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THE Ennis couple that received over €100,000 and two free sites from a devel- oper after they withdrew their objection to a housing development planned, have lodged a fresh objection against a new residential plan proposed by the same developer.

Last year, it emerged that Vincent and Ann Coffey of Clonroad, Ennis, withdrew their objection against a €20 million housing scheme at the Quin Road, Doora, by Luxury Homes (Galway) Ltd, after the company paid them over €100,000 and gave them two free sites.

However, the Coffeys successfully blocked a subsequent application by the same de-

velopers to build a new €10 million devel- Opment on zoned lands in Ennis after they lodged an objection against the proposal.

Last month, Luxury Homes (Galway) Ltd. lodged plans with the Council for 108 two- bedroom apartments at Doora, Ennis.

The proposal lies in the adjacent field to the development that was turned down last year, due to the Coffey’s opposition.

In their objection against the new proposal, the Coffeys stated concerns over the devel- opment relating to traffic safety, the layout of the scheme and the density of the proposal.

A number of residents in the existing Bru- ach na hAbainn estate have also objected to the proposal.

In their objection, the Coffeys state, “The

density of the proposal is excessive when taken in context with the established pattern of development in the area. This submission simply seeks to maximize density to the det- riment of the future residents of the area.

“This disintegrated zonal separation of res- idential areas, traffic routes and open space being created by the proposal is undesirable and no effort is being made to integrate it with the adjoining permitted development, carried out by the current applicant.”

Expressing concerns over the nature con- servation of the area, the Coffeys state, “The site of the proposal is in the callows of the River Fergus.

‘These lands are rich in wildlife and this is an area of scientific interest. This develop-

ment if permitted will destroy this important habitat adjoining the river and is contrary to the proper planning and development of the area.”

The Board Pleanala Inspector’s report, which revealed the payment made to the Coffeys on the previous application, re- counts a letter from the Coffeys that at no time did they approach the developers with the intention of securing payment of money, gifts, consideration of other inducement by any person.

Managing Director of Luxury Homes (Galway) Ltd, Sean Cleary was yesterday unavailable for comment. A decision 1s due on the application in October.

THE Mayor of Ennis has expressed con- cern that manufacturing companies are not setting up in the town, in the wake of the announcement that Roche Ireland in Clare- castle, is to shed 35 jobs over the next 18 TneLOyedetse

Mayor Frankie Neylon said the news from Roche was very disappointing for the town. “I am hoping this will be the end of the lay-offs in Ennis. These jobs will be shed over 18 months so it is not as bad as if it was before Christmas. But very few jobs have been created in Ennis in recent years and there has been several closures.

“The lack of manufacturing jobs here is not good. Companies can go elsewhere for a quarter of the price and that is something we have no control over,” said Cllr Neylon.

He expressed disappointment that there appeared to be few prospects of companies setting up at the Technology Park in the rey aee

“One unit is occupied by Clare County Council and Shannon Development occu- pies part of another. I don’t see anything new coming in there and that is very dis- appointing. People are leaving Ennis every day to work elsewhere,” he said.

Ennis Chamber of Commerce CEO Rita McInerney said while job losses were dif- ficult at any time, this blow didn’t really re- flect the overall performance of Roche.

“It is a worrying trend in terms of the way manufacturing is going in this country as a whole. We have to look at ways of attract- ing this type of industry into the region. Manufacturing is leaving Ireland and is going to countries where labour costs are lower,’ said Ms McInerney.

“We have to attract high quality jobs which require a high level of education. We have a very well-educated workforce in the town,” she added.

A production unit at the pharmaceutical plant – which manufactures naproxen, a pain reliever used for arthritis – will close by the end of next year. The company said price competition was a key issue in the de- TSO

‘There are less costly sources of naproxen intermediate in the market place than from the Roche supply chain,” said a spokesper- son for Roche.

Roche has been in existence in Clarecas- tle since 1974. With a current workforce of 270, which is supplemented by 100 contract staff, it 1s Ennis’s biggest employer.

The company will attempt to reach the job cut target through a voluntary sever- ance programme.

THE new Telemedicene service was launched by Albert Reynolds in hospi- tals in Ennis last week.

The Mid-Western Regional Hospi- tal, Ennis and Cahercalla, will benefit from the this new consultancy service.

This new service will allow doctors from all over the world to offer online ob TFs slot

Special tributes were paid to fami- lies that played a major role in bringing the service to Clare.

Marie O’Sullivan initiated a fund- raising drive after her sister Caroline, died from cancer when she was 13.

She wrote to schools asking students to donate a euro each for cancer treat- ment.

This led to the Ireland Children for Children Foundation leading a drive to bring Telemedicene to hospitals throughout Ireland.

On Wednesday, Marie’s fundrais- ing efforts were recognised with the

installation of the new technology in Ennis Mid-Western.

At Cahercalla Hospital another Tele- TNasLON (CAI emN To M’s (CONE RM UDER oI OLsOe

During this ceremony Andrew and Loretta McLoughlin also presented a cheque for €13,500 to the hospital in memory of Anna McLoughlin.

Anna McLoughlin died from cancer in 2002.

Mr Reynolds paid tribute to the ef- forts made by all families who had helped in the fundraising efforts.

He also revealed that the service may become more widespread throughout Ireland.

‘The Department of Health and the new health authorities are considering making it a new national programme and putting proper structures in place.

“They are planning to talk to us about bringing it to more a adult hospi- tals,” said Mr Reynolds.

The former Taoiseach is currently chairman of the the Ireland Children for Children Foundation.

IT’S clear that the govern- ment, and the computer software industry sector are seriously worried about the fall-off in interest in careers in ICT Gnformation and com- munications — technologies), science and engineering.

The question being asked is where are the innovators of the future going to come from? More basically, as Bill Harris the director general of Science Foundation Ireland said last week: “without en- gineers, how are we going to make things?”

So, national and regional partners in the ICT industry have now come together in a concerted effort to promote the ICT industry as a career, by sending role models work- ing in ICT companies into schools to talk about their careers. The idea is to encour- age secondary school students to take science and technol- ogy based subjects at Leaving Certificate level, and to con-

sider ICT-related courses at third-level, including compu- ter science, science and elec- WUCereU oT aNieunetee

As part of a nationwide ef- fort to promote the take-up of high-tech careers, the ICT Champions programme was launched in Shannon last week, with a briefing work- shop in Intel Communications for the role models taking part in the programme.

Three Clare schools have already signed up for visits from the ICT’ Champions – St Caimin’s in Shannon, En- nistymon Secondary School, and Kilrush Community School. The Champions will be visiting them to tell the students what roles, oppor- tunities and challenges ex- ist within the industry. Intel, which has a cutting-edge re- search and development facil- ity in the Shannon Industrial Estate, and Dell and Chorus in County Limerick, have supplied over 20 volunteers to visit schools.

“Intel will be approaching other Clare schools to see if they are interested in the pro- gramme,’ Hannah Grene of ICT Ireland told

CLARE woman Lottie McClure has been re-appointed to the board of the National Disability Authority (NDA).

A native of Shannon, Mrs McClure will work with the statutory body that advises the Government on the co-ordination and development of policy on disability.

She has already warned about the dan- gers of funding for the disabled being ab- sorbed by administrators.

“Unless proper structures are put in

place, standards for services are introduced and services are co-ordinated across all Government Departments, there is a real danger that the bulk of this money could be absorbed by administrators and service providers instead of making a real impact on the daily lives of people with disabili- ties” she said last week.

Due to a streamlining strategy, the board of the NDA has been cut from 23 to 13 members. Mrs McClure believes this will allow the organisation to adopt a more “fo- cused approach”.

Along with transport and education the issue of personal assistance grants for people with disabilities is a major issue in ETc

“There is great demand for personal as- sistants but unfortunately there is an is- sue with funding and this is something I hope to address through my work with the board” said Mrs McClure who is also involved with the Clare Branch of People with Disabilities in Ireland.

A LIMERICK man who assaulted a bar staff member after he was refused entry to a pub during a festival in Sixmilebridge, has been jailed for three months.

But Thomas Power (43), of Sul- lane Crescent, Raheen, Limerick, will not serve time, if he carries out 200 hours community service.

Shannon District Court was told that the accused struck a Mr Hunt, after he was refused entry at The

Mill Bar, Sixmilebridge, on Janu- ary 8, 2005.

Defending solicitor Daragh Has- sett told the court his client was in Sixmilebridge for a festival that day. A session was taking place at the back of the bar and when he was not allowed in, he hit out.

He said his client had problems with alcohol and had “fallen off the wagon” over the years. He said the incident was a “watershed” for his client and he had not drank al-

cohol since it took place.

Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned the case until November, to allow for a community service report to be carried out and remanded the accused on bail until then. He 1m- posed a number of bail conditions, including that the accused abstain from alcohol, stay out of licensed premises, stay out of Clare, except for court attendances and report to Henry Street Garda Station in Limerick once a week in a “sober and orderly condition.”

Sentencing of a man who exposed himself and masturbated in front of a female hitch-hiker has been adjourned, pending a probation report.

Joe Clynes (33), with an address at 154 Hermit- age, Ennis, and formerly of 15, Millstream Court, Mill Road, Ennis, was convicted of the offence, which occurred at Dehomade, Lissycasey, in ALvb iter

The victim told a previous court sitting that she

had been hitching on the outskirts of Ennis on June 11, 2002, and accepted a lift from Clynes. A short distance from Ennis, she said she saw his hand on his “groin area” and his “elbow was mov- ihre

After a while, she saw “the head of his penis.” When she tried to get out of the car, the accused told her “it’s all right now” and he offered to drive her the rest of the way to Kilrush. The woman said she got out of the car and was “pretty scared”’ at that point.

In June, Judge Joseph Mangan adjourned the matter until last week’s court sitting at Kildysart, pending preparation of a probation report.But, when the matter came up, the judge was informed that there appeared to have been some misunder- standing, as Clynes had changed address. Clynes told the court he now lived at Hermitage, Ennis.

Judge Mangan told Clynes he would not accept any excuses at the next court sitting. “If you don’t hear from the probation services, you get 1n touch eLNemealsse me

GARDAI investigating — the death of Ann Walsh in Kilrush almost three weeks ago, are ap- pealing for anyone who may have seen her during the final moments of her life, to come forward.

The body of the 23-year-old was found in the grounds of St Senan’s church on Toler Street shortly after 11pm on the night

of Wednesday, August 24 last.

A number of people who saw Ms Walsh in the John Street, Looney Lane and Toler Street areas of the town up to 10pm, have come forward. However Supt Joe McKeown, who is leading the investigation, is ap- pealing for others to come for- FEO B

“There has been a huge re- sponse from the public in the Kilrush area, but we still want

to speak with people who may have seen Ann between 10pm and Ilpm and who may have seen anything suspicious,” said Supt McKeown.

A team of gardai continue to work on the case, at the incident room set up at Kilrush garda station.

The incident room can be contacted at 065 9080550, or people can ring the Garda Con- fidential Line, 1800-666-111.

CLARE County Council has secured an exclusion order against a couple living in a housing estate in Ruan, after a court heard their neighbours were subjected to hardship and ‘serious threats” as a result of their behaviour.

Mark and Louise Woodbridge had resided at Toormore Es- tate in Ruan, prior to their eviction by the Council over a week ago.

Brendan Murphy told Ennis District Court that he lived with his wife and family directly across from the home the Woodbridges had resided in. He is a tenant of Clare County Council.

He said he moved in at the end of July and became aware of the Woodbridges at the beginning of August. He said the

couple were fighting amongst themselves in their garden on one occasion and were ‘loud and vulgar.’ He said there was an instance where they hit their own car and shouted abuse at each other.

He was awakened one night to hear a lady screaming for help and she then “turned her anger towards us,’ Mr Murphy told the court.

He said his family received death threats, threats that the windows on his house would be broken and that his car would be damaged, while his children were called “vulgar” names.

“We couldn’t leave our house. There were serious threats that gangs would come down from Dublin with guns and kill us,’ he said.

The troubles continued on a daily basis, he said. Louise Woodbridge would lean out of the window of her house and

make threats to her neighbours.

He said he did not know the Woodbridges and this type of activity could take place at any time of the day or night. “We were terrified of them. We don’t know the people. We didn’t know how serious their threats were,” he said.

Clare County Council estates manager Dan Keane told the court that he notified the Woodbridges about the court hear- ing. However the couple did not appear.

Barrister Pat Quinn said he was applying for the interim or- der made a week previously to be confirmed as an exclusion order, to remain in place for three years. He pointed out that the couple had obeyed the interim order.

Judge Joseph Mangan said he was acceding to the applica- nto

THE highlight of the past weeks greyhound racing was the win of ‘Knappogue Roy- al’ in the final of the Galway Hurling Board A4 stake at the Galway track on Friday night.

The dog had been a good servant to owner Martin McDermot of Kilrush, win- ning some valuable races over the summer months and collected a cheque of €2,000 on this occasion. ‘Larch- ill Wood’ owned by Ciara Donoghue of Ennis took his chance after coming in as a reserve in trap 2 to win ina

time of 29.32 on Thursday night.

The final of the A5 Stake takes place this week, and also looking forward to a stake final at the weekend will be a long time supporter of the game Tom Flanna- gan of Ennistymon. His dog ‘Mythical Flyer’ secured his spot in the final after dead heating for first place in race 3. Race 7 on Thursday night’s card went to ‘Aulton Nikiata’ owned by Pat Hog- an of Barefield, the winners time was 30.96 seconds for the 550 yards trip. Excite- ment also continues this coming weekend for Ennis

man Frankie Sheehan. His dogs ‘Sheehans Cottage’ and ‘Joint Cottage’ did enough in there respective races on Fri- day and Saturday night and are now in line to collect big prize money.

‘Baby Lleyton’ owned by Bertie and Mary O’Doherty of Ennis was Clare’s only winner at the College Road venue on Saturday night. This was the dogs first win housed in trap one, the win- ners time was 29.78 *Lisnac- ulla Dream’ owned by Gerry Lang of Ballyea and ‘Rex the Rocket’ will also be in the line up at the Loughrea Hurling Club A3 Stake Final

this coming weekend.

Seamus and Aidan Dug- gan of Ennis kept the Clare flag flying at Limerick on Thursday night, winning race 2 with ‘Plenty of early’ in a time of 29.56. The same partnership returned on Sat- urday night with ‘Castleweir’ to finish second in the Tote retention scheme. There is €10,000 to the winner here and the Ennis lads will be hoping to maintain they’re interest over the coming weeks. Sixty dogs went to traps for the first round heats on Saturday night.