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FIRE BRIGADE personnel in Ennis have refused to operate a new €600,000 piece of essential fire-fighting vehicle, in an ongoing row with Clare County Council over its con- tinued refusal to pay bench-marking entitle- ments.

Fire-fighters at the county’s busiest sta- tion have refused to participate in a training course, which they are required to attend be- fore they can operate the new vehicle.

As aresult, the new Bronto Hydraulic Plat- form sits idle in a shed at the council’s ma- chinery yard at the rear of Ennis fire station, and is likely to do so for a while.

It has also emerged that Ennis Fire Serv- ice’s existing hydraulic platform is not capa- ble of extending to the top floors or roofs of some of the town’s tallest buildings. The new custom-built HP or cherry picker, which ar- rived in Ennis last week, has more than twice the reach of the existing appliance and for the first time will enable Ennis Fire Brigade reach the uppermost levels of several build- ings on the Mill Road in particular.

“As it stands, if there was a major blaze in one of those apartment buildings, we would have no way of evacuating people from the top floor, unless they could get down a level or two first. If anyone was trapped on the top floor, we would have a serious problem get- ting to them,’ according to fire-fighters.

“We will not set foot inside the new appli- ance until we have received our benchmark- ing. Every other employee in the Town Coun- cil and County Council has received theirs, so why should we be any different.

“We are the only station in the county with an agreement with management and they still won’t pay up. We are the only fire service in the country, which has not yet received bench marking payments, every other county has,” said one frustrated fire-fighter.

A council spokesperson said that the concil had “not been formally notified of fire-fight- ers refusal to operate any equipment .. . Fur- thermore, all employees are required under successive national agreements, to comply with modernisation and technology and we anticipate their full cooperation in this mat-

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A MEMBER of An Taisce has warned opponents that even if it were delisted as an official body, it could still object to planning applications, “the same as a pri- vate citizen”.

Grier som COWZ INO MR eee kor sponding to Kilbaha’s Jim Con- nolly, secretary of the Irish Rural Dwellers Association (IRDA).

Ms McMullen argued that An Taisce had objected to just one one-off house in the county last year and, even if the organi- Sation did not exist, members could still have objected as pri- vate citizens.

She made her objections from the floor of the IRDA conference in Kilkee, after Mr Connolly said that the way An Taisce operated was “completely undemocratic”.

“My arguments are completely removed from personalities. Of- ficials and elected officers of An Taisce come and go. My argu- ment revolves around the basic principles that never change,” he Tne

‘An Taisce is a listed body un- der the Planning Acts. Planning

authorities are obliged to seek their opinion in certain specified situations.

“However, An ‘Taisce stands apart from all these other bodies in one vital aspect, and that is, it is an independent, voluntary

organisation whereas all the rest are statutory bodies,” he argued.

“An Taisce 1s, in effect, a se- cret society in that they refuse to publish names and details of their members. They claim privilege as a voluntary organi-

sation for private membership, but this presents an immediate contradiction with democratic principles, when they are listed to perform a statutory function.”

‘There is no place whatsoever in a democratic society for either a statutory body, or any other organisation performing a statu- tory duty, to function as a secret society,’ he said.

Ms McMullen said An Taisce was not a secret organisation, but under the Data Protection Act, could not publish members name. She said the aim of An Taisce was to protect Irish herit- age.

‘We have a very open system. Any letter we write is on file in the planning office. We are not obliged to follow Government policy.

“The impression is given that An Taisce objects to every one- off house. In 2004, in Clare, only three appeals were made by An Taisce and only one was made on rural houses.

“The majority of appeals are not against one-off houses. Plan- ners often ignore us completely,” she argued.

ENNIS CHESS CLUB travel to Italy on September 16 to take on Europe’s finest in the European Team Championships.

They become the first team from Munster to take part in the prestigious tournament.

Ennis and Phibbsboro will rep- resent Ireland at the event which takes place St. Vincent.

Ennis qualified after they fin- ished second to Phibbsboro in the final round of the All-Ireland championships.

It has been a successful year all round for the club. They beat close rivals Limerick in May, to capture the Munster Championships for the second year in the row. Europe will represent a sterner test for the team. Several of the worlds top players will compete at St Vincent

including current world champion Vladimir Kramnik.

“It’s going to be tough. If we can win a few games we’ll be delight- ed” said John Cassidy, captain of Ennis Chess Club, this week.

The team will be without the services of the talented Gawain Jones, who will be competing at the ul8 European Championships in Bosnia. The Ennis chess club meets every Tuesday in Brandons

Bar. John hopes that their partici- pation the tournament will help to raise the profile of the sport around Clare.

“Hopefully by competing in Italy we will be able to attract a few new members and put Ennis on the map.”

As part of their efforts to raise funds for the trip, Ennis chess club will host a table quiz in Brandons Bar on Wednesday night.

SCAFFOLD TOWERS

ENTERPRISE, Trade and Employment Minister Micheal Martin is to enter into a process of discussions with unions representing Shannon Development about the company’s future, follow- ing a meeting of the parties last week.

Talks involving SIPTU, the NUJ, the Minister and his of- ficials will commence over the coming weeks and are not expected to end until at least October.

A spokesperson for the unions told The Clare Peo- ple they would be asking the Minister to justify his pro- posal to transfer its industrial portfolio to the IDA.

Taoiseach Bertie Ahern, on a visit to Clare on Saturday, sought to justify his Muinis- ter’s decision.

“The analysis, which is in the public domain, was that this was the best way forward and the Government made a decision on that basis. It’s a democracy and people are entitled to put forward their counter views and they have done that, and I understand Minister Martin is looking at those issues,” he said, after

meeting a deputation from Shannon Development.

Radical proposals from SIPTU to overhaul the role and structure of Shannon Development, including the abolition of its present board, were rejected by the Govern- ment.

The SIPTU document was lodged prior to Minister Martin announcing a reduced mandate for Shannon Devel- opment in July. The Board of Shannon Development also lodged a 10-year plan with the Miunister. Both papers were ignored.

The SIPTU document stated serious concern about the reasons behind the Gov- ernment’s focus on changing Shannon Development.

“We are deeply concerned that an overly simplistic, al- most chess-like game with the company and the Shan- non region’s future is being played out from a remote dis- tance in Dublin. In our view, this is motivated by an exces- sive and dangerous over-con- centration on the neatness and tidiness of admiunistra- tive structures.”

It proposed a more inclusive board, with members drawn from organisations such as IBEC, the Mid-West Region-

al Authority, the Shannon Airport Authority and local chambers of commerce.

Reduced staff numbers, from 165 to 120/130 through voluntary redundancy and natural wastage, were also eebaviteee

It claimed that rents from properties in the Shannon Free Zone accruing to the agency, amounted to a net figure of between €lm and €1.5m, rather than the €6 million previously thought. The figure doesn’t take into account the substantial capi- tal investment that the Shan- non Free Zone requires.

Among the new roles for the agency, the paper pro- posed Shannon Development would undertake major new development projects in stra- tegic areas of opportunity such as the Burren.

The document stressed that the “new role for Shannon Development will not result in any duplication with other national, regional or local public bodies.

It envisaged a dedicated unit of experienced people, solely concerned with find- ing and building relation- ships with new private sector investors, in Ireland, Europe and, in particular, the USA.

A COROFIN woman who has been making front- page news in China has just returned, after spend- ing a year-and-a-half in the Asian country. Deir- dre Gillespie moved to the city of Cangzhou in January of 2004 and took up a position as an Eng- lish teacher in the Pioneer Secondary School.

The unusual thing about Deirdre’s trip is that, in a city of more than three million people, she was the only Westerner, and for many of the lo- cals the first white person they had ever seen.

“It was really strange. Everywhere I went, people were staring at me and pointing. It was a little lonely at first,’ said the Corofin woman. ‘“Cangzhou is a industrial town in a rural area so they had very little Western influence. They just didn’t know what to make of me.”

Soon after her arrival, Deirdre was surprised to learn that she was about to be front-page news in the local newspaper.

After hearing about a local woman whose bicy- cle was stolen, her school decided to capitalise on its newest celebrity.

“The school heard about a lady who made shoes for beggars. Her bike was stolen, which is a big deal in China because bikes are the main means of transport out there,” she said. “The school gave her a bike and told her that I had bought it for her. I didn’t want to do it. I didn’t want to get credit in the paper for something I didn’t do.”

Following this early media exposure, Deirdre became a regular feature in the local rag. Many stories were written about her, including a second front-page exclusive when she visited the local tourist spot, an iron lion.

‘They were afraid of me at first and they didn’t want to speak English to me, in case I would laugh at them,” she continued. “I didn’t really pay much heed. I didn’t have much Chinese at the time. In the end, I got a bit sick of it.”

For the first three months of her stay at the Pioneer School, Deirdre was teaching more than 1,000 students each week. After the success of the programme, the school began to recruit more Western English teachers.

As strange as the experience might have been, at the end of the day Deirdre is happy that she went to China.,

“Tm really glad I went. I think that it opened up my mind a lot to new things,” she said. “I didn’t know anything about China before I went and the bit I knew turned out to be rubbish. I’d go back in a heartbeat.”

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OANA See beebeblocmm on lece tled to cash to help with back-to-school expenses may be missing out be- cause they don’t know Weare LEL-UOER YA

The Department of Community and Social PaWOE-U NUMER CK IBDOOT-I Comma O:II 50,000 families nation- wide are missing out on the Back-to-School Clothing and Footwear Allowance.

The allowance helps towards the cost of uni- forms and footwear for schoolchildren. The Scheme operates from Ist June to 30th Septem- ber each year. The al- lowance is €80 for each eligible child aged 2-11, on or before 30th Sep- tember 2005 and €150 for each eligible child aged 12-22 years.

People who may quali- fy include those who are getting a Social Welfare payment, a Health Serv- ice Executive (HSE) payment, a Back to Work Allowance (Em- ployees), a Back to Work Enterprise Allowance, or a Back to Education Allowance; and _ those who are

ON August 28, the Northabout en- tered the Kara Sea when it received a call to join up with a convoy of ice- breakers. The convoy is being led by the nuclear powered ‘Soviet Soyusk’. Using her high-powered air-jets, it breaks a channel through the ice pack that surrounds Cape Chelyskin.

After successfully navigating a path through the treacherous ice, it is time for a deserved break. The crew stop

off at White Island, a low-lying piece of land that lies off the Yamal Penin- sula. A wildlife haven, the island is home to reindeer, muskox and geese.

From there, it was onto Dickson. A desolate, fogbound village on the Yenesi River. The crew use the stop to fill up on diesel and water. Despite Dicksons’ inhospitable appearance, the cafe bar welcomes the lads with a bit of a session.

The following day, the crew set of fagain. Progress down the Yenesi

river was made difficult by thick fog. There was also the danger of meet- ing one of the many freight vessels that use to route to travel to and from the mines in Norlisk. Thankfully, the journey passed without incident.

The weather is calm as the Northa- bout prepares to pass Novaya Zemlya on September |. The next stop is Mu- ramask which is 800 miles away. But its time to batten down the hatches, with the boat expected to encounter fierce gales in the coming week.