead.

The accused, who cannot be named because of his age, told the court that the young boy called him and his friend “scumbags and knackers,” and he then hit him.

The accused said the 15-year- old “doesn’t come into Kilrush any neuen

Supt Joe McKeown, prosecuting, asked him, “Why does he not come into Kilrush any more? … Because

of you.”

Supt McKeown added that the ac- cused has made life “a misery” for the boy and his family, but the ac- cused replied that this was not the OF Ton

“They have made my life a mis- ery, he said.

Judge Joseph Mangan convicted the youth of assault and fined him PAULO}

UNION and_ worker representa- tives have added their voices to the mounting demands that the Govern- ment put up money to save Shannon, in the face of the possible loss of a year-round direct link to the US. SIPTU, the largest airport union, wants the Govenment to put up cash to improve infrastructure, facilities

and to fund a major tourism market- nOTRG NW AY oe

Tony Carroll of SIPTU’s avia- tion branch said union members are “very dissapointed” that the trans- atlantic stopover is the price of the Open Skies deal.

“The proposal of a one-year lead in is too short entirely. A longer time- frame is needed to brace Shannon for the full impact of this,” he said.

Carroll added that there will need to be “substantial support” for the airport to market itself and win a slice of the lucrative US cake rather than letting visitors fly straight to Dublin.

One major concern is that even within the year long period which is intended as a lead-in to the end of the compulsory stop-over, flights might cease once the busy summer season

ends.

With airlines allowed to average out the number of Shannon flights, many associated with the airport fear that it is possible that the quota could be all allocated to summer services with no daily service in winter.

“The biggest threat is going to be that we could lose the year-round daily link with the USA. Not having direct access makes you uncompeta-

tive and unattractive as a destination for inward investment,’ said Carroll.

A spokesman for SIGNAL, the Shannon airport worker’s lobby eroup, said that it’s vital the Govern- ment move quickly.

“Now that Open Skies is definitely coming, it’s vital that the Govern- ment pull out all the stops in imple- menting the Tourism and Economic Development Plan.

GERRY Dunleavy was back in Doo- lin last week to help launch details for this year’s Michael Dunleavy Walk which will take place on April ey

The walk, which is now in its fifth year, 1S dedicated to the memory of Gerry’s young son Michael, who died aged just eight, because of an inoperable brain tumour.

The group, which has raised more than €90,000 for the Irish Cancer Society over the last four years, are hoping that this year’s event will be

the most successful to date.

“We are really hoping to push it this year. This is the fifth anniver- sary of the walk so we want to pull out all the stops. We want to make it the biggest walk ever,” said organiser Mary O’Connor. “It will be the same route as usual. We will start at the Russell Centre and people can have their choice of two routes, one of five miles or one of a shorter distance.

‘All the money raised goes towards the Irish Cancer Society. We try to channel the money towards child- hood cancer and research. We also save a good part of the money raised

to help local children who are suffer- ing from different illnesses.”

The Michael Dunleavy Foundation was established by Gerry and Toni Dunleavy in Boston in 2002. Doo- lin native Gerry and his Dublin-born Toni set up the charity following the death of their son Michael in Amer1- ca on December 28, 2002.

“We hope that our fundraiser will be an important element in the fight against cancer and brain tumours,” continued Mary. “Technology is moving at breakneck speed towards finding the cause of this disease but it requires a big investment that now

one of us could afford. But together we can help to hasten the day that a cure for cancer would be found.”

The money raised will be used pri- marily in the area of research into childhood cancer and in the support of affected families. A portion of this money also goes to help fund special- ists nurses who work on a one-to-one basis with child suffers of cancer.

Anyone interested in taking part in the walk can contact Mary on 087 9080412. A special bank account for all donations has been set up at the Bank of Ireland in Ennistymon, Ac- count number 32884701.

A YOUNG woman has told a court that she has become a “very different person” as a result of being stabbed, while she worked at an Ennis hotel.

Mia Buena (30), a Filipino national, was waitressing at the Auburn Lodge Hotel on January 2, when she was approached and stabbed in the back with a knife.

The accused, Tommy Dormer (33), of 11 Ashfield Park, Gort Road, En- nis, pleaded guilty at Ennis Circuit Court to assaulting Ms Buena, caus- Thokcap ates am ercvw eee

The victim told the court she has suffered gravely as a result of the stabbing, both physically and men- NOAA

“I thought it was my fault. I was blaming myself because I didn’t see it coming,” she said.

“I still haven’t been able to go back to the place where it happened,’ she Said.

She said her family in the Philip- pines depend on her and she is un- able to support them at the moment.

She said that under the conditions of her work permit, she should be working, but is unable to and now fears she will be deported.

She said she understands what the accused 1s going through.

Outlining the facts of the case to

the court, Detective Sergeant Joe O’Brien said Ms Buena has worked at the Auburn for five years and the accused regularly visits the hotel.

On the evening in question, he went into the bar where Ms Buena was serving customers.

“For no apparent reason whatso- ever, Tommy Dormer stabbed her in the back with a knife,’ he said. She sustained a stab wound to the shoul- Coe

He then went to a neighbouring house and requested that the emer- gency services be called.

The garda told the court the ac- cused said, “I’m on a mission of mer- cy.” While he waited for gardai to arrive, he said Hail Marys and Our Fathers. He said that Dormer said that “voices were telling him to do these things”.

He said the accused suffers from psychiatric problems and over the years there were several incidents of self-mutilation.

Judge Carroll Moran asked where the knife was recovered and the garda replied, “It was left in her back, my Lord”’.

Defence barrister Lorcan Connolly said his client suffers from chronic schizophrenia and that he put the blame for the incident firmly on his own psychiatric problems.

He said his client has never been in

trouble before and “all of a sudden he leaves his home and suddenly com- mits an act against a person who had been very good to him in the past”. He asked that the case be put back,

with the accused remaining in cus- tody, until a regime could be put in place, possibly in Cluain Mhuire, which the court would be satisfied with, on an interim basis.

Judge Carroll Moran adjourned the case until next month, for a Proba- tion Report to be completed.

10,000 for The Clare People each SINoEWAreey le rCM stm nKoNIos

circulation of 25,000 on Friday, we will have the potential to deliver almost 100,000 readers to our rap- idly expanding advertising base. The feedback from readers and advertis- ers alike indicate that this is a com- pelling combination’, he said. According to Managing Editor, Gerry Collison, The Clare People Weekender is a logical extension of that strategy and should add sig-

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