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ONGOING delays with postal services in Clare have been blown out of all pro- portion according to An Post.

The organisation blamed sections of the Communications Workers Union (CWU) for exacerbating the worries of the public by spreading miss-informa- tion about the quality of service being provided by An Post.

According to Anna McHugh, spokes- person for An Post, the CWU is trying to deflect attention away from the ballot on possible industrial action currently being Ce Sor6 b

“It most certainly is blown out of pro- portion and their is massive propaganda and mis-information being spread about mail centres, volumes and quality of service” she said on Monday.

She also stated that An Post wouldn’t be able to guarantee next day delivery until

new work practices had been adopted.

“Quality of service is not where we want it to be and that’s why we need these work practice changes. The target set out by COMREG 1s 94% and we have someway to go before achieving that fig- ure, but we are addressing the whole is- sue of timing to do with Clare and have given it a priority”.

The CWU has decided to ballot its members on possible industrial action after a failure by An Post to pay wage in- creases under the current national wage deal Sustaining Progress.

Staff at the Post Office in Ennis have been forced to work longer hours since the introduction of a new mail delivery system, which sees all mail distributed through regional mail centres. The de- livery delays, which are now into their second month, have been the source of much frustration to local residents and the business community.

Just last week Pat Breen T.D. high- lighted the problem when he claimed that only one in four letters posted within Clare were been delivered the next day. According to Rita McInerney from the Ennis Chamber of Commerce business- es in Ennis are bearing the brunt of An Post’s new policy.

She has criticised the reliability of the new delivery system which she said 1m- poses an extra cost on businesses.

“It is an extra expense. A lot of busi- nesses in Ennis have had to register their post because An Post can’t guarantee the service’.

She added that businesses were often forced to follow up postal deliveries with phone calls or faxes to ensure they had been delivered.

‘That is time delaying and in this day and age we should have an up to date postal system.”

DOONBEG golf course will host an open day at the Old Ground Hotel on November 5, as part of their recruitment drive.

80 new jobs are set to be created next year at the Greg Norman de- signed course. Work on the next stage of the $150 million development is about to commence.

The new _ facilities which includes a spa, res- taurants, bars and mem- ber facilities are due to open in Spring 2006.

There are a wide range of facilities on offer at the internationally renowned course, including restau- rant manager, spa man- ager, fitness room per- sonnel and bartenders.

Other areas where em- ployees are being sought include the kitchen, ac- counts administration and front office. The west Clare golf course cur- rently employs 50 people and this number is ex- pected to rise to 130 once the new facilities open.

While most positions are full-time there will also be some seasonal work during the high season April through October. “We believe that the opportunities available at Doonbeg offer success- ful candidates meaning- ful and really worthwhile employment in a profes- sional environment.

“Training will be an important component of all jobs. In anticipation of interest from all over the country we have been sourcing possible accom- modation in the area so we are confident that will not be a problem,” said Barry O’Connor assist- ant general manager at WeKomeyLbloy

Doonbeg will also hold an open day on October 22 in the community hall Doonbeg. Any interested applicants are invited to bring an updated copy of their C.V. to the Old Ground Hotel between 9.00 am and 5.00pm, and to the community hall, Doonbeg between 9.00am and 2.00pm.

PLANS for a commercial development that 1s expected to further rejuvenate the Drumbiggle area of Ennis have been thrown into doubt.

This follows residents from the Buttermarket area of Ennis appealing to An Bord Pleanala.

The group are contesting a decision by En- nis Town Council to grant planning permission to Pat Hansbury, Alan Collins and Donie and John Dillane for a four storey building.

The planned building will 18 apartments and four retail units, along with an underground car- park to accommodate 46 car-parking spaces.

Currently, the site 1s wasteland opposite En- nis town Council’s Drumbiggle headquarters.

The site was the former site of the rundown Drumbiggle flats before they were demolished by the Council. The Council subsequently sold the property and plans were lodged for the de- velopment earlier this year. The Council ruled that the development would not seriously injure the amenities of adjacent dwellings, that it is acceptable in terms of traffic safety and in the interests of proper planning and development.

The Council granted planning permission in spite of opposition from the Buttermarket resi- dents. The development has now been put on hold with the appeal lodged.

The residents state that “the development is excessive in scale and density for the site and cannot be contained adequately within its own boundaries in an acceptable manner without undue negative impact on the amenity and val- ue of surrounding properties.”

The group also contends that “the visual de- sign, massing and scale of the development is totally inappropriate to the area.

“If granted it will represent a missed opportu- nity to provide a building, or real architectural merit in this Architectural Conservation Area (ACA) near to a protected structure.

“The effective covering of almost all of the site has resulted in a development that adversely impacts on adjacent development.

“It sets a poor precedent for further develop- ment in the area. It has a visual and structural presence well in excess of what is appropriate to the area. And it would be more suitable to city centre high density forms of development than the centre of a medium order traditional atte as wrsem Key, ‘s0 ee

The residents state that they “are very con- cerned about the likely impact of the develop- ment on their properties.

“Some of the residents live in the small sin- gle-storey houses immediately to the north of the development site. Our clients have been sur- prised by the way their legitimate concerns for privacy and amenity in these rear garden areas have been dismissed by the Council in its as- sessment of this issue

“It is not acceptable that for reasons for prop- er planning and sustainable development that the amenity and privacy of houses in the vicin- ity should be compromised in this way by pro- viding a ‘wall of development 6.8 metres high along the rear of their garden areas.

“The board should note that this street is used extensively by school children walking to the nearby national school. Traffic generated by the development in these circumstances would be a serious traffic hazard.

A decision is due on the appeal in January of next year.

CHRISTMAS may still be a little bit too far away for most to think about, but there are some in Ballyvaughan who have already started planning just how to make this festive season a little bit different for the people of North Clare and beyond.

This year Ireland’s first European style out- door Christmas market will take place in Bal- lyvaughan with a whole host of activities, shop- ping and cheer which is sure to warm the hearts of locals and_ visitors alike.

The idea of an outdoor Christmas market has been popular in Germany and Austria for several fonabnw lee

These markets, the most famous of which takes place in Nurem- berg and Vienna, allow shoppers to buy presents outdoors in a leisurely atmosphere where the stopping is mixed with an occasional glass of mulled wine and some local delicacies.

The markets were orig- inally began by traders who would lay out their goods for a few days in a town’s market area.

As it developed the market became more sophisticated with fairs being held over a longer period before Christmas, and always around the town’s main church.

Indeed, these markets became so popular that a priest in Nuremberg complained in 1616 that he couldn’t hold the after- noon service on Christ- mas Eve because nobody attended mass because of the market.

Last year the Bally- vaughan Christmas mar- ket started out as a spon- taneous idea born only two months before the start of the market.

This year however, the organisers have gone one step further with the purchase of traditional wooden huts which will

be erected in St John’s Hall.

The stall will sell a wide range of products and serve food and drink from these huts.

The stalls will decorat- ed with fir garlands and chains of lights while inside the hall there will be a large array of crafts, gifts and food.

This year there will be 28 traders, the major- ity of which will be lo- cal craftsmen, as-well-as horse trap rides around he village and _ carol singing. Aside from the market visitors to Bal-

lyvaughan will be able to take in performances from Galway’s award- winning Cois Cladaigh Chamber Choir and John SUE Teen

As-well-as these con- certs there will also be a series of workshops on topics such as Christmas entertainment, Christmas decorations using natural materials and floral dec- orations. The Christmas market will run from 10 am to 6 pm on December 3,4, 8, 10, 17 and 18.

For more information: www.bally vaughanire- land.com

CLARE County Council was last night ac- cused of failing the Clare public in not tack- ling illegal dumping in County Clare. The charge was made by Clarecastle council- lor Joe Carey (FG), as it emerged that the number of detected dumps cleaned up by Clare County Council was already 60 per cent more this year than for the entire of Aue

Figures supplied by the council’s Head of the Environment, Ger Dollard, showed that 51 tonnes of waste from illegal dumps had been cleared to date this year, compared to 32 tonnes for the whole of 2004. Mr Dol- lard said that, so far this year, approximately 40 illegal dumps had been removed by the elton ep

Cllr Joe Carey said, “Illegal dumping is a

huge problem in Clare and is not being prop- erly tackled by the council. There is a need to dramatically increase the budget for waste enforcement.”

Over the past three years, the council has spent €1.13 million on waste enforce- ment, with the grant from the Department of the Environment being €403,000 this year alone. Cllr Carey told the meeting that there was a clear obligation on the council to remove illegal dumps, demanding that a report be brought before the council on the improvements made.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn (FG) said that the large increase was a sign of in- creased vigilance by the council, but also a disastrous sign that illegal dumping was on the increase. Cllr Martin Conway (FG) urged the council to employ additional Envi- ronmental Patrol Wardens.

In response, the Director of Services Ger Dollard said, “The amount of resources de- voted to investigation and follow-up of illegal dumping is significant. One aspect of illegal dumping 1s fly tipping, which is visible from public areas and generates the majority of public complaints. However, a large resource is also devoted to sites not visible from public spaces by means of aerial surveys, checking of movements of waste collectors and so on. I am satisfied that the current complement of three wardens is adequate to meet current needs and requirements. The council would see benefit in the deployment of the EPWs directly to area offices and will consider such an approach, along with other issues which are currently being addressed.”

However, Cllr Conway said that Mr Dol- lard’s claim that three EPWs was enough to cover the county was “fanciful”.

A FATHER-OF-FOUR with 90 previous con- victions, who faced the reactivation of a sus- pended five-year sentence, was jailed for four years yesterday at Ennis Circuit Court.

Michael James McDonagh (32) of 23, Bal- lycaseymore, Shannon, appeared before Judge Carroll Moran to appeal a District Court rul- ing, which resulted in him being sentenced to 12 months in jail for making unlawful threats against three individuals, including his wife, in Shannon last January.

McDonagh also appealed the severity of two other sentences, totalling four months, for

public order offences, to which he had pleaded guilty.

Earlier this year, McDonagh was convicted of threatening to kill his wife Kathleen McDon- agh and their neighbour Breda Smith.

The court heard that, on January 3 last, the accused was heard saying to his wife Kathleen outside their home, “I will do you, and Breda as well.”

Mr McDonagh’s legal team argued however that the phrase “I will do you” could not be taken as a genuine threat to kill or cause seri- O)erSmar-usee

Judge Moran ruled that there was not enough evidence to sustain the convictions for making

unlawful threats and allowed the appeal.

The court was told since the five-year sentence was suspended in May 2003, Mr McDonagh has been convicted of eight separate offences in Ennis, Shannon, Arklow, Roscrea and Athlone including road traffic and public order offences and breach of an exclusion order.

“The five years sentence was suspended on the basis that the accused behave himself. There are six separate incidents under appeal here today.

“Looking around, I would not be surprised if the entire constabulary from Shannon Garda Station is in this courtroom,’ Judge Moran said before making his ruling.

The judge allowed the appeals in relation to four charges.

But he affirmed the District Court rulings in several others for which Mr McDonagh was sentenced to a total of 12 months in prison.

He ordered the reactivation of a five-year sen- tence, which he reduced to four, previously 1m- posed on McDonagh following his conviction for the larceny of €20,000.

He backdated that sentence to February last and ordered the 12-month sentence to run con- currently with it.

McDonagh had to be restrained by gardai af- ter he resisted attempts to be handcuffed and was led away to begin his sentence.

this week, Ward expressed his satisfaction at the balance that currently ex- ists in the squad.

‘We probably played better earlier on than we have done lately but we will be hoping for an improvement on Sunday. There is a good few young players coming through at the moment and we are delighted with that, along with hav- ing the older experienced lads like the Sheedys and those lads.”

Clarecastle will hold some advantage over the Shannon side going into Sunday’s clash given that they have had an extra week to prepare. Clarecastle overcame a battling per-

formance from Newmarket a week ago while Wolfe Tones turned in an assured perform- ance to brush aside the challenge of Barefield. Ward agrees that Wolfe Tones enter the game

as slight favourites, a tag which he believes is justified, but one which his side won’t be over- awed by.

“When you are hurling you can never have

enough time off. There is never an ideal time for a match. We are delighted to have the extra week. It has been a long year and we have been out since the beginning of March, so we are glad to be coming up to the county final so we are delighted it is now rather than later on.

“They (Wolfe Tones) are the favourites. I saw the game at the weekend and they are very good and the favourites – that’s the way it should be. We are going there to compete so after the match we will know who is the best team”

According to Ward preparations have gone smoothly with the only real injury concern be- ing Danny Scanlon who is expected to recover fully from a concussion sustained in the semi- nue

‘Preparations have been going fairly well. We came back in the middle of the week so the training has been going fine we have been fairly happy with it. We have trained on sched- ule and will train tonight and again on Wednes- day night and that will be the end of it. Danny Scanlon was out after the Newmarket match – he is expected to come back tonight and other than that we have what I would call normal wear and tear.”

IRISH singer songwriting legend Paddy Ca- sey will be in Ennistymon later this month to play a special charity concert in aid of the towns new Steiner Primary School.

The hugely popular artist will appear in the Falls Hotel on Friday October 21 to per- form a once-off intimate gig.

All proceeds from the event will to to- wards the newly established Mol An Oige Steiner School which opened it’s doors for the first time in September.

The school, which 1s the first of its kind in the area, was set up and continues to run on a completely voluntary basis by local people.

“It promises to be a really great night,” said Roisin who is one of the people respon- sible for setting up the concert.

“We are really delighted to have Paddy play. He is an excellent live act and was voted the best performer at the Oxygen Fes- tival last year.”

‘Paddy has supported REM, Bob Dylan, Alanis Morisette and Katie Melua so we are looking forward to a great night at the Falls, which will be an excellent, intimate venue for someone of his calibre,” she continued.

The Mol An Oige school is located across from the childcare unit in Data Display in Ennistymon.

At present 12 children are enrolled in the school which is taught by Inagh teacher Una Ni Ghairbhith who is a qualified primary school teacher who has two years of experi- ence in using the Steiner method.

The Steiner method is a system of active learning, which is designed to help children learn through a variety of traditional and non-traditional methods.

For example, a maths class in a Steiner school can include rhyme, a variety of dif- ferent games, or even children using the movements of their own bodies to learn.

Playing support to Paddy Casey on the night will be two Clare bands; Bondeko and The Filth.

Bondeko are a eclectic world music band featuring saxophone, drums, guitar, key- boards and powerful male harmonies.

The Filth will bring an element of rock and ska to the concert which will have something to suit everyone’s tastes.

Tickets for the concert cost €20 and are available in Ennis from the Little Silver Mines and Custy’s music shop.

They are also for sale locally in Ennisty- mon at the Sugan chair restaurant, Crosbies craft shop, Unglerts and the Falls Hotel it- self.

Only 700 tickets are available for the unique event to early booking is a must.

THREE members of the travelling commu- nity who were involved in an altercation out- side Ennis swimming pool, have each been fined €600.

Before Ennis District Court were Chris- topher McDonagh (30), 1 Davit Terrace, Cloughleigh, Ennis; 38-year-old Bernard Mc- Donagh, | Ashline, Ennis; and Christopher Mongan (27), with an address in Clondalkin, Dublin, arising out of an incident on June 26, 2003.

Garda Val McCormack told the court that Bernard and Christopher McDonagh had been in the gym part of the pool when a car,

in which Christopher Mongan was travelling, pulled in to the car park.

“Tt’s alleged the McDonaghs came from the pool, went to their car, took weapons, includ- ing slash hooks and sticks, and went to hit the car in which the Mongans were travelling,” said Gda McCormack.

He said it was alleged by the McDonaghs that the Mongans also had weapons in their car. Gardai searched the pool area, but didn’t find any implements or weapons. He said there were allegations that the accused shout- ed abuse at each other and took their shirts off.

Judge Joseph Mangan imposed a fine of

AN exciting new exhibition of paintings by Christopher Banahan will open this Saturday in the Rus- sell Gallery in New Quay.

The exhibition, which 1s entitled ‘Recent Paintings’, will be opened by the Galway Arts Officer James Harrold and will run until Novem- ber 12.

‘Recent Paintings’ will feature a selection of paintings undertaken from when Banahan first started exhibiting in Ireland about 10 years ago up until the present day and a series of landscape painting influenced by the artists move to the Galway Bay last year.

A recurring theme in his paint- ings is the destructive force that nature can have upon both natural and man-made surfaces.

This can be seen not only in his earlier, Pompei influenced frag- mented frescos, but also in his Iconic Gold leaf Madonna’s and Deities, his contemplative portraits of children and his present Burren inspired ethereal landscapes and flowers.

Indeed his most recent works explore many themes especially relevant in the Burren such as the ways by which natural erosion re- flects the vulnerability and fragil- ity of life.

Christopher Banahan regularly shows at the Hallward Gallery in Dublin and has been extensively exhibiting in galleries throughout the country. Indeed Mr Banahan has taken part in successful exhi- bitions around the world including the Boston University, Irish Insti- tute for European Affairs in Lou- vain and the Academia Britannica in Rome.

Earlier this year he was also se- lected to represent Ireland in the “Contemporary Art From Ireland” exhibition at the European Central Bank in Frankfurt.

His work has also been included in many private and corporate col- lections including Microsoft, AIB, the Arts Council of Ireland, Ball- inglen Foundation Mayo, Con- temporary Art Society of Great Britain and the Office of Public Works in Dublin.