The Clare People Archive

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 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.

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.

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‘(01 HONDA ACCORD

A CLARE county councillor has suggested that TV consumer ana- lyst Eddie Hobbs should carry out a “Rip Off Clare” investigation.

Councillor Christy Curtin (Ind) was speaking at yesterday’s monthly Clare County Council Meeting, on hearing a report of the council’s draft financial re- port.

A reduction in the amount of waste going into the county’s JE NeTeNCUUMAY SOU uciUllambemr:MenKejomti mets county council’s coffers.

This, coupled with a reduc- tion of €208,000 in Government funds, is likely to put financial pressure of the council over the coming year.

Following the presentation of the report covering the first six months of the year, councillors agreed to write to the Environ- ment Minister, to request he re- think the current funding system for local authorities.

Members of the council will also outline their concerns about the effect the overall reduction will have on the local authority.

The financial report showed that 48 per cent, or €45 million of the annual budget was used in the county from January to June, keeping the budget on target for the end of the year.

“Maintaining this position will be challenging,’ the report warned. The reduction in funds from the Government “will nega-

tively impact Local Government Funds receipts in the second half of the year.”

The members of the council are claiming that the rates they are collecting from industries, such as the ESB in Moneypoint, are being off set by the reduction from the Department.

Cllr Patricia McCarthy (Ind) asked where else the council was to get the money from, if the Minster didn’t provide it.

“On one hand, he is telling us to look after the ratepayers and not to be too hard on them and on the other hand, he is cutting our funding because we have a few big ratepayers in the county,” she said.

Cllr Madeleine Taylor-Quinn

(FG) said the on going monitor- ing of the landfill at Inagh needed constant attention.

‘Are we going to ask ratepayers of Clare to make up deficit by the Minister?” she asked.

She said that €10 million in rates were going to the govern- ment every year from Money- point, yet funding was not avail- able to upgrade the roads for the increased traffic to the planned JON) owe sKevie

The County Manager assured the councillors that the financial situation “should be okay for this year’. But he said it was the ex- ecutive’s duty to flag stormy seas ahead.