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THE rotting carcass of a dead horse, 291 wrecked cars and a plethora of broken fridges, old car batteries and burned out car wrecks were found on land at Clonawee, Doora, on Septem- ber 15, a court heard.

The list was given by an officer of Clare County Council who was giv- ing evidence in the trial of Bernard McDonagh of John Paul Avenue in Cloughleigh, Ennis who was ac- cused of transporting, recovering or disposing of waste in a manner likely to cause pollution.

Senior Executive Engineer with Clare County Council, Robert Byrnes, told the court that he carried out an inspection on the lands and found “291 end-of-life cars, stacked three high in places” as well as vari- ous car components, fridges, freezers, electrical equipment, general house- hold waste and ends of carpets.

“I got the smell of the putrefying horse carcass some distance away. There were four living horses at the site and I believe from the state of decomposition, that the animal had died some weeks previously at the Sy Kone

The executive engineer said that he took 55 photos in all at the site but could only take a picture of the horse from a distance because “of the smell and the health risk.”

Mr Byrnes agreed that Mr McDon- agh had a business in scrap. The pros- ecution arose he said, because there were none of the necessary special containment or treatment measures to prevent pollution by chemicals in the car components and items such as fridges, which contain harmful

CFC gases.

These could get into the ground or possibly into the water system, he Crate

Under cross examination, by Lor- can Connolly BL for the defence, Mr Byrnes agreed he did not carry out any tests on the soil or water or take away any items for further examina- tion.

Judge Sean O Donnabhain agreed to an application from the defence to direct the jury to find the accused man not guilty.

Mr Connolly successfully argued that while Mr Byrnes had given evi- dence of his being an officially ap- pointed agent to carry out the inspec- tion, he had not produced in court the document which is his written appointment. This should be done as laid out in section 154 of the Local Government Act, Mr Connolly told the judge.

TENANTS moving into town coun- cil houses in Ennis are forced to wait several weeks before they are given the keys.

That’ according to Councillor Michael Guilfoyle (Independent), who asked for reasons for the de- lay. He said it was unfair for people to have to wait, after being told that they had been allocated houses.

Ennis town clerk Eddie Power told Mr Guilfoyle that the delay was due to works being carried out on the CoN bbe tease

‘In some cases houses have to be

brought up to standard and repair work has to be done. We feel it is important to let people know as soon as possible that they are getting a house,” he said.

However, Cllr Guilfoyle said he was aware of a lady in the Turn- pike area of Ennis who was forced to contend with a significant delay. “The girl was told eight weeks ago. No-one from the council has been up doing any work. If we haven’t got the money, I’ll settle for that, but I won’t settle for five months. A girl is waiting for five months for a house in Roslevan. Why is it taking so long?” | Ntemra¥s) .Co16 8

A YOUNG mother who saw her baby being doused in petrol by a woman wielding a can of petrol says she can- not let her children out of her sight.

Mary Kelly, in her victim impact statement after Majella McCarthy was convicted of assault causing harm to her and her baby daughter Aisling, said the ordeal has greatly NOC Kerem ol

The baby was in the back seat of the car when the attack happened and Ms Kelly looked on in fear, before she herself was doused with petrol.

“It has had a big effect. We left home to go to the doctors that morn- ing. Apart from Aisling being sick, everything was fine. I can’t get into the car. I can’t go anywhere, not even next door, without putting on the central locking,” she said.

Just a few days after the petrol at- tack on her and her baby daughter, she said she had to change the car.

‘Every time I look around in the car all I could see was Ms McCarthy with a petrol can,” she said.

“My own doctor told me I need to talk to someone about it. I have two fabulous, gorgeous kids. I’m afraid to let them out of my sight.

‘I know we were in the wrong place at the wrong time. These things hap- pen, but we could be in the wrong place at the wrong time again. | know she didn’t set us on fire but these things can happen,” she said.

She said her baby daughter used to wake at night screaming “No, no, no, no,’ for a few nights after the at- tack. She said she was glad her baby was so young when the incident hap- pened as she was not old enough to understand what was going on.

THEY provide much _ entertain- ment when they hit the town, but the funfairs also have their negative aspects!

The noise emanating from a fun- fair in Shannon caused headaches for staff at the local gaelscoil, Gaelscoil Donncha Rua, according to newly-elected councillor Mike ja (oresbeerom@ GaP

Mr Fleming told councillors at a meeting last week that a teacher at the school complained to him about the noise from machinery at the aUbeve-soe

“It has been brought to my atten- tion by a member of staff at the school that they found it very hard to teach, with the amount of noise that was generated,” he said.

He said that given the plans to lo- cate a skateboard area in the local- ity, there are fears that the funfair may be located closer to the school

and this would create more prob- aeky

His party colleague, Cllr Tony Mulcahy said this issue had been “a huge bone of contention for a long Wb salons

Labour councillor Greg Duff said every town has a place where fun- fairs and circuses locate. “There is no reason why we wouldn’t have it. The council should support a place. It will be a challenge to get another place,” he said.

CuUlr Tony McMahon (Labour) pointed out that he is the chairman of the board of management at the school and in principle there was no problem with the funfair. He suggested that the root of the noise could be located further away from the school, to ensure there were no problems.

“IT want to make it clear that the board of management of the gaels- coil does not object in principle,” he SPATE

The mayor of Shannon, Cllr Sean McLoughlin said the funfair was important for the town, in terms of income. “There’s a bit of revenue from the funfair. It’s important we use it fairly wisely,” he said.

Independent councillor Gerry Flynn said, “The circus and funfair was a neighbour of mine for years and we came to accept it. It’s very important that we have a site that is permanent for that facility.”

Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said most of the noise from carnivals would be after school hours and the issue of limiting times could be explored. “The difficulty 1s location, location, location. We did search extensively (for a site) but there is no harm looking again, but someone is going to have to point us in the right direction,” she said.

It was agreed that town manager Bernadette Kinsella would report back to councillors on the issue at a later stage.

A CLARE gay and lesbian group had criticised sections of the new Civil Partnership Bill, describing it as “upsetting” and reinforcing the idea that gay people are outsiders on the margins of society.

The bill, which was proposed last week by Minister for Justice, Dermot Ahern, aims to create a limited form of civil partnership for both same-sex and heterosexual couples. The Gay

Clare Group last week welcomed the bill in general, describing it as a good first step, but raised serious questions about some aspects of the proposed legislation.

“An upsetting aspect of the civil partnership legislation is that the Government has totally ignored les- bian and gay parents and their chil- dren,” said a spokesperson from the Gay Clare Group.

“In reality all children should have equal access to their parents and

vice-versa, and should have the same rights as all children in Ireland. Fur- thermore, a same-sex couple will not be eligible to be considered to adopt a child under civil partnership, not even the child of their registered civil er Dunas

“The bill reinforces that belief that we are outsiders on the margins of society.

“The fact that through this bill the Government has given us ‘some’ rights but not equal rights, and en-

sures that lesbian and gay relation- ships will be regarded as inferior to married couples.

“Lesbians and gay men should be entitled to the same rights and re- sponsibilities as their straight coun- terparts. We are calling on the gov- ernment to provide lesbians and gay men with equality by providing ac- cess to civil marriage.”

Meanwhile, new figures released yesterday show that 80 per cent of people in Munster believe that every-

one living in Ireland should receive equal treatment from the State re- gardless of whether they are straight, lesbian or gay.

Indeed, 59 per cent of Munster people surveyed felt that denying same-sex couples the right to a civil marriage 1s a form of discrimination. The survey was carried out by the MarriagEquality Group – an organi- sation which is working for equal marriage rights for lesbians and gay men in Ireland.

THIS Thursday, over 30 cyclists from Clare will take on the Malin to Mizen challenge for the Clare Cru- saders charity. The group will depart Ennis on Wednesday evening to be- gin the cycle at 10am in Donegal on Thursday morning.

On Friday, they cycle from Sligo to Kinvara and Saturday sees the group wheel into Clare. From there, they continue to Tralee on Saturday evening before taking off on Sunday morning for the final leg of the trip to Mizen Head in Cork.

In total, the group will cover in ex- cess of 400 miles over the course of the four days.

“We’re hoping that everybody will come out and support the cyclists as they pass through Clare on Satur-

day,” said Ann Norton of the Clare Crusaders.

The Clare route and times for The Malin to Mizen Cycle have also been confirmed this week. The group Wheel out of Kinvara at 9.30am on Saturday morning before arriving into Ballyvaughan at 10.15am. They continue to Doolin and are expected to arrive there at 11.30 before stop- ping in Liscannor for 45 minutes at 12.15. From there, they reach Lahi- nch at 1.15pm before arriving at Mil- town (2.15pm), Quilty (2.45pm) and Kilrush (3.45pm).

They then continue the trip by the Killimer Ferry before cycling to Tralee that evening.

“The Clare Crusaders was formed in 2005 by Howard Flannery to help parents and families of children with special needs achieve a better qual-

ity of life,’ explains Ann Norton. “In 2007 we opened our first clinic where we provide a variety of serv- ices to over 120 children with special needs in the areas of Cerebral Palsy, Autism, Down Syndrome and a vari- ety of other conditions. All children are welcome and the services pro- vided include speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physi- otherapy and special education. Due to the increasing demand for our services, this year we opened a larger clinic in Barefield.”

Next week, you can follow the progress of the Crusaders cyclists when four of those taking part will document their experience for The Clare People.

To keep up to date with the cycle, log onto the Clare Crusaders website and to sponsor the charity.

SHANNON Airport has suffered a 19 per cent drop in transatlantic traf- fic for the first six months of the year as the recession impacts on the air- port’s long-haul routes.

Figures from the Shannon Airport Authority (SAA) confirm that overall passenger numbers dropped by 7 per cent to 1.4m with the airport unlikely to hit 3 million passengers a year for the first time since 2004.

A spokeswoman for the SAA said that while airport management was disappointed with the decline, the results are better than those being experienced by many international airports worldwide.

The 19 per cent drop in transat- lantic traffic for the first six months follows a 19 per cent drop during the first six months of last year with the introduction of the ‘open skies’ re- gime on the US routes.

The number of US passengers trav- elling through Shannon dropped from 262,858 to 212,915 compared with the 325,438 who travelled on the routes in the first six months of 2007 before the recession and the in- troduction of open skies.

The numbers are expected to drop further in the second half of 2009 as carriers such as Aer Lingus and Delta reduce their services to the US

over the winter months.

Airport Director, Martin Moroney said that while the figures were dis- appointing, a reduction was expected because of open skies.

“Transatlantic services have been affected by the economic downturn, but we have worked extremely hard to retain them through the provision OLN e-VENCOMOloa/esOjeeeloNlmnNes TEA Loe

“Tt is vital that transatlantic servic- es continue to be successful as it is a very important segment of our traffic and a major contributor to both in- dustrial and tourism development.

‘European traffic showed a decline of 3 per cent mainly due to are- duction in services offered by tour operators to the traditional sun des- tinations, because of the economic Abn sers ites

“Traffic on the London routes re- mains the same as last year, though this may increase when Aer Lingus increases its service to Heathrow. Traffic on UK regional routes 1s down by 8 per cent and is expected to decrease further in the remainder of the year.

“We will be introducing efficien- cies and cost savings in our operation while capitalising on the introduction of full US pre-clearance on July 29 which will assist in attracting more business including British Airways and corporate jets’, he said.

THE Clare Under 18s booked their place in the All-Ireland semi finals with a great win over Galway in Ard- rahan on Wednesday evening.

This was a very tough and physical game but Clare looked sharper from the start and their first touch was ex- Aes

Clare opened the scoring with a fine point from Ogonnelloe’s Roisin O’Brien in the second minute and Aishling Hannon added to this with another point a minute later.

The sixth minute saw Galway’s Laura Mitchell send a dropping ball into the Clare square which was saved by goalkeeper Ailish Consid- Tne

Roisin O’Brien was causing a lot of problems at the edge of the Galway square and was fouled in the Galway square for the games first penalty in the 10th minute.

Chloe Morey stood up to the park and sent the ball in low and hard which the Galway goalie Helen Campbell saved and put out for a “45. Shonagh Enright’s “45 just went left of the post and wide.

The 17th minute saw Galway get their first score of the game when Ni- amh McGrath pointed.

This was cancelled out when Roisin O’Brien was on target again with a pointed free a minute later. Galway’s Christina Brennan sent a dropping ball into the Clare square which was

caught by Chloe Morey who sent the ball up the field to Katie Cahill whose shot just went left of the post in the 19th minute.

The last seven minutes saw Galway coming into the game and the Clare backline under a lot of pressure.

A clearance from Niamh Martin which came to Niamh McGrath saw Galway get their second point of the game in the 23rd minute.

Rebecca Hennelly added to this with another point with 5 minutes to go. Roisin O’Brien was on target again from a pointed free after she was fouled.

Clare went in at the break a point ahead and the second half saw Gal-

way edge ahead with Niamh Mc- Grath pointing from a free and Fi- nola Keely pointing from play in the first three minutes.

Clare got a free after a foul on Lou- ise Woods, which Roisin McMahon took. She sent the ball into the Gal- way square and after a scramble, the ball came to Roisin O’Brien who sent it across the Galway square to Aish- ling Hannon who goaled in the 34th eOBUSLUL en

Roisin McMahon added to this when she pointed from a free after she was fouled in the seventh minute of the second half.

A Roisin O’Brien shot on goal was saved by Helen Cambell who put

it out for a “45 in the 42nd minute which Clare’s captain Roisin McMa- hon converted to a point.

Rebecca Hennelly had her second score of the game when she pointed in the 44th minute to leave a goal be- tween the teams. Roisin McMahon added to her scoring tally when she pointed from a free after Katie Ca- hill was fouled in the 46th minute.

Galway got their final score of the game when Amanda Lynch pointed after a pass from Rebecca Hennelly in the 49th minute.

Clare’s Katie Cahill put the game out of Galway’s reach when she go- aled in the 50th minute after a great run up the centre.

Louise Woods had the final score of the game when she pointed in the 59th minute after a great run up the centre.

Galway weren’t finished yet and Finola Keely sent a great shot in on Clare’s goal which was caught by Ailish Considine and cleared.

Injury time saw Galway get the second penalty of the game but Ail- ish Considine was up to the task and brought off a great save for the final action of the match.

INDEPENDENT councillor Patricia McCarthy has taken issue with the wording of a motion proposed by Sinn Fein’s Cathy McCafferty, in re- lation to community grants, at Shan- non Town Council.

In a motion before the council last week, Ms McCafferty — a newly- elected councillor – called for the community initiative fund to be fully transparent and that public consulta- tion be part of the process.

However, Independent councillor Patricia McCarthy said she had dif-

ficulty with the way the motion was worded. “It implies the system we had wasn’t transparent. It has stood the test of time. It is based on the principle of providing community services for all of the community. It is disingenuous of people to 1m- ply something unethical was _ tak- ing place. Remember, this is a town council initiative,’ she said.

Cllr McCafferty replied that she had not intended to imply this. “At no stage in my proposal did I attempt to make a slight on the councillors that are here or have been here for a long time. We represent the public. I feel

it’s very important to have members of the public present at any forum,” she said.

The Mayor of Shannon, Cllr Sean McLoughlin (FG) said meetings in relation to community grants are generally held in committee.

Earlier in the meeting, Cllr Mc- Cafferty asked did the chairpersons of the MPCs (municipal policy com- mittees) reflect the full representa- tion of the council, according to the guidelines. Her query came after Mike Fleming (FG) and Mary Bren- nan (FG) were appointed chairper- sons of the two MPCs, at the AGM

of the council last month.

She pointed out that under the guidelines, the political represen- tation of the council should be re- flected. “It would appear to me that the appointment of two from the same political party or same political grouping is contrary to guidelines,” She said. However, the town man- ager Bernadette Kinsella said it was a matter for the council “to make the necessary appointments so long as they do that by majority decision’.

“To the best of my recollection there wasn’t any counter proposals on the night,” said Ms Kinsella.

LIKE the drawn game a week pre- vious, this was another game where the conditions had a big bearing on the outcome. A strong gale blew for most of the hour of football and play- ing with the wind, St Joseph’s took the initiative in the opening half.

From early on, Colm Mullen buzzed about and he struck over the first score of the game after four minutes. He followed this up with his sec- ond score of the game and wedged between these two scores was a fine point by Paul Dullaghan.

Ballyvaughan did manage to rally and a point from James Hynes looked like it would keep them in touch. Still, though, St Joseph’s continued to take the game to their opponents. Once more, they had a solid display at midfield from Mark Hallinan and Mark Rafferty and slowly, as the half edged on, they took control of the game.

By now, Enda Lyons had also set- tled into the rhythm of the game and was putting in a solid performance while John Heavey — playing his sec-

ond game of the day — was also con- tributing well and picking up plenty of possession.

When Paul Dullaghan added St Joseph’s fourth point of the game — to be followed quickly by a free from Enda Lyons — a decent gap had be- gun to emerge and St Joseph’s went in well ahead at the break on a score- line of 0-6 to O-1.

With the wind, though, it wasn’t as if Ballyvaughan were out of things and they looked like rallying as the second half got underway but never really looked like clawing back the deficit.

When Keith Whelan picked up his second yellow card of the afternoon Ballyvaughan had the wind and nu- merical advantage but they began to waste an amount of possession and shots began to drift past the post.

Substitute Jason Walsh knocked over his side’s fourth point of the game on 48 minutes and if Bal- lyvaughan were going to make the final, they needed to press ahead in the last ten minutes. They failed to do so and finished those 12 minutes without a score.

The game was put beyond doubt a minute from time when St Joseph’s substitute and Clare minor Cathal Nolan came on and crashed home the only goal of the game.