The Clare People Archive

THE Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick has some of the longest delays in the Western area when it comes to surgery and medical treatment.

Half of patients awaiting medical treatment are now waiting more than a year, with almost one third of adult patients waiting more than 12 months for surgery in the Mid Western Hospital.

A further 19 percent of the 74 children available for surgery but not yet scheduled are also waiting more than 12 months.

The biggest delay in the largest hospital in the Mid West is in the area of general surgery where more that half of the patients are waiting more than a year to be called.

In total 986 patients have yet to be scheduled for surgery in Limerick’s three hospitals, while Galway has an even higher waiting list of 1,493 between the University College Hospital and Merlin Park Hospital.

The figures from the Patients Treatment Register (PTR) shows that eight per cent of the 1,191 adult patients awaiting a date for surgery in the University College Hospital Galway are waiting one year, with 55 per cent scheduled for surgery within six months of being placed on the waiting list.

As many as 12 per cent of the 115 children awaiting surgery in the hospital have a 12 month wait.

In the University College Hospital Galway the longest wait is also for general surgery with 27 people waiting more than 12 months. A further 2,677 patients are waiting 12 months and more for plastic surgery at the hospital.

Patients who require hospital treatment but not surgical procedures have a one in two chance of a 12-month wait for treatment at the Mid Western Regional Hospital Limerick.

Nine of the 12 people awaiting treatment for pain relief are waiting more than a year in St John’s Hospital Limerick.

The figures on the PTR show however that children awaiting medical treatment in the hospital do not wait longer than six months.

The PTR provides an online database with information on public patients and waiting times for in-patients and day care procedures.

It currently represents 19 hospitals and 74 per cent of the patient waiting list numbers.

The data is compiled by the National Treatment Fund, which offers private surgery to those waiting longest.

The Fund has treated 43,000 patients since it started in 2002. It has said it will now start writing directly to patients who are facing the greatest delay for treatment.

Meanwhile the public health alliance will host a conference on inequalities in the health service in Glór, Ennis on Thursday night at 3.30 pm.

A JUDGE has stressed that elderly people must be allowed to live out their lives in safety, as he sentenced a man to four years in jail for robbing a woman in her 80s, at her Ennis home.

Judge Con Murphy made the statement as he sentenced Mark McCarthy (20), of Millbrook House, Mill Road, Ennis. He admitted stealing €20 cash from the 82-year-old woman at her home on the Turnpike Road area of Ennis on July 20 last year.

Detective Garda Kevin Kennedy told Ennis Circuit Court that the woman – who lives alone – woke up at 3am to find an intruder searching her bedroom. The accused, he said, told her he was looking for money.

“He beat her over the head with a pillow. He said ‘All old people hide money under their mattresses.’ He turned over the mattress while she was lying in bed,” said the garda.

McCarthy then searched the woman’s handbag and took €20 in cash.

The woman pleaded with him not to kill her. McCarthy told her he wouldn’t kill her, that he wanted money. She tried to ring gardai and he disconnected the phone.

McCarthy was arrested some hours later, on suspicion of robbery. He told gardai he had been drinking under the de Valera monument, took tablets for depression and other tablets that gave him a buzz.

He said that a friend of his lived in the Turnpike area and he had intended going to his house, but went to the elderly woman’s home in error. The garda accepted this explanation.

The court heard McCarthy has been in trouble most of his life and has a long list of previous convictions, including for burglary, public order and damaging property.

Defending barrister Michael Fitzgibbon said his client was sexually abused when he was very young and as a result he started drinking and taking drugs.

“Things began to get totally out of control for him. He is not a career criminal. He hasn’t been involved in major crime,” said the barrister.

Judge Con Murphy said burglaries must be stamped out and said the incident before the court was “most serious”.

“Even if it wasn’t premeditated, he went on with it. In towns like Ennis, old people should be allowed to live out their days in safety and security,” he said.

He took the guilty plea into account and the fact that McCarthy cooperated with gardai, but said he has a “plethora” of previous offences. He imposed a four-year jail term.

ONE of the county’s most vibrant cultural celebrations will not be affected by Clare’s most pressing sporting engagement.

Fears had been expressed that the National Cultural Parade for the 2006 Fleadh Nua would clash with the meeting of Clare and Cork in the opening round of the Munster Hurling Championship in Thurles. Both have been scheduled for May 28.

However, organisers moved to allay fears that turnout for the festival’s centrepiece would not be affected by starting the parade at an earlier time. The parade will now take place at 11.30am with organisers hoping this will allow hurling fans enough time to make the trip to Thurles.

Chairman of the Fleadh Nua organising committee, Domhnall Ó Loingsigh said the committee were never worried that the parade would be overshadowed by the hurling and had spoken with GAA officials about the matter. A similar situation arose in 1992 when Clare’s footballers were taking their first tentative steps to sporting immortality. Clare tackled Cork in the opening round of that famous championship on the same day as the Fleadh Nua festivities.

Mr O’Loingsigh also revealed that the parade would travel on a more condensed route than in previous years. This year the parade will begin on Francis Street, travel up through O’Connell street to the cathedral and will continue down Station Road.

“We have got around that,” he said. “We have brought the parade forward so that it will take place after 1.30pm with assembly taking place at 1pm. It would usually begin at around 2.30pm, but it has been changed to accommodate the match.

“The parade will also take a more condensed route than before, usually it goes the whole way through town. The parade would usually go down the market but this year it goes down station road.”

The week-long celebration of traditional Irish culture will run from Sunday, May 21 to Monday 29 and will feature a multitude of concerts, performances and workshops. This year there will be a commemoration of the events of the Easter Rising in 1916 and the festival will also look back at the first Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann. There will also be a multimedia celebration of the music of Robbie McMahon.

“This year we are really trying to concentrate on the performance element of the festival, which is what the Fleadh has always been about. It’s all about getting the Cheoil back on the street,” added Mr O’Loingsigh.

THE tradition of policing is set to remain in the family of Ennis Superintendent John Kerin, after his daughter Emma passed out from Templemore last week.

Emma was one of three Clare gardai who graduated at last Thursday’s ceremony at the Garda Training College.

The 21-year-old – who is the youngest daughter of Supt John Kerin and his wife Joan – is stationed at Salthill Garda Station in Galway.

“Emma was always very interested in joining the guards since she was a child. We are very proud of her.

“If she is as happy in her career as I am in mine, then she will be alright,” said her father.

Supt Kerin, who worked in Cork, Tipperary and Limerick, prior to moving to Ennis as Superintendent six years ago, is a native of Belharbour in North Clare.

In fact, his next-door-neighbour from Belharbour, Chief Supintendent Kieran McGann, was Master of Ceremonies at Emma’s graduation.

Last Thursday’s event was memorable for many reasons – Emma’s two grandmothers celebrated their 70th birthdays on the same day!

The other two Clare garda graduates on the day were Garda John Griffin from Shannon and Garda Kevin Eustace, from Miltown Malbay, who are both stationed in Dublin.

Only one of the 84 new recruits is based in Clare — Garda David Givens from Nenagh.

UNIONS and the Dublin Airport Authority (DAA) have been given until June 6 by the Labour Court, to complete talks on the €30 million “survival plan” for Shannon Airport.

The DAA and SIPTU both confirmed to The Clare People that they accepted the Labour Court’s recommendation and that informal contacts were been made with the Labour Relations Commission (LRC) to recommence talks.

Talks on the restructuring at Shannon have been going on since last Summer. The Labour Court has given the two sides two months in which to resolve the outstanding issues and has stated that the parties should this time engage “genuinely and meaningfully”.

The court said that the sides’ failure to enter meaningful engagement, as recommended by the National Implementation Body last December, “reflects no credit on the parties”.

Opting against to the DAA request that SIPTU ballot its members on the “survival plan”, the court stated that as the sides had not entered meaningful talks, “the main criterion for referral of the issues to the Court has not been fulfilled properly”.

The DAA’s plan for Shannon is seeking to cut the workforce of 520 by 200 through voluntary redundancies and contracting out of work at a number of areas at the airport.

To date, SIPTU has refused to enter talks on any proposed outsourcing, expressing concern over a “race to the bottom”.

The union argues that discussions can only take place on the basis of maintaining terms and conditions of employment on a direct labour basis.

However, in its recommendation, the Labour Court stated that the “full and meaningful” engagement “obligates the parties to fully engage on proposals on outsourcing and any other alternative means of operational cost saving or efficiency” at Shannon.

The court ruled that it was not for it to decide as to whether or not outsourcing should take place “in the absence of agreement in principle between the parties”.

Its recommendation also revealed that the DAA made a set of proposals at the hearing on March 24, “adding a lump sum payment for those remaining in employment”.

The Labour Court said that if there are any unresolved industrial relations issues, they could be referred back to the court for recommendation.

THE issue of discipline in the classroom dominated the agenda at last week’s TUI annual conference in Tralee, with delegates warning more support must be given to teachers to prevent the problem from spiralling out of control.

Delegates warned Education Minster Mary Hanafin that disadvantaged schools in particular are facing more serious discipline problems than their colleagues in other schools.

According to a TUI survey, 26 per cent of teachers in disadvantaged schools experienced serious forms of harassment and threatening behaviour compared to 16 per cent in other schools.

The findings also showed that teachers in disadvantaged schools spent more time dealing with disruptive students and had experienced a greater extent of verbal abuse from parents.

Clare TUI delegate Mary Burke says the issue of discipline is one affecting Clare’s schools. Ms Burke, a teacher in Ennis Community College, says greater support and resources must be provided to teachers for the issue to be properly addressed.

“The TUI has always sought to initiate discussion on discipline in the classroom. It is a question of putting the right supports in place in schools. We have 200 disadvantaged schools in Ireland and only 50 have been given behaviour support classrooms for discipline.”

According to the TUI, a lack of educational psychologists is exacerbating the problem of ill-discipline.

The lack of such a service will also create problems in the long run for children with special needs seeking to attend post-primary schools. The TUI also wants more done to ensure schools pursue a policy of integrating students with special needs into mainstream schools.

“There is a lack of psychologists for students, which leads to a delay in assessments. When there is a delay, it creates an additional problem as extra resources cannot be allocated to that school. Not all schools are taking on students with disabilities.”

The Government has allocated €2 million to deal with the issue of discipline in schools and the TUI believes this is not enough. “We haven’t the facilities or the funding.

“All schools have problems getting psychological support and with delays. Irish schools are changing rapidly and more resources and money are needed in all schools,” added Ms Burke.

MORE teachers for students is the way to better grades for pupils and greater safety and job satisfaction for staff, according to Clare delegates at the ASTI conference in Ennis.

Delegates Peter Quinn and Jack Keane were speaking in support of a motion before conference to have the pupil-teacher ration reduced to 15 to 1.

Quinn told the conference that keeping the ratio at that level would create a more effective teaching environment and help solve discipline problems in the classroom.

“Teachers are now subject to physical and verbal abuse and are having their authority in the classroom challenged,” he said.

Quinn said that in co-operation with other unions, he believed that the ratio could be achieved.

The Ennis teachers said that it was the aim of all unions involved to have a safe teaching environment, high academic achievement for pupils and a school system to be proud of.

Delegates heard that in France, a 600-pupil school would have 68 teachers, while in Ireland, a school of that size would have just 38 teachers.

The motion was supported by delegate Jack Keane, who said that Ireland had one of the highest pupilteacher ratios in Europe.

Keane said that when he first entered the profession, the ratio was 15 pupils to one teacher, which was a “much better situation.”

He added that the report from the Task Force on student behaviour recommended a reduced pupil-teacher ratio to cope with the discipline problems in the classroom.

But this would not happen without joint pressure from teachers, parents and students, as there was no finance or plan currently in place to reduce pupil-teacher numbers, he added.

Meanwhile, the conference at the West County hotel in Ennis heard from Education and Science Minister, Mary Hannafin, that some schools were not opening their doors to pupils with special needs.

She sharply criticised the attitude of some schools that special needs pupils would be better off elsewhere.

“Open up, make sure that parents know that their child is welcome in your school and I will give you the resources to support them,” the Minister said.

“If there are schools that have half of a learning post, while the school up the road has a whole team of special education staff, it is because the school up the road is the one that has taken in more children with special needs. Take in students and the resources will follow,” she said.

CLARE’S two Steiner schools will not be able to secure official recognition from the Department of Education until the start of the school year in September 2007.

Both the Raheen Wood School in Tuamgraney and the Mol an Oige School in Ennistymon had sought official recognition from the Department in the first move of its type in the State.

Clare VEC was acting as patron for the two schools but the Department has confirmed that the two applications have not been referred to the New Schools Advisory Committee which would have allowed them be recognized for next September.

The main stumbling block to the application is that the VEC replaced the original patron during the public consultation process.

Founding teacher at the Mol an Oige school Una Garvey met with the private secretary of the Minister for Education, Mary Hanafin in Ennis last week where she was told that the school would have to re-apply.

A spokeswoman for the Minister said that the same circumstances relate to the Raheen Wood School.

Expressing disappointment that a technical hitch had delayed recognition for a year, Ms Garvey said if they had to wait another year, they would do so.

She said she was told by the Minister’s private secretary that as the school’s application was being done through public consultation and as it had changed patron during that process, it would have to re-apply.

“Nowhere is it stated in the guidelines that the process would have to be restarted if a school changes patrons. We have managed successfully so far and I’m sure that parents and ourselves will pull out all the stops to ensure that it continues. It is very brave of the parents and a huge commitment by them. The Department should be helping us instead of placing obstacles in our way”, she said.

Clare VEC is fully supportive of the applications by the two schools and CEO, George O’Callaghan has been lobbying to have recognition in place for this coming September.

Raheen Wood School spoklesperson, Pearse O’Shiel, said they were working closely with Clare VEC to become a nationally recognised primary school.

“Given the long-standing relationship we have with Clare VEC, we see them as the ideal patron for the school and are very thankful for their support. We see this move as a natural but significant step for theschool”,he said.

Mol an Oige School was started last September by a group of parents. It is run on a voluntary capacity and follows the new primary school curriculum, using Steiner methods. As part of the public consultation phase for the school’s application for funding, a Department spokeswoman confirmed that 21 responses were made in favour of the school with two against.

GARDA management will decide soon if Pat Keating will be reinstated to full duties, according to the head of the Clare Garda Division.

Garda Keating was reinstated to the force last month, following a suspension lasting 19 months. However was confined to desk duties, as he faced a public order charge, which he was cleared of, last week.

Chief Superintendent Liam Quinn told The Clare People that a decision, regarding the garda’s full reinstatement, would be taken within weeks.

“That is something that will be looked at, in light of the court case,” he said.

Keating was suspended from the force after an allegation that he threatened his former girlfriend Eavan Drysdale, in August 2004.

He was found not guilty by a jury on that charge, at Ennis Circuit Court in February, and was subsequently reinstated, but his duties were constrained.

The Garda Representative Association (GRA) said Keating should be reinstated to the post he held prior to the allegations being made against him.

Central Executive member of the GRA, Tom Keane said “It has been a very tough couple of years for him. He has been proved innocent, without a shadow of a doubt. He is happy.

“He spent five days in the Circuit Court and one in the District. He has been totally exonerated by two courts. There is no reason why he should be confined to the desk,” he added.

The legal costs for Garda Keating’s five day Circuit Court trial in February were covered, in part, by the GRA. Gda Keating footed the bill for last week’s District Court case, which went into a fifth day.

IT was a relationship breakdown that, sadly, ended up in the public domain, through two court cases.

Pat Keating and Eavan Drysdale first met, when she reported a stolen bicycle at Shannon Garda Station, on June 21, 2003. Hours later they bumped into each other in Tesco in Shannon. Later again that day, according to Keating, Eavan Drysdale rang him at work and asked him out.

The couple enjoyed many happy times together during the following nine months, but two incidents in particular led to their private lives becoming very public.

An incident between the two in the carpark of the Shannon Knights in March 2004 led to Keating being charged with an offence under the Public Order Act – a relatively minor offence which would be dealt with in the District Court. But matters were to take a more serious twist when Eavan Drysdale alleged that Keating had threatened her in August 2004.

She claimed comments he made to her over the phone in the early hours of August 18, 2004, led her to fear for her life.

Keating went on trial, accused of threatening the mother-of-two, at Ennis Circuit Court in February. After hearing evidence over four days, the jury took less than an hour to decide that Keating was not guilty.

He was subsequently reinstated to his position at Shannon Garda Station, following a 19 month suspension. However his role was officebased, pending the outcome of last Thursday’s District Court hearing.

Last week’s dismissal of the charge should pave the way for his return to full duties.

But while the curtain has been drawn on the court cases, the relationship enjoyed by two individuals has now become a matter of public discussion. Personal matters between the two were heard during the Circuit Court case, and during a 78-minute District Court hearing last week.

Details of hundreds of text messages and several phone calls between the pair were heard by a jury in the Circuit Court case.

Pat Keating and Eavan Drysdale gave somewhat contrasting descriptions of many aspects of their time together. Keating told the Circuit Court case that Eavan Drysdale gave him a key to her house just three weeks after they first met and that he could “come and go as I wished and could class myself as part of the family.”

But Eavan Drysdale disagreed with this. She told the District Court last week that while Keating had a key, he was not living in her house.

“Pat Keating told lies up here three weeks ago. I am telling the truth . . . I was not living with Pat Keating,” she told the court, adding that Pat Keating was “very persistent.”

The strain was very much in evi dence at last week’s court sitting, as Ms Drysdale wept openly in court.

“I’m sorry, just I’ve been through so much in the last three weeks, with the other case,” she explained to Judge Joseph Mangan, after breaking down in tears.

During his evidence in the Circuit Court, Keating said regardless of what happened in any court, his life was shattered and his career was in ruins.