The Clare People Archive

EAST Clare has never been behind when it comes to being generous in a good cause and with Christmas loom- ing large, organisers of the Shoebox Appeal are hoping that people local- ly will come up trumps again.

Every year, thousand of shoeboxes, filled with toys, warm clothes, toilet- ries and sweets, are shipped to chil- dren around the world.

The gaily wrapped boxes are the only Christmas presents these chil- dren see, living as they do in war- torn countries or in third-world areas devastated by famine and disease.

Under the auspices of the Samari- tan’s Purse organisation, Operation Christmas Child – also know as the Shoebox Appeal – brings a bit of cheer into the lives of the children involved.

In east Clare, Joanne Allen is gear- ing up to collect boxes from the gen- erous people in Scariff while a sepa- rate shoebox appeal is under way in Tulla.

Joanne got involved with the appeal after her daughter Rachel started do-

ing it in school.

‘People are very generous when it comes to making up boxes. We have one collection at the school and we are also asking anyone who wants to fill a box to drop it into Bane’s Gift Shop,” said Joanne.

The numbers taking part in the ap- peal has been rising steadily, despite the recession. “We got 150 boxes from the school alone last year which was fantastic,’ she Joanne.

As well as co-ordinating the col- lection of boxes in the Scariff area, Joanne works in the warehouse in Ennis, checking the boxes and pre- paring them for the onward journey.

Asked about criticism which claims that project organisers are plac- ing religious literature in the boxes, Joanne says that this is not the case. “The boxes have to be checked to be sure that the contents are suit- able for the age group and within the guidelines but once that is done, they are sealed and sent off. There is no literature put in them and they are given to children of every religious background. What does happen is that nuns and priests who travel to

where the children are to give them their gifts also give them a leaflet on the story of the first Christmas or some other religious story if it’s ap- propriate. The Samaritan’s Purse is a religious organisation – they make no secret of that. And if I was a child be- ing handed a lovely box all wrapped up, and a sheet of paper at the same time, I know which one Id be inter- ested in.”

Anyone in the Scariff area who would like to make up a box is asked to drop it into Bane’s Gift Shop be- fore Saturday, November 7.

Ennis co-ordinator of the appeal and east Clare man, Louis Duffy, told

MEMBERS of Clare’s All-Ireland winning under-21 team will lend their support to the Irish Wheelchair Association’s (IWA) annual Angel campaign in Ennis today.

The Mayor of Clare, Cllr Tony Mulcahy (FG) will also be on hand at the official launch, which takes place at 2pm in the Temple Gate Hotel.

The Angel campaign runs through- out November when IWA Angel Pins and Angel Pencils will be sold na- tionwide for €2.

All funds raised will help to fund Services for the 20,000 members throughout Ireland.

Commenting on the launch, Berna- dette O’Rourke, Community Employ- ment Supervisor, IWA, Ennis, said the

funds raised from the Angel cam- paign are “vital” in allowing the [WA to maintain services throughout Clare.

“It’s vital. We receive funding from the HSE and FAS but it does require a lot to keep the service going.

“We have buses going here in Ennis and all over Clare. If you’re picking someone up in west Clare that means bringing them to an outreach centre in Spanish Point. The main thing is is that people are getting out of their homes to socialise.”

She added, “It’s not just the out- reach service we are providing. We are facilitating personal assistants to help people in their homes. These might be people they know, people from their area. There is a whole personal and social side to it. We are providing assisted living services

throughout Clare.”

The Irish Wheelchair Associa- tion was founded in 1960 by a small group of wheelchair users commit- ted to improving the lives of people with physical disabilities in Ireland. Almost 50 years on IWA provides services nationally, including 60 re- Source and outreach centres; assisted living services; motoring advice, as- sessment and tuition; youth services; training and education; respite and holidays; wheelchair sales and rent- al; peer counselling and sport.

The IWA aims to achieve greater independence, freedom and choice for people living with a disability.

Speaking about this year’s cam- paign, CEO Kathleen McLoughlin commented, “Our annual Angel campaign allows us to generate the

funds to provide essential resources and services to many people with disabilities. Our members rely on us for essential services, such as, per- sonal assistants to support them in their daily living.

“In these tight times, with reduced funding sources, we are doing our very best to avoid cutting the serv- ices we provide to our members in their own homes and in the commu- nity. We are asking the general pub- lic to support our essential work by buying these lovely angel pins and pencils.”

The pins are distributed courtesy of DPD Ireland, the national courier service. For further details or to do- nate online, contact the Irish Wheel- chair Association on 065 68 44150 ennis@iwa.ie or angles@1wa.ie

Gavin is well known aan his time with De Dannan and has worked

with some of the biggest names in the music industry.

However, their concert at the Old Ground Hotel on Sunday, November 8, as part of the Ennis Trad Festival, brings the pair together for a rare joint appearance.

Festival Chairman, John Rynne ex- plained that the concert promises to be one of the highlights of the week- Koyatemy oyueyeaucbeebeates

He said, “Tony McMahon who is from here in town, an accordion player. Frankie 1s a fiddle player, of De Dannan fame, RTE producer, he’s done all that sort of thing. The two of them, they are like lions of the trad1- tion, if you like. They are two very long established big names. You have the Noel Hills, the Matt Molloys, the Chieftains, Frankie Gavin and Tony McMahon, Christy Moore, Donal

Lunny, they’re the big names.”

Rynne added, ““They’re doing a duet together and I haven’t found anybody else, apart from myself, who’s actual- ly heard them doing a duet together, playing together. They’ve both been in all sorts of arrangements and done all sorts of concerts and shows and television and every sort of thing. Individually they’re extremely well known and regarded. But as a combi- nation they’ve been rarely heard. So it should be really special.”

Ennis native Tony McMahon’s con- tribution to Irish folk music, both as a broadcaster and as one of Ireland’s most remarkable musicians, has been singular and unmatched. His music has been variously described as both transporting and transforming.

Sharing the stage on this night will be Galway fiddler Frankie Gavin.

Frankie who hails from Corrandul- la, has recorded 16 albums with De Dannan as well as a number of solo albums, and three collaborations: one a tribute to Joe Cooley entitled

eis

terday that the loss “is not an issue of concern” to the company.

The losses – which follow a surplus

of €5,800 in 2007 – have been ab-

sorbed by the company’s accumulat-

ed surplus, which stood at €106,110 at the start of 2008. At year end, this was reduced to €39,781.

Last April, the Health Service Ex- ecutive (HSE) ended 24-hour A&E services at Ennis and Nenagh Gen- eral Hospitals in spite of protests from GPs.

Since then, there has been a 22 per cent increase in calls to Shannon- doc’s Ennis service between 8pm and 8am while calls to the Nenagh service increased by 33 per cent.

Mr Maher said, “There have been operational difficulties, but we have worked around them and have had the flexibility to deal with any is- sues. We are coping well enough.

The service has been helped by the HSE providing an additional doctor in Ennis and Nenagh between 8pm and 2am since April.”

Last year, it cost €6.1 million to provide the Shannondoc service and the company’s greatest source of funding came from the HSE, which increased its contribution from €4.3 million to €4.6 million.

Mr Maher said, “The worry big con- cern for next year is that our funding will be cut and the impact that will have on services. We have become embedded in the health service in the region.”

Shannondoc’ provides primary medical cover for GPs during out-

of-surgery hours for the mid-west, excluding Limerick city.

Last year the service dealt with 95,217 calls. This represented an in- crease of 5.7 per cent on calls in 2007 and the area to show the highest in- crease was Kilrush at 25 per cent.

The director’s report recorded that, for the first time, the number of pa- tients dealt with by doctors has de- creased, if only very slightly at 340 eT (oNlhSe

The service employs 134 staff made up of 43 drivers, 51 medical staff and 40 in administration with employ- ment costs increasing by eight per cent from €3.8 million to €4.2 mil- lion

LOSSES at the company that con- structed the €198 million Ennis by- pass last year exceeded €10 million last year.

Accounts filed with the Companies’ Office show that the losses at GAMA Construction Ireland resulted in the company having accumulated losses of €69.6 million at the end of last year.

Work on outstanding issues 1s on- going and Clare County Council recently confirmed that it paid €2.6 million to GAMA Construction this year.

Last year, GAMA admitted to the Labour Court that it had projected a loss on €45 million on the Ennis bypass project alone after underesti- mating the cost of labour and materi- als and incurring financial penalties for delays.

The company’s work in Ireland came under scrutiny in 2005 over allegations that it underpaid migrant workers.

The accounts for 2008 show that the company’s turnover slumped by 67 per cent from €39 million in 2007 to €12 million last year.

The directors state that the group had negative net assets at the end of the financial year.

The accounts point out that GAMA

is reliant on the continued financial support from its ultimate parent un- dertaking, GAMA Holdings.

“The company’s ultimate parent has agreed to support the group over the next 12 months from the date of signing of the financial statements.”

The directors confirm that they are actively tendering for a number of projects and conclude that they have “a reasonable expectation that the group has adequate resources to

continue operating for the foresee- able future having regard to trading prospects and finance available.”

Last year, the company employed 58 compared to 183 in 2007 with the company’s wage bill falling from €14m to €3.6m.

The accounts also show €750,943 in an exceptional item from the sale of an asset.

GAMA Construction Ltd is based in Santry, County Dublin.

ANNE Ae CK SIME EGR MLOBn ICO m IO COnnien

AN ADDICTION to heroin was at the root of a break-in to a hotel room in Ennis, a court has heard.

Mark Mulcaire (32), of Luifford Lodge, Ennis, admitted entering a room at the Old Ground Hotel in Ennis as a trespasser and stealing goods, on June 16 last.

Ennis District Court heard last week

that a room was entered through a ground floor window, which was left open by a guest.

A laptop and other items, whose to- tal value amounted to €1,350, were taken. The accused and another in- dividual were identified on CCTV ort oe- ke

Defending solicitor Daragh Hassett told the court that the accused hails from a respectable family in Ennis.

He said that he developed a “very nasty habit; addiction to heroin” and got sucked in.

“This was a simple but a nasty crime. It was perpetrated with the intention of taking the laptop and Sswopping it for heroin,” he said.

He said his client is now drug- free and is committed to staying off ora breae

He said that when an individual is

addicted to heroin, ““You can’t work; you can’t live and everything else you do is focused on a need and greed for WeComebue tone

‘He broke into a hotel room in his own home town and was caught red- handed,” he said.

An eight-month jail term was im- posed and a bond was fixed in the event of an appeal.

THERE was blood on the floor and walls of a room at Ennis leisure cen- tre in the immediate aftermath of an attack there, a court has heard.

A leisure centre employee told En- nis Circuit Court that she was work- ing at the poolside when she was alerted by a colleague to what was happening in the gym.

‘He said there was a fight going on

in the gym with knives. I grabbed my phone and went up,” she said.

She said she saw that a man was in- jured in the aerobics hall.

“T just saw blood. There was a good bit of blood. It was on the floor and on the walls,” she recalled.

She said that she rang gardai and attended to the victim.

Garda Saran Butler told the tri- al that he was using the gym that evening. At around 7.45pm a group

of men burst in the door.

“T could see Anthony McDonagh getting hit on the head with a wheel brace,” he said. He said that the ac- cused was holding what appeared to loLome SL E-DIU CONAN @ NDE ISe

“A lot of people in the gym started rushing for the door,’ he said. Asked by counsel for the state, Stephen Coughlan, BL, did the accused come into contact with the injured party, he replied, “Not from what I saw.”

THE victim of an assault has told a court that he was attacked with wheel braces, while he exercised at an Ennis leisure centre.

Anthony McDonagh told Ennis Circuit Court that he was training in the gym at Ennis leisure centre on the evening of July 3 last year.

He was preparing to finish up and go for a shower when he said that the door was pushed in and a number of

men arrived at the gym.

One man was holding a machete, which, he said, was swung at him. “I put up my arms. I got a wheel brace to the side of the head. I fell to the ground,” he told the court.

He said he was also cut with a knife and was struck to the face and body. “IT was ducking the machete and I just got attacked by wheel braces and stuff,” he told the jury.

Asked by counsel for the state, Stephen Coughlan, BL, what the ac-

cused did to him, he replied, “I’m not 100 per cent sure what he did. It happened so fast. He was with them.”

The court was told that Anthony McDonagh sustained head and wrist injuries and cuts to his left arm.

Under cross-examination by de- fence counsel Pat Whyms, the wit- ness said he is currently in prison. He admitted that he had carried out a revenge attack for the incident in the gym.

“What did you do?” asked Mr Whyms. Mr McDonagh replied, “I went to a barber’s and attacked him (a man other than the accused) with an axe.”

Details of the garda interview with the accused were read to the jury. He admitted going to the gym and said he went there to train.

“One of the lads handed me some- thing. I didn’t use it. It was a Stanley knife. There was a blade sticking out of the end,” he said.

Asked by gardai why he had a knife in a gym, he replied, “I don’t know. A fella gave it to me.” Asked why it was open, he said, “I don’t know.”

He told gardai that he threw away the knife after leaving the leisure centre.

Mr Whyms put it to one of the in- vestigating gardai, Mike Kelly, that his client “at all times manages to position himself away from the ac- tion.” Gda Kelly replied, “For most of it.”

Gardai concerned over drug use